What does LotRO have that we don't?

[NoteworthyFellow]

Armor graphics that look like someone actually cares. These look functional.  They also look really cool.  SOE?  Take a hint, friends. <img src="http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d143/soapurb/syl.jpg" border="0"> <img src="http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1631/screenshot00223zg1.jpg" border="0">

[Findara]

Wait for the skele revamp later this year, after that and new armor comes out then you can complain more.

[boogar]

<p>I agree, EQ2 has the worse looking armor/weapons. I'm not to fond of the way our environment's look either,I know the game is over 3 year's old but the art department definatelly lacks.I'll be switching over to Age of Conan when it is released.Why keep playing a game that is 4 year's old and the armor hasnt really looked any different from day 1?</p><p> And as far as the skeletal re-vamp,I'll believe it when I see it.Even if it does happen the art team isn't that great in EQ2 anyway all the armor and weapons are still going to be very bland looking and will look nothing like those LOTR pics and especially Age Of Conan.I know these are much newer games but the art team is much better either way.</p><p>Maybe SOE can grab some idea's fom these guy's,they really seem to be putting "alot" of time and effort in this game.The art-team is incredible.Unlike games such as Vanguard that claim to be next-gen but look more like a 3 year old game.</p><p> <a href="http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/743/743392/vids_1.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/7...392/vids_1.html</a></p>

[Themaginator]

Syth@Mistmoore wrote: <blockquote><p>I agree, EQ2 has the worse looking armor/weapons. I'm not to fond of the way our environment's look either,I know the game is over 3 year's old but the art department definatelly lacks.I'll be switching over to Age of Conan when it is released.Why keep playing a game that is 4 year's old and the armor hasnt really looked any different from day 1?</p><p> And as far as the skeletal re-vamp,I'll believe it when I see it.Even if it does happen the art team isn't that great in EQ2 anyway all the armor and weapons are still going to be very bland looking and will look nothing like those LOTR pics and especially Age Of Conan.I know these are much newer games but the art team is much better either way.</p><p>Maybe SOE can grab some idea's fom these guy's,they really seem to be putting "alot" of time and effort in this game.The art-team is incredible.Unlike games such as Vanguard that claim to be next-gen but look more like a 3 year old game.</p><p> <a href="http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/743/743392/vids_1.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/7...392/vids_1.html</a></p></blockquote> the EQ2 art team is awesome when given a chance to shine, some of the weapons and class helms are really cool and unique

[Armawk]

<p>I thought the armour/clothing graphics were the weakest point when I tried lotro, being mostly just painted flat skins. This is majorly out of date, though I understand the performance reasons for it.</p><p>One pretty picture a game does not make.</p>

[Themaginator]

sadly its hard to do awesome armor without the flat-skins, and keep a feasible performance with current technology.  What can be done is that you can artfully hide the fact that they are being used, or just make them look good by designing your armor well...thats the trick.

[Besual]

The armor / weapons in EQ2 doesn't look so bad once you have turned up the graphic settings.

[Araxes]

LOTRO is a fantastic game. But the character models they use are ugly and flat compared to the dynamic and lifelike character models in EQ2.  Features and customization options are extremely limited, and the skins have a pasted-on feel; animation tends to be mediocre, as well, particularly in combat. Unfortunately, it's a trade-off -- in order to keep performance at a satisfactory rate for players with lower-end systems, you either use less dense geometry (i.e. more simple polygonal models like in WoW, LOTR, Warhammer) or you have less diverse armor.  In EQ2, the issue is most definitely one of performance.  They were a bit TOO ambitious with their engine design, and in 5 more years any system will be able to run this game without pause -- but right now, the way the models are set up, everything is just so dense and so complex that cities become a nightmare for users on mid-range or low-end systems (i.e. systems that were top of the line 1-2 years ago) without substantial memory and video upgrades. So we have this so-called "skeletal revamp" coming ... which they have been working on for about 2 years, according to when the first posts about it, by Moorgard, were made, way back.  But WHAT does that exactly entail?  Who knows.  Aside from the stated goal to "improve performance" and increase armor diversity -- we have NO idea if this will in fact change the way the races look entirely, change existing armor sets entirely, or what.  It's kind of disheartening to think that maybe my ratonga won't look like he has for 2.5 years -- or that the Iksar will look totally different. But I don't see how they can change the "skeleton" models without fundamentally altering the races themselves to sucha  degree that many of them may look vastly different than they do now.  /shrug

[DanaDark]

<p>Skeletal revamp should NOT alter the physical appearance of anyone's character. Basically, all races and genders have a seperate skeleton INSIDE the model that determines where the shoulder point is for example and then designates a distance from there to place the armor graphic. Having them ALL at different lengths and sizes means that each armor must be rendered and molded seperately and by hand so far.</p><p>In otherwords, if I am an artist for EQ2 and I want to make a chest piece, I have to make it over again for EVERY race and gender. This sucks. So, they are making the skeletons all the same SHAPE but different sizes. So a human skeleton is just a larger gnome skeleton and a smaller ogre skeleton. Again, this is INSIDE the model, so it does NOT affect how the model looks.</p><p>The reason they have been taking a long time is most likely because skeletons are not easy to handle, they want to get it right unlike last time (i.e. release), and they want to make sure the skeletons are properly functional for eac model.</p><p>Indeed most likely this will come out with Kunark because it'd be MUCH more efficient to just install the new skeletons from a CD/DVD than it would be to download them.</p><p>As for the current armors, honestly, they are the BEST armors I have ever seen in any game. The only thing is they are used over and over again, but again, that has a reason for now.</p><p>I might add that I've seen a TON of cool armors that people DON'T use, and they are very unique. I mean, really, everyone decides to wear Ebon Plate for example then complains everyone looks the same O.o I've seen many different armors in the game, finding them aint too hard either.</p>

[Jal]

lotr armour is godawful, stupidly oversized shoulder pads, ugly armour that all tends to look pretty much the same. EQ2's is brilliant by comparison.

[Siogai]

Kallarn@Splitpaw wrote: <blockquote>lotr armour is godawful, stupidly oversized shoulder pads, ugly armour that all tends to look pretty much the same. EQ2's is brilliant by comparison. </blockquote>Agreed.  The first thing that hit me about LOTR in beta was how ugly the armour looked, and how decidedly un-elven the armour and clothing styles for the Elves looked... especially the helmets, many of which looked like I pulled a sock over my head.

[Ariste]

<cite>DanaDark wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Skeletal revamp should NOT alter the physical appearance of anyone's character. Basically, all races and genders have a seperate skeleton INSIDE the model that determines where the shoulder point is for example and then designates a distance from there to place the armor graphic. Having them ALL at different lengths and sizes means that each armor must be rendered and molded seperately and by hand so far.</p><p>In otherwords, if I am an artist for EQ2 and I want to make a chest piece, I have to make it over again for EVERY race and gender. This sucks. So, they are making the skeletons all the same SHAPE but different sizes. So a human skeleton is just a larger gnome skeleton and a smaller ogre skeleton. Again, this is INSIDE the model, so it does NOT affect how the model looks.</p><p>The reason they have been taking a long time is most likely because skeletons are not easy to handle, they want to get it right unlike last time (i.e. release), and they want to make sure the skeletons are properly functional for eac model.</p><p>Indeed most likely this will come out with Kunark because it'd be MUCH more efficient to just install the new skeletons from a CD/DVD than it would be to download them.</p><p>As for the current armors, honestly, they are the BEST armors I have ever seen in any game. The only thing is they are used over and over again, but again, that has a reason for now.</p><p>I might add that I've seen a TON of cool armors that people DON'T use, and they are very unique. I mean, really, everyone decides to wear Ebon Plate for example then complains everyone looks the same O.o I've seen many different armors in the game, finding them aint too hard either.</p></blockquote> What worries me is that Vanguard used a similar unibody approach, and all characters <i>did</i> end up looking the same. What makes this skeletal revamp different from Vanguard's system?

[Sassinak]

<cite>Ariste wrote:</cite><blockquote>What worries me is that Vanguard used a similar unibody approach, and all characters <i>did</i> end up looking the same. What makes this skeletal revamp different from Vanguard's system?</blockquote>Scott Hartsman has said that EQ2's skeletal revamp is <i><u>not</u></i> a unibody approach.

[Deadrus]

Lol Id love to see the Froglocks in vanguard with the frog head pasted on to a perfectly human body lol...... Anyway eq2 does need more veriety in the look of armor instead of just colloring it differnt and giveing it new stats. I hope the new skely revamp comes before Kunark because it realy cant come soon enough. I love eq2 to death but I wana see a little more veriety in the game. Please!

[Kaitar]

<p>I did NOT like the models in LOTRO, and that includes the armor. Getting a couple of SS's of end game uber epic stuff does not = most of that game's armor, which is -ugly- and boring. More so than EQ2.</p><p>As for the skeleton restructure coming up, I hope they don't change TOO much on my Iksar. I think they did a great job on Iksar and the other non-human-type races, but yeah, the humans and elves could use a revamp. </p><p>But not  my Iksar dang it! >_< he's purty!</p>

[Dragowulf]

they need to make a hunch on iksar/kerra and make them not looks so human. like bigger frogloks look at eq1's iksar/kerra(vahshir) ahrion

[Kaitar]

<p>Uhm, I really disagree that Kerra and Iksar need to look like bigger Frogloks. I think they are fine the way they are, they look unique. If all the "non human" races were hunched, that'd be lame. And Everquest 1, well...ever consider the models might have looked a bit "different" than EQ2's because they didn't have the graphical engine to support what we have now?</p><p>That's how I see it. </p>

[MadTexan3]

<cite>Besual wrote:</cite><blockquote>The armor / weapons in EQ2 doesn't look so bad once you have turned up the graphic settings. </blockquote><p>I agree, I just wish they would greatly reduce the size of the 'crotchguard' and 'buttguard' flaps they added to vanguard plate after some complained that the armor was 'too sexy'.</p><p>Right now, my barbarian is suffering a flap in front that falls just short of his knees and one in back that goes well past the back of his knees. It looks totally ridiculous and completely non-functional (from the back it looks like his legs are super short). </p>

[selch]

<p>As someone playing Lord of the Rings Online, there is many aspects I've said to myself "Wish these were in EQ2 too", but definitely "<b><span style="font-size: xx-small">NOT THE ARMOR</span></b>"</p><p><b>What I said from the Lotro to be good in EQ2:</b></p><p>- Far aways to be seen as in blurred 2D imageboard, seeing trees, mountains from far away rather than not seen until your computer can hold it in 3D, making it alive yet not forcing your computer. Actually fars are also misty or blurry rather than empty or low texture models.</p><p>- All waters to be real live with the day of time, like all waters to be black with waves just shining of moon or other lights at night, rather than flat out blue waters and white waves. </p><p>- Floras to be everywhere yet, not taking a huge chunk of memory like in EQ2 or using flat bad textures without flora or not just a few green chunks, flowers of different kinds, depending on area...</p><p>- Blood to spill in direction of your attack, both being T rating games, I don't see why EQ2 does not have this....</p><p>- Feeling of "slashing", "hitting" the enemy. Not just arms legs weapons pass through the model. You simply feel the combat.</p><p>- Music to play together with your friends... Music that loops through zones , not just certain areas of zones... Musics with enthusiasm, musics smells heroism , musics in combat , musics outside, everything is superior...  Only music in EQ2 remotely close to this feeling is "entrance of Kaladim" which is cut after a few steps in. </p><p>- Sounds effects that does not seem to be made somewhere else. You feel your horse pressing down to ground, down to mud and pressing strong but not cracking its leg.</p><p>- Dying the armor they have, but not pinks, neon greens or such, natural leather colors, natural metal colors... </p><p>- Questing is actually rewarding unlike EverQUEST 2. You get more abilities as you complete quest percentages out of a zone, different traits just for finishing quests or killing more numbers of enemies...</p><p>- Good to remove boots if you like too and good to have hooded cloaks.</p><p>- Lightning of outdoor zones is awesome, not different shades of same green, lively colors, realistic colors. Lightning of instances is awesome, they give you fear or relaxation... Not flat out textures without lightning. </p><p>- Quests are awesome, you are leveling through story, not just "you can't make this yet, go and come later when you can", seeing heroes of Lord of the Rings, yet we can't even see  queen or lord in EQ2. </p><p>- Ingame support of anti-alias and AS filter...</p><p>But you know...</p><p>Armors are NOT one of them. Models are not one of them. Good to have "SETS" to buy from vendors, but how many of us buy from vendors in EQ2 too?  </p><p>Colors of armors worse than T7 in EQ2. Models are armors sucky when you want to have best stats for your class lik EQ2.  </p><p>Models are plain out sucky, they dont even have "look at target" mode. </p><p>Customisation is close to nothing. They have "digitized" textures of faces you can pick LOL (like old ages of games).  They don't have any humanoid shape like soga aliens.   </p><p>Animations are sucky. They can't even compete slightest with EQ2 in current state at all. </p><p>And you know what? You only have 4 races to pick: Elves, Humans, Dwarves (no female dwarves) and Halflings.  That is REASON of your complaints. </p>

[NoteworthyFellow]

<cite>selch wrote:</cite><blockquote>But you know...<p>Armors are NOT one of them. Models are not one of them. Good to have "SETS" to buy from vendors, but how many of us buy from vendors in EQ2 too?  </p><p>Colors of armors worse than T7 in EQ2. Models are armors sucky when you want to have best stats for your class lik EQ2.  </p><p>Models are plain out sucky, they dont even have "look at target" mode. </p><p>Customisation is close to nothing. They have "digitized" textures of faces you can pick LOL (like old ages of games).  They don't have any humanoid shape like soga aliens.   </p><p>Animations are sucky. They can't even compete slightest with EQ2 in current state at all. </p><p>And you know what? You only have 4 races to pick: Elves, Humans, Dwarves (no female dwarves) and Halflings.  That is REASON of your complaints. </p></blockquote>Granted I just started playing LotRO, but I find that my characters look better at level 6 than most level 70s I see in EQ2, armor-wise.  Maybe I just haven't hit the ugly armor streak yet, but everything I've gotten so far looks just fine. I didn't even notice the lack of looking at the target, I'll have to pay attention to that later. I'll also agree that there's a relative lack of customization, but it isn't just digitized facial textures.  Actually, the faces remind me a lot of the faces from The Sims 2--frighteningly so, actually.  I'd be completely happy with the level of customization if there was a height slider and more facial shape customization, a la EQ2.  Still, the skins look better in LotRO, <i>much</i> better than in EQ2, and that means more to me than the customization.  I'll take consistently looking good over a greater selection of ways to look different. I actually have no problem at all with the animations.  I <i>would</i>, however, like to have voices to go with my emotes.  Both EQ2 and WoW have this, and laughing in LotRO without actually hearing a laugh just feels wrong at this point. Finally, what other races would you suggest Turbine include in Lord of the Rings Online?  Playing as the evil side is just out of the spirit of the game, and what other "good" races are there?  I would've liked female dwarves (I really hate one-sex-only races, like FFXI's Galka and Mithra), but beyond that, there really just isn't any room for other playable races within the lore.  That limitation isn't the game's fault, they're just trying to stay faithful to Tolkien.

[selch]

<p>I just meant, limitiation of races, makes it easy to have large sets of armors unlike making armors for 20 different races.</p><p>As level 6, who just did go out of initial newbie zone (or may be you did not yet) , you really did not see much of armor mixture yet. As long as you want better stats, armors just go way suckier and more stupid colors just like in EQ2 T7. Below T7, you can still have the feeling of good armor.</p>

[Kaitar]

<p>I really don't want to turn this into a LORTO vs. EQ2 debate, but here's my take on this:</p><p><i>- Far aways to be seen as in blurred 2D imageboard, seeing trees, mountains from far away rather than not seen until your computer can hold it in 3D, making it alive yet not forcing your computer. Actually fars are also misty or blurry rather than empty or low texture models.</i></p><p>The landscapes were rather nice, yes, that I will agree with.</p><p><i>- All waters to be real live with the day of time, like all waters to be black with waves just shining of moon or other lights at night, rather than flat out blue waters and white waves. </i></p><p> Likewise.</p><p>-<i> Floras to be everywhere yet, not taking a huge chunk of memory like in EQ2 or using flat bad textures without flora or not just a few green chunks, flowers of different kinds, depending on area...</i></p><p>Actually, the flora, unless you had a really nice gaming rig, the flora definately made you lag as much if not MORE than EQ2. I know this because I went from a moderate gaming PC when I played LOTRO and then built a really nice one, and could compare performance. The flora does look nice, but it still makes less than beefy computers lag like crazy.</p><p><i>- Blood to spill in direction of your attack, both being T rating games, I don't see why EQ2 does not have this....</i></p><p>Blood is eh. I can do with it or without it.</p><p>-<i> Feeling of "slashing", "hitting" the enemy. Not just arms legs weapons pass through the model. You simply feel the combat.</i></p><p>Actually in LOTRO I didn't have much the feeling of hitting my enemy, where in EQ2 I do. I can hear the sounds of things hitting my blade/shield in EQ2 where I didn't feel that in LOTRO. The enemy can get knocked down here with a shield bash, and likewise so can I, there are grunts and oofs during combat, etc etc. LOTRO felt very flat to me when in combat.</p><p><i>- Music to play together with your friends... Music that loops through zones , not just certain areas of zones... Musics with enthusiasm, musics smells heroism , musics in combat , musics outside, everything is superior...  Only music in EQ2 remotely close to this feeling is "entrance of Kaladim" which is cut after a few steps in. </i></p><p>The music was pretty neat.</p><p><i>- Sounds effects that does not seem to be made somewhere else. You feel your horse pressing down to ground, down to mud and pressing strong but not cracking its leg.</i></p><p>Some of the sounds were ok, and some were not. For instance, when you ran through snow in LOTRO, it didn't sound like you were running through snow.</p><p><i>- Dying the armor they have, but not pinks, neon greens or such, natural leather colors, natural metal colors... </i></p><p>Dyes would be nice, it's too bad the armor in LOTRO was so ugly you couldn't fix it no matter how hard you tried. I do wish they'd bring dyes to this game so you could at least make a nice matching set of armor, and it doesn't have to be neon dyes either.</p><p><i>- Questing is actually rewarding unlike EverQUEST 2. You get more abilities as you complete quest percentages out of a zone, different traits just for finishing quests or killing more numbers of enemies...</i></p><p>Disagree. In EQ2 you get some nice rewards, and you get AA's. AA's are worth it to finish the quests. Heck, it's worth it to feel like you're not totally grinding to finish the quests.</p><p><i>- Good to remove boots if you like too and good to have hooded cloaks.</i></p><p>Yeah, the hooded cloaks was neat.</p><p><i>- Lightning of outdoor zones is awesome, not different shades of same green, lively colors, realistic colors. Lightning of instances is awesome, they give you fear or relaxation... Not flat out textures without lightning.</i> </p><p>Uhm, actually EQ2's outdoor lighting is -wonderful- if you turn on all your bloom and specular lighting effects. The sunrise reflects off my shield and has a glow going on from the horizon, etc. It's really neat. Likewise have you seen it when it storms? Very cool. Stuff looks wet, and some very eerie shadows are cast when it's dark and rainy. </p><p><i>- Quests are awesome, you are leveling through story, not just "you can't make this yet, go and come later when you can", seeing heroes of Lord of the Rings, yet we can't even see  queen or lord in EQ2.</i> </p><p>I -hated- the quests in LOTRO. They were just the same as WoW except even more annoying because you had to run all OVER  a map that had no useable landmarks at all. It was "go kill 12 wolves...for Gandalf!" but it's still go kill 12 wolves, and the fact the combat was -dull- made questing a snooze for me. Hated hated it. It was the same quest line of every other MMO and I did not feel AT ALL like I was in some epic LOTRO setting, I felt like I was in your run of the mill fantasy game. Plus the community of that game was pretty awful. No interaction at all, so that made questing even worse because you were most likely going to have to do everything solo since everyone seemed to prefer not grouping unless absolutely necessary. </p><p>THIS is what killed that game for me. It was pretty (save for your character...) but my god it was DULL to actually play. So what it boiled down to, for me, was a pretty game with outdated characters and a really last generation questing/leveling/grind fest system and a few neat features like hooded cloaks and music. </p><p><i>- Ingame support of anti-alias and AS filter...</i></p><p>Yeah, anti-alias and AS would be nice here. Maybe in a revamp or up coming patch or something.</p>

[Guy De Alsace]

<p>Just like to say that 99% of all LotRO looks identical. Its brown, brown or brown. If you are really lucky you can get washed out blue or faded red...and brown. The occasional piece is yellowy brown or bluey brown. If you are amazingly lucky you can get metallic...brown.</p><p>There are 3 cloak designs that I've seen in the entire game. Same with shields. I've never seen anyone looking like the pics you have posted.</p><p>[Edit] Just have to add that the environments however are awesome. Theres nothing in EQ2 that comes close to Rivendell. Strange considering how backward the engine in LotRO is.</p>

[Guy De Alsace]

<p>Examples: <a href="http://gr3yh4wk.50megs.com/LotRO/ScreenShot00045.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://gr3yh4wk.50megs.com/LotRO/Sc...enShot00045.jpg</a>, <a href="http://gr3yh4wk.50megs.com/LotRO/ScreenShot00046.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://gr3yh4wk.50megs.com/LotRO/Sc...enShot00046.jpg</a>, <a href="http://gr3yh4wk.50megs.com/LotRO/ScreenShot00052.jpg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://gr3yh4wk.50megs.com/LotRO/Sc...enShot00052.jpg</a></p>

[cerialxthrilla]

Yeah, but i dont know how many of you guys played LoTRO, but it seems they put way too much time into the graphics, and not nearly enough into the content. I pre-ordered, level capped in 2 and a half weeks (lvl50) and couldnt find anything to do. And I am now playing EQ2. Also if you arent a huge tolkein fan, dont bother, you will be ridiculed and scoffed at by the fanboys. Its mostly a WoW with lotr themes. It appears mostly made up of WoW kiddies who were looking for a new game after the failure that is The burning Crusade.

[Thormiel]

I was in the public beta of LOTRO, and this past weekend I tried the live game itself. Now, I love the Middle-Earth world setting, but honestly I didn't find the game itself compelling at all. During the public beta I was tired of the game when my character got to the teen levels, and the same thing happened now. The game does have some great looking sights, but the gameplay and atmosphere just don't pull me in.

[Siogai]

Getting away from the concept of the topic but... yeah. A better question would be "What does EQ2 have that LotRO doesn't?" Content Unique settings, NPCs and Lore Diverse and varied classes Free-form alignment/RP opportunities Engaging combat dynamics etc, etc etc...

[Guy De Alsace]

<p>I found there are too few servers in LotRO making populations insane. Anyone trying to get through Bree will see its like Qeynos Harbour taken to the Nth degree (poetry FTW!). This makes the harder quests a doddle as there are literally <i>dozens</i> of groups doing it at once. Wild places like the Lone Lands are so full of toons its like Picadilly Circus in London.</p>

[Siclone]

<p>the issue is 99 percent of the people who play this game will never look like the ops picture, regardless of how well the armor is done.</p><p>EQ has made a choice that they want each piece unquie and someone to tell what shoulder you have on, what chest you have on by looking at it.  </p><p>This causes the problem-( armor does not drop in sets)  but only piece at a time.  Therefore, regardless of how cool looking they can make each piece, you will always have, red gloves, green chest, black shoes, brown pants.</p><p>unless they make a fundimental change in this view, nothing is going to change</p><p>they could address this a couple of ways.</p><p>make armor drop in sets.  Why not?  why do the same sets of armor have to have the same stats?  have one armor set of relic chain have sligthly different stats then another set.  there for you could still upgrade by getting a new set.....but there are lots of different ways to address this.  </p><p>unless this is done differently, new toons and new armor is not going to matter any, your still going to have mis match different color and different looks on each piece you have, for the most part</p>

[Guy De Alsace]

<p>It is a problem that anyone wanting to gain armour sets at mid-level; have approximately zero to close to zero chance of ever gaining a full set. I've only ever seen any mid-level legendary drop from non-named in Klak anon and almost always its not relevant to the group at all...shame realy. Really dont know how anyone can gain these sets tbh. Unless they are very hard core.</p>

[Titigabe]

Guy De Alsace wrote: <blockquote><p>It is a problem that anyone wanting to gain armour sets at mid-level; have approximately zero to close to zero chance of ever gaining a full set. I've only ever seen any mid-level legendary drop from non-named in Klak anon and almost always its not relevant to the group at all...shame realy. Really dont know how anyone can gain these sets tbh. Unless they are very hard core.</p></blockquote> Yes, this is totally true. The problem is that players who care about "old" content will never get a chance to loot any piece of an armor set. EoF dungeon are much too advantaged. And anyway, you have to be a real hardcore gamer until you get a whole set. And considering the time you spent in a Tier, this is a real loss of time, since progression is much too quick ! It reduces the interest of getting a full set, it's going to become "useless" in 10 levels. Give each named/dungeons an equal chance to drop a set piece, reduce progression speed to make them last! I don't understand why older dungeons (let's talk about the ones that have not been revamped (yet?)) don't get any attention. For sure, set drops is a feature of EoF, but is it really good for the game balance? I don't think so. Players get focused on EoF zones, and we can understand: what would you do if you know that spending an hour in a EoF dungeon would offer you more chances to drop a set piece, knowing that your chance to get one in RoV i.e. is equal to zero?

[Image_Vain]

I believe SOE knows what they are doing, just look at Neriak, that was great, I think the new armour will kickass

[Siclone]

<cite>Image_Vain wrote:</cite><blockquote>I believe SOE knows what they are doing, just look at Neriak, that was great, I think the new armour will kickass </blockquote>Your not getting it.  It don't matter how kick butt the new armor looks, armor is done in pieces so it will never match. So you will have kick butt gloves that are blue with gold trim,,you will have shoulders that are red and black your chest will be grey, and your legs will be green, ect They said no dyes. Its almost impossible to get a full set of any type armor the way the drops work. with these rules in place, and this not changing, 95 percent of us or more will never, have that complete cool look

[LichKing06]

Oh, yeah, but, eh, who really gives a [Removed for Content] about graphics when the gameplay is god awful?  I mean srsly.  LotRO really lacks variety.  Woo I can be Human. Woo I can be a halfie! Woo I can be Dwarf! Woo I can be Elf!  :-  It's kind of disappointing.  If they had pretty PCs that were evil... I'd be all for playing one of the Nine ^_^.

[Siclone]

<cite>LichKing06 wrote:</cite><blockquote>Oh, yeah, but, eh, who really gives a [I cannot control my vocabulary] about graphics when the gameplay is god awful?  I mean srsly.  LotRO really lacks variety.  Woo I can be Human. Woo I can be a halfie! Woo I can be Dwarf! Woo I can be Elf!  :-  It's kind of disappointing.  If they had pretty PCs that were evil... I'd be all for playing one of the Nine ^_^.</blockquote>Right, so why can't a game have both? Why cant eq solve this mis match problem?  I think they underestimate the importance of looking good

[LichKing06]

<cite>Siclone wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>LichKing06 wrote:</cite><blockquote>Oh, yeah, but, eh, who really gives a [I cannot control my vocabulary] about graphics when the gameplay is god awful?  I mean srsly.  LotRO really lacks variety.  Woo I can be Human. Woo I can be a halfie! Woo I can be Dwarf! Woo I can be Elf!  :-  It's kind of disappointing.  If they had pretty PCs that were evil... I'd be all for playing one of the Nine ^_^.</blockquote>Right, so why can't a game have both? Why cant eq solve this mis match problem?  I think they underestimate the importance of looking good </blockquote> Take a look at EQ compared to its top rival:  WoW...  WoW's got some pretty Raid armor graphics... but honestly, it's a bland world compared to EQ.  It's tough to give a game both... I mean, then you have to set tiers on computer systems in adjusting performance vs graphics.  EQ1 just got a complete overhaul about a year or so ago, maybe we can expect it in the future on EQ2.  Also, LotRO released 3 years after EQ2... much more time for touch ups.  *shrug* I'm pretty content with EQ2's graphics and design at the time.  It's pretty complex compared to its competitors. Only LotRO tops it off, with 3 extra years under its belt for development, and still has terrible gameplay concepts.  If you put EQ2 on Extreme Quality... it's very pretty methinks.

[roces9]

I know that I'm responding to the arguement that was soooooo two pages ago, but I'm bored at work and just had to say this: I just rolled my first plate character the other day and when he runs around, I can feel the weight of the plate. It just might be in my head, or I might just pay too much attention to footsteps after all those years of Counter-Strike, but it seems that my scout runs much lighter and easier (albeit the same actual speed) than that Inquisitor. Plus the way the plate jostles and clinks is pretty sounds different from the way the chain does. Does LoTRO do that?

[wwd2]

<p>In response to the original question:</p><p>It is not run by SOE, which is has given me such a run-around on server-downtimes and account billing...  When I first signed on to LotRO and they gave a server-down-time schedual as part of their sign-in screen, I was hooked.  Then they allowed me to stay logged in for updates, even when out of game.  Then offered cheaper subscription fees.  Then allowed 5 toons PER SERVER.  Plain and simple: Turbine's Customer Service has treated me much better than SOE's.</p><p>When I first crossed the Brandywine Bridge, or came across some ruins on a hill, or entered the town of Bree...  even on 'very low' settings, the scenery rocks in LotRO.  At least once per play session, my friend and I will just stop, look around, and say something like: Wow.  I have spent periods of time just watching the clouds move across the sky.  EQ2 sunrises and sunsets are pretty good, but the LotRO horizon is cool all the time.</p><p>My attack graphics match all attacks in LotRO, for both special and auto-attacks.  They don't overlap or block each other out like it does in EQ2.  My special attacks have unique graphics in LotRO, so companions can see what I am doing.  I told my ministrel friend not to heal until after my champion performed a certain attack, which happens to be a taunt as well.   Granted, the HOs in EQ2 are way cooler than their equivalant in LotRO, as are some of the attack graphics, but the way they are shoved together means you may not see them.</p><p>I like the LotRO quests better.  I feel more compelled to do them.  Sure, many are the kill so-many such-and-suches.  But many are deliver the mail and avoid nosey hobbits or find my pack or something.  Getting quests done has incredible exp rewards in LotRO (this led to the misconception that mob exp sucked, which it doesn't).  Getting quests done also gives some neat Acheivements, even at lower levels.  Both games use heroic/epic/inflated mobs too much.  They become a choke point in too many quests.  Grouping in both games can be hard, especially when it is required to get through one of these inflated mobs.  My experience is that the quest Objectives in LotRO are generally clearer and easier to do without checking spoilers.</p><p>LotRO game guides came out with the release of the game and I have yet to see one for EoF yet.  Call me a cheater or whatever, but I like to have some hardcopy literature for reference while playing.  WOW has binders of guide info available.</p><p>LotRO is a universe created by Tolkien, owned by Tolkien Ent. and the lore and legend and et al is huge, but set and finite.  EQ2 has a history written by marketing directors.  Every quarter a new island/race/dimension is discovered.  Cool fun stuff, but confusing: the fae drove the woodelves out of Kelethin?  Fallen Gate is not Neriak?  Uh, how do I get there/anywhere?  Norrath is starting to feel like an over-patched/repaired, patchwork quilt.  </p><p>Yeah, EQ has some cool things, and I am not completely done with it, but I am enjoying LotRO more.</p>

[Chondrichtheyia]

wwd2 wrote<blockquote><p>LotRO game guides came out with the release of the game and I have yet to see one for EoF yet.  Call me a cheater or whatever, but I like to have some hardcopy literature for reference while playing.  WOW has binders of guide info available.</p></blockquote> In-game browser. Period. Besides, those stupid guides are worthless compared to the online fan FAQs. They are out of date the minute they get printed in online games, unless it's for a game that hardly gets updated.