Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

[Kyrvias]

Ha! A "Not WoW" topic!

Shadows of Angmar

Shaping up to be an MMORPG to rival world of warcraft, me thinks. The community people are active and answer questions weekly, and information/screens are released bits at a time.

I can't wait

[Ivelliis]

And we thought we had too many zomgz legolaselfhuntr's in WoW *grin*

[SpiritWarrior]

Look again. Turbine are developing this one. I direct your attention to the laughable blob of code they called DDO. Plus there are 4 races in this game, no mounts and no pvp. And they plan to charge for it of course. A rival to WoW, I doubt. I am just angry that this company seems to be getting all the good licenses.

[Luvian]

I think that they implemented DDO extremly well.

What's Dungeons and Dragons? A group of people getting together and running a module. What's DDO? A group of people getting together and running a module.

They were asked to reproduce pen and paper D&D as an online game, and I think they are the closest too the real D&D than anyone ever managed. D&D is a party based game. You can not just play it alone. You need your cleric, your thief, your fighter, maybe a mage. All modules are based like that. So when people are complaining that DDO is party based only I'm wondering what they are complaining about, isn't that what D&D has always been all about? Turbine pretty much took the rules of the pen and paper game and just implemented in a 3d map, it's pretty much the same thing.

I have never played a pen and paper campaign where I was the only player and going around the countryside killing monsters at random. You do move around in pen and paper, but it's usually just a straight line between two points and sometimes you get a random encounter, it's not the focus of the game, and neither is showing off your loot.

And I don't see the game having only one city as a problem. Don't tell me you never played a pen and paper campaign where your players had a base they always returned between adventures, or adventured exclusively in one area. Just take a look at Waterdeep/Undermountain for an example, you can play in there and never get out if you want. Or if you want to compare it to a game, even Planescape Torment had very little areas. You spent the majority of your time in Sigil, with a little sidetrack trough the planes, but really, most of the game was in the city, and it's still one of the greatest game ever. It's not like adventuring in just one area is somethign new Turbine invented.

Personally I'm really happy it has nothing in common with other mmorpgs, for two reasons. If it was like other mmorpgs then it would have nothing to do with Dungeons and Dragons, and secondly, some variety is good. I'm getting pretty sick of generic mmorpgs.

So what's DDO to me? A Pen and Paper simulation, or as close as it can get. Granted, I usually like my campaigns to be more social/political, but you can't always pick your DM, and the DDO DM apparently love Dungeons Crawls. I can live with it.


But Lords of the Rings is a different setting completely. What's telling you that it won't turn out to be a generic mmorpg like WoW, Lineage II and such? Oh, and what's wrong with a game that doesn't include pvp?

[ 08-01-2006, 06:20 AM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

[Kyrvias]

Very well said, Luvian.

In all seriousness, the lack of PvP has been discussed to hell and back again on that froum. The conclusion most people came to is that the lack of PvP is a good thing. A very good thing.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally posted by Luvian: I think that they implemented DDO extremly well. What's Dungeons and Dragons? A group of people getting together and running a module. What's DDO? A group of people getting together and running a module. They were asked to reproduce pen and paper D&D as an online game, and I think they are the closest too the real D&D than anyone ever managed. D&D is a party based game. You can not just play it alone. You need your cleric, your thief, your fighter, maybe a mage. All modules are based like that. So when people are complaining that DDO is party based only I'm wondering what they are complaining about, isn't that what D&D has always been all about? Turbine pretty much took the rules of the pen and paper game and just implemented in a 3d map, it's pretty much the same thing. I have never played a pen and paper campaign where I was the only player and going around the countryside killing monsters at random. You do move around in pen and paper, but it's usually just a straight line between two points and sometimes you get a random encounter, it's not the focus of the game, and neither is showing off your loot. And I don't see the game having only one city as a problem. Don't tell me you never played a pen and paper campaign where your players had a base they always returned between adventures, or adventured exclusively in one area. Just take a look at Waterdeep/Undermountain for an example, you can play in there and never get out if you want. Or if you want to compare it to a game, even Planescape Torment had very little areas. You spent the majority of your time in Sigil, with a little sidetrack trough the planes, but really, most of the game was in the city, and it's still one of the greatest game ever. It's not like adventuring in just one area is somethign new Turbine invented. Personally I'm really happy it has nothing in common with other mmorpgs, for two reasons. If it was like other mmorpgs then it would have nothing to do with Dungeons and Dragons, and secondly, some variety is good. I'm getting pretty sick of generic mmorpgs. So what's DDO to me? A Pen and Paper simulation, or as close as it can get. Granted, I usually like my campaigns to be more social/political, but you can't always pick your DM, and the DDO DM apparently love Dungeons Crawls. I can live with it. But Lords of the Rings is a different setting completely. What's telling you that it won't turn out to be a generic mmorpg like WoW, Lineage II and such? Oh, and what's wrong with a game that doesn't include pvp?

But D&D is fun and DDO is not fun. I need to say I know its not WoW. Your post seems to refer to WoW at times without actually mentioning the game [img]tongue.gif[/img] . But I also know it is not the closest thing to the tabletop games of D&D I used to play. I think NWN's gets that spot. It (DDO) is a feeble attempt at D&D IMHO. The same triggers and traps get old after 100 dungeons, Baldurs Gate had more variety. The one city thing usually isn't a big deal since the dungeons your characters are exploring are just so interesting you don't care. Here it is not the case. You can't help but complain about the one city since the dungeons are so repetetive and boring. Even with linear travel from point-to-point you don't get any random encounters. Apparently many people agree on the forums too. As for pvp, it is always a good thing to have optional PvP in a game. The D&D setting isn't really about PvP, but you find yourself noticing its absence since the rest of the content is far from exciting. It would be a welcome diversion.

I took part in the beta and did the trial for DDO btw and have discussed the game's faults previously :

http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...=000338#000000

[NagaSaki]

Putting it extremely bluntly, Computer AI sucks. People want to have Player Vs Player to have skilled oposition. Yes no pvp may stop the leet trash talking kiddies that wow has but it just wont make as much money which i guess is the main aim here?

[Timber Loftis]

DDO was ass, and I expect this will be more ass.

[Kyrvias]

Wow. The lack of enthusiasm in here is astounding. I think it will be a good game. And if any of you read why they're taking out {vP, you would understand it's a great decision.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally posted by Kyrvias: Wow. The lack of enthusiasm in here is astounding. I think it will be a good game. And if any of you read why they're taking out {vP, you would understand it's a great decision.

Welcome to the last year or two of MMO's. We are bitter after seeing our favourite games butchered as a company tries to cash in on the MMO-trend, showing little care for the source material and more for their pockets. You lose enthusiasm for these things after awhile and instead just hope that they don't drag the label down with it.