Thread: WOW X LOTRO : There and Back again

Well , well , well There and Back again!

I played WOW for almost 2 years . For me , the World of wow is itself personage and caught my attention like never before . But Blizzard 's thirst for power to keep players addicts ( and this way , make money ) transformed wow for the worst . Story of Wow became confused , rivalry between factions became strange , and story became less important than ways of Blizzard to keep players online all the time . Do you know when you are playng wow and think : i dont know what to do now!!! Do you know when you awake and think : "i have to log quickly "- something is wrong . When playing is an obligation , not a pleasure , you are addicted and it is hard to exit . And goodbye pleasure and real life .



Then i found LOTRO . A refined game made by fans for fans and with Tolkien's background of books . Where i have pleasure to play and i dont feel impelled to play . In LOtro i feel like i was reading a Tolkien's book . Congratulations Turbine .

And you ? What do you see in WOW X Lotro differences in your life? Please , try to answer the question :

1- Wich is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

2- Better things in LOTRO . And WOW ?

3- Worst things in LOTRO . And wow ?

4- What could LOTRO learn with wow ?



I

Its nice that you quitted that cartoonish game and came to wonderfull LOTRO
LOTRO deserves better and i think it can be the greatest mmo of all in the future with the addition of Isengard and later Rohan and Gondor if those expansions are well made
Its funny because for the first time i want a game to succeed, i said its funnybecause its just a game , it might be just a game but imo is the best and has all the potentional to become the greatest mmo and offer the best mmo experience

Interesting thread.

I would have to say the two are not comparable. The only similarity being both are mmorpgs.

Wow's breakthrough was the creation of characters designed for the newest technology of the day. There were no constraints, no limitations. The story and game came later in the design to match the characters and technology. That's my feeling anyway. And the story is lacking.

Lotro is a world with a rich framework because of Tolkien. Tolkien's world is astounding in its detail and fantasy elements and his works are without peer. Those have been used here as blueprints to create a world and characters, not the other way around.

Turbine has done this before. Dungeons and Dragons Online is a Turbine game crafted as closely as possible to fit the D&D community, down to the 20 point die, yet is definitely not a board game anymore. Both games have players dedicated to the lore and history of the games' origins. Both games do a fine job of honoring that.

When I play Lotro, there is always the story in the back of my mind and I am following that story. I am in that story. If the characters are a bit off the mark as far as a strict interpretation of the lore goes, that doesn't change the fact that the game is still all about the story. A story that stirs the imagination.

Looking to compare "parts" of each is not fair and is a useless exercise. Neither can do much to change. Wow will never have a timeless work of art as a roadmap and Lotro will never have characters who were created for nothing but a graphical interface.

How many treads Like this one do we need? All that comes out of post like this is Troll wars. Where people areguse about why one game better then another.

To me I will not say which is better becuse I dont Play wow. Never have and never will.

1- Wich is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

Well, Wow = 9 points and Lotro = 5. But there are only 2 W's in the letter set, so getting both W's is unlikely.

2- Better things in LOTRO . And WOW ?

Lotro is full of dwarves, elves, goblins and other different races.
WoW is full of dwarves, elves, goblins, and other different races.

3- Worst things in LOTRO . And wow ?

WoW isn't free.
LoTRO is free, but you can pay for it if you want to.

4- What could LOTRO learn with wow ?

1 billion 12 year old subscribers >revenue than 150,000 adult subscribers

5- What could WoW learn with LoTRO?

150,000 adult subscribers >community than 1 billion 12 year old subscribers

1- Which is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

It's a pick your poison, that being said in my opinion edge goes to WoW(just talking the game not the community)

2- Better things in LOTRO . And WOW ?

LOTRO is set in Middle Earth. WoW has a sense of humour and better quest design, more content etc.

3- Worst things in LOTRO . And wow ?

LOTRO's Epic quest line is still very weak in my opinion and the way it progresses is tacky at best. Lack of content overall too.

WoW: Community, when you have that many subs you also inevitably get more morons but then again that's where the game is a victim of it's own success. If LOTRO and WoW switched the amount of subs they have around we'd be sitting here moaning about the amount of idiots in LOTRO right now.

4- What could LOTRO learn from wow ?

To give subscribers regular real content not call bug fixes content, they also need to realise that this game needs to be able to appeal to customers on it's own strengths not just because it's set and based on arguably the most recognized novels in the world, right now in my opinion it's struggling in that regard.

I'm much happier here. WoW felt like a job. LOTRO is like a movie that I can pop into a dvd player when ever I get in the mood.

Nothing wrong with WoW, it's just not my cup of tea. As for as 11 million subscribers, McDonalds is a HUGE hamburger joint and I can't stand the place. Small Mom and Pop resturants FTW. And they stay around for years, if not decades. You don't need millions of customers to have a good business.

Do you prefer Chocolate or Vanilla? Let's get all those 'Chocolate suckers'.. (Vanilla FTW!)

I played WoW in it's first version. (Pre first expansion). I had a level capped hunter doing end-game raids.

I left because I felt pressured to be the BEST ENDGAME RAIDER EVER OMG-BBQ! This is partly because I played a hunter (Why is it in MMO's the hunter is always the least desirable in end-game but the most played class?). But I felt the pressure was even there when playing Priest, Mage and Warlock.

Then my brother and his family started playing LOTRO. I gave it a go. Loved it. Have NOT gotten to endgame yet. But I still don't feel pressure. I haven't logged in since before Christmas, but it's partly because of the F2P model (I don't feel like I'm wasting money), and partly because the game doesn't feel like a race.

Truly a 'come and smell the roses as you go along' game.

At the end of the day, I feel WoW definitely captures the competitive spirit FAR better, but LOTRO makes up for it by making the view worthwhile as you go along.

Definitely my preferred option.

So.. Is either 1 better than the other? Nope. Both good. Just different audiences.

Dave

World of Warcraft is like Michael Jackson. It's sold millions even though it's absolutely horrible. And it mostly attracts little 9 year old boys. WOW is the Michael Jackson of the mmorpg genre.

LOTRO > WOW

I've given wow a chance numerous times and it's just one long chore. It's not "fun". It's a game built to be addictive rather than a game built to be fun and enjoyable. Logging in to LOTRO is a pleasure.

For me it boils down to this:

WoW is Saturday morning cartoons.

Lotro is sitting down with a good novel.

I enjoy both quite a bit, each for my own reasons, much as I also enjoy Aion and EVE. Of course, finding a solid group with whom I can adventure can definitely extend my enjoyment of a particular MMO game world. What might be a couple months on and off deal becomes a 2 year+ marathon of enjoyment.

My guild in WoW, who I've been with for 2+ years now, has really enhanced the experience, and it's something I look for in every MMO I play...and without fail, if I don't find a guild/kinship/legion/corp/etc where I feel at home, I end up doing the on again off again dance till I find one.

As Aydee said, it's really about choosing between Chocolate and Vanilla, at least for me. The real question is am I going to the Ice Cream shop with friends or just coasting through the drive-through alone.

The main difference between the two is I have played LotRO. I've never played WoW.

Huge difference.

Welcome to lotro

Wardad, I LOVE your hunter's name!

The only way I can think of to explain this is through another so-called MMO designed for kids: Wizardry. On a bored night, I tinkered with it, and laughed at the simplicity behind it, and thought it was a really awesome game for the kids. As I had started on the free 30-day trial with WOW, I noticed an extremely close similarity. Very simplistic, and very much geared towards the little ones. Let's not attempt to compare childrens games to LOTRO. There is content here that is very much geared towards a more mature type of mind.

I hear so much of this WOW Killer type of talk, when why kill WOW? There is no comparison. WOW and LOTRO are kindof like a Casino: The Adults play on the casino floor (LOTRO) while the kiddies go to the nursery (WOW). Of course, here, we do have the WOW kids come and take a look, then go back once they realize that we don't have the cartoons.

1- Which is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

Really tough to say - just from a general standpoint. Overall I like LotRO better - but it's certainly not without its faults

2- Better things in LOTRO . And WOW ?

Long, cohesive story line, more realistic environment entrenched in a deep lore. While WoW does have a lore, its environment is pure fantasy for the fun of it - LotRO on the other hand tries to make you feel part of the world that Tolkien created.

3- Worst things in LOTRO . And wow ?
LotRO's bad points pretty much boil down to the following:
1) Really borked itemization
2) Too little content
3) inability to capitalize on the social aspect of MMOs - including fluff (i.e. pets) and not taking advantage of the deed system to reach the same level as WoW's achievements.
4) Simplistic questing - While they've recently made things a bit more interesting, it's nowhere near as complex and smooth as some of the more recent quests from WoW.
5) Animations are pretty rough around the edges - WoW's animations just seem to flow better.


As far as WoW goes - it's not the embodiment of perfection either
1) Some of those interesting and creative quests tend to make you long for the standard ones - as descriptions tend to be pretty vague, and the quests themselves tend to be pretty involved.
2) Character customization still pretty much boils down to gear. While you do have some control over how your character looks in creation - LotRO still wipes the floor with it
3) The basic UI, while it has improved - is still really awkward without add-ons, and most panels don't match up to LotRO's in terms of usability and speed.
4) World of GrindCraft still shows its ugly face from time to time - though granted it is better than it was. With the exception of the drop rates of some quests, it's gotten pretty close to LotRO on that aspect.
5) With the exception of the newer classes - the character models are still just as fugly.
6) Getting around is still painful - you'll really miss swift travel.

4- What could LOTRO learn with wow ?

On the surface, both games are, now, actually pretty similar in basic features and methods. However, Blizzard just simply implemented things a bit better. Number one, they really need to map out some gear scaling. They have the same pieces in place that WoW does - including hard modes, and instant joins, but no real reason to do these things.

Second, even disregarding flying mounts and mechano-hogs as being not lore appropriate - don't underestimate the desires of players to get fun things. Whether that be non-combat pets, allowing Lore-Masters to "train" various world animals to be their pets, or simply integrating more of a social aspect into the deed system. The one thing that WoW does provide is a ton of stuff to do, that you feel rewarded for in some way. Even if it's an extra 10 achievement points.

This isn't about LotRO being WoW - but rather, LotRO being the best it can be. If that requires implementing things that WoW does so well, without compromising the lore, then by all means do it.

Originally Posted by tribaldragon72

The only way I can think of to explain this is through another so-called MMO designed for kids: Wizardry. On a bored night, I tinkered with it, and laughed at the simplicity behind it, and thought it was a really awesome game for the kids. As I had started on the free 30-day trial with WOW, I noticed an extremely close similarity. Very simplistic, and very much geared towards the little ones. Let's not attempt to compare childrens games to LOTRO. There is content here that is very much geared towards a more mature type of mind.

I hear so much of this WOW Killer type of talk, when why kill WOW? There is no comparison. WOW and LOTRO are kindof like a Casino: The Adults play on the casino floor (LOTRO) while the kiddies go to the nursery (WOW). Of course, here, we do have the WOW kids come and take a look, then go back once they realize that we don't have the cartoons.

I wouldn't want an MMO that freely references drunkeness, some sexual jokes (many of the joke and flirt emotes, and some quests), and violence (including torture) in the hands of little kids.

The fact of the matter is that adults, teens, and kids play and enjoy both games. Having played over a half dozen MMOs, ranging from trials, to betas, to launches and beyond, by far the most immature behavior I've seen is the very kind you just exhibited in your post. Stop trying to justify your own MMO choices by insulting those of others, and focus on enjoying what you have chosen and welcoming those who choose to enjoy the same.

When I first played World of Warcraft (WoW) my main MMORPG experience had been in EverQuest (EQ).

In EQ the crafting was horrible and never amounted to anything more than a time/platinum sink. You had to invest a lot of platinum and a lot of time to gain even a few skill points and the first sets of useable armor/weapons weren't magical and and couldn't possibly be crafted by characters who would be able to use them.

In WoW you could make gear for your character(s) that you could actually use and was better (up until about level 40) than most of the stuff you could get from quests and was on par with items from dungeons. This helped especially with additional characters as well as bringing along new players in your guild.

In WoW most of the crafting was done with material gathered from nodes rather than drops from monsters. They introduced skinning for leather which I still think is a nifty system although more than once I wished I could skin a Tauren and leave his body with exposed meat for all to see.

In EQ the questing was at best ill-thought and abominable. The game was designed from the ground up as a group-oriented game and that showed in practically everything. Unfortunately, getting groups to do the quests was practicaly impossible since only the quester would get anything worthwhile out of it.

In WoW questing is the way to gain the levels the quickest and the world is chock full of them. It gave a purpose to adventuring rather than sitting around waiting for an opening in a group so you could farm trash for a few hours and squabble about one player getting all the money.

In EQ only a few classes could solo effectively. Other classes could do a little soloing but after level 20 they had to group or get a mere pittance by fighting creatures they had outleveled almost to the point they got not experience what so ever.

In WoW you can level any class all the way to max level.

----------

Now, I know you said compare WoW and LOTRO, but I wanted to give you an idea of what life was like in what is arguably the main MMORPG at the release of WoW. What WoW did was take a lot of things players found disheartening about other MMORPGs and give a fresh outlook. EQ2 released close to when WoW released but didn't fare nearly as well. EQ2 has a lot of the same features as WoW except for one different. EQ2 was geared for group-play and WoW for solo or group.

WoW biggest feature was how they made it attractive to the PvP players (battle.net folks) and that's where they garnered most of their membership. Other MMORPG players drifted over but not all of them.

The biggest failure of WoW and one which doesn't matter to those battle.net folks is the PvP system. Strange phenomenon isn't it? PvP and PvE don't mix. WoW proved that and they showed the way they were taking their game with WotLK by "normalizing" the classes for PvE play. Now all the "tanks" could take equally effectively and all of the "healers" could heal equally effectively and so forth. They took the heart out of their PvE game by doing that.

And that is where LOTRO shines over WoW. LOTRO is geared for PvE with a tiny PvP element tacked on. They would be fools to monkey with that although I know big, conglomerate Warner Brothers is probably doing just that regardless of all the denial their representatives give that they aren't.

LOTRO, even with its problem children, has a lot more diversity and interesting game play than was left to the WoW players who like PvE. That's its main attraction.

Originally Posted by ORLLOFF

And you ? What do you see in WOW X Lotro differences in your life? Please , try to answer the question:

1- Which is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

LOTRO

2- Better things in LOTRO?

Most of the players in LOTRO that I've interacted with play (and pay for) LOTRO for the enjoyment it brings them and remain unconcerned about WOW.

3- Worst things in LOTRO?

WOW players having existential epeen/gearscore crisis and bringing up WOW for some reason or another.

4- What could LOTRO learn with WOW?

What not to do.

This thread shows how elitist and negatively biased some of us are against WoW.

LOTRO isn't much more than a WoW clone with a LOTR costume on. There are only 3 major things that set the two games apart. None of those 3 things can be just labeled as "good" or "bad", because they are subjective matters.

-Setting
-Art Direction
-PvE/PvP focus rate

Setting those aside and looking at the underlying mechanics; LOTRO and WoW are incredibly similar games. Of course there are many minor differences, but both games are pretty much built upon the same foundations. Except WoW is much more refined and developed right now.

I've been playing WoW for the past month and a bit after playing LOTRO since open beta. I'm kinda burnt out after all this time I guess... I've run out of things I want to do and have fun doing in Middle Earth so I'm on break

Things I like in WoW so far that could come to LOTRO:

• The scale/feel of some of the zones and story lines. I've been running quests in the middle of battles and to be able to look around and see npcs fighting all over the place gave it a much more epic feel. Mirkwood for example could have been much more interesting if I was at the front lines and there was some ebb and flow in the battle rather than it always feeling like I was late for the party and victory was assured.
• PvP. I only dabbled in the moors here and lost interest pretty much every time I tried. By contrast, I've thoroughly enjoyed the battleground I tried a few times so far in WoW - clear objective, fewer numbers and small zone and a time limit make for an enjoyable time.
• Pets and pet pathing.
• The guild interface.
• Loading times.

Things I really miss from LOTRO:

• The cosmetics system. Cosmetics/wardrobe etc. are absolutely amazing and something I'll probably miss in every game where I have to look like a patchwork doll.
• The epic storylines. WoW does storylines inside zones really well (as well as LOTRO does) but there's really nothing I've seen so far that compares to the Epic Book quests.

In terms of graphics both games are great. Both have their own style that really does help set their respective tone and mood. Both have awesome world designers (as a side note, I'd love to see what the Turbine guys/girls could come up with if they weren't bound by lore). That being said, I do prefer WoW's character animations - much smoother.

I don't really see one as better than the other and it's a bit silly to try to compare Blizzard's comic hack and slash fantasy to Tolkien's work. For me it comes down to whatever I'm having fun in at the time. When it stops being fun I'll switch or find something else to try.

LOTRO and WOW are both great games. Both games are extremely well made, handle large range of hardware from running on basic machines to taking advantage of latest high-end hardware.

WOW is very action oriented, lots of things to do. Things happen fast and constantly happening.
LOTRO is more story driven, lots of things to see and discover. Things tend to build up to climaxes.

WOW has a extremely large advertising budget and made by a company that has millions of fans of their games.
LOTRO has a minimal advertising budget and is made by a company that has thousands of fans of their MMORPGs.

WOW style is very over the top, very colorful, very Visually memorable.
LOTRO style is more realistic, areas are made to be believable they could exist.

WOW is a Magic Heavy world, magic = technology and is used everywhere.
LOTRO is a Magic light world, magic = mystery and rare.

WOW game play is meant to humorous, light hearted. Jokes and Humor Easter eggs everywhere.
LOTRO game play has a more serious note to it. Easter Eggs are more dedications and tributes.

WOW is based on the lore of World of Warcraft, where it attempts to show both sides of the story. A much more modern approach to story telling.
LOTRO is based of the lore of Lord of the Rings, where the story is viewed from the eyes of the hero. A more traditional approach to story telling.

What could LOTRO learn from WoW: Advertising = Players.
What could Wow learn from LOTRO: F2P increases revenues.

Originally Posted by AscusF2P

What could Wow learn from LOTRO: F2P increases revenues.

WoW is doing just fine without F2P last I checked, they have more than enough people willing to pay for their product(what is it like 2/3 of the MMO market), don't see them starting to dump resources into F2P to get in a bunch of people that will just add more overhead cost and potentially alienate their current clientele.

Originally Posted by ORLLOFF

Wich is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

LOTRO is worth paying for.

WoW isn't even worth playing.

Originally Posted by Nymphonic

Wardad, I LOVE your hunter's name!

Thank you I tried to think of a non copyright name that fit a character that "shoots" with weapons. I love lotr lore and so forth, but I also like having fun within the fun I own EVERY C & H book by Mr. Watterson. (they are "required" reading in my home)

Originally Posted by Nymphonic

I'm much happier here. WoW felt like a job. LOTRO is like a movie that I can pop into a dvd player when ever I get in the mood.

Nothing wrong with WoW, it's just not my cup of tea. As for as 11 million subscribers, McDonalds is a HUGE hamburger joint and I can't stand the place. Small Mom and Pop resturants FTW. And they stay around for years, if not decades. You don't need millions of customers to have a good business.

When is the last time you've really played through WoW? It was pretty bad but they've got most of the "chore" stuff taken out. Quests are very, very fun (althought Outlands is outdated) and nothing is really boring anymore. Even gold isn't that hard to come by.

That said, my only problem with Blizzard is they make the game very addicting on purpose to keep getting more money. I had 65 played days on 1 character in a year. Granted a lot of that was afk as I tend to just get up and go without logging out, I found that to be way to much so I came here. I year and I've only got 2 weeks played time. Much better :P

Oh and McDonalds obviously did something right

I kind of like their drinks anyways

I just thought I'd put my 2 cents in here as well. There have been several threads made along the same line as this recently, even in the time i've been playing lotro, about the last 3 weeks.

I think for me, LOTRO is far better than wow in many aspects. I played wow for close to 2 years. I've played EQ, EQ2, DAOC, Vanguard, EVE, SWG, AO, DDO, and probably a couple I'm leaving out.

LOTRO I think is my favorite of them all. And the reason being is that it doesn't feel like you have to be comitted to the game to have a good time. You feel reward with anything you do. Everything works within reason, at least the way i see it. The ability to make gold early on, crafted stuff is actually good in early levels, travel is good, housing is better than NONE, all classes feel individual and not redundant. I can't say for cosmetics at end game, but in wow, you know who anyone is by looking at their massive shoulderpads. Everyone looks the damn same way. What peaved me off was the fact that (at least in wotlk) my warrior couldn't look individual at all at end game (or any other class), any heavy armor class could have the same looking armor as me, because war tier gear looked the same as icc drop gear... -***?

The popular saying for wow is, the game doesn't start until 80 (or 85 now). And that seems so true. Leveling toons in completely empty zones questing is sooo much fun, isn't it? But that's where the dungeon finder comes in. So now, I can do meaningless quests with lore as deep as a toilet bowl while waiting for my dungeon queue, so I can then group with 4 other people I have never played with, and will most likely never play with again, and being low level, probably either suck, or have a huge ego, or both (this is 80% of the time, but new players are new players).

So, you rinse and repeat this process until you get to max level. Wow questing better than lotro? Are you kidding me? I didn't know how fun quests could be until i played THIS game. Class quests? DO NOT EXIST IN WOW ANYMORE. Crafting quests? I never had to do one and had several high level crafters and gatherers(I don't think there are any). I will give it to Blizzard for the death knight intro area, that was awesome. Hands down some of the best questing and lore involvement in wow.

Yes, there are seasonal events, big events like the battle for undercity or whatever. That is not the norm with wow, it is the exception.

End game with wow is NOT FUN. It is a job. Healing meters, dps meters, gearscore, achieves and everything else to go with epeen enlargement is not in lotro, and lotro is better for it. Bring the player, not the class/gear/etc is much better. Oh, but in a guild you know who you're raiding with you might say. Any decent guild requires an app with a resume liking to a professional job. Let me know when lotro gets a site made similar to wowprogress.com or worldoflogs.com. Nothing like having a 13 year old scream into his mic because someone didn't move out of fire or whatever dumb reason.

PVP? Yes, pvp is fun in wow until 80, err, 85. UNLESS, you put your effort into getting pvp gear, and talent appropriately. You pvp, or you raid, but most don't do both seriously. PREMADE BG'S 1K+ RESIL OR NO INVITE! fun times at max level with little resil, nothing but dirtnaps.

I haven't tried the pvp in lotro yet, I'll give it a shot when I get a toon there. I have pvp'd a ton in every mmo i have played practically, and wow just made me not give a rats **** about it anymore, but that's just me.

LOTRO is a breath of fresh air. My wife still plays wow, her main is at 85 doing heroic 5 mans. It just looks mind numbing. Oh wow, all this new content....appeared out of where? Oh, the earth shifted and its a cataclysm that just created all these new towers and structures and towns...in the supposedly explored areas of azeroth. But what's the timeline? Oh, my hero has been where this whole time? How old is he now? Give me a break. I'm sure some wow lore nerd can fill me in, I'm not going to read any more NEW freshly created pulled from my backside wow lore on wowwiki to find out.

This post is getting long. Some other positives with LOTRO imo real quick.
Class mechanics and group mechanics - combat complexity if you will. Far better than wow.
Better travel
The graphics for sure
skirmishes are a blast - no equal in wow
trait system is better than talent trees
From what I can tell, LI's look to be very cool. (vs, oh, look at my ilvl 277 axe i enchanted with berserker that I can't name and is the same as every other one out there that everyone else uses because its bis)

I saw someone bring up the fact they achieves were better than deeds... Oh yes, achieves do so much for my toons performance....maybe EPEEN performance. Deeds are something to work for that make you better with traits, amiright?

I'm done I think. This comes from someone with MONTHS of played time in wow. I can give you good reasons why wow burns out an intellectual, regardless of what you compare it to.

LOTRO has hobbits. I play LOTRO. ^_^

Originally Posted by Vhivi

When I first played World of Warcraft (WoW) my main MMORPG experience had been in EverQuest (EQ).

Not going to quote the entire thing for simplicity's sake. You do realize that your section glorifying WoW over EQ is, well, just a bit unfair given the circumstances I hope

EQ launched on March 19th 1999 (I started EQ probably around June of 99)

WoW launched on November 22nd 2004

All of the things that you listed that WoW had 'better' than EQ is exactly what the devs in WoW intended when they basically copied all the ideas from EQ and a few other MMO's and tossed them together in their attempt to cash in on the MMO craze with their insanely popular (for whatever reason as I consider them boring) Warcraft and Starcraft RTS series.

This is not unfair or unusual for a company to do, but it points to the fact that WoW was created an MMO generational step beyond EQ. They tried to incorporate as many of the 'good' ideas from what already existed (EQ, DAoC, etc) and then tried to improve on those that weren't. Pretty standard practice in any industry really.

Also of note, the WoW of today is not just an expanded WoW from launch...they've revamped many times since then.



To compare WoW to Lotro, well...

They appeal to different audiences so it's difficult to say. I also don't consider myself enough of an authority on lotro yet (as you can see, my highest char is only 40) to really give a fair judging. Though I can definitely say that the majority of the community here is several notches above that of WoW and that alone is a big plus.

WoW is successful because it's successful. At this point the majority of their draw is their huge playerbase. Unfortunately it's also its own "WoW Killer" at the same time as many who may even enjoy the game end up getting driven off from being fed up with dealing with the mentality of their fellow players there. However, other people still see all those playing it, or they have so many friends playing it that they figure they should give it a try, etc, etc. It becomes an endless cycle...but the main reason why the term "WoW killer" was even coined because a lot there are looking to escape...somewhere deep inside they want it to die.

There's fun in both lotro and wow really, but mostly with WoW it's when it openly makes fun of itself in game with a particular boss action or quote.

Originally Posted by purpleCow876

1- Wich is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

Well, Wow = 9 points and Lotro = 5. But there are only 2 W's in the letter set, so getting both W's is unlikely.

So then, as per the title of the thread: WOW X LOTRO = 45

Question #1 is like asking "Which is better? Movies or Television". There is no correct answer.

Really simply, the way I see it - WoW is Fable, and LotRO is Oblivion. Fable/WoW is a lot more topically fun (fun as in goofy) and fantasy-oriented more in a Discworld way than a Malazan way. Oblivion/LotRO is a more serious game, with a narrower market of people more dedicated to the background of the game, and a fantasy orientation closer to The Belgariad (as classic fantasy) than, say, Forgotten Realms.

I think LotRO would benefit from a bit more levity (humour really does stick around in war, just not during the battles), a bit more spontaneity, and a bit less dogged persistence on directly following the books (which was why I think SoA was better than Volume 3 stuff - it was based in Middle Earth and on the books, but not devoted to tripping on the heels of the story as it was written). Overall, though, LotRO is a more serious game for people more serious about the world their game is set in, and it does what it sets out to do well; that's not to say players can't enjoy other less grim games, though (I enjoyed the lightness of Aion, and only left because I could never really find a group to mesh with).

I played WoW about 5 years ago for 2 years or so, up to the level cap (then 60). I quit when my account got hacked.

I'm a huge fan of LotRO though, and Lifetime/Founder with two accounts here.

Some of our kin have been playing WoW though (mostly do to the slow release of new content here), so I rolled a new toon there to check out the changes in Cataclysm.

It's interesting playing both games (and the many other MMOs I've dabbled with, including FF-14, AoC, DAoC, DDO, Wizard-101, PotC, etc).

Every game offers some really nice features; and each also has some big drawbacks or shortfalls.

COMMUNITY

LotRO has the best community, a great story, and is wonderfully immersive. Some of the instances are really well done, and offer a great challenge (mostly without being too difficult for casual gamers like us). LotRO has great support for cosmetic outfits, and adequate housing/trophies.

The WoW community is mixed. The first server we tried (Emerald Dream) was dreadful. The world-chat was far worse than GLFF, mostly really stupid adolescent humor. The Hyjal server was much better. Still not as mature and helpful overall as Landroval, but not bad.

Supposedly there's some RP in WoW, but I've never seen it. I can't imagine attempting to RP - the environment is just too hectic, noisy and unrealistic. LotRO RP is much more prevalent (though I am on Landroval, which is the unofficial RP server, so that may be part of it).

INTERFACE and MECHANICS

The way you play both games is very similar. The combat system and skill trees are quite similar to LotRO's, and work well. The dual-spec support is very nice - you can swap between two specs with a simple button click.

Overall, WoW has far more flexibility, when you consider all the amazing add-ons you can use to customize the UI. The add-ons are incredible. WoW allows third-party developers to do a lot more than LotRO does. There are literally thousands of add-ons you can get, and some of them are very professional.

Add-ons are notorious for enabling hackers to gain access to your account though, so that's a big drawback. WoW supports using an Authenticator (which I do), which is very easy and nice. I run a free app on my Droid phone which is like a second password (and it changes every 30 seconds), so it makes the account far more secure.

But LotRO's interface is good enough. The game-play is very good, and offers a few things not found in WoW, such as skill queues. In WoW, you can't use a skill until your previous one finishes - and every time you try to, your character says 'I can't do that now!' which gets REALLY annoying after a few hundred times.

WoW has terrific support for Guilds. You can open a panel to show all the crafts, pick one to show all the characters in you guild who do that craft, click on them to show all the recipes they can make, etc. Guilds have achievements, and good benefits for 'leveling up' your guild. Way better than LotRO.

WoW has no support for cosmetic gear or housing at all. LotRO's housing is only mediocre, but the support for cosmetic gear is good and getting better.

PVP

WoW PvP has some really good aspects. I tried a PvP server first, and you do get ganked pretty often - but it does make things exciting. The Hyjal server is not open-world PvP, it's more like LotRO. The main difference is there are lots of evenly matched 'battlegrounds'. You queue up for one, and very quickly you are ported to an area for a 10 on 10 battle with specific goals (like Capture the Flag, etc). The level range is restricted (e.g. 15-20, etc). Some toons do get very twinked with all the best gear, but normally it's a fair fight. Good rewards too. LotRO could easily add something like this in skirmishes I think. You can also be part of a ranked team: 2v2, 3v3, 5v5, etc. I think there are much bigger battles too, but I haven't tried them yet.

I love the concept of PvMP in LotRO (fighting as or against wargs and spiders and such is really cool). But with a little more structure; it could be vastly improved.

QUESTS

Though LotRO's epic story line is good, and there are some very good quests, there aren't too many 'fun' ones. Many of the quests are fairly boring.

Session play offers some nice variety, and is usually pretty good. Playing a dwarf with an AoE knock-back on the bridge in Moria was a blast. Playing an Angmarim so we could berate some prison guards was boring. It might be better if they could figure out a way for us to play our own character, just with some special abilities for the duration of the session.

WoW has massive content, incredible variety, and some really interesting quests. Many of the quests are like LotRO's, but they have a lot of other types of quests too. They are sort of like LotRO's session-play quests: occasional palette-refreshing variety. You get to pilot a boat around to put fires, fly around on a helicopter and drop bombs, fly around on jet-boots burning zombies, or man a cannon to stop invading waves of attackers. These are a lot of fun, and just frequent enough to provide a nice break from regular questing.

WoW has a lot of these special quests. But they're sort of like cut-scenes: lots of fun, but zero risk, so they are basically just an amusing diversion. Unlike session-play though, you are still playing your character - just with a different look (such as a disguise) or mount/vehicle, or abilities. Session-play is too rare in LotRO (maybe 2% at the most). WoW's version is a lot more common, probably at least 5-10% of the quests are 'special' ones.

So far though (and I'm only level 52 in WoW, so this may not be a fair observation), there is almost no challenge. None of the instances I've been in have been challenging at all - you can easily do them with a pug on your first try. Sure, it's possible to wipe if someone screws up, but it's pretty rare. And there's not much CC or other tactis - you just tank/heal/dps.

LotRO has a lot of fun, challenging instances. Many of the instances require special tactics.

GROUPING

WoW's Dungeon Finder is amazing. You join a queue for a random instance (or one of your choice). You pick your role: tank, healer, or DPS. Within a couple minutes at most, you are ported to a instance with a group of 5. You can join as a group too, which means even less wait. It's cross-server, so there's always people ready to go.

It's not an issue for me in LotRO (I'm in an active mid-size kin, with a good alliance chat-channel, so I almost never PUG). But for those who do, it's a really nice feature.

WoW lets you get the quests from NPCs inside the instance. That's a simple but nice idea. We did the 16th Hall the other day, and luckily one of the players had the quests to share. Otherwise, we would have had to leave the instance, and run all the way down to Shadowed Refuge. On the other hand, although the whole join-from-anywhere is really nice, it has drawbacks. In LotRO, I did all the instances the old school way. So I had all the quests, and got pretty immersed in the story-line. I haven't done that in WoW, so when I port to an instance, I really have no idea how it fits into the story. The same is true of LotRO, I guess. They should probably make you finish the instance once, before you can auto-port to it (sort of like it used to work with Reflecting Pools).

DEEDS / ACHIEVEMENTS

I'm a completionist; I actually enjoy doing deeds and such. Getting rewards like Turbine Points and a title for finishing a deed is nice. Most are fairly boring though - kill 360 mobs and such. There are a few fun ones, like cliff-diving in Moria, and Ridge Racer and such.

WoW has "Achievements". Some are like LotRO's deeds (slay, explore, etc), but there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of other interesting ones. There are way too many to mention here, but they really add a lot of fun to the game I think. I'd love to see Turbine add something like that here.

HOBBIES

WoW's gathering/crafting/hobby system is pretty good. Everyone can get Cooking, First-aid, Fishing, and the new Archaeology. Then you can choose 2 others from a pretty long list. Lots of lots of interesting recipes.

LotRO fishing is dreadfully boring. In WoW fishing, you can catch all sorts of interesing and potentially valuable things. I don't think it would break the lore, to let you catch an item once in a while - after all, the One Ring was found that way, right? WoW also has fishing tournaments every week - more fun than LotRO's 'catch as many as you can in 20 minutes' festival quests.

WoW has a new archaeology hobby. You dig stuff up in all the ruins. So far, I haven't found anything useful doing it, but each piece has a little lore with it, which is interesting. This hobby would be even better in LotRO. I'd rather dig around in an old Troll cave, and find a potential Glamdring or Sting - instead of having one drop off of every other orc in Moria.


I'd really like to see both games copy some ideas from each other.

I always wished for housing on Wow - Lotro has it. I didn't mind the cartoonish style, it has it's charme but it was very refreshing to have a more real feel to it which brings me to the wardrobe/outfits. There are so many nice set's in Wow - that you just could not wear because of the stats - Lotro has imho the best solution here.

Both of this is still upgradeable of course ;o)

The achievements were fun at first - but being a completionist (or trying best with my limited time) - it could get a bit frustrating. What killed it for me was the daily quests. By the time you've done them often enough to have enough rep/tokens/whatever for a nice chestpiece it's already obsolete because the next thing came out. A bit like a daily chore - do those dailies here then fly over there, do the fishing quest, finish all the old dungeons for the achievements .... etc etc.

While the events are nice with nice very rewards in Wow - the same thing, you had to almost log in every day in order to get the rewards. I have a far more relaxed experience here in Lotro.

I don't really do PvP, maybe I should try that here - I would assume Wow has more to offer there.

Re-specs: While it was fun to play around with the different talent trees in Wow - so often they re-designed your class it was almost alien to you. Again there seems to be more room here and not so much min-maxing, but I'm still fairly new, maybe I'm wrong about that.

I can't even remember Wow's quest system, I like the Lotro tracker and the map.

I like that I can move the UI how I want and I don't have to download addons or know much about it ;o)

The flying was awesome in Wow - I do miss that a bit sometimes. Nice animations for the engineer planecopter.

I don't look back, I had a nice time in Wow and personally never had any community issues on the european pve server I was on. But that's the past. Since Lotro is free I would probably recommend that first if someone new to the genre asks me.

Originally Posted by ORLLOFF

1- Wich is better? LOTRO or WOW ?

2- Better things in LOTRO . And WOW ?

3- Worst things in LOTRO . And wow ?

4- What could LOTRO learn with wow ?
I

1. Story in LoTRO(save for Moria storyline).

2. Lag-free play LoTRO. I play WoW for about 30-45 days every year as a break from LoTRO as a refresher and to remind myself how nice it truly is over here. Do the major cities like Stormwind or Ogrimar or any other city need that many NPCs? I understand PvP sieges but even then it seems very much over done and could easily reduce server load if they remove any number of those waste of spaces. Granted we have our own waste of spaces standing on boxes in the 21st hall.

Dungeon Finder in WoW including the cross-server group finding is very nice. Although that comes with its own drawbacks. The drawbacks are more related to the WoW community than anything else. WoW's itemization(to a degree) is something that LoTRO could benefit from. More choices are always welcome just don't funnel to one final place. Comparable Incomparable is the name of the game we are looking for and accustomed to here. The shear number of dungeons in WoW is something to marvel at. I have real life friends that leveled the new races recently and from level 20-58 they did nothing but using the random dungeon finder. It took about 3 days for them to do that span.

3. Moria is the attempt by the previous LoTRO regime at WoW-ification. The gear gating and grinds introduced during these dark times are a scar on this otherwise spectacular game. If anybody wants a picture of what could have happened in this game if Vile Maw gear was allowed to stand as a benchmark for future gear look at WoW's gear progression. Thankfully the new direction specifically removal of radiance gear is something I look forward to. Can anybody that was here during SoA days imagine if we had to get max rep with the Eldang just to equip Rift gear?

WoW's ingame economy could be the envy of 1920s Germany -- There I said it. Their solution to squash gold sellers was to just "print more money." When you look at the economy here, there are significant barriers to gold selling. I am not saying its non-existent but proportionately its significantly less.

No Swift Travel in WoW except a handful of locations. Granted this works in their favor in creating a perceptively larger world along with the slower character running.

Leveling in both games is too fast in my opinion but WoW is really bad when on level quests will roughly equate to 1 bubble on your XP bar.

When an entire cottage industry has sprouted for add-ons, you have failed core development fundamentals. I am cautiously optimistic about the metered approach that LoTRO has taken. I pray that the day never arrives in Middle Earth where these "optional" add-ons become requirements for game enjoyment.

Something people keep bringing up is the lack of new content for lotro, and some of the nice features that wow has that are all of 1 month and 3 days old now.

Wow went a YEAR without any major content update from ICC to cata. You could include ruby sanctum in there if you want, but ONE dinky raid in one year's time? When has blizzard added entire zones for free as part of content updates not counting raids? None that I can think of.

Barrier to entry is another one that makes Blizzard suck. You're not playing past lvl 80 for less than $80 or $90 if you can find a deal, and full retail is $120. Oh, that includes 1 month of play! TOTAL

UI is also brought up. The amazing power of LUA and all the flexibility. Yes, I absolutely LOVE updating 20+ addons everytime blizzard patches, wonderful. You can say don't use any....try using that excuse when you attempt to get into a serious raiding guild, which most require a screenshot of your UI before they let you in.

Sorry, playing wow has made me hate it, and dislike blizzard. I used to think the world of blizzard having played wc, wc2, sc, diablo 1 and 2. Amazing games. I don't have that kind of angst against eq/eq2, daoc, etc etc. (well, swg's combat update sucked and i quit over it, as did everyone else)

But this is my opinion. And I love a good fanboi argument!

Originally Posted by Digital_Utopia

4- What could LOTRO learn with wow ?

On the surface, both games are, now, actually pretty similar in basic features and methods. However, Blizzard just simply implemented things a bit better. Number one, they really need to map out some gear scaling. They have the same pieces in place that WoW does - including hard modes, and instant joins, but no real reason to do these things.
.

I dunno, I've heard equipment matters big time in WoW. LOTRO is deliberatly trying to avoid that by haveing the improvements in gear be small increments. havething is a massive improvement in gear in the right cases can just lead to a "have vs have not" situation.

WoW:
High Budget
Large player base
Mixed maturity level community
Cartoony and funny
Amazing Pvp
Iffy grouping

Lotro:
Lower budget
Small player base
Mainly mature community
More serious and realistic
Ehhh Pvp
Good grouping


And the most important point is Wow is not based on a story, Lotro is. so....

Play lotro if: you are looking for a more mature serious gaming experiance with a focus on the story and grouping.

Play wow if: you are looking for a cartoony game with lots of players with a focus on endgame and Pvp.

Do i like one more than the other? no. Does one suit me better? Yes.
Lotro.

Both have pluses and minuses.

Wow is more fun for me because:
1. I can use the Auction to make money in Wow but in Lotro it is too time consuming. Auctioneer makes Wow much better than Lotro for me.
2. Wow is huge. So many places and instances. Just feels bigger and more open than Lotro. I have to get to a certain level in Lotro before I can go to a new place. Wow has more places to visit for my level.
3. PVP is a fun break.
4. Dungeon finder is great.
I am a casual player, and like leveling in Wow - I haven't played for years yet, so I like Wow even without getting to a high level.
5. Bag space is so small in Lotro compared to Wow. This also reduces fun, but AFAIK Turbine is stuck and can't improve this one.
6. Addons - I have only two or 3 addons in Wow and still I am all set, and like it much better than Lotro when I have less options. Addons are a bonus, not a drag for me. Again I am not hardcore and never have raided.
7. Having played both for over a year, Wow seems to go faster - it took me a long time to get to Moria in Lotro. I am a very casual (0-2 hours per day) player - I like the faster leveling in Wow. I cannot really raid - my family/kids/wife do not let me take a few hours just to play.

Lotro is better:
Story, Atmosphere, no cartoons, nicer landscapes, much nicer people playing with me. Cosmetic outfits are a huge bonus.

Maybe after a while I will switch back to Lotro, but now I live in Wow. I don't think either is better - but I don't like the faults of Lotro (bags, time consuming auctioning, no dungeon finder, not so accessible PVP).

So which is better in the end? Uno Pizzeria or Friendly's Ice Cream?

I guess it all depends on what you enjoy the most. If you homogenize everything to the same point, then you loose the flavor of what someone else finds tempting. Yes, I grasp the nature of these posts and the intent to point out the features that stand out in the various games, but it is all meaningless in the end.

If it were that easy to take the best features and strong points from every major MMO in this genre and encapsulate them in a single game, don't you think some company out there would simply capitalize on that concept?

It's just my off the wall opinion, but I think that most games try and find their niche in the MMO arena and then capitalize on that segment that they do best. WoW is the exception to online gaming success, not the rule. Even Blizzard did not anticipate the level of success that they enjoy.

There will however always be games that appeal to those looking for a more specific genre and experience and those games will survive so long as they continue to develop around that niche concept. If a game attempts to become too much like game "X"; then why not play game "X" who already established and in most cases perfected those concepts.

I played WoW for over 5 years. WoW is a good game and I had fun.

Having finally tired of WoW, I have played LOTRO for a few months.

LOTRO is a good game and I am having fun.

In other words, they are both good games. I do not see how comparing them matters.

People play what is fun to them until it is not.

I have to say though....if you posted a thread comparing WoW to LOTRO on the WoW forums, you would be flamed big time for sure. I find this community more civil even in the forums, most of the time.