Good Enough but Not a Keepr

Nine million or whatever the number is should say all there is to say, and yet it doesn't.  I hope one of the games releasing this year has something up its sleeve.  If they doesn't I'm done.  After two weeks playing LOTRO I can say with confidence - no brainer I'm sure, that WOW simply put, has the best leveling of any fantasy game I've every played bar none.  That is all and that is it. 

For all the things I like about the other games I've played since, and for the things that I HATE about the WOW end game, the journey to the end is best in WOW.  Oh well...  Doesn't mean I didn't have occasional fun in LOTRO.  Or that I love EQ2 crafting, housing and exploration any less.  It just means the road to leveling  isn't as much fun as it is in WOW.

WOW leveling is simple.  It's straight forward and then again not.  Because it is so simplistic it means you can do it anyway you choose and you can change your mind every day every session.  You can make it as easy or as challenging as you please.  As exclusive or inclusive as you please and change what you think pleases you, whenever it suits your fancy.  The only thing I'd change is to extend the leveling curve so that they can level of some of the hamster cages at the end.  Oh well - it is what it is and isn't by now and not changing drastically any time soon.

I'll continue hopping around on my Captain - which is really what the WOW Paladin always should have been.  I'll ride the month's subscription out but I won't be playing beyond that.  I recently received a BETA invite to a game that I was marginally interested in but I'm afraid to even download it.  What if the only two things on my list as options for 2008 don't even come close to the hype?  That would really suck!

I think the fates are conspiring to make me find something else to do with my precious free time.  That or I've out grown MMOs!?!  Gawd forbid.

Comments

[Mallika]

I totally understand what you mean. I tried the LOTRO trial again last month and was underwhelmed. I tried EQ2 again and felt rather blah about it. I don't know what it is about EQ2 -- it should be my dream game, seeing as how I love the crafting and housing systems in it so much, but every time I log in I find myself so put off by the quests and zones that I just spend my time harvesting. And then there's only so much time you can spend doing that before you want to stick a pen in your eye, and ... well, I'm not playing EQ2 any more.

I don't want to go back to WoW. My husband resubscribed this month, but I'm still feeling quite 'eh' about the game. When I think about going in, I find myself feeling listless and not interested.

I guess I'm in the same position as you, and I really don't know what to do. I don't think I'm over MMO games, mainly because these days playing single-player RPGs seem kind of futile. I guess I -like- community, I like knowing there are other people around and that people are buying and selling in a dynamic economic environment. I am, however, tired of trying to find great people to play with -- I have to go past so many idiots and jerks that it really gets me down.

[Khan]

Glad to see you tried it again though. I have a few issues with the leveling progression - not so much in the quest lines (I mean how many different ways can you be asked to kill ten boars?) but in the distances between questing areas. Bree and Straddle are too far from Chetwood forest where their quests actually take place. And many of those quests have followups ... back in Chetwood forest. The distance between Celondim and Duillond in Ered Luin is not trivial however a couple of quests actually have you bouncing back and forth between the two towns.

I think the big thing about WoW's leveling was that it was layered: at any given time you could actually be accomplishing three or four different things wihtout even realizing it. Distances between objectives were usually short.

In LotRO, it is still possible to quest stack and do many things at once, however, it's more likely that you will have to travel more between objectives. Instead of running out of town, doing a bunch of stuff and then running back, it feels more like heading out, traveling in a series of steps from area to area and then eventually heading back to town when you're done. If you take the time to plan things out a bit, it can be simple and enjoyable but if you're running it the first time, it can be frustrating.

Personally, I don't mind planning too much and the travel times don't bother me that much either: I play a burglar - when I get there, I won't have to fight anything I don't want to unlike other classes that have to slog their way through regardless.

Anyway, I've rambled enough for one comment. :)

PS: What we really need is something that combines all the best aspects of the games out now. Hobbit-pirates of the Burning Tabula, here I come!

[RomaGoth]

I completely understand where you both are coming from. I quit WoW in October of last year until right before Christmas (nearly 3 months) because I just became very bored with the game and tired of the idiots surrounding me. The time off was very nice, and when I started playing again I had a new attitude. I started by rolling a new toon (warlock), eh, make that numerous new toons (rogue is fun too). I now alternate between my 41 warlock, 33 rogue, and make the money to support them with my 70 hunter. They are two completely different playstyles, and battlegrounds were a lot of fun as well. I just ignore the idiots in the game, I have found that most of my time is better spent soloing, and I rarely do group quests/instances anymore unless it is with people I know.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure it is fun or don't waste your time. Gaming is intended to be fun, not work, and I found that for awhile I was working at a game away from work. Not good. Do what pleases you and forget the rest of it.

[Saylah]

@Kahn - You said something important that I didn't feel like explaining. The distances between quest areas or between NPC starter and quest area is VERY annoying. I dont like when they artificially elongate things to make it take more time - stretch content. WOW's reputation and honor grind comes to mind as the classic, kiss my azz I'm not falling for that no matter how phat the lootz. LOTRO - not sure what their primary objective was but it got old running back and forth very quick.

@Mallika and Kahn - The first thing that jumped out at me when I logged into WOW over the weekend to mess around with a very old alt told me why EQ2 leveling and zones feel dead to me. It's NOT the lower population it's that they zones are just that - killing zones and nothing more. You travel to them to do some quests and then you leave. You travel to them to harvest and then you leave. It makes the game always feel like the action is, "over there somewhere".

If you contrast that with WOW, it's designed so that you actually live in those zones until the high levels. The zones have an Inn, NPCs "living" in the area and vendors. Consequently, even if you're not leveling at the moment - just milling around, you tend to encounter other players much like you would in a real community. It's more immersive and makes you feel like your leveling is bit more a part of the story taking place.

The other very stark difference between WOW, EQ2 and what I saw of LOTRO is that the questing - even killing often happens in settled area. In and among homes, buildings, places where there is life which sets up the story of conflict. I rarely if ever had any EQ2 quests that took place where people (NPCs/MOBs) seemed to be living. It's all very, clusters of two, three and five mobs staggered through a zone. What gives with that??? I'm just so conscious of the fact that they're sending me off to kill shit when the zones are set up like that. Oh well, here's hoping Spellborn, WAR or AoC do enough different to save me.

[Saylah]

@Roma - I spent a few hours messing around on WOW and it was fun. It's hard to imagine ever finishing this toon - a mage from way back when, but I enjoyed running around Duskwood.

[Khan]

As I've leveled more toons in LotRO, I've come to the conclusion that the distances between the quest givers and the quest targets is to encourage a feel of going on a quest, not simply traveling to a store and back. I've noticed that it's best to load up on as many quests as you can and then head into the wilds for a couple hours to complete them. Done that way, you won't see a town for a good long time, and you won't see the XP rolling in for a bit but when you do get back to town, you'll have a ton of completed quests for a burst of xp as well as crafting materials, etc.

In other words, WoW seems to encourage questing in nearby areas for quick back-and-forth trips while LotRO encourages getting a bunch done over a long stretch and then turning it all in at one time. In LotRO, leaving a town is a calculated act as well as returning. For better or worse, that's the way they set it up.

I'll have to check out the Spellborn game, btw. With all the WAR and AoC rah rah rah going on, I must have missed that one. :)

[Ric]

My little, family-only-&-their-friends WoW guild is finally getting into 5-man content. (Yeah, better late than never?) I have PUGged and have met with very mixed results -- sometimes very good, but more often pure crap.

If I didn't have a Pally tank, my guild and two very good, long-time friends (a married couple I've never even met IRL, btw) wouldn't be finally running instances we've always talked about running together -- and if they weren't so enthusiastic about running them, I'd be stuck with PUGs and the douchebags that inevitably come with that scene, so I'd probably be soloing with an alt or, more likely, not playing at all.

If it weren't for the family-and-friends angle on the community thing, there'd really be very little anymore for me in WoW.

Not really helpful sentiments from me, I guess, but, otherwise, I kind of know how you feel and definitely what you mean.