All Posts by TeflonEddie

I may be alone in this viewpoint, but I really don't consider RMT to be the demon that so many people make it out to be. I don't really care if someone buys 5000g on WoW in order to get their epic flying mount without the tedious farming, because at the end of the day, it doesn't impact on my gameplay.

What does get my back up is the level 1 gold-spammers; I can't understand why developers can't find a solution to this long-standing problem. Surely it'd be simple to restrict a new player's communication rights 'til they reach (for example) level 5, ensuring that spammers have to spend an hour or so playing the game prior to having the ability to spam for 30 seconds 'til they're ignored/reported by half the server and subsequently banned. And of course, the botters/gold-farmers... give us a game with killing/looting rules like early UO and these guys wouldn't exist for very long.

My opinion is that games should only actively protect against botters, gold-farmers and spammers. People who want to legitimately RMT shouldn't be penalised for doing so.

I only even play pay-to-play MMO's on the (probably mistaken) preconception that free-to-play games will probably be free-to-play because they suck.

That said, aside from the subscription fee, I would never consider paying extra money for additional features such as powerlevelling or fancy items. For me, MMO's are about having a fun environment to play around in, not a second job or a money-sink.

Buy her one of those FPS-oriented game-pads. They're designed to be usable for both lefties and righties, and (with a little custom keybindings) are surprisingly awesome for controlling MMO's.

I've been using a Zboard (http://www.ideazon.com/us/products/fanggamepad.asp) for quite a while, and it's been great for the MMO's I've been playing (primarily WoW and LOTRO.)

My basic prerequisite: A persistant world supporting multiple simultaneous logins, keyboard+mouse controlled with a graphical UI and combat based on pre-defined spells/skills. (The latter to distinguish between an MMORPG and an MMOFPS)

As someone mentioned earlier, the only real variable is the "massive"; I'd say 5000+ simultaneous logins per server, but really that's just pulling an arbitrary number out of the air.

Originally posted by Dedthom

In addition to the comment I made above, I find it hard to make friends online. If I go out to a public place I can talk to anyone, make friends but for some reason in any online situation I have a hard time striking up a conversation or making friends. Does anyone else find it easier in RL to talk to strangers then online?

Oh, definately. I once discussed this phenomena with a learnéd friend of mine who reckoned it was probably something to do with body language. Apparently, some people (myself, apparently!) rely heavily on the interpretation of non-verbal responses, which don't translate via "teh intarweb". 

Hence, these people find it much easier to relate to others in person than via purely text/voice based communications like chatrooms or voice-chat.

Slightly off-topic, but an interesting nuance of social interaction.

Play no games.

Spend the time productively working out, lifting weights and cycling to ensure that when WAR/AoC are released, and you start the marathon "sitting-at-the-computer" session, your muscles will take longer to atrophy from the lack of use.

That's my plan.

Originally posted by Truthstar

Anyone that maxed out their characters in a week is a punk. I can guarentee you didn't teamup 90% of the time. Now that you levelled up you cry "where's my cookie"? TR is an MMORPG...if you want to play solo go play a PC RPG. Get the difference? The sad thing is so many people out there are so stupid to even understand this concept. -Please don't bother to explain yourselves; your lot have screwed up the MMO market repeatedly.

I recently cancelled my subscription and am returning to a different game, but I take issue with this statement. You mention both power-levellers and solo-players as though they are intrinsically linked; they're not.

I'm a solo-player (for the most part) because I tend to play at irregular times and for short bursts and don't want to waste my playtime looking for groups because the content isn't soloable. Thankfully TR didn't enforce grouping during the levelling process, so I made it to level 50 by pretty much soloing.

As for who has screwed up the MMO market, that's easy to define: the hardcore 60 hour a week gamers who complete all the quests/grinds then whine and bitch that there isn't enough content. Casuals/soloers who take months to get to the max level are probably the MOST benign type of gamers.

In conclusion: Soloability = good, Enforced Grouping = bad, Casual = good, Hardcore = bad.

People want a "WoW-beater" because they're afraid of devoting a considerable chunk of their life to a game that might die. There's an element of denial in it, since all MMOs will eventually die (WoW included).

I'm currently playing LOTRO; it's not the biggest MMO in the world, but it's fun, fairly well established and seems to have enough players to maintain it for a good long while 'til something new comes along and grabs my interest.

I haven't learned much from playing MMO's, but here are a couple of opinions:

1. A friend is a friend, regardless of the distance between you.

2. PVP is intrinsic to the MMO concept; be it physical, economic, or even socio-political.

3. Too many players try to "win" MMOs and forget to have fun.

4. Hardcore players ruin MMO's.

5. The best "end-game content" is player-generated.

6. Gear-centric games are the epitome of lazy development.

7. MMO's will always have some form of grinding.

8. Developers will lie to you in order to keep you paying a subscription.

9. Alts/twinks are almost always a waste of your time.

10. MMO's are now "mainstream" and have lost many of the elements that made then truly unique.

I'm loving LOTRO at the moment

I "discovered" the game fairly late, (a couple of weeks ago), after quitting WoW about 4 months ago. I was a hardcore raider in a guild farming Black Temple and the repetitiveness just sucked the fun out of the whole game as far as I was concerned.

My enjoyment of LOTRO is in the relaxed "feel" that the game projects, my little hobbit is happily questing/crafting along at level 20 and I don't feel any pressure to powerlevel or grind to level 50, because I'm having fun.

I believe that the underlying measure of a really well-designed MMO is that, no matter how long it takes to get to "max" level, you're having fun the whole time.

As for end-game, too many MMO's these days focus on the number-crunching mentality; i.e. "I must grind this raid dungeon for 4 months, despite it being boring, because it will give me an extra +0.3 DPS."

As a long-time MMO gamer, I'd much rather have 4 months of fun than the extra 0.3 DPS.

Another problem with modern MMO's is the attitude that "content = things to kill that drop me phat l3wt." Other forms of content is considered pointless, such as the ability for your character to sit in a chair or play music. The social aspect of MMO's is something that is frequently overlooked by developers.

I recognize that I'm not in a position to really judge LOTRO yet, as my main character is only level 20 and hasn't experienced a large amount of it, but as far as I'm concerned.. so far, so fun.

I started at beta/release and very much enjoyed the game for about 8-10 weeks, then I hit level 50 and have been bored ever since. I can forgive a lack of polished end-game content in a new game, but TR has absolutely no structured end-game at all.

I prefer to focus on one character, so the lack of content cripples my playstyle; I cancelled my account on that basis.

This is a cautionary tale. I screwed up with TR big-time.

I'm the type of gamer who tries out all the classes then picks one which I feel best "fits" me, and after that I focus on developing that one character as much as possible during my playtime and right now; I've finished the game. My engineer has every Logos and has completed every instance/ToO in-game.

I hit level 50 with my engineer in early January and for the past two months I've just hang around spamming General and getting more frustrated at the game's shortcomings; however I fully accept that I'm at least partly to blame for my frustration. I peaked too early; I was too hardcore for the game.

TR's PvP is a mindless gank-fest which doesn't interest me in the slightest and CP's give only crappy modifications that I don't want or wouldn't risk applying to my purples for fear of breaking them.

So right now, the only thing I can do while I wait for more content is farm striders for purples to sell on the MS and earn me more money that I really don't need. I've just reactivated my LOTRO sub whilst I wait for more content.

So; the moral of this story is: Don't do what I did; don't rush to level 50 as it WILL kill the game for you.

Originally posted by Orbital78

Yes, and the game is very easy. You can kill any creature one on one which is close to your level, even named bosses.

Those maps are more a case of "one on twenty-one".

Originally posted by zarzu

What i find funny is that i also experienced many political topics in general (not hatred filled like the op describes though) which is imho kinda odd for mmorpgs and doesn't happen alot, why it does in tr, no idea.

I often see the same few names in there answering questions about every class/mission/problem under the sun; the wealth of knowledge that some players have amassed is mind-boggling considering the game has only been live for 4 months.

Originally posted by CactusmanX

I like the idea of MMOGs more than I do any actual MMOG.

For me, that would be a sci fi based game containing:

SWG's Crafting/Housing
Tabula Rasa's Ground Combat
SWG's Space Combat
DAoC's RvR and/or EvE's "system ownership" PvP
WoW's (non-raid) End-game PvE/Reputation system
EvE's "offline levelling" system
UO's lack of gear-centricity + death penalties
Oh, and AoC's nipples.

Wrap all of that up in a next generation MMO that obliterates camping, gold-farming and lame PvP "tactics", then serve it to me in a format where I can eventually experience 100% of the gameplay by investing only 1-2 hours a night.

Any game that can do that; I'll never leave.

OP: I feel your pain.

I'd LOVE another sandbox like UO/SWG that allowed me to spend my weekly 10-15 gaming hours in doing something other than blasting the crap out of virtual baddies, but I don't think that it is ever going to come.

Look at WoW; the leading western MMO. No housing, no non-combat professions and a craft system that requires zero sacrifice/dedication and typically consists of "wts <substandard craftable> 50g + mats"

I think that the combat-oriented crowd are in such a majority that game companies aim 95% of their efforts towards the demographic. Crafting, Housing, non-combat "fun" professions all seem to be either ignored or treated as an afterthought.

If you happen to find a game that has more depth than the usual button-mashing PvP/PvE gankfest, do let me know.

I'll add my own pro/cons here:

I've been playing since release so some would consider me either a fanboi (or masochist, depending on your interpretation) but I feel I've experienced enough of the game to give a valid viewpoint.

Pro

Great Combat. Compared to other MMO's I've played (UO, WoW, EvE, PotBS, SWG) the combat is fast-paced and fun, with just enough element of twitchiness to make you forget about the mission you were on and realise that you've just chased a mob 200m in the wrong direction from your objective.

Good Story. Most of the instances have intro movies and their mission chains follow in a logical and entertaining way to the ultimate "end" of the encounter. Outside instances, the missions have the right level of humour and difficulty.

Control Points. These are great fun when you're feeling in a mindless killing-frenzy FPS kind of mood. They're available at all level ranges, so it's just a matter of finding one that will provide you with a decent level of challenge and kicking the crap out of the crusty.

Difficulty. This is a thorny one post 1.4, because before the patch the game was easy. That changed, and now when you're approaching level 35-40 the difficulty curve takes a very noticeable upswing. The bane are everywhere and you really get the "feel" of being a freedom fighter up against insurmountable odds. Sometimes, it's frustrating when you fail (and everyone does from time to time) but the satisfaction level of succeeding in an objective after wading through a sea of bane is immense.

Neutral

The usual mission types; Escort, Kill, Collect, Capture, Protect. Implemented fairly well but nothing we haven't seen in a dozen other MMO's. Pretty much the staple of the genre.

Housing. Most MMO's either don't bother or impement housing in a half-assed and useless manner. TR is one of the "don't bother" crowd, but the omission doesn't hurt the gameplay.

Gold Spammers. There haven't been any for about a week since the free trial key ended, and with the recent changes to high-level ammo costs, money isn't an issue for the vast majority of people unless they drastically overspend at the auction house. It's too early to tell if it's they're gone for good or whether money will become a more important issue, however.

Lag. I don't lag. TR's servers don't lag outside of extremely densely populated zone instances, but some people do experience it; whether it's because of their geographical distance from the servers or from their own connection is unknown.

Solo vs Group. Another thorny one, as there are people who massively prefer one or the other. Personally, I like the freedom of soloing instances if I want to, or grouping up with others if I want to. I like the choice, but others have expressed a viewpoint that the game feels too much like a single-player game for their liking.

Cloning. An awesome idea on paper, letting you "copy" your character to create (for example) a PvP, Crafting, Solo and Group specced copy of yourself, but the problem is that the characters don't share clone points or achievements. Hence, I can copy my level 50 Main and start to play Clone A, but because Clone A has no clone points, if I collect 20 new logos and decide that I want to change my skills, I can't do that without making a new clone based on my Main (which doesn't have the 20 new logos I collected on Clone A). If there was a way to grind clone credits at level 50, I would consider the cloning system to be a Pro, (as I could grind one, and create a new clone from Clone A) but without grindable clone-credits, it's a gimicky and restrictive system.

Cons

Crafting. I like a decent crafting system in a game, and TR does not have that right now. It's crafitng system is at best basic, and at worst useless. An overhaul has been verbally confirmed, but no timeframe or specifics have been released.

Level Progression. There simply aren't enough missions to progress smoothly from level 1 to 50. More are being added, but too slow for the legions of people who are approaching the level of having to choose to either grind their way up levels or put their characters on the shelf 'til new missions are added.

PvP. Limited to consensual clan vs clan wars and duelling, the PvP seems tacked on as an afterthought. No reward system, no real point to it, it's pretty much a gankfest/hospital camp right now, though it was confirmed that safe "no PVP" spots are being added to prevent camping.

End-Game. Once you hit the level cap, there's pretty much nothing meaningful to occupy yourself with yet. This is probably the most apparent "Con" of them all, as people are often asking "what is the end-game" and the only response we can give is the satirical yet apt "chatting in the global channels".

Servers. There is only 3 US and 1 EU server, meaning that the french/german/etc speakers are all crammed together into one server. It's the server I play on and believe me, the language barriers and channel spam from non-english speakers is extremely irritating at times. Some might argue that it's "realistic" given the storyline, but personally it annoys the tits off me.

Instances. Once you complete an instance, there is no reason whatsoever to enter it again. You can't restart the mission storylines to experience it again, and it makes a 2nd trip to a "completed" instance lacking in the fun factor.

Broken skills. There are a few that are either useless, or so close to useless that they could slap it across the face. The Exobiologist springs to mind as the most "broken" class, but most classes have a skill that they would not even consider taking.

My own personal view on the game is that it's new. 4 months old since a comparatively smooth launch, large updates are fairly regular (every 3-4 weeks if you discount the holiday period) and the developers have a track record of listening to the playerbase and making the right decisions.

This entire thread is just chock FULL of fail.

We have an OP telling us that we need to forgive SOE for past transgressions, but in further posts, he's telling us that our opinions don't count for crap anyway because we have personally suffered at the hands of SOE and hence are biased.

Is this not the most ridiculous argument ever?

We have first-hand reason to distrust SOE because of things that they have done to affect us and the games we've been playing; but this makes us somehow disqualified from discussing whether or not SOE is trustworthy.

Um.. no.

The OP has done nothing since his first post but blindly "defend" his position by ignoring valid points by arbitrarily disqualifying half the responses and glossing over others with such inane platitudes as "you're enitled to your opinion". All our responses are doing is adding validation to what is, essentially, a non-topic.

Bottom line is that SOE has failed us so many times that it has lost our trust.

I fear that you have developed what many of us dread will one day happen to us:

Intelligence.

But seriously, I'm in a similar boat right now. I stopped playing WoW and realised that all these awesome new games are either 6 months away from a live date, or are really pretty crappy and were just overhyped .. and all of the old games just seem .. old.

I tried Pirates of the Burning Sea and am trying Tabula Rasa now, neither are outstanding though TR has great combat (and bugger all else).

Originally posted by summitus 

Sadly another post not worthy of a response..

You won't change the mind of people who have been burned by SOE in the past when they show absolutely no sign of reform. In the past, SOE has been responsible for some very negative developments in the eyes of the MMO community. This is indisputable fact. They've earned their bad name and who are YOU to tell us that we should forget about all that?

They're a company that caters to consumers; if Pepsi decide to change their recipe to something that I hate,t hen I'll stop buying Pepsi, and no amount of forum posts will persuade me otherwise.

If in the future SOE turn themselves around and start doing good work on behalf of us MMO enthusiasts, then I'll be happy to purchase their products and support them as a company.

That time has not come.