Poll: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm or Lord of the Rings Online

[ReservoirAngel]

I've made a thread about nabbing myself a Desktop rig to be able to play ONE of these games again. Problem is...I don't know which one.

I played both quite a lot (albeit never getting too far into the levelling system) and I really enjoyed both. And since a long while ago now LotRO got an expansion I'm interested to see what's changed there.

But of course, now WoW is boasting the upcoming Cataclysm that adds 2 new races, and basically (from what I understands) fucks with the established landscape of WoW by changing EVERY region of it in some way.

So needless to say I'm interested in both of these games for seeing how they've changed since I last played them.

Problem is, I don't know which one to go for. I can't really afford 2 monthly fees on games (damn student lifestyle, i hate you) so I need to pick one of these games.

So my question is this: which of these games would you, the proud members of the Escapist, recommend for me?

P.S: I've raised this question to people before and had it turn into a massive childish flame war, so if we could keep the random abuse-hurling to a minimum, that'd be great.

 

[spartan1077]

Cataclysm! I will never back down until all of the escapist basks in the awesomeness of WoW!!! Also, I haven't played the paid for LoTrO so I'm a little biased...WoW For life

 

[jumjalalabash]

The number one rule of drugs is never get the cheap shit. Cataclysm all the way.

 

[Jennifer Darknight]

Cataclysm.

Granted, I'm biased. I've played WoW for years as a family activity, and I have a level 80 Mage and a level 76 Death Knight. I'm in a guild, done raids, and all the things in MMOs that people brag about.

...Back in the day, when it was still BC or Vanilla, I would honestly say go with something else unless you have a bunch of friends already playing that know their stuff and how to play. But with Cata...? The world's changed, leveling is easier, and with the Dungeon finder function you'll be able to get into dungeons and level quickly, even if you don't have friends to play with.

That, and the new races AND the topography changes really make the game a new experience.

I don't know about LoTR, but I do know that Cata is something to wait for, and is a good bet for you if you want a new experience.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

The number one rule of drugs is never get the cheap shit. Cataclysm all the way.

so Wow is more expensive per month that LotRO?

 

[slipknot4]

The number one rule of drugs is never get the cheap shit. Cataclysm all the way.

so Wow is more expensive per month that LotRO?

Nope, it's just more refined.

 

[Lord Honk]

Since LotRO went free-to-play/microtransactions it's really let itself go (like a man when you marry him ), and while I personally lost interest in WoW around the time when Burning Crusade came out, I think you'll get more out of it.

 

[leviticusd]

Here's my argument for LOTRO. Both of these expansions offer something really unique in MMO's. Moria is the king of all dungeons and the scale of it can't really be described. It's huge! You really get a sense of it's size and how the company could so easily get lost in the place. I think what really sold me is at first you are in awe of Moria, then as you get towards the end, you really start to feel it closing in on your and you just want out (the game play is still fun...but oh the darkness!) The relief you get when you find your way out the other side is was a feeling I've never felt in an MMO before!

Now on the other hand WoW is doing something that more or less hasn't been done before. SWG blew up a city in a huge (laggy event), but this is epic in scale and is worth being a part of. To me it comes down to what's next. To continue to play and level in an MMO takes time and it's hard to do both. As new expansions come down the line, which would you rather do?

WoW makes sweeping changes, but their next expansion probably won't be so epic. LOTRO however, keeps moving East. We are through Lothlorian and knocking on the doors or Isengard. For me, the future of LOTRO has some pretty cool expansions coming so keeping that character leveled is more interesting to me.

Wouldn't blame you if you went WoW though. /shrug.

 

[Danzaivar]

WoW. LOTRO has a 'free to play' option with limited features so you could technically play both that way.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Here's my argument for LOTRO. Both of these expansions offer something really unique in MMO's. Moria is the king of all dungeons and the scale of it can't really be described. It's huge! You really get a sense of it's size and how the company could so easily get lost in the place. I think what really sold me is at first you are in awe of Moria, then as you get towards the end, you really start to feel it closing in on your and you just want out (the game play is still fun...but oh the darkness!) The relief you get when you find your way out the other side is was a feeling I've never felt in an MMO before!

Now on the other hand WoW is doing something that more or less hasn't been done before. SWG blew up a city in a huge (laggy event), but this is epic in scale and is worth being a part of. To me it comes down to what's next. To continue to play and level in an MMO takes time and it's hard to do both. As new expansions come down the line, which would you rather do?

WoW makes sweeping changes, but their next expansion probably won't be so epic. LOTRO however, keeps moving East. We are through Lothlorian and knocking on the doors or Isengard. For me, the future of LOTRO has some pretty cool expansions coming so keeping that character leveled is more interesting to me.

Wouldn't blame you if you went WoW though. /shrug.

This is sort of why I was already leaning more towards LotRO. With every major expansion, LotRO adds more territory. WoW does it too, but not on the same scale. Yes, fucking with the entire map's geography and levelling areas is a massive change, but you're right. Once they move past that, it's just gonna be other expansions like the past 2, with nothing MUCH happening for general levelling and only concerning the endgame.

Plus I am nothing if not a raging Tolkien fan, so the idea of slowly adventuring further across the lands of Middle Earth holds an instant "omg the fellowship was here!" quality that really makes me both excited and disgraced by myself at the same time.

See this is why it's such a toss-up. Normally I'd just go straight to Middle Earth for my adventuring needs, but with WoW being so massively shaken up by Cataclysm, it really tempts me back there.

...i hate making decisions.

Plus with LotRO now having the F2P option, it's even more tempting to go back there...ARGH I hate shit like this!

also wow, I didn't realise the Siege of Mirkwood was already out. i thought Mines of Moria was the last one and more were planned. i've really let this game drop off my radar.

 

[Ickorus]

lotro is F2P now so you could play both if you wanted.

 

[omicron1]

LotRO.
If they get enough support to fully realize the mapped regions of Middle Earth, Tolkien's world will have been given its first complete virtual realization. And that, friend, is something that really needs to be done.


Plus, it kept my attention much better than WoW did. I couldn't play WoW for longer than a few quests past the Undead starting region; it just became boring. "Who are these farmers I'm avoiding, and why should I care?" LotRO, though... somehow, it feels more like an epic story about you (or at the least, that you're participating in) than any other MMO I've played.

 

[im-white]

even though lotro is superb experiencing cataclysm is sadly a must for any mmo fan. lotro is off the top though a more enjoyable experience as was stated before the community is the equivalent of a school yard

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I haven't tried LOTR, but if you'd played WOW before, you'll probably enjoy coming back as 1-60 is pretty much new content in terms of zones and quests, and they've rejigged the dungeons too.

*BLATANT ADVERT ALERT*

Hell, if you're on the euro servers, and want to go horde, come see me over on Aggramar, I head the Sunken Temple Pilots, and we're pretty easy going

a simple /who pilots will give you a list of people online, and any of those oughta get you an invite.

EDIT: Pleased to see how many people went with WOW, I'm so used to seeing WOW hatred I assumed I was in a minority for still enjoying it.

 

[TrollOgerElf]

never played LotRO but i can tell you WoW was like crack for me
so yeah...

 

[Murray Whitwell]

I always found the fantasy element in LotR:O to be a bit stale. Excuse me for saying it's 'realistic' but in comparison to the complete absurdity of WoW, the game feels too constrained to reality. I found in my brief playing of LotR:O that all I was fighting was wildlife and humanoids. Sure there are some dragons and trolls and the like, but the Lord of the Rings lore isn't really THAT fantastical. The creative freedom Blizzard have to justifiably introduce any whacky creature into WoW allows for far more interesting settings and deeper fantasy which is what I like to see in a game.

 

[Grufflenark]

WoW:
Positive
-Patched often
-Huge community with a lot of asshats in it but also some kind players
-Fun
-Total revamp of Azeroth

Negative
-Monthly Subscribtion fees
-I don't feel like grinding epixx for ages to finally get enough "gearscore**" to defeat Deathwing

LOTRO:
Positive
-Patched often
-Fun
-Nice small community with kind players
-Has house and guild house system
-LOTR is awesome
-You can get TP free*
-No monthly subscription fees

Negative
-You have to buy TP* for many of the features

*TP = Turbine Points = Currency in-game bought with IRL cash or achieved in game by completing various challenges and stuff.
**Gearscore is a add-on in WoW determining how good your gear is, sadly almost everyone is using the GS add-on wrong and thinks low GS = bad player and high GS = epic player.

 

[LandoCristo]

Obviously the vote goes to Cataclysm, but I do have some good things to say about LoTRO. The role-playing aspect was a lot more prevalent, and that's enhanced with the armor tabs, which allows you to wear gear with good stats, but look like something else. Gameplay wise, I only got to level 20 in LoTRO, so I don't know about anything end-game or otherwise, but most of the quests were entertaining.

However, I still prefer WoW.

 

[ReservoirAngel]

LOTRO:
Positive
-Patched often
-Fun
-Nice small community with kind players
-Has house and guild house system
-LOTR is awesome
-You can get TP free*
-No monthly subscription fees

Negative
-You have to buy TP* for many of the features

*TP = Turbine Points = Currency in-game bought with IRL cash or achieved in game by completing various challenges and stuff.

This all depends on how easy to complete the challenges are. Cause if they're impossibly difficult to earn, then that could cause problems. But if they're easy enough to get, but just difficult enough to give you a challenge, in my eyes that just adds another element to the gameplay of the thing