Age of Conan, LOTR Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online

[Zanchief]

I'm moving on from Vanguard because I think it will be to hard to play solo compared to other friendlier MMOs, and I only play for like 1 hour a night a few nights a week so I just want a bit of a time waster.

I've downloaded the three games mentioned above. Anyone have an opinion good or bad about any of them? Just by reading about them, I think DDO might be more my speed with an emphasis on character building, more then environment and quests.

Played a bit of AoC this morning and it was really boring. Don't like the combat at all. Very tedious. I'll give it another go.

[Tossica]

LotR was cute. DDO is NOT solo friendly at all. AoC just sucked, IMO. Vanguard is solo friendly if you choose the right class. Original EQ is solo heaven now with the inclusion of mercenaries.

[Zanchief]

I goofed around with some other classes in Vanguard. Was really enjoying Sorcerer but they are so squishy I had a lot of trouble with just two enemies and most dungeons it's impossible to separate mobs and in close quarters meant I would die like every tenth solo pull so it meant starting over the dungeons a lot.

Sad to hear about D&DO. I had the highest hopes for that one. I may give Vanguard another try but I don't want to play Disciple or Necromancer, and those seem like the best solo options for my limited class options.

[Lyion]

Unless Vanguard has hugely changed it is far less solo friendly than DDO.

DDO is good for an occasional time waster. It's also easy to get into and mess around. Once you get a bit higher in level it does seem to lose the shine.

LOTRO is solo friendly, but it's more like a slightly less polished version of WOW.

Since LOTRO and DDO are free, download them and fire them up. I think you'll get a few weeks of fun out of DDO, easily. LOTRO is more polished than DDO but it's not really WOW/EQish in design.

[Zanchief]

What interests me in DDO is the fact that it seems to have ported a lot of the D&D 3.5 rules so I can play out a lot of character combinations I'd always like to try and can't bring myself to do in neverwinter (because I hate those games). I have a feeling the lvling is very slow though, so it may take a while to get going.

I may play more of Lotr simply because it's easy. I can play any character I want and probably still get by. We shall see.

[Tossica]

DDO's solo friendliness leaves after the first couple of levels. After that, it's a challenge to find things to do on your own. I enjoy the game from time to time but like most MMO's, the combat and whatnot really make what's happening behind the scenes not very important. It doesn't feel like D&D really, if you get what I mean? The dungeon bases quests are kind of cool, sneaking, traps, etc.

[Lyion]

DDO does not have a pen and paper feel. I like the design but the higher levels are tedious and not the same sort of fun as a pizza pen and paper gamefest with ones friends. Then again, what MMO really is? Actually the best D&D-like experience post EQ online I had was your NWN server way back when, Toss.

I nabbed a cheap copy of Reckoning and I've been playing through that. I'm pleasantly surprised that it's a really fun game. It's more like a single player MMO. I'd suggest nabbing that if you want the solo fun experience of WOW, Zan.

I personally want a weekly MMO group again, but time is an issue for me, and finding a game that can hold my attention longer than two months.

[Durothil Skyreaver]

Lotro would be my suggestion. Lots of content, interesting classes, and a fairly good F2P model. Also, the music system rules.

[Durothil Skyreaver]

What interests me in DDO is the fact that it seems to have ported a lot of the D&D 3.5 rules so I can play out a lot of character combinations I'd always like to try and can't bring myself to do in neverwinter (because I hate those games). I have a feeling the lvling is very slow though, so it may take a while to get going.

I may play more of Lotr simply because it's easy. I can play any character I want and probably still get by. We shall see.

I played solo almost exclusively with my hunter; levels 1-65 when I stopped.

[Drem]

I did ddo for a while. Its fun but the graphics are awful. From what i understand, that and lotr are made by the same company and they're based in mexico. It doesnt feel like high fantasy to me at all. Game itself is okay, didnt hold my attention for long tho. Real time combat made it feel like a platformer. Just play minecraft or something

[Zanchief]

So far I'm enjoying DDO. I like the look since it doesn't feel exactly like WoW clone like most other games. It's a bit wonky in some areas but for a free game, its doing it's job.

[Ganzo]

I'm playing Champions Online. It's FTP and game download is free. Can easily solo or team up or fast queue up for group instances. Great for a change of pace from classic mmorpg

[Tossica]

I tried Champions. Wanted to love it but I just couldn't get in to it. I LOVED the RPG back in my early teens.

[Ganzo]

They've added Alerts(Group Instances, Raid Instances) couple of month ago and a Dungeon Finder system like WoW, and it brought a new life to the game. There are a lot of people playing now, and there's also new currency from Alerts that lets you buy new gear/powers/costumes so there's an actual endgame now. Also now you can add friends to your account instead of characters so it's easy to keep in touch with people. High levels can sidekick friends up to their level, while grouped, so you can play together anytime you wish, and even at lvl 6 you can queue up for high level Alerts and get bumped up in level while inside of those.