A couple of previously retail games went F2P recently

[dmaker]

Everquest 2 ( Extended) I think it's called, and Lord of the Rings Online are both now F2P.

I have played LOTRO since closed beta, and still have a sub (which gives me turbine points per month now instead of gameplay), and can attest that it's a fun game.

EQ2 YMMV, I have enjoyed it off and on in the past, but not for very long periods.


Cheers

[Omle]

Everquest 2 ( Extended) I think it's called, and Lord of the Rings Online are both now F2P.

I have played LOTRO since closed beta, and still have a sub (which gives me turbine points per month now instead of gameplay), and can attest that it's a fun game.

EQ2 YMMV, I have enjoyed it off and on in the past, but not for very long periods.


Cheers

lol a good friend of mine has been trying to get me to play Lotro forever.
Tried it a bit and not impressed, its just a WoW clone.

[dmaker]

The interfaces are similar, but that's where it ends imo. Having a similar interface really doesn't make something a clone. If something works, many companies will be inclined to mimic it. The core gameplay and style are much different I find. LOTRO has very few classes and very few mob types as strict adherence to the lore has kept the "fantastical" element to a minimum. There are no flying mounts, no cute, skippy Murlocs, no warlocks, mages, etc. It's a very magic-less kind of fantasy world. Much like the books. I enjoyed it and found it a decent place for a casual gamer with time constraints, especially if you enjoy Tolkien's worlds.

Cheers

[oopa]

I can just never get over EQ. I base every single MMORPG now that I play off EQ. I tried FFXI when it came out and i couldn't get used to the controls as I had been playing EQ for so long. I did the LOTR for about a month, maybe less, and didnt enjoy it either. I did play WoW for about a year right after my 1st deployment to Iraq but that was it. Wow was too easy IMO, no real challenges so I'd just PVP on it. That's the only game where the PvP is better than EQ. Never tried the Conan game or anything else, once a sucker for EQ always a sucker for EQ hehe.

[dmaker]

If it wasn't for EQ's harshness towards solo play styles, then I probably would have never left it. There is much that I love about this game, and much that I dislike greatly. Emu servers are less punishing than Live, so I get to enjoy my EQ fix without as much hassles as Live. But even here, you hit 70 fairly quickly and then run out of things to do solo. So I play alts or dabble in other games.

I often wonder if it wasn't for the nostalgia ( I played EQ for the first time on launch day back when the earth had barely cooled), if I would think so fondly of this game. If I came to it fresh, right now, I'm not so sure I would love it as much or that it would earn any kind of a soft spot in my heart. I'd probably trash it as retro and group-centric and move on.

[Tyler]

EQ for me at least was also the real online game with social interaction. It was a new technology and that alone made it so addicting.

(I'm not counting those QuakeII etc servers with hacker kids as social interaction)

[dmaker]

Ahh, Quake2.. one of the reasons that I came to love my first cable modem. This was back when I was pretty much the first guy on my block with one and my speeds were crazy fast. What a huge difference playing Q2 on a cable modem vs a dial-up. It's funny to think now but the playerbase was split between us LPB ( low ping bastards, i.e. broadband early adopters) and the rest. Though I have to give credit, I could never be half as good as some of those high ping folks even with a fast broadband connection. Don't know how they did it so well.

[khaliss]

Sup all! How's everyone doing? I miss THF and the wonderful virtual friends, folks, & GMs!

Just saw this thread and I thought I'd give my 2cents regarding the topic at hand.

LOTRO - great game, I played this for about 6 months back in 2008-09 (?), before Mines of Moria (the first expansion). It is definitely not a WOW clone, so if you think it is... clearly you haven't played it (in length) yet. Let me tell you this though, it's got the best graphics compared to any MMO out there (and I tried a lot, including Rift BETA). I recently tried it out since can still login using my original account... and I just upgraded my gaming PC to dual 460GTX cards in SLI. DirectX11 is pure awesomeness in LOTRO, and try playing it using Nvidia's 3D surround (look for samples on youtube), you'll need 3 monitors... I'm blown away. Overall, I'd give it an 8/10 (WOW for me was 9/10 before the first expac, but community is 1/10 nowadays LOL). Great community however, not as good as THF, but something close

EQ2-extended - this is what I'm playing right now. I wanted to come out of THF retirement a few weeks ago, but since I've forgotten my login password on my toons, and got frustrated because eqemu doesn't give you a tool to reset it (AFAIK), I decided to try EQ2 F2P since it's F2P and I can box my usual crew without having to pay for multiple accounts (my wife doesn't like it when she sees questionable items on our credit card statements). I'm now in level 30, and boxing 5 toons (still playing casually, more so than before due to RL responsibilities). I have to admit am having a blast, and I play with an RL friend (who I tried to get into THF at one point, but he just couldn't dig the EQ graphics). Overall, I'd rate this game 8/10 and the community is pretty good too, considering I'm on a F2P server (freeport).

Lillu, when are you guys making an EQ2 version of THF? hehe

I'll probably be back playing in THF once I grow tired of EQ2 and figure out how to reset my toon's login passwords LOL.

[khaliss]

Looks like Vanguard might be up next for F2P makeover:

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/16 ... xperiment/

Was interested at one point to try out this game, but didn't have enough motivation. Going F2P will change that for a lot of people. Heard this is considered hardcore MMO and was suppose to be the true successor to EQ. Guess I'll wait and see for myself hehe

[ChaosSlayer]

ah the scenery and music of EQ2 zones! You just can't beat it!
They are HUGE, but they do not look empty like eq1 zones do - eq2 Antonika is a marvel of design, compared to West Karana - which represents aprox. same region

And the crafting system is one and only in all the MMOS that actually looks like that you really crafting something.

Friendliness of solo content in EQ2 is a big plus, but grouping till high levels is almost non existent now

All classes for all races concepts never appealed to me, as well as way to many similar classes - I would have done it better. But the vision of pure melee classes like warriors and monks, is a welcomed change.