I'm really curious to the current situation of the game. I've been hearing about Private servers particularly ones that focus on the "Classic" version of the game. Also when i watch twitch, at least the highest viewed streamers, are mostly playing from Russia on a classic server. I've also noticed in KR they have added a new server to the official game, which i will assume is also a "classic" version of the game. Whats the big difference between "Classic" Lineage 2 and the Current Lineage 2.
I come from many different MMO backgrounds, mostly WoW which was my first and in no way am i comparing lineage 2 to WoW. But i seriously want to like this game and i even grinded my ***** off (Even though it was 3 days, still felt hella long) to reach 85 because i was told that was when the game starts. Was i wrong? Is lineage 2 not a thing anymore? I see a lot of people on the forums, but tbh not a lot of forum activity. There are posts on the first page that date all the way back to 2012~2014. Can someone explain this to me?
*Side note; I'm curious to know when the game went sour, if it did. I have a belief that its something like in WoW where the best x pac and subscriber peak was WoLk but after that it went south and people stopped playing. So for Lineage 2 was it in GoD, and patches after that?
Also this isn't a rant, i'm just really curious. Hope this post doesn't get buried with no replys but 1k+ views. I wanna know!
I'm really curious to the current situation of the game. I've been hearing about Private servers particularly ones that focus on the "Classic" version of the game. Also when i watch twitch, at least the highest viewed streamers, are mostly playing from Russia on a classic server. I've also noticed in KR they have added a new server to the official game, which i will assume is also a "classic" version of the game. Whats the big difference between "Classic" Lineage 2 and the Current Lineage 2.
I come from many different MMO backgrounds, mostly WoW which was my first and in no way am i comparing lineage 2 to WoW. But i seriously want to like this game and i even grinded my ***** off (Even though it was 3 days, still felt hella long) to reach 85 because i was told that was when the game starts. Was i wrong? Is lineage 2 not a thing anymore? I see a lot of people on the forums, but tbh not a lot of forum activity. There are posts on the first page that date all the way back to 2012~2014. Can someone explain this to me?
*Side note; I'm curious to know when the game went sour, if it did. I have a belief that its something like in WoW where the best x pac and subscriber peak was WoLk but after that it went south and people stopped playing. So for Lineage 2 was it in GoD, and patches after that?
Also this isn't a rant, i'm just really curious. Hope this post doesn't get buried with no replys but 1k+ views. I wanna know!
This game was never like wow, it was the complete opposite, and that was part of its charm.
It went sour after GoD, really really sour, compared to the "classic" one.
They changed every aspect of the game, and not for the better.
Before this GoD update, lineage2 had a particular feel and atmosphere you couldnt quite put your finger on. The story and lore actually made sense, the weapon and armor designs were actually good, classes and skills were interesting and really different from each other and everyone had their role both in pvp and pve. (now its just called dd/tank/iss/heal, and not a big difference)
The crafting system was alive and it was amazing (now its not) PVP was long and exciting (now its just a matter of shooting 2x crit from hide)
and PVE had Catacombs, parties consisting of max 9 ppl, and raid bosses that really worth your while.
The only thing that remained from the old lineage are the characters, which were another asset of Lineage 2, it had the best looking low-poly models always, though they updated the textures in the past 2 years and not for the better (so they actually looked better in the old times)
I could write a book about how good L2 was but i was trying to keep it short and just highlight the important things
GoD didn't necessarily suck, but it did destroy any chance a legitimate player has of being competitive with the 'others'; and there is insufficient moderation power to solve this problem.
Note; this is not a dig at NC staff. I simply do not believe they have the hours or numbers required to deal with the problem.*
*Based on staff numbers from Wikipedia. ~3000 staff members globally with the assumption that most of them are in Korea and other regions. Assumed that NCWest staff offices house the moderation team for all current NCWest distributed games.
GoD didn't necessarily suck, but it did destroy any chance a legitimate player has of being competitive with the 'others'; and there is insufficient moderation power to solve this problem.
Note; this is not a dig at NC staff. I simply do not believe they have the hours or numbers required to deal with the problem.*
*Based on staff numbers from Wikipedia. ~3000 staff members globally with the assumption that most of them are in Korea and other regions. Assumed that NCWest staff offices house the moderation team for all current NCWest distributed games.
Yeah...a good majority of us quit because of GoD. No challenge, free hand outs, pvp became button smashing, lack of enforcement from newer mods, and most importantly Free to Play.This game went downhill the day GoD was released. But in a sense I'm glad it happened because it released me from this used to be amazing world.
It's mostly "sour" if at all, to older players, that busted their butts and spent looong hours to get levels, gear, items and adena, only to change the entire model to a pay to win, where brand spanking new players with loose wallets can just walk right in and have it all so to speak. That aside, those that get the past out of their minds and adapt still see this as an entertaining game, or they wouldn't be here (I hope). For the most part, it's the same game, just with a lot more add-ons to your characters and items that are attainable via real money through the NC store, or through other players with your (hopefully) hard earned adena (legit in-game earned). The daily grind parties are still there at certain level ranges (mostly high 80s to get 90, and low 90s to get to 95, then again high 90s to get to 99 or raise AP...now with the level cap removed, there's more from 99+), but low level grind is pointless unless you want to play a little nostalgic...not a lot of importance until 85...then it becomes the era of the daily instance. For the most part, instances are pvp safe, instance dungeons that give mid to high xp/sp rewards, and sometimes a drop worth a little scratch. But nobody is forcing you to take one route or the other..you can only grind if you want, or only instance if you want. Everyone is in the race to 99 and top gear so they can pvp for the rest of their life, but you aren't forced to do that either. You can clan up, level up, gear up, and enjoy many different pve parties as well... Choice is yours really....same with the question of "To spend, or not to spend?"
Yea i noticed the current lineage 2 was more like this. Dam it sucks i couldn't get on the way things use to be but i guess i could just go to a classic server to experience it. Not gonna lie, just grinding to 99+ and doing daily instances just to pvp all day isn't really all that fun. To some maybe, but to me not so much. Also the term pay to win, is literally spread across almost any Free to play game out right now. I'm not exactly how Pay to win applies to Lineage 2, maybe in the sense of adena? I've looked into the cash shop and i dont really know any of the items or what they do, but i do see the Rewards section has a lot of end game items. And the only way to get hero coins is to spend da monies, so is that pay to win?
It's mostly "sour" if at all, to older players, that busted their butts and spent looong hours to get levels, gear, items and adena, only to change the entire model to a pay to win, where brand spanking new players with loose wallets can just walk right in and have it all so to speak. That aside, those that get the past out of their minds and adapt still see this as an entertaining game, or they wouldn't be here (I hope). For the most part, it's the same game, just with a lot more add-ons to your characters and items that are attainable via real money through the NC store, or through other players with your (hopefully) hard earned adena (legit in-game earned). The daily grind parties are still there at certain level ranges (mostly high 80s to get 90, and low 90s to get to 95, then again high 90s to get to 99 or raise AP...now with the level cap removed, there's more from 99+), but low level grind is pointless unless you want to play a little nostalgic...not a lot of importance until 85...then it becomes the era of the daily instance. For the most part, instances are pvp safe, instance dungeons that give mid to high xp/sp rewards, and sometimes a drop worth a little scratch. But nobody is forcing you to take one route or the other..you can only grind if you want, or only instance if you want. Everyone is in the race to 99 and top gear so they can pvp for the rest of their life, but you aren't forced to do that either. You can clan up, level up, gear up, and enjoy many different pve parties as well... Choice is yours really....same with the question of "To spend, or not to spend?"
Enjoy
Im an old player ( checked in at C2, played from C3) and i adapted to the changes, somehow, but even i needed a year or two after the change.
The thing im missing most is obviously the Catacombs and the old feeling, one of my friends quit because "dwarves are not dwarves anymore" and others quitted cause "warlord is just a duelist now, with spear" or "this game just became -wair hours to do your daily **** and log off-"
Sadly after so many years i still couldnt convince them to come back and enjoy some of the cooler features, as they started playing L2 Classic on some russian server.
Yea i noticed the current lineage 2 was more like this. Dam it sucks i couldn't get on the way things use to be but i guess i could just go to a classic server to experience it. Not gonna lie, just grinding to 99+ and doing daily instances just to pvp all day isn't really all that fun. To some maybe, but to me not so much. Also the term pay to win, is literally spread across almost any Free to play game out right now. I'm not exactly how Pay to win applies to Lineage 2, maybe in the sense of adena? I've looked into the cash shop and i dont really know any of the items or what they do, but i do see the Rewards section has a lot of end game items. And the only way to get hero coins is to spend da monies, so is that pay to win?
It is pay to win. Mostly cause of some events, which are mostly gamble, but ppl with riches get items from an event like this that commoners will probably almost never have a chance to get hold of.
Your options to get ingame currency are very, very limited. RMTing became a common thing, instances are getting abandoned, drops are almost non-existent.
The latest update did add some good things however, it might just be a sign of better things to come in the future, hopefully
Korean vs Western
Korean games are totally different from Western. Where Western games:
a) like WoW give you end-game levels pretty fast Koreans wont.
b) Korean mmorpg's end game is pvp - western is pve.
Saying this - Korean games try to focus to get the players co-operate in the "organized pvp" when Western focus on instances, raids etc.
To be honest - Koreans are actually closer than Western mmorpg's how the "pyramid" should be in games. By this I mean that competition in purest would be like:
1. Grind levels
2. Grind gear to get to raids
3. Grind raids to get pvp gear
4. win pvp - be the daddy
Step 3 pve element could also be replaced entirely like Warhammer tried where you grind pvp to get the gear. Nevertheless - I think both aspects should be intertwined into this Pyramid of success.
Downfall
However, f you ask me where Lineage 2 went wrong - I would say that the RNG aberration has always hurt L2 playerbase. If you can gamble your gear and literally not be able to play without it - then the game forces you to quit. Thats not how it should be imho.
Future of L2?
NcSoft has made a huge survey asking Korean players how they would want to see the game developed forward. One assumption that could be made from this is that they want to make as big an update as GoD was.
However - Elmar is sorta right in announcing the inevitable demise of L2. Not even a huge update would save L2 in Korea. In this scenario it will be interesting if L2west will get any future updates whatsoever since if L2korea crashes its not sure if they would continue the development of L2 (hypothesis).
Nevertheless - as I see it - there is still one thing they can make in Korea. That is F2P. I think that if NcSoft would take the 30k won (or 30usd) subscription off from L2korea - they might get some players back. L2west was almost as good as dead before GoD and f2p in summer 2011; however f2p worked wonders on L2west and it might do the same in Korea.
These are just my opinions that are basically hypothetical in nature. Feel free to bash my ideas if you feel so^_^
yeah pay2win is the mother of all L2 problems not botting. i see player-botting as only a response (from a select group of discontent individuals) to pay2win. circa 2013, stuff sold in l2store was still within reason, but ertheia update launched (30/07/2014 right?) with the brooch system which is total bullcrap since brooches/jewels provide major bonuses and are solely obtainable from l2store; no in-game means of obtaining these items.
the brooch system started it all, before venir's & abundance.
And screw L2 Classic. i don't want to lose all my wealth and start over again. old days were good but time to focus on the 'now'.
yeah pay2win is the mother of all L2 problems not botting. i see player-botting as only a response (from a select group of discontent individuals) to pay2win. circa 2013, stuff sold in l2store was still within reason, but ertheia update launched (30/07/2014 right?) with the brooch system which is total bullcrap since brooches/jewels provide major bonuses and are solely obtainable from l2store; no in-game means of obtaining these items.
the brooch system started it all, before venir's & abundance.
And screw L2 Classic. i don't want to lose all my wealth and start over again. old days were good but time to focus on the 'now'.
Id say the post God Power shirt event was the worst. Spending hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to get a +2 shirt.
That to me was when it because not even pay to win, but pay to gamble and lose time and time again.
That being said if you are hating on l2, go play some uninspiring MMO like tera or wow for a few years and come back. The game is great again. It is what you make of it.
Id say the post God Power shirt event was the worst. Spending hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to get a +2 shirt.
That to me was when it because not even pay to win, but pay to gamble and lose time and time again.
That being said if you are hating on l2, go play some uninspiring MMO like tera or wow for a few years and come back. The game is great again. It is what you make of it.
To say the game is great again, come on now...... that is just a VAST OVERSTATEMENT.
To say the game is great again, come on now...... that is just a VAST OVERSTATEMENT.
I see no real problem now, unless your broke and haven't earned any adena over the 12 years the game has been out. If so open up your wallet and get a little boost.
I like having constant xp and then the ability to go grind for awhile in a grind party. I like 1-2% from fishing.
I like that they have been taking steps to rid the bots and adena sellers.
I like that there is depth to the game compared to any number of **** mmos like tera, bns and wow.
I think the game is way better now then it as 1 year after god.
I see no real problem now, unless your broke and haven't earned any adena over the 12 years the game has been out. If so open up your wallet and get a little boost.
I like having constant xp and then the ability to go grind for awhile in a grind party. I like 1-2% from fishing.
I like that they have been taking steps to rid the bots and adena sellers.
I like that there is depth to the game compared to any number of **** mmos like tera, bns and wow.
I think the game is way better now then it as 1 year after god.
All of that is fine and dandy but this game is FAAAAAAAR from great again. Before it became free to play it was more of free to play game, sure you paid $15 a month but you didn't have to spend hundreds of dollars a month just to advance and compete in the game. This is no longer a casual game. The game was great b4 GoD and b4 all of the little turds that play the game now that cry about grinding not knowing the struggle of grinding pre god.