Lord of the Rings Online thread

[Grallon]

Are they adding any other classes or just adding content?

Summary of the quick and dirty details:

Siege of Mirkwood will have a base price of $19.99. As with Moria last year, we're going to have a set of early upgrade offers that are very compelling. We're not quite ready to unveil those details yet, but we'll keep you posted.
The epic story continues on in Volume 3 as a regular content update early next year. Sounds like a standard free book update, but hasnt been confirmed.
Some of the improvements to the game coming with Mirkwood will benefit everyone, but the key features will require the Mirkwood upgrade.
Skirmishes are PvE, and should not be directly competing with PvMP.
Skirmishes are not session play.
The new raid is not a one-boss raid. Nuff Said.
100+ hours of new content
Level cap increased to level 65 with access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests
Legendary items will now be maxed at level 60- no word on if this includes existing legendaries or only new ones.
Legendary items will gain a 4th runic slot, new legacies and new titles.
Craft and customize 3rd and 2nd Age Legendary items. We can already craft them, so its the "customize" part that is of interested- no word on what it means yet, but there is a Dev Diary about this coming soon.
Skirmishes reward experience-points, complimenting the level up experience, and can be accessed as low as level 30.
Map of Mirkwood



Videos
TenTonHammer Interview: Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3

What are Skirmishes, and how will they work?
"The Skirmish system will allow all players -- raiders, casuals, mid-level, high-level -- access to the same content.

Twelve new Skirmish instances will be available in addition to a pair of tutorial instances designed to introduce players to the system. Each of these instances is scalable based on the number of players; they each accept one, three, six, or twelve players at a time, with the deficit made up for by player-created NPC soldiers- to make a grand total of 24. Additionally, many of the instances are scalable by level; for instance, one skirmish which features an assault upon and defense of Weathertop will accept players from level 30 to 65. Each instance has nine optional challenges, each of which awards skirmish points -- more on those in a moment. These challenges are randomized, as are the enemies inside the instance (within certain logical limits, of course), so you will not likely have the same experience twice.

For example, Jeffrey Steefel demoed the opening of one of these Skirmishes in which a number of NPCs have been locked within the Prancing Pony, and Sharkey's men are threatening to burn it down. Your job is to defend the Bree-town landmark. The Pony itself has hit points during this Skirmish, and you are awarded Skirmish points based upon how well you defend the Pony. Let the building's hit points fall to zero and you fail your primary objective.

Now, Skirmish points: These are your rewards for completing your challenges -- primary and optional -- in each instance. They can be used to customize and advance your soldiers. Soldiers are quite customizable: You can assign them traits, just like a player character, and you can alter their cosmetic appearance. The Skirmish point system will even be tied into MyLOTRO, where there will be leaderboards on which you can compare yourself to your friends.

You can enter a Skirmish from anywhere in the game world, as can your friends from their own locations in the game world. When you're done with the Skirmish -- each of them is designed to last thirty to forty minutes -- you will be transported back to your prior location in the world." [source: LOTRO Vault]

Each player has 1 Soldier. A group of 12 doing an instance would have 12 Soldiers total. So the player group would be leading the equivalent of a second raid group in the 12 mans. Though each player would only have control of their own soldier. And yes, you can still use any pets/banners you would normally have in addition to your soldier. [source: Dev post]

Skirmishes reward experience-points, complimenting the level up experience, and can be accessed as low as level 30. [source: Dev post]

Skirmishes are PvE, and should not be directly competing with PvMP. [source: Dev post]

Skirmishes are not session play. [source: Dev post]

Soldiers can only be called and utilized while in a skirmish. [source: Dev post]

What is "Enhanced Combat Responsiveness"?
Here is a quick explanation from Floon:

Autoattacks will not delay firing a skill. What this does mean is that animation have a chance to preempt autoattack anims in such a way as to produce a pop in the anim transition that isn't there right now. [source: Dev post]

What is "World Join"?
Zombie Columbus goes in to details about what it is, and what it will actually be called:

World-join is a bit of a misnomer. The name of that part of the overall Skirmish system is likely being changed to the more informative "Skirmish-join." Remember the way half the community calls Fellowship Maneouvers Conjunctions because that's what it was in beta? This is one of those situations.

Well, what IS Skirmish-join? There will be a dev diary on it (I'm working on it now) but the short version is it will be how players can enter the new Skirmish spaces. It's a UI that will allow players to select the group size, level, and difficulty of a Skirmish, and then be instantly transported to the Skirmish. Emphasis on "Skirmish", the system does not, as of now, interact with Instances, PvMP, Battle Instances or anything else. [source: Dev post]

Epic Book 9 and beyond:
"Under the command of Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths. This update includes Book 9, which will have the most chapters of any book to date, and the Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the Mines of Moria expansion. No word yet on just how many chapters, or possibly books, the "epilogue" will contain." [source: LOTRO Vault]

The epic story continues on in Volume 3 as a regular content update early next year. (Sounds like a standard free book update, but hasnt been confirmed) [source: Dev post]

NEW! Epic Book 9 and much of its Epilogue take place in Mirkwood, so you'll need 'Siege of Mirkwood' for it. [source: Dev post]

NEW! Epic Book 9 will be able to be started without having completed Book 8 (or presumably any of the other books excluding Book 1 which you need to get in Moria). [source: Dev post]

NEW! There's a lot of meat to Epic Book 9: instances, skirmishes, monster-hunting, and a few surprises. [source: Dev post]

Legendary Items:
Legendary items will now be maxed at level 60- no word on if this includes existing legendaries or only new ones.

Legendary items will gain a 4th runic slot, new legacies and new titles.

NEW! The 4th runic will be a crafted runic. [source: TenTonHammer]

Craft and customize 3rd and 2nd Age Legendary items. We can already craft them, so its the "customize" part that is of interested- no word on what it means yet, but there is a Dev Diary about this coming soon.

Overhaul to mounts and new mounts:
"Mounts are being changed over to skills, not items. This means you will no longer be required to carry a mount in your inventory. In your skills panel, there will be a "mount" tab, which will list your current stable of mounts -- your horse, your other horse, your goat. And, because of mounts becoming skills, a number of issues with mounts will simply cease to exist: You will now be able to pass into instances and new zones while on your mount; you can now interact with NPCs (including vendors) from your mount; and you can now use emotes (with complete animations) on your mount. In other mount news, there's a brand new goat, the Wild Goat." [source: LOTRO Vault]

You can have multiple horses. Each is a seperate skill, but there is no limit I am aware of on the number you can have. There will be a Dev Diary on the new system, so that should give you a ton of info when it's published. [source: Dev post]

Account-wide Storage Space
"Also on the list of changes is the addition of shared storage space for accounts. Currently, shared storage space appears to be limited to 50 items, though this was likely to increase over time in a similar manner to purchasing further storage space for your character's Vault." [source: LOTRO Vault]

"It is unconfirmed if this is a sign of "bind on account" items being on the horizon." [source: LOTRO Vault]

NEW! And just like vaults, what's put in at one vault NPC can be taken out at another. As long as the characters are all on the same account. [source: Dev post]

New Raid: Dol Guldur:
"The burning question I am sure on everyones mind, radiance, has not been addressed- so no word on if and how much is required. The primary raid will be in Dol Guldur, and will feature a multi-boss instance culminating with a fight featuring both a battle against a Fell Beast and, finally, the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur, second-in-command among the Nazgul." [source: LOTRO Vault]

NEW! The new raid will also contain a cluster of smaller instances with both 3-man and 6-man spaces. [source: Press Release]

And finally...
It was hinted that we should all make sure we are signed up for the Turbine Beta Rewards program. You can sign up over at http://myaccount.turbine.com/

[Ape]

Free week and decided to try it out again, and now I remember why I quit in the first place. It's sooooooooo boring

[Grallon]

The expension came out tuesday... And I'm so unexcited about it!  More grind, more radiance gear gating, more raids... *sigh*.   And WoW is even worse without the Tolkien lore.  I guess I'm just burned out with MMOs. 




G.

[Jaron]

The expension came out tuesday... And I'm so unexcited about it!  More grind, more radiance gear gating, more raids... *sigh*.   And WoW is even worse without the Tolkien lore.  I guess I'm just burned out with MMOs. 




G.

Me too.

You should give Aion a go.

[Caliga]

I guess I'm just burned out with MMOs. 

Same here... I cancelled WoW last week.

[Grallon]

You should give Aion a go.

A cross between console fidgety games and manga?  I think not.




G.

[Sophie Scholl]

I have:  purchased this.

[Barrister]

The first 20 levels were some of the most fun I've ever had in an MMO.  Just running around the Shire itself was worth the purchase price.

For me though once you got past Bree it was endless missions to kill orcs, rats, and wolves.  Then more orcs, rats, and wolves. Rinse and repeat...

[Sophie Scholl]

I need a break from WoW.  The lore and backstory there just isn't as engaging as Tolkien.  The lack of continuity and the massive tongue in cheek nature of a lot of it kills the mood for me in WoW.  I'm hoping there's some rp elements in game to keep me interested.  Also, I guess there's instances as a big part of the game after 20 these days.  Either way, I'm looking forward to it.  I enjoyed it during the beta way back when, but my computer wasn't good enough to do much with the graphics.  The one I have now isn't great, but it can handle a hell of a lot more.

[crazy canuck]

The first 20 levels were some of the most fun I've ever had in an MMO.  Just running around the Shire itself was worth the purchase price.

For me though once you got past Bree it was endless missions to kill orcs, rats, and wolves.  Then more orcs, rats, and wolves. Rinse and repeat...

I dont know.  I had a lot of fun seeing the sites described in the books throughout my adventures there.  You are right about there not being a lot of variety in the types of mobs but that is just staying true to the book.  I enjoyed it.  I stopped playing mainly because they way the crafting and attribute systems just turned into grinds (kill x number of y whether you want to or not to get kill points or mats)  I

[Rasputin]

i still play.

[Grallon]

Breaking news!!!


Warner Bros has just bought out Turbine Inc, the studio that gave us DD Online and of course LotRO -> http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/57858/WARNER_BROS_HOME_ENTERTAINMENT_GROUP_ACQUIRES_TURBINEINC.php

The boards are abuzz with all kinds of rumors and anxiety about the future of the game.  Who knows now if they'll do any future expansion...




G.

[Solmyr]

Wonder if my lifetime subscription will stay.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Wonder if my lifetime subscription will stay.

't would hardly be a positive news-item if the company unilaterally ended those lifetime-subs. Mass breach of contract -cause that is what it would be- is bad advertissement.

[Solmyr]

Good, now that I've stopped playing WoW I might actually come back to this more often.