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The Lord of the Rings Online: The epic quest line told in pictures
It's been one full year since Turbine released The Lord of the Rings Online to the public. The game has seen four large content updates since April 24, 2007 which have increased the amount in land available in the game by over 50% and added everything from new raid instances to the ability to play as a chicken.There has also been a huge advancement in the ongoing storyline of the game, which is separated into different "Books." These Books give the player a way to leave their mark on Middle-earth without interfering with the story already set by J. R. R. Tolkien, whose works the game is based off of. Here is a look back at the storyline that has progressed in the past year.Click on the first image in the gallery below to experience each epic storyline including appearances by fan favorites such as Gandalf, Elrond and the Fellowship of the Ring. %Gallery-21290%
The Lord of the Rings Online's one-year anniversary: A look back
In releasing Book 13 on its one-year anniversary, the Lord of the Rings Online finishes off its first year with five large content updates, known as Books. In addition to new epic storylines, the lore progressed significantly this past year as new Books were added. Let's take a look at all the changes made since April 24, 2007.The game began with eight questing zones and one player-versus-monster-player zone as well as seven classes and 10 crafting professions. It also launched many promises from the developers for much-demanded features such as player-owned houses and Fishing. At this point it was very difficult to reach the level cap of 50 due to a lack of significant content in the level 30-50 range, which Turbine promised to address. And that promise materialized with the first free content patch. Find out what Book 9 brought to the game ===>>
LotRO, A Look Back: Books 12 & 13
The new year brought Book 12: The Ashen Wastes on February 13, 2008. This was the first major update that didn't include the introduction of a new region. What it did bring to the table is a mix of revamps and new features.The high level adventuring area Angmar received a major overhaul, making it significantly more solo friendly. many elite mobs were taken out of the solo area population. And the boars, oh the boars, were mostly removed in favor of more menacing mobs. Finally, the questlines were smoothed out to move players along to area more appropriate to their leve.PvMP players received a new PvE dungeon, the Delving of Frór. The Creeps and Freeps battle for control of the dungeon and should one gain access while the other was battling a raid target within, well, that's when the real fun begins. New armor and items were also made available to the player side.Cosmetic enhancements were introduced to the game in Book 12 as well. The outfit system allowed players to choose one set of armor for stats and another for display. The barber system allowed players to change their hairstyle and facial choices, even adding a few new hairstyles to the game.Finally, three classes got a revamp this time. Guardians received a mix bag as their defenses were both nerfed and buffed, they received a dps stance and gained some utility. Burglars got a buff to nearly all their functions including damage, debuffing, trickery and crowd control. Champions also got an extra pass that gave them a stance that was part offensive and part defensive. This round concluded the class revamps planned by Turbine. %Gallery-14799% %Gallery-15282%
Book 13 to feature new armour set vendors in Angmar
The revamp of Angmar that was featured in Lord of the Rings Online's Book 12 patch brought about a number of new armour sets that were obtained from quests in the area. However, some of the pieces of these sets were made available through quests that were already in the game prior to Book 12, which meant that a lot of people had already completed those quests and have been unable to get those particular new items. This has left some ticked off people with incomplete sets, and no way to do anything about it.A solution to this problem has been found, and according to this thread at the official forums, new vendors will be introduced with Book 13 that will sell the armour pieces. Part of the requirement to use these items will be to have completed the associated quest that they originally came from. They won't be cheap either, seeing as this approach makes it possible to "double-dip", as MadeOfLions puts it, on the quest rewards. Expect the new vendors with Book 13 in Aughaire and Gabilshathur. The thread that broke the news contained a lot of player requests to have a similar system in place for other quest sets, but who knows if this would be considered when there isn't a particular problem to fix, as there was in this case.
Notes for LotRO Book 12 Patch 1 available
The Lord of the Rings Online test server has been patched, and the notes have been made available for viewing. The patch should end up on live servers after a testing period on Roheryn, so it's a good heads up for what is ahead.Highlights of the patch include some Guardian-specific updates, Book 12 bug fixes, changes to stop anti-exploit mode triggering on mobs so often, and ranged auto-attacks will miss more often if fired while moving. The full list of notes can be found after the break.
LotRO EU dev chat reveals Book 13 details
At the end of every month the Lord of the Rings Online Europe team sits down for a dev chat. February's happened last night at Stratics and this time we got some juice on the upcoming Book 13 content patch. Here are the highlights: Book 13 will contain a new area to explore that is bigger than Evendim but have a different climate than the recent heavy emphasis on snowy mountains No new 12 or 24 man raids will be introduced. (Note: The recently launched Book 12 introduced new raid content for those hungry for more large group encounters.) 6 man instances work will be limited to the Book 13 continuation of the epic storyline as well as retuning the existing Annuminas 1 group instances. New armor sets are coming to primaily address playstyles not served by existing armor sets Housing is changing in regards to non-payment. Instead of losing your house and all your items going into escrow, non-payment of the maintenance fee will simply lock you out of your house until you can pay. Your house remains and all your items remain within while you are locked out. Only houses that are abandoned will have their items placed in escrow. The ability to turn off the graphic of certain item slots will be independent for each Outfit New non-combat clothing will be coming as well as headgear that doesn't cover your characters hair (i.e. Circlets.) The devs also talked about technology being implemented into the game that will allow them to work in new functionality. Here are some of the features they would like to add at that point: More character slots Guild banks Sending multiple items in the mail at once Expect dev diaries to start appearing soon detailing the major features of the patch as we get closer to its arrival on the Test server. A full transcript of this dev chat can be found at Stratics. %Gallery-10737%
LotRO patch notes for Tuesday, February 19th
Several quick -- but arguably important -- fixes went out today for Lord of the Rings Online. A couple Book 12 quest fixes were implemented, one of them addressing a potentially annoying respawn issue. In Book 12, Chapter 5, Lozudurkh will now show up if a player in need of a key is nearby. Also, the LotRO team has locked the final phase of the quest chain "Seven Swords" -- but only temporarily. The quest was meant to be completed with a group and was apparently behaving like a solo quest instead.Aside from those two changes, there are some more minor changes -- such as fixing the value of the Bree-horse and Bree-pony from multiple silvers to just a few coppers. We're always for saving some silver, you know.
WRUP: Valentine's aftermath edition
Do anything fun for V-day yesterday? Living the single bachelor life that I do, I spent most of the evening blogging last night, although WoW got a little playing time, and boy, wasn't that new Lost just completely confusing? Now that we're in the romantic aftermath, it's time once again to ask What aRe yoU Playing this weekend?Our own Eli Shayotovich is going to be busy-- he's heading into City of Heroes for new epic archetypes, and Tabula Rasa for his new charcoal armor dye (that doesn't sound as fun as the archetypes, if you ask me). Me, I'm continuing to try and get my Hunter to 70 in WoW (these 60-70 levels are harder than I remember), and I'll also be playing Burnout Paradise online on the Xbox 360 (GT toucansamurai if you want to join me)-- it's not actually an MMO, though when you're driving around the same city with a bunch of other people, it sure feels like one.So what are you up to in the world of MMOs or elsewhere this weekend? Anybody diving into the WoW patch 2.4 PTR? Or checking out the new Book 12 content in LotRO?Previously on WRUP...
LotRO, Book 12 and some minor bugs
Don't worry too much, there's nothing wrong with Book 12 that could break your computer or the game. However, there are a couple known issues that are good to know about, in case you happen to encounter them.For instance, one such issue deals with the newly implemented cosmetic systems. If you happen to get your hair cut at a barber, you'll find that while your avatar itself will reflect the new trim immediately -- your character window will not. At least, not until your next login. This is mostly the type of issue that's just confusing more than anything else, but at least now you know that you're not going crazy from playing all the new content.There are several other minor issues, which are all worth glancing at just in case you're encountering some new quirks during your time in-world.
Double video goodness from LotRO Book 12
After extended maintenance yesterday, the Lord of the Rings Online servers are finally up with the Book 12 The Ashen Wastes content patch locked and loaded. We've already drooled over all the new features in our earlier post, so we'll spare you the rehash here. Instead, you can watch a trailer for Book 12 where LotRO's Executive Producer, Jeffrey Steefel, rehashes it for us. What a sweet guy.We also have a second video that tells the story behind the latest content. Even if you're not a LotRO fan, it's worth a look. The voice work and storytelling are very good.The videos can be clicked full screen and are embedded after the jump.
Turbine having server and service issues
As of 12:35pm Eastern, Turbine is having some troubles with all of their services. This includes not only Lord of the Rings Online, but all Turbine games as far as we know. It's not such a good time to be having issues since plenty of players are sitting at their computers awaiting the Book 12 update for LotRO today. The problem is hitting not only the game servers, but website services as well -- so be wary if you're thinking of going into your Turbine account right now. They have informed us that people are on-site at their data center and are trying to find a solution to the server problem. Also, there is currently no known time at which this problem will be fixed, but as soon as we have an update we'll be sure to let you know when everything is back to normal.[UPDATE] Turbine has said that this is not caused by the Book 12 update, which was apparently successfully put onto the servers and tested by QA before these issues began. So when the servers finally do go back up, the update will be readily available.[UPDATE 2] The servers are back up and it looks as though everything is now back to normal.
Lord of the Rings Online releases Book 12
The servers are down. Middle-earth is quiet. That can mean only one thing: Book 12 is upon us! If you haven't already gotten the update via torrent, the next time you log in you should start streaming in the biggest patch to Lord of the Rings Online yet. If you're a LOTRO player of any stripe or affiliation, you're going to have to find something to like in this monstrous addition to the game. You've read our book 12 tour rundown, you've been following along with us over the past three months as we explored the new content. You know what's in this one, right? Howabout a recap, then? Just in updates to existing content we've got Kinship changes, the return of pirate quests, new hairstyles, big changes to Angmar, new options for player housing, reputation changes, and improved spam reporting. Several classes get big revamps, including the Champion, Burglar, and Guardian. And the new stuff! Do you think they handed out enough toys? Brand new cloaks for completing chapter 10, a new 'outfit' system and barbershop makeovers, a brand new epic storyline featuring heavy fellowship action, and ... oh yeah, an entirely new PvP/PvE dungeon. Whether you're waiting for the servers to come back up, or just to get back home to your PC, keep yourself warm in the meantime with the ember glow of the patch notes. The green fields of Middle-earth will be back soon.%Gallery-14799%
LotRO developer chat talks Kinship additions
Last Monday there was a scheduled Lord of the Rings Online developer chat over at Stratics. Quite a lot was discussed, but there are some key things we took away from the Q&A session. The mention of a "Month of the Kinship" has us most excited, as that means that sometime in the (hopefully near) future LotRO will be receiving a book update to its guild features.Right now players and Kinships can purchase their own housing, but kinship housing doesn't serve any functional purpose beyond a gathering place that can be decorated. We would love to see these housings become a place where members could come to store items or keep up to date with a schedule board. Other subjects that were touched on during the dev chat were traits getting a review, including racial traits and a heavier focus on 12 man raids instead of the 24 man style. Unsurprisingly, the 12 man raids have been more popular with players. It's always easier to gather and maintain control over less people and 12 just seems to be the sweet spot for most LotRO players.
Book 12 updater available via torrent
Those looking to download and patch their Lord of the Rings Online client ahead of time look no further. A torrent (available here) made by Turbine allows those with the Book 11 patch to pre-patch themselves and thus log in right away after server maintenance is over this Wednesday. New players can't use the patch as it only supports those with the Book 11 patch, but hey at least everyone else can, right?Well, not exactly. If you've got the EU version of Lord of the Rings Online, then you're sadly out of luck as this patch won't work for you -- so it isn't all sunshine and daisies. This patch also won't work for the Roheryn preview server -- no surprise there, though. We're unsure as to why European players are left in the cold, but at least everyone else can get themselves pre-patched as soon as they like. Still, it's always nice when a developer goes out of there way to make sure most players can get right into the new patched up game after downtime ends. Hopefully next time they'll just make sure to have the EU players covered as well.
Scheduled server downtime for LotRO this Wednesday
Crack open your favorite book, rent a few movies or just go for a six hour stroll through the park -- scheduled server downtime is coming. Lord of the Rings Online servers are going down on Wednesday, February 13th from 6am to 12pm Eastern time. During this time, however Roheryn will remain active. So if you really need a LotRO fix you can get it there, albeit on a test server.The good news is that this downtime serves a grand purpose!Book 12: The Ashen Wastes -- which is the latest free update -- is going live, which means that once you've finished reading, watching or strolling you can come back to a newly updated LotRO. If you haven't yet checked out our Book 12 tour, feel free to take a look and get updated on all the upcoming additions to the world of Middle-earth.
Next Monday is "Ask a LotRO dev a question day"
If you're a Lord of the Rings Online player interested in asking the developers as many questions as you can think up, then this should interest you greatly. An open topic developer chat is scheduled for this coming Monday, February 11th at 5pm Pacific (or 8pm Eastern). We're sure that there are plenty of you out there looking to fire your hot, molten questions at the LotRO developers. Information on how to get into the chat can be found over at Stratics -- where the chat is being hosted.Usually when players are unleashed upon developers, many questions about future updates and content are asked. Maybe we'll get a juicy hint or two at possible things to expect from the next patch after Book 12. You never know, sometimes developers can be swayed by hordes of adoring players.
Arr! Pirate quests be back in Lord of the Rings Online
It could be said that a lot of us here at Massively have a certain affinity for talking and dressing like pirates when given the chance. With this knowledge, you probably think the news that Book 12 reintroduces quests from "Talk Like a Pirate Day" is very exciting for some of us -- well, it is! This news comes at the perfect time, considering the new outfit appearance slots will let you look like a pirate while keeping your equipment stats. So any Lord of the Rings Online players looking to obtain some flashy pirate gear can head on over to the Brandywine Bridge and chat up the stranded mariners. Then, you can look like a pirate whenever you feel like it!
Massively hands-on LotRO Book 12 tour
Recently I was taken on a tour of the Lord of the Rings Online upcoming content patch, Book 12 "The Ashen Wastes." And I came back with exclusive screenshots, lewt info and more video than you can shake a Balrog at.Joined by LotRO developer Aaron Campbell and Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, I was first taken to the new public PvP dungeon, The Delving of Frór. This is a new design concept for LotRO. One side in the Player vs Monster Player war must take and defend three of the five control points in the Ettenmoors to be able to enter the new dungeon. Once inside, there is a wealth of content for PvE play: solo mobs, more than fifteen group mobs and five raid mobs. But here's the hitch: if the other side gains control of the majority of the control points, their side can flood into the dungeon and attack you while you are hip deep in a raid encounter. At the same time, your side is shut out from helping if they aren't already in the dungeon. So not only do you have to coordinate your raid, you have to coordinate the defense of the zone at the same time. Gives a whole new twist to the raid strategy, eh?Read on for seven videos and a full tour write up.%Gallery-15282%
EU LotRO dev chat predicts infamous Shaman fishing
German Lord of the RIngs Online site Lotro-welten hosted its monthly dev chat with LotRO devs and community managers. Many of the questions for this dev chat focused on the new public PvMP dungeon, the Delving of Frór and the changes to the Creeps system. But most were requests for features that the devs didn't have any immediate plans to implement (translation: you no get!) One participant complained that many questions were asked covering information that has already been announced. The devs explained that not all players read patch notes, etc. and the dev chats are another way to get information out to the public. So be prepared for a certain amount of repetition.That being said, there was little new information to be gleaned. The few nuggets we found are: The Hobbies system will be introduced in Book 13 with the long requested Fishing ability. More Hobbies are planned in the future. A Shaman PvMP class is in the works for Book 13. That may not be the final name of the class, but the basic skills and abilities are in place. Monster play Infamy/Reknown costs will be lowered considerably in Book 12 to allow players to level faster in PvMP. A full transcript of the chat can be found on Lotro-welten's site.%Gallery-14799%
New hairstyle pictures for Lord of the Rings Online
As people who spend a lot of time in massively games, we always appreciate it when developers give us more customization options. Turbine went even further by giving players both a barbershop and two different sets of clothing for when they don't feel like hanging around taverns in their armor. As with any upcoming additions, the forums are filled with posters putting together all sorts of pictures for your viewing pleasure. Community response has been really good to this stuff, so hopefully we'll see even more hairs, clothes and other ways to further customize your character in future updates. The value of adding this stuff could be argued over, but at the end of the day we think it's always good to get some more variety into your massively games. Although we're still not sure if we want our hobbits to have long, flowing, curly locks or not. Apparently, all the cool hobbits are getting them now.
