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Turbine to bring back LotRO's Fellowship Maneuvers to boss fights
It's a long-running in-joke in the Lord of the Rings Online community that no matter how often Turbine tries to call its group combo-maker "Fellowship Maneuvers," players can't stop referring to them as "Conjunctions" (the name for the system from beta). In a new dev diary covering the resurgence of the feature, Turbine acknowledges the nomenclature debate with the title "Conjunction Conjunction, What's your Function?" In the past, Turbine had disabled Fellowship Maneuvers for tough boss fights, fearing that it would make the encounters too easy. However, the devs want to start giving the system more love again, and they have a two-step plan to do that. The first step is to allow players to create customizable Fellowship Maneuvers on a per-mob basis, allowing players to fine-tune their approach to each deadly encounter. The second step is to lift the ban on Fellowship Maneuvers during boss fights while making them much tougher to pull off successfully. This latter step is still in the planning stages, but the team wanted players to know that it was in the works. There's more information in this developer diary about Conjunctions, especially in regard to the new 24-man Draigoch raid, so it's worth checking out if you're a serious dungeon crawler.
The Road to Mordor: 'Twas the night before Isengard...
I feel it. It's those excited butterflies that appear somewhere in my navel region when I realize that I'm on the verge of something new, fun, and possibly involving an alien xenomorph bursting out of my insides. It's the thrill of anticipation almost realized. For this time next week, we'll be well on our way to Isengard. I've never been around for a Lord of the Rings Online expansion release, which makes this a first for me. Sure, I have my concerns about Rise of Isengard, but on the whole I'm ready to jump into an untamed region and explore the living deeds out of it. I'm not in a rush to get through it all and start raiding or anything, so my Lore-master will be taking his sweet time milking each quest for the calcium-rich story within. Oddly enough, I'm most excited about the prospect of cool new cosmetics because I have a sick obsession with them that's going to require a full-scale intervention. I'm not quite sure how LotRO's third expansion will be taken by the larger community, and I probably won't know until the launch fever dies down and we evaluate how useful, entertaining, and engaging it is over the long term. I'm just glad we're moving forward. In this week's Road to Mordor, I want to look back at the build-up to Isengard's release, what we know so far, and what changes are in store for our characters. Might as well tidy up the place since it's going to get hecka messy soon enough.
Turbine unveils LotRO expansion point costs
Those of you who didn't get around to pre-ordering Lord of the Rings Online's Rise of Isengard expansion earlier this summer will probably want to mosey over to the game's official forums. Turbine has revealed the point costs for all of the new content, and due to the variety of items on offer, it may take you a few minutes to piece together what you want (and what it'll cost you). The short version is that the expansion quests and deeds will set you back 3,250 Turbine points, while the new Draigoch raid will cost an additional 1,250 TP. There's also a bindable item called Derudh's Stone that grants a permanent 25% XP bonus on monster kills through level 64, and it is priced at 995 TP. Finally, the new Update 5 instances, currently slated for a December release, will run you 1,495 TP. There's more info, and a load of comments and discussion, at the official LotRO boards.
LotRO's Draigoch revealed in his full glory
While we've previously been treated to concept art of Lord of the Rings Online's new 24-man raid boss, we haven't seen how the dragon Draigoch actually looked in game... until now. Today Turbine released three screenshots showcasing its ginormous dragon, and we have to admit: The dude looks intimidating. Glowy eyes? Check. Fire breath? Check. Squatting on a pile of treasure? Check. Horns, claws and leathery wings? Check. Hipster beard? Uh... check! It is surprising to see a dragon with a beard, although it does lend Draigoch an aura of maturity. Well, that and the possibility that he's planning to audition for ZZ Top. Draigoch is one of the last of the great dragons of Middle-earth, and Turbine has said that he will not only talk but lip-sync his dialogue to players. You can check out Draigoch's photo shoot in the gallery below. %Gallery-9579%
The Road to Mordor: Double dragons
Last week Turbine released the concept art for one of its major bosses from the upcoming Rise of Isengard expansion: Draigoch. With it came a number of appropriate "oohs" and "ahhs," and no doubt raiders began thinking up uses for a giant dragon skull in their homes. But there was also a crowd that popped out to cry foul about lore molestation -- that this was a blatant example of Turbine pandering to MMO players by including the expected dragons even when the lore shouldn't support it. A couple examples of quotes, first. "Yet whatever way you cut this idea, how can you integrate another dragon into the story? Smaug was the last one of his kind," Contains Moderate Peril complains. A commenter on our article sniped, "So Turbine's decided to entirely drop the pretense of sticking to the lore, then?" Ouch. As much as I am totally not attached to MMO lore in general, I feel like this might be a good time to both address this particular argument and also the larger one of Turbine's approach to Tolkien's world. Are giant dragons lore-breaking? Does Turbine simply not care about remaining faithful to source material? Do you have my decaf light mocha with cinnamon sprinkles?
LotRO's Rise of Isengard beta begins July 27th
Feel like the road trip to Mordor isn't getting there as fast as you'd like? Good news, everyone -- Turbine's about ready to pull out of the gas station and truck toward Isengard! Today the studio announced that the beta program for Lord of the Rings Online's Rise of Isengard expansion will begin next Wednesday, July 27th. Invites will be going out to select players across North America and Europe, although the NDA forbids participants from even mentioning that they're part of the program. Those who have pre-ordered the digital expansion will have "preferred access" to the beta, so that seems like your best bet if you're interested. Rise of Isengard will release on September 27th, and contains a level cap increase to 75, three new zones and a 24-person raid against the dragon Draigoch. The expansion heads deep into the territory mentioned in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Two Towers.
Meet LotRO's latest Big Bad: The dragon Draigoch
Lord of the Rings Online's Rise of Isengard expansion is still a couple months away, but that doesn't mean we should be saving up our collective drool for that moment. Instead, let us lavish our eyes on a brand-new piece of concept art and feel our mouths go slack with anticipation! This piece of art depicts Draigoch, the giant dragon who will be the big bad boss of the expansion's 24-man raid. Turbine says that Draigoch is one of the most powerful creatures in Middle-earth, and after getting a look at him, we're inclined to agree. Reportedly, he'll be so big that players will only be able to fight his head. Rise of Isengard is slated for a September 27th release, and can be pre-ordered now to gain spiffy bonuses and cosmetic gear. %Gallery-9579%
