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Lord of the Rings Online spills the beans on Rohan's epic story
It's not just enough for Turbine to release a new war-pony expansion for Lord of the Rings Online and call it a day. No, the team has to maintain its high standards of storytelling, which is why Content Designer Jeff Libby wrote the latest set of quest notes for the upcoming addition to the epic tale of the game. According to Libby, Riders of Rohan will contain three new books of the epic story, titled A Fellowship Endangers, Into the Riddermark, and the Third Marshal. He paints a few broad strokes about the writing process, and then goes into spoiler-heavy territory for those who like behind-the-scenes explanations. The writer is excited to the point of needing sedation about finally entering this area of the books. "Rohan is a land that we knew we had to get right," Libby said. "For that reason alone, we've spent a great deal of time ensuring that we could do it justice. After all, the stretch of The Lord of the Rings that we have gotten up to is often cited as the favorite of readers and film-lovers alike. We need our version of the Riddermark to be equally as beloved."
The Road to Mordor: Is LotRO's questing system over the hill?
There's a good chance you're not reading this column right now but instead are fully immersed in the weekend beta for Guild Wars 2: Guild Harder. That's OK. I won't hold it against you -- I may even be playing it as well. Oh, those ArenaNet folks. They make such lofty promises, don't they? They're going to rewrite MMOs as we know them and show us once and for all that we've been playing with Tinker Toys when we could have fully functional jetpacks and whatnot. I don't harbor any ill will against Guild Wars 2; in fact, I'm quite looking forward to it. But as everyone's focused on the game's excising of traditional questing as popularized by World of Warcraft, I thought it would be worth examining just how dated Lord of the Rings Online's questing system has become, if at all. In an era of dynamic events, public quests, full voice-over, and other techniques designed to get us away from the text box questing model, will LotRO hold its ground against these fads or is it truly becoming a relic of the past? Let's dig in!
The Road to Mordor: A prisoner of Isengard
With Update 5 on the horizon, there's certainly plenty to look forward to in Lord of the Rings Online, especially if you've exhausted all of Rise of Isengard's content to date. Personally, I'm still trucking along: level 73, in the middle of the Gap of Rohan, picking flowers and pontificating on Hobbit meal schedules. As you can tell, I haven't been in any particular rush to get to the end. However, I realized this past week that somewhere along the line I had abandoned my pursuit of Volume III, Book 4, so I went to pick it back up. It turned out that I was on the verge of some of the most interesting and gripping quests in the game, and for the first time since forever, I stayed up really late to see how the questing would pan out. Obviously, there's going to be some serious spoilers in this here column, so if you haven't finished Book 4 of Rise of Isengard, you may wish to just bookmark this for later reading. I'm not typically eager to spoil story points, but this quest line got me so worked up that I simply had to talk about it this week.
Instance finder coming to LotRO in Update 5
When Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard launched, it did so with the understanding that it wasn't quite completed. The expansion had no new instanced content apart from a 24-person raid, and Turbine promised that this would be rectified by the end of the year. Enter the redemption of Update 5, where a new instance cluster will be introducing five additional dungeons into the game. These instances include a walk through Fangorn Forest and a personal encounter with Saruman. Ten Ton Hammer got a chance to talk with the devs about Update 5 and discovered a few previously unreleased details. The biggest of these is word of an instance finder feature -- AKA a "dungeon finder" -- that is similar to those found in World of Warcraft and RIFT. Through the instance finder, players will be able to queue up for level-appropriate runs and be matched up with other eager adventurers. Update 5 will also include the next book of the epic storyline titled The Prince of Rohan in which players will part with the Grey Company for new vistas. Stay tuned to Massively as we'll have a hands-on look at Update 5 later this week!
The Road to Mordor: The 10 most memorable quests in LotRO
I honestly have no idea how many quests we're up to in Lord of the Rings Online at this point. Thousands, for sure. And as with many other facets in life, 90% of these quests are fated to be unmemorable tasks that blur together with all the rest. However, I've always felt that LotRO has a decently high cool quest-to-forgettable chore ratio, at least compared to other MMOs. What makes a memorable quest? Here's my litmus test: When I sat down first thing in the morning, all bleary-eyed, to write this article, these quests bubbled up to the forefront of my mind. They've "stuck," for lack of a more precise term, in my head. They've made an impression, and because of that I feel they're among the cream of the crop in LotRO's repertoire. For today's Road to Mordor, I'm going to simply list the first 10 most memorable quests that came to me. I actually was going to just do six, but couldn't stop myself there; I could barely halt at 10, if that gives you an indication. These might not be your most favorite quests or even the best in the game, but they've been the ones that have stuck with me through thick and thin.' Warning: Past this point thar be spoilers! Beware!
Enter at Your Own Rift: One-point-four
Last week, Karen provided an excellent analysis on Trion Worlds' broad, eight-page State of the Game address as the company outlined its plans for the game's long-term future. This week, we're still going to cast our eyes to the present. As we wrap up the final phase of RIFT's Waves of Madness (how much fun is water bladder throwing, huh?) and raid guilds bang their way through Hammerknell, it's the time to revel in a brand-new content update: patch 1.4. Yes, another patch. I think people are still in disbelief that Trion is able to pump out updates as rapidly as it has, and the current naysayer theory is that the company is merely polishing up content it wanted to get for launch but had to hold back for whatever reason. There's probably a kernel of truth to that, but it doesn't hold up from what we know. We know that Trion has parallel teams -- up to six of them -- working on live development, which includes world events and content updates. We know that some of the features we've seen in previous patches were a direct result of post-launch player feedback, so it can't all be capping off unfinished projects. Say what you will, but from where I'm standing, Trion's putting its actions where its mouth is by continuing a hot-and-heavy updating streak without showing any signs of slowing down. It's smart, too; by providing faster updates than most MMOs on the market and giving players incentive to stay, return, and try the game for the first time, Trion's firming up its position as an MMO that's here to stay -- not one that's going to fold up shop when future titles hit. So let's take a peek through the highlights of patch 1.4 as I offer my award-winning commentary on each of the points!
PvP, slivers and crocodiles: RIFT outlines patch 1.4
While RIFT's patch 1.4 has been on the test servers for a couple weeks now, we've finally received concrete details about Trion Worlds' latest update to this dynamic MMO. Titled "Legacy of the Fallen," 1.4 follows up the recent world event with a new epic quest line and a 10-man instance revolving around the continued threat of the Abyssal. The epic chain, called the Water Saga, not only reveals the truth about the origins of the Abyssal cult, but gives players an opportunity to score high-end loot and a special crocnard mount. Those looking for more group-oriented activities may want to check out the Drowned Halls, a 10-person sliver that presents an alternate view of history where the Abyssal have conquered Telara. Patch 1.4 has plenty of PvP action as well, including PvP rifts and alternative forms of warfronts. There are plenty of other goodies in store from the RIFT team, including quest item storage, the LFG tool expanding cross-server, and several new crafting options. Currently, there is no date for the patch.
The Road to Mordor: For want of a horseshoe, my sanity was lost
So a while back I was at an art fair with some friends when I commented on how much I liked a strange piece and one of the guys with me said, "Justin, you know what? You're kind of esoteric, ain't ya?" I agreed wholeheartedly and then rushed home to look up "esoteric" in the dictionary. And yeah, it sort of fit. Sometimes I get obsessed with small details that get shrugged off by others, a habit which extends into my MMO playing career. So you'll forgive me if today's post is a little more esoteric than usual, because this topic is honestly driving me up the wall. I think many of you already know what I'm talking about from the column title up there. Today, we're going to talk about a horseshoe. A very interesting, very confounding, very obtuse horseshoe. It may even be the biggest smallest mystery that Lord of the Rings Online has to offer. I haven't stopped obsessing over it since I first found out about it. So it's better for me to exorcise my demons here than keeping them bottled up inside.
The Road to Mordor: Four more years, four more years!
While four years is not a nice round number -- or even a halfway number like five -- it's a substantial milestone for any MMORPG. Debuting in early 2007, Lord of the Rings Online introduced something we'd never seen before: a fully realized 3-D virtual Middle-earth where we could not only enjoy a deep MMO but explore the lands and meet the people we'd only read about before. It might not be a universal truth that all LotRO players are big Tolkien fans, but I'm sure enough that it's a sizable chunk of the playerbase. There's something special about the IP that gives a weight and richness to the game, especially when a long-time reader of the books is given leave to actually go on adventures through Eriador, Moria and Mirkwood. It's a giant sight-seeing tour of lore, a thrill with every brush one has with the source material. It's heady to consider that four years ago we were but starting on this journey, feeling out the mechanics of combat, crafting and pie-running. Four years later, LotRO has emerged to be one of the most significant MMOs of the past decade, growing strong with no signs of slowing down. Hit the jump as we reminisce about the ups, the downs, and the off-the-beaten-path hikes of our beloved game as it celebrates its fourth anniversary.
The Road to Mordor: Creating your roadmap
I wish to preface this week's column by saying that I'm not advocating just one way to play a game. I think it's equally valid to explore at your own pace, team up as a duo, maximize TP revenue, or set whatever goals you like and pursue them. But after leveling one character to the cap and playing several others, I've begun to develop a roadmap, if you will, that helps guide my progress somewhat efficiently. It's this roadmap that I want to share with you today. The thing is, for all I love about Lord of the Rings Online, the game is definitely littered with timesinks of epic proportions. It already takes a long, long time to get your character up to 65 and through the two expansions, and that's only going to increase as the game grows. There are a lot of distractions and unnecessary grinds (such as virtues you will never use) that can bog you down too long and perhaps dishearten you. So when I created a Minstrel in LotRO a little while back, I decided to map out his progress from level 1 through 65 by creating a broad framework -- an outline, really -- that serves to keep me on track so I don't have to backtrack as much later on to get these goals done. I have a very "two birds with one stone" mentality, so if I'm doing one task in a zone, I'd rather be accomplishing two or three at the same time. So for example, if I'm grinding out a deed, I'd rather do it at level at which I'm getting XP than 20 levels later when I'm not (although the latter has its merits for rapid deed completion). Hit the jump and I'll give you the rundown of how to eliminate some of the confusion and speed bumps of leveling.
The Road to Mordor: Horton hears a patch
Few things get me more excited than the promise of a big steak dinner and a big, beefy patch. Both get the mouth watering, the senses tingling, and the anticipation racing. However, the former comes and goes within minutes, while the latter is here to stay. I love devouring a good set of patch notes, chewing every morsel of information as my mind tries to picture it in action. Mental note -- I should not be writing columns when I'm hungry. I trust you were as pleased as I was when you woke up to the Lord of the Rings Online November update patch notes this past week (Standard Disclaimer: These are for the test server and are subject to change, void in Nevada). We knew that Turbine had a few substantial projects in the works for November, but this is far beyond what I'd speculated. It's one of those "There's something for everyone -- well, almost everyone" updates that has a little of everything, a buffet of sumptuous delights. Sure, it's not going to please folks looking for new dungeons, the promised LI and housing revamps, or the continuation of the epic storyline. That said, Turbine's first post-F2P patch is considerably bigger than anticipated, and if this is any indication of the course the company is setting with releases, I'm happy to be on board. Let's break down this LotRO update after the jump, and see just who this patch is for and what it has to offer, shall we?
The Road to Mordor: A look back at Volume 1
This past week I finally finished Volume 1 of the epic storyline for the very first time in my LotRO career. Yeah, I know, welcome to 2008, right? My inner survey department says that 60% of this column's readers finished Volume 1 a long time ago (and perhaps many times since), and are currently sitting there with a bemused expression as if to say, "Oh, isn't that quaint as a duck's burp?" The other 40% probably gave up on the epic storyline somewhere around North Downs -- AKA The Zone That Saps Your Will To Live. While it may be old news, Volume 1 is still quite relevant in the LotRO landscape for many reasons. One, it's what I've spent the past month of my life playing through, and I always assume that everyone is experiencing the same thing I am due to being a raging egomaniac. Two, ever since it recently received a makeover that allows any and everyone to solo all the way through it, there's been a newfound appreciation for the quest line, even from veterans who gave up on it long ago. And three, with all of the new people coming into the game this year, it'll be the very first thing they experience. So as I sit on my high (grey) horse and look back over all fifteen books that comprise this massive Volume, I'm struck by a number of thoughts: some good, some bad, some itchy. Let's reminisce, shall we?
The importance of the Wrathgate story in Icecrown Citadel
Zubon of Kill Ten Rats has been playing through Northrend lately, and it sounds like he's right around where my paladin is: working through the Wrathgate questline. The zombie invasion was the most important kickoff event for this expansion, but especially with what we've been seeing of Icecrown (spoilers there) lately, it looks like the events that went down at Angrathar might be the defining moments of Wrath of the Lich King. So much we're seeing in Icecrown and even beyond seems to be debris spinning off of the clash in that cinematic. Zubon has mostly high praise for the storyline -- I agree that Borean Tundra and the Howling Fjord are preludes to the real anti-Scourge action you find in the Wrathgate questline. But then he goes one step further, and says that the end just shows how old Blizzard's game really is. Even while such an epic story is unfurling, graphical glitches and the realities of Blizzard's game (one of the phases is essentially an ongoing fight in which you personally have no effect) bring the experience back down. Wrathgate is certainly an epic event, and every indication is that we're going to be feeling its repercussions a lot in the next dungeon. But five years after launch, it's also a sign that Blizzard is pushing this old game as hard as they can. Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
Fellowships versus soloing in LotRO epic storylines
Many of you will have completed Lord of the Rings Online's latest epic storyline from Book 11 by now, and you may have found that you could accomplish this task all on your lonesome. This topic was raised on LotRO's official forums, and whilst the initial poster was against the idea of a solo-able epic quest, the overwhelming response of the thread was that of people who had finished soloing it and loved it, or those that didn't realize it could be done alone and were keen to log in and get started.To date, most of the Books have been composed of a mix of solo and fellowship portions, and this was reinforced for future books later in the thread by a member of Turbine's LotRO team, MadeOfLions (fantastic name by the way), who said, "we're letting the needs of the story dictate the group sizes, rather than the other way around", and also that Book 12 should be a return to a more fellowship-oriented quest line.It's nice to have a mix between the two formats, solo and grouped, because let's face it -- a fellowship isn't always available -- and with Book 11 giving my class of choice, the Minstrel, a little more solo-power, I enjoy having only one life bar to watch over for a change.
LotRO landmarks: Ost Guruth
The environments that Turbine have created for Lord of the Rings Online are obviously crafted with love, always including intricate little details for the fans, so we don't blame them for wanting to show them off. The official LotRO website is running a series called "Exploring Middle Earth" where different landmarks in the game are showcased and described for aspiring travelers. If you've been occupied with the flood of brand spanking new content, this is a nice way of revisiting the roots of the game. The most recent episode features the fortress-ruins of Ost Guruth.Ost Guruth is situated in the Lone-lands, and is a questing hub for levels 20-30, featuring portions of the game's Epic storyline -- but it's more than that too. Exploring Middle Earth hopes to give players an understanding of the lore and history of their favorite zones, and to that end, we learn that the ruins you see now at Ost Guruth belie a mighty past. They were in fact a castle that ended up being a casualty of war... but we won't spoil the details here. You can enjoy the full article via the related story link.Oh, and since we're just now catching up on Exploring Middle Earth (and the earlier entries were from prior to Massively's launch), check out others in the series such as Barad Gúlaran and The Eavespires.
