flying-eagle-mounts
Latest
The Road to Mordor: The superiority of goats
I love goats. OK, pipe down there. I mean that I love the goat mounts in Lord of the Rings Online. Shush! Man, this column isn't starting well. It sounded better in my head. It's a well-known fact that LotRO lacks the mount diversity shown by most other fantasy MMOs. It's pretty much horses all the way down, and chances are it's going to stay that way thanks to the IP. Unless, of course, the devs give in to my flying eagles suggestion. There just isn't much wiggle-room in Tolkien's works for the Free People of Middle-earth to be taking a 2012 Mechanospider to work. However, the devs did shoehorn in one different flavor of mount for the Mines of Moria expansion. Goats received a room at the stable and were integral to navigating through the labyrinthine deeps. They never did match horses in terms of popularity or even variety, and I doubt that we'll be seeing War-goats for Riders of Rohan. Still, if I had my pick (and I do), I'd pick goats any day of the week. They're so much better than horses, and I'm going to tell you just why.
LotRO producer's letter hints at new "Task" system and more for the future
Since the launch of Lord of the Ring Online's F2P version, there's been an air of both optimism and uncertainty as to the game's future. How will Turbine handle updates from here on out? Will the epic storyline continue or go stagnant? And when oh when will we see giant flying eagle mounts? While she doesn't handle the eagle mount issue, LotRO's Kate Paiz tackles many of these questions and more besides in her first producer's letter following the recent update. Paiz says that the team has shifted the way they're approaching updates: In an effort to get more frequent content to players, not every future update will contain an additional book of the epic storyline -- but the storyline will continue. Paiz then laid out several upcoming features for the November update, including a new "Task" system for low-level players, another revision to the player vault and a fine-tuning of the Lore-master and Rune-keeper classes. Turbine will also be unlocking the two expansions (Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood) for all players to travel through and experience the epic storyline, although the free-to-play crowd will still need to purchase the expansions to unlock quests and deeds in those zones. The future is looking up for LotRO, so head on over to the official site to read the full producer's letter!
The Road to Mordor: The Codemasters conundrum
J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." In light of recent events, we might turn that phrase to become, "Do not meddle in the affairs of players, for they are outspoken and very, very quick to anger." I'm referring, of course, to the outright debacle that's been happening on the Lord of the Rings Online European front. While Turbine released LotRO's F2P version along with the latest patch a month ago in North America, Codemasters has yet to follow suit, citing numerous problems on its end. When we first heard of the delay, I assumed it would be shortly resolved -- perhaps no more than a week or two at the most -- which is why I've mostly kept from discussing it in this column before now. Tech problems happen, there's always legal traps waiting, code can be glitchy, and regionalization is an ever-present obstacle. But at this point it feels as though the EU "Have-Nots" community has been under siege from lack of information and a frustrating view of the "Haves" across the pond. When will it be their turn? Why didn't Codemasters see this coming? How is the EU team trying to mollify the community as the devs scramble to get this puppy to live? Let's take a journey, you and I, through the past month and into the near future. Don't mind the hobbits picketing the Shire -- I'm sure it'll all work out.
