helms-deep
Latest
Hitting the Mark: Turbine's sublime Rohan recreation in Lord of the Rings Online
I've written before about my on-again-off-again love affair with Lord of the Rings Online, and after finally getting my launch-day character to Rohan a few weeks ago, I think it's most definitely on again. Yeah, I'm still a sandbox fan first and foremost, and yeah, LotRO is still a dyed-in-the-wool nod to the World of Warcraft school of linear MMO development. But it's got a pleasing topcoat of Tolkien paint that often masks the pedestrian mechanics, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Riders of Rohan and Helm's Deep expansions.
The Road to Mordor: LotRO's big battles are a big bust
Recently my journey through Helm's Deep came to a close as I finished all of the quests plus advanced the epic story as far as it could go. Overall, I loved the expansion: It had great pacing, beautiful scenery, memorable quests, and an obvious dedication to doing The Two Towers right. But there was one glaring fault that Lord of the Rings Online seemed to save for the last, which I discovered during my foray into the big battle system. Other than visiting them in a couple of press tours, I had been avoiding big battles (even though you can jump in one starting at level 10) because I wanted to experience them organically as part of the storyline. I wasn't necessarily anticipating them, but I wasn't dreading them either. "Mild curiosity" is perhaps the emotion that I identified within my breast, and as it turned out, that was wildly overpreparing for the experience that followed. Big battles are, I'm sorry to say, a big bust in LotRO. Sure, they have their positives and moments, but for a system that Turbine spent over a year to create and shoved aside instances and raids in favor of putting into the expansion, it should have been so much more. So what went wrong?
The Road to Mordor: The ins and outs of LotRO's mithril coins
Even though mithril coins have been in the game for the better part of a year now, we haven't really had a discussion about them in this space. I think it's time to do that, especially considering how Turbine keeps expanding the reach and utility of this handy-dandy (and expensive-wensive) currency in Lord of the Rings Online. Mithril coins were added in March 2013's Update 10, and their purchasing power expanded in subsequent updates. Basically, the mithril coin was a new type of currency that offered a quick and clean solution to buying goods and services in the game without the player's having to go through the LotRO store. Think of them as video arcade tokens, obtained with real money and used on the entertainment that you desire. Turbine saw these coins as a way to streamline certain pay-for-service portions of the game that had their own separate currencies (such as revival tomes and stablemaster writs). One unified currency for a variety of uses. I haven't seen a lot of chatter on these coins as of late, leading me to believe that their inclusion in the game is more or less accepted now. Some people find the coins irritating and an abuse of free-to-play moneygrabbing tactics. Others find them very useful and welcome in the game. I have a foot planted in both camps, and today we're going to look at the ins and outs of using mithril coins.
The Daily Grind: Do you like LotRO's mounted combat?
I realize that I'm like a year late to Riders of Rohan and Lord of the Rings Online's mounted combat, but I'm nonetheless enjoying it a fair bit. It's different, for one thing. And it's got customizable horses and plenty of room to ride them, for another. It lags a bit more than I'd like, even when there are no other players around, and that brings me to my point. I rarely see anyone participating in mounted combat, at least on the Landroval server around the Norcrofts, Wold, and Entwash Vale areas. It could be that everyone's at endgame and Helm's Deep, or it could be that I'm just playing at the wrong times. Or it could be any number of other factors, including the possibility that mounted combat isn't that popular with LotRO's playerbase. What say you, Massively readers? Do you like LotRO's mounted combat? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Jukebox Heroes: Reader request 3
Since it's our very last Jukebox Heroes column of the year on the very last day of the year, I thought it would be most appropriate to open up the reader request lines once again and feature MMO tunes that are your favorites. If you'd like to put in your own request for the next time I run one of these columns, please list your favorite MMO music track in the comments along with an explanation as to what you love about it! So check out what your fellow soundtrackophiles appreciate and stay tuned for a totally rockin' 2014!
The Road to Mordor: Lord of the Ring Online's roadmap for 2014
It's time for our final Lord of the Rings Online column of the year, so it's quite fitting that we use this space to discuss Executive Producer Kate Paiz's letter outlining what the LotRO community should expect come next year. Before we begin, I want to mention that I have a mixed reaction to these letters from Turbine. On one hand, I love knowing what's coming and appreciate the attempt made to inform. On the other, these letters can be maddeningly vague on specifics (Turbine likes its "broad strokes" when releasing future info to fans), giving a "trust us, everything's going to be OK, but we're not going to say exactly how right now" vibe. I've grown weary of that. This letter in particular should have been as specific as possible. There's been a huge swirl of discussion surrounding the letter, moreso than in previous years, due to the "bombshell" that there will be no expansion in 2014. I've been talking with friends about it and listening to what folks are saying, and I could make a case for this being the worst thing for the game and the best. But you don't come here for other people's opinions; you come for mine. Bring it on, 2014. I'm nothing but opinionated about this game.
The Road to Mordor: Still waiting for (better) housing in LotRO
In all of the excitement of Helm's Deep and the changes that it brought, it was pretty easy to forget that we are running out the clock on 2013 and the devs have yet to do anything about housing other than evict a lot of bums and fiddle with the chests. Remember that promise? One of Executive Producer Kate Paiz's four big initiatives for the year? Let me refresh your memory, as Paiz said in January 2013: "I am extremely pleased to say that this year we will be tackling a major revision to the Housing system." Well, bad news folks: It's not coming this year. I pinged Turbine for a comment about this, and Producer Hannah Foell responded by saying, "After some excellent feedback from the Player's Council we elected to spend more time on it and push the housing update back to next year." This is disappointing though not surprising. I've had the feeling that Turbine's been "behind" with Lord of the Rings Online this year, especially considering the expansion testing and release, and the studio's been visibly reluctant to get moving on a housing revamp, going so far as to downplay expectations by the community. So if we're not getting any improvements to housing in 2013, then I have time to ponder what this system needs. And since I'm not on this super-secretive and super-mysterious player council, you can hear what my thoughts are right now.
The Road to Mordor: First impressions of Helm's Deep
The past five or six months for me and Lord of the Rings Online have been full of apathy and disconnection. While technically fine, Wildermore didn't grip me in the least and left me feeling as if I was slogging through content for no great rewards. I hardly saw or heard other players there and eventually stopped feeling the urge to log in to the game. So while I was somewhat positive about a new expansion, I secretly worried that it would be a lot more of the same. My play time over the past week or so speaks to how I've taken a shine to Helm's Deep because I've been enjoying it to the exclusion of almost all of the rest of my games. I don't want to overreact because I know there's always that "new car smell" that comes with major game updates like this, but I've started to fall in love with LotRO all over again. I don't think there's any secret why this is happening. Helm's Deep has (thus far) some of the best questing content in the game to date, and the class revisions have gone a long way to making my characters feel fresh and fun once more. So here are a few vital first impressions of the expansion, both good and bad, that have come to mind as I've traveled Rohan since the launch.
Lord of the Rings Online launches Helm's Deep for real this time [Updated]
Now that launch day for Helm's Deep is finally here, you'll still have to wait until Lord of the Rings Online patches before you can dive in. So while you wait, you can peruse the expansion's official release notes to see what's in store once your launchpad finally gives you the green light to play. The tidbits of information you'll find range from music to housing, classes to travel, and stats to crafting. For instance: music files to play now load properly on a Mac; players can send bags of coins through shared storage instead of the mail; housing chests can be expanded; stat caps have been adjusted; and monster players have access to six additional corruption slots. And that's just scratching the surface. There's even a category of known issues to give players a heads-up. So stroll on through the notes and prepare for the ride through Western Rohan. [Update: We've included the launch trailer behind the break!]
The Daily Grind: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall?
It looks to be a good fall if you love MMO expansions, as they're all over the place. EVE Online fans have Rubicon, Lord of the Rings Online adventurers hope to dive into Helm's Deep, EverQuest II Ratongas are chewing up Tears of Veeshan, and the EverQuest faithful have Call of the Forsaken to conquer. And that's not even to mention the upcoming Galactic Starfighter for Star Wars: The Old Republic and Lineage II: Valiance. That's a lot of new content to explore, but only if you're in those particular games. So sound off: Are you enjoying an expansion this fall? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Jukebox Heroes: Helm's Deep's soundtrack
Well this was a particularly pleasant surprise! As the resident Lord of the Rings Online writer around these here parts, I've been pretty excited about this week's Helm's Deep release. I totally did not expect Turbine to give away the entire soundtrack for free on SoundCloud a week ago, especially after selling Riders of Rohan's score as a digital album. But that's what happened, and I am very much not complaining. While the esteemed Chance Thomas did not compose the second part of the Rohan saga, the studio did make the effort to create an original score in-house instead of just rehashing previous tracks. The result is an album of 25 new tunes for us to evaluate in anticipation of the next chapter of LotRO. So I threw out my original plans for this week's column, microwaved up some coffee, and gave the new score a listen. It was difficult narrowing the field down to six standout tracks, but the coffee was strong and so was my will. Let's take a listen through Helm's Deep, shall we?
Turbine delays Helm's Deep launch until Wednesday [Updated]
Following a power outage at its data centers yesterday, Turbine has restored game and website functionality to its titles but announced that the launch of Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep is temporarily delayed. From LotRO's Facebook page: We are temporarily delaying the launch of Helm's Deep while we work to address remaining issues, and will provide more information later this morning. We thank you for your continued patience, and will keep you updated. [Update: According to this afternoon's update, the Helm's Deep's launch will be delayed until Wednesday. Turbine is extending its pre-purchase offers as well as the 100% XP boost and Bounder's Bounty events through today and tomorrow.]
Video previews Helm's Deep trait changes in LotRO
Seeing isn't always believing; it's also understanding! Just because you know about the big class revamp that's coming with Lord of the Rings Online's Helm's Deep expansion next week doesn't mean you've wrapped your head around it completely. After all, a whole new game experience is just that: new. Luckily for us, Layanor at MMO Reporter offers a visual walkthrough of the new traits. Although the video focuses on the Hunter class, players can get an idea of the various functions available with the system. Prepare yourself for Helm's Deep with the trait preview video below and The Road to Mordor's guide to what you need to know.
The Road to Mordor: On the cusp of Helm's Deep
This is it, my friends. There's no going back. In just a couple of short days, Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep will launch, and we'll be forging ahead in unexplored territory. Some of that territory is the game world itself, with the second half of Rohan being rolled out to much anticipation among the antsy level-capped community. Some of that territory is a radical change to the very foundation of LotRO itself. It's safe to say that while the former is welcomed, the latter is causing no end of controversy, anxiety, anticipation, delight, and horror. I'm right there with you. I'm in the trenches, polishing my Captain's armor and getting ready for her next journey across Middle-earth. So before we saddle up and ride into Helm's Deep, let's go through what you need to know, to prepare, and to accomplish on launch day and beyond.
Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep breaks beta records
Will Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep break records when it launches next week? Only time will tell, but Community Manager Rick Heaton said that the expansion has already done so in beta. On the forums Heaton posted, "It's the first expansion that we've had since Shadows of Angmar that required us to add servers to the beta world to match the number of players trying to log in and participate. It was the first beta since Shadows of Angmar that actually tripped our login queues on the beta world and forced us to raise the max player population." Helm's Deep launches on Monday, November 18th.
How Turbine plans to make Helm's Deep matter
Turbine's latest Lord of the Rings Online dev diary is worth reading if you're wondering how the dev team plans to generate suspense in a narrative where it doesn't actually exist. We know how the battle of Helm's Deep turns out, in other words, and so gameplay in LotRO's forthcoming expansion presents a design challenge when it comes to keeping players engaged. Turbine's solution involves the moment-to-moment state of a battle whose ultimate outcome is already decided. "How many soldiers survive the wall, how many banners were burnt down, how many injured Rohirrim survived a diversionary assault," the firm asks. "All of these questions, and more, matter for various quests and objectives within Helm's Deep."
Lord of the Rings Online offers up the Helm's Deep soundtrack
All right, Lord of the Rings Online fans, another expansion is coming out really soon. It's only a week away. But maybe you still can't stand the wait. You're logging in and playing the game every night but you need something to make the next few days bearable. That's a bit of an overreaction, but Turbine has you covered with the addition of the Helm's Deep soundtrack to SoundCloud. Yes, you can now listen to the entire soundtrack from wherever, although you won't be able to download the tracks for obvious reasons. The music is the same orchestral score that players have come to expect from the game, with an atmosphere of desperate conflict and impending violence. It's the sort of thing that's very well-suited to a protracted siege and a last stand against Mordor, in other words. Even if you're not a fan of Lord of the Rings Online you can enjoy the soundtrack.
Lord of the Rings Online videos tour the landscape of Helm's Deep
News about Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming Helm's Deep expansion has been making its way to fans since the NDA dropped earlier this week. And now, video walkthroughs are added to that list. Two beta players, Andang and Ethelros, filmed a tour of each of the new upcoming zones. These videos take you on a leisurely stroll through Kingstead, Eastfold, Broadacres, Stonedeans, Westfold, and Helm's Deep itself. Grab a drink and settle back: Each walkthrough is between seven and 18 minutes long. Enjoy Helm's Deep and Westfold in the videos below, and head on over to LOTRO Players to behold the other four zones. [Thanks to all who sent this in!]
Players show off Lord of the Rings Online's epic battles in Helm's Deep beta
The central feature of Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion is battles of a truly astounding size. Battles large enough to truly earn the name of epic. With the drop of the NDA, players have taken it upon themselves to produce an equally epic assembly of footage for these epic battles. Narrators Andang, Ethelros, and Pineleaf have created five videos walking through all of the enormous battles, from smaller scale to the biggest possible encounters. As the videos show, success in these battles is not simply a matter of killing all of your enemies, focusing instead upon tactical management of the supporting NPCs while keeping an eye toward how many enemy forces are incoming. It also requires some amount of the calculation you'd expect, allowing some forces to fall so that your main force remains healthy. But you don't need to take our word for it -- click on past the break and start watching. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
LotRO drops Helm's Deep NDA
The gloves, er, NDA is off for the Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep beta, and Turbine has invited players to speak their mind about the upcoming expansion. Since Helm's Deep will also include the single biggest overhaul to LotRO's classes since launch, the players have been hard at work compiling guides as to what's changed. Turbine posted links to these guides in the announcement thread. Helm's Deep will be released on November 18th and it includes the aforementioned class overhaul, the new epic battle system, and the last half of the Rohan region and storyline. If you've been playing the beta, let us know what you think in the comments!
