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Thirty thousand Orcs and you: A LotRO epic battle story
The rain beats hard down on steel helms as a flash of lightning illuminates the horrible truth: a carpet of monsters stretching to the horizon, advancing on the last refuge of an entire country. A catapult rolls up and fires a flaming shot over the battlements and into the troops behind you. People die. More people take their place. As you watch, a formation of 600 Orcs breaks away from the host for the first charge against the wall. Your wall. The wall you've sworn to protect at all costs. The wall that may well be your grave in the next 30 minutes. This isn't just flowery language but actual in-game events we witnessed when Turbine took us in for our first look at the epic battles coming to Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep. There's been plenty of talk on the studio's part as to the scale and scope of the system, but it's something else entirely to see it in action. Turbine's been working on the epic battle system for well over a year now, drawing inspiration from World War II documentaries as well as the 10-page description of the battle in Tolkien's novel. The team reworked the game's technology from the ground-up to allow for thousands of characters to fill the screen and up to 50 NPCs to be in combat at any one time. And even though the outcome of the battle is locked into place by lore, the conceit is that you will be judged based on your performance. Join us and 30,000 Orcs as we go over the many, many details of epic battles. But be quick about it -- we've only a few moments before the fight is rejoined.
Lord of the Rings Online dev diary digs into Helm's Deep's epic story
Players of Lord of the Rings Online must certainly be looking forward to the continuation of the game's epic storyline in the upcoming Helm's Deep expansion. Unfortunately, they're going to have to wait just a little longer, but on the bright side, the folks at Turbine have released a new dev diary that delves into the next three books of volume III that will be added in the expansion, plus "some of the interesting challenges [the devs] faced while bringing this section of the story to life." One of the main issues that the devs must confront is the challenge of allowing players to play a significant role in the ongoing story while not directly interfering with the main narrative of the Fellowship. On top of that, there's the small detail that while many player characters are Hobbits, there were no Hobbits present at the battle of Helm's Deep. So how do the devs deal with these lore conundrums? Well, you'll have to check out the full dev diary to find out, so for all the tasty details (and a few teasers of upcoming content), just head over to the LotRO official site.
LotRO holds leveling contest for lifetime membership
Not all who level are lost; on the contrary, a lifetime membership and free copies of the Helm's Deep expansion are being offered as rewards for leveling Lord of the Rings Online characters. LotRO's new leveling contest could get you one of 16 rewards if you put in the effort during this next month. Players who have a character that reaches level 60 or higher by November 10th will be entered into a drawing to possibly win a lifetime membership, a premium edition of Helm's Deep, or 500 Turbine Points. Unless your character's at level 85 (which is an automatic contest entry right there), you'll have to advance at least one level between now and November 10th in the level 60-85 range to be entered into the drawing. The cool thing is that you will get a chance to win for every character on your account that achieves this.
The Road to Mordor: Ranking LotRO's expansions
I'll admit that Helm's Deep has really started to grow on me as of late. Perhaps it's the dev tours, the increase of official posts on the expansion, or the fact that my Captain is finally done with Wildermore and ready to go, but I'm excited about the next chapter of the game. More than anything else, I'm dying to see how the class changes and trait trees are received. But any time that we're anticipating a new expansion, there's a natural desire to want to look back and see where we've been in Lord of the Rings Online. It amazes me just how big this game's gotten since 2007, and now that we're on the cusp of seeing a full Rohan, I feel like I'm almost at the summit of an important mountain in the game. So for fun and debate, I'm going to rank LotRO's four expansions to date, from best to worst, and share what I liked and disliked about them. This list comes with a caveat that I've never been much of a dungeon runner, so instances and raids do not factor into this ranking.
LotRO gives 100% XP boost to everyone for a month
Lord of the Rings Online is granting everyone in the game a 100% boost to XP gain in the month leading up to Helm's Deep. From now through November 17th, the boost will give players a helping hand in getting their characters up to the starting line for the expansion. The boost was announced on the LotRO website's front page. Turbine also said that seven members of the player council will be visiting the studio on October 31st to discuss community, localization, development plans, and customer service issues. The studio said that photos and "comments" from the visit will be shared that day.
A foundation for future growth: Examining LotRO's class restructuring
Let's start out with the elephant in the room: The comprehensive and radical class changes that are coming to Lord of the Rings Online with Helm's Deep have a portion of the community rattled. After all, we are protective of our characters and concerned about changes that affect them, and this looks to be a doozy. You want to hear a secret? Turbine's a little scared too. When asked if this might become LotRO's NGE -- the reviled shift in Star Wars Galaxies' gameplay structure -- the devs said it's something they've been asked a lot these days. They know that there's a part of the playerbase that's fearful, and in all honesty, the devs have had a few sleepless nights over the changes too. But past the fear is the certainty that this is the course the game needs to take right now, and that certainty grows by the day as they continue to test the changes on the beta server. The team told us as such during a class tour today, going on to show us the scope of what's going to happen. What we're looking at here is the old class trait system thrown in the trash to be replaced by specializations and trait trees, as well as the paring down of many class skills into a more manageable number. It's going to impact everyone all at once, so if this is your game of choice, you'll want to read on.
Turbine defends LotRO class changes
Arguably the biggest feature coming with next month's Helm's Deep expansion for Lord of the Rings Online isn't the new landscape, epic story, or big battle system, but the overhaul of the classes and the institution of the new trait trees. Turbine took to the pulpit today to preach about why the devs felt it was necessary to overhaul the system. There were several reasons given for the class changes. The devs felt that skills were losing potency the more they were added, there were many skills not being used, class builds were too much alike, the combat tempo needed more pep, animation times were sometimes too long, and it was just taking a lot of time for the devs to try to keep everything in balance. "These are big changes," the devs state. "They take some getting used to. We know this. We also know that for the good of the game and its longevity, we sometimes need to make big changes."
LotRO devs answer 'super-sized' Q&A about Helm's Deep
Turbine's developers couldn't pick just 20 questions about the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep to answer, so they decided to "super-size" the Q&A up to a nice round 40. The questions are grouped into sections including epic battles, class changes, mounted combat, legendary items, pricing, and more. Since we haven't heard much yet about how the epic battles reward players, the answer here is illuminating. As players complete objectives, they'll be awarded points for how difficult those objectives were (from bronze to platinum). After reward bars fill up, players can choose a piece of gear or to convert some of the points into the next tier (although gold cannot convert to platinum). The epic battle instances include Helm's Dike, The Deeping Wall, The Deeping-Coomb, The Glittering Caves, and the Hornburg. The promised housing revamp was also mentioned: "We have some of the early bits in (changes to house inventory). We are prototyping more features and will continue to develop and add to live. Housing work is going to come in phases." Of course, there's a lot more that's included in the Q&A, so check it out!
A wounded land: The sights of LotRO's West Rohan
In past developer walkthroughs of Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep, Turbine gave us a broad overview of the expansion as well as a look at the next portion of the epic story. For our third tour, we got to check out the vistas and landscapes of West Rohan. One of our concerns was that after the expansiveness of East Rohan, the wast would be, well, more of the same. Lots of fields, horses galore, and so on. While the horses are still ever-present (this is Rohan, after all), West Rohan establishes a unique identity as a land that's more developed, more diverse, and more wounded. The theme of the region is simple: War is coming -- and is in fact already here. In our tour through the five ridings of West Rohan, the developers stopped to point out how they crafted the region to do the country and its many fans justice. If you think you know it all from the movies or from base assumptions, you might want to open your mind to a richer experience that's coming soon to LotRO.
LotRO offering Helm's Deep beta codes on Facebook
If all the talk about Minstrels, Hunters, and more epic story is making the month-and-a-half wait for Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion unbearable, we offer a bit of relief. Turbine's latest weekly newsletter has just announced that Helm's Deep beta codes are available to those who "like" the game on Facebook. These beta codes are limited, however, so it is a first-come, first-served scenario; if you want the chance to get in early and experience a bit of Helm's Deep before the rest of the masses, head on over and click away. [Source: LotRO weekly newsletter]
Lord of the Rings Online details Minstrel changes in Helm's Deep
Lord of the Rings Online players are almost certainly foaming at the mouth for the game's upcoming Helm's Deep expansion. Unfortunately, it's not going to be dropping for another month and a half. In the meantime, the kind folks at Turbine are hoping to satiate some of that hunger (or perhaps further whet fans' appetites) with some details on the myriad changes the expansion will bring. Specifically, the most recent dev blog is dedicated to taking a closer look at Middle-earth's most eminent musician, the Minstrel. Minstrels have always been a versatile class, and the new trait lines arriving with Helm's Deep continue that tradition. Minstrels who choose to follow the Watcher of Resolve trait line will be masters of raising morale thanks to a number of traits that buff outgoing heals, increase critical heal potency, and reduce cast times. Those who prefer causing wounds to closing them will find their calling in the Warrior-Skald line, which can turn even the most timid troubadour into a battle-hardened balladeer specializing in single-target damage. And finally, Minstrels who wish to embolden their allies and enfeeble their foes will be right at home in the Protector of Song trait line, which focuses on bestowing powerful buffs and debuffs to shift the tide of battle.
The Road to Mordor: The Helm's Deep info avalanche continues
Holy moly do we ever have a lot to talk about! For whatever reason, Turbine's been holding onto all of this information about Helm's Deep and then decided to push it all out at once a couple of months prior to the expansion's release. As such, I'm seeing Lord of the Rings Online fans scurry all over the place trying to soak up the news and make sense of it all. It's been... interesting, to say the least. LotRO's in for a packed fall, no matter whether you're feeling psyched, depressed, confused, or anything else in the emotional rainbow. I'm right there with the rest of you, sorting and analyzing. All I can say right now is that (a) I'm welcoming of new content for the game and (b) I've given up trying to predict Turbine. I mean, after it broke with its "[something] of [place]" naming convention, all bets were off, folks. Madness must ensue.
Lord of the Rings Online explains Hunter changes in Helm's Deep
Ranged classes can be hard to handle from a design standpoint. Lord of the Rings Online had exactly that problem with Hunters; players felt that one of the class trait lines was the "main" line and the others were just supplementary. The latest development blog explains how that issue has been corrected: the developers have given the Bowmaster, Huntsman, and Trapper of Foes lines unique roles and specialties on the battlefield. The Bowmaster is a stationary high-DPS ranged specialization that requires a steady spot for consistent damage. The Huntsman, meanwhile, emphasizes mid-range mobility and rapid output of weaker attacks. Trapper of Foes fills out the roster by focusing on crowd control and AoE, trading in some damage for more group offerings. Players can start enjoying these changes when the expansion goes live in November. On an unrelated but important note, players impacted by the game's outage issues earlier in the month have now been compensated via time extensions for subscribers and free Turbine Points for lifetime members. It's not a class revision, but it's certainly a welcome bit of recompense.
Charging into the epic story of Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep
It might not be anything as shocking (and, erm, incredibly slow) as hypothetical Ent play, but the epic story of Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep promises to be a grand experience to match or exceed what we've experienced before. Three new books with about 12 chapters apiece await those who dive into the expansion and charge into western Rohan. While the epic story has always been a mixture of Turbine's storytelling creations and Tolkien's canonical events, Helm's Deep will hew a lot more closely to the books than ever before. This is the penultimate part of The Two Towers, and the dev team wants to do it right. That's not to say you won't get to see your favorite secondary characters, so fret not if you're looking for more inspiration for that Nona/Horn romance novel you've been writing. It's just that they'll be taking a backseat to the major players -- and a few surprises -- as events lead us to the titular fortress and the most important battle in the game to date.
LotRO's Guardians to get off-tank build
What's on deck for Lord of the Rings Online's Guardians once the expansion hits in November? A new class dev diary reveals how the heavy metal fighters are being reworked from the ground up, including a brand-new trait line for an off-tank build. The new trait line is Fighter of Shadow, and it uses a marking mechanic to tag mobs for future proc buffs and heals. Guardians who pursue the Fighter of Shadow will become effective off-tanks, able to block with two-handed weapons and throw out more AoE attacks than the other two builds. That's not to say that the other two trait lines, focusing on tanking and DPS respectively, aren't seeing some work done. The tanking Guardian will get a stacking buff that can provide mitigation to himself or his fellowship, and the DPS Guardian will become a master of bleeds.
LotRO: Helm's Deep purchase required to continue the epic story
Lord of the Rings Online's epic story is one of the crown jewels of the game, and for the longest of time it's been available for free whether you subscribe or not. However, Turbine confirmed this week that purchasing Helm's Deep will be required if you want to see how the epic story plays out over western Rohan. On the forums, CM Rick Heaton explained the change: "The epic story in Helm's Deep is very tightly entwined with the epic battle system. The story in Helm's Deep is the epic battle we all know from the books. We've returned to the core story line from the lore and that line leads in a direct path, laid out by the Professor himself, into Helm's Deep and the battles and heroic deeds that occur there. As a result, this means the epic story requires the purchase of the Helm's Deep expansion." "Epic Story Guy" MadeOfLions also chimed in with a much more informative post about the decision. "It's a change that serves to reward the players that do pick up the expansion, and makes the expansion a better deal, more worth your time and your money," he writes. "This is just an expansion change for now -- I'm hoping we can keep the epic story free in other updates." Speaking of Helm's Deep, Turbine just posted the Champion class update dev diary for all to peruse!
Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep launches on November 18th
It's the news every Lord of the Rings Online player has been waiting on for what seems like a long while. Helm's Deep is launching on November 18th, bringing with it new regions to explore, an increase in the level cap to 95, and of course the eponymous battle itself. And there's even a new trailer to get players all pumped to wage war against a whole lot of orcs. Now that the launch date is announced, Turbine is also willing to take your money for the expansion. The base edition costs $39.99 and includes a cosmetic chestpiece, a title, and 1000 Turbine points, while also providing a new mount and experience booster usable right now. The Premium edition costs $59.99 and offers everything in the base edition along with another title, a full suit of cosmetic armor, 10 extra quest log slots, another 1000 Turbine points (so 2000 total), and an item to add a Legacy to your weapon. Oh, and a special cloak to use right now. Click on past the break to see the trailer, and get ready for the siege starting in November. [Source: Turbine Entertainment press release]
The Road to Mordor: Classes, bounders, and leaks
You know the saying: When it rains, it pours. After an almost painful period of silence as we've waited for news of the expansion, it seems as if Turbine's finally ready to pour out an information waterfall on all of us. Last time in this column we looked at the Q&A of the "big battles" system, and a week ago we were treated to a full-fledged preview of Helm's Deep. So I want to take some time to cover a few odds and ends that were sandwiched between those two mentions: the class revamp Q&A, the Bounder's Bounty event, and the leaked maps of Helm's Deep. I'll admit that my interest in Lord of the Rings Online has been flagging a bit, especially after I trudged through Wildermore. I've been hoping that the news of the expansion would put some wind in my sails, especially after waiting for the better part of the summer to hear it. So what do I make of all of this?
LotRO starts beta test for Helm's Deep, talks Burglar changes
Lord of the Rings Online has begun the closed beta test for Helm's Deep, Turbine announced on Facebook last night. "Invites have already been sent, so make sure you check your spam filters," the studio notified fans. As the expansion contains changes to all of the classes, the team released the first of many developer diaries detailing what's to come for Burglars. The diary says that the three trait lines will home in on what makes each of them unique: massive burst damage (for Quiet Knife), control and attrition (for Mischief-maker), and the element of chance (for The Gambler). Finally, Turbine is compensating VIP players for the game outage this past weekend: "For any VIP accounts that were subscribed during the outage, we will be extending the subscription by two days. Lifetime accounts will receive 250 Turbine Points."
The determined defense of Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep
The veil of secrecy has been lifted, and the flood of details about Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep is about to sweep you off your hairy Hobbit feet. The only question is... are you prepared? And are your mommy and daddy OK with your heading off to fight in a big war that will decide the fate of a nation? Turbine sat down with us to give us a broad overview of LotRO's fifth expansion with a special emphasis on its much-vaunted epic battle system. Let's start with the bullet points: Helm's Deep (officially Update 12) will contain five new zones, three additional books for the epic story, 300 quests, a 10-level bump in the cap to 95, plenty of awesome new armor and cosmetic models, and a new crafting tier. It will not contain traditional instances or skirmishes (more on that later), the much-anticipated housing update, or more mounted skills. But let's go beyond mere lists to take a closer look at an early view of the expansion and what it will hold when we finally move on to eastern Rohan.
