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Lord of the Rings Online Update 3 goes live
Middle-Earth just got a little bit bigger with the release of Lord of the Rings Online's Update 3: Lost Legends of Eriador. The latest addition to LotRO -- which our own Justin got some hands-on time with a couple of weeks ago -- brings with it two new three-player instances and two new skirmishes to challenge the denizens of Middle-Earth. The new instances are Halls of Night, and Inn of the Forsaken. The former is for players level 40 to 65 and sees the players trapped in in a dangerous dream realm by the devious Barrow-wight Nightmare. The players must battle their way through this living nightmare to defeat the evil that inhabits it in order to earn their freedom. The latter is for players from level 20 to 65 and has players investigating rumors of strange occurrences at the aptly named Forsaken Inn. The new skirmishes, Attack at Dawn and Icy Crevasse, are for levels 30 to 65 and 40 to 65, respectively, and pit the players against a variety of threats in the defense of Esteldin, Evendim, and ultimately, the whole of Middle-Earth. If you want to get in and help defend (or destroy) the Free Peoples of Middle-Earth, you can sign up at the official site. %Gallery-9579%
Lord of the Rings Online dev diaries discuss new skirmishes
Turbine has given us a two-for-one deal today with the addition of two new dev diaries. The diaries -- from Turbine's Bob "Maurath" Hess and Joe "jwbarry" Barry -- detail two of the new skirmishes being introduced in Lord of the Rings Online's Update 3. The first skirmish, Attack at Dawn, takes place in the North Downs and sees players dealing with multiple different mechanics simultaneously. The second, The Icy Crevasse, is the first skirmish to take place in Forochel and is described by Barry as "a quick bite-sized romp," with the skirmish taking about 10 minutes to complete. It's truly an interesting look into not only what the skirmishes themselves entail but the design process that goes into bringing them to players on the live servers. Whether you play LotRO or you're just curious about the work and thought process that goes into these skirmishes, the diaries are certainly a must-read. If you're interested in gaining a new degree of respect for the effort that goes into the game, both dev diaries can be found on LotRO's official site.
Lord of the Rings Online prepping Update 3: Lost Legends of Eriador
There's a new content update just over the horizon for Lord of the Rings Online. While the new locations aren't exactly a far green country under a swift sunrise, they do look to be fairly spiffy in their own right. First up are two new three-player instances. The Halls of Night boasts content for levels 40 to 65 and takes a cue from Frodo and company's nightmarish trek through the Barrow Downs. The Inn of the Forsaken naturally takes place in the Lone Lands' well-worn stopover and is a proper dungeon-crawl intended for players from levels 20 through 65. New skirmishes are also on the way, including an Esteldin-based romp intended for levels 30 to 65 called Attack at Dawn. Finally, the frozen wastes of Forochel will also be sporting a new instance, and the Icy Crevasse content sees players from levels 40 to 65 tasked with thwarting the evil plans of a nefarious sorcerer. All of these new goodies make up the bulk of LotRO's Update 3: Lost Legends of Eriador and are currently scheduled to go live on May 23rd. Check out our gallery below for three new images from the Halls of Night instance, or take a peek at the dungeons themselves in Justin's hands-on from last week. %Gallery-9579%
Through Turbine's palantír: Developers outline LotRO's future
In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, characters would use magical orbs known as palantírs to see and communicate with far away places. While Massively's own palantír is at the shop, we had access to the next best thing -- a one-on-two chat about Lord of the Rings Online's future with Turbine's Aaron Campbell and Adam Mersky. A lot's been happening since LotRO's free-to-play version went online last fall -- the closest thing to a relaunch that this game is likely to ever see -- and both Campbell and Mersky have one important message for fans: We're just getting started. Even as the Turbine team gears up for LotRO's third expansion, Rise of Isengard, the devs want you to know that they're also dedicated to bringing a good amount of content between now and then. Everything was on the table during this discussion, from this weekend's anniversary celebration to next month's update to the new expansion. Join us after the jump for a look through the palantír to see what information we can pry from the future!
