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The Road to Mordor: How skirmishes have changed LotRO
Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis. In the last couple years, MMO developers have been addressing the problem of stagnant mid- and end-game play by giving gamers various forms of repeatable content. Warhammer Online proposed PvP scenarios, World of Warcraft launched their Dungeon Finder, City of Heroes added in Mission Architect, and with the advent of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion, LotRO invented skirmishes. While not identical in form or function, each of these systems is similar in a few ways: they are instantly accessible, they promote easy grouping, they encourage ad nauseum replay, and they offer an alternative way to gain XP and levels. Not to mention that while each of these features has seen criticism, they are greatly embraced by the playerbase and enjoyed by millions daily. One could argue -- and I guess I am that one -- that skirmishes were LotRO's hole card for Mirkwood, the big "hook" that grabbed players' attention and imaginations. While not a complete game-changer, skirmishes have undeniably altered the face of the game and impacted many players' experiences, for better or worse. So let's face this change head-on and see how skirmishes have fared since last December's debut. Pick up a lute and play me a merry song, for we'll need all the courage to hit the jump and come out on top!
LotRO releases new skirmish dev diary for Volume III: Book 1
You'd be hard-pressed to find news on Lord of the Rings Online these days that doesn't talk about skirmishes. Probably the single biggest feature added in Siege of Mirkwood, these scaling dungeon fights are both an excellent way of expanding the game's content availability and a now-integral component of the ongoing epicc story in the game. The first skirmish of the upcoming Oath of the Rangers (Volume III, Book 1) is detailed in a new developer diary on the official site, where Joe Barry of the content design staff walks players through what they can expect. The Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu is the setting of the new Skirmish, with players guiding the ranger Corunir to the Coliseum at the heart of the molten expanse. Fellowship Manoeuvers are slated to play a major part in the escort, as well as being instrumental in navigating the most deadly encounters with bosses. But that's hardly all coming in the near future -- new raid versions are being added to four Skirmishes, a duo mode is being added, and rewards for taking on the Skirmish as a larger group are being scaled up. Lord of the Rings Online players will want to check out the full diary on the official site, and get ready for even more time in the game's dial-a-dungeon feature.
Lord of the Rings Online fansite contest winners announced
It's always nice to see members of the MMO community reaching out to help one another, and the nice folks over at the LotRO Reporter took it upon themselves to encourage people do to more of it and win a few nice prizes in the bargain. (With plenty of help from Turbine, who provided the prizes.) About a month ago, they introduced a contest: give a little of your time doing a random act of kindness for someone in-game. Help them through a quest, craft something for them, that sort of thing. Send in a description, and be entered in a drawing to win a Siege of Mirkwood combo pack. The two contest winners were announced today, and their stories can be found here. (One of the winners profited even more than expected, in the form of a new friend in addition to her prize.) It's always nice to see players bringing something positive to the community, so our thanks go out to Turbine, LotRO Reporter, and everyone who entered for making Middle-earth a nicer place to be.
LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood patch 1 now live
Last week we brought you the preliminary patch notes for the first planned patch for Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood and noted that they were only preliminary, subject to changes and additions. Well, the patch notes are all settled and the patch went live today, bringing some surprises for players who may have preferred to remain unspoiled. For starters, players will find that all Legacy points on their Legendary items have been refunded with this patch, so they'll get an extra shot at redistribution without waiting for a reforge. As we mentioned before, Skirmishes got quite a bit of attention too, including the revival of the Barrow-downs Skirmish. In addition, non Siege of Mirkwood players will find that they are no longer limited to three Skirmishes. Of course, these are only a few of the high points. The full patch notes are available on the official site, or you can log into Lord of the Rings Online and explore them for yourself!
Preliminary notes for first Siege of Mirkwood patch released
Just a month and a half after the launch of Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, the first patch is almost ready. Preliminary patch notes were posted on the official forums by online community specialist Sapience, with a word of warning: "These should be considered a work in progress and incomplete. Final release notes will be posted when the patch is approved for release to the live servers." As expected, the patch so far focuses primarily on skirmishes and legendary items, with a few tweaks being made as needed to raids, instances, and quests. It looks like some significant and very welcome changes are coming, such as a correction to the tier 6 costs of certain legacies. General fixes here and there were also made, such as: "Hunter's Travel to Mirk-eaves skill now tells fellowship members you are travelling to Mirk-eaves. No more freaking out the other members of your fellowship." (Well, that was fun while it lasted, anyway.) The full patch notes as they stand right now can be viewed on the official forums.
Breakdown of skirmish rewards for Lord of the Rings Online
The Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood has been out for almost a month now, and players are beginning to get a good feel for how things work in the new areas. However, some of the most enjoyable areas can also be the most complicated, and there's a lot to figure out. Merric from A Casual Stroll to Mordor is helping with this, and has started a great guide to the skirmish rewards system. The first two parts are all about cosmetic clothing and items, and we have to say it's a very thorough job. The first guide includes a quick explanation of skirmish marks and how they drop, and follow up with a chart including each type of mark, a screenshot of the tooltip, and where it can be found. Scroll down a bit more and you'll find a similar chart featuring each type of cosmetic clothing available and the requirements to acquire it. Part two, released this morning, carries the same format and covers items such as cloaks and backpacks. The guides are a must-read for any Siege of Mirkwood fan, and our thanks to Merric for the time and effort put into them. We look forward to more!
Win a lifetime of LotRO from Massively
'Tis the season to be jolly, as they say, and Turbine is proving this holiday season that they're more than generous with their best-selling MMO, Lord of the Rings Online. We've been given a handful of product keys to hand out to the Massively readers, and we're eager to play the role of Santa this year. So what do we have in our goody bag? Lifetime subscriptions, a copy of the full game, copies of the newest expansion -- a total of twenty-three prize packages you could walk away with! Sound good to you? Then keep on reading after the cut to learn more details on the prizes and how you can have a chance to get one for yourself. [Edit: Comments are now closed. Winners will be notified shortly]
Turbine releases new Siege of Mirkwood screenshots
The new Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, has players enjoying a wealth of new content and improved mechanics, and with some ramped-up hardware on the way things are bound to get even better. Tower raids are a part of Mirkwood that players have been enjoying, and how could they not? Attacking the tower, taking on Sauron's minions, and fighting a dragon -- what's not to love? Today Turbine released six new screenshots from a tower raid, and as usual they are gorgeous, giving a very nice overall look at the scenery both inside and out. Lord of the Rings Online has got a lot going on over the next two weeks, but if you can tear yourself away from the beer fights for a bit, these screenshots should provide some incentive to check out a new area in Mirkwood (if you haven't already). Follow along after the jump for a look.
New skirmish screenshots from Lord of the Rings Online
Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood went live December first, just one week ago. One of the most highly-anticipated features in Siege of Mirkwood was the new skirmish system. Skirmishes are scalable, randomized instances that you and your party can enter after setting a few parameters such as the desired level. They're designed to be relatively brief and fit easily into gameplay time, as well as keeping things interesting with the random elements. As with any ambitious new project, the skirmish system has the normal allotment of bugs here and there, but Turbine seems to be on top of them, and overall player response has been very positive. Today, Turbine released a new series of screenshots from the skirmish system in Siege of Mirkwood. The screenshots offer a sneak peek at several different foes you may encounter, as well as some familiar backgrounds. Enjoy them in the gallery after the jump, and if you haven't already, you can learn more about the skirmish system here.
Lord of the Rings Online to get hardware upgrade
The folks at Turbine are planning a significant hardware upgrade for Lord of the Rings Online, and are asking players to help test it out. The Bullroarer server currently has the new hardware, and is open to anyone who currently has an active subscription. You can copy up to five of your characters over using the character copy tool in order to join the test, and you'll find some nice bonuses in exchange for your time: all of the content from Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood is on the Bullroarer server. If you don't own the expansions, this is an excellent way to check them out. Turbine has one more thank you gift for players: everyone who plays on the Bullroarer server for at least an hour between now and Friday will be entered in a drawing for a Best Buy gift card. One person will receive a $250 card, one will receive a $150 card, and five people will receive $100 cards. The Bullroarer server can be downloaded here.
Getting started with the LotRO Skirmish system
With Lord of the Ring Online's Siege of Mirkwood expansion launch on Tuesday came the new Skirmish system. And with it also came a lot of questions. Though Turbine posted a number of Dev Diaries going over the various aspects of the new private instance system and its reward system, the same questions kept popping up in the game. We'll try to answer as many as we can here. How do I get started with the Skirmish system? What level do I need to be? If you are level 30 or above, you will receive mail with an attachment. Putting the attachment in your bags will start a quest that will send you to the nearest Skirmish Camps. The camps are in many places around Middle-earth. A complete list has been compiled on the new Skirmish forums by a generous player. You don't need to buy the expansion to use the Skirmish system, but your access will be limited until you do.
Newest LotRO developer diary looks at crafting in Siege of Mirkwood
The launch of Siege of Mirkwood today brings about quite a few changes, and the Lord of the Rings Online developer diary have been covering some of them pretty extensively. The most recent diary covered crafting and how it will be improved and expanded in SoM. The entry begins on a promising note: "Being an ally has its advantages! New recipes for weapons, armor, jewellery, and other items can be found amongst the elves of Emyn Lum in Mirkwood," and goes on to detail the many changes. The overall crafting experience was given an overhaul, and the diary included a handy tour of the new crafting panel to help you find your way around. Legendary and class item recipes have been added, as well as recipes for a new "crafted relic", an item designed to fit in a fourth relic slot for equipment, and all crafting professions will see changes in recipes and experience. Crafting guilds will find that they can now give unused guild reputation items to traders in exchange for larger reputation items. It looks like crafting is going to be much more interesting to both new and old players -- you can read all the details here.
Turbine releases Siege of Mirkwood launch video
In case you haven't heard, Turbine launched Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood today. "Today we unveil LOTRO's second major expansion and let players enter the legendary forest of Mirkwood and experience the climax and conclusion to Volume II of our epic story. The response from our players and the press has been nothing short of outstanding and serve as a real validation of LOTRO's position as one of the world's premium online games," said Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel. Besides closing out Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood also brings about an increased level cap, the much-talked-about Skirmish system, and some major gameplay changes and improvements. Many Lord of the Rings Online players have been anticipating this and will be heading for Mirkwood at the first opportunity, but if you're not one of them, the launch video may tip the scales for you. Follow along after the jump for a look.
Massively's LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood launch day roundup
Lord of the Rings Online's newest expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, will release today for North America -- while later this week it will release for the European servers -- and we have a comprehensive wrapup available for you to find the biggest news for the new content. We have a dev tour, a video of the new maps, an interview with Jeffrey Steefel and more! A visual tour of LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood If you haven't had a chance to see Turbine's latest creation, check out our video tour of the expansion just after the jump below. Also, be sure to watch Massively for more coverage on Siege of Mirkwood from now to December 1st and beyond! LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood developer tour If you've been faithfully following along with the Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood beta, you may be excited by what you've heard -- or even seen yourself -- so far. The new expansion, which is set to launch on December 1st of this year (December 3rd for EU), centers around the forest of Mirkwood, just to the east of Lothlorien. It introduces us to a large new map of Mirkwood, the skirmish system, five new instances and much more. Massively Speaking Episode 78: An interview with Jeffrey Steefel Massively Speaking Episode 78 is back with Rubi, Shawn and special guest Jeffrey Steefel, executive producer for Lord of the Rings Online. They talk about Siege of Mirkwood, LotRO's future, Jeffrey's past and much more! Lord of the Rings Online to make drastic combat changes with Siege of Mirkwood It's very rare that you hear about a game changing how combat works at a fundamental level, but that's exactly what Turbine is doing in Siege of Mirkwood. We hope you guys weren't in love with weapon speeds and slow animations, because those are two of the things that are getting major overhauls.
LotRO Siege of Mirkwood patch notes released
Lord of the Rings Online fans have one thing on their mind today: Siege of Mirkwood. The expansion launches tomorrow, and players are spending today waiting, speculating, and wishing tomorrow would arrive a bit sooner. Turbine has made the wait easier by releasing patch notes for you to read over while you wait. All things Mirkwood are covered in the patch notes, from the highly anticipated skirmish system down to the fact that festival gift boxes will no longer contain coal or taters. The full patch notes are very extensive, and while they cover several things we've already heard about, there is a wealth of new information to be had. The notes include a long list of bug fixes, highlights, and items "of special note", before moving down to the full release notes. There you will find all the information to guide you through the changes that Mirkwood brings: classes, instances, auctions, and quests. The little things like hobbies and emotes that help to make the game what it is are also covered. The full patch notes can be found here, and we'll see you in Siege of Mirkwood tomorrow to check them out firsthand!
How to spend your first day in Siege of Mirkwood
The Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood is set to go live tomorrow, and for LotRO fans who have been waiting for it, that final day can feel pretty long. How can anxious fans pass the time while those last hours tick away? Almazar at LotRO Reporter has been making his wait easier by posting ideas on how to...well, make the wait easier. Speculating about what you'll do when the expansion arrives is half the fun of the wait, and he has a nice list of possibilities. Excited about Siege of Mirkwood and dying to dive right into the new areas and explore? He's got something for you. Interested in visiting the newly revamped Lone-lands? Couldn't care less about any of it? LotRO Reporter has you covered as well. You can read the full entry here, and feel free to post your thoughts on what you can't wait to see in Mirkwood tomorrow!
Massively's Black Friday MMO sales guide
The holidays are officially here (if you're a retail chain, then they've been here for about a month) and so it's time to start looking for deals to give to either your MMO-playing loved ones or, well, yourself! Shopping can be a pretty big hassle, especially if you're not accustomed to hunting for the best deals. So, we've gone and outlined the season's new releases, as well as some places you can hope to find sales in the coming weeks.
Lord of the Rings Online developer diary revisits the Lone-lands
The latest developer diary entry is from Lord of the Rings Online Senior Designer Allan "Orion" Maki, and takes us back to a very familiar area: The Lone-lands. While the region seems like a low-level walk in the park to the majority of players these days, Maki had always felt that there was a bit of a "disconnect" and that players were being sent to an area far above their level. The Lone-lands have been given what he describes as a "massive overhaul", bringing them more in line with low and mid level players abilities. Players will find changes such as a solo version of Weather Top, a new horse travel mount to make the initial trip to the Forsaken Inn less dangerous, and some new faction and quest systems. Those, however, are just the beginning. With Siege of Mirkwood only days away, players eager to explore the expansion will find their path in the earlier areas considerably smoother. The full entry is worth looking at, as it contains four pages of great information on the overhaul -- it's a valuable resource for anyone still hanging out around Ost Guruth.
New developer chat transcript for Lord of the Rings Online
There's only a little time left until Lord of the Rings Online launches its next expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, but the players still have questions and the developers are thankfully quite happy to answer them. Not so long ago, WarCry had their first developer chat transcript up for fans of the game to digest. A fair bit of new information has come out since then, and so a new chat transcript is available with more information for the playerbase to mull over for the next week. Unfortunately, it's rather negative, since there are an awful lot of questions whose answers just so happen to be "no." In no particular order: there are no current plans for expanding the housing system, there are no plans to convert Lorien tokens to Mirkwood, no player-created content systems in the works, no way to send mail with more than one attachment. On the other hand, there's more discussion of the Skirmish mechanics and their comparison with Dungeons and Dragons Online's difficulty-tunable instances, talk about how levels and items will be affected, and the expansive amount of content promised within Mirkwood itself. The full transcript is going to be a bit of a read, but it should tide over anticipation for the fast-approaching launch date.
Story moments in new Siege of Mirkwood screens
Lord of the Rings Online is well known for its story, which it has Tolkien's works to thank for -- although Turbine does a great job of making it all come alive. These new Siege of Mirkwood screens depict a few of the new epic story moments players can expect come December 1st when the expansion is made available for purchase. From giant spiders to cozy campfires, much about these new screens inspire. Whether thick with peril or cool and mellow, Siege of Mirkwood looks set to offer its community wonders unparalleled. Yes, we're kind of rhyming on purpose. We blame the poetic imagery seen in the gallery below; its vistas both terrible and cold.%Gallery-78539%
