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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.
