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The Road to Mordor: Forum diving
[Special note: Obviously, the news that LotRO is going free-to-play hit after this article was already written, so stay tuned as we dissect what it means for existing and potential new customers next week!] Lately, it feels like we're in a holding pattern for Lord of the Rings Online. The last major content patch, Volume III: Book 1, is fading into distant memory, and we're pushing into summer without definite news of the next update -- or better yet, the next expansion. Players are also nervous about any changes or new directions the game may take after the recent acquisition of Turbine by Warner Bros., and the silence certainly doesn't help any. However, there's always hope in the darkest places of Middle-earth, and the same can be said for the game itself. The Summer Festival should be around the corner, and as for new news, Sapience handed out a bit of vague encouragement on the forums: "You guys know we're preparing an announcement. I can't give you a specific date as to when we'll make it, but I can say I just ran into Adam Mersky coming out of an E3 planning meeting and he was pretty stoked!" While we continue the wait for the next step forward for LotRO, I thought it'd be a good idea to head over to the official forums and do a little diving for some of the more interesting topics and discussions bouncing around the LotRO community today.
Peek inside Lord of the Rings Online's QA team
Working on a QA team is simultaneously one of the more important and least glamorous parts of any game's development. On the one hand, QA has the important job of trying to make sure that everything plays smoothly and correctly; on the other hand, a QA team has best done its job when there's very little that the player notices as missing. Lord of the Rings Online has recently posted a QA team diary, with Amanda "Brynhildr" Cosmos discussing the process involved in testing the recent Volume III update for the game. Contrary to some popular beliefs, testing generally doesn't consist largely of playing the game -- it's more about finding areas of the game that might be a bit weak and straining them to the breaking point. As the diary points out, it's also about investigating the smaller areas of gameplay that might not be immediately apparent from looking at the big picture. Travel routes, pricing on small-scale consumables, and minor text quibbles aren't easy to spot unless you're looking specifically for places that can be shored up. The full diary is worth reading not just for Lord of the Rings Online players, but anyone interested in seeing what the QA teams are actually responsible for in an MMO's production.
The Road to Mordor: Massively tour of LotRO Volume III Book 1
Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis. Lord of the Rings Online Volume III: Allies of the King is kicking off Book 1: Oath of the Rangers on the live servers this Monday, March 1st. Massively got to sit down with a LotRO dev for a tour of the new content. But before we jump in to that, a quick note about content patches. There have been some complaints on the official forums that this content update doesn't include a new land mass to explore. But the history of content updates for LotRO shows a pattern of only adding land mass every other update. Since the last update was a full expansion with the introduction of Mirkwood, it follows that this one would not include new lands. That being said, there are many new areas to explore. The devs have created new instances in the "old world" for you to enjoy as part of the new Volume III epic quest line. So while this update doesn't deliver Rohan, it does have new dungeons to explore as well as a new Skirmish. The tour (with some mild spoilers) starts after the jump!
New LotRO Vol. III book 1 screens include awesome dragon
Turbine knows how to please a crowd, as evidenced by these new screens for Volume III: Allies of the King, Book 1 for Lord of the Rings Online. Who doesn't love dragons? Well, okay, probably not the party currently under siege by one in the screenshot above -- but everyone else for the most part. At least, everyone else loves them until they're attacked by one. Anyhow, check out the rest of the screens. We especially recommend this one particular screen, where you'll find some other non-dragon enemies that look more than ready to tear apart your character in-game. Yes, we know, we've got a problem with dragons today. Don't worry, we're done now. Honest.%Gallery-84675%
The Road to Mordor: Vol 3 Book 1 new Skirmish gear rewards
Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis. Volume 3 Book 1, Oath of the Rangers, has been keeping me busy on Bullroarer, the test server. I've been working my way through the new epic quest line, trying out the new Spring Festival events and drooling over the new Skirmish rewards. For this installment of The Road to Mordor, I've spent an unlawful amount of time at the Skirmish camp vendors transcribing the new rewards. After the jump, I've listed the current stats of the new Heavy, Medium and Light Armors as well as the new Cloaks and Rift Cosmetics. There are also pics of the new items and a video showing the cosmetics. Keep in mind that this is all on the test server and subject to change.
Turbine offers up a dev diary and screens for Oath of the Rangers
We got the first details on the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online book, titled Oath of the Rangers, earlier this week. Now, to add to the excitement, Turbine has followed up on the initial information by releasing a handful of screens and an excellent developer's diary. Flowing mightily from the keyboard of Jeff 'MadeOfLions' Libby, the diary gives Lord of the Rings Online fans much to discuss. Aside from the talk of storylines and a new skirmish, there's a really great behind-the-scenes portion about how precisely the LotRO team sets up something called "drama sequences." Essentially, these scripted sequences tailor NPC dialogue to you based on your own personal quest history -- bringing you info the story. There's also some information on ways the team is seeking to make travel a bit easier for the casual players, or more rewarding for those who take the long path. If Middle-earth is the place you call home, then you'll definitely want to check out the new screens we've gathered up for you as well as the enlightening developer diary over on the LotRO site. %Gallery-84675%
