Devs answer questions on Book 13's Forochel

By William Dobson

Over at the Lord of the Rings Online European forums, the developers gave players a chance to ask any questions they had about the new Forochel region that will be introduced with Book 13. All sorts of things were asked over a number of days, and the question time is now over. We've had a read through the thread, and compiled the answers that the developers gave in bullet-point format, so check after the break to see what the players managed to find out — short answer, a lot!

  • It will be possible to fish in the bay area in Forochel
  • Most of Book 13 will take place in Forochel
  • There will be a level 50 public dungeon in the area
  • The devs cannot say when Book 13 will be released yet
  • Forochel is mostly a solo area for levels 44-50
  • There will not be player-manned boats to traverse Forochel
  • There will not be a new raid in Book 13
  • There will be three new armor sets through the Lossoth faction
  • A famous lore character will be in Forochel
  • The men inhabiting Forochel are called the Lossoth, and are like hillmen but dressed a bit warmer
  • A new mount variant will be available — the color is hinted at being important
  • There will be ways to mitigate frost damage, similar to the dread system
  • Both normal stable-horses and swift travel will be available in Forochel, however swift travel requires good you to have a good standing with the Lossoth faction
  • More swift travel routes will be added to existing stable-masters, also tied up with faction
  • The Lossoth faction is tied up with Metalsmithing and Leatherworking, and there will be two superior crafting facilities in the zone that you'll need good faction to use
  • Just doing the available quests will get you quite far through the faction tiers with Lossoth
  • Reputation rewards will be given out at all tiers
  • There won't be a crafting avenue to actually raise the Lossoth faction
  • Resources available in Forochel will be similar to those found in Eastern Angmar
  • The open sea will be able to be seen, but there will be limitations on how far you can travel into it
  • No new traits, but more ranks in existing virtues will be available
  • There will be a new Loremaster pet variant from the Lossoth faction
  • The main Lossoth town is slightly bigger than Aughaire, with smaller Lossoth villages throughout the zone
  • Initially Forochel will only be accessible through Evendim, but the faction swift travel routes mentioned above will provide other methods
  • The public dungeon will not be as large or complex as Sarnur or Haudh Iarchith, with no rare spawns or unique deeds. Quests will get you to visit the area — other than that it's just dungeon crawling
  • Other areas around level 44 will offer quests that lead you to Forochel
  • Forochel will feature its own unique music
  • Book 13 will have eleven chapters, with some chapters having multiple parts
  • Players will not leave tracks in the snow — this feature may be looked at in the future, but it is not a priority
  • A dev diary is coming that will talk about weather status effects in detail
  • There will not be underwater gameplay in Forochel, and there are no plans for it at the moment
  • A new blizzard weather effect will be seen in Forochel

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