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LotRO, A Look Back: Books 12 & 13
The new year brought Book 12: The Ashen Wastes on February 13, 2008. This was the first major update that didn't include the introduction of a new region. What it did bring to the table is a mix of revamps and new features.The high level adventuring area Angmar received a major overhaul, making it significantly more solo friendly. many elite mobs were taken out of the solo area population. And the boars, oh the boars, were mostly removed in favor of more menacing mobs. Finally, the questlines were smoothed out to move players along to area more appropriate to their leve.PvMP players received a new PvE dungeon, the Delving of Frór. The Creeps and Freeps battle for control of the dungeon and should one gain access while the other was battling a raid target within, well, that's when the real fun begins. New armor and items were also made available to the player side.Cosmetic enhancements were introduced to the game in Book 12 as well. The outfit system allowed players to choose one set of armor for stats and another for display. The barber system allowed players to change their hairstyle and facial choices, even adding a few new hairstyles to the game.Finally, three classes got a revamp this time. Guardians received a mix bag as their defenses were both nerfed and buffed, they received a dps stance and gained some utility. Burglars got a buff to nearly all their functions including damage, debuffing, trickery and crowd control. Champions also got an extra pass that gave them a stance that was part offensive and part defensive. This round concluded the class revamps planned by Turbine. %Gallery-14799% %Gallery-15282%
Double video goodness from LotRO Book 12
After extended maintenance yesterday, the Lord of the Rings Online servers are finally up with the Book 12 The Ashen Wastes content patch locked and loaded. We've already drooled over all the new features in our earlier post, so we'll spare you the rehash here. Instead, you can watch a trailer for Book 12 where LotRO's Executive Producer, Jeffrey Steefel, rehashes it for us. What a sweet guy.We also have a second video that tells the story behind the latest content. Even if you're not a LotRO fan, it's worth a look. The voice work and storytelling are very good.The videos can be clicked full screen and are embedded after the jump.
Massively hands-on LotRO Book 12 tour
Recently I was taken on a tour of the Lord of the Rings Online upcoming content patch, Book 12 "The Ashen Wastes." And I came back with exclusive screenshots, lewt info and more video than you can shake a Balrog at.Joined by LotRO developer Aaron Campbell and Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, I was first taken to the new public PvP dungeon, The Delving of Frór. This is a new design concept for LotRO. One side in the Player vs Monster Player war must take and defend three of the five control points in the Ettenmoors to be able to enter the new dungeon. Once inside, there is a wealth of content for PvE play: solo mobs, more than fifteen group mobs and five raid mobs. But here's the hitch: if the other side gains control of the majority of the control points, their side can flood into the dungeon and attack you while you are hip deep in a raid encounter. At the same time, your side is shut out from helping if they aren't already in the dungeon. So not only do you have to coordinate your raid, you have to coordinate the defense of the zone at the same time. Gives a whole new twist to the raid strategy, eh?Read on for seven videos and a full tour write up.%Gallery-15282%
LotRO dev chat reveals hints of the future
Deep into testing in Book 12, Lord of the Rings Online devs had little to reveal about the upcoming content patch that wasn't already announced. The juicy parts of this chat are the hints the devs dropped about long range plans for the game.Fly like an Eagle: New variants of land mounts obtained through future patches and Festivals are mentioned, but more importantly the dev team is exploring "a new type of mount to take you into places horses would dare not go." Eagle ride anyone? And can you imagine the rep grind to get friendly with the Eagles? Roll up that Lore-master now.
LotRO Book 12 patch notes land on the test server
The long awaited Book 12 content patch has hit Roheryn, the Lord of the Ring's Online test server today. The lengthy patch notes are available on LotRO's official wiki, the Lorebook.The Ashen Wastes, as this patch is called, offers no new adventure area, but revamps the existing high level outdoor zone, Angmar. The area got a big polish to smooth out quest progression, mob level dispersion and general flow and playability. Honestly, the zone needed it in a bad way, but since many players are at the level cap was this done for alts or new players? We're glad to see this clunky zone get the dev loving it needed before the game launched, but we're not sure how much of the player population will get to appreciate it.Class revamps continue with three classes getting the once over: Guardians are getting a DPS stance for faster soloing as well as a mixed bag of nerfs and buffs to their bread-and-butter tanking ability with a sprinkle of new utility skills. Burglars, the debuff class, are getting a new buff that affects many of their existing crowd control skills, new abilities to use after a successful Fellowship Maneuver and the ability to bring a friend into stealth. Plus, clubs! Champions, the melee dps and off-tank class, are getting a new stance that balances offense and defense skills. Also, their tanking stance is being granted at an earlier level and many of their Legendary skills are getting reworked. The LotRO devs tend to do more good than harm with class revamps. There's some guarded optimism by the classes affected. Once the changes go live and players have a chance to try them we'll see if the tweaks have the desired effect.In addition to all that, there is the new Outfit System and Barbershop functionality, the reintroduction (again) of Troll/Ranger PvMP combat, the introduction of the Ettendeep (a new large PvMP dungeon), and, of course, the continuation of the Epic Story quest line. There is a metric ton of other patch notes to go through including small changes to almost all classes and tradeskills, new housing features, improvements to repuation gain and much needed relief for those farming for their Legendary pages. And let's not forget new tools to fight the brazen and ever present gold spammers.We'll have more analysis as we dig into the Test server.
