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The Road to Mordor: A soldier to call my very own
So how are you liking Update 6 so far? No, I can't hear you right now -- you're probably going to have to leave a comment or something. Maybe I should do the talking for a while. With its new zone, massive PvP upgrades, class rebalancings, Landscape Soldier ability, updated barter wallet, and the Instance Finder 2.0, there's so much to chew on with Lord of the Rings Online's latest patch that it's going to take most of us some time to figure out what's what. I've heard a lot of praise for the new epic storyline, in particular the dream sequence, and it's definitely good that players who had tapped out Rise of Isengard's content now have more world goodness to explore. I am not in The Great River, not yet; I dug my level 65 Captain out of retirement and am plugging my way back up through RoI quite happily. However, I was incredibly curious about two of the most debated features of the patch -- the barter wallet and the ability to bring skirmish soldiers out into the world -- and I spent some time evaluating each. While I question the way Turbine's handling the cost of these features, I definitely came away impressed with what the wallet and soldiers do for the game.
LotRO's Great River update flows today, patch notes released [Updated]
Strike the tents and put out the campfires, Middle-earth adventurers; it's time to move on... north? That's right, Lord of the Rings Online is taking players on a journey back to an old familiar location -- Lothlorien forest -- as it releases Update 6: Shores of the Great River today. It's an absolutely massive content update for the game meant to span the gap between the Rise of Isengard and Riders of Rohan expansions. While players patch up and wait for the servers to come back online, there are patch notes and then some to be read. If you lack the hour or so it might take to really get into the notes, just know that the update's highlights include a brand-new high-level zone (The Great River), the next book of the epic story, the addition of Landscape Soldiers and a fleshed-out barter wallet, several major class updates (such as the Warden and Rune-keeper), an improved Instance Finder tool, and plenty of PvP improvements. Massively recently sat down with the developers to tour through the new content in Update 6. [Update: Added the trailer for the update after the jump!] %Gallery-149032%
The Road to Mordor: An Update 6 play date with Turbine
This past week, Turbine called my parents and asked if I could come over to play Lord of the Rings Online. "Sure he can," my mother replied. "As long as he wears his galoshes. What? It's wet outside!" And thus I ended up hanging out with the Turbine crew -- Aaron Campbell, Jared Pruett, and Jeff Libby -- as they walked me through Update 6 with the optional developer commentary mode set to "on." I highly recommend you rent a developer for the same experience, as it helps to have someone giving you a Cliff's Notes version of the game's complicated lore. Pruett first caught me up on the major PvMP changes of this coming Monday's update. The team wanted to increase rewards and turn progression into a seasonal mechanic to keep players coming to the Ettenmoors. As such, PvMP now has a universal currency -- that's account-wide, by the way -- that will allow players to purchase top-end gear. The team also tweaked down what the devs saw as a DPS race in order to give players time to deliberate and make strategic choices during fights. Beyond PvMP, the devs marched me right into the next epic storyline book that whisked us away to a strange new land: The Great River. What did I find waiting for me there?
Lord of the Rings Online lets you add a game wallet by lightening your real wallet
If you're a Lord of the Rings Online veteran, you've probably accumulated a large number of different barter items for various upgrades. Skirmish tokens, regional tokens, festival tokens... all vital to getting various gumballs, all clogging up inventory space that could go toward other items. The development team has heard your cries for a solution, and thus, the improved barter wallet has come into existence. Unfortunately, this upgrade comes at a price -- just about $10, specifically. Needless to say, some players and subscribers will be rather galled by the fact that this feature is being sold. On the other hand, player testimonials indicate that the upgrade works wonderfully, and it's a single account-wide purchase for all of your past, present, and future characters. Whether or not you prefer to grab the account-wide upgrade or wish to abstain on matters of principle is a personal decision, but there's no denying that the freed inventory spaces are certainly appealing.
The Road to Mordor: Bits 'n' pieces
Three wolves. A full moon. One incredible cloak in the Lord of the Rings Online store. As a forum poster asked, is the Cloak of the Mountain Wolves too powerful and too intrinsically sweet? I think it is a distinct possibility. I already own six and have Sauron on farm status because of them. Forget piddly rings -- this is the one cloak to rule them all, and in the darkness, blind them. I'm a bit all over the place in today's column, so bear with me as I spew forth a 427-line stream-of-consciousness poem devoted to Aragorn's stubble. You totally know you want to hit the jump to read it. I triple-dog-dare ya. [Editor -- No, Justin, you have to write a normal column. Don't make me get the fire hose.] Darn.
LotRO barters, gallops and tasks with advance patch notes
Those who assumed that Turbine would be taking it easy for its next Lord of the Rings Online patch may want to sit down, buckle up and prepare to be thrust into a wall of patch notes. The list of changes and additions for LotRO's November update have been posted, and players may check them out on the Bullroarer test server. While the notes are "subject to change," they contain an impressive list of additions we've known were coming (such as expanding the free-to-play coverage to include the expansions all the way up through level 65) as well as a few surprises. Among the surprises are a new barter wallet to hold inventory-clogging skirmish and anniversary tokens, the ability for former subscribers to use swift travel routes, upgrades to reputation mounts, new ingredient packs for crafters and an overhaul of the Dwarf and Elf starting area. The notes also give us a peek at the mysterious "Task" system. According to Turbine, this system will add 250 repeatable quests to the game, be accessible by all tiers of players, and will require current trophy drops. Tasks will also come with a new set of deeds and rewards, hopefully adding to the amount of free Turbine Points that players can accrue. You can read the test server patch notes on the LotRO forums.
