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LotRO: Helm's Deep purchase required to continue the epic story
Lord of the Rings Online's epic story is one of the crown jewels of the game, and for the longest of time it's been available for free whether you subscribe or not. However, Turbine confirmed this week that purchasing Helm's Deep will be required if you want to see how the epic story plays out over western Rohan. On the forums, CM Rick Heaton explained the change: "The epic story in Helm's Deep is very tightly entwined with the epic battle system. The story in Helm's Deep is the epic battle we all know from the books. We've returned to the core story line from the lore and that line leads in a direct path, laid out by the Professor himself, into Helm's Deep and the battles and heroic deeds that occur there. As a result, this means the epic story requires the purchase of the Helm's Deep expansion." "Epic Story Guy" MadeOfLions also chimed in with a much more informative post about the decision. "It's a change that serves to reward the players that do pick up the expansion, and makes the expansion a better deal, more worth your time and your money," he writes. "This is just an expansion change for now -- I'm hoping we can keep the epic story free in other updates." Speaking of Helm's Deep, Turbine just posted the Champion class update dev diary for all to peruse!
Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep launches on November 18th
It's the news every Lord of the Rings Online player has been waiting on for what seems like a long while. Helm's Deep is launching on November 18th, bringing with it new regions to explore, an increase in the level cap to 95, and of course the eponymous battle itself. And there's even a new trailer to get players all pumped to wage war against a whole lot of orcs. Now that the launch date is announced, Turbine is also willing to take your money for the expansion. The base edition costs $39.99 and includes a cosmetic chestpiece, a title, and 1000 Turbine points, while also providing a new mount and experience booster usable right now. The Premium edition costs $59.99 and offers everything in the base edition along with another title, a full suit of cosmetic armor, 10 extra quest log slots, another 1000 Turbine points (so 2000 total), and an item to add a Legacy to your weapon. Oh, and a special cloak to use right now. Click on past the break to see the trailer, and get ready for the siege starting in November. [Source: Turbine Entertainment press release]
The Road to Mordor: Classes, bounders, and leaks
You know the saying: When it rains, it pours. After an almost painful period of silence as we've waited for news of the expansion, it seems as if Turbine's finally ready to pour out an information waterfall on all of us. Last time in this column we looked at the Q&A of the "big battles" system, and a week ago we were treated to a full-fledged preview of Helm's Deep. So I want to take some time to cover a few odds and ends that were sandwiched between those two mentions: the class revamp Q&A, the Bounder's Bounty event, and the leaked maps of Helm's Deep. I'll admit that my interest in Lord of the Rings Online has been flagging a bit, especially after I trudged through Wildermore. I've been hoping that the news of the expansion would put some wind in my sails, especially after waiting for the better part of the summer to hear it. So what do I make of all of this?
LotRO starts beta test for Helm's Deep, talks Burglar changes
Lord of the Rings Online has begun the closed beta test for Helm's Deep, Turbine announced on Facebook last night. "Invites have already been sent, so make sure you check your spam filters," the studio notified fans. As the expansion contains changes to all of the classes, the team released the first of many developer diaries detailing what's to come for Burglars. The diary says that the three trait lines will home in on what makes each of them unique: massive burst damage (for Quiet Knife), control and attrition (for Mischief-maker), and the element of chance (for The Gambler). Finally, Turbine is compensating VIP players for the game outage this past weekend: "For any VIP accounts that were subscribed during the outage, we will be extending the subscription by two days. Lifetime accounts will receive 250 Turbine Points."
The determined defense of Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep
The veil of secrecy has been lifted, and the flood of details about Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep is about to sweep you off your hairy Hobbit feet. The only question is... are you prepared? And are your mommy and daddy OK with your heading off to fight in a big war that will decide the fate of a nation? Turbine sat down with us to give us a broad overview of LotRO's fifth expansion with a special emphasis on its much-vaunted epic battle system. Let's start with the bullet points: Helm's Deep (officially Update 12) will contain five new zones, three additional books for the epic story, 300 quests, a 10-level bump in the cap to 95, plenty of awesome new armor and cosmetic models, and a new crafting tier. It will not contain traditional instances or skirmishes (more on that later), the much-anticipated housing update, or more mounted skills. But let's go beyond mere lists to take a closer look at an early view of the expansion and what it will hold when we finally move on to eastern Rohan.
LotRO's new trait trees to 'stand out' from each other
It's safe to say that Lord of the Rings Online players have many, many questions concerning the upcoming class overhaul coming to the game with Helm's Deep. Turbine's devs took to Twitter and the forums to answer a few of these and give us a better idea what to expect when the expansion hits. Replacing the current trait system will be trait trees in much the same vein as the mounted combat trees. Players will get a point to spend every other level, although they will be able to get additional points through deeds. Early on, players will choose a specialization that will affect how points are spent, such as a Hunter's Bowmaster or Huntsman specializations, and by fully investing in a tree will a player be able to purchase a legendary skill. Players can save multiple builds; the studio is providing the first two saved build slots for free with additional ones available for purchase. So why the decision to overhaul the trait system? Turbine explains: "We wanted to design the trait trees in such a way that as soon as you leave the intro, your trait line starts to play as it was envisioned instead of later on down the road when you began to collect traits. We really wanted each trait line to sort of stand out from the rest and reduce some of the class homogenization that had slowly occurred over the years."
Lord of the Rings Online answers 20 questions about Big Battles
As Lord of the Rings Online's storyline moves to Helm's Deep, the designers faced a problem. None of the game's existing models for content really fit the scale of the battle, and it just didn't feel right to have a large-scale war shoehorned in to skirmishes or raids. As a result, the team put together a new sort of content, tentatively named Big Battles, and has answered 20 questions about how this new format will play. Players will be able to participate in the content solo or in several group sizes, with each experience tailored for the specific group size rather than simply scaling health values for enemies. Rather than focusing on specific boss encounters, players are going to be part of a larger tactical environment, working toward a large objective instead of pursuing small ones independently. As this style will be replacing traditional instance progression, veteran Lord of the Rings Online players will want to take a close look at what the system entails and how they can work within it.
Turbine: LotRO revenue tripled since going F2P
Lord of the Rings Online's future is so bright, it's wearing shades these days. At least, according to a new interview at TTH, where LotRO's Kate Paiz and Adam Mersky opened up about the success of the free-to-play conversion. Turbine has seen LotRO's profits triple since F2P along with a huge influx of new players, and that spells good news for the future of the game. The duo turned its attention to the upcoming year for LotRO, which includes the Rise of Isengard expansion. While Paiz and Mersky didn't indicate whether there would be any new zones between now and then, they did confirm that the epic story would be continued, leading up to the confrontation between the rangers and Saruman's growing forces. Rise of Isengard will feature a push to the south with the Dunland and Gap of Isengard zones, whereas Isengard proper will pit players against the foul forces of the Tower of Orthanc. Isengard isn't the only thing players have to look forward to in the next year -- a big cosmetic system revamp is planned along with non-combat pets. Hardcore players also have a new raid cluster to look forward to before Isengard's release. Other possibilities for the future? Cosmetic weapons, a Rohan expansion and the Battle of Helm's Deep are all on the table. [Thanks A Casual Stroll to Mordor!]
