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LotRO's Burglars get a heads-up about expansion changes
Turbine Developer Jonathan Steady is spreading the word through back alleys and in seedy taverns: Changes are coming for Lord of the Rings Online's Burglars when Riders of Rohan hits. The team's specifically looking to strengthen the mischief-maker trait line, although the changes don't stop there. Of probable interest to the game's Burglar population is the revelation of new high-level skills coming with the expansion. Burglars will be receiving Trick: Improved Disable, which adds a finesse debuff to the toolset; Improved Confound, another finesse debuff; and Improved Addle, a tactical damage debuff. Other changes include a 25% heal when the Burglar uses Find Footing, the ability to use Practical Joke outside of stealth, and a beefed-up Antidote skill that gets rid of all poisons.
The world's first shipped RED EPIC gets stolen in home break-in (update: $100k reward now offered!)
Remember just earlier this month when OffHollywood studio head Mark Pederson became the first man to own a RED EPIC? Well, now his $58,000 über camera is gone. According to REDUSER forums, the EPIC was heisted last night along with some cash from Pederson's chalet in France while he and his family were sleeping. Pederson shares on the forum that "there was a forced entry through the front door. The thieves actually entered the master bedroom while my in-laws were sleeping, and standing a foot from their bed - emptied wallet and purse. There were 6 children and 8 adults sleeping in the house." That's a scary caper worthy of a Hollywood script for sure, but thankfully no one was hurt. Here's hoping the movie-like storyline continues now with law enforcement gumshoes actually cracking the case. In the meantime, maybe Peter Jackson can lend Pederson one of his 30 RED EPICs until his own baby returns. Update: We just got word that RED honcho Jim Jannard is offering $100,000 to anyone who can provide information leading to the recovery of the device and a conviction of the thieves. In his words (from the RED forums): "We are now offering $100,000 for the safe return of EPIC #00006 and the rest of the system including the media with Mark's files... and the arrest and conviction of those that broke into Mark's chalet in France. We will ONLY pay this amount if there is an arrest and conviction of the parties as we are not interested to be ransomed by thieves." Now that is seriously putting your money where your mouth is! [Thanks, Derek and Cory]
Thieves drive truck through Apple retailer's wall
We've heard of quite a few robberies at Apple Stores (and in its own twisted way, the idea makes sense -- despite the adage that 'crime doesn't pay,' laptops and iPhones are certainly easy to carry and very resellable), but this is probably the most brute force way we've seen it done. A set of thieves in Portland, Oregon just plain crashed a truck through the front window of the MacPac reseller there, and ripped off some iPads, MacBooks, and a few more devices from the store a few weeks ago. Fortunately, it sounds like things are as under control as they can be -- not only did the store's cameras capture the suspects on tape, but the police showed up within minutes, and the store's owner says that even though this has happened before, "the last person who did this we put away." So it sounds like justice will be served up, Apple retailer style, soon enough. Thanks, Patrick!
Lord of the Rings Online to make drastic combat changes with Siege of Mirkwood
It's very rare that you hear about a game changing how combat works at a fundamental level, but that's exactly what Turbine is doing in Siege of Mirkwood. We hope you guys weren't in love with weapon speeds and slow animations, because those are two of the things that are getting major overhauls.In the latest developer diary, it's been revealed that weapon speeds will now be standardized by weapon level and type, making sure that all one-hand maces of the same level swing at the same speed. This is key, as previously players were taking slower weapons to maximize their damage, even if it wasn't appropriate for their class. (Turbine was looking at you, mace wielding burglars.) Weapons have also gotten increased speed but lowered damage to compensate for their fast swing rate.
Double dev chat goodness for LotRO Book 12
Two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats within one week? It's like Christmas came early for LotRO players. But it looks like some players are getting presents and others are getting coal. German website, Lotro-Welten, held its monthly LotRO dev chat for European players last week. And last night US players got their own dev chat at MMORPG. Strangely, the EU dev chat held a wealth of new information while the US chat had very little new or interesting. Here are the highlights from Lotro-Welten's chat, mostly applying to the upcoming Book 12 content patch: Fishing is being introduced as a new profession category called Hobbies Hobbies are professions that anyone can level up in regardless of their other tradeskill choices The barber in Book 12 will offer new hairstyles The new cosmetic system allowing you to display different clothing will not extend to hand held items and will be entirely disabled in PvMP zones More solo content is a big priority for the dev team and Angmar is getting a pass in Book 12 to become more solo friendly
