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Ten days with Mines of Moria
Last week, Zubon at Kill Ten Rats had taken a comprehensive look at Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria as more and more people are rediscovering the Turbine fantasy MMO. This 10-day exploration touches on many aspects of the game beyond simple back-of-the-box facts and features. It's an experienced and opinionated journal that points out the good and bad, which may be quite helpful to those looking to spend the extra cash for that expansion.Not only does Zubon touch on the experiences with Book quests, his impressions of the Rune-keeper and the mines themselves, but there's also a helpful "Seven Favorites" post which gives a no-nonsense look at what he enjoys most from the game. Check back through the entire series of posts, and take heed to his closing thought: "I have not nearly seen it all."
LotRO's Hero's Guide series reaches Lothlorien
If you're lucky enough -- and skilled enough -- to make it through the depths of Moria's great mines, your reward is something quite spectacular waiting for you on the other side. Discovering Lothlórien in Lord of the RIngs Online's Mines of Moria is truly an awe-inspired experience, as you're seeing the side of the mines that were first discovered by Durin in the First Age. From the intricately-carved East Gate to the flowing waters of the Nimrodel and into Lady Galadriel's garden, Lothlórien is certainly a welcome sight.Turbine punctuates this with their newest developer diary for the Elven area. This five-page article describes the look and feel of the zone, as well as what monsters you can expect to encounter and what quests you will take on. As always, be sure to check out the previous Hero's Guide articles for more on the Mines of Moria's locations.
LotRO's Refer-a-Friend program rewards you with Amazon vouchers
The Lord of the Rings Online promotions just keep flowing as Codemasters announces a new one involving Amazon gift vouchers. This Refer-a-Friend program rewards current players who can successfully sign up five friends with a £5 or 5 € Amazon voucher. Here's how it works: enter your friends' details, they play the 14-day free trial and if they like it, they sign up for a full subscription. For each five who sign up, you'll get the voucher. Seems easy enough, but keep in mind that this promotion is through Codemasters, so it's not for the North American or Oceanic players at this time.
LotRO: Hero's Guide to the Great Delving
The Hero's Guide series has received another chapter over at the Lord of the Rings Online official site, and we haven't moved too far from the last outing at Zelem-melek; this time around, the guide covers the expansive Great Delving, fleshing out the lore of the area and describing it for those that are planning on visiting. The Delving in fact consists of three main areas, including Durin's Threshold, Dolven-view, and Lamâb-dûm, and it's almost certain that you'll spend time in them as you work your way through the expansion.As with much of Moria, the formerly friendly territory now plays host to all sorts of foul inhabitants -- among them, camps of odd white Goblins, and "poison-spitting centipedes the size of horses" -- but that should be music to the ears of any brave adventurer looking for work, right? We continue to be impressed with the amount of quality lore that gets crammed into the articles from the Hero's Guide series, and if you're at all a fan of what you see here, do yourself a favor and have a look at some of the other entries that Turbine has previously posted.
LotRO's Book 7 will introduce new items for the Rune-keeper
If you play a Rune-keeper in Lord of the Rings Online, we've got some good news for you. According to a recent forum post by a Turbine employee, the Rune-keeper will be enjoying some brand new items with Volume 2, Book 7: Chisel: This Ranged slot item can be crafted by Metalsmiths and will be sought after by all Rune-keepers. Higher quality chisels allow a Rune-keeper to etch more detailed and intricate runes on their stones. Doing so will passively increase damage and chances of avoiding resistance. To be clear, this is NOT a range weapon, just a item that resides in the Ranged slot. Inlays: Various metallic inlays can be created by Scholars and quickly applied to a Rune-stone. These are not simply cosmetic, as they will harden the Rune-stone, allowing the next induction skill to have reduced power cost and to be uninterruptable. Enamels: Enamels of a few different colours will also be craftable by Scholars. These enamels brighten the colour of a rune-stone, making it attune further in whatever direction it is already moving.
Mines of Moria Patch 3 coming tomorrow
The third patch to LotRO's Mines of Moria is being prepared for release tomorrow, but there's not too much to get excited about on the short patch notes. One of the bugs that will be fixed is pretty extreme though -- see if you can pick which one!Release Notes Captain The following issues have been resolved when Master of War is traited. Escort NPCs will no longer attack you when using "Noble Mark". Noble Mark will no longer generate 40 times the intended threat. Yes, I said 40 TIMES. Volume 2, Book 3 Chapter 9 Thili should now be responsive to all players and advance after defeating the Orcs at the Bridge of Khazad-Dum. You can now get out.Misc The odd triangles on male elves wearing Lorien armor have been addressed. A few Captains seem to be unhappy about the change to Master of War and its relation to Noble Mark, questioning its viability post-patch, but others are wisely waiting to see how it will actually apply; there's still a lot of room for it to be good without generating 40 times as much threat as intended. We'll find out when the patch goes live, at 6AM Eastern on Thursday, January 22nd.
SSL certificate expiration complicates LotRO logins
Massively writers trying to play Lord of the Rings Online this Saturday morning stumbled into a mess that's apparently been going on most of the day; upon trying to log into the game, the following error appears: "The SSL certificate appears to be expired. Please ensure your system clock is set to the correct time and try again. [ERROR 80001]" Investigating the LotRO forums has uncovered an official thread from CM Tarrant resassuring players that Turbine's NetOps team is looking into it.Meanwhile, players have already solved the issue. If you want to get into the game, just set your computer's clock back to January 1st. The complication there is that daily quests might then be tweaked out, and so further recommendations state you should set your computer's date and time to the correct values at the character select screen. Essentially, set the clock back to log in, and then reset once you're past the loader. Turbine assures this issue will be resolved soon, and we can't imagine this seemingly minor error will continue much longer. Update: And resolved it was, at around 2pm ET. Sapience wants everyone to be sure to set their computers for the correct time if you used that as a cheap workaround. That should ensure the SSL error doesn't show up for you.
TurpsterVision - Weapon of Choice
TurpsterVision is back with vengeance now with four episodes every month focusing on one MMO at a time. This month, along with the rest of the Massively team, we are venturing deep into Middle Earth and exploring the depths of the Mines of Moria.Hey folks, it's good to be back; MMOs just wouldn't be the same without TurpsterVision! Today we are taking a look at Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria's new Legendary Weapons. I've often wanted to have a sword glow blue and warn me when danger is near. To be honest I'd settle for an iPhone app that would do the same thing. But fortunately for me I don't have to settle for anything less than the real deal, albeit a virtual-real deal.Moria not only granted us two new classes, which I'll be exploring one at a time over the next two weeks, but it also granted players the ability to gain Legendary weapons of old which they can level up alongside their character. But enough reading about it, this is TurpsterVision! Watch on after the break...
LotRO: Hero's guide to Zelem-melek
In this week's Hero's Guide for Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria, we get an in-depth look at Zelem-melek. This area is just east of the Great Delving and the first spot you can venture when taking a rented goat mount in the mines themselves. If you choose to explore from the Hollin Gate to Zelem-melek, be aware of many Orcs and Goblins in your path.This Hero's guide explains much more than what creatures you will face, though. We get a look at the lore and history behind this vast area, as well as the best methods for navigating its crumpled ruins. You can also check out some of our previous coverage on these areas through Turbine's video trailers, released prior to Mines of Moria's launch. If you're new to this Hero's Guide series, check out the complete collection and stay tuned for more!
Exploring the nooks and crannies of Mines of Moria
Prior to the launch of the first Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Mines of Moria, Turbine made an effort to put out grand, sweeping previews of upcoming content. Now that the expansion is out they're looking to be a bit cagier, unwilling to give away the goods now that players are actively exploring the depths. The most recent posts to the official LotRO website have given just a tantalizing glimpse of the new content. One touches on the realms above the surface, the brand new area of Nimrodel. Adjacent to the city of Lothlórien, it is steeped in Elvish lore. Another post explores the Twenty-first Hall of Khazad-dûm, an ancient mustering hall used by the Fellowship as an encampment. The final post delves deep into Dwarrowdelf, into the very forges of Khazad-dûm. Created for the game specifically by the designers, it's an epic testimony to the now long-gone dwarven kith and kin. We discussed some of these delights in our Massively Speaking interview with Jeffrey Steefel from a few weeks ago. And if you like reading about where the dwarves delved too deeply, our ongoing Know Your LotRO Lore column might be right up your alley! Check them out.
Know Your LotRO Lore: Concerning Hobbits
Welcome to Know Your LotRO Lore, a new weekly column here at Massively showcasing the lore of J.R.R. Tolkien's world as it intersects with Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online.Known as essentially the main characters of Tolkien's books, Hobbits are an interesting bunch that have been admired and copied in stories for generations. They are a race of small home-bodies that prefer a good meal, good ale and a nap to most other activities. In some circles variations are known as Halflings, Bobbits or Kender, but despite being a "branch" of the race of Man, these peaceful hole-dwellers have very distinctive features that set them apart from most others in Middle-earth.If you're curious about the origins and lore of the Hobbits both in the books and the game, follow along on our journey through the link below. We'll cover their migration to the Shire, their peculiar lifestyle, their interpretation in LotRO and even if Hobbits are real. Hobbit Origins >> %Gallery-39552%
Massively's best of - Favorite expansion of 2008
Winner: Wrath of the Lich King for World of Warcraft (writeup by Kyle Horner)When Blizzard released their first expansion to World of Warcraft, they made some improvements while at the same time making plenty of new mistakes. With Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard has leapt beyond the original game's vision to introduce substantial new improvements to the title. So many quests in the new expansion involve both epic lore and quest mechanics that it's easy to forgive the rehashing classic MMO gameplay. Be prepared to literally stand on the shoulders of giants while battling your foes in ways unseen in any MMO experience to date. Zone design is part and parcel with enjoyable questing, which is why the Northrend quests are some of the most fun yet in the game. The pacing is much better this time around, and a lot of the new zones feel either fresh and new or evoke themes running through the entirety of the Warcraft saga. Dragonblight is in many was as much of a wasteland as Desolace or the Barrens – but Blizzard figured out how to make the whole area packed to the brim with interesting content and locales. As the icing on the cake we now have Death Knights, a triumph of Blizzard's improvements to the game since their first set of MMO classes. Not only does this first hero class feel entirely heroic, the starting zone and quests associated with the class recapture for some the emotion and wonder of playing World of Warcraft for the first time. Once you'd stepped into those dark shoes, it was impossible to stop until the ride was over and you were back in Outland. Wrath is a cut above the rest this year. It's a huge improvement over The Burning Crusade, and has done much to change player perceptions of what a WoW expansion could be. If you've been hoping for a WoW 2, the closest thing you'll find to that for a long time is Wrath of the Lich King.%Gallery-36550%
LotRO's Yule Festival has begun!
The Town Crier is going to be busy these next few weeks as the Yule Festival has officially arrived in Lord of the Rings Online. These winter festivities include contests similar to those at other seasonal events in each of the starting zones: The Shire, Bree, Duillond and Thorin's Hall. There's a return of token collecting, gift boxes, the Inn League and more!In addition, we have a new horse for Yulemath, as shown in the screenshot above. You can certainly expect a complete guide to the Yule Festival coming very soon from us at Massively, but in the meantime, be sure to check out the official forums as players uncover more in-game goodies!
Hero's guide to LotRO's Foundations of Stone
We've learned about many areas of Lord of the Rings Online: Moria of Moria throughout Turbine's Hero's Guide series, yet none could be as structurally important (literally) as the Foundations of Stone. Being the bottom-most level of the mines, this area is actually the foundation of Khazad-dûm. In fact, the murky lake in the center of this level holds a remnant from the Bridge of Khazad-dûm which had fallen from Nud-melek above.Being in such a remote and subterranean locale, the Foundations of Stone is home to a great infestation of fungus that deforms the creatures who dwell near it. You'll see Orcs, Trolls and other creatures plagued by the mysterious fungi, hoping to spread a bit your way. However, amid this grotesque infestation is a true work of art: The Endless Stair. This structure stretches from the bottom of the Foundations of Stone to the highest peak above Nud-melek. You can bet that falling from this would do much more than simply break your legs. Check out Turbine's entire Hero's guide series for more on navigating your way through the Mines of Moria.
Why you should be playing Lord of the Rings Online: The Warden
"Why you should be playing ..." is a free form column from Massively.com intended to inform you about our favorite parts of our favorite games. We want you to know why we play what we do! The Warden class in the Lord of the Rings Online (introduced with the new Mines of Moria expansion) is, all things considered, a blast to play. A capable jack-of-all-trades class, rich in tactical options. Not a class for those who prefer their combat to be a bit mindless, the Warden keeps you thinking. The biggest downfall of the Warden is probably hubris. You see, the Warden is capable. Very capable. Durable in a fight, with a mix of melee and range attacks, and a variety of support powers, when they come up against opponents without special attacks (poison, stunning and so forth) such as orcs or brigands, Wardens can quite comfortably take on foes up to five levels or so above their own. The downside of this is that it can often lead you into trouble. Read on to find out why I love the kind of trouble the Warden offers.
Saving for that horse: a mid-level guide to making money in LotRO
Over at MMORPG.com, their Lord of the Rings Online correspondent Jim Braner has written a comprehensive guide to finding riches in LotRO entitled "Lord of the Rings Online: Making and Keeping Silver in your 20s." This is a great little guide, as it explains many of the common-sense nuances of the game that can be used to your pocketbook's advantage. For example, instead of paying for a ride from the Forsaken Inn to Ost Garuth, why not just run there? Sure it will take some extra time, but think of the drops and resources you'll be able to gather along the way. One of the most underrated points of this guide is one that I firmly believe, yet can rarely convince others to trust. Keeping up with new armor every 5-6 levels will actually help you save money. Of course this only applies if you are a Tailor or Metalsmith, or know one fondly, as buying armor from a merchant is a complete waste. As stated in this guide, that new armor is more durable, and with a higher armor rating, you'll die less. This will cut down significantly on your item repair bills, and ultimately keep more money in your pocket.While these suggestions are all great, I couldn't help but add a few more to the list. Check out some of my own tips on making and saving money in mid-level LotRO just after the cut below.
The week in Massively Features
The Digital Continuum: Moria or Wrath?tanding in the tiny store, I found myself at a crossroads. I'd put a lot of thought into this, but now that the decision was starting back at me, it seemed much more daunting. The question kept repeating in my head, "Do I buy Wrath, or Moria?" NCsoft clarifies its rationale for closing Tabula RasaLast week we spoke very briefly with NCsoft's Director of Public Relations David Swofford about the company's decision to close Tabula Rasa. He reiterated the basic statement we heard from several sources surrounding the call: this was all about the bottom line. Anti-Aliased: You've been Auto-AssaultedI saw the warning signs, and I tried to bring it up nicely. I kept seeing the constant staff shake-ups, and continued to grin and hope for the best. I even saw Richard Garriott himself walk away from the development, a very bad omen in hindsight, and the lot of us gamers just nodded along and thought that TR was going to continue along smoothly. Know Your LotRO Lore: The Rings of PowerYou may realize that the essential plot for the Lord of the Rings books has something to do with a ring, or at least we'd hope you do. Perhaps you know that there is this one ring that keeps making Hobbits invisible, and a bunch of Orcs want it really, really badly. But other than that, you're lost to the origins and impact that this ring has in relation to the grand scheme of things. Massively Speaking Podcast Episode 34Massively Speaking Episode 34 is all about Lord of the Rings Online and the game's first expansion, Mines of Moria. Shawn and Michael are joined by Jeffrey Steefel, Producer at Turbine, to talk about the new classes, content, and dungeon-crawling goodness added in this gigantic expansion. They even talk about the future of the game a bit! Well worth checking out.
Turbine marches to the beat of its own drum, continued yearly expansions
Executive producer for Lord of the Rings Online Jeffrey Steefel doesn't seem to have any interest in mimicking his companies competitors. He recently told gamesindustry.biz, "We have been driving our content strategy based on our game and our audience," adding, "What other folks do is driven by their needs." You really do have to appreciate a company that knows where its livelihood lies.So players can expect the same amount of book updates and further yearly expansions, which sounds like it can only be a good thing for a game that at launch was often tagged with the, "Not enough to do at end-game" complaint. It doesn't seem like that's ever going to become a problem again, however.Check out our latest episode of Massively Speaking, featuring a discussion with none other than Jeffrey Steefel himself!
Hero's guide to Moria's Silvertine Lodes
To fully conquer the Silvertine Lodes in Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria, you must first understand them. This has been the goal of all Moria Hero's Guides written by Turbine, and this latest one is no exception.The deep Silvertine Lodes were once a great resource for mithril and stone used in building the fortresses throughout Moria and funding its expansion. Now, the area is mined dry of mithril and overrun by dark forces. Most of your adventures in this area will revolve around saving lost travelers or defeating the Goblin infestation, but regardless of the task, your presence is sorely needed. Take a look at the complete five-page Hero's Guide to Silvertine Lodes, as well as all previous Hero's Guides in the collection.
Roleplaying in Mines of Moria
As a roleplayer in Lord of the Rings Online, you have access to a goldmine of information regarding how to properly involve yourself in the lore and storyline of the game. Tolkien's works have been so deeply researched and analyzed that there's bound to be some angle in which you can draw inspiration for your character. With the latest expansion, Mines of Moria, a whole new (underground) world has opened up for you to grow your roleplaying adventures.In a recent RoleCraft article at Warcry, we get a look at some examples and suggestions for proper roleplaying in Moria. If you're a Dwarf, you're all set because Moria is all about you. However, being an Elf, Man or Hobbit may present some interesting challenges, but that's the fun of roleplaying! Challenge yourself to create a unique back story for your characters to explain why they're in Moria. What are they hoping to achieve? The sky's the limit... or at least the mine's ceiling, anyway.
