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Lord of the Rings Online details Minstrel changes in Helm's Deep
Lord of the Rings Online players are almost certainly foaming at the mouth for the game's upcoming Helm's Deep expansion. Unfortunately, it's not going to be dropping for another month and a half. In the meantime, the kind folks at Turbine are hoping to satiate some of that hunger (or perhaps further whet fans' appetites) with some details on the myriad changes the expansion will bring. Specifically, the most recent dev blog is dedicated to taking a closer look at Middle-earth's most eminent musician, the Minstrel. Minstrels have always been a versatile class, and the new trait lines arriving with Helm's Deep continue that tradition. Minstrels who choose to follow the Watcher of Resolve trait line will be masters of raising morale thanks to a number of traits that buff outgoing heals, increase critical heal potency, and reduce cast times. Those who prefer causing wounds to closing them will find their calling in the Warrior-Skald line, which can turn even the most timid troubadour into a battle-hardened balladeer specializing in single-target damage. And finally, Minstrels who wish to embolden their allies and enfeeble their foes will be right at home in the Protector of Song trait line, which focuses on bestowing powerful buffs and debuffs to shift the tide of battle.
The Road to Mordor: Six reasons why Minstrels rule
In the gaming world, you're either a bard person or you're not; there's no middle ground. For some, the concept of a character attacking with music and "inspiring" fellow adventurers with top 40 tunes is incredibly weird, even though armies used to employ musicians all the time for tempo and morale. For others, using music to help and hurt is a refreshing change of pace from fireballs and 70-pound impractical swords. Over the five-plus year adventure that I've had in Lord of the Rings Online, I've rolled many-a Minstrel, although I've yet to make one my main. I've always loved the concept of the class, especially within Tolkien's IP, where music fills an important niche in the books. Music has power in Middle-earth, and the Minstrel is the one with the skills to defeat Sauron with mad lute skills. As a tribute to this awesome class, here are six reasons why Minstrels rule -- and why you should try one out if you haven't already.
Massively's LotRO Riders of Rohan launch-day roundup
When you first heard about Lord of the Rings Online, you probably had an idea of which areas from the Lord of the Rings lore you'd want to visit and which events you'd like to take part in. Not all of the areas in Middle-earth were part of LotRO when it launched, but with each expansion the game world gets a bit more complete. Developer Turbine has been hard at work developing iconic areas like the Mines of Moria and Isengard, but the zone players have been anticipating the most is the Plains of Rohan. The Riders of Rohan expansion goes live today, opening the visually stunning Plains of Rohan area and introducing tons of new content, class updates and gameplay changes. Developers have been careful to capture the feel of the plains in not only the area's art style but also its impressive musical score. The Riders of Rohan expansion adds a new mounted combat feature that lets players fight on customisable war horses. The open plains are filled with roving warbands of orcs and other challenges to be overcome. Read on for a run-down of all the latest news on the Riders of Rohan expansion.
New developer diary explores Minstrel improvements for Lord of the Rings Online
You might think that bringing a lute to a swordfight sounds ridiculous, but any Lord of the Rings Online player knows better than to downplay the importance of a Minstrel. Unlike some of the other classes whose changes have been previewed for the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion, Minstrels aren't receiving any sweeping changes, but they still are getting an update pass. The latest development diary on the official site covers these improvements, all of which should help Minstrels be more effective and fun to play. Small changes rule the day here, with improvements to buffs and a new area attack mimicking a single-target debuff. A few mechanical shifts, such as ensuring that Minstrel attacks which apply buffs to allies will always apply those buffs even if the attack itself is unsuccessful, should also help the class. Players looking for all the details on how their instrument-playing life is going to get just a little bit easier should look at the full diary for the fine details.
The Road to Mordor: Purveyor of Odd Things
Out of all of the factions in Lord of the Rings Online, I'm most partial to the Hobbit's Mathom Society (the Ale Association is my next most favorite). I love the concept behind finding quirky little objects that nobody really wants to keep, so the community set up a museum to hold them all. Plus, the benefits from gaining reputation are terrific, from a jar full of fireflies (great in Moria!) to a pretty decent rep pony. But it's perhaps the title gained on reaching Kindred that tickles me the most, as I can thus be called Purveyor of Odd Things. LotRO has a lot of weird titles, but this one takes the cake. It says that I'm just as likely to go jaunting off if a sparkly stone catches my eye as I am to fight that big dragon you guys are struggling with over there. It says that I am to be shunned at parties and talked about to children in a low, urgent tone. In the spirit of collecting odd things, this week's column will be a hodge-podge of topics instead of one overarching theme. Minstrel melodies, buried treasure, and Mithril Editions lurk just around the corner. Are you prepared in mind, body, and soul to hear what I have to say about them?
The Road to Mordor: A fresh start
I don't know about you, but sometimes I fall into the trap of forcing myself to do something in a game because I feel internally obliged to do it. Somewhere along the line, "setting a goal" became a Bataan Death March that absolutely had to be accomplished before I'd allow myself to do what I truly wanted. In my case, it was the stubborn determination to get through the remainder of Rise of Isengard's content even though I had slowed to slogging through it, feeling burned out on my Lore-master after well over a year of constant play on the character. So I sat back and re-evaluated. My reasoning for finishing Isengard was to make sure I was at the top of the game and could evaluate any new high-level content that came along for you guys, which was a noble reason. But the truth was that in so doing, I was playing something that was leeched of enjoyment for the time being and really needed to be put aside. Once I realized that, the solution was obvious. A fresh start. That's what I wanted: a completely fresh start to the game. Hey, it's still (sort of) a new year, so why not? And once I gave myself permission to do that, my adventures in Lord of the Rings Online brightened up considerably. I might be weird in this, but I absolutely love starting over from scratch in long-term games from time to time, even though it means scrapping (or putting aside) a whole heap of achievements and the effort spent acquiring them. This week I'm going to look at my fresh start with LotRO and why it has me buzzed to log in for the first time this year.
Leaderboard: Battle of the Bards
I have to say, I'm just always fascinated by Bards (and Bard-type classes) in MMOs. They seem so odd juxtaposed with steely warriors and mystic wizards that half the time I think they're a running joke that somewhere along the line people started taking seriously. I mean, pulling out a guitar in the middle of a gang gunfight in Chicago is a good way to ruin a perfectly good musical instrument, but in fantasy worlds this sort of thing happens and nobody even blinks. In some places, a fully decked-out hair metal band can wreck havoc on any raid boss. Bards appeal to the contrarian in us, with the attitude of "it's OK to be a jack of all trades, as long as you're rocking a sweet axe." In some MMOs their music is used to conjure up buffs, while in others their notes cause aural damage on the level of Ke$ha to monsters. Have family members who keep telling you to turn that racket down? Bards in games are constantly told to crank it up -- and play multiple songs simultaneously, if at all possible. Plus, Bards are not unknown to the ways of the sword, which always amuses group leaders who now have a squishy character charging into combat shouting, "Stab! Stabby stab!" Today is a first, as we're giving you more than one choice for Leaderboard voting. Please don't pass out. It's a Battle of the Bards, with most of the major MMOs reporting in for duty! Which Bard tops them all? Cast your vote after the jump!
LotRO Update 5.1 shoots Saruman in the knee
Lord of the Rings Online is bringing its servers down today to apply Update 5.1 across the board. While it's certainly not a content patch like its predecessor, it does have a sizable number of fixes and tweaks that should improve quality of (game) life for all. Some of the changes include eliminating dyes from lootboxes, a nerf to Minstrel codas, many tweaks to the Tower of Orthanc raid, the option to timestamp chat messages, and small improvements to the treasure hunt. The devs have also posted an updated list of known issues for the game. As always, it's worth going through the patch notes to try to find the funny asides. In this update? "Addressed a number of typos. Probably added some new ones."
New LotRO dev diaries outline Minstrel changes, PvMP
Denizens of Middle-earth, sit yourselves down, light up some pipeweed, and brace yourselves for information overload. The fine folks at Turbine have released a pair of new dev diaries outlining the changes coming to Minstrels and PvMP with Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard. One of the first things that Minstrels will notice when they log in to Rise of Isengard for the first time is that they are no longer clad in the medium armor to which they are accustomed. Instead, the Minstrel's medium armor trait is being replaced with something "equally valuable." The next sweeping change comes in regard to the Minstrel's ballads. Gone are the days when Minstrels had to play ballads in tiers; instead, all ballads have been divided into minor, major, and perfect categories. These categories roughly tie into the three stances that the Minstrel employs, providing either healing, damage, or power reduction. The Major Ballad is of particular note, as its effects will change depending on the stance the Minstrel is in. With no stance selected, the ability will heal allies. In Harmony or War-speech stance, the ability becomes a damage-dealing skill. Minstrels will also be receiving an upgrade to their available stance choices, allowing players greater flexibility in their playstyle. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the changes coming to Minstrels with Rise of Isengard; they will also be receiving changes to their Anthems and will be given a new type of ability called a Coda. Trait lines are being given a few tweaks as well, so any would-be bards should certainly give the full list of changes a look. Meanwhile, in the Ettenmoors, changes are sweeping the Freeps. All Freep quests have been made into dailies, and all quests now reward players with a combination of Destiny, Glory, and cold hard coin. Rangers have received a variety of tweaks as well. Freep PvMP rewards have been upgraded to be uniform with the new stat system, and players who previously purchased the old versions of the armor rewards will be able to swap the old version for the new. New jewelry and offhands are also being made available to help the Free Peoples of Middle-earth take the battle to the Ettenmoors. Once again, the full details, as well as previews of some of the updated items being made available to the heroes of the Ettenmoors.
The Road to Mordor: Class graduation
Amid all of the hubbabaloo of E3, Rise of Isengard reveals, and pre-order madness, something equally as significant has been taking place on the Lord of the Rings Online scene: proposed class changes. Turbine's been fairly good giving each of the classes a pass over this last year, but it looks as though something even more significant is in the offering when the expansion hits this fall. As we all know, the level cap is going up to 75, virtues will increase to a new cap of 12, and stats will be expanded in several ways. But there's even more on top of that: Orion and Zombie Columbus have been posting a steady stream of proposed class changes on the forums. These aren't all tiny tuning measures, either. In many cases, weak elements of classes and class builds will be radically revamped, and how you play these classes will change forever. As with any prospect of change, these proposed notes are both exciting and scary to behold. I felt it was high past time we at least chew on the reveals thus far and see how our classes will be graduating to the next level when Isengard arrives. Of course, these are all proposed and highly subject to change between now and whenever they're implemented. As Orion said, "Blogs are coming out before the major changes so that we can get your feedback early, often and when we are still agile enough to respond to the valid reasoning behind concerns or true issues that are found." Read with a grain of salt (if you like, perch the salt on your shoulder so it can view the screen better).
The Perfect Ten: Unusual MMO weapons
Swords. Staffs. Maces. Spears. Wands. Bows. Crossbows. Double-crossbows. Hammers. Wolverine claws. Daggers. Axes. Deadly? Yes. Fashionable? Not so much. I mean, really. A two-handed sword is so 1299. Now, a deep dish Chicago-style pizza with the works flung into an enemy's gullet -- that's progressive thinking! Because I'm deeply bored with the usual suspects in most MMO armories, I wanted to spend a day praising devs who said, "Screw it. We're going weird, and we're not going to regret it, even when our bosses call us into their offices demanding why such lunacy ended up in a professional game." So forget everything you think you know about weapons because your pitiful armament has yet to scratch the surface of the wild, wild universe of things that can be used to kill you in game. This Perfect Ten column is sponsored by Grizzly Bear Rocket Launchers, Ltd. after the jump.
Lord of the Rings Online posts Echoes of the Dead patch notes
It's almost here: On Monday, March 21st, Lord of the Rings Online will release its next big content update, Echoes of the Dead. Containing a warehouse worth of fixes, features and new content, Echoes of the Dead is looking quite fine indeed. Although we have to wait for the weekend to pass to get our hands on this update, Turbine did go ahead and release the full patch notes for our consumption. Of course, if you've been following along with the many, many developer diaries that Turbine's released over the past few months, you're probably up to speed on all of the major points already. As usual, Turbine's snuck in a few funny notes amid all of the technical details, so it may be worth your while to hunt for comedic Easter eggs in this batch. Our favorite: "The Minstrel's 'Armour of the Silver Voice' set that is obtained in Mirkwood was renamed to 'Armour of the Hopeful Melody.' This sudden change was enacted when the creators of the Helegrod 'Silver Voice Armour' set sought to sue for copyright infringement. As far as we know all charges have been dropped, though Skirmish vendors everywhere intend to keep a very close eye on the Mirkwood barter vendors in the future."
The Road to Mordor: Echo... echo... echo...
Last night before I drifted off to sleep, I was idly wondering what it would be like to actually live in Middle-earth. Apart from the extremely high mortality rate due to wandering wolves, bold bandits, and orchestrating orcs, it might be a pretty excellent place to dwell, as long as one didn't mind a lack of Wi-Fi and Starbucks. I think Hobbit pies and Dwarf ale would be an acceptable substitute. Next week our virtual world will grow a bit in girth and depth with the Echoes of the Dead update. When all is patched and done, it'll be a truly big update containing meaty piles of content to devour. I think many of us are still scrutinizing Turbine as we go through this first year after the free-to-play switch, watching to see whether all of this additional revenue will be pumped back into the game or not. Echoes of the Dead marks the second post-F2P update for Lord of the Rings Online, following last November's Journey to Winter-home, and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with just how much is being served up this time around. So in anticipation of the patch, let's walk through the major features of LotRO's latest update and see whether it was worth the wait!
The Road to Mordor: Just around the bend
It's been a few months since the November Update in Lord of the Rings Online, and the natives are restless -- as usual. Some folks are despairing the long wait until Rise of Isengard while others are itching for more challenges to their currently level-capped characters. Then there are the players who are hopelessly lost in Moria and would give their eye teeth for a flashlight. Happily, a new update is just around the bend, code-named Echoes of the Dead. The actual name is Echoes of the Dead too, so I guess that's not such a great code. Over the past couple of weeks, we've started to get a feel for just how large this update is, and after reading through the Bullroarer test notes on Wednesday, I think we're in for a tsunami of a patch. Of course, these patch notes come in the middle of Turbine's carefully spaced dev diaries dealing with each major change or addition, which means that we're a little in the dark as to the specifics of half of this update. That's not going to stop me -- or any of you -- from analyzing, speculating and gesturing excitedly to no one in particular. So let's dig in to this hearty meal of mushrooms and patch notes to see just how deep LotRO's rabbit hole goes!
The Road to Mordor: Creating your roadmap
I wish to preface this week's column by saying that I'm not advocating just one way to play a game. I think it's equally valid to explore at your own pace, team up as a duo, maximize TP revenue, or set whatever goals you like and pursue them. But after leveling one character to the cap and playing several others, I've begun to develop a roadmap, if you will, that helps guide my progress somewhat efficiently. It's this roadmap that I want to share with you today. The thing is, for all I love about Lord of the Rings Online, the game is definitely littered with timesinks of epic proportions. It already takes a long, long time to get your character up to 65 and through the two expansions, and that's only going to increase as the game grows. There are a lot of distractions and unnecessary grinds (such as virtues you will never use) that can bog you down too long and perhaps dishearten you. So when I created a Minstrel in LotRO a little while back, I decided to map out his progress from level 1 through 65 by creating a broad framework -- an outline, really -- that serves to keep me on track so I don't have to backtrack as much later on to get these goals done. I have a very "two birds with one stone" mentality, so if I'm doing one task in a zone, I'd rather be accomplishing two or three at the same time. So for example, if I'm grinding out a deed, I'd rather do it at level at which I'm getting XP than 20 levels later when I'm not (although the latter has its merits for rapid deed completion). Hit the jump and I'll give you the rundown of how to eliminate some of the confusion and speed bumps of leveling.
LotRO ramps up to Echoes of the Dead with new dev diaries
Speculation is on a head-on collision with fact, as Turbine has started to roll out information about the next Lord of the Rings Online update, titled "Echoes of the Dead." As players wonder whether the mysterious runes of a couple weeks ago indicate a new raid hub, or whether Echoes of the Dead is the name of the next book in the epic storyline, Turbine has at least shed light on class changes scheduled for this next update. Ken Burd caters to the thieves, er, treasure-hunters in the LotRO crowd with his Burglar dev diary. Several improvements and buffs for the class are in order, including additional stealth stances, bleed effects matching weapon damage types, beefier Fellowship Maneuvers, the ability to go faster in stealth, and a "Safe Fall" skill to safeguard against falling injuries (although Burglars can still be killed by falling too far). For the musically minded, Tim Lang has you covered with his Minstrel dev diary. Lang lists a huge amount of tweaks and fixes for the class, including shorter cooldowns for select skills, several new legacies, and an additional skill called "Anthem of the Third Age," which buffs either damage or healing, depending on whether you're in War Speech stance or not. Finally, in response to this past weekend's game and forum outages, Sapience announced that NA players will enjoy increased +5% XP gains from monster kills as well as token drops that can be exchanged for gift boxes from now through Sunday the 6th.
The Road to Mordor: Entitled
A few days ago I asked the Massively community members what in-game titles they loved the most. Titles have been on my brain for the past week, as I've started to realize just how many -- how bogglingly, terrifyingly many -- exist in Lord of the Rings Online. I hadn't really given them a lot of thought before, because who really stops to read every small paragraph that magically floats above people's heads? "Frodo, Ring-bearer of the One Ring of Power, Fellowship of the Ring, Formerly of Bag End, The Shire." Yeah, we get it. You're Mr. Fancy Pants. But really, titles are kind of neat, if only for the player who puts one on like a fine three-piece suit before an evening on the town. A title tells the world not only of your great (or not-so-great) accomplishments, but also a little about your personality -- after all, you chose that particular title to wear above all the others. A title can tell me if a player is really proud of his crafting achievements, or if he's a raider, or if he has a decent sense of humor. While I'd say that -- like LotRO's hats -- a good bulk of the titles in the game are cosmetically useless, there exists quite a few that are worth procuring if you're into titular collection. Today we're going to look at some of my favorite titles in the game, as well as how to nab them. Please don't pee your pants in excitement.
The Road to Mordor: Putting the "lass" back in "class"
With the not-so-recent NDA lift on the beta, LotRO players are fast at work discussing, analyzing, dissecting and pouring over all of the information coming from testers. Like a double Shire rainbow, the main question on everyone's lips is, "What does it mean?" We want to know how this is going to impact us, our future, and our gameplay, and the massive scope of this change is both unsettling and heady. Last week we sifted through the LotRO forums for testimonies about several aspects of the beta, which was treated with a stony silence from the lot of you. Oh, I kid! Nothing gets the tongues wagging around here like a good mouthful of free-to-play, although I've been informed by the leaders of the Global Conspiracy Against Gamers Having Fun that this topic has three days left on the clock until it's locked away in a vault forever. So even though I tried to touch on the relevant points of the beta last week, there's simply so much of it out there that I had to leave some behind. It's easy to forget that this fall's update contains more than the LotRO store, like a whole barrel of additions and fixes to the game -- including class tweaks. Grab my hobbity hand, and we will venture into the land of the unknown... the land of class changes.
The Road to Mordor: Rune-keepers under siege
Let's start today's column with a couple presuppositions, shall we? Number one: There is no set standard for being a "true" Tolkien fan. There's always someone out there who knows more than you, thinks that he is more faithful to the source material, and considers himself better than you in this regard. Like any fans, Tolkien-ites (Tolkkies?) are diverse. They may share the same passion, but they come to it from different backgrounds and with different standards. Number two: Turbine is not out to molest the corpse of good ol' J.R.R. by turning Lord of the Rings into a farce. Yes, it's all well and good to say as such when you want to be melodramatic on the forums, but the truth of the matter is that Turbine's done an excellent job sticking to both the lore and the spirit of Middle-earth as much as possible while still fashioning a game within those boundaries. It's not in their best interests to make a mockery of this franchise. These presuppositions converge on one of the most fiercely debated additions to LotRO, the Rune-keeper. Following the launch of the Mines of Moria expansion, fans responded with everything ranging from "Hey, it's a pretty cool class to play" to "IT'S THE END OF THE MIDDLE-EARTH!" hysteria. Seeing how passionate people are on this subject, I thought it would be worth looking into today, to answer the following questions: does the Rune-keeper have a place in LotRO, and does it break the lore and rules that Tolkien established?
The Road to Mordor: Shopping for your skirmish soldier
Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis. Breaking up, as the song goes, is hard to do -- but sometimes very, very necessary. I'll admit that I have recently settled into a bit of a skirmish funk, firing up a session here and there merely for the XP and the privilege of filling my bags with 576 different types of marks (seriously, Turbine, couldn't we switch from this confusing British-like currency to something more streamlined, like the Euro?). When I couldn't find a partner for a skirmish, the sessions seemed like a drag, and even though I dutifully stabbed my way through them, I grew to resent their length and my death-prone Herbalist soldier. It wasn't until the other day that a friend challenged my choice of soldier, and in so doing, freed me up for a more enjoyable skirmish experience. "Why are you sticking with the Herbalist?" he asked. I shrugged -- I thought that's what you picked when you were DPS-y and lacked a lot of self-heals. After doing a bit of research on the forums, I made the switch from the decaf healbot to 100% caffeinated Archer goodness, and I couldn't be happier. Pew pew, stab stab, win win. The choice of a soldier companion for skirmishes may be the tipping point between a painful slog and a joyful battle, as it was in my case. If you're still trying to figure out which soldier might work best with your class, then hit the jump and see what other players recommend you try.
