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Turbine releases LotRO mounted combat video, launches Riders of Rohan beta
Saddle up, folks! Lord of the Rings Online launches the closed beta of its latest expansion, Riders of Rohan, later today. From 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EDT tonight, testers will have the chance to explore the new land and try out the new quests. Unfortunately, the new mounted combat system isn't slated to be tested until the beta event happening on July 20th. Turbine has, however, just released the first video showcasing this combat feature that will allow players to remain on their steeds as they fight their foes. For a taste of the action while waiting, watch the video after the break. [Source: Turbine Press release]
LotRO: Riders of Rohan beta invites ride forth from Turbine [Updated]
According to reports from our readers, beta invites for Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion are zipping across the electronic highways and into players' inboxes. The test will run on July 18th and July 20th: From 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 18, 2012, help us push the limits of LotRO! Get your first look at Rohan! Cross the Great River from Parth Celebrant and follow the road south through the Wold to the city of Langhold. Your first quest will be available in this city. Spend a couple hours exploring LotRO's newest regions, check out the new quests, admire the great scenery and battle your way through its newest creatures! From 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, July 20, 2012, help us push the limits of LotRO! Get your first look at Mounted Combat! Go to Elthengels in the Norcrofts and prepare to fight from horseback in the open plains of Eastern Rohan! Riders of Rohan is releasing on September 5th. Massively recently got hands-on time with mounted combat in the expansion and was quite impressed! [Update: As A Casual Stroll to Mordor and Sapience on the forums rightly clarify, this beta is under a strict NDA. Please obey it, here and elsewhere!] [Thanks to Ron for the tip!]
The Road to Mordor: Hands-on with Riders of Rohan's mounted combat
I remember the very first thought I had when Turbine announced Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan: If the mounted combat isn't very, very good, this expansion's going to be a big dud. I don't think we've ever had an expansion that leaned so heavily on a core system for not only the bulk of its gameplay but also its style. Crude my thought may have been, it felt like the truth. I don't know any other successful MMO that utilized mounted combat as anything but a sideshow curiosity. The LotRO team was putting too much emphasis on mounted combat for it to fizzle. I think I can breathe easier now that I've had a chance to spend an hour fiddling with mounted combat while talking to Senior Producer Aaron Campbell. What I saw was an alpha build of the expansion (the beta is scheduled to start soon, perhaps as soon as next week), but once I got used to careening over the plains at 88 miles per hour, it felt just right. It felt like LotRO.
The Road to Mordor: Riders of Rohan media blitz
While talking about music and goats is all well and good for this column, I've certainly heard those of you crying out, "Talk about Rohan! Rohan! Rohan!" Understandably, the desire to discuss and think about the upcoming expansion is strong in many of our minds, but I've also been mindful of not wanting to get fatigued by talking about this and nothing else. Remember, just because you're at the endgame and are the target audience for Riders of Rohan doesn't mean everyone is. That aside, it's actually pretty hard not to talk about the expansion this week. Turbine's showing more chutzpah this year with its marketing and promotion, and part of that has come in the form of several developer diaries and music videos. I think we're used to lengthy typed dev diaries, especially ones that come a day or so before an update goes live, but this is the first time in my memory that the team's utilized video so widely to promote a product. I kind of like it. So let's take a trip through these recent releases and see what we can't glean from them!
LotRO devs show off its mounted combat system
While the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion for Lord of the Rings Online promises a great wealth of content for players, undoubtedly its keystone feature is mounted combat. This system became the centerpiece of a filmed discussion between CM Rick Heaton and Producer Aaron Campbell. One of the concerns that Heaton addresses is how player classes will translate once on horseback. Campbell says that the team has created ways for those roles to continue, albeit in a slightly different form. One example given was how Guardians can taunt, except that on horseback, it means that the enemy will then start riding alongside of you. "You can bring them in and control the battlefield," Campbell says. Other points of discussion include how Fellowships work while mounted, the different stances (aggressive, utility, and defensive), the speed of combat, and situational awareness. The pair also gives us a first glimpse of mounted combat in action. You can watch the full dev video after the jump!
Joymax announces Knight Age, opens beta for one week
The studio that brought us Silkroad Online has announced its newest venture in the MMORPG market: Knight Age. Based on a vast world of knights battling against a malicious god, the game will feature pets that will fight alongside players, guild sieges, and giant PvP battles of 50v50 and even 1v100 in the ultimate fight for Excalibur. And what's a knight without his or her horse? Knight Age will feature mounted combat in which players will be able to perform elaborate attack skills while mounted and on the move. The first English closed beta is open to everyone on July 10th and will last one full week until the 17th. Players can participate in this beta via the official site. [Source: Joymax press release]
E3 2012: Exploring the freedom of LotRO's Riders of Rohan
Saddle up, pard'ners: Riders of Rohan is coming! Lord of the Rings Online's fourth expansion in its full equine glory at this week's E3. At Turbine's booth, we got a first look at the expansion's highly touted mounted combat and were able to ask the crew some of our burning questions about the differences between the editions. It's apparent that Riders of Rohan has a ton to give LotRO subscribers. Turbine's chosen to release the east side of Rohan first, leaving out the west side for future development. The expansion features customizable mounts, impressive graphical upgrades, a slew of customization options, new NPCs, new content, and even a new orchestral soundtrack. Without further ado, let's dive in to explore the freedom of Rohan!
LotRO: Riders of Rohan website, pre-purchase available [Updated]
Turbine's sounded the rallying horn today to its legion of Lord of the Rings Online fans to come south to Rohan. The official Riders of Rohan website has launched, and the fall's expansion is now available to pre-purchase for special bonuses. The website shows off the mounted combat, epic story, and regions of Rohan through images, descriptions, and a teaser video. There's also an interesting story section that boasts a short film with live actors portraying some of the key characters in the expansion. While we're still some time off from the expansion's release, Turbine is tempting us into pre-purchasing Riders of Rohan by offering a slew of different packages and bonuses. There are three editions ranging from $39.99 to $69.99. The editions include different amounts of extra content including a special mount, older zone quest packs, and the much-desired sixth inventory bag. By pre-purchasing, players will get many of these bonuses immediately as well as a few extras that won't be available after the expansion launches. You can watch both the teaser video as well as the story trailer for Riders of Rohan after the jump! [Update: Turbine has confirmed that the expansion will release on September 5th, 2012.]
Next Skyrim update adds mounted combat
Bethesda is making good on all of the features seen in the Skyrim sizzle video, like the Kinect stuff added earlier this month and those snazzy new kill cams. The next addition to the game will be mounted combat, the Bethesda blog has revealed. Finally you will no longer need to dismount before you punch that dragon to death.There's no word on when the update will be available on consoles right now, but if you've got the game on Steam, you can opt into the beta version and test out mounted combat in Skyrim immediately. For the full patch notes, hit up the source link below.
The Road to Mordor: Ride to ruin and the world's ending!
Mounted combat's been on my mind a lot lately, particularly when I was galloping around Dunland and various clansmen knocked me off my horse. It was then that I wished I had a skill called "Trample to a Bloody Pulp -- For Rohan!" and that Turbine would finally earn that AO rating it's always craved. Barring that skill, I would just love a massive war horse that would send enemies fleeing from me instead of making a beeline for my knees (which are a prime target for arrows). I'm both excited and nervous about the mounted combat system coming in Riders of Rohan. I'm excited that it will open up a new style of gameplay in this five-year-old game and nervous that it'll drag Lord of the Rings Online down if it's not done right. Whatever type of horseback combat we might envision will surely be different than the final product, and that uncertainty leaves me feeling in limbo. More than anything else, Riders of Rohan is about mounted combat. Turbine's centering the expansion around it, dedicating an entire zone to it, and developing loads of assets and skills for it, and the company will undoubtedly be hyping it strongly over the course of the summer. It's a bold step to take but a necessary one as well, as the IP and nation of Rohan are steeped in mounted combat, and it's been a little weird that we've had to dismount to swing a sword ever since leaving the shire. So will mounted combat prevail, fail, or muddle in the middle?
Riding into Rohan: LotRO maps out 2012
In the words of Frank Sinatra, 2011 "was a very good year" for Lord of the Rings Online. Executive Producer Kate Paiz and Director of Communications Adam Mersky sat down with us to talk about the future of the game, but before they got to the juicy details, they wanted to give a quick recap of the previous year for the game and the studio. The big emphasis for LotRO in 2011 was the unifying of the global community and the release of the game's third (and best-selling) expansion, Rise of Isengard. While the aforementioned unification of the NA and EU sides of the game presented many challenges for the team including localization, it paid off in spades. Turbine plans to continue to add more payment options for those used to methods other than the ones currently available. The team was most proud of unveiling Saruman "in all of his glory" and the inclusion of free players into the sphere of Monster Play. "The game definitely grew last year," Mersky said in response to a question about the current number of players. He noted that the playerbase has changed somewhat in the past two years, becoming more casual in some respects. But it's time to move forward! Turbine is prepared to take LotRO players on a dizzying chase around the wilds of Middle-earth with a few significant changes and additions to the game -- and the release of the brand-new expansion later this year, Riders of Rohan. Mounted combat, ho!
The Road to Mordor: Wish lists, past and future
Hobbits love making lists, don't they? In The Fellowship of the Ring, Bilbo had a lengthy list of friends and relatives to invite to his eleventy-first birthday party, and he didn't have the luxury of Facebook to help him out. I love lists as well, although I try to save most of that for my Perfect Ten column. At the beginning of the year, I sat down and drafted up a "wish list" for Lord of the Rings Online's 2011 year, populating it with 11 changes and additions I was hoping to see by now. To my surprise, Turbine actually pulled off quite a few items on the list, and I thought it'd be a good idea to go back and examine which of my goals the team met and which remain elusive. Also, since 2012 kicks off tomorrow, I'll look forward as well and draft up a dozen -- yes, one more over the year before -- wish list items that I'd love to see come true in the new year. It's my column; I can cry if I want to, after all. Let's get this party started!
Forsaken World update bringing mounted combat, level increase, and more
Forsaken World has only been live since March, but it's already time for a meaty content update. Perfect World Entertainment has just issued a press release that sings the praises of the forthcoming Chains of Kluer patch, and the August update boasts a fair bit of new and shiny (including the opportunity for level 70 players to fight the titular ogre who is imprisoned beneath Freedom Harbor). The patch is also bringing a new hunting festival and a "pet-catching" dungeon to Forsaken World, as well as level three guild base unlocks and a level cap increase (from 70 to 80). Finally, players will be able to fight more efficiently thanks to mounted combat, as well as send their pets on daily quest errands. Read all about the Chains of Kluer update at the official Forsaken World website.
Through Turbine's palantír: Developers outline LotRO's future
In J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, characters would use magical orbs known as palantírs to see and communicate with far away places. While Massively's own palantír is at the shop, we had access to the next best thing -- a one-on-two chat about Lord of the Rings Online's future with Turbine's Aaron Campbell and Adam Mersky. A lot's been happening since LotRO's free-to-play version went online last fall -- the closest thing to a relaunch that this game is likely to ever see -- and both Campbell and Mersky have one important message for fans: We're just getting started. Even as the Turbine team gears up for LotRO's third expansion, Rise of Isengard, the devs want you to know that they're also dedicated to bringing a good amount of content between now and then. Everything was on the table during this discussion, from this weekend's anniversary celebration to next month's update to the new expansion. Join us after the jump for a look through the palantír to see what information we can pry from the future!
The Road to Mordor: What if?
By the time you read this, I'll be scurrying around PAX East in Boston, feeling much like a Hobbit: unable to see over the crowd, far out of my element, and deeply wishing I purchased shoes. I'll of course be talking with the folks at Turbine to see what information I can wheedle out of them about the future of this terrific game, so if you don't hear from me again, I'm most likely languishing in a PR dungeon somewhere for being too nosy. It's a good week, therefore, to be thinking about the future. My mind never stops thinking about future possibilities for any franchise, and even if they never come to be, these speculations are a great pastime of any fan. I'm always wondering "What if?" as I play Lord of the Rings Online -- what if I could mug Frodo and become the Ring-bearer? What if those lazy bums finally finished the repairs to the tavern in Frogmorton? What if Elves could kill innocent woodland creatures and go to the dark side? Playing "What if?" with LotRO is tougher than with other games because of the limitations imposed by the IP. Despite what some say, Turbine's struggled hard to stay within the boundaries of lore and setting, and while that's helped the company to be creative in ways that it might not have otherwise, it does present some unique obstacles that aren't present in competing MMOs. So to celebrate PAX, LotRO, and the future, here's a column of "What ifs?" for your consumption!
IGG introduces mounted combat and more with Tales of Fantasy
The folks over at IGG.com are hard at work lately with so many new titles, and have just announced another one this morning: Tales of Fantasy. Alpha testing for the game is scheduled to begin soon, but plenty of information is already available. Tales of Fantasy, the story of warring civilizations Ashland and Bohren, promises advanced graphics and several new features to entice players. Mounted combat will give players the ability to attack without dismounting, and a "myriad" of creatures are available to tame and mount. A story of "lost wings" hints at the ability to earn in-game flight, and players will be able to create and enhance their own gear as well. The game will even offer real-time horse racing, in which you can compete against other players on a racecourse, earning an in-game title that will add to your character attributes. While the game is still in early stages, it definitely has potential. Check out the current information on the official site, and we'll keep an eye out for more information.
Has LotRO's next expansion been named?
Kill Ten Rats has uncovered a rather interesting website, called Riders of Rohan. Curiously, this website doesn't actually go to any place new -- it simply redirects to the official Lord of the Rings Online site. So this of course begs the question, will the next expansion (presumably this year's) be centered on Rohan and its lands? Will Lord of the Rings Online players be tromping around the Riddermark within the next twelve months?It seems rather plausible given the Volume 2, Book 7 update's location, but of course there's no official word just yet. Still, that won't stop us from imagining up mounted combat as Horse Lords and massive armies marching onto the steps of Helm's Deep as we valiantly defend her gates from dark forces.
How to level up through the Argent Tournament
Banana Shoulders has a really excellent guide to just what the Argent Tournament is all about. I played it for the first time the other night (while we were streaming live from the PTR), and it's a strange little mix of minigame, questing, and rep grind. The Argent Tournament has set up north of Sindragosa's Fall, and there are three basic stages: first, we've got to help them build the place (which will send you to quest in other parts of the world), second, you'll be moving up the ranks from Aspirant in the tournament to Champion, and third, you'll be acting as an Argent Tournament Champion, and picking up Champion's Seals to spend on various rewards and items.The tournament itself involves a minigame of mounted combat -- you can ride around on a mount, lance equipped, that has a few different abilities. There's a ranged attack that will let you break down an opponent's shield, there's a Defend ability that will let you build up your own shield, and then there's a Thrust melee attack that just does damage, and a Charge attack that will do damage as well as break down your opponent's shield. And out of combat, you can fully heal your mount or challenge someone else to a duel. The Aspirant quests teach you all of this, and then the Valiant quests really put your knowledge to the test as you move up through the ranks, fighting NPC mobs as challengers to the title.The Argent Tournament definitely seems like a lot of fun -- as I said way back when, the whole event seems like a one-stop shop for picking up rep and items in Northrend, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if Blizzard plans to add more events and more daily quests on to what we're building up there. Banana Shoulders will be posting part three of their guide soon, and of course you can stay tuned to WoW Insider -- as we get closer to the patch 3.1 release on the live realms, we'll have everything you need to know about the Tournament and then some.
Fallen Earth dev chat answers barrage of player questions
We don't know about you, but we can feel the era of post-apocalyptic and sci-fi MMOs fast approaching. Definitely on our 'ones to watch' list is Fallen Earth, currently in development at Fallen Earth LLC (formerly known as Icarus Studios). We mentioned the other day that the Fallen Earth devs would participate in a live Stratics 'House of Commons' dev chat, and among the five Fallen Earth team members on-hand was lead game designer Lee Hammock. The Fallen Earth devs responded to a blitz of questions from the game's future players in the Stratics dev chat, ranging from the benefits of capturing 'conflict towns' in PvP to mounted combat on horses and vehicles. In addition, Lee Hammock stated that game play videos should be released at some point in the next few weeks, and more info about the game will be coming out in tandem with this month's Game Developers Conference.Be sure to check out the Stratics House of Commons chat transcript for more on the kind of game Fallen Earth is shaping up to be.
The Daily Quest: Of gemming, Bloodlust and MoonkinTV
Moonkin Raiding Basics 101 from Amanda d on Vimeo. The Daily Quest brings you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. There are quite a few good explanations of the gear stats raiding Moonkin should pay attention to, but Foofy of Foofy's CupCake Factory made her guide an instructional video (see above). And she promises more to come! The Rawrbitchrawr blog continues to pump out great Ulduar info. This time with a video of mounted combat from the Argent Tournament event. The Righteous Defense Paladin blog has a great article on gemming for Protection Paladins. The Hunter's Mark (written by our very own WoW Insider Hunter columnist Larissa) also has a new gemming guide for Hunters. Honor's Code posts a set of gear Protection Paladins can get for the DPS off-spec if they choose to go that route when dual specs arrive in Patch 3.1. Forever A Noob continues his Naxx-10 guides for Rogues. His newest one focuses on Thaddius. Blessing of Kings demystifies the math behind when to fire off Shaman Bloodlust in a raid presented in this Elitist Jerks' thread (warning: algebra!)
