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Siege of Mirkwood developer diary: character panel updates
The Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood is expected to bring about some big changes to go with all of the screenshots and video that we've been seeing, and the latest developer diary entries have been giving us lots of details to read over while we wait for launch. One of the more recent ones discussed some significant combat changes, and the latest entry covers a bit more in that vein, as well as some updates to your character panel. It's not just a cosmetic makeover, either -- gameplay has gotten a lot of work from the Mirkwood team. Three new Critical Defence statistics are added, Vulnerability has been revamped, and the differences between incoming and outgoing healing got some work too. Healing Rank and Tactical rank statistics are new as well, allowing players to increase their effectiveness by spending points. The new character panels will reflect all of these changes and you can take a look at the diary entry for a full description as well as some screenshots detailing how it works.
Lord of the Rings Online offers Welcome Back Week for EU players
Siege of Mirkwood is nearly here, and Codemasters is offering former European Lord of the Rings players a chance to jump back in and do some catching up before it arrives. Welcome Back Week begins November 23rd and continues through the 30th -- any former LotRO player can return and enjoy a week of free play, courtesy of Codemasters. They're also offering a bonus: those taking advantage of Welcome Back Week will get a 25% XP boost that week. Players interested in returning for the event need only download the game, or patch to the latest version. Codemasters has re-activated the accounts, so you'll find your characters ready and waiting to head back into Middle-Earth and prepare for the arrival of Siege of Mirkwood. Codemasters is also using this week to remind players to get in on the Siege of Mirkwood pre-order deals. The expansion is set to launch in Europe on December 3rd.
The Digital Continuum: LotRO's feature future
There are many wonderful features within Lord of the Rings Online, especially with Siege of Mirkwood edging upon the horizon like a merchant's ship carrying treasure chests full of shiny new features. However, for many a person, the game just doesn't click into place. Whether it's because of a missing feature or the pace of combat, some people find themselves unable to acclimate a groove. So let's talk about features and changes that would help attract fresh blood while keeping the old guard happy -- because changing the core of an MMO is never truly a good idea, but bring in fresh blood doesn't hurt.
The Digital Continuum: LotRO's feature future, part 2
Something offered by the setting of Rohan is its expansive lands. Certainly LotRO has some massive zones but within a country dedicated to the art of horse riding, it seems only reasonable that it should have some of the widest, longest zones in the game. What's important about the addition of a wide, expansive land in LotRO is that it appeals to a wholly under served type of MMO player: the explorer.
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.
A visual tour of LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood
Today marks the official NDA (non disclosure agreement) lift on Lord of the Rings Online's newest expansion: Siege of Mirkwood. The latest addition to virtual Middle-earth is set to release on December 1st, but many players have already been enjoying the new content on the Bullroarer test server these last few months. If you haven't had a chance to see Turbine's latest creation, check out our video tour of the expansion just after the jump below. Also, be sure to watch Massively for more coverage on Siege of Mirkwood from now to December 1st and beyond!
Lord of the Rings Online developer chat transcript available
There's a lot of interesting material coming with the Siege of Mirkwood expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, not to mention a large number of player questions and curiosity about where the game is headed. Luckily for the playerbase, WarCry was recently lucky enough to get a chance to chat with the developers, with a full transcript now available for all who missed the live chat. As is par for the course for developer chats, there's the occasional question that seems rather out-of-place or unnecessary, but on the whole it's full of tidbits that should excite the game's fans. The discussion ranges from the tangible issues with the upcoming expansion such as class upgrades (each class will get one new skill upgrade at level 62), meta-issues (there will be a Skirmish sneak peek coming soon to let players try the new format), and some wholly random bits (the developers will not add your farm on Facebook as a neighbor). It's a weighty and lengthy chat that can't be summarized easily, so it's best to take a look, digest, and start thinking about the first thing you want to do in Lord of the Rings Online when the expansion goes live.
Lord of the Rings developer diary explores Dol Guldur
We've seen the screenshots and trailer for the fortress of Dol Guldur in the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood, and today's developer diary explores it in more detail, giving us an extensive look through the area. Tsieng Liu from the LotRO Dungeons Team describes Dol Guldur as "the fortress where Sauron dwelt when he was known as "The Necromancer." It's an old fortress that is now full of the foul servants of the Enemy on the edge of Mirkwood forest. It is in this region that the elves of Lothlórien are mounting an offensive in order to keep the Enemy from penetrating their forests." Dol Guldur will contain three 3-person dungeons and a 6-person dungeon, leading up to a 12-person raid in which you storm the tower of Dol Guldur and take on the "leadership behind its forces." This area will also feature some fun new mechanics and challenges that should turn your tried-and-true group methods of playing neatly on their ear. Dungeon overviews, as well as a look at the new surprises Dol Guldur has in store, can all be found in the diary entry. It's well worth the read.
Turbine releases more Siege of Mirkwood screenshots
Turbine is continuing to tease us with Lord of the Rings Online screenshots in the weeks leading up to the December release of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. Until now, we've seen quite a few general screenshots of different regions in the Mirkwood area, covering Dol Guldur, Gathburz, the Scuttledells, and the Ashenslades. These newest pictures are a bit of a change of pace, giving us our first glimpse at an instanced area. The Chambers instance is the kind of gorgeous area we've come to expect from Turbine, and the prominent eye of Sauron in one shot makes us think it's just as unfriendly. The gentleman standing in front of it doesn't seem very happy at the prospect of visitors at any rate, nor do the group of armored toughs blocking the stairway in another screenshot. We are now less than three weeks away from the launch of Siege of Mirkwood, and our thanks go out to Turbine for making the wait so much fun with their pictorial tour of Mirkwood. %Gallery-78088%
Lord of the Rings Online dev diary tells of creating Mirkwood
We've been enjoying the gorgeous screenshots and trailers from Turbine in the weeks leading up to the release of Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, and the latest LotRO developer diary gives a behind the scenes look at creating the regions in Mirkwood. Jesse "Vastin" Kings writes about the fun the team had getting to play with new areas, monsters, and quests, and the challenge of balancing those plans with the available resources. Working with the original Lord of the Rings story line posed another challenge sometimes when it came to filling in the game and still remaining true to Tolkien. Of course, not everything was on the showy, fun, creative side: "...it might interest you to know that the single largest share of all the time I've spent working on Mirkwood was in trying to figure out and implement ways to keep our servers from being reduced to piles of smoking slag within hours of Siege of Mirkwood going live and all of you hurling yourselves at it at once." The full entry can be read here.
New screenshots for Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
The Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood is set for release at the beginning of December, and Turbine takes us farther into the forest of Mirkwood today with brand new screenshots of the Ashenslades region. It's a bit farther in -- you can see Dol Guldur looming in the background -- and looks more dark and foreboding than our look at the somewhat-sunnier Scuttledells region. The Ashenslades name fits what the screenshots show -- take a look at the forest in flames in one picture, and what appear to be burned and blackened trees in the background of another one. This is the fourth region that Turbine has shown us in our tour of Mirkwood, giving us glimpses of Dol Guldur, Gathburz, and the Scuttledells regions in previous weeks. Monday's release of a trailer gave us a bit more of a look into Dol Guldur as well. We have just over three weeks until the release of Siege of Mirkwood, and hopefully Turbine will continue their previews to make the wait go by a little faster. %Gallery-77456%
Lord of the Rings Online explains skirmish rewards
"Let's be honest, people play new content for the rewards." Perhaps not the most uplifting or metaphorical way to start off a developer diary, but if nothing else you need to give Lord of the Rings Online credit for being so direct about it. But with the most recent developer diary regarding the Skirmish system coming in the Siege of Mirkwood expansion, they really deserve still more credit than that. One of the larger new features of the upcoming expansion, the Skirmish system has had a number of diaries devoted to it, but this one is focused on exactly what the opening would suggest: the meaty rewards from taking part. Some of the specifics might seem a bit arcane to people unfamiliar with Lord of the Rings Online, but the short version is that the various bosses and so forth will be devoid of any loot except for what's referred to as skirmish marks. Accumulating them as well as special tokens depending on group size and skirmish difficulty will allow purchases from a wide variety of powerful items. However, the system is balanced so that even consistently solo players can still work toward the highest tier of rewards, although the road will be quite a bit longer. There's only so much we can get across in a quick overview -- it's better to take a look at the actual diary and get ready for one of the more dynamic systems coming with Siege of Mirkwood.
LotRO's spellbinding 'Lieutenant of Dol Guldur' trailer
Turbine is stepping it up with their newest Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood trailer, Lieutenant of Dol Guldur. The voice acting, editing, music, creatures and setting are all enthralling to a degree that goes beyond our standard expectations. We've no doubt this one will get people's blood pumping, and in a good way. Seriously, this is the kind of stuff you expect when a company adopts an important IP -- especially where the voice acting is concerned. We can't wait to see what the future holds for Turbine trailers, especially considering the locales of Middle-earth the game has yet to expand into its world. Rohan? Helm's Deep? Minas Tirith? Osgiliath? Thinking of trailers for all these places makes us tingle with anticipation. Check out the trailer after the cut.
Lord of the Rings Online extends special pricing offers to November 18th
With the Siege of Mirkwood expansion less than a month away from launch, Turbine is keeping an eye on it's current Lord of the Rings Online players with their special pricing deals. Each deal includes the phrase "and get Mirkwood for free!" and they've included something for every pricing plan. Turbine first made these offers way back when they announced the release date for Siege of Mirkwood, and they must be going over pretty well, because they've extended the offer through November 18th. Current subscribers have three offers to pick from. If you're a monthly subscriber and upgrade to multi-month by November 18th, you'll get the expansion free of charge. The deal applies for 3, 6, or 12 month sub plans. Players who are already on a multi-month plan seem to have the easiest deal, because Mirkwood is free to them for simply maintaining their subscription. Those on a lifetime subscription will receive Siege of Mirkwood free when they pre-order the Adventurer's Pack. Siege of Mirkwood is scheduled for release on December 1st.
New screenshots for Siege of Mirkwood: Scuttledells
With the release of the Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood barely over a month away, Turbine continues to keep interest and anticipation high by releasing screenshots, trailers, and even treating us to a developer tour. The latest batch of screenshots, released by Turbine today, takes us onward into the forests of Mirkwood, into the Scuttledells region. The Scuttledells are a beautiful area and a bit less gloomy than much of what we've seen before, but seem to offer up just as many monsters (giant spider!) and adventures for players to explore. This is the third region that Turbine has given us a look at while we wait for Siege of Mirkwood. Their tour of Mirkwood has included the fortress/dungeon Dol Guldur and the Gathburz region, as well as a trailer offering some backstory and a challenge from Galadriel to answer the call of war. Given what we've seen so far, we're anxious for December to arrive so we can take her up on her offer. %Gallery-76834%
LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood developer tour
If you've been faithfully following along with the Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood beta, you may be excited by what you've heard -- or even seen yourself -- so far. The new expansion, which is set to launch on December 1st of this year (December 3rd for EU), centers around the forest of Mirkwood, just to the east of Lothlorien. It introduces us to a large new map of Mirkwood, the skirmish system, five new instances and much more. On top of this officially-released news of these features, we were able to get together with Turbine's Aaron "Rowan" Campbell for a sample tour of the new content. Follow along after the jump for what we saw. %Gallery-76474%
Codemasters gives planned launch date for Siege of Mirkwood
European Lord of the Rings Online fans are anxious to get their hands on Siege of Mirkwood, especially after Codemasters told them about the great pre-order deals being offered. Players who purchase the expansion will receive the Harbinger's Cloak, and players purchasing the expansion and the Adventurer's Pack add-on will receive the cloak and an extra mount. So they've heard the story of Mirkwood, seen the screenshots, watched the trailer, been offered some extra items with their purchase and are just left with the big question: when?Sam "Satine" Russell, the Director of Community Relations for Codemasters, answered that question recently when she commented that Siege of Mirkwood "is currently tracking 3rd December for launch", two days after the scheduled December 1st release date for Mirkwood in North America. It's important to note the phrasing "currently tracking", meaning that this isn't an engraved-in-stone date. However, that date isn't too far off, so we feel pretty good about Satine's statement. We also feel pretty anxious to get our hands on Siege of Mirkwood, so it's great to have some dates to look forward to!
Lord of the Rings Online releases Siege of Mirkwood trailer
With the launch of the Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood just over six weeks away, we're seeing more and more news to pique our interest. European players were given some great pre-order deals just yesterday, we learned of an exciting new instance, screenshots have been released, and now we've got a trailer! Turbine released the first video trailer today, offering up a little over two minutes of beautiful footage and a compelling enough backstory to get even those unfamiliar with the game interested. Take a look at the trailer after the jump. Galadriel laments the loss of Greenwood, telling a story of the great forest and it's ruin at the hands of Sauron. "Greenwood is no more. Now we face a land dread and suffering: the black forest of Mirkwood." Her tale segues into a montage of battle clips showing an assortment of creatures that have presumably invaded Mirkwood, and ends with an invitation to "Answer the call of war!"Yes thank you, we think we will. In fact, we can't wait.
Codemasters reveals the LotRO Europe pre-order deals for Siege of Mirkwood
Coming hot off the heels of Turbine's Siege of Mirkwood pre-order announcement comes the European pre-order details from Codemasters. While the European players won't be able to simply upgrade their subscription plans to a multi-month plan to get the expansion for free, they do get a very nice deal on the Lord of the Rings Online adventurer's pack.European players can pick up the expansion and the adventurer's pack add-on, which offers two character slots and 20 shared inventory slots, for 20 pounds or 28 euros. If you buy the bundle, you get the Harbinger's Cloak and the extra mount (the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat) included. Otherwise, if you just buy the expansion for 15 pounds or 20 euros, you only get the Harbinger's Cloak -- a change from the cloak being offered solely in the US adventurer's pack.
LotRO welcome back week; Siege of Mirkwood beta news
Lord of the Rings Online announced an offer today for previous players who are thinking about taking a second look at the game. Welcome Back Week begins October 15th, inviting LotRO players whose subscriptions have lapsed to play their old characters for free through the 21st. This offer includes a 25% XP bonus as well as an incentive to catch up on lost time. LotRO has one more offer in this package as well to bring you back in. If you return, and renew your subscription for 3, 6, or 12 months by October 31st, you'll receive the Siege of Mirkwood expansion free.In less fun news, anyone participating in the Beta Rewards program for Siege of Mirkwood had a disappointment today. Online community specialist Sapience says "Due to a known issue of the Beta Rewards program it is not being used to select Siege of Mirkwood Beta players. Siege of Mirkwood Beta invitations are going out on a random basis." Fortunately, they're not completely out of the loop: "As long as you have a current, active subscription you have a possibility of being included."
