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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."
Rings and words of power: Going inside LotRO's Update 5
It's been a couple of days since the news broke that Lord of the Rings Online's Update 5 is going to be bigger than previously thought, with not only a new instance cluster but an additional book in the epic storyline and an Instance Finder system. As Update 5 goes up on the test server for the remainder of the week, we got in touch with Turbine to talk about the details of this mountain of content heading our way, including an epic confrontation with Rise of Isengard's big baddie himself, Saruman. It wouldn't be a conference call without a few notable surprises as well, and Adam Merskey, Aaron Campbell, Jeff Libby, and Joe Barry were eager to share what the team has been working on for the first update after the expansion. It's time to wave goodbye to the Rangers, stop putting off instance runs, and take the fight to the bearded dude himself. It's time for Update 5. Get all the skinny after the jump!
LotRO rides through the Gap of Rohan and into Orthanc with new screenies
The long wait for Lord of the Rings Onine's third expansion is coming to a middle, but it seems even longer every time Turbine teases us with a few inside glimpses of Saruman's zip code. Today we've been treated to six new pictures from Rise of Isengard: three from the Gap of Rohan, and three from the tower of Orthanc (spoiler alert, it's one of the titular "Two Towers"). The Gap of Rohan shots primarily show off the various types of camps in the zone, whether they be friend or foe, whereas the Orthanc pictures demonstrate the twisted grandeur of the white wizard. These pictures come hot on the heels of another trio of screenshots showing off the expansion's third zone, Dunland. Rise of Isengard is slated for a September 27th release, but the closed beta begins today! %Gallery-9579%
Turbine: LotRO revenue tripled since going F2P
Lord of the Rings Online's future is so bright, it's wearing shades these days. At least, according to a new interview at TTH, where LotRO's Kate Paiz and Adam Mersky opened up about the success of the free-to-play conversion. Turbine has seen LotRO's profits triple since F2P along with a huge influx of new players, and that spells good news for the future of the game. The duo turned its attention to the upcoming year for LotRO, which includes the Rise of Isengard expansion. While Paiz and Mersky didn't indicate whether there would be any new zones between now and then, they did confirm that the epic story would be continued, leading up to the confrontation between the rangers and Saruman's growing forces. Rise of Isengard will feature a push to the south with the Dunland and Gap of Isengard zones, whereas Isengard proper will pit players against the foul forces of the Tower of Orthanc. Isengard isn't the only thing players have to look forward to in the next year -- a big cosmetic system revamp is planned along with non-combat pets. Hardcore players also have a new raid cluster to look forward to before Isengard's release. Other possibilities for the future? Cosmetic weapons, a Rohan expansion and the Battle of Helm's Deep are all on the table. [Thanks A Casual Stroll to Mordor!]
