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A vision of Lord of the Rings Online's new instances
While we relayed to you several details of the five new dungeons coming with Lord of the Rings Online's Echoes of the Dead update, it's still great to be able to see them as well. Today, Turbine released screens for three of the instances for our visual consumption. Stoneheight is a town under siege in North Downs as Ivar the Gaunt-lord makes a general mess of things as he searches for a very special helm. Meanwhile at Northcotton Farm, Thadúr the Ravager is attempting to poison the poor Hobbits by turning their love of food against them. Finally, the Lost Temple in the Trollshaws is a plague explosion waiting to happen, as Ferndúr the Virulent uses his dark power to modify and kill all who encounter him. Check out the gallery below for five illuminating screens, and don't forget to read our PAX East overview of these instances! %Gallery-101902%
PAX East 2011: Delving LotRO dungeons deeply
Right now, Lord of the Rings Online is in a brief respite between the insanity of PAX East and the upcoming March 21st release date for its next big update, Echoes of the Dead. To say that there's a lot coming with this update is a vast understatement, so it was great to get a sneak peek at the five new instances before they went live. Earlier this year, players started to get rumblings about a major upcoming event as five mysterious relics popped up all over Middle-earth in Evendim, Forochel, Enedwaith, North Downs and the Trollshaws. By finding all five, players completed a special deed and got the title "Calm Before the Storm," foreshadowing dire events to follow. All anyone could do after that was prepare for an uncertain future. It turns out that LotRO's players had good reason to prepare, because as of next week, five new dungeons will open their doors for business -- the business of eating adventurers alive and spitting out their bones, that is. Spurned Gaunt-lords have returned to make life for the Free Peoples of Middle-earth harder by transforming the very landscape into their hellish domain, and it's up to you to thwart their schemes. Hit the jump as we traveled to these new instances at PAX East with LotRO Executive Producer Kate Paiz!
The Road to Mordor: Rating Eriador
Lately I've been playing world traveler with my level 43 Lore-master as he's bouncing all over Middle-earth in what used to be the high-level zones of the game: Trollshaws, Angmar, Forochel, Misty Mountains, and Eregion. Once again, I'm struck by just how cohesive this place feels -- it's not a collection of Sonic the Hedgehog-themed areas (Green Zone 1, Lava Zone 4, etc.) but a world that connects together in a tangible, real way. Even though it's fiction. Until November 2008, Eriador was the only place in Middle-earth that we could explore, and although some criticized Lord of the Rings Online for not shipping with, well, every locale in J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginarium open for business, it was a smart decision. The devs could take this section of the world and focus on building depth and detail instead of spreading it thin, like butter scraped over too much bread. As a result, Eriador remains a wonderful starting point -- not to mention the bulk of any current player's journey -- and many of us have grown attached to these familiar sights and sounds as a result. Today I'd like to take a brief overview of all of Eriador's zones (we'll leave Rhovanion for another day) and rate them from best to worst in terms of zone design, questing, and that slippery cool-factor that's hard to define. Where would I suggest a summer vacation home and where would be an ideal spot for a penal colony? Hit the jump and let's run it down.
The Road to Mordor: Will our journey take us back to The Hobbit?
The next few years promise to be exciting ones for fans of Middle-earth. Ever since The Return of the King debuted in theaters in 2003, audiences have clamored for more of Tolkien on the big screen -- specifically, The Hobbit. After nearly a decade of back-and-forth negotiating and legal entanglements, it appears that this The Hobbit movies are finally going to happen, with Sir Peter Jackson once again in the director's chair and Martin Freeman taking on the lead role as Bilbo. That's smashing news for movie buffs, but what does this have to do with Lord of the Rings Online -- y'know, that MMO we sometimes talk about in this column? It could be "very little," with Turbine proceeding on its merry way and perhaps enjoying the free boost to playership as movie buffs hunt around for a game to extend the experience. However, if the company were smart, it would be laying out the groundwork right now to synergize the heck out of the movie with a similar in-game experience. For a while now, I've been chewing on the notion that Turbine could incorporate the events, locations and characters of The Hobbit into LotRO -- in fact, several of the key pieces are already in place. Could our journey in LotRO eventually take us back to the era of Bilbo's grand adventure? How would such a thing even work? Hit the jump and I will smack your brain so hard with ideas that you'll forget all of your piano lessons. It's OK -- you didn't really need them.
The Lord of the Rings Online's one-year anniversary: A look back
In releasing Book 13 on its one-year anniversary, the Lord of the Rings Online finishes off its first year with five large content updates, known as Books. In addition to new epic storylines, the lore progressed significantly this past year as new Books were added. Let's take a look at all the changes made since April 24, 2007.The game began with eight questing zones and one player-versus-monster-player zone as well as seven classes and 10 crafting professions. It also launched many promises from the developers for much-demanded features such as player-owned houses and Fishing. At this point it was very difficult to reach the level cap of 50 due to a lack of significant content in the level 30-50 range, which Turbine promised to address. And that promise materialized with the first free content patch. Find out what Book 9 brought to the game ===>>
LotRO, A Look Back: Books 10 & 11
On August 21, 2007, Book 10: The City of Kings was released and opened up the city of Annúminas was for players to experience. Unfortunately, the city had been invaded by the forces of Angmar, and players had to fight to keep certain points of the city friendly to them. If they failed, the entire area will fall under the Witch-king's control. Hunters and Captains both received class reviews, and a new mechanic was introduced called Critter Play. Different than PvMP, Critter Play allowed players to take on new forms in a PvE setting. The first form introduced was that of a chicken. Not to be outdone, Trolls, and Rangers were introduced into PvMP as well as a very large polish pass on PvMP as a whole.Other new features brought to the game were factions with the major races (with rewards for increasing said faction) and the bartering system which allowed players to turn in certain monster drops for armor rewards. And of course, no Book is complete without a raft of new quests introduced for high level players to grind through.
One Shots: A (slightly creepy) fan favorite!
Today we bring you what Lockwood of The Shadows kinship from the Laurelin server has called a "fan favorite" -- Gollum! He tells us that this screen was taken in the South Trollshaws in Lord of the Rings Online, and before he bumped his graphic settings up. Even with lower graphic settings, it's creepy to think of the idea of Gollum playing peeping-tom at anyone's window. Do you have some interesting screen of a lore-figure from your game? (They need not be creepy!) If so, bundle that screen up, toss in a few words about what we're looking at, and send it to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com! Yours could be here next.%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Not your everyday landscape
Shadows loom in the darkened forest, swallowing the intrepid explorer Twarsong and creating today's eerie One Shots image. While we can assure you that this is indeed Lord of the Rings Online, the Trollshaws isn't an area we see here too terribly often. It certainly isn't as bright and cheery as many others we do get, but we think this just adds to the beauty of a game. There's nothing quite like seeing creepy overshadowed areas where layers interplay with light, to make you appreciate how much the designers were paying attention to details.Do you know of any great creepy, spooky or foreboding areas in your favorite game? Run into any big nasty monsters lately? If so we'd love to see them! Just send them into us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Screens of all games and situations are welcome! %Gallery-9798%
LotRO lorebook update features Tl Bruinen
Tâl Bruinen is the focus of a new article in the Lord of the Rings Online lorebook, and we get to find out why the area is so uninhabited. Once upon a time, there were many small settlements in Tâl Bruinen (which is located in The Trollshaws, south of Rivendell). Now only a few camps of fisherman and adventurers remain, but it's no great mystery -- ask yourself if you would stick around when your home is the subject of repeated Troll-raids. These Trolls are still around, but there are other nasties now as well to make sure that no one feels like moving back -- Orcs, worms, and Gauredain stop most people from feeling safe enough to settle down in the area. However, it's not all bad, as those in the low 40's will find plenty to kill and a few quests to boot. View the lorebook entry for more screenies and the usual map.
A look at Echad Candelleth in LotRO
The next point of interest is being featured at the Lord of the Rings Online official website. This time we're treated to the history of the outpost Echad Candelleth. This way-station was established by a scout that Elrond sent to search for servants of the Enemy. She was an Elf-woman, and her name, of course, was Candelleth. You'll find Echad Candelleth in the southern areas of Trollshaws at Tâl Bruinen, along the river Bruinen. It is a popular location for re-supplying, and amongst those staying there you will find parties from Bree-land and the Misty Mountains. The link to the official LotRO site has a couple more screenshots of Echad Candelleth, and hints at a "not entirely welcome presence" that the lore-inclined may discover on their visit.
