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LotRO details remaining Moria revamp
Way back in May, Turbine expended a fair bit of resources to revamp half of Moria, the large underground complex that was the centerpiece of Lord of the Rings Online's second expansion. With Update 9, the team is completing the task, paving the way for better transportation and a smoother questing experience. In a new dev diary, the team shares a few of the pertinent details of the remaining revamp. The bottom line? "Each zone now has many more quests, a simple questing path, fewer monsters, and hopefully no more frustration with excessive back-and-forth questing." Update 9's revamp covers the areas of Zelem-melek, The Redhorn Lodes, The Flaming Deeps, Nud-melek, The Dimrill Dale, and The Foundations of Stone. The team added 70 new quests, removed some deadwood, and added the remote quest bestowal system that is being used in Riders of Rohan.
EverQuest II shares planned updates and changes for June
Although news of late for SOE's flagship game EverQuest II has been focused on the soon-to-be-released SOEmote, the company spilled the beans about other plans in the works for the month of June, including a few changes players have been clamoring for. One bit of news that many players have been anticipating is the release of the ability to play their own characters in the dungeon maker instead of slipping into the skin of other creatures; this feature will open on the test server in the next week or so. Another change already on the test server is the addition of icons to NPC names that flag them as quest updates. Some zones will also get some loving: The two starting zones of Darklight Woods and Halas will receive a new coat of polish, from improved ambiance to new armor sets. More details about the much anticipated Qeynos revamp were also offered; unlike Freeport's revamp, Qeynos's revamp will see the city split into two separate zones. To the disappointment of many players, the neighborhoods will disappear except as quest instances. There will also be improvements made to PvP and the battlegrounds and updates to the core technology. For further details, check out the official announcement.
The Tattered Notebook: Five zones that deserve a revamp
Recently, EverQuest II developer Kyle "Kander" Vallee tweeted his followers asking for input on the following question: "What #EQII zone would you love to see revamped into new heroic content?" That's a tough but really fun question. Over the years, EverQuest II has added so many overland and instanced zones that there's no shortage of choices. A quick glance at the dungeon list at EQ2i shows well over 100 major heroic instances and open dungeons for groups. If you add in the list of minor instances, like the Splitpaw adventure pack instances or the Fallen Dynasty trials, it's easily over 120. In fact, there are so many group zones that it's nearly impossible to level up and see them all (I vote for a new in-game dungeon listing for the next UI revamp!). I've played through a good chunk of these zones and put together a list of the top five dungeons that deserve a makeover. Read on for the full list!
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!
Reshaping a zone: LotRO dev diary covers Evendim revamp
Ask any Lord of the Rings Online player about Evendim and you'll get back one of two responses: "Evendim? More like EVERswim!" and "Nice place but too spread out for my tastes." LotRO's lakefront-themed zone was identified as one of the sticking spots in the leveling track, which is why the dev team went back to overhaul Evendim and bring it up to code. In a new dev diary, Joe Barry explains the purpose and execution of this revamp. Previously, Evendim attempted to cover too much territory as a level 29-50 zone, and as a result it was more of a hindrance than a help to players looking to get over the 30s hump. With next week's Echoes of the Dead update, Evendim will be transformed to a lean, mean leveling machine, tightened up to serve levels 30-40 exclusively. The team added over 100 quests and two new quest hubs in its attempt to streamline the experience. Additionally, Turbine's experimenting with different ways to deliver quests to you, such as having a journal unfold new quests as you complete previous ones. Finally, quest rewards are designed in a way to deliver class-specific gear, which can be augmented by a bartering system put in for this patch. You can read the full dev diary over at Lord of the Rings Online!
EverQuest II Game Update 52 preview includes revamp of Lavastorm
Brett Scheinert, game designer on the SOE flagship product EverQuest II, has dropped into the official forums with a sort of 'New Year's Resolution'. In point of fact, it's a preview of new content coming to the game in Game Update 52! Posting with his forum name of timetraveling, Scheinert promised we'd see the following within the next few months: A new instance with 9 bosses geared for two groups at a time. Over half of the bosses will be slated to drop Void Shards, the new metacurrency introduced with the Shadow Odyssey expansion. This will be endgame content balanced for characters with only the very best gear. On top of that, players will also see a similar raid balanced for four groups at once. Tradeskillers will be seeing another trades instance, this time based in the epic dungeon 'The Void'. The classic zone Lavastorm will be seeing numerous improvements, similar to changes made to Everfrost in GU 48. Among these changes, players will see brand new areas with level 80 solo content tied into an all-new Lavastorm-based faction. This faction will offer numerous pieces of gear to earn, including 12 new armor sets with brand-new appearances. timetraveling makes a point to note that one of these armor sets is going to be a brand-new robe model with helm, shoulders, and legs as seperate visible pieces from the chest-part! Coming hard on the heels of an entire new expansion with multiple new dungeons, it's interesting to see the tack the EQ2 designers are taking with this. All new endgame content to explore, with new loot/appearance rewards tying into their revamp of older content. It's a great continuation of strides they took forward in 2008, and makes it sound like 2009 will be a great year to be an EverQuest II gamer. Stay tuned to Massively after the holidays for details on this new content!
LotRO devs reveal Angmar revamp plans for Book 12
The yellow sun slipped beneath the rim of the encircling hills, and the land was shrouded in shadow. In the dim half-light, two figures could be seen, walking north along a dusty road. They made no attempt at stealth. The pair could be seen for miles in every direction, but if this troubled either of them, they made no sign. Amlug: If this is another boar quest.... MadeOfLions: It won't be. Angmar was the realm of the Witch-king, and that means Evil. While most MMO companies make simple announcements about zone revamps, the Lord of the Rings Online devs have decided to go with charts, graphs and fictional accounts harshing their own work. What it all boils down to is this: the high end adventuring zone Angmar didn't get the dev loved it needed before the game launched. The devs are going to fix that in the Book 12 patch.
