Skirmish Preview Tomorrow

[Stormwaltz]

Bullroarer will be open for current players to test the Skirmishes. Mirkwood will NOT be available.

Details reprinted here.

Who's in?

[Mrbloodworth]

I really want to, but I will be out all evening.

[Tarami]

Count on it.

The importante stuff mentioned in the thread...

You can transfer your character here: http://my.lotro.com/charactercopy/

And download Bullroarer here: http://email.turbine.com/ct/5966021:6909535540:m:1:377371999:98C2CFAF4B4BB2341E45216E400FB5C8

[Tarami]

I will be on as Tialinn. Feel free to give me a holler!

[Tarami]

So that didn't go so well, now did it, Turbine?

[Stormwaltz]

I didn't even get on until just now. The five year-old flipped out when daddy tried to play a game without him along to press random buttons. I had to wait until he was asleep.

What happened, Tarami?

[Tarami]

The preview characters (those that had transferred for the event) couldn't complete the skirmish tutorial, so we couldn't test the skirmishes. So I'm guessing we'll see another event in a few days, because I can't imagine they got the stress testing done.

[Mrbloodworth]

Seems it was an issue with the player copy, more than anything.

[Stormwaltz]

The preview characters (those that had transferred for the event) couldn't complete the skirmish tutorial

Oh, so the same problem I reported three weeks ago. 

[Yegolev]

I'm a lot more interested in the shared vault than skirmishes.  Am I alone?

[Tarami]

I guess I have to respect that opinion but !

Edit:
More smilies for more clarity, I suppose.

[BoatApe]

I'm a lot more interested in the shared vault than skirmishes.  Am I alone?

Don't get me wrong, skirmishes sound fun, but I'm an altaholic craft monkey...you're definitely not alone.

Probably coulda bought a house by now with the $$ I've spent on mail...

[Yegolev]

I might have exaggerated a bit, but I'm not getting that ZOMG vibe from skirmishes.  I guess I will see what I see in December when I try one, BUT the loot from skirmishes... if it's not bound then it will just make me appreciate the shared vault even more.  I am also intensely curious about the reduction of crafting interdependency, which also relates strongly to the shared vault and the time/money I expend in passing around medium hide and leather.  And I haven't even gotten into Moria yet!

[Numtini]

I keep reading dev diaries and I still have no idea what they are. They babble a lot about everything they wanted to do and what inspired them and what rewards you'll get, but I just have no sense for the concept. Sort of a private public quest?

I think skirmish also sounds like something pvp which they're not?

[Mrbloodworth]

I keep reading dev diaries and I still have no idea what they are. They babble a lot about everything they wanted to do and what inspired them and what rewards you'll get, but I just have no sense for the concept. Sort of a private public quest?

I think skirmish also sounds like something pvp which they're not?

Think Warhammer scenarios, with out the PvP, and add in some lost dungeons of Norah, but, in the over world, not necessarily underground, with Guild wars style NPC pets, and DnD online like difficulty setting ability.

Aimed at 30/45 minute bits of play, and you are dropped back (like Warhammer) where you were before you joined it. Oh, and they can be from any group size from 2 - 12, and any level range from 30 - 65.

[Yegolev]

I'll agree the dev diaries are not doing a great job of garnering my interest.  I'll also mention that I did not play Warhammer or Dungeons of Norrath, and follow that with a request for more detail.

They could be fun but I think we are getting "defend the fort" and "take the fort", so they are going to want to get more creative with them, I think.  On the other hand, if my wife and I can duo them:

[Mrbloodworth]

Wahammer had a feature called scenarios, they were PvP battles that could be joined from anywhere in the world and you were "matched" with other players across the server, when finished, they would put you back where you cam from.Joining a Skirmish will port you to an instance somewhere in the overland, at times, the locations are modified from the real versions, such as the Bree town skirmish, that is featured in the dead of winter.

Skirmishes are like them in that you are taken from where you stand, and placed back when done. A fellowship with members all over the world will be ported to the skirmish, do the thing, then placed back where they were.

Lost Dungeons of Norrath was an EQ addition, that features randomized dungeons somewhat like to diablo, except I dont think he layout changed. Skirmishes are like them in the fact that the layout is static, but what mobs are where and what they are ETC... are randomized each time, this also extends to optional objectives.

If that helps.

[Yegolev]

If that helps.

Yes.

Now I am going to start complaining that they need to change the reflecting-pool business to a similar port-from-anywhere scheme.

[Soln]

Skirmishes will be the mechanic for them to give us that LotRO War feeling, I expect.  Helm's Deep etc.  Right now they may be plain (I dunno).  Hopefully they will be more close to the Lore as time goes on.  For example, fighting in one corner of Helm's Deep while the Fellowship is in an other part.

[Tarami]

Thank you for all of your reports!

Tomorrow, November 20th the Bullroarer Beta Server will be brought off line from 8:00AM -12:00PM Eastern (-5 GMT) for an update to address this issue. All players who participated in the preview and were unable to access Skirmishes will be able to do so once the server comes back up Friday afternoon.

We know the experience on Tuesday night was disappointing for some of you and we appreciate your patience and assistance in tracking this issue down.

As a thank you, we will be leaving Bullroarer open and available to you for the weekend. We hope you enjoy the Skirmishes!

Be sure to check out the new combat and mounts systems too!

[Numtini]

Is this real pvp or PVE war scenarios? ie, do creeps have instances and you all get matched up?

That's one of the things that really isn't clear in the dev diaries. It sounded more like a warhammer scenario with computer opponents, which didn't sound as appealing as pvp scenarios or AO/COX random dungeon missions.

[Tarami]

It's PvE scenarios.

[Yegolev]

I don't know, I prefer computer opponents myself.

[Mrbloodworth]

It is entirely in the realm of possibility for them to add PvMP at some point. However turbine is a "Foundation, then walls" kind of developer (IE: Chicken play became all "Session play" activities).

[Stormwaltz]

Steefel said in one of the early previews that Skirmishes were a first step in a long range plan to implement the epic scale battles of LotR.  And recently he said this:

For Monsters in the future, one of the things we're looking at is what Skirmishes turns into; it's something that's filled with opportunity. No announcements about anything yet, we're still working out what makes sense and what doesn't, but we definitely have some hopes for the future to leverage Skirmishes. This is just the beginning of Skirmishes.

Everything from, "Wow, wouldn't it be interesting to have skirmishes for Monsters?" Still PvE, but Skirmishes for monsters. And then even to the natural extension: how can we turn a Skirmish into a battle zone, where you've got people coming in from both sides of the equation - Monster players coming in as well as Free players and giving them the mechanics to fight PvP against each other. That is definitely somewhere on the horizon, but again, no idea where, because it all depends on how it is competing with other features.

[Yegolev]

My only concern is that Turbine isn't putting much effort into preventing monsters from being eaten alive by free people.  I expect it will be fun up to the point where you get tired of being killed by the same dwarf on a horse over and over.

[tazelbain]

Thanks for reminding me.  My resistance was beginning to fade.