LotRO - Steefel on Mines of Moria (First Expansion) and Book 14

[Mrbloodworth]

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Lord of the Rings Online Executive Producer Jeffery Steefel about a diverse array of topics, from The Mines of Moria, their upcoming paid expansion, to Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, their upcoming free content expansion and even a small peek over the horizon at Book 14. Turbine has been keeping up a good pace in terms of content expansion since the game’s launch a year ago, and they don’t have plans to slow down. Steefel says that on top of the free expansions, they also plan to launch one paid expansion per year, the first of which will let players explore the lost and deadly depths of Moria under the Misty Mountains.
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Most of the announced features in the expansion have been spoken about already. Players will be treated to a level cap increase from level 50 to 60 and will also get two new classes to play, the Rune-Keeper and the Warden. All of this will come in handy when players face off against the Watcher in the Water, the Balrog, and the hoards of dark creatures who now call these tunnels home. More help will come to players in the form of Item Advancement. The new expansion will add a whole new advancement path for players in the form of improvable weapons. Steefel described these weapons as being sort of like a pet, which gain experience and advance along their own advancement path. The weapons also have slots for upgrading and also have specific weapon related quests. Players get these quests from their weapons, so the items act like a mobile quest hub which you carry around with you. Now that’s convenience. The advancable items will also be available at relatively low levels, and although Steefel didn’t give a specific level, he said advancement will be very accessible at first and will require a higher degree of effort and skill at higher levels, describing it as the fat path, narrow path approach.

The Mines of Moria expansion will open up several regions for Middle Earth’s heroes to go adventuring in; not only Moria but Lothlorian, and Eregion as well. Their current focus is on Moria ,which is going to be a huge region both above and below the Misty Mountains. The region is designed to be immense, and Steefel said that when players finally reach the other side of the mountain they should come out feeling like they’ve never seen anything as vast. In Tolkein’s books Moria is described as being a mess of labyrinthine tunnels which take days to traverse if one knows the way. In the movies, we were treated to stunning visuals of claustrophobic corridors, and wide open chambers, where even with magical light one can’t see the ceiling or walls on the opposite end of the room. But in books and film the creators only need to describe in detail the areas where the characters are. In the medium of MMORPGs, the team needs to build everywhere that players may be inclined to explore, and Steefel says players can expect the Mines of Moria in LotRO to be much larger than in the movies.

 

Throughout our conversation Steefel used a number of synonyms for the word “big”, as he spoke about both Moria and Book 13 (there are only so many times you can say big in a conversation without feeling dirty). When we got on the topic of Doom of the Last-king, he described it as even larger than Evendim. The free content expansion will add the second major region to Lord of the Rings Online, a tundra filled land in northern Eriador. The region will be the first region in LotRO that will be directly on the ocean, and because of the northern theme, it will include a number of cold themed features. There will be little touches like the ability to see a character’s breath more and more as it gets colder; and there will be big additions like a new cold damage type and the ability to die from the cold, just by staying away from a heat source for too long. Players are advised to not stand around too long admiring the scenery for because of these unholy temperatures. Heading north will also introduce players to a new race of Men called the Lossoth, the native inhabitants of this region who players will need to gain reputation with if they hope to learn how to survive in these hash lands.

In addition to the new region and the adventures that come with it, Book 13 will also add several new game features that can be found throughout the game. Monsters in the Ettenmoors will have a new ally to fight against the Free Peoples of Middle Earth with a new monster play class: the Defiler. The Defiler is intended to be a healing class with monster style. Instead of gaining inspiration and encouragement from a Minstrel, Monsters will be slathered with slimy poultices and healed with vile concoctions. Yum.

Turbine is also changing the way players group up. They’ll be adding some new options to make it easier to look for a fellowship, like the ability to search for players who are on the same quests as you are. Also, there’s the new Mustering Horn. These horns will be placed strategically across the landscape, and will be large, immobile horns that summon a character’s entire fellowship via a teleport when blown.

The conversation concluded with a taste of Book 14. In Book 14 players will head to the ring forge in Eregion where the three rings of the Elves were made. Book 14 will wrap up the Shadows of Angmar Story arc and lead into the next arc which begins in Moria, where the fellowship has just passed and players get to follow in the wake of all of the trouble they’ve managed to stir up.

Yeah, i stole it from mmorpg.com, but its has some really cool info in it. There are some exciting features. Especially the book 13 stuff (Free content).

[Signe]

I'm fiddling with this game atm but I don't really expect to play long enough to make use of most of the stuff in this expansion.  I'm not sure I'll even be subbed when it comes out.  As a matter of fact, I have no idea when this is coming out.  Maybe I know and forgot.  Who knows? 

I'm babbling, aren't I?

ANYWAY!  I am on the server wot starts with A and I made a guild named Bat Country. 

You steal lots of stuff from MMORPG.com.  I know because I watch you. 

[Mrbloodworth]

[Nija]

Item leveling is fucking stupid.

Turbine needs to have a cult-like mass suicide.

[Mrbloodworth]

Item leveling is fucking stupid.

Turbine needs to have a cult-like mass suicide.

Sounds awesome to me.

Forge Legendary Items – The Mines of Moria will introduce Turbine’s new item advancement system to The Lord of the Rings Online. Players will be able to forge weapons and class-related equipment and evolve them to build a legacy the likes of Bilbo’s Sting and Gandalf’s Glamdring. These legendary weapons will level-up along with the player, allowing customization by advancing the item’s virtues, adding runic legacies, modifying its titles and forming fables.

Proof is in the execution to be sure.

[Evildrider]

Item leveling is fucking stupid.

Turbine needs to have a cult-like mass suicide.

Sounds awesome to me.

Forge Legendary Items – The Mines of Moria will introduce Turbine’s new item advancement system to The Lord of the Rings Online. Players will be able to forge weapons and class-related equipment and evolve them to build a legacy the likes of Bilbo’s Sting and Gandalf’s Glamdring. These legendary weapons will level-up along with the player, allowing customization by advancing the item’s virtues, adding runic legacies, modifying its titles and forming fables.

Proof is in the execution to be sure.

Wow they stole something from DDO for LOTRO instead of the other way around.. awesome.   

[Nebu]

You had to level items in DAoC during the ToA expansion.  You remember ToA... it's the expansion that killed DAoC!

[Mrbloodworth]

You had to level items in DAoC during the ToA expansion.  You remember ToA... it's the expansion that killed DAoC!

That does not doom this implementation to failure. My bet is its an option, not a must. a different way of increasing the power of your player and his/her ability's, as opposed to more traditional way (Fast food disposable items and the constant replacement) Also, notice that its craftable items.

With out more details, its hard to say however.

[tmp]

You had to level items in DAoC during the ToA expansion.  You remember ToA... it's the expansion that killed DAoC!

It seems they are aiming rather for something like custom enchaments/sockets with ability to further increase in power the stuff you added to the weapon as you play, and when you are eventually done with the weapon these upgraded enchantments can be transferred to another one saving you the joy of re-grinding them all over again.

Sounds pretty cool tbh.

[Murgos]

That does not doom this implementation to failure. My bet is its an option, not a must.

Oh, haha, that was meant to be in green, right?  We all know that MMO's end up being balanced for the haves, not the have-nots.  You have to get all the latest shineys or you are not wanted can't play in the new content.

Same as it ever was.

[tmp]

Oh, haha, that was meant to be in green, right?  We all know that MMO's end up being balanced for the haves, not the have-nots.  You have to get all the latest shineys or you are not wanted can't play in the new content.

Same as it ever was.

They're balancing it towards the "can't be arsed" crowd a lot in LotRO, actually. Seeing how i was able to go through considerable parts of end level "raid" content there with completely random pickup groups where half people had no idea what's going on, let alone have equipment/traits above the level of casual player.

They're not WoW and they know it; they picked their niche (casual players rather than catass raiding guilds) and are sticking to it pretty good so far.

[Numtini]

The levelling weapons are one of the things people seem most excited about. If I remember, you had to grind to level weapons in DAOC, I don't think that's something you're going to need to do here. It's just not how they do things. They added a raid and people got very nervous and declared they were WOWing it, but raiding certainly didn't the focus of the game.

[Johny Cee]

Leveling artifacts wasn't that bad in DAoC, after the 1.5 years it took to nerf the whole process down to size.

It was the assinine getting the artifact encounter credit (watch out for bugs!), getting the actual artifact (random /100 with 30 people), then farming scrolls (drop rates may be bugged!) from difficult to find/kill mobs that borked that.  Not to mention overpowered artifacts that would randomly get nerfed after a 3 month oddysee of acquiring and leveling them.


ToA was a decent expansion...  you know, once the bugs had been fixed and the difficulty had been switched from "cock stabbing" to "mildly challenging".

[KyanMehwulfe]

I'm most intrigued by the mine. If they get the scale and size right, there's that sort of claustrophobic subterranean feel that could capture for players after they've spent days or even weeks of play entirely and exclusively deep in those caves and tunnels.

[Bandit]

Throughout our conversation Steefel used a number of synonyms for the word “big”, as he spoke about both Moria and Book 13 (there are only so many times you can say big in a conversation without feeling dirty). When we got on the topic of Doom of the Last-king, he described it as even larger than Evendim. The free content expansion will add the second major region to Lord of the Rings Online, a tundra filled land in northern Eriador. The region will be the first region in LotRO that will be directly on the ocean, and because of the northern theme, it will include a number of cold themed features. There will be little touches like the ability to see a character’s breath more and more as it gets colder; and there will be big additions like a new cold damage type and the ability to die from the cold, just by staying away from a heat source for too long. Players are advised to not stand around too long admiring the scenery for because of these unholy temperatures. Heading north will also introduce players to a new race of Men called the Lossoth, the native inhabitants of this region who players will need to gain reputation with if they hope to learn how to survive in these hash lands.

Any clue to what level range the new tundra-region is targeted at?

[Tarami]

Forochel is 44-50 or so.

[Mrbloodworth]

Book 13: Welcome to Forochel! (or…How to Make a Region Without Trees)

After weeks of teasing the Isengard players and later the Live forums, it is now known without a doubt that Forochel is the newest playable region for The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM: Shadows of AngmarTM. With the launch of Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, players will get the opportunity to explore this brand new region (aimed at level 44-50 characters) and earn the trust of the Lossoth - the native folk of the Northern Wastes.

Forochel is a region that many of us on the World and Content teams have been looking forward to for a long time now. It is off the beaten path of the Fellowship, which affords us a lot of flexibility in terms of design. This new landscape also gave us an opportunity to try out some new tools that were just recently developed for our upcoming expansion, Mines of MoriaTM!

World Design Goals

By the time we started development of Forochel, we were quite familiar with wintry landscapes. Between the Misty Mountains, the Coldfells, and portions of Ered Luin (and New England being what it is), we know snow! The trick with Forochel was coming up with a presentation of a snowy landscape that didn't look like our previous areas.

To achieve that biome difference, we hit the photo and film references. Like all of our regions, we called upon references from the real world to develop a set of textures and assets that would make Forochel stand out. During this process, we decided upon a distinct lack of trees across the majority of Forochel as being one of the region's distinguishing factors. The lack of trees led to some interesting challenges; trees add a lot to our landscape - they fill space, provide decoration, and easily break up sight-lines and can make an area feel more interesting and varied. We still used trees in some portions of Forochel (primarily as a way to introduce players to the region) but this goal forced us to think differently in how we decorated our landscape.

One of our chief goals for Forochel was to make it feel massive, and we were able to achieve this in two ways. Since the completion of Book 11: Defenders of Eriador, the World team has been working on Forochel. This allowed the World team plenty of time to develop and polish the landscape before heavy content development on the region occurred. This also allowed the Content team the time to fill the landscape with quests, and at the end of Forochel's development, we have a region that rivals the North Downs in size. In addition to the scope of the playable landscape, we wanted the region to feel expansive, so we used region-impassables that are much lower than those found in our other regions. This gave us the opportunity to develop forests and tundra beyond the playable areas, giving this already large area a much larger feel. This also provides an excellent opportunity to expand Forochel in the future if we so desire.

Another special addition to the landscape of Forochel is the introduction of some brand new landscape technology - Dual Heightmap Landscape. This feature allows us to develop more organic cave settings on the landscape (similar to the Dwarf neighborhood) without having to use large numbers of rocks to plug the ceiling. This tech offers some very exciting possibilities for the future and we‘re happy to introduce this feature to players in Forochel.

 

Explore Middle-earth!

(Click for larger image)

 

Oh the Things We've Learned!

We've spent a lot of time working on LOTRO now, and over the years, we've learned a number of lessons:

    * We've learned that players like a healthy mix of monster moods on the landscape.
    * We've learned that elite monsters within mixed spawns are a bad idea.
    * We've learned that players aren't fans of roads with heavy monster patrols.

Is there a theme? Yes there is! Forochel is very much a culmination of all the lessons we've learned from the Beta Program and the areas of Evendim, Tâl Bruinen, High Pass, and Angmar. I can't say we've ironed out all the issues that annoy people (because some of those are by design, sorry!) but we did look very intently at the feedback we've received and put it into action in Forochel.

Travel was also a big component in the "Things We've Learned" category. Over the past few updates, you may have noticed more travel routes (particularly in Angmar and Evendim). For Book 13, Forochel will launch with a broad travel network across the region. This network will offer a variety of normal travel routes as well as Reputation-gate Swift Travel Routes.

 

Explore Middle-earth!

(Click for larger image)

 

The Environment Hates You! (and sometimes, it shows you a little love)

The concept of using the Environment as an enemy has been floating around the LOTRO Dev team for a long time now - as far back as the Lonelands development period. We toyed with this notion a little bit with Tâl Bruinen (brambles and rocks in the road) and the High Pass (rare monster-driven blizzards). In Forochel, we're taking that concept a few steps further.

The first reaction your avatar will have to the environment will show in its breath. Book 13 sees the introduction of the cosmetic temperature system. This system allows the environment to have various cosmetic influences on your character. In this case, when you enter Forochel, the Misty Mountains, the Coldfells, and portions of Ered Luin, you'll see your breath on the air. The deeper into wintry territory you trek, the greater the visual effect you'll see. This feature has no gameplay impact; it is purely an extra bit of immersion.

Blizzards are receiving a significant visual update for Book 13 and play a key part in Forochel, both as part of the normal weather system and as part of our Rare Monster System. Some blizzards have bitter winds that chill you to the bone, leaving you less able to combat the effects of cold. Don't worry though - you won't be defenseless against the bitter cold.

The Ice Bay of Forochel is the last bit in the "Environment Hates You" Department. This large bay opens to the northern seas and, much like the land around it, this water is cold! So cold, in fact, that staying in it can seriously impact your morale and can (in some locations) lead to incapacitation. Because of this, the water acts as a northern impassable for Forochel, barring passage beyond the bay.

Now, after all that hate - how about some love? With all the things the landscape of Forochel could do to you, we wanted to provide some things it could do for you. In order to combat the bitter winds and freezing waters of Forochel, players will be able to warm themselves in the villages and camps of the region, on the various geothermal vents scattered across the region and at campfires they themselves can make. Using these locations and/or items, players can strip the cold from themselves and, in some circumstances, provide themselves with defense against chilling environment.

 

Explore Middle-earth!

(Click for larger image)

 

In Conclusion

Forochel is a region that we've spent two update cycles working on. We've taken the lessons learned from our previous landscape releases and have attempted to include the good, and skip the bad, for Forochel.

Personally, I am really happy to bring Forochel to LOTRO. It is an area I've wanted to see realized for a while now; it is a land of little lore, which gives us plenty of room to stretch creatively but just enough lore to have some very interesting hooks. Have fun exploring it!

Explore Middle-earth!

(Click for larger image)

Source

[tmp]

I'm most intrigued by the mine. If they get the scale and size right, there's that sort of claustrophobic subterranean feel that could capture for players after they've spent days or even weeks of play entirely and exclusively deep in those caves and tunnels.

They said something to the effect of mine being the size of other regular game zones so that'd be fairly large -- takes 10 mins or so to cross one of these things in straight line and i figure the mine is anything but a place where you can just keep going in straight lines.