Siege of Mirkwood

[Yegolev]

http://www.lotro.com/mirkwood/

TURBINE UNVEILS
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: SIEGE OF MIRKWOOD™

New Digital Expansion to the 2008 MMO of the Year Launching this Fall
 

WESTWOOD, MA – September 4, 2009 - Turbine, Inc. today unveiled The Lord of the Rings Online™: Siege of Mirkwood™, the digital expansion to the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG).  Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online.  Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this Fall with an increased level cap, a new region including the legendary evil fortress of Dol Goldur, major enhancements to combat and Legendary Items and the introduction of Skirmishes, a new system where players will train customizable soldiers and take them into battle as part of the War of the Ring.


“2009 has been a year of unprecedented growth for The Lord of the Rings Online and the launch of Siege of Mirkwood will end the year with a bang,” said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online.  “As the game expands east of the Misty Mountains, players will face the raging war and shadow that has spread across Middle-earth and the new Skirmish system will thrust players and their soldiers into the War of the Ring.”

NEW FEATURES:

    * The Epic Conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria™ – Under the command of Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths.  This update includes Book 9 and the Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the award-winning Mines of Moria expansion.
    * Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 65, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.
    * Answer the Call of War! – Jump into the heat of battle with the new Skirmishes feature.  Skirmishes offer endless action in repeatable, randomized instances where players can create and lead customizable soldiers into battle, training them to greater skill as they earn victories against the forces of shadow.  Answer the call of war wherever violence erupts with the new “World Join” function that lets players and their fellowships band together to fight in various locations throughout Middle-earth.
    * Take up Arms! – Infiltrate the dark jails, deadly arenas and savage stables of Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths, and strike a blow against Sauron’s forces in new 3 and 6-player instances.  Call upon your fellows to adventure into the most deadly 12-player raid yet and face the ultimate challenge – the Nazgûl Lord!
    * Major Gameplay Enhancements – Turbine continues to improve the award-winning experience of LOTRO with major improvements to the combat and Legendary Items systems.  Players will experience improved responsiveness when in the heat of battle.  Players will also be able to create and craft their own customized Second and Third Age Legendary Items from raw materials and grow their weapons’ power to level 60.  Achieve new Legacies, new titles, and a fourth Runic slot that will make Legendary Items even more unique and powerful.


The Lord of the Rings Online is an award-winning MMORPG that delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most beloved fantasy adventure of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the great underground realm to the menace of Mirkwood, players will experience the world of Middle-earth as never before.  The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this Fall.  Details regarding Siege of Mirkwood’s pricing and availability will be unveiled soon.  For more information or to download a free trial, visit www.lotro.com/mirkwood.

[Yegolev]

Noticed:
Moria Epilogue
Player level cap = 65
Item level cap = 60
Randomized instances
Enhanced Combat Responsiveness ... ?

[Mrbloodworth]

I mean, it lacks detail, but on first glance, looks awesome.

Responsiveness may mean that delay others were talking about.

[Yegolev]

Oh, I'm sure the combat responsiveness is meant to address people who don't like the existing combat.  I'm curious as to what that might do to those of us who enjoy the current combat.  Time will tell.

I'm sure we will find out about 60% of the other random shit in the next few weeks/months.

[Tarami]

So this is a paid expansion, right? And then we'll get Volume III, which will also be a paid expansion? Am I paying for every update now? Well, I don't do any recurring payment, but still.

I'm curious what the combat improvements will entail. On one hand, like Yego, I like the combat the way it is. On the other hand, a WoW-level of responsiveness in combat would lift LotRO's overall standard from great to awesome.

[Yegolev]

There's a line somewhere between "responsive combat" and "frantic buttonmashing".  I like the combat already due to the slow pace, although now that I'm well-versed in it I would be OK if it was sped-up a bit.  Devil's in the details, though.

[Mrbloodworth]

Am I paying for every update now?

What? This isn't a book, its an expansion.

[tazelbain]

So this is a paid expansion, right? And then we'll get Volume III, which will also be a paid expansion? Am I paying for every update now? Well, I don't do any recurring payment, but still.

I'm curious what the combat improvements will entail. On one hand, like Yego, I like the combat the way it is. On the other hand, a WoW-level of responsiveness in combat would lift LotRO's overall standard from great to awesome.

Well, the revamps have new content in them and so do the events.  Otherwise you expected to keep up with expansions.  It's the EQ expansion model.

I wonder if they plan to alter between dital expansions and box expansions.

[Draegan]

The only thing I had against this game was the lagged combat.  Id give the game a whirl again to see the changes

[Tarami]

Agreed on the button mashing. I hate it whenever I pay WoW a visit during a trial or some such. I don't get why I can't just tell the game what fucken skill I want to use and have it use it as soon as it becomes available. The queue is a major advantage with the way LotRO does it. All those fractions of a second one otherwise misses adds up to combat taking significantly longer.

Blood, tazel:
I mean that logically, since this expansion concludes volume II, the next expansion is volume III - Riders of Rohan or whatever; which ought to be a paid expansion aswell. I don't mind paying for full-featured expansions, which this indeed seems to be, but rather wondering how they'll break into volume III if not with a paid expansion. So

a) We pay for SoM and we pay for V3 - which is two successive paid expansions , or;
b) We pay for SoM and we get the beginning of V3 as part of a patch, which seems an odd way to start a new "era",

I'm not saying either is necessarily wrong, but I predict much gnashing of teeth from the community unless they have some third option I can't see.

Edit:
I want to add that I'm super-psyched about getting to see what will hopefully be a significant part of Mirkwood. Mirkwood. My Elf will be home!

[Mrbloodworth]

I wonder if they plan to alter between dital expansions and box expansions.

I bet they are doing digital first, then a "Complete" edition like last time that contains all previous expansions for about the price of other games expansions that require the others first.

Most likely, knowing them, you wont need the expansion to play the last chapter of volume 2. This is an assumption by players that expansion gated content.

[Mrbloodworth]

"Enhanced Combat Responsiveness..."

That's mostly it. Autoattacks will not delay firing a skill. What this does mean is that animation have a chance to preempt autoattack anims in such a way as to produce a pop in the anim transition that isn't there right now.

[Cheddar]

This is exactly the tipping point for returning in a month or so.  I am gonna milk CoH for now, but expect the return of CHEDDAR.  Yeah, I know you cannot wait.   

[Nonentity]

I'll have to come back to my Elf Female Hunter, Flavor Flav.

[Ingmar]

Oh man Mirkwood! I really should be putting more time towards this game.

[Sjofn]

There's a line somewhere between "responsive combat" and "frantic buttonmashing".  I like the combat already due to the slow pace, although now that I'm well-versed in it I would be OK if it was sped-up a bit.  Devil's in the details, though.

LotRO has a looooooong way to go before it gets anywhere near "frantic buttonmashing." Even if they just make every class feel like the warden (which is still slow to me, but much more tolerable), it would be a huge improvement, I think.

[Soln]

should make tonight's raid chat a little more interesting.  Hopefully.

[Mrbloodworth]

I can't believe some people are saying this should be free, or its a "Mini-expansion".

I think that player base is spoiled.

[rattran]

Didn't they already say it was going to be free? When they announced the level cap would be going up before the next expansion. And the next one (presumably Vol3 Riders of Rohan) would be paid.

I seem to recall this at least. Too bad I'm too lazy/distracted to search.

[Nija]

The people who dislike the laggy combat would enjoy the Rune Keeper class. You can kill even-level mobs just doing an auto-run flyby and pressing a couple buttons.

[Tarami]

    *  Siege of Mirkwood will have a base price of $19.99. As with Moria last year, we're going to have a set of early upgrade offers that are very compelling. We're not quite ready to unveil those details yet, but we'll keep you posted.
    * The epic story continues on in Volume 3 as a regular content update early next year.
    * Some of the improvements to the game coming with Mirkwood will benefit everyone, but the key features will require the Mirkwood upgrade.

[Yegolev]

Whatever, as long as they don't rename any crafting materials again.

[Stormwaltz]

To my own surprise, I'm not pre-convinced to buy. What they've talked up so far is pretty raider-oriented, and I'm Not That Guy.

That said, some interesting details here.

[Soln]

wish they would also nerf the old 40-50lvl epic book and instance content.  No reason for a full grp for CD or URU.  Or at least give us an inventive (IXP) to run those places.

[Yegolev]

That said, some interesting details here.

Also on the list of changes, and an answer to the prayers of many LOTRO players, is the addition of shared storage space for accounts.
...
Perhaps my favorite is that mounts are being changed over to skills, not items. This means you will no longer be required to carry a mount in your inventory. In your skills panel, there will be a "mount" tab, which will list your current stable of mounts -- your horse, your other horse, your goat. And, because of mounts becoming skills, a number of issues with mounts will simply cease to exist: You will now be able to pass into instances and new zones while on your mount; you can now interact with NPCs (including vendors) from your mount; and you can now use emotes on your mount.

See, there are nice things that don't involve playing LotR: The RTS.

[Tarami]

Bitching, bitching.

[Yegolev]

 

[Tarami]

[Mrbloodworth]

To my own surprise, I'm not pre-convinced to buy. What they've talked up so far is pretty raider-oriented, and I'm Not That Guy.

That said, some interesting details here.

There is like, only one raid in the expansion.  

wish they would also nerf the old 40-50lvl epic book and instance content.  No reason for a full grp for CD or URU.  Or at least give us an inventive (IXP) to run those places.

You need to read Orions blog.

[Stormwaltz]

There is like, only one raid in the expansion.  

And it's the only content they've talked about, except for the Skirmish System. And let's call a spade a spade here -- the Skirmish System is just a bunch of raids where you can fill in empty fellowship slots with optional NPCs.

[Ard]

I'm not even sure how you can read it as raids.  It's 30-40 minute instances that can be run in groups of 1, 3, 6 or 12.  How is that raiding?  I thought that part was pretty clear.

[Tarami]

I see you're kinda fighting an up-hill struggle on the official forums, Bloodworth.

What I gather from the admittedly very sparse info available on the web, Skirmishes won't be padded with NPCs, everyone will have one regardless of partysize. So for each player in the party, there'll be a personally tailored henchman along with that player.

Here come Gotrek & Felix, motherfuckers!

[Mrbloodworth]

Map:

[Soln]

I've read that blog as it came out and I'm not impressed.  The old game is badly balanced.  They should have hurried the fuck up and nerfed GA into the ground 6 months ago.  They probably would have more new players.  There is no reason any Epic Book or any relevant instance should require a full group.  It's a ridiculous set of cockblocks.  If the game was based around Angmar or the Trollshaws it might make sense, but the whole game is moving SE and there is no benefit at all for experienced people to help.  Nobody is ever there. You have to catch people with an incomplete alt to finish old content.

And why this actually matters is that the whole problem will start up again when the next Book comes out and difficult sections like 2.5.5 and 2.6.8 are never run.  It's hard even to get people to do HoM right now because the last boss with the speed debuff is so hard.  

And why any of this really matters is you need Bk6 finished to get a useful legendary trait.  You need to finish any Bk to move ahead in your legendaries.  Great design if people were actively running that stuff.



I'm 8/6 rad and I run Watcher/Turtle regularly and attempt DN occasionally and to me this expansion seems pretty thin.  Just more content -- no new gameplay or real new features.  Not sure why that warrants paying.


Edit: just spent a few minutes on the official forums -- lots of emorage it seems.  They have been locking threads and making empty threats about bans etc.  People are sour.

[Stormwaltz]

I'm not even sure how you can read it as raids.  It's 30-40 minute instances that can be run in groups of 1, 3, 6 or 12.  How is that raiding?

Are you suggesting that 3, 6, and 12 man raids don't exist in LotRO?

I define a raid as an complex instanced fight that requires multiple players to complete. Skirmishes are raids with the option to use NPCs to replace some players.

How are you defining "raid?"