Enedwaith preview on Massively

[Stormwaltz]

I seriously considered adding GO GO GO to the subject line, but I decided I want you to believe I'm classier than that.

http://www.massively.com/2010/06/16/e3-2010-lord-of-the-rings-online-vol-3-book-2-preview-of-enedwa/

[Tarami]

I'm worried over the fact that there's so much talk about things that aren't coming in the next patch. It means those things are atleast five months away and that Book 2 doesn't contain enough to fill half a page article. Better housing, but not now. New hobby, but not now (it's NEVER now when it comes to hobbies.) New skrimishes, but not for this patch.

Don't get me wrong, a new zone is awesome and can have lots of fun content (Forochel was probably my favorite addon zone, it was wonderfully atmospheric) it's just that the patch is already long due. It would basically have to be a shitload of stuff to make up for the seven months that will have passed once the patch arrives.

Looking forward to seeing what they'll do with DX11. I can't really think of any DX11 feature off-hand that LotRO would benefit from, but we'll see I guess. Most of all I would just like better draw distance (less sprites and just farther in general) but I don't think we'll see it this time around. Reading up on the feature set of DX11 I find order independent transparency, the lack of which gives a rather prevalent artifact in LotRO since it has so much sprited foliage. Basically it would remove the weird-looking outlining of transparent sprites like grass. And tessellation, of course, although LotRO doesn't have much in terms of normal maps to work from...

Maybe I should be looking into that new hardware.

[Soln]

new zone only makes sense if they raise the level cap, doesn't it?  That's an honest question -- I don't know.  We have to get SoM in order to finish Vol2, so what purpose will this new zone provide?  Could we skip SoM with skirmishes?

Still want details on LI and Radiance changes.

[Spiff]

Biggest info I see there is scalable content, apparently that's the new horse to bet on since skirmishes didn't quite cover up the lack of content development.
There is a small treasure of old instances, if they can really make them relevant at endgame again it could be a semi-brilliant move (edit: although they are basically trying to copy WoW's dungeon finder it seems).

They'd have to add meaningful loot though, which probably means combining it with some sort of a grind for barter-items  

[HaemishM]

I wonder how much they are going to be charging for those content packs and how prevalent they will be throughout the content we already have.

Also, where the fuck is Rohan? 

[Stormwaltz]

new zone only makes sense if they raise the level cap, doesn't it?

Not necessarily. Evendim, Forochel, Eregion, and Lothlorien were added without level cap increases.

[Tarami]

Soln, Forochel that I mentioned was added at cap as an alternative to Angmar/Misty Mountains. Then they revamped Angmar too. Then added Eregion. In fact, there's so much ~50 and ~60 content that you cannot possibly do it all with one toon without outlevelling it.

Turbine like diversity in content and have atleast for as long as they've developed LotRO. Enedwaith is just another zone with stuff to do in, in case you want a break from Mirkwood. Same deal as with Lothlorien. Whether it makes sense to spend development time on something like this is more dubious but I for one enjoy that LotRO doesn't follow the same strict progression model as WoW, where landmass is for levelling only and endgame happens in instances. I have many nice memories from doing "pointless" content in Forochel and Goblin Town, for example. So it's not senseless atleast.

It may be a lack of business sense but it's still one of the reasons I warmed to the game to begin with.

[Mrbloodworth]

Some quotes I have scraped together about this zone:

Dunland is in fact in Enedwaith. We use Enedwaith primarily as a region name for that part that is not specifically Dunland.

Also, to nip a rumor in the bud: TTH was correct in regard to the instance scaling, Massively was not. There is more info coming on that, so I won't go into greater detail.

I don't actually know in terms of square miles. However, I can give you this; in terms of content, Enedwaith is larger than the North Downs.

[Stormwaltz]

Enedwaith
It's a level 62-65 area with a lot of new content.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=4732684#post4732684

[Mrbloodworth]

Ah, was just about to post that, good thing i looked.

I enjoy the dungeon scaling change, I think its a great idea. Now perhaps I can go back and get my legendary trait at some point.

[Cheddar]

I don't actually know in terms of square miles. However, I can give you this; in terms of content, Enedwaith is larger than the North Downs.

Wow, thats pretty impressive!

[Stormwaltz]

E3 summary / wrap-up from Massively.

[Rishathra]

Now perhaps I can go back and get my legendary trait at some point.

You can get it now easily enough, or are you determined to get it ONLY through the dungeon itself?

[Stormwaltz]

New preview at Massively.

I predict a lot of QQ from old school raiders.

Another cool change to these dungeons is that they're being chopped up into wings where appropriate so that players won't have to sit through a four-hour instance to finish the whole thing. You can jump into any of the four wings of Helegrod, for example, depending on how much time you have and where your interest lies. The team have also abolished raid locks and lowered the raid size (from 24 to 12) to make this raid more accessible.

[Mrbloodworth]

E3 summary / wrap-up from Massively.

Part two is now up: The Road to Mordor: Touring the fall's new content with Turbine (part two)

Tidbits of note:

The Haunted Cellar

Currently, the LotRO closed beta is featuring the fall festival. I asked why they were doing this, and was told that a new layer was going to be added to this year's event: a haunted house in the Shire. Well, Bilbo's Haunted Cellar, to be precise. In the books, some of Bilbo's relatives attempt to tear through his cellar looking for his hidden riches, but in the game, apparently a few enterprising hobbits have turned the location into a spookhouse full of surprises, laughs and (yes) quests.

Of course, I was instantly jealous of how cool the cellar was compared to my own player house, but before I could open my mouth to ask, the devs confirmed that we'll be able to earn special decorative items and cosmetic outfits from this new event.

While Turbine certainly want players -- especially free players -- to spend money on Turbine Points, they've graciously provided ways to earn points in game through deeds. The more deeds you do, and the higher the difficulty in doing them, the more Turbine Points will be dropped in your lap.

One of the ways they're looking to do this is to reduce the grind of the virtue system. If so desired, players can buy an item to help double the speed at which they attain a virtue -- or if they want to save their points, they can achieve it the old-fashioned way.

Turbine decided from the start that the store would not sell gear with any stats attached. There will, however, be purchasable tomes that give your character a one-time bump in a particular stat (such as vitality), but these bonuses are more designed to aid a low-level character than a level-capped one.

# Isengard in 2011! The Turbine team really want to do this area justice, so they're spending a lot of time creating it to be as epic as possible.
# Turbine is saving a level-cap increase for the Isengard expansion.

[Hutch]

This is where they're going to get me. I'm a sucker for "micro"-transactions that provide me with cosmetic fluff, like mounts and costume parts and mini-pets and minor powers. I've gone for that stuff in both CoH and WoW, and if I can get some faction mounts in LotRO, thereby bypassing those awful faction grinds, then yeah. I'll be on board.

They should throw some pretty capes and hats in there, the better to reach directly into my wallet.

[Mrbloodworth]

This is where they're going to get me. I'm a sucker for "micro"-transactions that provide me with cosmetic fluff, like mounts and costume parts and mini-pets and minor powers. I've gone for that stuff in both CoH and WoW, and if I can get some faction mounts in LotRO, thereby bypassing those awful faction grinds, then yeah. I'll be on board.

They should throw some pretty capes and hats in there, the better to reach directly into my wallet.

They are going to rape your wallet then. See that cosmetics tab?

[Ingmar]

Yikes, the mounts are 3-4 months worth of the free points you get as a VIP.

[Hutch]

While Turbine certainly want players -- especially free players -- to spend money on Turbine Points, they've graciously provided ways to earn points in game through deeds. The more deeds you do, and the higher the difficulty in doing them, the more Turbine Points will be dropped in your lap.

I want to see how this is implemented, i.e. whether I'll get credit, and how much, for having already finished some deeds on my existing characters.

The cosmetics tab better come with a dressing room, or something like it. For that matter, the mounts tab should include links to full, in-game pictures of the mounts. If I'm going to spend 2000 fake electronic currency on it, I want to see it first   

[tazelbain]

If DDO is a guide, then quite a bit for legacy deeds but not as much as the formula would suggest if one started over from scratch.

[Mrbloodworth]

While Turbine certainly want players -- especially free players -- to spend money on Turbine Points, they've graciously provided ways to earn points in game through deeds. The more deeds you do, and the higher the difficulty in doing them, the more Turbine Points will be dropped in your lap.

I want to see how this is implemented, i.e. whether I'll get credit, and how much, for having already finished some deeds on my existing characters.

The cosmetics tab better come with a dressing room, or something like it. For that matter, the mounts tab should include links to full, in-game pictures of the mounts. If I'm going to spend 2000 fake electronic currency on it, I want to see it first

I believe the part after that said it is not retroactive. However as a VIP you get a ton of points anyway.

Unfortunately, deeds already accomplished before this fall's update won't count toward the free points, but they are making that up to players with generous allowances of free points depending on how long players have had an account and other existing factors.

There was something about a wardrobe system, a new system for clothing/cosmetics and storage that does not use bag space (or bank for that matter). The game already has a preview/dressing room system, no idea if it works with the store or not though. It really should.

Yikes, the mounts are 3-4 months worth of the free points you get as a VIP.

Humm? at the normal allowance (500 a month), yes. but if you are a VIP or lifer, you will be getting a huge chunk right off the bat anyway + the allowance.

[Ingmar]

Well - it isn't entirely clear yet how much they'll be giving us on top of the 500/month, is it?

[Mrbloodworth]

Well - it isn't entirely clear yet how much they'll be giving us on top of the 500/month, is it?

I'll have to dig it up again, but quite sure if you currently have a subscription, or are a Lifer, you will get a large one time chunk of points when it switches over. Quite sure it as more than one of those mounts for some.

Basically it would remove the weird-looking outlining of transparent sprites like grass. And tessellation, of course, although LotRO doesn't have much in terms of normal maps to work from...

Maybe I should be looking into that new hardware.

The outline, where two transparent images meet is a chosen technique for speed (sorting), its applied mostly on trees and foliage, other objects don't use it. LOTRO does use normal maps, but not where you would expect, its mostly in the distant terrain and water.

[Mrbloodworth]

woops. 

[Stormwaltz]

Yikes, the mounts are 3-4 months worth of the free points you get as a VIP.

To be fair, those mounts are all ones you get as faction rewards. You're buying a path around grinding reputation.

IMO as someone who "worked for them," the high cost sounds right to me. If they have new mounts that no one can "earn" in-game at that price point, I'd balk at the cost too.

[Ingmar]

Ah, ok. Does make a bit more sense that way. Still seems like for that many points the mounts should be sparkly and flying. 

[Mrbloodworth]

Well - it isn't entirely clear yet how much they'll be giving us on top of the 500/month, is it?

Found it for you.

[Ingmar]

So something in the neighborhood of 5k points for someone who has had a lifetime sub since release, I guess.

[Azazel]

1500 + about 2000 more for my little gang who started late last year.

[Mrbloodworth]

Developer Diary: Enedwaith

   
    *  New contiguous landscape moving south from Eregion.
    * More quests than the North Downs (previously holding the record for most quest content outside of Moria), many heavily influenced by Old Welsh folklore and Tolkien-lore.
    * More deeds than the North Downs.
    * Twelve almost completely revised instance dungeons/raids from Shadows of Angmar™, level-scaled and added to Instance Join with new rewards available at higher levels (effectively making these completely new experiences).
    * More new and unique art per square meter than Moria (relative to the space, mind you!).
    * Two new Reputation factions.
    * Small Fellowship quests.
    * A large Epic Book, including some very special instance quests.

[Riggswolfe]

Sounds impressive! They've put alot of work into Endewaith