f13.net forums - Beta Roadmap

Quote from: Calandryll

As we progress through the Beta, we’d like to take this opportunity to give you an update on some of the things that we’re working on from now until launch. Many of the additions and improvements below have come directly from your feedback and we’d like to thank all of you for your continued interest, bug reports, quest survey responses, and message board posts. This is by no means a complete list, but it does show some of the areas we’re focusing on in addition to general bug fixing and ongoing performance improvements. So, read on and check out what the near future holds for The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™!

New Features
We’re still adding new features to LOTRO’s already impressive array of activities for players of all types. Don’t feel like adventuring in the wild today? No worries – grab a flute and play some music to entertain your fellows! Tired of killing Orcs? Why not BE one instead?

Monster play – Wreak havoc as an Orc, Uruk-Hai, or even a Warg!
Player-controlled mounts – Travel quickly across the vast land of Eriador.
Auction Halls – List your items for sale and buy from other players across the land.
High-end raid content – Take on Middle-earth’s most dangerous foes!
Music system – Equip instruments and play music with your friends!

The World
The areas of Middle-earth that you can explore when LOTRO launches are growing! In addition to adding expansive new public spaces such as Angmar and Carn Dûm, we’re also creating many more instanced areas. LOTRO will have a vast landmass of hand-crafted content for players to explore at launch. Expect the world to feel more immersive as we add to the existing selection of NPCs, create new environmental effects including weather, and make the world feel more alive!

New areas:
Angmar - Realm of the Nazgûl Witch-king.
Carn Dûm - The heart of Angmar.
Valley of Death – Something should tell you this isn’t a safe place.

Urugarth (instance)
Carn Dûm (instance)
Helegrod (instance)

World Look and Feel:

More cinematics – Giving even more of an epic feel to the game!
NPC greetings – The NPCs of Middle-earth are now much more polite.
Improved effects for skills, monsters, and the environment – So pretty, my precioussss, so pretty...
More Tolkien lore and flavor to many aspects of the game - Many of you have asked us to have the game deliver more of a Tolkien feel throughout. We’ve listened and are working hard to meet those expectations.
New travel routes and travel route polish – Get to places easier and faster.
Map fog of war – What’s over that hill? Only one way to find out now!
Monster animation polish – They’ll look even better as they crush your skull.

[/LIST]Balance
While we’re adding new features and areas, it’s important we also continue to improve the systems you’re already playing. Game balance is always a tricky business, but a well-balanced game is also a fun game. We’re constantly on the lookout for balance issues. Below are just some of the systems we’re tweaking for better gameplay. Don’t worry, we’ll try to keep the nerfs to a minimum!

Classes
Economy
Experience point gain
Monster aggro balance (including gray mobs)
Crafting polish
Trait slotting balance
Quest reward (XP and loot) polish

Diversity and Role-playing
Many of you have asked for more character options and more options to help you role-play. Your wish is our command! In the coming updates you’ll start to see more character creation options. Expect lots of new items, a bunch of emotes, and the ability to dye armor and clothing!

More faces, hairstyles, and beards – No more running into your evil twin.
More emotes – Express yourself!
Character animation polish – What’s the point of looking good if you run like a girl (well, unless of course you are a girl, in which case it’s perfectly okay)
More items – We’re adding everything from weapons to rings (no, not *that* ring!).
More shield variations – Block with style and stand out from the crowd.
More armor variation - Starter through Epic level armor pieces will add new variety.
Dyes – Now you can color your armor and clothing to your own taste!
Item effects – Items have more individuality, including glowing “bane” weapons.
More diversity in item stats - Items won’t be so “cookie-cutter”, not that we’re adding cookie-cutters. Yet.
Inspect UI – Allows you to inspect other players’ stats and equipment.
Dressing Room – See what an item will look like on your character before you equip it. “Does this chainmail shirt make me look fat?” “Of course not, dear. It’s just the shoulder pads.”

Character Traits, Skills, and more
We’re also working on additions and improvements to how your character plays. Look for a big update to the Accomplishment system (including entirely new kinds of Accomplishments) as well as some changes to Traits.

Class, Race, and Legendary Accomplishments – So much more to do!
Social Accomplishments – Including exclusive grantable emotes.
Characteristic trainers – Now you can buy characteristics upgrades from trainers as you level.

Quest Polish
Questing is a big part of LOTRO and we want to make sure it gets even better. More quests for classes, more quests for crafters, polishing the quest dialog to give better directions, more quests. Did we mention more quests?

Class quests – Tailor made just for you!
More crafting quests – Get out of Combe and see the world.
Quest history functions – Go back and relive the past!
Better quest directions – Many of you have asked for directions that are more clear. We’re improving the directions, but you’ll still have to explore a little!

Chat
The chat system in LOTRO is going to get some significant updates. Many of you have asked for chat bubbles that appear over each character’s head while others have mentioned they don’t like the way chat bubbles look. To make everyone happy, we’re adding chat bubbles for those that want them while providing the option to turn them off for those that don’t. We’re good that way.

Chat bubbles – This feature can be enabled or disabled as you wish! It defaults as “off”.
Chat window opacity – New slider to control the transparency of the chat window, because easy reading of chat in an MMORPG is apparently important to you all. ;)
Chat IMs – Traditional IM-style pop-up chat windows so you can have multiple conversations at once. Multi-tasking FTW!
Chat links – Place hyperlinks for items in chat so other players can view them. I have something you don’t have and now I can prove it!

Remember, this isn’t a full list, but it is a good overview of what we are working on. Expect to see detailed descriptions of each item in the release notes with each coming update.

So now that you’ve seen the list you still want more?

That’s perfect, because this list doesn’t include all of the great stuff we’ve been working on and none of the triple-top-secret projects we have planned for post-launch as part of the frequent and regular updates that Turbine is famous for!

As always, we’re very grateful for all of your feedback and we hope you continue to send in bug reports, quest surveys, and post on the forums!