Lord of the Rings Online to make drastic combat changes with Siege of Mirkwood
by Seraphina Brennan 
Nov 17th 2009 at 3:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, News items
It's very rare that you hear about a game changing how combat works at a fundamental level, but that's exactly what Turbine is doing in Siege of Mirkwood. We hope you guys weren't in love with weapon speeds and slow animations, because those are two of the things that are getting major overhauls.
In the latest developer diary, it's been revealed that weapon speeds will now be standardized by weapon level and type, making sure that all one-hand maces of the same level swing at the same speed. This is key, as previously players were taking slower weapons to maximize their damage, even if it wasn't appropriate for their class. (Turbine was looking at you, mace wielding burglars.) Weapons have also gotten increased speed but lowered damage to compensate for their fast swing rate.
In the latest developer diary, it's been revealed that weapon speeds will now be standardized by weapon level and type, making sure that all one-hand maces of the same level swing at the same speed. This is key, as previously players were taking slower weapons to maximize their damage, even if it wasn't appropriate for their class. (Turbine was looking at you, mace wielding burglars.) Weapons have also gotten increased speed but lowered damage to compensate for their fast swing rate.
Animations were another sticking point, and Turbine has created a new skill type that will immediately start upon being pushed, without the player waiting for the animation to complete. The other new skill type, fast skills, will immediately start after the last animation completes, ignoring the standard wait time after the last skill. Overall, this should produce quicker, snappier combat in Siege of Mirkwood.
For all of the nitty gritty with these large changes, check out the full developer diary on the subject.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
starzzareblind said on 3:09PM 11-17-2009
Good, now if only they would update the running and movement animations.
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Jason said on 7:15PM 11-17-2009
The only animations I have a problem with is the walking animation. Everything else looks great. For a comparison, check out the running/movement animations in Aion. They are horrible IMO. The combat animations in both games are great though.
spamero said on 3:50PM 11-17-2009
God god, finally!
I hope it makes the combat much smoother and more responsive because clunky combat was really the one thing that kept me from playing lotro (bounced in and out several times).
I hope there is going to be some trial or return week to check it out.
Thumbs up, Turbine! Now, if only codemasters could make the EU site somewhat descent, because it looks like cooked in 1997 by frontpage webmater wannabe. Seriously... the only thing missing is a tag.
But what I really want is my.lotro.com on EU site...
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spamero said on 3:50PM 11-17-2009
* _marquee_ tag
benjamin wallberg said on 3:56PM 11-17-2009
I finally started playing this again because of the Expansion, but i rerolled on the US servers instead of EU, the community is much better ,
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spamero said on 4:03PM 11-17-2009
@benjamin wallberg
Interesting, though I can't complain for the community on the server I am on.
How about the time differences between EU and NA?
Are there people to group with in out 'prime time' aka 7 pm or 8 pm ?
k.geoboy said on 4:25PM 11-17-2009
All weapon speeds are now normalized: all one handed is one speed, all two-handed one speed. The difference between weapon types will be based on secondary effects and class/racial bonuses. Making skills interrupt other skills based on priority (immediate / fast / normal) does make combat a heck of a lot smoother. Maybe they'll work on the character models next expansion.
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Neurotic said on 4:04PM 11-17-2009
I'd never noticed a difference myself. Also, I quite liked the sometimes slow pace of combat - that and the excellent sound effects gave it real weight and grunt, far beyond anything else I've played. When my Dwarf Guardian shield slams something, the noise is incredible. And his 'Ya-haa!' when he does some particularly tasty move with his axe raises my neck hairs!
Having said all that, I'm open to anything and I'm not complaining, so lay off the brick bats! ;)
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Aganazer said on 4:36PM 11-17-2009
Turbine has been on a roll lately with DDO and LotRO doing so well. I can't wait to see what their secret project is going to be. With any luck it WON'T be a console kiddie Harry Potter MMOG even though I'm sure they would do a great job of it and make bank in the process.
Still waiting on an Asheron's Call reboot with DDO style dungeons and a boatload of sandbox features.
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x(wai)x said on 5:10PM 11-17-2009
I'll definitely be giving LotRO another shot now, the combat was one of the things that annoyed me about the game and even though I found a lot to love about it I just couldn't get over the clunky combat.
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Clockwork said on 7:16PM 11-17-2009
My question is, will this be retroactive? That is to say, will they apply these new move types to ALL moves, or just new moves added in the future? If the latter, then I say big farking deal; If it applies to all moves, however, therefore taking the clunkiness out of low-level combat as well, then you can bet Turbine will be getting my $15 a month.
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Jason said on 8:34PM 11-17-2009
It is a combat system enhancement so it applies to all skills and weapons.
Anjohl said on 12:20AM 11-18-2009
So, when is LOTR going FTP? 6 months after Mirkwood?
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Wisdomandlore said on 8:45PM 11-17-2009
It applies to all moves.
Frankly, it's a shortcut that waters down a game that already lacks depth in character stats and customization. Sure, weapons were broken before. Everyone used the slowest possible weapon. Now everyone will use their racial weapon! And the specializations on weapons are already pretty lame (+1% hit chance, +1% melee autoattack crit chance).
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KneverMind said on 8:34PM 11-17-2009
Hmm... where have I seen this before.... oh yeah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Galaxies
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Jason said on 11:01PM 11-17-2009
LOL hardly comparible to the CU in SWG. Turbine is listening to the complaints from the players about sluggish combat and making combat more responsive with a slightly quicker pace.
Grok said on 1:56PM 11-18-2009
Can we stop brining up SWG everytime an MMO decides to change something. It's getting weak.
appljaxe said on 11:52PM 11-17-2009
its about time. Thank you!
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benjamin wallberg said on 1:38AM 11-18-2009
@spamero
My character is level 20 atm and i've noticed alot more people running around in the areas im in then i ever did on the EU servers at those areas (played on Snowbourn and Laureliun) during those times, and there were loads of 60s online when i /who
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Neurotic said on 2:26AM 11-20-2009
I still don't understand why people think the combat was "clunky". And what's all this about everyone using the slowest weapons? I've been playing LoTRO fairly solidly since launch (Laurelin), and I've never heard about this slow weapon business. wtf?
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