Turbine releases Siege of Mirkwood launch video
by Rubi Bayer 
Dec 1st 2009 at 11:30AM
Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Launches
In case you haven't heard, Turbine launched Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood today. "Today we unveil LOTRO's second major expansion and let players enter the legendary forest of Mirkwood and experience the climax and conclusion to Volume II of our epic story. The response from our players and the press has been nothing short of outstanding and serve as a real validation of LOTRO's position as one of the world's premium online games," said Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel.
Besides closing out Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood also brings about an increased level cap, the much-talked-about Skirmish system, and some major gameplay changes and improvements.
Many Lord of the Rings Online players have been anticipating this and will be heading for Mirkwood at the first opportunity, but if you're not one of them, the launch video may tip the scales for you. Follow along after the jump for a look.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MrGutts said on 11:55AM 12-01-2009
It's really to bad that you can't download the SoM update/no enhancement for the character patch while the servers are being redone.
Reply
Archmage said on 12:27PM 12-01-2009
Is it just me or are the graphics/animations looking worse? Maybe I've gotten used to Aion. And why did they make the fell-beast mount look like a t-rex with wings?
Reply
CCon99 said on 12:41PM 12-01-2009
Hopefully the next true expansion will add an update to the character models. It's a shame because the graphics for the landscape and settings are gorgeous in DX10, but the character models are still the same.
Amana said on 12:32PM 12-01-2009
OMG - whoever put this video together needs to be cast into the fires of Mt Doom themselves :-o
Don't get me wrong - I'm not hating on Lotro (I have SoM pre-purchased and can't wait to get playing) but that video is just awful!
It showcases all that's less than desirable about Lotro (god-awful animations, awful character models), it makes all the textures look over-saturated and grainy a'la EQ1 or similar, the voice-over is a poor-man's representation of the original in-game narrator, the titles say "Venture into the darkest of forests!" only to be followed by a bunch of *interior* scenes... argh I'll stop but in reference to your comment, Rubi; no it doesn't tip the scales!
For the love of all that's Lotro, don't judge the expansion by this abomination of a trailer which absolutely does not 'serve as a real validation of LOTRO's position as one of the world's premium online games..'
Good lord.
Reply
THAC0 said on 12:56PM 12-01-2009
@ CCon99 I hate th models too but and am playing Aion but i resubscribed to LOTRO just a few days ago and I'm finding the quality of teh models and armor easy to look over because the game itself as a whole is still top notch. I'm enjoying my Warden and Rune Keeper right now and am looking forward to taking them through the revamped Lone Lands that is being patched in today. Aion is beautiful but i find teh game play to be lacking for some reason.
Reply
spamero said on 1:11PM 12-01-2009
I agree, Amana.
Turbine does the worst trailers in the whole mmo industry.
It's like they didn't want people to play it.
Yes, the landscapes look great, and the models are lacking, but still... the game looks much, much better when you actually play it, then it ever looked in one of those trailers.
I really don't get it... can't they make a descent trailer and even 'enhance' it a bit? I mean that's what everybody is actually expecting from the trailers - they should be awesome first, 'real & accurate' later.
Funny how Turbine can't even do properly a 'fly through' mode...
You can see it in the trailers, when camera 'bumps' when zooming in and out... exactly what happens when you mousewheel to zoom... can't they code something special for inner use to cook kick-ass trailers... c'mon how lazy can you be?
Considering that LOTRO just lost 'most retarted mounts & clumsiest combat implementation in a history of mmos' title, I am looking forward to the combat & mount changes.. only waiting for some free trial or week/end to check on SoM and maybe I'll dust off my level 59 hunter.
All in all, it looked promising, in the patch notes.
Reply
pogger said on 1:55PM 12-01-2009
I give a ton of points to Turbine for making a trailer using in-game graphics/animations. Whether you like it or not is totally subjective.
Any developer or production company can make a movie or cartoon-style trailer that has graphics you'd never see in the game.
PS... I laughed a little inside at "retarted".
tomislav_tomov said on 4:26AM 12-03-2009
can anyone tell me the name of the background music in the trailer pls? tnx
Reply