Massively's Black Friday MMO sales guide
by Kyle Horner 
Nov 26th 2009 at 10:00AM
Filed under: Events, real-world, News items
siege-of-mirkwood posts
Lord of the Rings Online developer diary revisits the Lone-lands
by Rubi Bayer Nov 25th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics
Players will find changes such as a solo version of Weather Top, a new horse travel mount to make the initial trip to the Forsaken Inn less dangerous, and some new faction and quest systems. Those, however, are just the beginning. With Siege of Mirkwood only days away, players eager to explore the expansion will find their path in the earlier areas considerably smoother.
The full entry is worth looking at, as it contains four pages of great information on the overhaul -- it's a valuable resource for anyone still hanging out around Ost Guruth.
New developer chat transcript for Lord of the Rings Online
by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 24th 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Interviews
There's only a little time left until Lord of the Rings Online launches its next expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, but the players still have questions and the developers are thankfully quite happy to answer them. Not so long ago, WarCry had their first developer chat transcript up for fans of the game to digest. A fair bit of new information has come out since then, and so a new chat transcript is available with more information for the playerbase to mull over for the next week. Unfortunately, it's rather negative, since there are an awful lot of questions whose answers just so happen to be "no."
In no particular order: there are no current plans for expanding the housing system, there are no plans to convert Lorien tokens to Mirkwood, no player-created content systems in the works, no way to send mail with more than one attachment. On the other hand, there's more discussion of the Skirmish mechanics and their comparison with Dungeons and Dragons Online's difficulty-tunable instances, talk about how levels and items will be affected, and the expansive amount of content promised within Mirkwood itself. The full transcript is going to be a bit of a read, but it should tide over anticipation for the fast-approaching launch date.
Story moments in new Siege of Mirkwood screens
by Kyle Horner Nov 19th 2009 at 6:00PM
Filed under: Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, News items
From giant spiders to cozy campfires, much about these new screens inspire. Whether thick with peril or cool and mellow, Siege of Mirkwood looks set to offer its community wonders unparalleled. Yes, we're kind of rhyming on purpose. We blame the poetic imagery seen in the gallery below; its vistas both terrible and cold.
Siege of Mirkwood developer diary: character panel updates
by Rubi Bayer Nov 19th 2009 at 3:00PM
It's not just a cosmetic makeover, either -- gameplay has gotten a lot of work from the Mirkwood team. Three new Critical Defence statistics are added, Vulnerability has been revamped, and the differences between incoming and outgoing healing got some work too. Healing Rank and Tactical rank statistics are new as well, allowing players to increase their effectiveness by spending points.
The new character panels will reflect all of these changes and you can take a look at the diary entry for a full description as well as some screenshots detailing how it works.
Lord of the Rings Online offers Welcome Back Week for EU players
by Rubi Bayer Nov 17th 2009 at 11:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, News items
Welcome Back Week begins November 23rd and continues through the 30th -- any former LotRO player can return and enjoy a week of free play, courtesy of Codemasters. They're also offering a bonus: those taking advantage of Welcome Back Week will get a 25% XP boost that week.
Players interested in returning for the event need only download the game, or patch to the latest version. Codemasters has re-activated the accounts, so you'll find your characters ready and waiting to head back into Middle-Earth and prepare for the arrival of Siege of Mirkwood.
Codemasters is also using this week to remind players to get in on the Siege of Mirkwood pre-order deals. The expansion is set to launch in Europe on December 3rd.
The Digital Continuum: LotRO's feature future
by Kyle Horner Nov 17th 2009 at 6:00PM
Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Opinion, The Digital Continuum
So let's talk about features and changes that would help attract fresh blood while keeping the old guard happy -- because changing the core of an MMO is never truly a good idea, but bring in fresh blood doesn't hurt.
The Digital Continuum: LotRO's feature future, part 2
by Kyle Horner Nov 17th 2009 at 6:00PM
Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Opinion, The Digital Continuum
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.
A visual tour of LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood
by Shawn Schuster Nov 17th 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: At a glance, Betas, Fantasy, Video, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Hands-on
If you haven't had a chance to see Turbine's latest creation, check out our video tour of the expansion just after the jump below. Also, be sure to watch Massively for more coverage on Siege of Mirkwood from now to December 1st and beyond!
Lord of the Rings Online developer chat transcript available
by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 13th 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Expansions, Game mechanics
There's a lot of interesting material coming with the Siege of Mirkwood expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, not to mention a large number of player questions and curiosity about where the game is headed. Luckily for the playerbase, WarCry was recently lucky enough to get a chance to chat with the developers, with a full transcript now available for all who missed the live chat. As is par for the course for developer chats, there's the occasional question that seems rather out-of-place or unnecessary, but on the whole it's full of tidbits that should excite the game's fans.
The discussion ranges from the tangible issues with the upcoming expansion such as class upgrades (each class will get one new skill upgrade at level 62), meta-issues (there will be a Skirmish sneak peek coming soon to let players try the new format), and some wholly random bits (the developers will not add your farm on Facebook as a neighbor). It's a weighty and lengthy chat that can't be summarized easily, so it's best to take a look, digest, and start thinking about the first thing you want to do in Lord of the Rings Online when the expansion goes live.
Lord of the Rings developer diary explores Dol Guldur
by Rubi Bayer Nov 12th 2009 at 8:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions
Tsieng Liu from the LotRO Dungeons Team describes Dol Guldur as "the fortress where Sauron dwelt when he was known as "The Necromancer." It's an old fortress that is now full of the foul servants of the Enemy on the edge of Mirkwood forest. It is in this region that the elves of Lothlórien are mounting an offensive in order to keep the Enemy from penetrating their forests."
Dol Guldur will contain three 3-person dungeons and a 6-person dungeon, leading up to a 12-person raid in which you storm the tower of Dol Guldur and take on the "leadership behind its forces." This area will also feature some fun new mechanics and challenges that should turn your tried-and-true group methods of playing neatly on their ear.
Dungeon overviews, as well as a look at the new surprises Dol Guldur has in store, can all be found in the diary entry. It's well worth the read.
Turbine releases more Siege of Mirkwood screenshots
by Rubi Bayer Nov 12th 2009 at 4:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions
These newest pictures are a bit of a change of pace, giving us our first glimpse at an instanced area. The Chambers instance is the kind of gorgeous area we've come to expect from Turbine, and the prominent eye of Sauron in one shot makes us think it's just as unfriendly. The gentleman standing in front of it doesn't seem very happy at the prospect of visitors at any rate, nor do the group of armored toughs blocking the stairway in another screenshot.
We are now less than three weeks away from the launch of Siege of Mirkwood, and our thanks go out to Turbine for making the wait so much fun with their pictorial tour of Mirkwood.
Lord of the Rings Online dev diary tells of creating Mirkwood
by Rubi Bayer Nov 6th 2009 at 11:00AM
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, News items
Jesse "Vastin" Kings writes about the fun the team had getting to play with new areas, monsters, and quests, and the challenge of balancing those plans with the available resources. Working with the original Lord of the Rings story line posed another challenge sometimes when it came to filling in the game and still remaining true to Tolkien.
Of course, not everything was on the showy, fun, creative side: "...it might interest you to know that the single largest share of all the time I've spent working on Mirkwood was in trying to figure out and implement ways to keep our servers from being reduced to piles of smoking slag within hours of Siege of Mirkwood going live and all of you hurling yourselves at it at once."
The full entry can be read here.
New screenshots for Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
by Rubi Bayer Nov 5th 2009 at 7:00PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions
The Lord of the Rings Online expansion Siege of Mirkwood is set for release at the beginning of December, and Turbine takes us farther into the forest of Mirkwood today with brand new screenshots of the Ashenslades region. It's a bit farther in -- you can see Dol Guldur looming in the background -- and looks more dark and foreboding than our look at the somewhat-sunnier Scuttledells region.
The Ashenslades name fits what the screenshots show -- take a look at the forest in flames in one picture, and what appear to be burned and blackened trees in the background of another one.
This is the fourth region that Turbine has shown us in our tour of Mirkwood, giving us glimpses of Dol Guldur, Gathburz, and the Scuttledells regions in previous weeks. Monday's release of a trailer gave us a bit more of a look into Dol Guldur as well. We have just over three weeks until the release of Siege of Mirkwood, and hopefully Turbine will continue their previews to make the wait go by a little faster.
