Beat Up A Balrog

Oli Welsh of Eurogamer was lucky enough to get the chance to chat with the Jeffrey Steefel, the executive producer of Lord of the Rings Online.

Turbine have just announce their first paid expansion to LotRO, there have been a number of free expansions to date, which opens the door to the Mines of Moria. Players will be able to explore the mines as a single, continuous underground zone.

So what should we expect in the Mines of Moria?

For one thing, there are lots and lots of goblins to slay. There’s likely a few Cave Trolls in there as well. And since the entire Dwarven population was slaughtered, I’d guess Saurons guys have employed the evil arts of necromancy to raise a few Dwarven dead to fight as their side as well. That’s my educated guess at least.

But there is one big fella that players will get the chance to beat up on. Steefel has confirmed that the Balrog who fought, and was defeated by, Gandalf will be available on the line up.

That might raise a few eyebrows, especially since the early indications were that the developers were reluctant to allow player involvement with Balrogs. You see in the lore, Balrogs were immensely powerful beings, and I think that there were only three of them. It’s been a while since I read the Silmarillion, and even longer since I spelled it, so correct me if I’m wrong.

It’s my guess, there is no mention in the article, that the Balrog fight will require a raid. That’s really not much of a longshot is it?

Aside from putting the beat down on the Balrog, players will have a new level cap - sixty. There will also be a bunch of mini-games that will unlock deeds and other content.

There will be Legendary items added to the mix, and get this, these items will have their own advancement paths. I guess that matches with the lore, after all Bilbo’s blade, Sting, had it’s own special history.

It’s pretty cool really. It’s always been one of the things about MMOs that I’ve been in two minds about. On the one hand, getting the fancy new weapon or armor is cool. It’s fancy new after all. But I’ve always been loath to just vendor those old items. We’ve been through so much together, so many good times, it’s a shame to get rid of them. Now, once I’ve got some Legendary gear, it will follow me through the game. Nifty.

The problem with all the press about the Mines of Moria expansion is is that I’m getting the urge to dust off my account and log back in. With Warhammer, Age of Conan, and umpteen other good looking games coming out in the next year it’s looking increasingly difficult to focus on a single game.

Must. Resist. Urge.

Popularity: 21%

LotRO Reloaded

New computers can be a joy. Games that previously could only be run on low settings can now be run at their maximum as smooth as silk. The new computer smell. It’s like owning a new car.

Other upsides to owning a new PC is that you end up getting rid of all that cruft on your harddrives. I’ve always been a hoarder, so I never get rid of anything until it’s absolutely necessary. My garage and spare room are testament to this. Even my bank slots in WoW are proof of never getting rid of anything. (Although I did have a bank/bag cleanup the other night.)

However, one of the downsides to buying a new computer is that you have to reload all of the software that you use. It’s a process, especially with MMO games, that can be long and tedious.

Even though I haven’t been playing it lately, and since I have a lifetime subscription, I decided to get LotRO reinstalled last night. Unfortunately I’d lent my disks to a friend so that he could use the buddy code that came with them. That meant downloading the whole thing, a massive six gigabytes of install.

Surprisingly it only took a couple of hours to do the download since I was getting an excellent download speed, and the patch didn’t take long either. It looks like Turbine keep their downloadable client up to date. Nice, considering I’ve done a couple of long downloads and then had to spend a couple of hours patching.

After installing I decided to get into the game and have a quick look around. It was getting late by that stage so I didn’t plan on staying long.

The first thing I noticed was that there seemed to be more servers available. I can’t be sure of that, but it appeared that the list of servers was longer and there were a couple of names I couldn’t remember being there. That’s surely a good sign for LotRO. Games that are in trouble, or that aren’t going anywhere, generally don’t add servers; they remove them.

Once I logged in, there were a couple of messages that I had received some new attributes. One of those was the ability to recall to a guild house. There was also a housing tab on my character panel. I did recall hearing something about housing in Lord of the Rings Online, but I didn’t realise that it had been implemented. Nifty.

Other than that, I didn’t see anything else really different. I ran around for a few minutes killing wolves. Chatted briefly with the guildies. And logged out.

Lord of the Rings Online is one game I’d really like to spend more time in, but with a renewed interest in WoW, Tabula Rasa on the sideline, and a whole swag of new games on the horizon, I’m not sure I’ll be able to give it the time it deserves.

Lucky I’ve got a lifetime sub.

Popularity: 20%

Return to Middle Earth

Rapture has been my gaming home for much of September. The underwater world of Bioshock has provided some of the most fun that I’ve had gaming for quite some time. At least in the single player world. Last night I finally got to the end of the game, knocked off the big nasty guy, and watched the final cutscene. No spoilers here, but the final scene in the game is dependent on how you treat the Little Sisters on the journey. Since I’d harvested a few, even though I’d stopped a long time before the end, I received the bad man version. Naughty Stropp, no praise for you!

I was tempted to start over, this time making sure that none of the Little Sisters come to harm, just to see the good guy version. If I do, I figure I’ll do it on the easy mode. But I’m not going to do that, not right away anyway. I might pick it up down the track, if I can pull myself away from any of the numerous games coming out in the near future.

In the mean time I loaded up Lord of the Rings Online today.

The last time I played, I had just got a new Dwarf Champion up and running, but hadn’t taken any of the online quests yet. Surprisingly, he was still guilded with Eventide Revelry, even after three months offline. I wasn’t expecting that. My timing was good though, because a few minutes after I logged in, the GM came online and started removing guildies who hadn’t been online for three months or more. Hmmm. Perhaps my psychic abilities aren’t that rusty after all.

I spent a couple of hours with the starter quests during the afternoon, and reached about halfway into level 6. Once I did the final quest in that sequence, which involved accompanying Dwalin on a quest to save an Elf ally, prevent Skorgrim from being resurrected by the Dourhands, and keep Dwalin alive in the process, I was able to enter Thorin’s Hall.

One of the things I like about the Champion class is the survivability. The Champion is perhaps not as much of a tank as the Guardian, but the dual wielding and damage dealing along with the hard to kill factor makes this class fun. It’s possibly one of the reasons that the Champion is such a popular class.

Anyway, now that I’m in Thorin’s Hall the fun really starts. I’ve got access to the rest of the world now, and also the professions. I decided to pick Armsman, so I’ll be knocking up a few tidy weapons in the future. There’s still a lot of quests to do before I get to Bree, but it won’t be that long before I get there,

Popularity: 25%

Lord of the Rings Online Book 10 Update

Turbine is releasing the next free content update for its Lord of the Rings Online MMO next week on the 21st of August. The following features will be included:

• The Epic Continues! - Amarthiel, introduced in Book 9: Shores of Evendim, has reclaimed the palantir of Carn Dûm and is now seeking to make Annúminas her new seat of power as she searches for her lost ring of power: Narchuil. The Dúnedain stands against her as the Rangers mount a last, desperate attempt to wrest the palantir from Amarthiel. Before she can find Narchuil, a most dangerous opportunity presents itself that may give the Dúnedain the advantage they need to blind the eye of Angmar.
• Legendary Play - Once in the Ettenmoors, players can experience monster play in a completely new way by spending their Destiny Points to play as a powerful Ranger of the North or a terrible Troll to offer a strategic advantage to their allies in the battle for control of the Ettenmoors.
• Critter Play - Friendly barnyard animals love squawking around the landscape, exploring chicken coops, hunting for worms and more! Players can now explore Middle-earth from a different - and sometimes unexpected - viewpoint as a chicken, the first of many new playable critters that will be added to the game in the future.
• New Reputation and Bartering Systems - Book 10 introduces the Reputation and Bartering systems. The Reputation system enables players to earn positive and negative standing with different races and groups in Middle-earth based on both monster kills and quest completions. The Bartering system allows players to trade trophies earned in battle for rewards such as armor sets or mounts.
• Over 100 New Quests - The story continues for players as they aid the Fellowship and encounter new adventures, new dungeons and over a dozen new monsters.
• Enhanced User Interface - The game’s UI is now customizable. In addition to being able to skin your UI with a unique look, Book 10 will enable players to access sliders in their ‘Options’ panel to scale the size of individual elements of the UI to their liking.

It looks like Turbine have been hard at work. One of the complaints that I have heard the most about LotRO is the lack of content, especially at the upper middle levels. It seems though that they are addressing these concerns by regular new content. So far the game has been out for nearly four months and Turbine have released two fairly major content updates. Okay, they haven’t released the second yet, but it’s only a week away.

At this rate, expect Books 11 and 12 to be released before the year is out. And I doubt it will be much longer than that before the first major expansion. Probably around next April.

Popularity: 24%

Stropp - Fully Armed and Filthy

It has to be a record time.

Normally, when I order from Amazon, I expect it to take at least two weeks for delivery. Don’t get me wrong, that is a pretty good delivery time considering I live around 11000 kilometers (7000 miles) from the warehouse. A standard shipping delivery can take up to three weeks.

I got a phone call today. My Lord of the Rings preorder box was shipped on the 24th and delivered on the 27th. It looks like Amazon defaulted to the fastest shipping method (and charged accordingly) but I don’t mind because I am now a founding member of the game.

I chose the $199 lifetime membership simply because I know that even if I stop playing at some point, I’ll also return. In nearly every MMO that I have played and stopped, I’ve reactivated my account at least once. With the Founders program I don’t have to worry about it.

The only downside I’ve found so far is that I don’t seem to be able to access the EU servers. It looks like I’m restricted to the US servers only. It’s a bit of a bummer because I was hoping to catch up in game with some blogger friends, but they are in the EU. I’m not sure why there is this trend of restricting players in different parts of the world to separate server groups. One of the things I find appealing about the whole MMO phenomenon is the contact with people from everywhere in the world, not just one or two cultures.

In any case Stropp is now Fully Armed and Filthy, on the Brandywine server, spoiling to stain his axe with some Orc blood. He’s looking forward to seeing you in the game and sharing the kill.

There’s no tossing this Dwarf.

Just a quick update. When I went to log in today, Brandywine was full. Since I hadn’t got to far, I rerolled on Elendilmir. Even so, there was still a queue after I relogged after a break. It looks like LotRO is going to be very popular.

Popularity: 24%

Lord of the Rings Online - Preordered

I’ve done it. I preordered Lord of the Rings Online today from Amazon. So, in a few days it will be winging it’s way across the deep blue sea.

Everything I’ve been reading about LotRO indicates that this game is going to be a big seller. I’ve seen articles from news and blog sites that talk about the excitement that is running through the MMO community as LotRO nears its release on the 24th of April. I’ve even wondered if it will be a WoW killer.

I suspect not, because a lot of players will be reluctant to leave a game where they have built up their characters, and have formed relationships with other players. And, very importantly, I haven’t seen much of the sort of babble where disgruntled players are saying, "When xyz comes out…" or "I’m just waiting for abc…" Aside from the usual nerf and I’ve been nerfed comments on forums, everyone appears reasonably gruntled.

Still Lord of the Rings is a huge licence with a lot of popularity. I think that after over two years of WoW, some players will be interested in having a look at something a bit different. LotRO with its widespread appeal and a very clean beta with lots of positive reports, will pick up quite a few players from WoW. I also suspect that the next couple of years will be an interesting time for Blizzard as more and more MMOs will be released. Will World of Warcraft keep growing its subscriber base, or will people want to move on to other different games?

Time will tell.

Popularity: 25%

Lord of the Rings Online Regular Updates Planned

Asheron’s Call was the first MMORPG that I played back in the dim dark ages of the year 2000, and like some other things, the first is usually remembered fondly. The scale of the world, learning the dungeon layouts, killing my first Lugian, and crossing the dangerous countryside just to climb a mountain and look out over the miles of virtual landscape. It also happens that Asheron’s Call did one other thing that I haven’t really found repeated in any other MMORPG since. It had an episodic storyline that was updated frequently.

Each month, once a month in general, was Patch Day. Now this was the day which it was advised not to play, but it was always hard not to play on this particular day because the story was updated. There was always a story teaser on the official website, and often new monsters and items were added. On top of this the seasons changed, summer into autumn, autumn into winter… grassy plains became snow covered. Autumn leaves fell from the trees. It was something, I think, to behold.

Well in an interview on the LotRO Warcry network, the Executive Producer of Lord of the Rings Online, Jeffrey Steefel, has made a few comments indicating that Turbine are planning to handle updates and live events in a similar way to Asheron’s Call 1. While he wasn’t able to reveal details, Mr. Steefel did say that the first content update was planned to be 30 days after release. He also mentioned that some members of the AC1 live team will be on the LotRO live team. I have to say I find this very encouraging.

I’ve also heard some rumours that Turbine is planning to do major updates to the game approximately every nine months. These will probably be in the form of expansion packs and will update the major parts of the storyline. The initial release of the game covers the areas mentioned in the first book, as well as the Hobbit. I expect the first expansion will add the locations and storyline events from The Two Towers, and the second expansion will deal with The Return of the King. What a third expansion will involve is anyones guess. Anyway, this is just speculation based on what I’ve heard from unreliable sources, so don’t bet the farm on it.

In any case, the signs are encouraging that Turbine is going to treat the story and lore with the respect that it deserves. It also looks like there will plenty to keep players engaged for a very long time.

Popularity: 24%

Lord of the Rings Online - Beta Glimpse 1

In playing the LotRO beta I’ve come across a few features that I thought you might find interesting. Over the next few weeks before the release of the game, I’ll be posting some glimpses of these features.

The first glimpse that I’m going to give you is of the Deed Log and Traits.

The Deed Log keeps track of your in game accomplishments. These accomplishments aren’t individual quests, but can be any of a number of achievements. In the picture above you can see three deeds that are available to me in Ered Luin. The Defender of Ered Luin is completed when I finish 30 of the quests available in Ered Luin area. The Goblin Slayer and Hendroyal Slayer accomplishments are completed when I slay a certain number of each creature.

When an accomplishment is completed, the player is rewarded. The Defender of Ered Luin reward is the Compassionate trait which is displayed in the tooltip in the screenshot. I’ve also seen a few folks running around with a title ‘Defender of Ered Luin’ so I assume I’ll get this title when I complete the accomplishment.

This is an example of the Title panel. You’ll notice I’ve selected Klarm the Wary as my active title. I received that when I reached the 5th level without being defeated. The title ‘of the Iron Hills’ is the title I was given when I started my character. Klarm is still pretty low level, so he doesn’t have many titles yet. Frankly, I’m disappointed that there is no ‘the Short and Hairy’ title.

Now you remember the Compassionate trait that was being tooltipped in the first screenshot?

Since I haven’t completed the achievement, it’s not available to use yet. However it just so happens that I a couple of traits I prepared earlier. Charity and Patience both alter some of my attributes. However, this alteration may not be positive for all attributes. Some traits may boost one attribute and lower another. Before you can gain the benefits of traits you must equip them.

Traits can only be equipped by dealing with a Bard. You should find a Bard in most major towns, and possibly in some more out of the way places. When you get close to a bard, you’ll see a lute image on the minimap. There will probably be a few NPC dancing around the place that will give him away too.

Once you find him, open up a conversation by right clicking him and choose the equip traits option. Choose the traits you want to equip, or unequip and give the man some coin for each trait you want changed. Voila! Your traits have been changed.

One other thing. You are limited in the trait slots that will open up by your level. I can only have two traits equipped here until I level up enough to open up another slot. You’ll also notice that there are different categories of traits. Race and Class are pretty self explanatory, but I’m not sure what the Legendary traits are yet, or how they will be gained by players.

Usage of the Deed Log and the Traits system should allow players to come up with some unique builds. There are plenty of tabs in the deed log, one for each major map area plus the class and race tabs. This means that there will be plenty of traits to choose from. More in fact than there will be slots to equip them. If the trait system has been designed right, there shouldn’t be any cookie cutter templates to choose from, allowing a the player a lot of diverse options for his character.

I also think it’s a great idea to vary the gameplay. Now, players are no longer dependent on just quests to progress their characters, and I also think that this is a step above the reputation system in WoW. Yes, there’s still a mechanic of kill x of this, or do y of that, but it seems to me to be a somewhat more organic way of achieving.

Popularity: 24%

LotRO Beta Pics

Here are a couple of screenshots from yesterdays session playing the Lord of the Rings Online Beta. Both images have been resized and resampled to 360×225 in order to fit here. The originals were 1440×900.

I came over a hill here in pursuit of some critter. The view stopped me in my tracks.

Klarm. What a champion! Short and hairy.

Popularity: 23%

Lord of the Rings Online First Beta Impressions

Wow! What can I say about this game? I spent way more time today playing the Lord of the Rings Online beta than I originally intended. It’s that good. When the game is released in two months, people are going to stop talking about World of Warcraft addiction and start talking about LotRO addiction.

First Steps

As I mentioned yesterday, I downloaded the beta last night and got it installed without any problems. It was a snap to get the game up and running and I created a character, a Dwarf Champion named Klarm. LotRO gives you four races to choose from, Human, Elf, Hobbit, and Dwarf. All of the races except for the Dwarves have both male and female to choose from. The Dwarves only have male models.

Frankly I’m a little disappointed at that. There should be Dwarf women. It’s just that they should look very similar to Dwarf men. Especially the beards.

Other than that the character generation is pretty much stock standard for modern MMOs. The player gets to change details like hair, skin colour, stuff like that. However picking a different region, for example the Blue Mountains or the Gray Mountains will give slightly different feature or hair colours to choose from.

Once you’ve picked your race, you get to choose a class. There are seven to choose from: Champion, Guardian, Captain, Burglar, Hunter, Minstrel, and Lore-Master. I picked Champion for Klarm, which is a damage dealing melee class. The Guardian is a tank. The Captain is a melee class that has the ability to buff the party using banners. The Burglar is a sneaky class akin to a Rogue in other games. The Minstrel is a bardlike class that provides buffs, and I understand has some healing abilities. The Lore-Master is a magic class. The Hunter is… well, a hunter. All in all a good selection of classes to choose from.

Gameplay

I truely enjoyed the gameplay that I experienced today. There was no need for me to grind XP. I leveled up to level seven solely doing quests without having to do the grind. There was a strong quest sequence that presented an introductory storyline that had a sense of urgency. This has continued into a new series of quests, and I’m hoping this goes all the way through the levels.

I did quite a bit of exploring too. The game is gorgeous which makes it easy for me to just look around. I know that’s not everyones cup of tea, but I spent several hours once swimming around Kalimdor at level 35ish. It looks like I have a lot more to see of Middle Earth, since I’ve barely scratched the surface of Ered Luin.

That’s not the only thing where I’ve just scratched the surface. Character development looks like it goes quite deep with earning and developing traits. Titles are available at an early stage. And there is a screen with parent and children attributes that intrigues me, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it in depth yet.

I also want to have a good look at the crafting. I picked an armorer vocation, which gave me three crafting ‘threads’ which included prospecting, metal work, and tailoring. So far, though, I’ve only done a bit of prospecting.

Impressed Impressions

For a game that still has two months before it is released, I am very impressed. Lord of the Rings Online is well polished, even at this stage. Sure there are some issues. A couple of times today things got laggy, and the game crashed once, and restarted my machine another time, but this wouldn’t be a beta if everything was working properly. Other than that, all the quests I tried were complete and worked properly, and there were no graphical anomalies that I noticed.

Normally, when I start a new RPG, I create a new character and then within a couple of levels try another class, and then another before I finally settle on something I like. Today with Klarm I felt no need to do that. Oh, I expect I will experiment with the different classes at some point, but the Champion at least seems nicely balanced. It’s been fun to play.

As I progress through the beta, I’ll continue to post my impressions here.

Popularity: 24%