Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by ghettobooste

Originally posted by Frostbite05

Originally posted by Papadam

Skirmishes is by far the most important innovasion in MMOs 2009! Really looking forward trying thoose.

 

Thats not innovative at all. But they look fun and may get me to play again.

 

Right, Lost Dungeons of Norrath comes to mind, I think that came out in 2001. But if anything it is an element that has not been used very often in MMOs and this sounds like it will be done very well.

Skirmishes are more of a direct evolution of DDO content. Keep in mind, Skirmishes are not "Dungeons" Most are in the over world. LDN had set variations, Skirmishes are extremely random, from objectives, to mob layout to creature skills.

Skirmishes (and scalable content in general) are the future of this game, IMO. At some point, I suspect they will allow players to have multiple NPCs, and that should allow for some truly epic battles that will better capture the war in Middle Earth. PvP needs some love, however, and Skirmishes would be a good way to implement battleground-style PvP. Can't wait for December 1st!

I wonder why they haven't considered using your skirmish pet to resolve the solo epic story issue.  I suppose it's cause they won't start til' lvl 30?

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by ghettobooste

Originally posted by Frostbite05

Originally posted by Papadam

Skirmishes is by far the most important innovasion in MMOs 2009! Really looking forward trying thoose.

 

Thats not innovative at all. But they look fun and may get me to play again.

 

Right, Lost Dungeons of Norrath comes to mind, I think that came out in 2001. But if anything it is an element that has not been used very often in MMOs and this sounds like it will be done very well.

Skirmishes are more of a direct evolution of DDO content. Keep in mind, Skirmishes are not "Dungeons" Most are in the over world. LDN had set variations, Skirmishes are extremely random, from objectives, to mob layout to creature skills.

Skirmishes (and scalable content in general) are the future of this game, IMO. At some point, I suspect they will allow players to have multiple NPCs, and that should allow for some truly epic battles that will better capture the war in Middle Earth. PvP needs some love, however, and Skirmishes would be a good way to implement battleground-style PvP. Can't wait for December 1st!

my hope is that they eventually allow you more than one, even if you can only use one at a time, like Mounts 2.0. 

Different mobs can call for different needs... tank, archer, healer, etc.

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by ghettobooste

Originally posted by Frostbite05

Originally posted by Papadam

Skirmishes is by far the most important innovasion in MMOs 2009! Really looking forward trying thoose.

 

Thats not innovative at all. But they look fun and may get me to play again.

 

Right, Lost Dungeons of Norrath comes to mind, I think that came out in 2001. But if anything it is an element that has not been used very often in MMOs and this sounds like it will be done very well.

Skirmishes are more of a direct evolution of DDO content. Keep in mind, Skirmishes are not "Dungeons" Most are in the over world. LDN had set variations, Skirmishes are extremely random, from objectives, to mob layout to creature skills.

Skirmishes (and scalable content in general) are the future of this game, IMO. At some point, I suspect they will allow players to have multiple NPCs, and that should allow for some truly epic battles that will better capture the war in Middle Earth. PvP needs some love, however, and Skirmishes would be a good way to implement battleground-style PvP. Can't wait for December 1st!

 

my hope is that they eventually allow you more than one, even if you can only use one at a time, like Mounts 2.0. 

Different mobs can call for different needs... tank, archer, healer, etc.

Not only is it going to be the future of LotRO, it is the future of MMO's. The ability for al levels to access content, but it scales to levels/classes, is going to catch on very fast. Of course the will be the high end stuff that is only accessable to high levels but this concept will probably catch on fast.
 

As for using the Solider to resolve some of the issues with soloing the epic quest line, I suspect the game's just not quite set up for it.  From the sounds of Orion's posts, he's basically retooling the epic quests to have temporary buffs applied to players when they're solo, and then no buffs when they're grouped. 

But I wonder if down the line future books and volumes won't just use the skirmish system, and make the epic quest line repeatable and scalable for all levels at all times.  It's a perfect fit really.

EDIT: And yes, I really have been lurking here for forever before making a post.  I'm a ninja... poof.

Originally posted by ghettobooste

LOTRO is already an incredible game, its flaws have always been the combat system and a grindy sort of solo experience. For those that do all the group content with friends this was never a problem but if you are a lone ranger type, the content can become tedious.  I see all these changes as giving much wider variety and enjoyment to the loners out there but also not affecting the group based players.

The skirmish system looks freakin awesome with endless random dungeons to explore, hell yea! from solo to raid size, freakin awesome.

The combat update has been needed for a long time and is going to elevate this game to the top of the genre.

Everything is looking good for LOTRO, they just need to add more MPVP areas! I hope that is next on their to do list.

I keep seeing this and I'm not sure what people consider "grindy" about LOTRO's solo experience.  If this is grindy to some people, I doubt they would've lasted 24 hours in UO, AC1, or EQ1.

I've  beta'd and played LOTRO since release.  It has to be one the most non-grindy games solo-wise I've played, even more so now with the lower level area revamps.  This game can be solo'd from 1-60 without issues.  I've done it with two characters myself.

Leveling with your kin or a group definitely exposes you to more possibilities in game, but by no means is it necessary.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

I was hoping you would touch on some of the combat system changes. but yes, Looks like turbine is evolving the MMO space again, taking cues from their other title.

I had no idea they were finally normalizing weapon speed. This is great news, as the weapon imbalance was one of my biggest griefs with this game. Thanks for posting that link Mrbloodworth.

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Originally posted by Robsolf

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Originally posted by GaryM

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Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

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Originally posted by ghettobooste

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Originally posted by Frostbite05

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Originally posted by Papadam

Skirmishes is by far the most important innovasion in MMOs 2009! Really looking forward trying thoose.

---

 
Thats not innovative at all. But they look fun and may get me to play again.

---

 
Right, Lost Dungeons of Norrath comes to mind, I think that came out in 2001. But if anything it is an element that has not been used very often in MMOs and this sounds like it will be done very well.

---

Skirmishes are more of a direct evolution of DDO content. Keep in mind, Skirmishes are not "Dungeons" Most are in the over world. LDN had set variations, Skirmishes are extremely random, from objectives, to mob layout to creature skills.

---

Skirmishes (and scalable content in general) are the future of this game, IMO. At some point, I suspect they will allow players to have multiple NPCs, and that should allow for some truly epic battles that will better capture the war in Middle Earth. PvP needs some love, however, and Skirmishes would be a good way to implement battleground-style PvP. Can't wait for December 1st!

---

 
I wonder why they haven't considered using your skirmish pet to resolve the solo epic story issue.  I suppose it's cause they won't start til' lvl 30?

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All Volume 1 Epic quests are going to become solo. You're going to get some kind of super buff that turns your character into an Elite/Elite Master for the duration of those epic quests.

might have to check this out when it launches...sounds intriguing

i've played this game casually for a while. recently re-subbed for 3 months to get the Siege for free. i like the whole PvE feel of the game, but it's hard to find a group for lower level quests.

Turbine is doing an awesome job with this game, with the last expansion they added great new content and more importantly to me important changes to the games systems and early areas too.  And it's looking again like they are going to add some very interesting changes into the game.  My only hope is that Mirkwood doesn't feel too much like Moria which I didn't care for all too much.

I read some early comments suggesting that you in essence would be repeating things.  To that I say that is no different than any single video game on the market.  You may prefer pvp but in reality the situations you face on a daily basis in pvp will occur numerous times over the thing is that is what entertains you so it feels fresh enough to you, and that is no different than what I get from playing LOTRO I rarely do the same repeatable dungeons or instances personally and have had fun wether crafting or exploring Lothlorien, Eregion, or Forochel I see those places often but never so much that they aren't fresh and that's where LOTRO impresses me the most, there is no limit to the places I can have fun exploring.

/sings "Lord of the Rings"~

Originally posted by Einherjar_LC

Originally posted by ghettobooste

LOTRO is already an incredible game, its flaws have always been the combat system and a grindy sort of solo experience. For those that do all the group content with friends this was never a problem but if you are a lone ranger type, the content can become tedious.  I see all these changes as giving much wider variety and enjoyment to the loners out there but also not affecting the group based players.

The skirmish system looks freakin awesome with endless random dungeons to explore, hell yea! from solo to raid size, freakin awesome.

The combat update has been needed for a long time and is going to elevate this game to the top of the genre.

Everything is looking good for LOTRO, they just need to add more MPVP areas! I hope that is next on their to do list.

 

I keep seeing this and I'm not sure what people consider "grindy" about LOTRO's solo experience.  If this is grindy to some people, I doubt they would've lasted 24 hours in UO, AC1, or EQ1.

 

I've  beta'd and played LOTRO since release.  It has to be one the most non-grindy games solo-wise I've played, even more so now with the lower level area revamps.  This game can be solo'd from 1-60 without issues.  I've done it with two characters myself.

 

Leveling with your kin or a group definitely exposes you to more possibilities in game, but by no means is it necessary.

 

 

 

I meant boring instead of grindy I suppose.  The real fun in LOTRO has always been the group play. Soloing from 1-60 is certainly possible, but it isn't near as fun.

I'll admit that I'm looking forward to this expansion. However, the one thing I'm not looking forward to are skirmishes. Everyone seems to be horribly overestimating how dynamic these are going to be. Let me bold this for emphasis.

The only thing dynamic about skirmishes are which monsters you'll be facing, which scale to the size of your party.

That's it. The areas are static. The objectives are static.  Just the monsters. All in all, I've seen nothing that separates this system from the crafting instances, other than the scaling. Which is nice, but at the end of the day, I still have the same problem with it - I don't want to run the same stuff over, and over, and over, and over. I don't care how dynamic you think it is, it's simply not as good as fresh content.

Granted, I'd rather have it than not have it in the game - more stuff is always better. But I wish they'd focus less how much they can make us grind the same content and focus more on the content that really makes the game (the book quests).

I'll receive the expansion automatically, so I'll definitely be playing. But if it proves to be more of the asinine hamster wheel they put us on in Moria, I'll be canceling my subscription very quickly.

<3

This is a bold step for Lotro and I hope it bares the fruit they want it to. Lotro has always been one of the top MMO's, it has it's issues but they try damn hard to solve the eternal end game problem.

I will be raising my mug of ale in time for Mirkwood no doubt about it.

Originally posted by Papadam

Skirmishes is by far the most important innovasion in MMOs 2009! Really looking forward trying thoose.

They sound fairly good, but the whole mechanic of selecting and customizing them from a menu seems like it would really hurt immersion. "Hmmm, I think I'll have a medium-sized, moderate difficulty encounter right here."

 I'll admit, between Moria and the new content, it makes me wanna rejoin (after 2 years off).  I wonder how long it would take me to get to level 30+?  Heck, I can't even remember what level I left off at!

I enjoy LotRO, but I'm not overly excited about SoM.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm not a hater, and I did pre-order this "x-pac."

Basically, to me, it breaks down to The Skimish System, which could have been it's own X-pac / Adventure Pack, and now instead of leveling our toon(s), we are leveling a Legendary Item. 

Yes, they raised the level cap, but the only real reason for this was to get you into Mirkwood, to get you another LI >lvl 60, so you can begin the grind or leveling it up.  Any <= Lvl 60 LI will become outdated and you'll eventually want to get rid of for a new one.  Your LI points, blue balls, etc don't really carry over.  (Yes, I know you can get like 3% back from Moria LIs to xfer over to a Mirkwood one).

And then they threw in some much needed combat changes and an extra "we've revised the mounts" perk. 

Ehh... $20, maybe worth it.  But since Moria, this is what we've been waiting for to be the next big thing --- I don't think so. 

I'll guess by the New Year, we'll all be wondering what the next big thing will be as we're through Mirkwood, and bored with the Skirmish System.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

I'll admit that I'm looking forward to this expansion. However, the one thing I'm not looking forward to are skirmishes. Everyone seems to be horribly overestimating how dynamic these are going to be. Let me bold this for emphasis.

The only thing dynamic about skirmishes are which monsters you'll be facing, which scale to the size of your party.

That's it. The areas are static. The objectives are static.  Just the monsters. All in all, I've seen nothing that separates this system from the crafting instances, other than the scaling. Which is nice, but at the end of the day, I still have the same problem with it - I don't want to run the same stuff over, and over, and over, and over. I don't care how dynamic you think it is, it's simply not as good as fresh content.

Granted, I'd rather have it than not have it in the game - more stuff is always better. But I wish they'd focus less how much they can make us grind the same content and focus more on the content that really makes the game (the book quests).

I'll receive the expansion automatically, so I'll definitely be playing. But if it proves to be more of the asinine hamster wheel they put us on in Moria, I'll be canceling my subscription very quickly.

<3

Developer Diary: SoM Skirmishes: Randomization and Scaling

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Originally posted by towani
I enjoy LotRO, but I'm not overly excited about SoM.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm not a hater, and I did pre-order this "x-pac."
Basically, to me, it breaks down to The Skimish System, which could have been it's own X-pac / Adventure Pack, and now instead of leveling our toon(s), we are leveling a Legendary Item. 
Yes, they raised the level cap, but the only real reason for this was to get you into Mirkwood, to get you another LI >lvl 60, so you can begin the grind or leveling it up.  Any <= Lvl 60 LI will become outdated and you'll eventually want to get rid of for a new one.  Your LI points, blue balls, etc don't really carry over.  (Yes, I know you can get like 3% back from Moria LIs to xfer over to a Mirkwood one).
And then they threw in some much needed combat changes and an extra "we've revised the mounts" perk. 
Ehh... $20, maybe worth it.  But since Moria, this is what we've been waiting for to be the next big thing --- I don't think so. 
I'll guess by the New Year, we'll all be wondering what the next big thing will be as we're through Mirkwood, and bored with the Skirmish System.

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my thoughts exactly.

While I really like lotro, the whole content got old very fast, especially in their "farm the cluster to raid at the end" design. radiance, which made the game feel like vanilla-wow, is even worse. true, you can farm the small instances for tokens, but: how long will it take? how often do you have to grind the instance to get a token? count it twice if you have an alt (lotro is a kinda alt-heavy game).
I also liked the old combat system, while it was still "whack a mole" it required you to think ahead a bit. If I wanted to have a wow's gameplay I go back to wow again. but as long as turbine thinks they'll get more players this way (which failed with MOM and their "raid or die" gameplay introduction...).

I'm afraid skirmishes, as fun as they sound, will be just another battle of lorien. it's in the game, nothing more. gl finding a competent group to pug it or never do it (yeahyeah, I know "get a kin etc." - but some people are lone wolfs or don't have the time or commitment for a kin. who's to blame here, the game design or the players?).

while I get SoM too, I expect it not to last longer than 2-3 months tops. longer if you're a raider and will do your weekly raids. but what's next? the announcement that in 6 months the levelcap will be raised to 70?

well, I'd will be fun as long as it lasts....

PS: is it just me or does the soldier sound a lot like the GW:Nightfall heroes?

"The auto-attack now runs in the background so that players' skills will always trigger as soon as they select them"

FUN!