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Lord of the Rings Online Interviews: Siege of Mirkwood Interview
MMORPG.com's Jon Wood had the chance to speak with Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel and Aaron Campbell about the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood.
By Jon Wood on November 04, 2009
With a new expansion on the way for their popular MMORPG Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel and Aaron Campbell answered a few of our questions about Siege of Mirkwood.
you can learn more about Siege of Mirkwood and Lord of the Rings Online from their official website, here.
| MMORPG.com: | Presenting Siege of Mirkwood as a digital expansion is a fairly radical departure from the aggressive retail box release of LotRO's first expansion, Mines of Moria. Is this an indication that a second expansion couldn't hold up to a retail distribution, or are there other factors at work? |
| Turbine: | Players and the industry should look at this as another example of Turbine exploring more and more ways we can continue to bring quality entertainment to our customers, and provide choice and diversity of offerings. Mirkwood Digital distribution means neither the end of retail LOTRO releases nor the end of free content updates. We are simply doing something different for Mirkwood to bring significant new content to players just a year after Moria, and in the most appropriate way possible for this particular product, and time. We want to continue to provide serial entertainment to players through both free and paid content offerings and this will continue to be the backbone of the LOTRO experience. |
| MMORPG.com: | In terms of sheer content, how does Siege of Mirkwood stack up against Mines of Moria? |
| Turbine: | Mines of Moria™ was a massive undertaking, no doubt. Siege of Mirkwood™ provides a smaller scale of content than Moria, but a greater range of flexibility. One of the new features we're most excited about is Skirmishes, which provide for randomized, story-based battle instances that scale to the size of your group. This is an entirely new layer to LOTRO on top of the things you'd come to expect, including a deep and exciting Epic Story, the haunting and thematic landscape of Southern Mirkwood, and a massive new series of instances for 3, 6 or 12 players within the Fortress of Dol Guldur. |
| MMORPG.com: | Can you tell us how the skirmish system is going to work? |
| Turbine: | Skirmishes allow you to join a story-based battle from anywhere in the world, using the Skirmish Join panel. Create your fellowship, choose your adventure and go! You can adjust the level, group size and difficulty of the space when you select the Skirmish. Once inside each member can summon their customized soldier, and battle randomized enemy lieutenants to capture or defend control points and complete optional objectives. As you advance you can unlock new Skirmishes, customize your soldier with Skirmish Marks, or purchase in-game rewards such as weapons, armor or quest items. |
| MMORPG.com: | Are you concerned that skirmishes might draw players away from the regular content of the game? |
| Turbine: | Not at all! Skirmishes add one more layer to the Lord of the Rings Online, extending story-based spaces to scenarios such as defending the Prancing Pony from oncoming brigands, or assaulting the footsteps of Dol Guldur. Skirmishes also do this in a way that is friendly to solo or group players - how you play is entirely your option. Skirmishes are just another choice for you as a player, along with quests within regions, the Epic Quests, fellowship instances, Legendary Items, PvMP and raiding. |
| |
| MMORPG.com: | Can you give us a bit of an overview of the Dol Guldur raid? |
| Turbine: | The raid on Barad Guldur, the tower at the center of Dol Guldur, is the culmination of your quest to topple the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur. This 12-person raid will pit you against hordes of Uruk, wargs and goblins, sorcerers, and finally the Ringwraith atop his Fell Beast. The final boss has one of the greatest entrances I've ever seen. |
| MMORPG.com: | We understand that there are quite a few changes coming to the way that players sit atop their horses. What changes are coming, and what led to the decision to add more detail to something that, game-mechanics wise, has very little impact? |
| Turbine: | I'd disagree that this change has little impact. Sometimes the smallest things can have the largest impact on day-to-day life as a player. Changes coming to mounts include mounts as a skill (so they no longer take up inventory space), interacting with NPCs from your mount, mount-based emotes, and the ability to rename your mount. This is something that the development team was passionate about and we're glad to see it complete. |
| MMORPG.com: | With any expansion, there are going to be smaller changes that don't make it into the spotlight when discussing the whole. Are there any other additions coming with this expansion that we haven't touched on? |
| Turbine: | We've taken a hard look at two systems with this expansion: Combat and Legendary Items. Combat has seen changes to make your skills more responsive and let auto-attacks flow freely in the background. Legendary Items have gotten a full reworking of legacies based on player favorites, along with changes to display your two most important legacies when an item is identified. These are just two of many positive changes we look forward to introducing you to in Siege of Mirkwood. |
;)
Nice interview... i like the way the game is growing...
AWSOME! xD
I love how they listen to the player base. The mount changes are just what I need. Not having to dismount every time I talk to an NPC or go through a door, makes me all tingly inside. I'm also excited about the skirmishes, they sound interesting. I just hope they're not overhyping them to fail. =(
Turbine:
I'd disagree that this change has little impact. Sometimes the smallest things can have the largest impact on day-to-day life as a player. Changes coming to mounts include mounts as a skill (so they no longer take up inventory space), interacting with NPCs from your mount, mount-based emotes, and the ability to rename your mount. This is something that the development team was passionate about and we're glad to see it complete.
Like redesigning your player models, which IMO happen to be some of the ugliest looking of any MMO I've played. Not to mention the lack of choices in character customization, allowing for an extremely limited variation in the look of characters. I can't understand how a game with such amazing environments can have such ugly character models. It's like oil and vinegar, they just don't mix.
Expand on these two things and I'll be content and come back.
What? Do the playerbase ever asked for a mage-like class? Do the playerbase ever asked for a gating content? Do the playerbase ever asked for GOATS?? Do the playerbase ever asked to not recieve any free content updates during the last years except for a couple of hastly-crafted 30 minute instances? No, Turbine is not listening to their playerbase, Turbine is no longer interested what the bunch of lifetimers has got to say, they already squeezed their wallet. Turbine is interested and appeal to new market.
Except on a salad.. yummmmmm
That's not a small thing. also, LOTRO is not lacking in appearance customization.
What? Do the playerbase ever asked for a mage-like class? Yup alot of people asked for that, I wasnt one of them but I love my Rune keeper!
Do the playerbase ever asked for a gating content? Yup alot of people were asking about progression after reaching level cap so there was any point to keep playing instead of just rolling an alt or quit. And since almost all content in LotrO and most MMOs is gated I dont see the problem.
Do the playerbase ever asked for GOATS?? You people were asking for some mount in Moria, dont see the issue. Even thou I think they should stay in Moria only. But it a very small issue.
Do the playerbase ever asked to not recieve any free content updates during the last years except for a couple of hastly-crafted 30 minute instances? We got 2 free updates and now a mini-expanion this year. SoM doesnt cost much and some even get it free. Considering the special offers Turbine give LotrO is ceaper that most other MMOs. Better than the microstransactions companies like SoE and Cryptic add to their sub bases games eh? ;)
No, Turbine is not listening to their playerbase, Turbine is no longer interested what the bunch of lifetimers has got to say, they already squeezed their wallet. Turbine is interested and appeal to new market.
So Turbine does listen to their players and most people seem very happy about the changes coming with SoM. MOM was abit to ambitouse imo which cause alot of problems and pushed back content but now they brought it back on track.
Have fun in Vanguard! ;)
That's not a small thing. also, LOTRO is not lacking in appearance customization.
It's not small in regards to the work that it would take to implement. Perhaps not, but I'm not sure that's what they were referring to in the interview and I fail to see where it would be more work than some of the other upcoming additions/changes. Maybe I'm wrong.
You are referring to gear. I'm strictly speaking about features such as faces, etc. I'm talking about the look of your character when creating it. It's very limited in regards to the initial look of one character from another.
What? Do the playerbase ever asked for a mage-like class? Do the playerbase ever asked for a gating content? Do the playerbase ever asked for GOATS?? Do the playerbase ever asked to not recieve any free content updates during the last years except for a couple of hastly-crafted 30 minute instances? No, Turbine is not listening to their playerbase, Turbine is no longer interested what the bunch of lifetimers has got to say, they already squeezed their wallet. Turbine is interested and appeal to new market.
Yup, I cant stand Turbine anymore...Theres now way I'll return to LOTRO as long as their running the show. LOTRO is a huge fail in my eyes, its nothing like I expected a LOTR MMO to turn out like.
My only wish is for a different company to try their hand at Middle Earth but its very unlikely.
/Turbine Fails
Improving the look of characters and add more custimization would be great. +Fix all the ugly animations such as some running and jumping animations!
And LotrO really need a "sidekick" feature so high level and low level characters can play together! Especially with the new skirmishes!!!
err the game mechanics have no need for this. You get xp based on size of party, but NOT on lvl of members.. if your lvl 30 for example, you get the same xp grouping with another 30 as you do with a 60.. 60's can join the party and have no negative effect..
I'd hoped for a bit more in the interview. I didn't see anything in there that I didn't already know.
You say Turbine fails, but yet give no reason why they fail. I can understand that LotRO didn't live up to your expectations, but you could give reasons why they don't. I see that you play Aion, which has a huge bot/spamming issue. That to me is lack of dev attention and would make me think that they don't care about their player base and their complaints. It would leave me to believe that....
/NCSoft Fails
Yup, I cant stand Turbine anymore...Theres now way I'll return to LOTRO as long as their running the show. LOTRO is a huge fail in my eyes, its nothing like I expected a LOTR MMO to turn out like.
My only wish is for a different company to try their hand at Middle Earth but its very unlikely.
/Turbine Fails
Lotro is very successful, doing great, and one of the most fun mmo's out there. Lots and Lots of people play and love it. They are innovative w/ subscription pricing, and..
They revived DDO with going f2p and making a ton of cash off it. They just opened another server!
/turbine = success huge fail in your eyes? Seriously it's not for you that 's fine..but tell me one mmo that lived up to your expectations?
Skirmishes are for player range 30 -65.
Skirmishes are for player range 30 -65.
Oh yea I know, just would be nice if everyone could be the same level since its not much fun to play with lvl 65 character if you are 30!
Oh yea I know, just would be nice if everyone could be the same level since its not much fun to play with lvl 65 character if you are 30!
Random, scaling, encounters.
Lotro is as far to success as it could be with such a huge IP behind. Turbine picked up their money for this overcheap lifetime, and now there's simply not enough regular subscribers.
There's a reason why Lotro since MoM didnt recieve any real content update. In fact, Lotro recieved less content update since MoM, that Vanguard did this year and we all know Vanguard has 4 devs. Want me to make a comparison of the added features one by one?
Successful game with less content updates than Vanguard? Oh give me a break.
Lotro is as far to success as it could be with such a huge IP behind. Turbine picked up their money for this overcheap lifetime, and now there's simply not enough regular subscribers.
There's a reason why Lotro since MoM didnt recieve any real content update. In fact, Lotro recieved less content update since MoM, that Vanguard did this year and we all know Vanguard has 4 devs. Want me to make a comparison of the added features one by one?
Successful game with less content updates than Vanguard? Oh give me a break.
Thillian knows all.
LOTRO has received plenty of content updates. You just dont want to acknowledge all of it, meanwhile everyone else is generally happy. And turbine still gives out the best deal in MMO gaming and free content to its players.
But, we have been down this road with you, your like a broken record at this point, one, with pointless songs on it.
If anybody wants a free account here are the details
Lotro English U.S. server Windfola
Username: Borghive
Password: Joey49
has a lvl 60 dwarf hunter and a 40+ female Warden
If you do take the account dont forget to change all details including the password (of course) the e-mail the name its under the secret question and things like these
this message has been sent out to other people so if you want it jump on it now!
Thillian knows all.
LOTRO has received plenty of content updates. You just dont want to acknowledge all of it, meanwhile everyone else is generally happy. And turbine still gives out the best deal in MMO gaming and free content to its players.
But, we have been down this road with you, your like a broken record at this point, one, with pointless songs on it.
Let's go for it fanboy. Vanguard has 4 devs:
Lotro since MoM:
Vanguard since last year: (I repeat, Vanguard has 4 DEVS)
I won't go down this road with you.
But you fail to acknowledge the zone revamps, bounty quests, crafting changes ETC.. The list goes on. We have been over this before, you simply lack perspective. Its great that Vanguard is finally getting some content.
Its really ok to just not like a game. But at lest lets stop with the "DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM" and lies.
EDIT: You also highly play down the amount of content in your little list there. And its fan, not fanboi. Fanboi would imply I ignore the games issues. Issues are different than your crackpot conspiracies.
Yup, I cant stand Turbine anymore...Theres now way I'll return to LOTRO as long as their running the show. LOTRO is a huge fail in my eyes, its nothing like I expected a LOTR MMO to turn out like.
My only wish is for a different company to try their hand at Middle Earth but its very unlikely.
/Turbine Fails
Lotro is very successful, doing great, and one of the most fun mmo's out there. Lots and Lots of people play and love it. They are innovative w/ subscription pricing, and..
They revived DDO with going f2p and making a ton of cash off it. They just opened another server!
/turbine = success huge fail in your eyes? Seriously it's not for you that 's fine..but tell me one mmo that lived up to your expectations?
WoW lived up to what I thought it would be until end-game and Aion will far surpass my expections as long as NCsoft keeps trying to better its new MMO.
I truly do hope LOTRO the best but its far from what I thought Middle Earth would look like in an MMO. I'm sure its a great game to some, but to me LOTRO is a fail. Hence the reason I quit not long after Moria and dont plan to ever return. A big part of my leaving was the lack of PVP which I admit makes me biased....doesnt Middle Earth feel too safe to others? It sure did to me, to the point that I packed up my bags and left.
Are you kidding me right? Do you consider the few crafting high level recipes added after half a year community whine to level up crafting items which were subpar with the dungeon drops being a new content? I didnt talk about VG zone revamps either. I was talking about major content updates and additions.
It is simply as that. Lotro gained less free content updates since MoM, than Vanguard with 4 devs last year. This is not a successful game, this is a dying game with most of its playerbase now playing for free due to their lifetime sub paid years ago.
Turbine depleted their most loyal fans which are on lifetime for years now. There's no more money coming from the most loyal LOTR playerbase, except from the occasional expansions. Lotro is going into Guild Wars model with no free content updates and only paid expansions, because there's simply not enough regular monthly subscribers.
Thillian knows all.
LOTRO has received plenty of content updates. You just dont want to acknowledge all of it, meanwhile everyone else is generally happy. And turbine still gives out the best deal in MMO gaming and free content to its players.
But, we have been down this road with you, your like a broken record at this point, one, with pointless songs on it.
Let's go for it fanboy. Vanguard has 4 devs:
Lotro since MoM:
Vanguard since last year: (I repeat, Vanguard has 4 DEVS)
I really enjoyed Vanguard when I was playing it. Unfortunately, none of my friends were interested in playing and being that I enjoy games more when playing with friends, I left as well. More importantly though and I must ask, why even bother wasting your time in the LoTRO forums? I'm not intending to start a war of words either. Just curious as to why people waste time posting in forums of games they have no interest in or can't stand.
Honestly, I spend time in the Warhammer forum although I no longer play that game. However, this is because I love the IP and because of my tarnished hope for what that game could have been. What is your reasoning for being here? Like I said, just curious.
Lotro is doing fine.. keep yelling DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM>>>>>>>>. Turbine's running a very very successful mmo.
They are catering to attacting new players and not worrying about the lifetime subs..which makes sense. THey have tons of content to do.. every mmo is shallow if you sit infront of your computer 40 hours a week, but for a guy who plays 4-6 hours a week, i still can not find time to do everything and i have been playing on and off since release *shrugs*
MoM has increased the difficulty (yes grind too) which has pee'd off some of the player base, but has attracted new players in return. I personally have a blast!
I played VG, i want to love it. but it's just on it's deathmarch. it is NOT attracting new players, i'm sorry, that's just how it is. How about we compair "new content" since launch with the new game? Alot of people i know biatch about the RK class, but you know what, they play it too. I know alot of players who love it.
I think some of you confuse "the player base" with "yourself"
You are truly in your own little world man.
Vaedur explain me please.
Why did Lotro basically not get any content update since MoM?
Let's compare a bit again.
Lotro content updates between SoA and MoM:
Lotro updates since MoM:
Xfire doesn't show any rapid decline of players in Lotro, nor the activity - just log in the servers and you'll see. The amount of players is basically the same as during release.
So I'm asking you. Where are all the man hours disappeared? DiD they spend all the lifetime money already and now there's just a few devs working on new content equal to the amount of regular monthly subscribers (just like Vanguard that has 4 devs?)
Where are the developers, where are the man hours. Please tell me. You obviously think of this game as being successful. Explain me, what is happening. Because I provided an explanation, I'm waiting for yours.
-- this is not a vanguard promotion. Vanguard is dead and I realize it's gonna shut down soon. But I see you guys are playing Lotro and think it's successful. I wonder why do you think its more successful if the amount of free content (devs dedicated for it)is less than in Vanguard that has 4 devs and a couple of thousands subscribers.
Hey, 1) i watch vanguard all the time cause i loved it.. infact if they ever get AA i prolly will resub to play again..
2) i see 100% what you are saying. I think they focus there dev attention on paid content updates now that they have lifetime subs.. like SoM we all know that it's what "should" be a free update, so they held back the last few updates, packaged them together, and are charging us for it.. oh but wait those paying subs get it for free.. those who have lifetime do to for 19.99.. read between the lines.. free update, unless your lifetime, then were charging you.. it's just a way to fleece you.
but.. i log on a lot to lotro.. and they are very very successful for the number of players..my server is hopping!
Think Im gonna breath it through. I always get in a little rage when I think of Steefel with his "cool awesome incredible gamebreaking" and how much Turbine pretty much fucked up a solid game I enjoyed (yes me, not you, not Michael, but me). And also I'm pretty sure that Turbine moved their devs from Lotro to DDo now since DDo is getting all these supremely fast new udpates like they hired 50 devs. But they didn't. The only one they hired recently was the guy for RMT. Even with SoM, the content between the period SoA and MoM is incomparable.
And keep in mind, what games did offer lifetime offer except lotro? Hellgate London (Bill roper director) and Champions Online (Bill Roper director)? Yeh sounds like a successful payment model. True fans that expected to stay with the game for longer time, are no longer paying anything. Tell me how would AC1, AO, EQ1, DaoC, now if they offered lifetime at release? Do you think any of those vets would be an actual monthly subscriber?
Thillian, no matter how you spin things LotrO is adding content faster then most MMOs its comparable to. With SoE, Cryptic and Blizzard adding cash shops to their games I dont find it wierd that we have to pay for this mini-expansion. And for a lifetimer I think paying $20 for this is nothing. So for LotrO I pay less and get more than all other MMOs in the industry, thats nice!
The reason DDO got an update out so fast was because the last update was delayed for 6 months so they had more content finished already so I dont understand how thats related to LotrO.
Ironic that a VG fan is doom and glooming about the most succesfull western post-WoW MMO :)
I don't know what game your playing but we just now getting stuff that was promised to come out with moria, addind stuff faster than other mmo's you should see the ammount of content eq2 had given for free the past 4 months.
That's not a small thing. also, LOTRO is not lacking in appearance customization.
Sorry, but I have to agree that LOTRO needs an upgrade to its character customization and its animations. Don't get me wrong, I think this is by far the #1 PVE game out there right now. I love the DX10 graphics, love the community, there is a ton of stuff to do, am part of a great guild, never any performance issues, very polished game, love the new runekeeper class, best story of any MMO, but if they would fix the animations and the character customization...I think they would attract a % of players (even if that is not that large) that left because of them.
Yup, I cant stand Turbine anymore...Theres now way I'll return to LOTRO as long as their running the show. LOTRO is a huge fail in my eyes, its nothing like I expected a LOTR MMO to turn out like.
My only wish is for a different company to try their hand at Middle Earth but its very unlikely.
/Turbine Fails
Wow!, i'ts been a while since i posted about lotro, because i've been busy playing it, however, i must say that those posts even tho are considered a valid opinion, to my eyes ther's nothing more distant from the truth.
WTH do you want dude, when i run around LotrO i feel like in the freakign book, the ambience, the sounds, the music of the zones, it only takes a good walk on the shire, evendim or even moria to feel that the atmosphere. I just don't get the whole whining thing.
Besides that speaking content wise, you have lot's and lots and lots of things to do beside leveling, i must say that you almos level by not trying to do so. The grinding effect has been replaced by side stories or quest to achieve the various aspects of the game that requieres certain ammount of time invested.
Bottom line if you like to solo you can solo the freakign game in every aspect (of course don't pretend to have uber gear), but still you can have almost an equal tier of gear, tha tin my oppinion is much worth it that the raid ones (time-invested wise), if you lplay with 2-3 friends, you can do it, if you're part of a big kin, you can raid your eyes out, if you like PvP (PvMP) go out and beat the crap out of your preffered faction, i mean you can play this game as you want it.
And lore wise, just take a look at the bestiary to see that they are not pulling bunnies out of their hats, in fact the work invested in trying to blend all the preconceptions of the movies/book trilogies into the middle-earth unniverse I must say is titanic and amazing.
Just enjoy the game, feel it and enrich you eyes with the amazing landscapes this is the best overall expirience game i've ever played and i guess ther's a lot of people on the same page.
C'ya
Lotro is very successful, doing great, and one of the most fun mmo's out there. Lots and Lots of people play and love it. They are innovative w/ subscription pricing, and..
They revived DDO with going f2p and making a ton of cash off it. They just opened another server!
/turbine = success huge fail in your eyes? Seriously it's not for you that 's fine..but tell me one mmo that lived up to your expectations?
WoW lived up to what I thought it would be until end-game and Aion will far surpass my expections as long as NCsoft keeps trying to better its new MMO.
I truly do hope LOTRO the best but its far from what I thought Middle Earth would look like in an MMO. I'm sure its a great game to some, but to me LOTRO is a fail. Hence the reason I quit not long after Moria and dont plan to ever return. A big part of my leaving was the lack of PVP which I admit makes me biased....doesnt Middle Earth feel too safe to others? It sure did to me, to the point that I packed up my bags and left.
A lot of us do not like open world PvP. I have played open world Pvp and it does not appeal to me at all. I like a game where the players work together and are not trying to stick a knife in each others back.
while i think most changes are great and finally the mount changes. what i would like to have seen is some change to the housing situation. to be able to place furniture when and where you want as in other games like UO and runes of magic. i don't really understand why this hasn't been fixed as it is already instance driven. this is a game i have enjoyed immensly. is their going to be more hobbies or is fishing it? One other thing , please don't go the route of WOW with an in game store that sells pets.
Turbine: "Players and the industry should look at this as another example of Turbine exploring more and more ways we can continue to bring quality entertainment to our customers"
Sorry but lmao what is this quality they speak of? they don't fix bugs like skill lock ups, bad mob pathing, for 2 years now...now we got CTD & exploits that some don't know about..do it and get banned, yet they don't ban the big time exploiters.
Plus lets not forget turbine does not care about it's PvMP customers they will not listen to them.
I should just sell my lifetime account and never come back to this trash, sorry for the rant but it's all true the players know this line turbine is trying to feed you is a lie lawl turbine.
Back to FFXI i go :)