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Lord of the Rings Online News - New Expansion: "Siege of Mirkwood"
Posted by Michael Bitton on Sep 04, 2009 | 49 comments in our forums
A new digital expansion for The Lord of The Rings Online has been announced today. The new expansion, entitled "Siege of Mirkwood", will bring the culmination of the epic storyline that began with the Mines of Moria, or more specifically bring the game to Book II Chapter 9, and will include the Epilogue as well. In addition to the story content, the expansion will bring a level cap bump to 65, introduce a new 12 man raid, and a smattering of three to six man instances.
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A new game system will be introduced as well, called Skirmishes. Some information on the skirmish system is available below:
Skirmishes offer endless action in repeatable, randomized instances where players can create and lead customizable soldiers into battle, training them to greater skill as they earn victories against the forces of shadow. Answer the call of war wherever violence erupts with the new "World Join" function that lets players and their fellowships band together to fight in various locations throughout Middle-earth.
The official Siege of Mirkwood site can be found here.
Wow...I know that they didn't release that many details about this expansion yet,,, but this is making me want to come back to LOTRO...looks like they are taking the game in a good direction...and not copying others...doing some unique things with the epic battles and skirmishes and things... I've been game hopping for months and haven't been able to settle down for more than a week in any MMO,,,but i haven't played LOTRO in about a year and i think i may come back and continue... Way to go Turbine...
I am thinking the same thing. Might have to head back to Middle-Earth soon.
LOTRO = epic storyline (emphasis on "line")
Middle Earth = vast open world begging to be done right
I know, I miss MEO, I still think they will make it someday. Not Restart the original project but make it new and fresh.
-Jive
lol.
Awesome
yes yes yes
lord of the rings has always been my second back up mmo ( given i have a life time sub ) suddenly it may become my main mmo .
bah I wish blizzard would announce their ex-pacs a few months before release.
Very little info considering the ex-pac is out in a month or 2. But reading into whats included.. its not on a scale as big as a wow ex-pac (and thats not a troll comment).
Very nice. I always look forward to the addition of more content in this game. They always deliver.
When one considers the free content that turbine has added through the years i find it a good value.
so is this an expac or a book or somewhere in between?
For an expac, it seems a little underwhelming...
For a book, looks about on par with what Turbine has done in the past...
Will this cost as much as an expansion or will it be cheaper?
I get the impression from the press release (digital expansion, conclusion of volume 2, etc.) that this is more of a large DLC than a full expansion. Guess that does confirm that Rohan will be the target for the next expansion though.
A new zone will be good to get, especially since Lothlorien was underwhelming. I hope Dol Guldur is as big and epic as Carn Dum was - the Moria instances are a bit short for my taste. What I'm most excited about is the Skirmish system: group content that scales to the size of the party. That should help give the game a lot more replay value at level-cap, which is the biggest problem with LOTRO in its current state. The LI system really needs an overhaul too. I'm really looking forward to this update!
Now is this a paid expansion your talking about or another free content update, they need to clairify that, cause the expainsions on LoTRo are fairly big. They been saying for a while we would get a lvl cap up in an upcoming update.
well, at least to me, it seems as though turbine is positioning this somewhere between an expansion and a book - hence the term "digital expansion".
It also doesn't have near the marketing heft that MoM had - so is this a new type of deployment from Turbine? Which is fine if they charge a reasonable price. IMO, outside a few design oversights, Turbine has managed LotRO right by me so I'm thinking this is similar to the adventure/booster pack sized content we saw with EQ2 and AO(for those of you that don't remember or know, funcom turned AO's first expansion into a small "booster pack" and a fullfledged expansion that came out later).
They have stated that it is going to be a $20 dollar expansion, with a new Volume coming out. Since they priced Moria at $30 if I remember right, that means that this probably won't be as big.
But they are making a lot of great changes, like the whole skirmish thing, and making mounts skills, not items so you can interact with vendors and enter instances. Here is an article about it that the writer got from talking to Turbine during PAX today. lotrovault.ign.com/View.php
As a LOTRO fan, I'm really looking forward to this!
sounds cool, but it does seem more like a one of there regular free updates, and not an expansion. unless mirkwood is really freaking massive.... i was under the impression, each of there expansions would actually focus on the books. thus, the next one, was going to be book 1 of the two towers, hence, the rohan.... but mirkwood is good too heh
Would like to know how much they will charge for this, $10 sounds reasonable. I would prefer smaller expansions every 6 months than 1 big ass expansion ever 1.5-2 years or so.
There must be more content in this unless Turbine plan for players to ding 5 levels in the new raid dungeon and the new skirmish system.
Or did they add the 5 levels as a way to validate a fee?
Remove the extra 5 levels and Compare this to WoW futures 3.3 free content patch and I find it hard to justify a fee, hell even compared to 3.2 its hard to justify.
Either way I'm downloading the trial now, been almost 2 years since I tried Lotro, worth a another look I think.
What they really needs is a new character model and better looking armour expansion.
This.
Some nights I cry because of LOTRO.
Considering that every LotrO update have been bigger than every WoW update we can guess that its going to be pretty big.
How many updates have 1 new raid + several 3 and 6 man instances + a new zone (we dont know how big it is) + this new skirimish system which we dont know much about yet. Also increasing level cap to 65 and LI cap to 60 and revamping the whole system. For $20 I guess its going to be pretty big.
They have also stated that they have 2 zones in pre-production and that volume 3 will start with as a free update.
Considering that every LotrO update have been bigger than every WoW update we can guess that its going to be pretty big.
Your wrong ( wow patch 3.2 vs Book 8 ) but lets not de-rail an otherwise troll free post.
How many updates have 1 new raid + several 3 and 6 man instances + a new zone (we dont know how big it is) + this new skirimish system which we dont know much about yet. Also increasing level cap to 65 and LI cap to 60 and revamping the whole system. For $20 I guess its going to be pretty big.
The new Zone would need to be huge to have 5 levels of content, but then again Im looking at this with my WoW head on.
They have also stated that they have 2 zones in pre-production and that volume 3 will start with as a free update.
LOTRO for the most part is doing ok but I wasnt a big fan of moria... why? because it was just more of the same just bigger rats (mobs) and static quests,, this mirkwood thing just sounds like more track at the end of the line and still a never changing world,, worse yet "random generated" sounds too much like revolving door mob grind.
what they need is some diversity
here are a few sugestions i have made over the years..
public works projects like major bridge, walls, fortresses ect
siege weapons balistai, cantapults rams towers
zone attractions (organic) slippery ice,, waterslide, ore cart coaster taxi ext.
ship action, battles
player adopted villages the village is kinda treated like a large pet or henchmen (the better the village does the more it can offer the player)
interactive terrain, destroyables, climbables
I would really also like to see them overhaul housing and make it usefull like puting in a garden or workshop or other usefull structures,, when they put this in it was their first attempt but its getting anoying now that they havent corected the defects by now. currently the housing zones are just rented bank space. itel slots in houses is far too ridged and limited.
fishing has allways been a WOW wannabie insult that turbine dumped on us this "click and wait" fishing system
now im not trolling,, ive been a loyal subscriber since BETA but moria didnt impress me, and so far mirkwood sounds like just a quest grind raiding content so its beginning to loose ground with me
oh ya BAG SPACE doods!!! this is really pissing me off that you have gone this long without a bag space increase with all the new S%*T we are supose to haul around now legend weapons, faction stuff crafting stuff... and so on!
like to see crafting get more player choice would actually prefer a full open skill based system but id settle for a "pick 3"
i want to take yoeman but it has no producer craft i take explorer but id love to drop prospecting and pick up cooking.
I agree with most of the points you make Brenth, however, on the subject of siege weapons, such as balista, catapults and 'rams towers' etc, I can't really see that fitting in, as most of the time the Free Peoples are on the receiving end, never the aggressors.
Remember that on the maps Mirkwood goes from level with Lorien in the south clear up to Angmar in the north and consists of at least 3 zones:
1.Southern-the area around Dol Guldur
2. Central-the area around the Mountains of Mirkwood where Bilbo ran into spiders and where Beorn and the proto Riders of Rohan lived (originally before moving to Rohan)
3.Northern-where the Elf kingdom of Thranduil is- where Legolas came from.
This looks like just the Southern part.
I sort of thought that Turbine would be doing this later around when the Hobbit movies come out.
I always liked the Old Forest area. Maybe this will be a really dangerous Old Forest-that'll be fun (Tom Bombidil can't help one this time.
It's $20. Although if you wait a month it will probably drop down to $10, like Moria had a big price drop
(Me being the big dummy I am, bought Moria at retail for $40 and haven't even set foot in it yet. So I'm definitely passing on this, unless they add more low level content instead of just killing boars. They really should have gotten the Cabela license, not Middle Earth, considering how much of the game involves killing wild animals)
your very close but i believe the central part where the road crossed E-W trough mirkwood was avoided by bilbo's crew as it was being wasched (by goblins?)
they went via a trail throught the northern part of mirkwood where they encountered the spiders and the elves actually only a poisoned jog from escaping the spiders to the elf circle? then they barrel rode eastward into the lake
but your right though it is a very long and large woods
This would be a pretty good game if the combat was better. Every time I pick lotro up and play, I feel like I am playing in mud.No other game ive ever played is so "sluggish" with its controls.
Sad actually, the game itself is great.
Yea I read the article sounds like more hard core raiding, uggg.
The skirmish factor definitely perks my interest
It's $20. Although if you wait a month it will probably drop down to $10, like Moria had a big price drop
(Me being the big dummy I am, bought Moria at retail for $40 and haven't even set foot in it yet. So I'm definitely passing on this, unless they add more low level content instead of just killing boars. They really should have gotten the Cabela license, not Middle Earth, considering how much of the game involves killing wild animals)
Moria is fun. Ive been inside it for a few levels now and enjoy it. The quest to get your first legendary weapon is fun as well.
I'm a litter leery about this "Skirmish" thing. Maybe I'm reading it wrong but it sounds like this is going to be a Command & Conqueror thing, where you play 'God' and move units around on a battlefield.
Sorry, but the idea of a battlefield full of easily predictable NPCs is not wise nor fun. And if they mean it'll be like the "Escort Quests" then uuuugggh. I have a hard enough time with my pet (Lore Master; damn thing keeps disengaging for no reason). Like I really want to control more 'pet'-like NPCs.
Now if it's their way of saying "Monster Play (But as the Good Guys)" then oh heeeellll ya.
Then again, I'm looking at this as a PvP addition; maybe it's PvE....either way who really wants to spend time controlling NPCs; wouldn't you rather be fighting the battle yourself???
Yea this is only about PvE and have been confimed not to have any PvP. I think its going to be a more advanced version of the current Battlefield instances.
The cool thing about skirmishes is that they scale depending on how many players and what level they are. So we get 12 new instances for lvl 30-65 for solo, 3-man, 6-man or 12-man.
TURBINE AND LOTRO just never cease to amaze... Wow. Good stuff. Monster Play revamp coming soon hopefully?
Nothing about pvp :( so no money from me :p
From what I am reading its more and more repeatable instead of new and uniqe. Lack of vision.
Umm, its a PVE game.
From what has been said, they are making adjustments to this to smooth combat out.
Umm, its a PVE game.
Still has pvp; doesn't matter if "I" am a monster...a player is still controlling it.
And frankly, every game should have PvP. Though it should have varying degrees of necessity with in the game. For LoTRO, PvP should be something you do while you wait for the raid or fellowship - not the means to get gear progression.
Yes i know about Monster Play, but the game is basically a PVE game. I wouldnt expect Turbine to focus much on PVP as most people play it for the PVE.
About damn time they announced something.
Yes i know about Monster Play, but the game is basically a PVE game. I wouldnt expect Turbine to focus much on PVP as most people play it for the PVE.
Exactly, but when anyone says "skirimish(es)" one will always first thing PvP.
Still trying to wrap my mind around why players would want to do what is (from the sound of it) essentially an RTS-element inside an MMO.
You've misread. The skirmish feature allows you to create multiple soldiers, but you only bring one into battle with you at a time. It's sort of like a pet, but you don't control it. Before the instance, you equip your soldier with various traits that determine how it will respond to various situations.
You've misread. The skirmish feature allows you to create multiple soldiers, but you only bring one into battle with you at a time. It's sort of like a pet, but you don't control it. Before the instance, you equip your soldier with various traits that determine how it will respond to various situations.
Ah, then it's more like the current Monster Play.
Oh we had a guild mate that went to pax. He said that this week end LOTRO was giving away a free copy of moria to everybody who went. 75 thousand copies were given out, that is an act of desperation.
Why? Do to the way they do LotRO expansions when SoM comes out anyone who buys it will be getting the full game.
Most of their income at this point in the cycle will be coming from monthly fees and if they manage to hook any of those 75k people then they will likely buy the SoM expansion in which they would have gotten SoA and MoM in it anyway. Assuming they gave it away digitaly instead of in boxes it cost them little in the hopes of future income.
Considering that box sails are mainly to recoup development cost, and subscriptions drive sustainability. It a smart move, you are just Ignorant of this.
Considering that box sails are mainly to recoup development cost, and subscriptions drive sustainability. It a smart move, you are just Ignorant of this.
Yes considering that subcriptions are way down, its a very smart move if they only get a percentage of folks pick it up.