Category: Lord of the Rings Online

I have been going through stages of my feelings for Lord of the Rings Online’s skirmish system.  First, I thought it could completely redefine my MMO game time.  After playing them and playing them, I experienced a burnout that I thought would not come from the fun little bites of play.  Finally, I think I have found a good middle ground.  Zubon is right, in part.  Onion Headline Syndrome can definitely be experienced by attributing skirmishes to what they are not.  They are not the game.  Continue reading Skirmish Density

Unscientifically, Lord of the Rings Online takes the longest to load on my system of any MMO.  It seems I am not alone.  One big problem is the fragmentation of the internal file system.  Turbine just released a beta internal defragger for Lord of the Rings Online.  Read all the warnings and problems to be safe, but apart from using SSD or a large USB drive to load the MMO, this should help speed things up.

–Ravious

Perhaps the biggest change to come in Lord of the Rings Online Volume 3, Book 1 update will be that skirmishes can now be done with a 2-person party. It was the podcast by Casual Stroll to Mordor where the devs talk about the “need” for this and how they went about it. (I also learned a new meme, like how my mom just learned about the Google.)

The most interesting statistic was that 40% of players doing the 3-man skirmishes were using only 2/3 of their fellowship slots.  This gave the devs the oompf they needed to get their turbines in gear.  The way they made the extremely fine point between solo and 3-man was to use the 3-man mobs and apply a reverse Tier debuff to the 3-man mobs.  So 2-man skirmishes are basically a 3-man minus a Tier of difficulty to the mobstats.  Then the 2-man skirmish will use the solo mechanics instead of the 3-man mechanics such as how counterattacks or waves will work.

I want to posit that this will have good, unintended consequences because it further lowers the activation energy to group.  Players can nearly always find one person.  So there is a group for skirmishes right there.  Add another person, and you have a three-man.  This sequence of grouping is simply going to be smoother than the need to find two other people at the outset.  If I had to bet, I would say that 3-man skirmish play will increase and solo skirmish will actually decrease due to the advent of the 2-man skirmish.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled rants on Legendary Items where it is apparent that Turbine never listens to us.

–Ravious
down by the schoolyard

I got through Volume 2, Book 9 pretty quickly in Lord of the Rings Online Siege of Mirkwood.  Getting through the epic books is one of my favorite goals to set, and when a new Book drops, it is one of the first I usually attack.  Book 9 used the new gameplay type Skirmishes instead of the usual static 3 or 6-man quests.  This created a choice, where none really existed before.  A person could get through the Skirmish portions quickly by going at it alone, or they could choose to group up.  Except for one Skirmish Book quest, I went at it alone and regretted it. Continue reading Risk vs. Story

The first official tidbits on the upcoming Volume 3 for Lord of the Rings Online was released yesterday.  Volume 3 is named Allies of the King, with Book I: Oath of the Rangers, and it hints at the martial mobilization of zones we know and love.  There are going to be some crafting updates.  Complete solo-ization of Volume 1, and some updates to a few current skirmishes we have, making them raidable.

The best part is a new skirmish, which will be part of Vol. 3, Bk. 1 called the Depths of Nurz Ghashu, which takes place in the Rift that many loved during pre-Mines of Moria times.  Unfortunately I picked up Lord of the Rings Online only a few months before Mines of Moria was launched, and I never made it to the Rift.  (Though I did make it to Helegrod – the 24-man raid - amazingly enough.)

It does not seem like we will be getting a new zone, like Dunland, this time around.  The start of Volume 3 uses a lot of old content, which is not a bad thing.  Recycling old content just requires a balance between the old and new.  Developers will want to polish the great memories, discard the yucky ones, and then add a touch of new.  A new drop would suffice, or new mechanics as the case is for the new skirmish in an old dungeon instance.

The best part is that Turbine can escape the timeless existence of their old content.  We already see this in a snowy Bree ransacked by villainous curs in the two Bree skirmishes, but this is a future story.  I want to see my effects have consequences.  Let’s pretend I did kill Thaurlach the Balrog in the Rift.  The best I could hope for was some quest text thanking me and suggesting that the threat is now lessened and the Rift is in disarray.  Now, Turbine has a chance to show me what happened after that brave group of 12 assaulted the Rift. (Also maybe give another way to give Eldgang rep. Hint. Hint.)

–Ravious
we have to go back, kate

Sammath Gul is the new 6-man dungeon in Lord of the Rings Online Siege of Mirkwood.  Overall, its a well designed dungeon.  The main mechanic deals with the dreaded bone piles.  If a player steps in a bone pile placed all around the dungeon, a couple mobs pop out.  They are easy enough to deal with even if a couple piles are disturbed, but when players are already embattled with the trash mobs things can start to get tough.  The third (final) boss is Gorothul, the sorcerer of Mordor that shook things up in Moria.  The fight takes place in front of enormous glass windows where two Nazgul on felbeasts watch the fight.  And, there are bone piles.

The fight begins with one of my now favorite boss cinematics.  Gorothul basically phones home to big-daddy Sauron, and has a brief discussion about the players’ fates.  The Lidless Eye appears, giving players immense dread, and Gorothul, you know, casually mentions that some Free Peoples are standing in front of him.  I have to say that I was very impressed with the voice acting and dialogue in what could have been a very cheesy setup.  Of course, Sauron commands Gorothul to end the players, and Gorothul responds with a resolved ‘as you wish.’  The fight begins but for the first 30 seconds or so the dread from having Sauron’s eye on the players has to wear off.

I have to say that I have been thoroughly impressed with all the cinematics in Siege of Mirkwood.  The flow of each scene and the emotions presented are usually spot on.  The one mechanic I am getting sick of, though, is the use of the cut-scene stun(especially in the prisoner trade scene).  It’s very anti-heroic when the Enemy has a win-button.  It’s even worse when a silly dwarf breaks the fourth wall and asks what “trickery” the cut-scene stun is.  I’d prefer that either they take camera control away (like Turbine did in the last book of Volume 1) or just freeze my character.  I understand that important things are happening, and I can deal with the loss of character control for that scene.  It’d be much better than my heroic character swaying in the wind like a drunk hobbit that just ate three fermented cherry pies.

–Ravious
the feeling’s irresistible and that’s how we movin’