Kill Ten Rats

Mines of Moriaâ„¢ has a surprisingly large amount of forced solo content. By that, I do not mean that you can solo it, or that it is too bothersome to find a group. The content is in an instance that you cannot enter in a fellowship. There are the six daily IXP instances, several chapters of the epic books, and steps in quest chains. Book Seven added six crafting instances, which are again forced solo. The three-man instances are forced small group content.

This is an odd way to train your players. I understand worries about people taking the easiest path, which is bringing too many people, but we already have hundreds of quests that people prefer to solo, with little evidence that they will bring six people to kill those eighteen orcs even faster. Do you want to train your players to spend multiple hours per day alone in instances? For non-hardcore players, that is their entire play session. It leads to the unfortunate effects seen with the opening of Book Seven: the outer areas of Lothlorien completely empty of orcs, as people solo them for the faction quests rather than grouping to share and speed things. You know that people around you are on the same quests, but we have been trained not to bother finding a group if it is possible to solo.

So far in Volume Two, there are three chapters that demand fellowships: 2.4.7, 2.5.5, and 2.6.8. I do not even want to count how many solo instances there are; I would guess at least fifteen. You can experience almost everything in Moria solo except the six radiance instances, and you need to visit those only if you plan to join the twelve-man raid. We do not need to force people to be alone even more.

: Zubon

Because Book Seven reminded me and so I have this in one place for future reference: the epic quest line for The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume One: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢ is weak because the players are observers, not protagonists.

You start by following the Fellowship, and that works well. You fight alongside them. Once you accept that you will not get to be Legolas, this is the next best thing, and this is what you paid for.

Then you enter the main storyline, and you are helping the real protagonists complete their story in Angmar. While you are sent to fetch a horse, gather scrap metal, and buy honey (all real quests in the epic line), they get the killing blows on the bosses. Almost every Book ends with the PCs paralyzed, watching NPCs act out the conclusion. This starts in Book One, where Tom Bombadill is a kill-stealing jerk, and continues through to Book Fifteen, where you do not even have camera control at the end.

They are also weak on gameplay, because someone decided that it is not an Epic quest chain unless there is more than an hour of travel. But that is symptomatic of what you are doing: running errands for the real heroes.

The Books in the game at retail release were lighter on background but they had better gameplay. The ones added later were killing time until the expansion, it seems, and they killed a lot of time. It is a neat story, but it is just that: a story, not a game.

: Zubon

Since returning to The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢, I have noticed a lack of something: gold spam. I have not seen a single instance of it. Even spending time in Bree-town, formerly ground zero, now just zero. No broadcast spam, no tells, no mails, nothing. Refreshing!

: Zubon

Arrive home last night, hang with family. Family goes to sleep, dad sneaks online. 20 minute queue.

Queue does its thing, log in. My character is missing a Second Age book he had looted before I logged off on Sunday night (I travel during the week on business) in a group and that I was deliriously happy to win. Petition launched.

Wander in Lothlorien, very pretty, and very simple quests. Impressed. Atmosphere seems perfect for what type of zone it should be.

GM contacts me out of the blue with the comment “I’m sorry, we cannot replace Legendary items”. When I ask why, or for any details, tells me it is policy, then sends me their cut-and-paste closure message (“Have a great day in Middle Earth!”).

No longer impressed. Migraine. Log out.

A big prize is that you can now barter for Second Age legendary items. You do not get to pick what kind, but with a little more than a week’s worth of farming (or a few days plus all the early quests), you can get a random Second Age for your class. Or a low value IXP relic. Or a single rune. You’ll see a Turbine response on one of those threads: he’ll look into it, no promises.

: Zubon

I have some other negative things about Book Seven, like the weakness of the epic book itself, but I’m sleepy and I can grouse another time.

With the Book 7 level bump, my Minstrel hit level 45. 45 is a turning point in The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢, because it marks the beginning of the late game. You can start all the level 50 content, and there is a lot of it because the game lived at that level cap for a year of updates.

At 45, you can productively visit Angmar, Annuminas, Eregion, Forochel, Goblin Town, Haudh Iarchath, Sarnur, Tal Bruinen, and other random spots that I am not recalling, to say nothing of working on your epic books. That list should probably start “Angmar, Angmar, Angmar, Angmar,” because there is a lot to do there as you approach and pass the old level cap: Barad Gularan, Carn Dum, the Rift, Urugarth, and all those quest chains in Himbar, Imlad Balchorth, Maenad, and Malenhad.

You also have the second half of Volume One and the opening of Volume Two. The only things keeping you from being level 55 before entering Moria are your impatience and the difficulty of finding groups for some older content.

: Zubon

The Shire is one of my three favorite zones in The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume One: Shadows of Angmarâ„¢. It has the best Middle-earth atmosphere, and it captures a place in a way I have never seen in an MMO. Hobbits level by delivering mail, carrying pies, keeping vermin away from the crops, and rescuing chickens. The edges of the zone show its connection to the rest of Middle-earth: dwarf raiders, human brigands, and some goblin dens. The core of the zone, however, is light and fluffy, with bright colors, peaceful villages, and few aggressive monsters.

The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume Two: Mines of Moriaâ„¢ Book Seven: Leaves of Lorien (no â„¢ yet) brings us Lothlorien, the Shire with a different accent and palette. And killer elf archers, but gain some reputation to walk by them. In Lothlorien, you will find quests to pick berries, check on saplings, and clean the river. The colors are bright, but not WoW bright. Instead of taverns and farms, you can spend time on flets, tree houses that have a great view of the woods below. And yes, you can carry a package of arrows across the zone as if it were a pie or mailbag.

After Moria, it can be nice to be somewhere with a sky. Where there are trees instead of corrupting fungus. Where you can walk without having enemies attack you every ten meters. Lothlorien is where the Fellowship rested.

The Shire remains a better zone. It is more complete and has more content, instead of relying on repeatable quests and grinds for barter items and reputation. But there is something perfect about the peaceful woods filled with elves who do not want you there, as there is in the rolling hills filled with hobbits that want to join them for dinner.

: Zubon

Which is to say that I agree with Ravious.

Book 7 is now out for Lord of the Rings Online, and word is that the content is… well, not what we are used to. Lothlorien is a haven. Some of the most powerful elves reside there, and even with orcs spilling out of Moria, it would have been hard for Turbine to justify orcs roaming through much of the golden woods. And, I am okay with that.

The quests in Lothlorien are therefore puff-pieces. The quests are about the lore of the woods, and the history of the elves. For that reason, the gameplay is going to be largely fed-ex. People that burn through quests, find the glowy object, find the package delivery, etc. are going to enjoy the update a lot less.

Lothlorien’s region, for better or worse, is a “relaxing” place. The region was not made for the hardcore that blow through all of Book 7 by this weekend. Still, the update does lack proper balance. It was originally planned that Book 7 was going to have a more 3-mans, a 6-man dungeon, and a 12-man 6 boss dungeon raid ala Rift, but they were pushed back until Book 8. So now the relaxing content of Lothlorien is only offset by the new 12-man lair raid and the Battle of Lorien instances… both of which, I believe, are currently locked pending player quests.

I am excited about exploring the new content, and I still have plenty to do in Moria. Yet, I can’t help but believe that between now and Book 8 active players are going to drop off a bit. We might get luck and Book 8 might be sooner than we think.

–Ravious
legend became myth