A new developer diary about Lothlórien Quests has been posted today. It contains information on accessing the area, special places of note and basic information on quests and quest hubs. It’s definitely worth reading, but I pulled two things from it that I thought deserved special note:
1.) Book 7 is a new “on ramp”, as has been stated previously in the forums. This means it doesn’t require you to have finished the previous Volume II books to start it. It’s still heavily recommended that you finish Books 1 through 6, however, so you’ll get the full effect of the storyline.
I have read that this Book can be soloed, but I didn’t see this mentioned in the developer diary. I’m not sure how true it may be because of that.
2.) The area contains a new instance that sounds pretty damn awesome. I’ll just post the explanation from the diary:
The attack of the Orcs cannot now be forestalled; it can only be met, and it must be hoped that the preparations for the defence are sufficient. When the Orcs begin their attack, the Elves will call upon a trusted few to assist them in the Battle of Lórien, a six-man instance that brings with it some interesting new features: the ability to command NPCs, a Deed that tracks the number of times you have successfully won the Battle, and a set of optional challenge quests that unlock as your skill in the Battle instance increases.
Commanding NPCs – At the outset of the Battle, you’ll have an opportunity to assess the strength of the defenders at three defensive points and make decisions about where to send your most skilled NPCs in three categories: healing arts, melee combat, and ranged combat. Do you send them to the same point, and concentrate your Fellowship on the defence of the two other points, or do you spread them out among the points?
Completion Deed – The Deed that tracks the number of times you have completed The Battle of Lórien will award you titles at each plateau, and also unlock optional objectives to complete within the instance that provide you with greater reward.
Optional Battle Objectives – There are several different objectives that can be pursued within the Battle of Lórien that range from defeating optional bosses before they leave the battlefield to preventing certain Elves from taking too much damage, and more. There is also a Legendary Challenge to be undertaken that combines all of the optional objectives into one extremely difficult quest; it will take a lot of skill and precision to pull this one off!
This sounds like a lot of fun to me and I like that it offers reasons to replay it. I hope it turns out to be as interesting as it comes across.
