Albeit a few days late with this news, I have across another article arising from the European press screening and hands-on time for Siege of Mirkwood that was held in London recently. This time the article is in French, although some google translation helps! The write-up has some lovely videos and and screenshots, and the write-up is brilliant. Go take a look! The summary of key points is after the jump!
Last night WarCry posed player questions to some of LotRO’s developers. To take a look at the chat transcript then head on over to War Cry.
The developers are still holding back information specific to each class, but we now know that each class will get only ONE new skill, at Level 62. Furthermore, there will be no class quests or new legendary skills. Based on the early advertising for Siege of Mirkwood, there was a definite impression that class quests would be included with this expansion, and I do feel a little dissapointed that my alts will not be able to learn more than one new skill on their way to level 65. However, it is great to hear more about the Lone Lands revamp, Skirmishes and Raids - providing everyone with a reason to play!
Tipped off by my kinnie Havborn, I have come across an exclusive album of Siege of Mirkwood screenshots at The Madhouse Tavern (a European LotRO fansite). I strongly recommend heading over to the site to peruse the pictures yourself as they reveal a lot of small but relevant tidbits relating to the Mirkwood region and skirmishes! Some of the most relevant information includes:
Hunters and Wardens will be able to port/muster to Mirkeaves if they gain acquaintance reputation with the Malladhrim.
Carn Dum and Urugath class items (e.g. Putrid Slime of Helchgam) is tradeable with Skirmish Marks
Skirmish marks can also get you a lot of crafting materials including shards (e.g. Mithril Flakes and Ruby Shards). The crafting section also includes ‘Tomes of Middle Earth’ which may be new crit-items or ingredients for crafting items between Lvls 60 – 65.
The in-game menu has been updated and includes a more colourful layout with more options. Our character panels will also be subdivided into tabs based upon our mitigations and damage-output. Minor but positive changes!
At least 3 skirmishes will be based in Mirkwood / Dol Guldur, and are designed for those at the new level cap of 65.
The latest, and penultimate developer diary for skirmishes, was posted a short while ago on the official LotRO website. The article can be found HERE.
Some of the information the diary conveys has already been covered in part by interviews and developer comments, but is still worth a read. In summary: Read the rest of this entry »
European customers have been wondering for a while: when is the Siege of Mirkwood release date on this side of the pond? A repsonse by Codemasters Dev Satine (to questions relating to the new expansion’s European pricing structure), has revealed the digital-download only expansion should be released Thursday 3rd December (two-days after the U.S. release date).
A little off topic, but when does pre order ends?
not to soon i hope, dont get money before the end of the month
We will be ceasing pre-orders the day before Mirkwood goes live, which is currently tracking 3rd December for launch.
The news is altogether not very surprising, with Thursday tying in with the European “servers are coming down” day, and a 2-day gap between release dates having been used in the past. Of course, it remains to be seen whether this release date sticks… for both Book 7 and Book 8 updates, European customers were repeatedly stalled in downloading the latest patch due to technical errors or glitches in the new patch that required fixing first!
Rune-keeper Rumination: Volume 3:
Much to my chagrin, I've not had a lot of time to play LotRO in recent months. At least not as much time as I used to ...