Isy posted this on November 12th, 2009. It has 1 Comment »
Categorized as Siege of Mirkwood.
Tagged as Digital Expansion, Dol Guldur, Mirkwood, Reputation, Siege of Mirkwood.
Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2387
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!
VictorB posted this on September 6th, 2009. It has 15 Comments »
Categorized as Editorials and Thoughts, News, Siege of Mirkwood.
Tagged as Digital Expansion, Editorials and Thoughts, News, Siege of Mirkwood.
Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2104
Hello to all the readers out there!
In the blogosphere, we have two important commodities: the first is information, and the second, our nuanced opinions regarding the information we’re given. Seeing as we should be getting some more information shortly from other news sources, I thought it would be good if I consolidated all the currently known info regarding Siege of Mirkwood in a post and then offer up some input regarding some of the information given.
Obviously, I couldn’t have done all this collating myself, but I’ve found that the best consolidating post to date isn’t from a dev, but from one of the forumgoers on LotRO. To Sandriell from the LotRO forums, I salute you.
Past the break, you’ll see a rather long post regarding what we know so far, and my thoughts on it as a mid-level player who shares in both the excitement and hesitation behind an expansion.
Isy posted this on September 5th, 2009. It has No Comments »
Categorized as News, Patch, Siege of Mirkwood.
Tagged as Book 9, Digital Expansion, Release Date, Siege of Mirkwood.
Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2090
Following yesterdays expansion announcement, blogs and forums are being overwhelmed with the many voices of the fan-base, who all want to express their criticism, anxiety, questions, hope, excitement and/or confusion over ‘Siege of Mirkwood’. Over on the official forums (http://forums.lotro.com) the game developers are answering a few of these queries, and in doing so have provided us with a bit more information about Book 9 itself.
Q: [Does Book 9 contain] actual stuff to do or will it be like [Vol 1] Book 15 which has a ton of chapters too except most are running back and forth delivering messages?
A: There’s a lot of meat to Epic Book 9: instances, skirmishes, monster-hunting, and a few surprises. Book 15 could stand to be streamlined, but I don’t think that will be an issue with this one.
Tony posted this on September 4th, 2009. It has 9 Comments »
Categorized as News, Shadows of Angmar.
Tagged as Combat Responsiveness, Digital Expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, Skirmish-join, Skirmishes, World-join.
Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2085
Questions always come with a new press release, especially for an expansion. Turbine has clarified a few things on the forums so far:
Since this seems to have turned into the main thread on the topic I’ll address a couple of things that have come up.
The announcement today didn’t contain pricing since we’re focused on announcing the game features and doing previews at PAX. A subsequent announcement with those details will be out later. But since it’s being asked, here’s the scoop:
- Siege of Mirkwood will have a base price of $19.99. As with Moria last year, we’re going to have a set of early upgrade offers that are very compelling. We’re not quite ready to unveil those details yet, but we’ll keep you posted.
- The epic story continues on in Volume 3 as a regular content update early next year.
- Some of the improvements to the game coming with Mirkwood will benefit everyone, but the key features will require the Mirkwood upgrade.
Hopefully this clears things up a bit.
VictorB posted this on September 4th, 2009. It has 14 Comments »
Categorized as News, Siege of Mirkwood.
Tagged as Digital Expansion, Siege of Mirkwood.
Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2074
Thanks to the wonders of Twitter, I managed to grab word of this right as Turbine announced it. Basically, Turbine has announced a new digitally downloadable expansion for LotRO which ought to round out the story of Volume II, and it’s called Siege of Mirkwood.
Here’s the features list straight from the press release:
NEW FEATURES:
The Epic Conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria™ – Under the command of Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths. This update includes Book 9 and the Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the award-winning Mines of Moria expansion.
Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 65, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.
Answer the Call of War! – Jump into the heat of battle with the new Skirmishes feature. 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.
Take up Arms! – Infiltrate the dark jails, deadly arenas and savage stables of Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths, and strike a blow against Sauron’s forces in new 3 and 6-player instances. Call upon your fellows to adventure into the most deadly 12-player raid yet and face the ultimate challenge – the Nazgûl Lord!
Major Gameplay Enhancements – Turbine continues to improve the award-winning experience of LotRO with major improvements to the combat and Legendary Items systems. Players will experience improved responsiveness when in the heat of battle. Players will also be able to create and craft their own customized Second and Third Age Legendary Items from raw materials and grow their weapons’ power to level 60. Achieve new Legacies, new titles, and a fourth Runic slot that will make Legendary Items even more unique and powerful.
Personally, I’m not even level 60 yet, and I’m still excited for this release. I hope to hear impressions on the announcement from my fellow writers soon, as well as some additional information on pricing and any potential beta testing.
Update 1: Official Site for the Siege of Mirkwood expansion is up. Make sure to watch the opening flash animation. It has some awesome music.
