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.
It turns out that The Swamped One is actually a special mob for the Warden’s class quests. He’s supposed to spawn in the Foundations of Stone in Moria, but apparently has been popping up elsewhere. It might be a bit of fun to take him out if you’re capable, but everyone else should just avoid him entirely.
The logic governing his spawning was flawed, resulting in some rather unfair behavior towards low level characters. I’ve made and submitted fixes for this that will go in the next build internally and will ultimately end up on the live worlds.
Until then, that place is evil, don’t go near it =)
Should be fixed soon. In the meantime, I thought it was pretty amusing.
MMORPG.com posted a new Developer Diary Video today. I can’t seem to figure out where they got it and unfortunately they don’t allow you to embed their videos elsewhere.
The video gives some general details on the new Warden and Rune-keeperclasses, narrated by Cardell Kerr, Creative Director, and Ryan Bednar, Lead Game Systems Designer. While it doesn’t offer any new information, it is a nice way to see both of the classes in action.
Another group of three Developer Diaries have appeared on the official LotRO Web site. This time around, they cover the Guardian, Captain and Warden’s advancement beyond Level 50. As with the other classes, each diary discusses equipment options, skill adjustments, new skills and three new Trait Sets.
The official LotRO site updated today with even more information on the new Warden class. The article deals with the purpose of the class, who will enjoy it most and what it’s role will be in the game. Elves, Men and Hobbits can all be part of this class. Dwarves are sadly out of luck.
The article gives more of an idea of how Gambits will work for Wardens early on as well. Here’s a small excerpt:
“You read the Gambit panel from left to right. As you add icons to the panel, the rightmost symbol — the one in the shield — changes to reveal the particular Gambit the current icons add up to. When you have the combination of icons you want, just press a single hotkey to trigger whatever Gambit is currently ready in the panel.
Every time you use one of those core attack skills, you build toward a potential Gambit. The question you must always ask yourself while playing the Warden is this: How far do you want to go?”
Be sure to check out the full article, the class really sounds like it’s coming together wonderfully. I’m really happy that both this and the Rune-keeper are offering something significantly new to the game and are not just simple extentions of existing classes.
Gamespot also has a new trailer for the class, giving you an idea of animations and skills. It doesn’t display the HUD, so you won’t see Gambits in action. There’s also one of the Rune-keeper that I missed yesterday.
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