Update - mostly Isengard

Almost two weeks since my last post. Lets start with Isengard. I had expected to get some news from E3, but there was nothing really new.

We have known since months, that that Isengard would be next and that the level cap would be raised. I had thought about it being raised to 70, but 75 it is. I doubt this is an improvement as a ten-level difference will make the level 65 equipment obsolete. I still use equipment with level 60, but nothing at level 55.

A raise of the virtue cap was also on the horizon and has now been confirmed. Again, I had hoped for some new virtues instead of a raise, but again, my hopes were not fulfilled.

Then we get a new crafting tier. This could also be expected, with a raise of ten levels. I just hope, that they will stop naming them and just say Tier I, Tier II, etc.

The three zones were also announced months ago and due to the lore will be similar to what we have seen. Getting 400 quests sounds like a lot, but Enedwaith had about 120, Moria about 250, Eregion about 75 and the Book 140.

As Enedwaith was released later, the size of the update will be about the size of Moria and Eregion and Volume 2. Decent, but not overwhelming.

With Moria, we got Legendary Items and two new classes and with Siege of Mirkwood, we at least got Skirmishes. With Isengard, we get nothing new? This is hugely disappointing!

I hope they will add something, but right now, I am not willing to spend money on that expansion. I did think about pre-ordering the expansion and I haven't ruled it out completely. On the other hand, I have three accounts, so I will have to pay three times as much as others...

What I like are the horses and the cosmetics. The Bonus-XP pocket item till level 65 is neat too. But again, when Isengard fails to capture my interest, I might go for the TP version.

I have been playing less of Lord of the Rings as I have used to. I only went to the Inn of the Forsaken once (and failed after being in there for a long time) and haven't been in the Halls of Night at all.

On one hand, I blame World of Tanks. On the other hand, we had some bad runs in Ost Dunhoth. We did have some great ones too, but...

We lost a raid-leader and officer. Hm, to be honest, I don't know if he will come back or if he is gone for good. I fear the later as he told me once, that he nearly left the game because I had criticized him once.

Last time I saw him, the main raid-leader told him to concentrate (and not talk about World of Tanks during the raid) and he wasn't seen again. We also lost other people, some for similar reasons, other because they were raiding at different hours.

Now we have not enough experienced and good raiders and the replacements often aren't as well equipped or don't know how to play their characters well enough. After all, Ost Dunhoth is not an easy raid and probably not meant for casual players, at least not when you try to do Tier 2 runs with the challenge.

This means, we fail more and this leads to the atmosphere not being what it should be. Bad atmosphere leads to less raid attendance and so we go in a downward spiral.

We either need to get some great raiders from other kins or do some Barad Guldur and other runs for getting everyone to the necessary skill levels for Ost Dunhoth. Master classes have started again, which is positive.

Promotion video

Hope and Glory, one of the major kins on Gilrain, has made this video for promotional purposes. Still going strong after more than four years feel free to check out their homepage and their forums.

Hope and Glory is an 18+ kin which has also a World of Warcraft section on Ravencrest and a platoon playing World of Tanks. Chances are high, that an Star Wars: The Old Republic section will be established on launch.

If you liked the video, you might also like to watch the credits with some outtakes ;)

Nanu's Hiding Place

I can't remember how many times I have been to the Turtle fight but finally, it dropped and I won it. It was the second time I had seen it drop and I wanted it ever since I saw it in the garden of one of our officers.

As we have houses in the same instance, they now can meet at night ;)

Even though I have most of the housing items, I still miss some:

- I am still missing one of the three heads from the three Globsnaga Elders and the Egg of the Mistress. I've never seen the later drop, but we have one in the kin-house. The Elders trophy is difficult to get, as you need three heads which don't drop a lot. Even if they drop, you got a chance of 1/12 to win the roll. And you need to be on the same character, as the three heads can't be bartered. So I bring my Minstrel to DN over and over and over again.

- Even though we killed the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur lots of times, I only saw the Unwelcome Mat drop once. And the first drop of all the housing items goes to the kin.

- Bill Whitethorn, the taxidermist in Bree, does also barter coins for the two Hurons in Ost Dunhoth (one we got yesterday) and a Dark Music Box, from where, I don't know.

- Of the Fishing Housing items, I got the Sturgeon Group Trophy, but am missing the Trout and the Darter Group Trophy. It has been a bit, since I went fishing in LotRO...

I love housing, with my three accounts I have three Deluxe Houses and two Kin Houses. This puts a huge dent in my pocket, but I like to have the space to decorate my homes.

Housing item Red Pottet Huorn dropped from Baleleaf and Dourbark (Ost Dunhoth, Disease) on Tier 2 with Challenge

This is the first time I saw this drop: A Red Sapped Huorn Limb which can be exchanged in Bree at the taxiderminst for the housing itme Red Pottet Huorn:

And this is the animation it does:

We also got the Onyx and Emerald Ring which is quite nice for the tactical classes. It has the good six percent Tactical Critical Muliplier as well as 112 Morale, 100 Power and 23 Vitality, Fate and Will.

Proposition for new zone: The Tower Hills

Since I have started to play Lord of the Rings Online, I hated the gap between Ered Luin and the Shire. The Westmarch is the zone filling this void.
I don’t understand, why this zone hasn't been done earlier, as it has a lot of potential.

Who lives in the Westmarch and which places does it cover?

The southern border are the Tower Hills. Elostirion is the tallest tower on the Tower Hills and once held the Palantir of the Northern Kingdom. Even though the Palantir has been long removed, the towers still might hold some secrets to be uncovered by some adventurers.

Near the main tower, is the future site of Untertowers, a village founded after the coming wars. I want this place to be special. A place where the grass is greener than in the other fields and where there are more flowers. A place where the eldest daughter of Sam Gamgee would want to live. There will be no settlements of Hobbits, but one or two could wander the wild.

To the west, we find the Gulf of Lûne with the Elven settlement of Mithlond, the Grey Havens. From here to the north we can either travel by boat to Celondim or by foot to Ered Luin through the now unblocked pass near Rath Teraig.

The zone has the shape of the letter J, the south-western part being Mithlond. I wouldn't make the zone so big, that it reaches Forochel to the north. On the parchment map on the LotRO site, there is a small forest on the eastern side of the river Lhûn the river being the western border.

Finally, we would be able to explore the castle we have seen from the Wardspire.

Besides the Grey Haven, I would not add a major settlement. There are some ruins, like the towers and the castle I mentioned before. But in general, there would be an empty place with some bandits and wildlife.

Quest hubs would be Mithlond, where we could try to convince elves not to leave Middle Earth and to fight Sauron. Other quests could evolve around two feuding families, one farming and one nomad shepherds who are in conflict over land. Of course there could also be a Romeo and Juliet story ongoing where the player could either help the farmers the shepherds or the young in love.

Proposition for new zone: Umbar

Unlike my Mirkwood, Heart of the Forest, proposition, Umbar does not border the world we have visited.

This does not seem to be a huge problem, as Ered Luin is not connected to the rest of Eriador and an other gap exists between the eastern exit of Moria and the Mirrormere.

But still, why wander a far and not stay closer to the book?

Scenery! Most of Middle Earth has European climate. If not for Forochel, all would be different shades of green. Given this restriction due to the lore, Turbine has done a good job. They incorporated the seasons, Shire being spring, Eregion autumn, North Downs summer and Forochel winter.

But if we wanted something new, a bit exotic, we have to travel further.

The south would offer deserts and jungles, we could even penetrate the underbelly of Mordor. This would offer some visually very distinct choises. Not only the landscape would be very different from what we have seen, the architecture and clothing of the Harad would offer new choices.

How get there? By shanghaiing of course! The journey starts with a quest or two including some beers as a reward. When you drink that ale, you fall in a deep sleep and awake on a ship. This brings you to its harbour, a small town a bit north of Umbar.

This town would be instanced, meaning that you could not leave it, until you have done a certain amount of quests (like the Mirkwood- and Moria-Starter Instances). Outside, you would be able to travel by the usual means.

It would also offer new monsters to fight, instead of spiders there would be scorpions, instead of boars antelopes and so forth. Even the bosses in the instances could have a Ali Baba / Oriental / Persian theme.

Proposition for new zone: Mirkwood, Heart of the Forest

We had a glimpse of Mirkwood with the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. But even though I liked to quest there, the Mirkwood in game is not what is described in „The Hobbit“.

It is not completely braking the lore of the books, as it can be argued, that the presence of the Lieutenant and his rabble have reduced the power of the forest somewhat. So what do we know?

Beorn speaks about a river which is „black and strong“ and „crosses the path. He warns „neither drink of, nor bath in“ it as it as it „carries enchantment and a great drowsiness and forgetfulness“. Perfect bounder border of a zone!

„By the afternoon they had reached the eaves of Mirkwood, and were resting almost beneath the great overhanging boughs of its outer trees. Their trunks were huge and gnarled, their branches twisted, their leaves were dark and long. Ivy grew on them and trailed along the ground.“

There seem to be few things alive in the heart of the forest. Bilbo describes some black squirrels, some moths that come to the fire at night, the elves and the spiders. I doubt that the elves would wander that far south, so I would not add them to this zone.

I do want this zone to be distinct from any other zone. Lets see how: There will be no horse-routes, no camps to fast-travel, no milestones and no quest-hubs with pesky elves or humans. There will be no killing of mobs, at least not anywhere near the scale of the other zones.

The spiders are different from other spiders we met. They talk! Besides Mirkwood which is some kind of entity, spiders are the only intelligent denizens of the forest.

When we can’t kill a lot of monsters, what is there to do? Exploring, recovering, surviving and some very selective killing is my proposition.

The adventure into Mirkwood starts with a letter where Fuirgam in Emyn Lûm asks for your aid. Probably after some minor quests, he sends you to Echad Sirion where you can take the boat to Gladden Fields. I will write more about the zone Gladden Fields in a later post.

For now we only need to know that there is a small settlement with some preliminary quests into Mirkwood, heart of the forest.

The first quest is to rescue a young woodworker whose return from the forest is overdue. Mirkwood is an instance. I want it to be different every time you enter. Lhaid Ogo, the instance in Volume 3, Book 3, Chapter 4, is a hint in the right direction, but of course far too small.

Some big trees, which can be climbed are always at the same place and work as a marker and a resting-place. But the paths to those trees will change every time you enter.

The first time you enter, a countdown starts. If you are on your own and don’t use any special skills or reach on of the trees, you have three minutes to explore the forest. If the time expires before you are out of the forest or at a safe place, you fall in a endless sleep and are automatically rescued by some npcs. After some minutes of dread, you can retry again.

When you find the first tree, ten seconds are added to your counter (as you have learned to cope better with the dread of the forest). Each tree gives this reward only a certain amount of times and the closer the tree is to the Gladden Fields, the fewer time you get this bonus.

The three trees closest to Gladden Fields give this reward three times, so if you have found each of these trees for three times, you get three more minutes before you fall to the forest (three times ten seconds per tree is thirty seconds per tree, is ninety seconds for all three trees plus a bonus of ninety seconds for deed completion).

The next three trees are further in. A second counter starts. To reach the second line of trees, you get an other three minutes. The same rules as with the first trees apply. So for every new found tree, you get an other ten seconds, again with all the bonuses for the second trees, you get an other six minutes to reach them.

What changes is that if you travel on your own, you have only half the time. While it is not impossible to reach the second trees on your own, it will not happen a lot. So bring a friend or two to reach the second set of trees. But remember, the chain breaks at the weakest link. So if one member of your band of three has never been into the forest, you only have three minutes to reach the first trees.

The third set of trees need a full fellowship to get to. If you have completed the deed (reach all the trees of the different lines three times) you get after entering Mirkwood the option to travel to the central of those trees. This only applies, if everyone in your group (if grouped up) has finished that deed.

What kind of loot is there? The further in, the better it is. The borders of the forest mostly have been cleared over the years, but deep inside, there still can be hidden treasures.

Remember, the shadow of Sauron corrupted the forest and there might still be caves and homes the Sindarin Elves left when they fled the shadows. In such caves or ruins, there is room for some classical instances.

I did mention skills. Some skills, like the Irresistible Melody or the Call to Greatness does add some time to the counter. The Minstrel and the Captain have the most skills to help the group. Food and beer also help to raise the spirit and stay longer inside Mirkwood. And smoking pipe-weed has some relaxing effects as well.

Back to the spiders. I don’t see the spiders as purely evil. Living in such an unpleasant environment has some negative effect on ones character. Remember, „when they roasted it, it proved horrible to taste, and they shot no more squirrels.“ So befriending a spider could be beneficial too. Spiders seem not to have that much interest in gold and treasure and might be willing to trade some for raw meat or livestock.

It is also very possible, that the spiders are in conflict with the evil dwelling in the elven ruins and caves as well as with scouts from Dol Guldur. Again, I don’t want this to be just an other zone with some quest-hubs, but this doesn't mean that there are no quests to be found.

Making this zone instanced will make the loneliness believable when you don’t see other people doing their quests all the time.