Update 9: Against the Shadow and the Rohan Instance cluster

[Sapience]

This week, Update 9 will go live on the Bullroarer test server. In addition to a number of bug fixes and updates, this update will also include the first half of the Rohan instance cluster. The second half of the cluster will be released in 2013.

When we made the decision to delay the release of the Rider’s of Rohan expansion, we also made it clear that we would still honor our commitment to release the instances this year. Because of the delay in shipping Rohan, development time for the year was obviously reduced. This left us two options; either delay the entire instance cluster until 2013, or release those instances we felt could be completed with the highest degree of polish in December and delay the others until they are ready (currently expected to be February). We’ve chosen to honor our commitment as best we can with the limited time remaining in 2012 while still insuring the highest quality possible.

We want to be very clear that if you purchase the Riders of Rohan expansion, the entire instance cluster is free. You will have access to all instances listed below released as Part I in Update 9 and Part II when it releases at no additional charge. As long as you’ve purchased Rohan, you’ll get all of the instances listed.

We also want to share with you the full plan for all seven instances.

Instances shipping with Update 9: Against the Shadow

Riders of Rohan Instances (Part 1):

• Iorbar’s Peak (Misty Mountains / Stone Giants-3-man)
• Webs of the Scuttledells (Mirkwood 3-man)
• Seat of the Great Goblin (Goblintown 3-man)

Shipping in 2013 (Currently Planned for February)
Riders of Rohan Instances (Part 2):

• The Bells of Dale (6-man)
• Flight to the Lonely Mountain (12-man; single boss)
• The Fires of Smaug (12-man; single boss)
• The Battle for Erebor (12-man; single boss)

Many of you have asked if we’ll ever see the Lonely Mountain. Hopefully this gives you the answer you were looking for.

The full release notes for Update 9: Against the Shadow will be available when Bullroarer goes live.

[Haradim]

I foresee... vigorous discussion in the immediate future.

At least nobody can say they expected these venues.

[Galahadur]

I was expecting something like this and it's reasonable.

When RoR was delayed in the name of Polish i was pretty sure the whole instance cluster would be pushed to 2013.Kudos for the effort to at least bring us some new toys to play with.

Just sad they are only 3-mans. Many Raiding kinships are falling apart or twindling thumbs waiting for a new raid or at least a 6-man.

As for Dale. Will it be a new region on update 10? Or are you just releasing the instances and not the zone? I was expecting a big zone akin to Great River and way to monetize on the Hobbit, which you clearly are doing with releasing the 3-mans in Misty Mountains and Mirkwood.

Thanks for keeping the comunication channels open!

[Oldin]

None of these sound like they could be Mounted Instances, so seems like a win.

[Nyrion]

Frankly this is the scenario I was expecting. Delaying the whole cluster would have generated too much negative feedback, and releasing the whole thing in 2012 would no doubt have resulted in excessive bugginess. In my view you made the best decision you could have.

Very excited for the Hobbit themed instances too. It would have been poor business sense to do otherwise and I am VERY looking forward to seeing how Turbine's art team does Erebor.

[nolins12]

Woot THREE Draigoch/Turtles!

aaaand the very few serious raiders left are gone.

[AaylaKheledlire]

So hobbit expansion? Zones or just instances?

[JanTATW]

///

That is wonderful news. And I see the positive marketing aspect behind the second part of the instance pack. Fitting to the release of the first part of the Hobbit movie trilogy (which is from Warner Entertainment too) the content of the secondary instances is from the 'Hobbit' story. The instances will be a reason for many new LOTRO players, which I really like. I hope you at Turbine and Warner will manage to combine that two upcoming milestones in a nice way to reach for new LOTRO players. (Maybe something like getting LOTRO codes (for steeds, TP, a cool title or anything like that) from buying a ticket to the movie or on the ewbistes of both the movie and LOTRO.)

I personally like the setting of the 'Hobbit' story a lot.Dale, the Great Lake, Erebor, Smaug and everything that is behind the eastern boundaries of Mirkwood. We meet the dwarves and elves again and maybe even the men of the kingdom of Dale which are suffering from the Easterlings from Rhûn. Very promising ...

I really hope for a nice storyline leading through the instance clusters like you did it with the level 65 "In their Absence" quest line which by far are the best instances in LOTRO. The Isengard instance cluster was nice but really not even close to the awesomeness of the "In their Absence" clusters. Please please do the new set like ITA.

///

[Almagnus1]

Woot THREE Draigoch/Turtles!

aaaand the very few serious raiders left are gone.

Could be as hard as the Watcher was back in MoM....

[cossieuk]

Cant see many players being happy about this at all. Started taking money for RoR in July but you wont get all you paid for till at least February.

I guess there will be no new armor sets till the 3 raids are released next year.

[ColorSpecs]

Instances shipping with Update 9: Against the Shadow

Riders of Rohan Instances (Part 1):

• Iorbar’s Peak (Misty Mountains / Stone Giants-3-man)
• Webs of the Scuttledells (Mirkwood 3-man)
• Seat of the Great Goblin (Goblintown 3-man)

[B]

What is the point of these instances? In ROI you ran the smaller isen instances for seals to get armor that came from unlocking deeds in the 12-man (Mirk and In their Absence worked that way too).

With no 12-man is the raid armor coming first?

[Pantherantha]

No regular raid ... this must be a joke ... or WB want to close Lotro soon ...

[b0lth4rd]

is there any info if there will be a split payment of some sort for the instance cluster? :eg: have 3 man cluster in store this week and the rest in february?Or have everything as a bundle starting this week. Obviously, this is a question comin from someone who got rohan q.pack only (with tp's) so no sense in buyng the 4k+ pack wich is in store now since i already got the quests.


thanks

[Fabroy]

I wonder , if there will a proper raid incoming now in december or when? or never?.

[Gillrain]

sounds like erm


&&&& ... single boss really ? draigoch was so fun fight ... oh w8 it wasnt ...

[HunterGreen]

I'm simultaneously tremendously excited that we're finally going to see that part of the world (maybe Mirkir can finally go home!) and sad that the only way looks like it'll be part of 6 and 12 instances so I'll probably never get to do them.

[Ferthcott]

At least nobody can say they expected these venues.

Well, certainly not masked as "Riders of Rohan" instances considering... geography :P

With 3-mans coming out first it looks like old progression routine people usually suggested as a grouping tutorial has been made more official - well, mostly because we have no other choice While Galahadur pointed at one bitter pill (100% bigger pieces in 2013), there is one more I can see - bad spot left for 6-mans, with "trio instances" skewing demand for tank & healer ad absurdum. Poor DPS people.

But two bitter pills aside - not bad, finally, etc etc. Polishing or not, on purpose or not - it seems Turbine switched to chopping content into smaller pieces a while ago already, compared to "big release +=> 6-12 months of emptiness" it doesn't look so awful (at least on paper).


Raids though... until I know whether single-boss equals "lair" structure (or lack of structure to be more precise), it's hard to judge. Pessimist could imagine equivalent of Acid, Lightning and Shadow being presented as three raids. Hopefully not the case. I guess we will know tomorrow, but that issue is still worth its own spot: is either of those two parts scalable?

[pteranadon]

I don't remember people complaining that much about the Watcher being a single boss raid. So what if one of the three is like the turtle or draig, there are THREE RAIDS- the most raids that have been released simultaneously at any point in the game, and that is a great sign. The fact that we are getting 3 3mans, 1 six man, and 3 raids all in addition to Rohan and everything else that it came with it sounds good to me.

[AndiZ]

Well, at least I saw it coming. Only one 6men instance and no multiboss raids is disappointing, just disappointing. My main problem with Lotro since Mirkwood is the lack of proper Fellowship instances and this doesn't sound good. I already see the rail level coming. But I'll give it a chance.

[Oldin]

Agreed with Ferthcott, the 3 seperate raids could play into each other storywise and essentially be the equivalent of wings. I guess we can say lets wait for more information, but we have been waiting...for months, and I suppose this vague idea of what's coming is what we're getting as far as info.

[Brya]

A split push for development perhaps? Western Rohan etc for expansions, and Hobbit-related tie-in content for the "Free" updates and regions?

Since the instances are going over that way, and the ones held until February are specifically the Dale/Erebor related ones, hopefully (wishfully perhaps :P) that means we could be getting some landmass over their for the spring. It's a little earlier than GR and Enedwaith launched in the previous years, but who knows. Also a bit of a stretch to get that far, that fast, but who knows? A cheekily portal boundary (eg, Shire <> Ere Luin) could be on the cards.

I guess we could even cheekily exit mirkwood behind Dol Guldur, and have a region up the eastern border of Mirkwood, but:

1. That's a large North-South stretch of land
2. It present the issue of how to both practically and realistically border mirkwood to prevent (re-entry). One-shotter elves anyone?

Sapience, I know your hands will be tied with what you can say, but to avoid any unjustified negativity, can you specify a bit more about the format of the raids? I assume it's going to be a bit more than three turtle-style facerolls, but are we talking a (hopefully) hard lair boss type thing (like MoM Watcher) or something with a bit of trash preceeding it, like a (again, hopefully less of a faceroll) Helegrod wing?

[Merebrand]

Is this a joke?

[Gylve]

I don't see any reason why the "12 man, single boss" raids are *necessarily* lair-style raids like the Watcher, Turtle or Draigoch. A raid with a single boss could still have (interesting, challenging) trash leading up to it.

Three raids, six armor slots...I'm thinking that the three raids are listed separately for two reasons:

1) It makes it look like there's more content than there really is (marketing move, doesn't really bug too much as it's to be expected really).

2) Rather than have one multi-boss, multi-wing raid like Orthanc that's the source of our raid armor sets but gets kind of monotonous after months of grinding despite the clear attempt at differentiating the wings, Turbine opted to split the raid experience into three distinct instances.

Three bosses is less than Orthanc's five, sure, but could still potentially be a lot of fun.

Like someone else above me noted, I do wonder what the "point" of the 3-mans will be. Surely they will have some useful teals, just as the Isengard 3-mans had, but those also supplied valuable sigil fragments, not to mention a good return on medallions and seals that could be used toward the raid armor. Granted, we don't know what the raid armor will be like in terms of cost/reward structure, but currently there's really no good supply of medallions, which are needed for LI advancement. I'm hoping the December 3-mans give decent medallions.

[nubcat]

*Hands nails to turbine* *points to coffin*

[MTminas]

I am fairly happy about the quantity of 12-mans however, only 1 6-man and only 3-mans being released before 2013....
It's kinda frustrating, but a small break from LOTRO never hurt anything....

Ex