A Letter From Executive Producer Aaron Campbell - October 2014

[Rowan]

Hello all! I’m Aaron “Rowan” Campbell, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online.

Update 15 is getting close, and the Dawnless Day is upon us! Our last major update for the year goes into public Beta testing this Friday (October 10) on Bullroarer. We have a lot to polish up and fine-tune in the release, but are eager to get your feedback on the new Beorning class, quests in Central Gondor, and Pelargir Epic Battle.


Here are some quick highlights:

Beorning: As a Beorning, you hail from the line of skin-changers that descends from Grimbeorn and Beorn himself. Beornings are closely related to the Rohirrim (and other Men), but are larger and more rugged. Call on the ancestral knowledge of your people with The Roar trait line, strike down your enemies with The Claw trait line, or unleash your wrath to defend your allies with The Hide trait line. When Beornings gather sufficient Wrath they can take the form of a great bear to unleash devastating attacks on their foes. Every new Beorning character will start in the brand new starting area: Vales of Anduin. Visit Grimbeorn’s Lodge while you get comfortable with your own strength.

Central Gondor: The dark clouds of the Dawnless Day loom overhead! Push forward into the Ringló Vale, Dor-en-Ernil, and Lebennin. New quests are available as you drive back the Corsairs, Haradrim, and Half-trolls who now pillage the shores of Gondor. The latest book of your Epic Story resolves in the beleaguered city of Pelargir, home to Gondor’s fleet.

Pelargir Epic Battle: This battle changes up the rules of epic battles! Instead of defending a key point, you will infiltrate the city of Pelargir and clear the way for Aragorn and the Army of the Dead. This offensive battle allows you to proceed at your own pace, completing optional objectives as you advance.

You may have noticed that the Legendary Item Update is not in this list. The team has made a lot of progress on updating Imbued Legendary Items to grow with you, but we’re taking more time to balance and refine the system. We plan to release this update with Update 16 in April 2015 (or earlier!), along with LOTRO’s Eighth Anniversary Update.


Features still to come in 2015:

Osgiliath: We’re advancing north, and now almost in sight of both Minas Tirith and The Black Gate. Osgiliath is a city overrun by Sauron’s army. Expect new adventures as you journey along the Anduin.

Minas Tirith: As the war escalates even further, you will journey to the City of Kings and participate in the Siege of Minas Tirith. Minas Tirith is the largest structure we’ve ever placed in Middle-earth, and the largest city!

There are many other areas that we continue to invest in, such as Roving Threats, a new type of challenge for fellowships, in Central Gondor. Looking forward to Update 15 and beyond!


Rowan

[palantorio]

Interesting News.. but...
Not a word about the changes in the Music System?

[Rowan]

Interesting News.. but...
Not a word about the changes in the Music System?

Those are ready and you should see them tomorrow.

Err, hear them.

[dusken]

Can't wait! I would've loved to see Minas Tirith before the siege, but this will be amazing anyway.
I'm sure we'll hunger for more info about the legendary items' system update.

Thanks for the news, Aaron.

[Cableknitdragon]

Any news if a new mac bullroarer download will be available?

[ChromiteSwiftpaw]

I would think that something as widely used as the Legendary Item system would be more important since it affects more people than those that would want to play a new class...

A real shame to see it delayed. Getting feelings of the Housing System Update that was delayed and eventually cancelled :-/

Are there at least essence system updates? Loot table/random number generator fixes/updates?

[gildhur]

Every new Beorning character will start in the brand new starting area: Vales of Anduin.

WHOA. I haven't really been following the news lately, but this is pretty cool. So Beornings are sort of a race/class combination? Other races can't choose them as a class? Interested to see where characters go after they leave the Vales too.

Exciting times ahead in Gondor too! Wish I had time to keep up.

[Warmutkan]

Lots of good news in the update! Looking forward to rolling a Beorning once the update is released. I'm content to wait for the LI changes but similarly hope that they don't get Housed.

Comments on Essences?

[Coruven]

You've got me excited about this update. It all sounds good.

Thank you for the new starter area for the Beorning Class. I wasn't going to mess with this, but now I am curious.

Good luck in the future.

[Nathrien_Estelenlaer]

Looking forward to testing out the Beorning and peeking at Central Gondor

Since the LI system update is being pushed back, does this mean we'll be able to imbue LIs that are under level 100? I'd hate to discard those level 95 FAs I'm desperately clinging to

[Farothhen]

I wonder if I can force myself to come back to the game. If yes, let's see if it's still all about the gear. Let's see, if there are any skills I remember or changed all over again and again...

[Levanas]

Dear Rowan;

1- What about huge-revamp of Big Battle system? Just a new BB or new one + revamping the system?

2- What about Essences?

3- "...a new type of challenge for fellowships.." That means landmark fellowship quests or new instances (maybe ) ?

4- I know, you're not going to answer this but: are you considering to revamp the character faces, bodies, new hair styles, improving the animations? (Pretty please, say "yes". Our character designs and animations so out-dated! They're look like a Barbie and Ken dolls)

5- Is there any new music track(s) for the Central Gondor?

Thank you so much.

[Erennor]

O Minas Tirith!

At a first read all sounds very good and exciting to me, and it is wise that the Beorning characters will at least have their own fitting starting area. As a LotRO-player and a Tolkien-appreciator I thank you for that; yet most likely they will not be limited there in the upper vales of Anduin. If that is so, then how men taking bear-shape in (say) the siege of Gondor be explained concerning the story and the lore? There is not much(or indeed any) gap there to fill or even a grey area for it that allows some stretch.
Would it not be a strange sight to see great bears here and there fighting in the Pelennor and in the White City?

On a different note, naught is said about Lossarnach. I hope we do get to see this beautiful area (as its name means Vale of Flowers) when Minas Tirith comes for it was the closest region to the City, and apart from its beauty, there is interesting lore content to fill it up with, for its lord was the old Forlong the Fat who led many of his men to aid the City. Also the wise-woman Ioreth who served in the Houses of Healing hailed from there as well as the wife of King Thengel of Rohan, Morwen Steelsheen. Doubtless Turbine's world lead builder knows this but I wished to mention it nonetheless.

In general, exciting news! And here is to some people in the past saying that LotRO would never make it to Gondor. I hope it is done well and fully. But I think all of us have little doubt when it comes to the great worldbuilders of LotRO.

Good luck to all the staff. May you reach a greater level of successful work than ever before in LotRO!

[DelgonTheWise]

Sounds interesting.

I only hope the LI pushback doesn't mean that imbuement will only apply to level 105 or 110 LIs rather than existing level 100 LIs as announced. Boy do I hope that, I really don't want to make them again...

[Castorix]

Where is the most important thing ? : https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...92#post7224192

[Adraenalin]

Hi Rowan,

Will there be released a new instance cluster or new raid(s) in 2015 ?

[Dolamrothdame]

Thank you for the information, Rowan! It looks like you all are right on schedule, which is impressive, given all the stuff in this update.

I would like to second the request for a character re-vamp in the future. You've updated various areas over the years so they wouldn't look so dated, and tweaked some of the character animations. Can we please have some love for the character skins themselves? They really date the game and I don't like doing close-ups on most of mine because they look bug-eyed, alien and plastic rather than beautiful. Lips in particular look unformed, like slashes and there aren't enough head/hair variations. Characters look pretty much just like one another, no matter what you pick upon character generation. At least put the NPC hairstyles in as an additional choice. Pretty please?

[Jadowyn]

But I already HAVE 17 characters (max) on my primary server!!!!

Will we get to be able to buy at least one more slot (preferably more) to be able to create the new class in?

[DanteIL]

As an avowed disliker of Epic Battles, I am nonetheless curious to see what they come up with for an offensive Pelargir Battle. I also have a couple of Battle-related questions (which we may find out soon on Bullroarer, I suppose): With the addition of a new Battle, are there any adjustments/additions to the Battle skill points available? Are any more points going to be gated in some fashion? Also, will there be any reworking of the (near-useless, IMO) Vanguard line?

[Lilka]

So Beornings are sort of a race/class combination? Other races can't choose them as a class?

You can't have elf Beornings or hobbit Beornings no. They just are. Like orcs. You can't learn to be one, and it's a distinct race of Man.

I hope they're fun to play, warden-style. I don't want to just see a basic existing LOTRO char that puts on a bear suit for a few moves. It really needs to feel worthwhile.

[Dernudan]

But I already HAVE 17 characters (max) on my primary server!!!!

Will we get to be able to buy at least one more slot (preferably more) to be able to create the new class in?

Frelorn said yes-check his live stream notes, he made a post confirming this towards the end of the thread.

[Frelorn]

But I already HAVE 17 characters (max) on my primary server!!!!

Will we get to be able to buy at least one more slot (preferably more) to be able to create the new class in?

Yes! More characters slots will be made available. More information on this and other things to come.

[bucko39]

Fix to the broken loot system?

Expanded crafting recipes (off hand weapons/cloaks/minstrel instruments) for level 100?

[gildhur]

You can't have elf Beornings or hobbit Beornings no. They just are. Like orcs. You can't learn to be one, and it's a distinct race of Man.

That was my concern when I first heard the news of them being added as a new "class". I'm glad to see it looks like it's not just a "class" anyone can play. I'll definitely make some time to roll one.

[Dantrag28]

I wish they would give us a straight up answer about new raids/instances, Big Battles and riding on horseback will never be able compensate for group content. If I wanted to play a game solo, I'd buy a console game with better graphics...enjoy your werebear everbody.