Update 5: Volume III, Book 5 Quest Notes Dev Diary Feedback

[Clover]

It hasn’t been very long since the last edition of Quest Notes, but already it’s time to sit down and discuss what lies ahead in the next installment of the Epic Story for LOTRO! Read more in the latest Developer Diary from Jeff ‘MadeOfLions’ Libby and post your comments here!

[Nyrion]

Always good to see the Devs are in on the Rangers often pitiable antics. xD

Very nice Dev Diary. I didn't get a chance to see the movies while on Bullroarer, but I'm hoping they will enhance the Epic experience while doing them even further.

[Sarathaela]

I enjoyed the epic story, but thought the Book itself was relatively... short.

'Nuff said

[Belnavar]

Nice dev diary. I enjoyed the book a lot (it feels very epic, despite its few chapters). Looking forward to the video/s.

-Bel

[Drucrew]

(And by ‘pretending to be a Ranger’ I mean bumbling into monster nests, formulating rather bad plans that require the villains to be true to their word, getting other adventurers to do your dirty work... for other examples, just check some of the great threads on the forums! Oh, you Rangers. I kid because I love.)
QFT

[jewahe]

I did the new epic on Bullroarer - it's nicely done, but goes by almost too fast. I wasn't able to complete the final chapter (my LM is just a bit too squishy), but it was exciting to try. It was also interesting to see landscape changes to accomodate the new epic.

BTW, the new book starts where the last one ended - at the camp outside Tâl Methedras.

And those cosmetics - I'm all ninja'd out!

[lla911]

So...
When will the fellowship leave Lothlorien in the game? And will we see it?

I don't think i missed this in the epic line, but I could just not be remembering correctly.

In the novels the fellowship departs Lorien on 16 Feb and the fellowship is broken on 26 Feb. For even more context, the first battle of the Fords of Isen happens on 25 Feb (Hasn't happened yet in game)
The last event from the books that we saw happened on 14 Feb - The mirror of Galadriel. We have seen Gandalf so it is after this.(http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Arda)

Now I haven't played the next book on Bullroarer so if it happens in that i guess my question is easy.

All the Best,
Lawmi

[Reniannen]

So...
When will the fellowship leave Lothlorien in the game? And will we see it?

They've already left but we couldn't be there because we were gathering the Grey Company.

[Reximus]

So...
When will the fellowship leave Lothlorien in the game? And will we see it?

I don't think i missed this in the epic line, but I could just not be remembering correctly.

In the novels the fellowship departs Lorien on 16 Feb and the fellowship is broken on 26 Feb. For even more context, the first battle of the Fords of Isen happens on 25 Feb (Hasn't happened yet in game)
The last event from the books that we saw happened on 14 Feb - The mirror of Galadriel. We have seen Gandalf so it is after this.(http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Arda)

Now I haven't played the next book on Bullroarer so if it happens in that i guess my question is easy.

All the Best,
Lawmi

The Fellowship left with Mirkwood, we didn't get to see it because it was a secret, but our invasion of Mirkwood and Siege of Dol Guldur are all to keep the enemies eyes off the fellowship. This was mentioned either in a Dev Diary or a dev post some time back.

[Macfeast]

So...
When will the fellowship leave Lothlorien in the game? And will we see it?

I don't think i missed this in the epic line, but I could just not be remembering correctly.

In the novels the fellowship departs Lorien on 16 Feb and the fellowship is broken on 26 Feb. For even more context, the first battle of the Fords of Isen happens on 25 Feb (Hasn't happened yet in game)
The last event from the books that we saw happened on 14 Feb - The mirror of Galadriel. We have seen Gandalf so it is after this.(http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_Arda)

Now I haven't played the next book on Bullroarer so if it happens in that i guess my question is easy.

All the Best,
Lawmi

They have left, they still appear in Lorien because their spots are locked to a certain date (just like in Rivendell, only there, the time-locked areas were separate rooms; The Fellowship didn't actually have rooms during their stay in Lorien, just that tent); If you go to, say, Cerin Amroth, you will see not only "Cerin Amroth" under your map, but also a date.

Plus, the video from the Volume 3 Prologue confirms their departure.

Note that even with phasing, the developers haven't given up on the approach with time-locked zones; Even after going into Dunland, the Grey Company remains in Enedwaith. Since many of them are involved in quests, I do not think they will ever be phased out from that zone; An area like Enedwaith is going to remain stuck during the timeframe when the Grey Company passed through, not progressing further.
One of the things I am looking forward to in the future is seeing how the return-journey is done; How will a post-war Eriador be shown, without people being locked out of unfinished content that happened pre-war?

[lla911]

Ah I see, And here I thought Mirkwood was just the elves' bad idea.

I wish Turbine would use their new phasing tech to get rid of the fellowship in Lothlorian. They could give that warning, but this isn't the right thread for that

I can't wait to meet up with them again and start gaining favor with the rest of the Rohirrim. Bye Grey Company go forth and kick butt.

[AwerthThawre]

Waves goodbye to the rangers!

The one thing that struck me in that diary is the line about Frodos decision and ther wis a whole world of things after that! So maybe we will get to motor if turbine is already planning what's instore afterwards!

[PKCrichton]

I have to say getting ranger cosmetics is going to be nice. The npcs of the game mainly the rangers and sons of Elrond have had some really nice cosmetic appearances kept solely to themselves since the SoA days.. My only one comment on both these cosmetic items, the isengard prisoner items and any other future quest given cosmetic items is make them Bind to ACCOUNT and not Bind on ACQUIRE! We all are soooo short on space as it is let us move this around, set them in shared storage, add them our ability to 'reclaim' or something. Just so they aren't stuck sitting on one specific characters vault forever.

[Gilean-EU]

Did I get it right, only FOUR chapters in Book 5?

It's great to see that they are going to use more movies to help them tell a story, can't wait to see them!

But I really don't think we players should have ranger outfits. In my opinion those should remain for rangers only, altough they are very nice indeed, especially the darker ones.

[OldLadyGamer]

It hasn’t been very long since the last edition of Quest Notes, but already it’s time to sit down and discuss what lies ahead in the next installment of the Epic Story for LOTRO! Read more in the latest Developer Diary from Jeff ‘MadeOfLions’ Libby and post your comments here!

So, are we going to get to rescue the poor Ranger that's been turned into Saruman's pet? :-(

[Malachi108]

Did I get it right, only FOUR chapters in Book 5?

Some chapters have more than 1 quest, so the overall number of quests is still pretty decent: on par with 2.5 or 1.3.

[Elrendos]

That was an excellent Developer Diary. I personally love the new Ranger Cosmetic Outift. I will definately be getting that for my characters once Update 5 is live.

I do believe that the highlight of "Rise Of Isengard" was a new playable area, the level cap increase, the start of the Epic quests, and a new Raid. It seems Update 5 is more or less just an extension of the expansion, almost like the other half of it if you will. We will be getting a new Instance Cluster, as well as more of the Epic quests. The new instances definately being the highlight of this update.

[Mykkul]

I do so love presents from Rangers around the holidays

[Lasagabaster]

Nice Dev Diary -- you guys have me anxiously waiting for the update!

I can't believe no one said this but... Does that moustache belongs to Théoden??? Is that the king of Rohan himself? Lore-wise it shouldn't be or should it?

I'm all excited to see how that black ranger outfit fits my elf!

[Macfeast]

Nice Dev Diary -- you guys have me anxiously waiting for the update!

I can't believe no one said this but... Does that moustache belongs to Théoden??? Is that the king of Rohan himself? Lore-wise it shouldn't be or should it?

I'm all excited to see how that black ranger outfit fits my elf!

SPOILER-WARNING (highlight the text to see it):

That would be Elfhelm, Marshal of the East-Mark.

[CaptainSnark]

Excellent! The Epic storyline remains my favorite part of the game. Looking forward to this update!

[Lasagabaster]

SPOILER-WARNING (highlight the text to see it):

That would be Elfhelm, Marshal of the East-Mark.

Oh, thank you!

[ErandarTheFirst]

can't wait turbine! I really looking forward to instances and epic story

[djheydt]

can't wait turbine! I really looking forward to instances and epic story

You'll cry a lot. Or I did, anyway. You also get some neat cosmetics.

[djheydt]

SPOILER-WARNING (highlight the text to see it):

That would be Elfhelm, Marshal of the East-Mark.

Correct. We have not met King Theoden yet, and won't for a while. He's sitting in Edoras doing nothing, till Gandalf gets there. (Read the books!!!)