Update 9: Against the Shadow and the Rohan Instance cluster

[timmyloo22546]

No raid until February? Yikes.

[Xferno]

How much will this cost in TP? Thanks so much.

[Galuhad]

I am not surprised to see Hobbit related instances, and whilst they divert from the main story, I am very excited to see these parts of Middle-earth. My main concern is with raids being released so late, they never take off as well because they are over-shadowed by expansions looming in the not so distant future. I personally hope we do not get an expansion in 2013 and we get some decent end-game content to really work at with more focussed updates instead.

I do not mind single-boss raids, at least there are three of them.. Can be run one after the other for those wanting multi-boss raids. I just hope they prove interesting and not mind numbingly simple like the turtle raid.

With all this Hobbit related content I hope to god that the press department has a good marketing strategy in place to pull in fresh blood.

[Lenton]

Hobbit tie-in instances. Nice.

[Mysterion]

I'm happy where they are taking the raiding idea. Makes it easy for me as a casual to sign up for raid nights when it is something quick and dirty like most lair raids turn into.

[PKCrichton]

Having been in RoR beta I totally understand then needing more time if they were going to complete the entire instance cluster. I am happy that they decided to focus on getting some of it out for all of us to both enjoy and to fulfill their commitment of a cluster by the end of the year.

In a way I'm a little surprised that the entire cluster is Hobbit themed but at the same time we get to see a LOT of places in the game that normally we would never be able to get to without a major divergence in the epic story. I've never been a serious raider yet I've gone into every raid instance the game has to offer. The most enjoyable of these for me has been the Rift and Draigoch. So I'm both happy to see the 3 raids but I'm a little surprised that every single one of these is a single boss... This doesn't mean that the raid doesn't have add mechanics that we have to work through to get to the boss or during phases of a boss but we'll see how that goes come February. I do wish that there had been 1 more 6 man in there and one less 3 mans as I've never gotten into the 3 manning instances much it always feels like you're missing things in there.

[timmyloo22546]

How much will this cost in TP? Thanks so much.

4,295 TPs. The expansion is already in the lotro store.

[Crell_1]

• 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)

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

So many 'single bosses'..

Any chance for some multi-wing level cap content in 2013?

Or at the very least a 'Raid Single boss' that requires some SIGNIFICANT effort to get to the boss? (I dont mean walk in and kill it [turtle, watcher], or Minimal effort (Draigoch [quest line]+brief walk down, which can be circumvented with only half the group)

[Southpa]

Does not strike me as a bona-fide "cluster" in the least.
Seems more like mishmash of random instances culminating in (wherer didat come from??) a capitalization on The Hobbit.

Sorry Turb, officially not excited.

[Northstar6]

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.

You have failed Turbine , u have failed, one more reason too quit game for long period again,

1. 3 ! 3! 12-man raids and ALL 1 boss?? Funny

2. Seriously u couldnt make something related too Rohan? ?? Since when THIS -[*]Iorbar’s Peak (Misty Mountains / Stone Giants-3-man)[*]Webs of the Scuttledells (Mirkwood 3-man)[*]Seat of the Great Goblin (Goblintown 3-man)


have anything too do with Rohan? U just keep returing too old stuff..... Whats next Scaling rift too lv85?

[Lestache]

Thank you for the update.

I suspect that this is one of those announcements that, for many people, will trigger memories of our mothers telling us, "If you don't have anything good to say..."

Anyway, hopefully the lair raids don't bother with trash mobs. Adds with the boss, sure, but don't artificially inflate the time we spend in there by giving us trash that leads to one boss.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the lair raids will be of varying difficulty: one of Turtle-like difficulty, one of Watcher 2.0 (or harder) level, and one in-between.

Given the fact that it's probably impossible to design three lair raids of equal difficulty, for the love of Pete please make sure that each raid has its own rewards and that the rewards match the difficulty. Either give each raid its own armor set, with the best armor coming from the toughest raid, or gate 2/6 pieces behind each raid and make sure that the 5- or 6-set bonuses are far superior to the 2-, 3-, and 4-set bonuses.

[Frisco]

Ugh. The only thing keeping me slogging along with the boring Hytbold dailies was the (repeated) promise of an instance cluster this year.

It's very insulting that Turbine decided not to comply with the spirit of the promise--i.e. releasing what is *technically* a "cluster" of instances, but nothing like what we have been given as an instance cluster in the past.

They "honored their commitment" about as well as Hooters did when they gave that waitress a new Toy Yoda.

This has left quite the bad taste in my mouth. Very shady. 2 months late on the information we were promised, and now I see why. Congrats, Turbine, for sinking to a new communication low.

[Gilean-EU]

They're going to take us Erebor now?

Or, to be precise, those who raid. I really hope Erebor and Dale are NOT going to be raid-only areas or there will be A LOT of angry people!

Well, I don't think Turbine would be that stupid. Right?

[JanTATW]

//

I think the reason for Turbine making the raids single-boss fights maybe are performance reasons. And I prefer to make them separate to let the raiders see all of the new places instead of just squeezing a much as possible into one raid.

I personally see no problem in just starting the second raid manually when the first one is done and so on. There probably is a raid-lock-system anyway that prevents you from doing a raid if you haven't completed another raid from that cluster yet.

But seriously guys. Don't judge before you played the raids yourself. I assume even for the biggest pessimists there is a chance that the single-boss-raids are still great. Draigoch was visually really cool but the fight itself sucked mostly because of the crashes.

//

[Rawlor]

So long as the raids are more on par with Moria Vile Maw how it was @ level 60 and NOT turtle or even Draig I'm ok with the raid setups. These days a Tier 2 + Challenge is all but assumed which should add some lifespan to them... at least hopefully.

But yeah... being so very far out still.... and again only one new six-man... yikes.

[Kril]

Wow, just wow...

I don't know how else to express my disappointment with Turbine atm...

The Good....
Releasing in 2 phases can be taken as ... decent news, it gives the players something to do at least, 3 3-man instances = bleh though, and I'm sure Turbine knows that of all the instances they release, the 3 mans get the least attention from the player base as they allow the least flexibility in class choice (tank, heals, dps required [T2]).


The Bad...
These instances have NOTHING at all to do with RoR and take us in the completely opposite direction with no news of the land mass to accompany them. The area in question takes us from Goblin Town all the way to the Lonely Mountain, an absolutely enormous stretch of land with MANY locations players have been asking for for years. Now, we're getting a few of them, in an obviously rushed money grab in time for the first movie release.

Now, it was expected when the movies were announced that we wouldn't be going south until we had Dale so the Hobbit could be realized in LOTRO, but you went to Rohan instead.

So instead of both of these areas being given the attention they deserve, they are both being slapped in the face.

More Bad...
3 man instances rarely give rewards of any worth, and are generally harder to get groups for then 6 mans due to the way you are restricted... So yes, we may have a way to get some medallions/seals again, but with no gear to achieve, no chance at 2nd agers, you might as well not even have bothered...

More bad...
With the amount of DPS races we've had in the past, the 3 single boss raids don't look like a change for the better. Smaug has been dead for years, no idea how the fires are still burning, let me guess, we fight his offspring or some &&&& like that... Battle for Erebor, I have NO idea how this is going can be single boss...

More bad...
&&& is the Battle for Erebor, please tell me it's not the Battle of Dale... The Battle of Dale (aka Erebor) took place on March 17th, 3019... Our timeline currently has us around April 30th... Although that's barely more then 2 weeks, this is by far the most active time in LOTR! March 2nd is when Theoden is cured by Gandalf, the Battle of the Hornburg is on the 3rd as with the flooding of Isengard by the Ents, Aragorn enters Dunharrow on the 7th, the Dawnless day on the 10th with the Mustering of the Rohirrim, on the 13th the enemy crosses onto the Pelenor fields, and the 15th is the Battle of the Pelenor Fields. Are you telling me we're going to be in Dale for all this?!?!?!?

[PKCrichton]

It's very insulting that Turbine decided not to comply with the spirit of the promise--i.e. releasing what is *technically* a "cluster" of instances, but nothing like what we have been given as an instance cluster in the past.

They "honored their commitment" about as well as Hooters did when they gave that waitress a new Toy Yoda.

This has left quite the bad taste in my mouth. Very shady. 2 months late on the information we were promised, and now I see why. Congrats, Turbine, for sinking to a new communication low.

When Rohan was delayed EVERYONE theorized that the Instances by the end of 2012 would not be achieved at ALL. But instead of totally breaking that commitment they worked hard to get us a hefty chunk of that content out as quickly as they could in the 2 month window they had once Rohan was launched. So no this isn't what we all wanted but its more than many of us expected to see based on the launch delay.

[Cellore]

Well, i still hope you make those raids VERY difficult and as someone pointed out before, we can have some trash making our way to the bosses even harder. About 3-mans, im not fan of these, but still, it's better than farming skraids all the time between expansion and instance cluster release. Im dissapointed by having only one 6-man instance, that kinda suck. What about rumors saying Mirkwood instances are going to be scaled?
If they are going to, they going to have some scaled/good stuff or &&&& like in revamped Fornost? And last question, any micro chance to get multi-boss raid?

Not excited at all, but yeah, hopefully we will see some really cool places.

[Zulubeast]

Lets hope only one of the Raid fights is Draigoch/Turtle-esque and the other two are complicated, long, tough boss fights.

[Pickle444]

Wow, &&& is this?? Is Turbine trying to kill this game intentionally? I don't give two craps about splitting the cluster; I'm talking about the cop-out single-boss raids!!!!!! This is infuriating. Starting with The Rift, the devs have come up with a series of terrific raids, with Ost Dunhoth being the best of them imho. The cluster idea: great. Story line that flows through the cluster: great. So, why change it up now? We KNOW these guys can do it, they just are choosing not to. This is probably going to be a deal-breaker for an awful lot of folks. How are we going to keep busy with 3 turtles and no "real" raid? Why bother gearing up and getting the best stuff if there is nothing that requires it?
This game has a huge problem that has held it back since the beginning. The devs have no idea at all how to itemize the game. Take Orthanc, for example. Great dungeon, very difficult T2 challenges, but there were no significant tangible rewards for defeating those challenges. All the best armor and items in the game could be obtained outside of the T2 raid. This just doesn't make sense. The T2 raid, being the most difficult content in the game, should also contain the most significant rewards. In other words, the game has built in no incentive to participate in its highest-level content. AND THAT CONTENT WAS VERY GOOD!
This doesn't punish the casual gamer in any way. If the gamer truly is casual, then there is no need to have the uber-elite-top-level stuff. And LoTRO gives plenty of stuff away for doing nothing at all. But this, this just makes no sense at all.
Not to be mean, but this game has proven, time and time again, that it is catering to the Bozos that play and not to the serious gamer.

[Beastnas]

While I am intrigued about the number of instances (and their locations!), I can't help but miss any mention of a classic multi-boss raid.

[TheNightAngel]

Well that's it. See you all in February.

[Ferthcott]

My main concern is with raids being released so late, they never take off as well because they are over-shadowed by expansions looming in the not so distant future. I personally hope we do not get an expansion in 2013 and we get some decent end-game content to really work at with more focussed updates instead.

It's a trap. Next expansion being delayed RoR-style... but this time we will be praying for that and cheering far louder

Seriously though, this is indeed a problem, let's not even think about issues similar to those ToO had and for how long they haunted it...

So either "scalability naow" or at least +5lv cap, something like Mirkwood 2.0 for West Rohan. Wasn't so bad for Moria after all.

OK, OK, at least better than RoI for... everything else >.<

[Camath0rn]

While I must admit a little part of me was holding out hope that we would see these places in the landscape, i understand turbine probably doesn't have the time left. I am glad how ever that we will get to see them in some form and I suspect the hype around them will increase even more as the film releases. The need for this cluster is great as players patience is becoming even more strained and I really hope these three mans are more successful than the last.

Turbine, much of your current endgame woes can be overcome by adding meaningful loot and rare drops to some of the great scaled content already in the game. When superior fourth marks were given and could be used to barter for top end gear, all of your scaled content was run constantly and the grouping community was thriving despite a lack of new instances. I would love to get back into these places but we need more incentive than easily obtainable marks or purple vender trash items.

[Lapislazzuli]

I'm sad. No raids, not even a single 6 man until FEBRUARY!
You know, that content you've been waiting for since Rohan release, it' coming in 3 months! So in the meanwhile you can go on doing BORING dailies and running 3 mans, who cares if you don't get to play what you like, the way you like (being a SUPPORT class) until february?