A letter From Executive Producer Aaron Campbell - April 2014

[Rowan]

Update 13 launched today, and LOTRO’s 7^th Anniversary celebration will soon follow. U13 marks the finale of the Volume 3 Epic Story – this opens us to Volume 4 (and Gondor) later in the year. With that in mind, I wanted to provide you with an outline of our committed plans over the coming months.

2014
Paths of the Dead and Dol Amroth: Our second update of the year will kick off a new volume of the Epic Story, featuring the aftermath of the Army of the Dead as they pass through Blackroot Vale. Journey to Dol Amroth, our first Gondorian city and seaside port! You’ll also have five new levels to advance your character.

Dead Marshes: Between updates, we’ll take a small detour to check on wayward Hobbits…

Pelargir: Our third update of the year will take you to the great port of Pelargir on the delta of Anduin. Join the Army of the Dead to defeat the Corsairs of Umbar! This update will also include five new levels.

These new quests and the level caps will all be free to VIPs.


Of Bears and Bees
Recently we confirmed that LOTRO will be releasing a new class this year. I’m pleased to announce that this class is the Beorning! This will be LOTRO’s first class since the Mines of Moria expansion introduced the Warden and Rune-keeper.

Beornings are noted in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a race of Man, with close origins to the Rohirrim and the Men of Dale. Most Men are not shape-changers, so we envision the Beorning as a light armor casting class with a focus on control of the battlefield. When a Beorning gathers sufficient rage, they may transform into a mighty bear.

We’ll be sharing early class designs with the new Players Council. Expect more details later this year, as the class progresses through alpha and beta.


Housing
This deserves a special mention. After reviewing all our goals for the year, major Housing changes will not be among them. We reviewed multiple options to update the system – none of them met our standards of quality, and ultimately the system you would want us to build.

LOTRO is about the journey, and first and foremost we want to be expanding and growing the world of Middle-earth. This does not mean there will be no changes to Housing, but don’t expect broad, systemic updates. I’m sorry that we set any other expectations in the past, as we know this is a feature that many of you greatly value.


As always, there are also features that we’re working on but haven’t committed a timeline to. Basically, we’ll ship them when they’re ready. Many of these ideas are based on your feedback, so please keep it coming!

Kinships: The next addition to loot options is a system of crafting tied to your Kinship house, which will encourage more social play. Our goal is to create Kinship deeds that you can complete together.

Combat Rebalancing: You’ve said that high-level combat has gotten too easy, and we agree! With new regions we’ll be taking a hard look at balance and adjusting existing opponents or adding new ones.

PvMP: Why add catapults to the Ettenmoors? Why not? Siege weapons!

Epic Battles: We’ll continue to update and improve this system, along with a new battle in 2014. There are some epic conflicts ahead in the story.

Festivals: Hobnanigans (better known as Chicken Hockey) is a special event for the Bree-fields. You can expect new weekend boosts and events as we go forward.


2015
Looking out to the future, our Palantir reveals multiple updates in 2015. Here are two of them!

Osgiliath: The middle of 2015 brings us deeper in Gondor, and to lands directly contested by Sauron’s armies.

Pelennor Fields and Minas Tirith: The end of 2015 takes us to one of the defining moments of the War of the Ring, the battle before the walls of Minas Tirith.

As you can tell, we’re in the heart of the story now. It is a tremendous challenge for the team to do justice to these well-known events, but also one we’re thrilled to be undertaking.


I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into LOTRO’s future plans, and I look forward to your questions and suggestions.
Rowan

[Aedfrith]

(Edit: This is the Honey Monster.)

[Mistermorriss]

Can't wait!

However, with Osgiliath and Minas Tirith (woohoo! etc.) slated for 2015. Do we *gulp* come to the end in 2016?

[rosey21]

So only one race will be able to play the new class?

[LordVoronturEU]

Update 13 launched today, and LOTRO’s 7^th Anniversary celebration will soon follow. U13 marks the finale of the Volume 3 Epic Story – this opens us to Volume 4 (and Gondor) later in the year. With that in mind, I wanted to provide you with an outline of our committed plans over the coming months.

2014
Paths of the Dead and Dol Amroth: Our second update of the year will kick off a new volume of the Epic Story, featuring the aftermath of the Army of the Dead as they pass through Blackroot Vale. Journey to Dol Amroth, our first Gondorian city and seaside port! You’ll also have five new levels to advance your character.

Dead Marshes: Between updates, we’ll take a small detour to check on wayward Hobbits…

Pelargir: Our third update of the year will take you to the great port of Pelargir on the delta of Anduin. Join the Army of the Dead to defeat the Corsairs of Umbar! This update will also include five new levels.

These new quests and the level caps will all be free to VIPs.


Of Bears and Bees
Recently we confirmed that LOTRO will be releasing a new class this year. I’m pleased to announce that this class is the Beorning! This will be LOTRO’s first class since the Mines of Moria expansion introduced the Warden and Rune-keeper.

Beornings are noted in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a race of Man, with close origins to the Rohirrim and the Men of Dale. Most Men are not shape-changers, so we envision the Beorning as a light armor casting class with a focus on control of the battlefield. When a Beorning gathers sufficient rage, they may transform into a mighty bear.

We’ll be sharing early class designs with the new Players Council. Expect more details later this year, as the class progresses through alpha and beta.


Housing
This deserves a special mention. After reviewing all our goals for the year, major Housing changes will not be among them. We reviewed multiple options to update the system – none of them met our standards of quality, and ultimately the system you would want us to build.

LOTRO is about the journey, and first and foremost we want to be expanding and growing the world of Middle-earth. This does not mean there will be no changes to Housing, but don’t expect broad, systemic updates. I’m sorry that we set any other expectations in the past, as we know this is a feature that many of you greatly value.


As always, there are also features that we’re working on but haven’t committed a timeline to. Basically, we’ll ship them when they’re ready. Many of these ideas are based on your feedback, so please keep it coming!

Kinships: The next addition to loot options is a system of crafting tied to your Kinship house, which will encourage more social play. Our goal is to create Kinship deeds that you can complete together.

Combat Rebalancing: You’ve said that high-level combat has gotten too easy, and we agree! With new regions we’ll be taking a hard look at balance and adjusting existing opponents or adding new ones.

PvMP: Why add catapults to the Ettenmoors? Why not? Siege weapons!

Epic Battles: We’ll continue to update and improve this system, along with a new battle in 2014. There are some epic conflicts ahead in the story.

Festivals: Hobnanigans (better known as Chicken Hockey) is a special event for the Bree-fields. You can expect new weekend boosts and events as we go forward.


2015
Looking out to the future, our Palantir reveals multiple updates in 2015. Here are two of them!

Osgiliath: The middle of 2015 brings us deeper in Gondor, and to lands directly contested by Sauron’s armies.

Pelennor Fields and Minas Tirith: The end of 2015 takes us to one of the defining moments of the War of the Ring, the battle before the walls of Minas Tirith.

As you can tell, we’re in the heart of the story now. It is a tremendous challenge for the team to do justice to these well-known events, but also one we’re thrilled to be undertaking.


I hope you’ve enjoyed this peek into LOTRO’s future plans, and I look forward to your questions and suggestions.
Rowan

Looks like some interesting days/weeks/months/years ahead!
Thank you for letting us in on some of the plans moving forward.

[Rowan]

However, with Osgiliath and Minas Tirith (woohoo! etc.) slated for 2015. Do we *gulp* come to the end in 2016?

Coming to the "end" of the story only gives us freedom to venture to other parts of the world. I don't see it as an end at all.

[pittcrew1]

Shame that housing still wont be revamped, but looking forward to everything else!

Was happy to see we would get to an even 100, and then slightly disappointed at 105 :P Either way, it should be fun and the new areas should be great.

[youlongzi]

I quote, "...These new quests and the level caps will all be free to VIPs."

Does this means that premium and F2P players must buy the new level caps now?

If the answer is yes, then WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS TURBINE???

[Moors-Battlemaster]

Curious to see how 10 new levels will impact PvMP...

[Mistermorriss]

Coming to the "end" of the story only gives us freedom to venture to other parts of the world. I don't see it as an end at all.

That's all the reassurance I needed! Thanks! Really hyped about the new class and the story progression!

[Lialix]

Chicken Hockey? I can't find the right words to emphasis how disgusting that is ...

[Tiempko]

I am worried about how the Boerning are going to fit in with the Shire culture - with Boerning as common as men and elfs.

But, far more important, combat is too easy at ALL levels, we took three Level 27 characters into Level 32 Ivar quest in Garth Argawen and won on the first try. Our level 20 group three-manned Great Barrow instances on-level with ease. I can put my minstrel on walk and defeat landscape mobs without breaking stride. We skirmish at Tier III without soldiers.

For my level 60 group, any more than 3 in a Moria instance is a cakewalk. Skirmishing at Tier 3 is 4 characters with soldiers or 6 characters without soldiers.

[LethalLethality]

Oh I hope we get more char slots. All mine are filled, and I do not want to delete one to make room for the new Beorning class.

Hey Sapience, you know how we had that thread asking for 25 slots? One for each race/class combination. Can we now have 26 since it's confirmed that it is Beorning which will be Race of Man only?

[Ceremony]

yay!! can't wait!

[Stealthiness]

Pelennor Fields and Minas Tirith: The end of 2015 takes us to one of the defining moments of the War of the Ring, the battle before the walls of Minas Tirith.

Oke, end of 2015 is when I log in again. Thanks for notifying!

[Adanamir]

I wish you hadn't picked the Beornings as a new class ... I apologise for sounding negative at the very start, but what you are basically offering is a druid shape-shifter. Let someone correct me, but isn't this more or less the same as the druid class in World of Warcraft?

Anyways, this feels like looking for the wow factor, rather than implementing the lore respectfully. Yes, I get it, you have some nominal arguments to justify the class's existence, but I honestly expected something more. Well, good luck with that. Personally, I think I'll pass.

By the way, I'm not threatening to quit or something, I am just sad that it has come down to this. This is why I tend to favour original settings for video games in recent years, you don't have any limits to imagination and introducing new things doesn't have to appear convoluted as it does in this case.

[Mistermorriss]

I might add I'm looking forward to the balance changes. Although I haven't complained about how "easy" things are, I'm certainly looking forward to having to think a bit more and plan my attacks.

[TharbadThief]

Heh, I would have been very surprised if the new class was something other than beorning I hope it is done with care as beornings are "a bit" problematic when it comes to lore. Men are the most versatile of all races so it's understandable that there are more class possibilities for men than for other races. Looking forward to seeing how it is done in practice.

Also, Pelargir, Dead Marshes and Dol Amroth sound exciting. And of course Minas Tirith and it's surroundings next year.

[zalladi]

Beorning's, woohoo! Some excitement has just sparked within me.

You’ll also have five new levels to advance your character.

An interesting idea to increase the level cap by 10 levels in two updates of 5 level increments.

Also, Minas Tirith next year! Didn't expect it to arrive that soon, very eager to see how you create it.

These new quests and the level caps will all be free to VIPs.

Just hoping that doesn't mean that you are now gating new level caps to VIP's only.

[Mistermorriss]

Will there be crafting increments along with the level changes?

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

Dol Amroth! Pelargir! Dead Marshes!... Osgiliath! Aaaaaaaah!

Out of the options as to how we entered Gondor, this was my preferred option, via the Paths of the Dead and into the Blackroot Vale, especially since we first caught a glimpse of it in the early Vol 3 session plays. Seeing the sea in LOTRO will also be very cool - and Swan Knights, woo!

A couple of landscape things I hope we don't miss out on:
- Muster of the Rohirrim: really looking forward to seeing Dunharrow being transformed. As we're going to Gondor via the Paths of the Dead I expect that this is going to make an appearance, and it will be great to catch up with the Lords of the Eastfold and Westfold as they march to Gondor.
- Please make sure that, although we may not be heading in this direction initially, that Rohan is connected to Gondor other than through the Paths of the Dead. This doesn't need to be immediate, but as we can see the Halfirien from Beaconwatch and the landmass of Anorien in that direction, I really hope that this can be connected, as West Rohan and the Gap of Rohan now are, in order to retain the complete sense of the in game world.
- Lamedon! Lebennin! Edhellond! If we're going to Dol Amroth and Pelargir then hopefully all of these parts will be included in our adventures through Gondor.

As for the Beorning... while I'll be excited to play a new class, from a lore perspective its a bit disappointing, especially if we don't ever get to visit the land where they come from, as the Gladden Fields are as yet not making an appearance on the map. Also slightly sad that this is for the Race of Men only, but I didn't really expect anything else. As for being a light armour casting class, this is rather disappointing to me. Saying that it controls the flow of the battle suggests to me that the way the Beorning will function is essentially in the same way as the loremaster, and I hope that it is made clear and distinct. I'd also prefer it to be a melee class, but that's just personal preference.

Sad to see that Housing has effectively been dropped (still hoping to see Rohan housing in Hytbold at some point!) but the announcement of our upcoming adventures in Gondor mitigate that sadness. Catapults in the Moors, while an intimidating prospect, should be fun, as would be a variety of siege equipment - especially if added in at Osgiliath where proper gates, walls and siege machines could be put in place - in my mind there should be two version of Osgiliath, one for PvMP and one for questing/exploring, but that is of course in the capable hands of the devs.

So overall, thank you, Rowan and team - you've given us a lot to look forward too (specifically the upcoming landscape - Osgiliath, woo!)

[RicardoFurriel]

Thanks Rowan for the open letter. Honesty it's a virtue (not just in-game) and I/we appreciate the info.

With that said, I wish you the best of luck trying to rebuild what Mrs Paiz destroyed. The community. Some may disagree, but to me there are evident signs both in-game, in these forums and in other places.

All the best and all this is a big step forward. Thank you.

[Strmi]

Oke, end of 2015 is when I log in again. Thanks for notifying!

nobody cares

but if they increasing in next update for 5lvl and than again for 5 isn't that too soon,i mean all that gear grinding again every 3 months?

[Murtanion]

Sincerely disheartened with this annoucement regarding the new class. I had hoped the day would never come when a rare figure from Middle Earth would populate the servers En-Masse. Looks like that is exactly what we will get with The Beorning.

Also a bit dissapointed that the class would need to be bound only to the race of men, I feel that something open to all four races would have more appeal and be a better cash grab for Warner Brothers.


Edit:

Suprised this got past Tolkien Enterprises and the licensing issues. Just doesn't feel right in a lore sense.


The Beornings were well known for their honey-cakes, which they likely made in their bee farms and sold openly to others, at least until the return of Sauron, for then the Beornings no longer trusted strangers and their trade stopped. Gimli considered the Beornings the best bakers he knew, though they were not so willing to give out their cakes to travelers during the days of the War of the Ring.

Gandalf thought the Beornings might have originated in the Misty Mountains.[1] During the Third Age they guarded the Ford of Carrock from the Orcs and Wargs (in The Hobbit, Gloin complained that their tolls were high) and they also aided the Elves in defending their kingdom in northern Mirkwood. During the War of the Ring, while wearing the One Ring at Amon Hen upon the seat of seeing, Frodo Baggins saw many things from afar, including the land of the Beornings aflame. This hints at an attack by Sauron's forces upon the Beornings, though the outcome of this attack is unknown


Even if they are supported in the lore, it hardly seems like they would leave the Ford of Carrock and Northern Mirkwood to aid in the war of the ring....it is almost explicitly stated as so.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

I wish you hadn't picked the Beornings as a new class ... I apologise for sounding negative at the very start, but what you are basically offering is a druid shape-shifter. Let someone correct me, but isn't this more or less the same as the druid class in World of Warcraft?

Anyways, this feels like looking for the wow factor, rather than implementing the lore respectfully. Yes, I get it, you have some nominal arguments to justify the class's existence, but I honestly expected something more. Well, good luck with that. Personally, I think I'll pass.

By the way, I'm not threatening to quit or something, I am just sad that it has come down to this. This is why I tend to favour original settings for video games in recent years, you don't have any limits to imagination and introducing new things doesn't have to appear convoluted as it does in this case.

The wording suggests that the bear transformation has a prerequisite ("gathers sufficient rage"). I would suspect that the shape-shifting is a top-tier, combat-only power.