To the Floodfells?

[Digaloo]

The map for the new "Vales of Anduin" region shows a northbound road which is marked "To the Floodfells".

Is this region to be released at some time and if so is it going to be part of this release or a future release.

I really really really want to go to Mount Gundabad!!!!!

[Scenario]

As a practice in portraying the larger world of Middle-earth, we will sometimes chose to indicate on the map lands that are not yet planned for development. It's a great way to illustrate the scale of the world of LOTR. You can see this as far back as the beginning of the game with, for example, the Far Downs label on the Shire map.

[Digaloo]

If you are saying that this is "not yet planned for development" then that is a real shame as every dwarf on the game would love to go there and beat up a few (hundred) orcs.

[Thurallor]

If you are saying that this is "not yet planned for development" then that is a real shame as every dwarf on the game would love to go there and beat up a few (hundred) orcs.

Claiming to speak for "every dwarf in the game" is a bit much.

[Gnagerwine]

Related to this, are you going to change the "To the Beorning-lands" label in the Ered Mithrin map, since the Beorning-lands aren't going to connect there? I'm curious what other label you would put there! Will it also connect "To the Floodfells"? "To Upper Anduin"? Or will you drop a new name for an area we haven't heard of before?

It stirred my imagination when you did the same thing for "To the Fields of Celduin" south of the Dale-lands, and I was disappointed that you didn't do the same for what lies south of the Iron Hills.

[gildhur]

As a practice in portraying the larger world of Middle-earth, we will sometimes chose to indicate on the map lands that are not yet planned for development. It's a great way to illustrate the scale of the world of LOTR. You can see this as far back as the beginning of the game with, for example, the Far Downs label on the Shire map.

Gundaband was in development last year, according to the 5/16/18 producer's letter:

Beyond Update 23, we have some threads to tie off before we are done with North Rhovanion, including Gundabad, the Vales of Anduin, and landscape contiguity with Lothlórien.

Was it supposed to be included as a region called "Floodfells" with U24 but delayed for some reason?

[Belnavar]

I remember Gundabad was mentioned as a place we'd visit soon. I'd definitely like us to go there at some point in the near future.

-Bel

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

I remember Gundabad was mentioned as a place we'd visit soon. I'd definitely like us to go there at some point in the near future.

-Bel

I get the feeling that Gundabad was initially planned for this update, and then they realised that it would be rather too much to do, world-builder wise - they’d have to go much further north with the Vales zone (into what now seems to be being titled the Floodfells), linking up with the Grey Mountains (which, as was pointed out, seems to initially have been intended to be connected to the Beorning-lands/the Vales), and going up to Gundabad, which would need to be a sizeable location by itself as the capital of the orcs in the Misties (therefore needing to be another underground space akin in size to Erebor). This would all take considerably more time than the Vales region currently on Bullroarer, so it seems likely that Gundabad has been set aside until it can be done properly - although that is a shame, given the growing references to it (particularly in the Glimmerdeep) and another of Sauron’s successors, the Pale Herald.

[ceasar2001]

I get the feeling that Gundabad was initially planned for this update, and then they realised that it would be rather too much to do, world-builder wise - they’d have to go much further north with the Vales zone (into what now seems to be being titled the Floodfells), linking up with the Grey Mountains (which, as was pointed out, seems to initially have been intended to be connected to the Beorning-lands/the Vales), and going up to Gundabad, which would need to be a sizeable location by itself as the capital of the orcs in the Misties (therefore needing to be another underground space akin in size to Erebor). This would all take considerably more time than the Vales region currently on Bullroarer, so it seems likely that Gundabad has been set aside until it can be done properly - although that is a shame, given the growing references to it (particularly in the Glimmerdeep) and another of Sauron’s successors, the Pale Herald.

I believe the minus morgul/nurn/south gondor expansion will be delayed until next year....if so we might get a vale part two mt gundabad this year? the storythat ends at the rushgate can easily continue west in u25

[Bragolos]

I believe the minus morgul/nurn/south gondor expansion will be delayed until next year....if so we might get a vale part two mt gundabad this year? the storythat ends at the rushgate can easily continue west in u25

What makes you think itll be delayed, and was it officially suggested that part of South Gondor would be included?

To backup your assumption about 'vale part 2', I believe Severlin mentioned something that implied that more of the (story of the) vale would come at a later moment.

[ceasar2001]

What makes you think itll be delayed, and was it officially suggested that part of South Gondor would be included?

To backup your assumption about 'vale part 2', I believe Severlin mentioned something that implied that more of the (story of the) vale would come at a later moment.

minus morgul was OFFICIAL scheduled for last year in the 2017 producers letter and delayed then.....so...….we shall see

[Beorhal]

I get the feeling that Gundabad was initially planned for this update, and then they realised that it would be rather too much to do, world-builder wise - they’d have to go much further north with the Vales zone (into what now seems to be being titled the Floodfells), linking up with the Grey Mountains (which, as was pointed out, seems to initially have been intended to be connected to the Beorning-lands/the Vales), and going up to Gundabad, which would need to be a sizeable location by itself as the capital of the orcs in the Misties (therefore needing to be another underground space akin in size to Erebor). This would all take considerably more time than the Vales region currently on Bullroarer, so it seems likely that Gundabad has been set aside until it can be done properly - although that is a shame, given the growing references to it (particularly in the Glimmerdeep) and another of Sauron’s successors, the Pale Herald.

Agreed - I'm seeing this as a sign that the ongoing developement seems to be "fragile" since some time after the U22-Release. That wouldn't be a deal for me, if the producer letters wouldn't be so optimistic and promising each time...when they know "We won't succeed with our plans" then they should announce smaller things and deliver them as planned...

[Valakircka]

As a practice in portraying the larger world of Middle-earth, we will sometimes chose to indicate on the map lands that are not yet planned for development. It's a great way to illustrate the scale of the world of LOTR. You can see this as far back as the beginning of the game with, for example, the Far Downs label on the Shire map.

Mount Gundabad not yet in development? that is really bad!!!
great disapointed!!!!!
it was in plans last year, according to dev letter!!!!
when r we getting a devs letter?
expecting n explanation n future plans! something real this time!!!

[Palenen]

The Éothéod. (Rohirrim)

I can imagine in our 'era' of history, It has to be wiped out. Framsburg included. A rebuild Framsburg design similar to Hytbolt would be cool.

[Scenario]

Mount Gundabad not yet in development?

The reality of game development (or anything, if I'm honest) is that flexibility and the ability to adapt is critical. In the case of our internal roadmap - it's always subject to change based on the stories we are telling, the systems we are designing, and the items we see come up as priorities from our community. Our Development efforts have to be open to adjustment to address these things - to change priorities if we need to. This means that sometimes the things we think we'll be working on a year from now change.

Gundadbad is certainly a location we are interested in building, but for the near term we are focused on getting Anduin out the door and bringing our plans for Minas Morgul to fruition.

[gildhur]

Gundadbad is certainly a location we are interested in building, but for the near term we are focused on getting Anduin out the door and bringing our plans for Minas Morgul to fruition.

Funny how you picked the least specific question to answer instead of the several that mentioned the previous producer's letter that said Gundabad was already in development plans a year ago. Now you make it sound like something you'd like to do at some nebulous time in the future instead of something that was already supposed to be done but instead got pushed in favor of other plans. And if that's the case, GREAT! Just be honest instead of cagey about it.

[Devolved]

Saw this thread title on the scroll and thought it was another play on the amount of rain we've gotten in central US.

[Phantion]

While I was greatly looking forward to Mount Gundabad, I understand why this didn't happen. I really, really wanted the completion of the Anduin finally in-game- but I think there's good reason to hit the "pause" button here.


Let's take a step back for a moment. The stretch of Anduin river heading north into the "Floodfells" pretty much disperses into a few smaller rivers- one of which reaches Thikil-gundu in Ered Mithrim. The spot where the river diverges into headwaters is where the Eotheod originally settled in Framburg- before Eorl led them south to what became Rohan. Now, the stretch of Anduin ideally, per what we're getting in the Vale of Anduin, should not quite involve much pathing space between locations in the zone.

However, the area between Ered Mithrim and the Misties might be a bit larger, and Mount Gundabad most of all.


Gundabad should not have the "Erebor" treatment- which was a lovely attempt to kick it into the game too early, resulting in the Dev's having to build different parts of Erebor over time, and we're still missing Smaug's Treasure room and other spots from "The Hobbit"- great as those efforts are.

Gundabad deserves the "Moria" treatment. It needs to be big, vast, cavernous, and not feel like a copy of Goblin-Town on a larger scale. Gundabad is an underground, vast horror like Moria was- it's the birthplace of the first Durin, King of the Dwarves (or rather, the place of his "awakening"), so it should have some Moria-esque Dwarven area's, but it also got inhabited by tons of Orcs and Goblins. It probably should connect to the Rift of Nurz Ghashu on the western side- coming out in Angmar- and there's probably room for Angmarim influences in there as well. It may well have served as the road that brought the Angmarim back into Angmar for the plot in levels 1-50. So, it would need to have quite a bit of different influences converging- Angmarim, Mordor, these new Hobgoblins and such- and of course Dwarven. It's scale should be huge- and the outdoor parts should only be 1 part of it.

If this is the reason they've delayed- if they realized that making this location would just be too huge of a task to do while also doing the Beorning-land areas- then I'm glad for the delay. I think the attempts with Erebor to provide a new place too soon became a bit troublesome. Erebor's Great Hall, which should have felt like an awe-inspiring moment to enter, already felt like another hub because it already came via one of Mordor's Allegiances by the time we reached Erebor. I'm hopeful that the same won't be true for Gundabad- and that when we get it, we'll get the whole thing at once.


I do think that this Pale Herald stuff, with its connections to Shelob, needs some more expanding though- and it would have been nice to have something to do with the Angmarim again before going to Minas Morgul; I hope that the Dev's will also keep story-sense in mind as we leap from place to place.

I also really hope that, when we return to Mordor and Gondor, that we'll also get some of the area's we didn't get before- like Green Hills and Anfalas (*we still have yet to tell their people how their Lord Golasgil at the Black Gate ended!)- as well as Harondor and Nurn.

[Yarbro]

I suspect priority has been given to getting the 64bit clients up and running, as the devs can see the writing on the wall for 32 bit codes from several directions; including Apple dropping it entirely, MS restricting it and deleting older file repositories, and NV/AMD's continued attempts to drop DX9.