Normal regions vs "historical" regions

[Wanderv]

Hello all. As we know now U30 will be another historical region - Azanulbizar 2799 TA (in the time of battle with Azog). It's dwarven name for Dimrill Dale - valley from Eastern gate of Moria to Lothlorien. While it's nice to see Thorin and Thrain but i wonder do we really need historical versions of existing regions instead of more lands? What do you think?

[WhiteWolf21x]

I think you have to look at the reason for why the update is being made. This year, the Gundabad expansion in the fall is the largest and most important update. So most of the dev work this year will likely go towards making Gundabad the best it can be.

However, fall is still 8 months away, and MMO's generally begin to bleed players if content draughts extend past 4-6 months. So filler updates need to be made in order to keep players entertained while work continues on the expansion. That is what Update 29 and Update 30 are. They are filler, small and low effort designed to give players something to do while not spending too much time on them.

So in this context, a historical region designed as a small filler update is fine imo. It allows landscape designers to stay focused on Gundabad since the bulk of the landscape is already made. And it falls in line with the current epic.

[Sooule]

I tried to vote but its telling me I already did, which I certainly did not.

I think the current situation is fine, however, I do think too much of the phasing/map layering for different eras on a zone can begin to get confusing, especially once the content is phased out and no longer at cap. For example, pre- and after-battle Osgiliath + Minas Tirith.

[thinx]

It allows landscape designers to stay focused on Gundabad since the bulk of the landscape is already made.

This is ONE of the possible explanations :-)

[Arabani]

Yes, we do need the historical versions of the existing regions. Those who can not remember the past and so on. But, seriously, it's always nice to see familair faces and places from another perspective, see the reasons and steps that lead to certain states of the things, see historical events first-hand, be a part of the story after all. Not to mention lore aspects.

[Ryvick]

As a Dwarf fan, anything that adds more Dwarf to the game can only ever be a good thing. I was the lone vote for "more historical zones" so far LOL.

[melvinn]

I don't think it's a question of new and historic zones, as a new zone can also be a historic zone. It's just a question of whether you want landscape to be re-used.

Frankly, I just want good content, a gripping storyline. While I'm eager to visit new regions like Rhun, Nurnen and Harad, I also don't mind if they re-use existing landscapes, to tell a new story in it. To my thinking, if the landscape is already in place, they can focus more on brining it alive by placing new assets in it. War-camps, battles etc. Remember we had three versions of Isengard, and seeing it in a different state each time was actually quite nice. It will be the same with the Scouring of the Shire. I definitelly don't think every zone lends itself to this kind of treatment. But if there is a rich history surrounding that zone--especially focussing around a particular timeframe--I don't see why not

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

I’m really excited to see Azanulbizar - historical regions are definitely fun to see, although differently phased zones do feel like they have a bit less storyline to them than the original (the epic was the only real storyline in Mordor Besieged, and while War of the Three Peaks was an improvement - the quests with Agnar Brokentooth and Muta were good fun - there were quite a lot of ‘kill X’).

It obviously comes at the cost of not expanding the world further, but as long as the focus is on telling good stories, then I mind less where these stories are told.

[BigLotroFan]

Landscape is my favorite part of this game. While either one is fine with me, I'd slightly prefer new present day regions. Like the rest of Mordor, Harad and the far eastern lands.

[OldMadeOfLions]

I like both! I say we do both!

MoL

[Pontin_Finnberry]

Being told a story of what it was like and having your character image being there is fun, just like Mordor Besieged was, now while on the topic of Historical regions, it would be very cool if possible one day there was someone to tell you about Numenor and have us imagine being there, that would be great to see.

[Kaeneth]

As long as it fits the story well I'm quite happy having both. I had a lot of fun in Mordor Besieged.

[melvinn]

I like both! I say we do both!

MoL

I wonder if that means update 30 is going to give us a historic version of a previous zone, as well as a new present-day zone?
I mean, I agree, both would be best. But uhm ... ????