Lord of The Rings Online : book

Another batch of new Book 14 screenshots

Zyuu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:26:21 GMT

Another batch of new screenshots for Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion has been released by Turbine. The screenshots illustrate new and improved Minstrel animations as well as the continuation of the epic questline.

Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion is the next free content update for Lord of the Rings Online.

New Screens for Upcoming Content Update (Book 14)

Zyuu — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:30:47 GMT

Turbine has sent us a batch of brand new screenshots for Book 14: The Ring-forges of Eregion, the next free content update for Lord of the Rings Online.

The screenshots illustrate The Ring Forges located in Eregion, a new region of which a portion will become available to players with the upcoming launch of Book 14.

Earlier today we also posted about Turbine's plans of updating instances in Book 14.

Book 14: The Ringforges of Eregion Preview

Zyuu — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:14:32 GMT

GameSpy Australia has a preview of the next free content update to Lord of the Rings Online, Book 14: The Ringforges of Eregion.

The first element of Book 14 we see is the final instance in the epic quest storyline in which the Fellowship gathers to leave Rivendell. True to form, the instance is a non-combat mission heavy on storytelling that acts as a reward for the patience and persistence of the players who have bulled their way through hundreds of missions and dozens of instances in order to help the Fellowship and beat back the threat of Angmar. In it, Frodo says farewell to the player and thanks him or her for assisting in his decision to bear the burden of the Ring (in an earlier epic mission). Aragorn thanks the player for assisting in the re-forging of his sword Anduril (implying that the players will soon get their own legendary items) and Legolas reminisces about the hunt for the surviving Black Rider.

Read it all here.

Book 13 Developer Diary Video

Zyuu — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:31:28 GMT

Quite recently Turbine launched Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, which included many new features and improvements to Lord of the Rings Online.

Now, a bit later after the release of Doom of the Last-king, Turbine release a brand new developer diary video where the Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel tell us about all the new content in Book 13.

Book 13 Developer Diary

var FO_54 = { movie:"http://dev.curse-gaming.com/static/flash/flvplayer.swf", width:"500", height:"350", majorversion:"7", build:"0", bgcolor:"#FFFFFF", allowfullscreen:"true", flashvars:"file=http://videos.cursebeta.com/stream2/premium/1659.flv&autostart=true" }; $("#flvplayer_54").click(function(event) { UFO.create(FO_54, "flvplayer_54"); $(this).unbind('click'); });

Mini-Game Launched, New Book 13 Screens

Zyuu — Fri, 09 May 2008 03:26:09 GMT

Turbine, Inc. and Codemasters Online today announced the launch of Swig and Toss, the second mini-game on http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Registered participants can challenge themselves and their friends to earn special deeds that unlock unique rewards including exclusive videos, images, and in-game items that will aid them on their journey when The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria launches this fall.

Swig and Toss is an axe throwing competition with a bit of drinking and wagering to make things more interesting! In this 10-round game, players try to keep a steady aim while attempting to hit a target with their axe. Hit the mark and win! Miss and hear the Dwarves around you scoff at your lack of skill.

Between rounds, players can take a few swigs from their mug to help quench their thirst. This will help boost their confidence and loosen their pocket strings, increasing the amount they can wager.

Swig and Toss is available today at http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Registration is free!

New batch of Book 13 Screenshots

In addition, Turbine has released a new batch of screens for Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, the latest free content update for The Lord of the Rings Online, which went live recently. The screenshots illustrate parts of the epic quest storyline continued in Book 13.

Four screenshots from Book 13

Zyuu — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:26:26 GMT

Curious how some of the areas in Book 13 (Lord of the Rings Online) look like? Wonder no more. We've updated our Lord of the RIngs Online gallery with four new screenshots showcasting areas in Book 13.

Book 13 Forochel Developer Journal

Zyuu — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:14:17 GMT

A new and very interesting developer's journal was posted on the official Lord of The Rings Online website. It tells us about the upcoming area called Forochel in Book 13.

After weeks of teasing the Isengard players and later the Live forums, it is now known without a doubt that Forochel is the newest playable region for The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM: Shadows of AngmarTM. With the launch of Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, players will get the opportunity to explore this brand new region (aimed at level 44-50 characters) and earn the trust of the Lossoth - the native folk of the Northern Wastes.

Forochel is a region that many of us on the World and Content teams have been looking forward to for a long time now. It is off the beaten path of the Fellowship, which affords us a lot of flexibility in terms of design. This new landscape also gave us an opportunity to try out some new tools that were just recently developed for our upcoming expansion, Mines of MoriaTM!

World Design Goals

By the time we started development of Forochel, we were quite familiar with wintry landscapes. Between the Misty Mountains, the Coldfells, and portions of Ered Luin (and New England being what it is), we know snow! The trick with Forochel was coming up with a presentation of a snowy landscape that didn't look like our previous areas.

To achieve that biome difference, we hit the photo and film references. Like all of our regions, we called upon references from the real world to develop a set of textures and assets that would make Forochel stand out. During this process, we decided upon a distinct lack of trees across the majority of Forochel as being one of the region's distinguishing factors. The lack of trees led to some interesting challenges; trees add a lot to our landscape - they fill space, provide decoration, and easily break up sight-lines and can make an area feel more interesting and varied. We still used trees in some portions of Forochel (primarily as a way to introduce players to the region) but this goal forced us to think differently in how we decorated our landscape.

One of our chief goals for Forochel was to make it feel massive, and we were able to achieve this in two ways. Since the completion of Book 11: Defenders of Eriador, the World team has been working on Forochel. This allowed the World team plenty of time to develop and polish the landscape before heavy content development on the region occurred. This also allowed the Content team the time to fill the landscape with quests, and at the end of Forochel's development, we have a region that rivals the North Downs in size. In addition to the scope of the playable landscape, we wanted the region to feel expansive, so we used region-impassables that are much lower than those found in our other regions. This gave us the opportunity to develop forests and tundra beyond the playable areas, giving this already large area a much larger feel. This also provides an excellent opportunity to expand Forochel in the future if we so desire.

Another special addition to the landscape of Forochel is the introduction of some brand new landscape technology - Dual Heightmap Landscape. This feature allows us to develop more organic cave settings on the landscape (similar to the Dwarf neighborhood) without having to use large numbers of rocks to plug the ceiling. This tech offers some very exciting possibilities for the future and we‘re happy to introduce this feature to players in Forochel.

Check out (it's definately a cool read) the full journal here.

Book 13: Doom of the Last-king screenshots

Zyuu — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:09:12 GMT

Turbine has just released a batch of screenshots for Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, the next free content update for The Lord of the Rings Online.

The screenshots illustrate Forochel, a new region which lies in the far, frozen north of Eriador, to be added to the game with Book 13. Forochel lets players see the ocean for the first time and introduces several new temperature based landscape effects.

Coming in Book 13: Angmar Armor Set Vendors

Zyuu — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:15:27 GMT

The folks behind Lord of the Rings Online very recently announced that in Book 13 there will be new vendors that will allow you to purchase the armor sets that was announced to come up with Book 12 -- unfortunately not all of the sets were made available. Book 13 will attempt to fix this though!

When the Great Angmar Revamp came out in Book 12, a number of armour sets were added to quests in the region. As sometimes happens, though, we were a little overzealous with the plan for new armour sets, and they ended up on many quests that were already in-game in some form prior to Book 12.

This meant that it was possible to complete these quests before Book 12 came out, and if you did, you would never be able to finish some of these new armour sets. Few things can frustrate so well as uncompleteable armour sets, judging from my PM inbox (love ya, everybody!), so we started looking for a solution.

The one we've settled on, and which will be coming in Book 13, are a number of vendors who will carry each of the pieces of these armour sets. You'll be able to purchase individual pieces of these sets, and if you've completed the quest that rewarded them, you'll be able to equip them as usual. These won't be cheap, as in many cases these would be a double-dip on quest rewards, but if you've been carrying two pieces out of a three piece set, this should let you complete your collection with a minimum of hassle.

Vendors for these armour sets will be in the Búth Sánkhas and Búth Luikh in Aughaire, and in Gabilshathur.

Release Notes Book 12, Patch 1

Zyuu — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:10:45 GMT

The Lord of The Rings Online Test Server recently had a new patch deployed. The release notes for "Book 12, Patch" was also made available.

Some of the changes in this patch are:

Bug fixes
Several adjustments to stop anti-exploit mode triggering on mobs
Guardian specific changes

Usually the test period for these kind of patches aren't too long. So hopefully we'll be seeing it getting pushed live sooner rather than later.

Read the full notes here.

Book 12 is out and new Developer Video

Zyuu — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:38:17 GMT

Turbine and Codemasters have just announced details of the fourth free content update to The Lord of the Rings Online.

Book 12: The Ashen Wastes, which adds substantial new features to the game including new customization options, a new region, housing enhancements, and over 100 new quests, is now available to subscribers in North America (available in Europe starting tomorrow).

Turbine also just released a new "developer diary" video discussing Book 12. This can be viewed below!

Lord of the Rings Online Dev Diary

var FO_265 = { movie:"http://dev.curse-gaming.com/static/flash/flvplayer.swf", width:"500", height:"350", majorversion:"7", build:"0", bgcolor:"#FFFFFF", allowfullscreen:"true", flashvars:"file=http://videos.cursebeta.com/stream2/premium/1112.flv&autostart=true" }; $("#flvplayer_265").click(function(event) { UFO.create(FO_265, "flvplayer_265"); $(this).unbind('click'); });

NEW FEATURES:

More Customization – Book 12 introduces the Outfit system which features new gear and options to let players truly customize their hero's appearance without impacting the stats of their armor. Players can also visit one of the many new barbershops in Middle-earth where they can choose from one of more than 50 new hairstyles.

The Delving of Frór — Monster Play evolves in Book 12 with an innovative new dungeon that implements 12-player raid mechanics into a dynamic player-vs-player (PvP) environment. The Delving of Frór is controlled by the faction currently winning the battle in the Ettenmoors. Players who gain access to this vast new public dungeon will participate in a challenging raid that pits them against fearsome foes while they face the constant threat of an opposing faction gaining control of the Ettenmoors above and quickly transforming the Delving of Frór into an all-out PvP battle.

Housing Enhancements — The player housing system, which was introduced in Book 11, has been significantly enhanced to provide players with even more control over the items they place in their home. A host of new trophies and other bind-on-acquire items have been added to help players make their home reflect their unique tastes and accomplishments in Middle-earth.

The Epic Continues! — Elrond sends players to rescue Laerdan from Amarthiel deep within Carn Dûm. Through their investigations, players will discover the location of Narchuil, the ancient Ring Amarthiel lost at the Battle of Fornost. Players will battle an Angmarim sorcerer, but only manage to recover half of the ring before returning to Rivendell to inform Gandalf.

Over 100 New Quests — The story continues for players as they aid the Fellowship and encounter new adventures in Middle-earth.

Book 12: The Ashen Wastes NEW Screenshots

Zyuu — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:40:28 GMT

Turbine has just released a new batch of screenshots for Book 12: The Ashen Wastes, the next free content update for The Lord of the Rings Online.

The screenshots illustrate the epic solo storyline in Book 12, including a quest in which Elrond sends players to rescue Laerdan from Amarthiel deep within Carn Dûm.

Check them out below!

Book 12 Preview, Part Two

Zyuu — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:25:38 GMT

MMORPG.com recently posted part two of their Book 12 preview.

In part two, we will talk about some of the other aspects of the upcoming free update, including an interesting and public PvMP dungeon, housing, classes and more that I learned about the update on a recent guided preview:

Go here to see the full preview.