We appreciate a developer who goes back to earlier content and improves upon it. And to that end, our appreciation of those who go back to the very beginning knows no bounds. That's why we're quite pleased with Turbine for rolling out their "New Player Experience" changes with the free Volume II: Book 7 update to Lord of the Rings Online.
If you'd like to know exactly what all the changes are going to be about then take a look at this developer diary focusing on the Dwarf and Elf starting zones. Much of the changes are quality of life stuff, like reducing travel times and removing all newbie instances to avoid any load screens. Turbine's also added quest rewards for specific races and classes, and even tossed in dyes as rewards to alleviate the tedium of seeing equipment clones running all over the place.
These changes (and others) are all great improvements. With the new quest tracking system coming at the same time, Lord of the Rings Online is shaping up to be an all-around friendlier MMO experience.
Reader Comments (8)
Posted: Mar 6th 2009 12:46PM (Unverified) said
Funny, I thought it already had the friendliest new player experience. But I suppose they didn't get there by resting on their laurels.
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Posted: Mar 6th 2009 4:48PM Graill440 said
The only remotely interesting thing about LOTR was the monster play in which to date, because of idiot devs like Orion (whom spouts things in rants like this, and i quote "my station deserves this" ) have done nothing to develop monster play.
Yes, we all heard him ranting about the lore and the "this isnt a pvp game" whine time and again, well sadly the game is based on pvp of the most horrific kind, and yet the devs fail to pick up on this.
Perhaps one day devs will stop thinking of themselves and what neato ideas "they" have and worry about what they can do for us.
".......But, but...we have the ettenmoors!!!, yes youngling, and i have the right to call you an idiot."
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Yes, we all heard him ranting about the lore and the "this isnt a pvp game" whine time and again, well sadly the game is based on pvp of the most horrific kind, and yet the devs fail to pick up on this.
Perhaps one day devs will stop thinking of themselves and what neato ideas "they" have and worry about what they can do for us.
".......But, but...we have the ettenmoors!!!, yes youngling, and i have the right to call you an idiot."
Posted: Mar 6th 2009 8:16PM (Unverified) said
If it makes you feel any better, it appears "Jaleesa" has taken over PvMP duties and from the looks of it, is doing a really good job in improving the PvMP experience. You might want to give it another look after Book 7 releases. (sometime this month).
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Posted: Mar 6th 2009 7:00PM (Unverified) said
I just started lotro recently and I am quite enjoying the story-line and game overall. More diversity in the gear is always welcome though.
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Posted: Mar 6th 2009 7:26PM Joystiq Login Bugs SUCK said
OMG Great, but a day late :P I just rerolled an Elven Hunter and had to do that terrible start-up zone again. So much running... so much mindless grinding... so many generic quests giving stuff I didn't need.
I also recall that the starting zone was probably where I almost quit. After spending an hour trying to work out how the hell to find anything I quit the game swearing never to return... luckily I lied to myself.
I am glad to see Turbine focus on this area, it is a let down (Especially as so many people will want to become a Legolas like Elven Hunter LOL)
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I also recall that the starting zone was probably where I almost quit. After spending an hour trying to work out how the hell to find anything I quit the game swearing never to return... luckily I lied to myself.
I am glad to see Turbine focus on this area, it is a let down (Especially as so many people will want to become a Legolas like Elven Hunter LOL)
Posted: Mar 7th 2009 4:35AM venekor said
- New character models
- Animations
- Add good PVP into the game
- Make the combat feel fun because going from WoW to Lotro and lotro just felt dated and had really bad feedback... hard to explain but I hated the combat in lotro
- make the classes less ghey so I can actually pick something I like
Then I will come back.
Reply
- Animations
- Add good PVP into the game
- Make the combat feel fun because going from WoW to Lotro and lotro just felt dated and had really bad feedback... hard to explain but I hated the combat in lotro
- make the classes less ghey so I can actually pick something I like
Then I will come back.
Posted: Mar 7th 2009 6:46AM RogueJedi86 said
-How would you define "ghey classes"? Most of them have parallels to classes in WoW. What makes them so "ghey"?
-The PvP is fine. WoW sure doesn't let you make a max level character for pvping when you hit level 10.
-LotRO's character models look better than WoW's too. When I play WoW, I can count the polygons on my characters' faces on a single hand. I can't even see them in LotRO.
-And who really cares if LotRO's combat is different than WoW's? When I went to LotRO, I liked the leisurely pace of the combat system. WoW is focused on split second micro timing, LotRO's is a bit more relaxed. I find that makes LotRO more fun to play. I wouldn't really like LotRO if it were just WoW with a Middle-earth mask on.
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-The PvP is fine. WoW sure doesn't let you make a max level character for pvping when you hit level 10.
-LotRO's character models look better than WoW's too. When I play WoW, I can count the polygons on my characters' faces on a single hand. I can't even see them in LotRO.
-And who really cares if LotRO's combat is different than WoW's? When I went to LotRO, I liked the leisurely pace of the combat system. WoW is focused on split second micro timing, LotRO's is a bit more relaxed. I find that makes LotRO more fun to play. I wouldn't really like LotRO if it were just WoW with a Middle-earth mask on.
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