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Reader Comments (27)

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 7:50PM aurickle said

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Very brief overview, but probably also some of the best info that has come out yet. Thanks!

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 7:56PM (Unverified) said

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Very good info, I like the idea with the old raid instances and also the tell of a new hobby.

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 8:13PM JaySpeed said

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Confusing. So we'll be able to solo the Rift or Fornost with our skirmish soldier?

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 10:14PM gildhur said

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No, as Kate Paiz said in another interview, the old instances will be level scalable. They will not be group size scalable like skirmishes, though, and no soldiers allowed. They're still the same instances, but you can change their level, and the loot will scale accordingly.
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Posted: Jun 16th 2010 8:16PM RogueJedi86 said

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I don't see anything spoilery on the unblurred map. You already say it's Enedwaith in the title, so anyone who even knows what that word means will likely know the areas within it. I didn't know anything about Enedwaith or even the name, so the map itself is meaningless to me. The only thing of note for me is seeing the 2 paths that go to Dunland, since I remember the Dunland Hill Folk raid Rohan before/during the events of "The Two Towers", which means we're one step closer to Rohan. :)

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 8:28PM (Unverified) said

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Ooooh, I can't wait to solo the Rift!

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 9:42PM ScottishViking said

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Obviously, the big question is whether soloable instances will provide the rewards. Actually, you could rephrase the question: how do you scale the rewards, unless you change them entirely? And if you change them entirely, and aren't using skirmish marks, what do you give? Will be super-interesting to see what comes out of this.

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 9:54PM nathael said

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Maybe the way the new f2p system is set up will make a large number of players who are capped at level 50. I have never played the game past the mid 30s, so I never got a chance to raid the level 50 stuff in Angmar, so it will be cool to do that.

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 10:33PM aurickle said

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Actually you just inadvertently raised a great point. There's a level 50 quest series to get one of your legendary traits which requires you to go into Carn Dum. It's very difficult to get groups together for that now, but under the new system it sounds like people would be able to solo it if necessary. That will make it much easier to get those traits!

Sure, right now you can use skirmish marks to buy the quest requirements, but that's a lot of skirmish grinding. And at level 50 you're usually using as many skirmish marks as you can to train up your soldier.
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Posted: Jun 16th 2010 11:01PM CCon99 said

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Rohan please?

Posted: Jun 16th 2010 11:24PM yeppers said

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Looks like a lot of varied landscapes which should be very nice. Is Enedwaith in the movies or books? I don't recognize any of the names in the map... been a while since I read the books though.

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 12:14AM aurickle said

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No, it's not. It's due south of Eregion, which would make it immediately north of Isengard. The Fellowship went east out of Eregion through Moria, rather than south. They knew they couldn't get too close to Saruman.

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 1:55AM nathael said

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As far as Rohan goes, CCon, I'm not holding my breath. The new business model will likely mean smaller updates that can be easlily gated and sold in bite sized chunks. If we see it at all, it will probably be broken up into small peices somehow. But I could be wrong. I'm just betting that LoTRo will never have another full expansion like MoM. How many Turbine points is $50.00 U.S.?

Posted: Jun 18th 2010 4:22AM pcgneurotic said

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True, but it sounds like size won't be an issue. New areas could be tiny-tiny or epic-huge-massive; it's the activity within the areas which they control through the different sub plans. Like it says with this Enedwaith area, everyone can follow the main storyline through it, it's only the 'local' quests that are gated. Like DDO, if you're familiar.
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Posted: Jun 17th 2010 5:50AM (Unverified) said

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This looks very nice. I think we will get small updates from now on, untill we reach a big part of the main story, like Isengard, Edoras, Helms Deep, and so on.
I guess they will use the same idea as Dol Guldur. A big city (and if it's from the free peoples, we can have shops and trainers too, like Bree for example.) where we can choose between different instances, raids, skirmishes.

The map looks good to me too, but i'm wondering, if we enter Enedwaith by crossing the southern river in Eregion, where does that gate in the northwest lead to? And yay! Dunland... sounds like a nice place bash some orcs.

Graphical improvement, Carn Dum, Urugarth with different levels from 50 up to 65 sounds good to me. I like the old instances, and it would be great to have a challenge there once again.

Cya in Middle-earth,
Gornm.


P.S. Its Volume 3 Book 2, not Volume 2 Book 3 ;)

Posted: Jul 24th 2010 2:52AM (Unverified) said

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I really think the suggestion that instance raids will also scale in numbers is wrong. They would have to redo the mechanics of many fights. How does one guy turn several levers simultaneously? How does he tank the Balrog while he kills the Everseer, in a room that locks up? How does he kill two bosses that you are meant to kill at the same time with 2 separate groups coordinating their aggro?

The whole point of those fights is collaboration. It is their design, and I doubt they would redesign all that rather than just have them scale in level and loot, as other articles say.

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 9:08AM (Unverified) said

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The instance raids will only be adjustable by level. Not size, or tier. so for example, instead of lvl 50 6man isntance, it will be a lvl 65 6man instance. The loot will be for lvl 65 too.

It's a great way to relive old instances, making it a challenge and give good rewards too.

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 9:17AM Kyzgar said

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Well, the article is good and I like getting a sneak peek at the map, but it's wrong concerning the instance scaling.

This is from Berephon at Turbine:
"Also, to nip a rumor in the bud: TTH was correct in regard to the instance scaling, Massively was not. There is more info coming on that, so I won't go into greater detail."
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=4731242#post4731242

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 9:21AM Tom in VA said

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I'm curious as to what is meant by "old world raid instances" and the application of the skirmish system. I have been back in the game for several weeks, and I must confess that I have not tried the skirmish thing yet (it sounds not very appealing, frankly). But I do like the way Turbine made the epic quest line instances soloable.

Would this mean that an instance such as Great Barrows or Fornost would be scalable/soloable? Also, is Moria considered "Old World" now?

I have purposely avoided Moria because I am waiting for Turbine to give the epic quest line there the same "solofication" treatment that they so wonderfully applied to Book 1.

Posted: Jun 17th 2010 10:33PM (Unverified) said

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The gate in the northwest of the map likely leads to the back of the ruins at Andrath south of Bree.

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