It's one of the bigger content updates that Lord of the Rings Online has seen in quite a while, and if all goes well, Update 6 will be uploaded to fans this coming Monday. As time is running short between now and then, Turbine is rushing to finish up with its dev diary series covering the major features of the patch.
Today's dev diary discusses the fleshing out of the Instance Finder, which will now offer players tailored rewards and the ability to pick specific dungeons and skirmishes. The diary goes into detail about how the rewards work, but the basic version is that players get better currency, power, and morale bonuses when they sign up for more skirmishes and instances at a time. This gives players an incentive to look for a wide range of instances while at the same time it facilitates match-ups between interested parties.
We've also got several new screencaps from Update 6 for your viewing pleasure, including four exclusive pictures and many more showing off the new "soldiers on landscape" feature. You can scope them out in the gallery below.
Reader Comments (13)
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 4:28PM stephen09181981 said
well their is some nice things in update 6 as disappointing as swtor is the new patch for lotro is most welcome
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 4:44PM Softserve said
This is looking pretty good. The patch notes are some of the better ones in a while and I'm excited about their plans to become more "agile" and make patches more frequently. Looking forward to it.
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 4:55PM Caderyn said
Wish I could get excited about anything this company does now. At least the new improved instance finder doesn't require turbine points to use.
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 5:18PM (Unverified) said
I've really been loving SWTOR, but always am drawn by LotRO.
My problem with this game in the past has been really twofold: it felt really grindy, a bit repetitive (orcs, boars, bears, bandits...) and the quests were done in such a way that I'd go to a quest hub, kill mobs in area A, go to another quest hub, then have to go BACK to area A again, and constantly keep having to come back to the same area over and over.
Have these changed? Loved a lot about LotRO, but the repetition just turned me off.
My problem with this game in the past has been really twofold: it felt really grindy, a bit repetitive (orcs, boars, bears, bandits...) and the quests were done in such a way that I'd go to a quest hub, kill mobs in area A, go to another quest hub, then have to go BACK to area A again, and constantly keep having to come back to the same area over and over.
Have these changed? Loved a lot about LotRO, but the repetition just turned me off.
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 5:44PM Quidveritas said
Does anyone ever get a group from the instance finder anyway? I wait in the queue all the time and have only gotten one group ever.
Maybe I'm on the wrong sever (Brandywine).
Maybe I'm on the wrong sever (Brandywine).
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 6:24PM (Unverified) said
@Quidveritas I've never had any luck, either as a healer or dps.
Reply
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 6:35PM stephen09181981 said
@(Unverified) i think most people will still use GLFF to form a full group then que up for a random 6 man isengard instance for the currency and morale buff
Reply
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 7:44PM Graill440 said
@Quidveritas
Brandywine is the autoleveling server. Everyone goes there because it is the most populated and constantly busy in the ettens, players then transfer to the lower population servers and start strutting epeens, happens all the time on windfola, a rather dead server where the mediocre come to be gods. *laugh*
Reply
Brandywine is the autoleveling server. Everyone goes there because it is the most populated and constantly busy in the ettens, players then transfer to the lower population servers and start strutting epeens, happens all the time on windfola, a rather dead server where the mediocre come to be gods. *laugh*
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 9:29PM TortoiseCan said
@Quidveritas
I play on the same server, and I generally have pretty good luck with it. Some days, not so much but I find it's fun to use for the random factor. Sometimes I get a 3 man group for library, other times a 6 man crew running a classic dungeon , other times I get 1 other person running skirmishes. Of course, I usually select everything and go as either a tank or DPS. The main problem I have with it is the 'support' role doesn't mean you are actually getting a healer. I got paired up with 2 hunters running a classic once, one of them qualified as 'support' even though they have no healing abilities. Needless to say, we didn't get very far.
Reply
I play on the same server, and I generally have pretty good luck with it. Some days, not so much but I find it's fun to use for the random factor. Sometimes I get a 3 man group for library, other times a 6 man crew running a classic dungeon , other times I get 1 other person running skirmishes. Of course, I usually select everything and go as either a tank or DPS. The main problem I have with it is the 'support' role doesn't mean you are actually getting a healer. I got paired up with 2 hunters running a classic once, one of them qualified as 'support' even though they have no healing abilities. Needless to say, we didn't get very far.
Posted: Mar 8th 2012 12:39AM Thrilljo said
@Quidveritas
When the IF was first being introduced, I made a post on the Bullroarer forum that it was not going to work as a LFF tool. One of the devs responded to me basically saying - the IF is not supposed to find you a group, but rather choose a random instance for you.
Turbine appears to not be so blunt about the IF anymore, but in the end its purpose is to provide an easier way to recycle old content and finding a group is a secondary function.
Reply
When the IF was first being introduced, I made a post on the Bullroarer forum that it was not going to work as a LFF tool. One of the devs responded to me basically saying - the IF is not supposed to find you a group, but rather choose a random instance for you.
Turbine appears to not be so blunt about the IF anymore, but in the end its purpose is to provide an easier way to recycle old content and finding a group is a secondary function.
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 7:41PM Graill440 said
Still not seeing the portal from the ettenmoors to middle earth proper...........did i miss it?? (Grin)
Posted: Mar 7th 2012 10:24PM jmerriex said
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!
CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT!!!
I'm just a little excited about this as you can tell...
CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT CAN'T WAIT!!!
I'm just a little excited about this as you can tell...









