Turbine released a new developer diary today about the quests coming with Helm’s Deep. Players can expect three new books coming with the expansion.
Volume III: Book 11: The Golden Hall
Volume III: Book 12: War in the Westemnet
Volume III: Book 13: Helm’s Deep
Well, here we are in the future, confronted with a system that allows you to experience the Battle of the Hornburg in all its rainy glory, and an Epic Story that would be doing you a disservice if it didn’t tell the story of that battle. There are players who play the Epic even without buying the expansions, and I am sorry that this is a change for you guys. But it’s a change that serves to reward the players that do pick up the expansion, and makes the expansion a better deal, more worth your time and your money. This is just an expansion change for now – I’m hoping we can keep the Epic Story free in other updates. But for big expansions I’d expect that it’ll be featured as one of the Things You Get on the ‘virtual box.’”
1. The Restoration of Théoden by Gandalf2. The Casting-Out of Gríma Wormtongue3. Éowyn, Shield Maiden of Rohan, Is Given Her Duty4. The Eorlingas Ride For Isengard… I’m going to stop the list right there, and we haven’t even gotten to the Deep yet! There are a lot of significant moments during this stretch of the story, and leaving any of them out of LOTRO’s Epic Story would be a shame and cause for disappointment. On the other hand, we’ve always prided ourselves on not simply recounting the story, but on also expanding it. In this way, players can explore territory and have adventures that fill in some of the spaces the Professor didn’t bring the narrative to in detail. We’ll be doing that in the three Epic Books included in the Helm’s Deep expansion as well.
In fact, due to feedback from players during the Beta phases for the expansion, some of these experiences will have full voice-over support. Instances found within Epic Book 11: The Golden Hall (which depict some of the events in that list above) will now be completely voice-acted.
This story coming with Helm’s Deep expansion could be one of the most lore packed expansions we have seen before in LOTRO. That could have been known simply by reading the books but it is good to know that the developers are crafting stories around the lore for players to experience.
The real importance of this diary is the extended explanation about the decision to make players pay for the Epic Story with this expansion. While it will remain to be seen if the story is as integrated into the zone as they say, it is good to know that the decision was thought out well.
Loading ...
A Question: If someone has not done the earliar books of of vol. 3, will he still be able to start new books from HD?
I thought this was interesting:
“But there was a third choice, and it’s the one we went with: I could refuse to change the Epic, keeping it in Isengard with all of the iconic things and happenings there, and we keep it free. It’s certainly the biggest public relations win – I mean, who doesn’t love free stuff? We were adored as heroes of the people, and life was good.”
Then Turbine changed course, and seem to be confused why players are unhappy.
LOTRO has a very small (but loyal) player base, aging graphics, and several other problems. Yet the players stay because they love the game world. It’s fun and exciting and offers a lot to a wide variety of play styles. We want to play the game. We want to give Turbine money because we want to continue having fun.
A thought: Turbine probably makes more profit off of the in-game store than the expansions, and VIP probably just keeps the lights on. Why not just give away the expansion content for free, and offer tons of goodies for purchase in the store to make up the difference? More wardrobe, more cosmetics, more housing storage, more mount emotes, more character slots. Players would be outrageously happy.
The Epic Story in the Helm’s Deep expansion will be free for me.
I’ll be purchasing the expansion with Turbine Points earned in-game through game-play in a game I don’t pay for.