Getting Ready for Helm’s Deep

 

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UPDATE: All LOTRO game words are scheduled to be brought down on Wednesday, November 20, at 6:00 AM Eastern Time (-5 GMT). The LOTRO store will be brought down an hour earlier (5AM). If you still have preparations to make, make sure to get ’em done before the downtime!

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Just as with any major game release for an MMO, there are often many game changes, and a frenzy of player activity as they resume their perilous journey to play as the hero for the respective game world. In getting ready for the Helm’s Deep expansion (now scheduled to arrive Wed, Nov 20, as per Sapience’s announcement here) , it’s always good to be prepared and get those last-minute things done now.

These are just some general tips off the top of my head that should hopefully help you get ready leading up to the expansion. Please feel free to comment and share with the community if you have other things you like to do as part of your new expansion preparations.

 

General (cause knowlege is power!):

Sometimes just a little knowledge can go a long way. Reading up on some of the changes coming our way in Helm’s Deep should put you a nice leap ahead for the release. Fortuantely, the LOTRO community has many individuals who have been creating all sorts of useful pieces of handy knowledge concerning Helm’s Deep changes. Please see this forum thread for a directory of many articles.

LOTRO Players has also been busy creating many articles to display such content. Specifically, class changes have undergone major revisions, and here is an index of such class change articles offered here at LOTRO Players. Please feel free to check out some of the other content here, including videos and commentary on the new Big Battles system.

If nothing else in this article, I would strongly suggest taking a look at the upcoming changes, especially dealing with class changes and the introduction of the class trait trees.

 

Wallet (currency replacement):

There are two items of note in your wallet that you may want to check on now – Bounder Tokens and Seals. Come Helm’s Deep, both of these currencies will be removed and replaced with an alternative currency. Bounders Tokens, which were rewarded during the Bounder’s Bounty event (headquartered in Michel Delving, the hobbits requested your aid in refurbishing their beloved statue, and as such sent you out to accrue these tokens in exchange for goods), will be replaced with an appropriate number of Marks (basic currency from skirmishes; exchange rate is unknown at the time). If you would like to exchange your remaining Bounder’s Tokens, head to Michel Delving (The Shire), and you will find several vendors standing next to the statue.

Seals (the premium skirmish currency) will also be wiped and replaced with an appropriate number of Medallions (the mid-range skirmish currency). This is done to offset any of the new level 95 skirmish camp items that arrive, in order for the player to work toward any desired goodies with a fresh start. In prior seal wipes, every one (1) Seal the player had was replaced with twenty (20) Medallions. That being said, I do not believe this is set in stone, but I’d think it would be a safe guess for the conversion rate. If there are any current items in the skirmish camp that require Seals, and you’d like them right now, I would go ahead and pick ’em up before your pre-Helm’s Deep Seals slip away in the sea of data.

 

Crafting (specifically, Guild Symbols):

Concerning crafting, it appears that the consumable guild symbols you craft to increase your reputation with the respective crafting guild will be given a value overhaul (see crafting changes here). Specifically, the symbols will likely have their value gains decreased. That being said, it would therefore be wise to craft and consume all the guild symbols you can for your non-rep capped characters before Helm’s Deep, in order to maximize as much gain as possible.

 

Leveling (& current pre-HD buffs):

It should be noted that the accompanying buffs that we were given/acquired prior to Helm’s Deep are still in play until the adjusted launched (Wed, Nov 20). The first is the Welcome Back Weekend buff, which provides “100% Experience Gain” for your leveling enjoyment. This has been an excellent lasting buff on our characters to give that nice last push toward gaining levels before the expansion, and should continue to be used effectively leading up to the launch on Wednesday.

The other buff, Bounder’s Boon, is one that individuals servers had been slowly acquiring as part of the Bounder’s Bounty event, and will last until the Helm’s Deep expansion launches. All servers had finished construction on the statue, and as such all players should have this buff on each character. The effects of this buff include in and out of combat perks, such as small damage and run boosts. There is also a “+5% Relic Forging Critical Success Rate” perk, which could be used effectively to do some last minute relic forging at your local legendary relic master.

 

Plugins (time to sideline ’em):

I would suggest you disable all of your plugins across your characters before the Helm’s Deep launch. With the vast amount of changes that are introduced in each expansion, you can never tell what the effects of your current plugins will have on any new systems/data (or vice versa). As things settle down, and you start hearing reports of certain plugins that are still stable (or which offer new updates to make them stable), feel free to start putting your plugins back into play.

 

Misc:

Face it – you’re not likely to get everything all ready and set as perfect as you’d like on every character. Don’t sweat it, Lord of the Rings Online offers a fairly casual (yet surprisingly robust) group of systems that work together pretty well to ease you into whatever changes may be introduced. There are always things you can do here and there, but are totally a personal decision. Activities such as doing a fall cleaning of your Vault/bags to make some space for your new adventures are always useful, but not necessary (or can be done after the launch)

Something I also like to do leading up to expansions include taking screenshots of certain aspects of a character, such as my skill quickslots/legendary item allocations/traits. While several of these will be going through likely changes (not limited to but including trait trees, legendary item legacy removals, etc), it makes me feel better having a record of my past setups.

From what I’ve seen, West Rohan is a pretty fantastic-looking zone, and even those at least level 10 will get an opportunity to see slices of Helm’s Deep via Big Battles. I’m hoping you have a blast with Helm’s Deep – don’t forget your boxes, dwarves!

 

Do you have any pre-expansion rituals? Please feel free to comment below and share with the community!