Today the Executive Producer, Aaron ‘Rowan’ Campbell took part in a stream with Sapience to talk about the recently released Update 14, his Producer’s Letter and planned and potential upcoming additions to the game. Below is a list of some of the juicier details, but be sure to check out the link for the full video.
- The cancellation of the level cap increase for U15 allowed them to do the planned LI revamp and other changes
- The Epic Story AND Epic Battle for U15 will be free to all players
- The Epic Battle will be contained within the Epic Story(as with HD and Skirmishes with Mirkwood)
- The Epic Battle will consist of retaking Pelargir with Aragorn and the Army of the Dead in an Offensive Epic Battle
- Update 15 will contain another landscape group area
- U15 will have us combating the Haradrim and their half-troll allies
- The Dead Marshes update between U14 and 15 will be a series of an explorable area and around 4 session play quests, and will give us our first glimpse of the Dawnless Day
- The Beorning will require a purchase for everyone
- The Beorning’s ‘starter experience’ will be a new intro only, not a new zone
Timeline
- Between U14-15: Dead Marshes update
- Late 2014: U15 – Central Gondor, Pelargir Epic Battle, Beorning
- Early 2015: Osgiliath
- Late 2015: Siege of Gondor; Minas Tirith, up until Gandalf’s confrontation at the shattered Gates
- 2016: Battle of Pelennor Fields.
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So in Helm’s Deep we were on defense. Does this mean in U15 we will be on offense retaking Pelargir? If so, are these going to be different battle mechanics meaning are our epic battle points we earned in Helm’s Deep going carry over?
Aaron said we will be able to go at mostly our own pace which is very different from the defensive battles in HD.
I assume the points will still work for the new EB.
He said it will be an offensive battle.
Im still waiting to see epic anything or anything BIG HD was a HUGE let down and turbines refusal to create raids a standard feature in any mmo is mindboggling. Big battles are just skirmishes and cutting corners on development. Its a real shame = /
LOTRO didn’t launch with raids and at the beginning back in Beta they didn’t even have raids planned. They were not going to have any. It was only after player feedback then that they introduced Helegrod into LOTRO and several more from there.
Just because other MMOs do them doesn’t mean it is a staple of LOTRO.
With all that being said I think they are making a huge mistake not doing raids but I don’t know how else they can devote enough time to continue to be iterating on the EB system. If this new offensive EB is not good though, I think all hope will be lost for the system ever recovering.
“The cancellation of the level cap increase for U15 allowed them to do the planned LI revamp and other changes”
Well, they should have considered cancelling the Mirkwood level cap back then, this revamp is 5-6 years too late.
To bad we have to wait so long for some new content but in my opinion it’s well worth the wait.