Bringing back the legendary in LI

Easy to learn, hard to master. Simple in design yet infinitely intricate. That’s what the legendary item system was when it was introduced 11 years ago.  With the launch of the Mines of Moria.

Each Legendary Item contains the possibility of greatness. While they’re typically less impressive than comparable items of their initial level, they have the potential to grow into the most powerful items in the game.

https://stratics.com/threads/lotro-developer-diary-introduction-to-the-legendary-item-system.108929/

It couldn’t remain the most powerful item in the game. As each expansion would release a new level of legendary weapons. And you’d go on the next set of adventures.

Every expansion had its own story. It would last a year and you’d get attached to your LI. In 2019 that same weapons last you a few days, weeks or perhaps 2 months on the legendary server. Along the way they lost their legendary feel. They became just a an item.

Losing the legendary feeling

Along the expansions the third age drops quickly lost its shimmer. The race to the first age weapon was your main focus. You knew any effort you put into the first item would be reduced to a rune of item experience. There is no journey anymore if you know the outcome.

That person across you in the train could be your next best friend, but most likely you will just say hi and bye to him and the next station.

Me, myself and my LI

Turbine set out to bring back the feeling originally designed for Moria. A weapon that would feel part of your character. A much needed revamp of a system that grown so fixed in what it could be.

While some might prefer a system that lets them pick exactly what they want, that system also sacrifices uniqueness as every item quickly becomes the hot build of the week.

https://stratics.com/threads/lotro-developer-diary-introduction-to-the-legendary-item-system.108929/

While your weapon at level 100 has stayed with you for a very long time it lost it’s appeal as a reward. Perhaps with the upcoming Mordor expansion in mind, new instances  in Osgiligath and Minas Tirith it was time for what most felt the legendary items should have been from the start.  Imbuement made it so that your Li’s can expand to infinity and beyond.

Your weapons became legendary again and would create a story again. Atleast the level 100 versions. While discussed it never made it way down the level range. 

It’s dangerous to go back and change the past

Not many games ever live long enough to take a look back and change their past. Most of the time companies will create a new game or a new game system. Hardly anyone plays the boardgame Catan with all expansions. It becomes an entangled mess, too convoluted for anyone but the most enfranchised colonist. You might love it, but the gap between a new player and you becomes near insurmountable.

Yet rewriting the game to bridge that gap isn’t frivolous. Helms deep trait trees remain heavily debated. While some liked the complexity of 80 skills to choose from it’s not great.

Choice is great, but permanent mistakes aren’t. For both players, game designers and everyone in between.

Defeating it’s own purpose

Now it’s quite clear that the imbuement system was a great stopgap, but it turns out that an infinite system without any stops along the way is as endless as you make it sound.

Imbuement is an opt-in process available at level 100 that permanently transforms a Legendary Item. Once Imbued, it never needs to be re-forged or reconfigured again. That means an item that feels more, well, legendary, and greatly reduces the grind-and-craft aspects of the old system. 

https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/legendary-item-imbuement-dev-diary

Neither is it an opt-in anymore nor does it reduce the grind. It’s grown so unwieldy that there is just one way to make the item. Which isn’t something that a level 100 player can do on their own. 

For on its own good reasons every aspect of the imbuement created a 95% rigid fixed thing you can’t get around if you ever wanted to get further in the game. Being it another class, instance or playstyle. 

The age of remakes

Class balances, monster changes, Age of empire definitive edition or perhaps the biggest upcoming one wow classic. Everyone is remaking their original game. And lotro is doing the same. From small patches to complete changes. Every bit of the game is being looked at. The base game is nearly done with all classes ready, virtues relevant and some fresh instances and raids being made or run. It’s time to hit the expansion parts. The largest and most obvious one is that system that runs through the entire game. 

A complete overhaul?

What the changes will be we don’t know, but any change will require a very long and hard look with the way it works now. Replacing the system would change every skill attached to a legacy and with it any semblance of balance. Reducing the cost of each step in imbuement leaves the complexity and lack of variation. Building a new system for just level 120 and beyond leaves us with imbuement 3.0. 

Yes to an LI revamp, in due time. We want to revamp the system, and we want to make sure players feel their progression is represented in the new system. This isn’t something we can rush

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?671444-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter-%E2%80%93-February-2019-%E2%80%93-A-Look-Ahead&p=7918624#post7918624

What a revamp entails for SSG differs, but so far they have done a nice job on the games remake so far. Yes even pvmp will get there at some point.

But as SSG has also learned to do about any revamp info so far. They keep it secret, they keep it safe. 

We’ll go over specific issues and some possibilities for the revamp itself in another article