Helm’s Deep – Ten Ton Hammer interview

We have yet another source of Helm’s Deep info released today, although much of it has been covered in other articles. I took the liberty of pruning a couple of more notable things.

Actually pulling off a battle as epic as the one at the walls of the Hornburg requires new technology and some of what Leo Tan calls “technical trickery.” The forces of the White Hand number in the tens of thousands, and when the player looks down from the wall, he will see what looks like thousands of bloodthirsty orcs laying siege. But there is no realistic way to put ten thousand orcs on the landscape and have the player be able to do anything, and they didn’t want to re-use the same kind of animated painting they used for Wulf’s Cleft. The orcs will be “fake,” but the player will be able to interact with them.

I am glad they aren’t just reusing the Wulf’s Cleft tech. While it was an okay first time effort, it really wasn’t that convincing, and definitely wouldn’t suffice for something as huge as Helm’s Deep. Exactly what they plan to use is a mystery, but reportedly the Devs have been working on it for over a year, so let’s hope it’s a good’un.

Also interesting how they state that the Orcs we see will be ‘fake’, but that we can interact with them. I couldn’t say for certain precisely how that works, although perhaps they may be affected via the environment(ballista fire killing pre-selected groups).

At the end of the battle, players are rewarded medals and ratings. If the player did okay, he gets a bronze medal. If the player did the best he could possibly do, he gets platinum. These medals are not dependent on level – a level 10 can earn a platinum medal by putting in the effort and really mastering his tasks. The Helm’s Deep medals are a new progression currency to be exchanged for specific rewards. And the instances can be completed solo, or in 2, 3, 6 or 12-man groups, depending on the instance. Not all instances come in all sizes.

Could be wrong, but this may be the first quote where they confirm that not all the Helm’s Deep instances will have the complete scaling of solo to 12-man. Still no word on how many specific instances there will be.

What do you guys think about the(admittedly little) new info we’ve gotten? Let us know below!