Bullroarer – Page 2 – LOTRO Players

The Sound of Silence

I have had great feedback on the article I written about the story behind the disappointment. You all have been a great support. Even disagreeing with some of you in a constructive manner was one of the better things to share with you and not just you reading or even not reading what has been written. Thank you for that.

But it has been pointed out to me that SSG and the older version of it – Turbine – and the developers that work there have given us many good things in the game, many great features and many great moments. And I do not disagree with you here. Not only were we given some great things, we have also been given some things that were previously said to be impossible. Cosmetic weapons and off-hands, new premium housing area, feature that lets us move the housing items outside of their usual hooks, various cosmetic items, some great stories and quests, some good Epic Book quests, good instances and raids… I am a person who was converted to actually liking housing when the premium ones came out, because suddenly I didn’t have to live in a shed. Some couples have even met thanks to the game and married. But the fact that SSG has had some good decisions, ideas and products in the past does not mean they didn’t also have bad ones and that because of the good ones it would now be fine to retroactively charge for all that. Especially because all that was paid with VIPs and LPs. Having done some good things in the past does not make anyone immune to the critique in the present or the future. The players won’t start paying for a dating service now too, will they? Those who prefer virtual relationships may visit websites offering AI Girlfriend services.

This article isn’t even the “aggressive” one, I am just very saddened that SSG has actually chosen to ignore the entire player base that has voiced their concerns in various channels. We have participated in threads on the official forums, there are comments on shares in the social media, some have participated in chats in-game, various written articles in unison that this expansion stands out, and most recently – the +Cord of the Rings stream.

The threads on the forum actually stopped for a while to see if there will be some official reaction to what has been happening for the past few days since this has been announced. Nothing. Not even a mention of the situation, an acknowledgment of some sort. While some of the participants have been asking questions about it and about some other in-game „stuff“ the team comprised of Cordovan and QuartermasterU was more interested in some casual talk about the lucky duck title, food, trash metal and „what shoulders are those“. Only thing Mordor related, as far as I remember, was the talk about the Aria of Valar, and QU, when asked about the new bridle LIs, I even feel bad pointing this out, suggested there will be new ones, confused or not knowing that there hasn’t been new LIs in a while and that we are now using a different system.

When SSG announced that they have parted ways with Turbine people were hopeful that something would change and in their hopes they forgot that the team working on the games has stayed the same. SSG, now an indie studio, a smaller company should have been using advantages that every smaller company has over a large one and a big advantage is – communication. The very thing we are lacking now.

At its size we should be able to have a conversation SSG to consumer, but we don’t. For the second time, at least, we are getting ignored and we are left to vent and hopefully calm down on our own. The silence is deafening. I attribute this to not knowing really much about running a business. No content you put out, especially a rushed one with bugs and a more expensive one than previous expansions even though it was said in countless streams it would be in line with those, can replace the value a company places in its customers. And a customer will always show his appreciation for this by paying more. Customers do pay more for a product based on how they are being treated. If you had exactly the same steak in a great, expensive restaurant and in a cheap restaurant, you would be fine paying more for it in the expensive one because of the treatment you got.

When speaking about the communication with the players, I have to mention the complete lack of developer diaries/letters. Even these could have been used as a great form of marketing and in a longer pre-purchase period they would be introducing the expansion to the players, building interest and intrigue. Recently we have gotten two short ones. These 2 interviews have left the players after reading them more confused than informed. So much so that a thread on the forum with my own „developer letter“ linked has been started under the name „Actual Crafting Dev Diary“.

Maybe the SSG is satisfied by the sales they had so far, I have no way of knowing. What I do know is that quite a decent number of players are spending the money not because of the quality, but because it is LOTR and because it is Mordor, because they want to experience what we have been building up to for over 10 years, in support of the game, etc. There are also those who will just play the epic and be done with everything. But I am convinced that had this been approached differently they would be making a lot more money with a lot less unhappy people.

After canceling my subscription after what happened with the Wastes – not the lag, the lack of communication then too – I was really hoping to buy if not the highest, then maybe the 2nd highest package and go VIP again, none of which is happening, again, not because there will be bugs in the early release, but because as a part of the group that has voiced the concerns and got no answers I do not feel I have been heard, appreciated and valued as a customer.

I do hope that this piece gets to someone in SSG somehow. Not so I could „give them a piece of my mind“, but just to say that there is no shame in saying you have made a mistake or that you were wrong or that you do not know something. You can not do everything perfectly, nor can you know everything. But what you can do is nurture a relationship with the people who have stayed with the game through thick and thin, communicate what is going on with the game a little bit better and a little bit more often, because a lot of what has happened and what has been said was not because of the price (or any other reason, for that matter), but because the company has made a choice to not inform the player base that they are turning 180° and that all the consistency up untill now has no meaning. Actually, at times we have been told the opposite would happen and it didn’t. And all that information has been thrown at us only a couple of weeks from the release date. There certainly were some players who expected something that was unrealistic, but they were not in the majority.

So, do I think that the players should let go of this because nobody has reacted to what is happening? No, I really hope the forum posts continue. I have no way of knowing if there are some legal issues that you can not discuss, but this situation could have certainly been mitigated if we weren’t surprised by it and then ignored. Just someone to come out and say „You know what, you have been heard“ would alleviate a lot, I believe.

I just hope that it is evident that everything that is being done and said is not out of spite or hate towards SSG and certainly not LOTRO, or any part of the team in particular or anything like that. Even if it sometimes comes with harsh words, it is so because we do love this game and want it to be good and even better, it comes with good intentions. Not everything that is good comes in a nice wax sealed letter with gold font, like you just got invited to Hogwarts.

What awaits us in Mordor?

If you were to describe Mordor by comparing it to any old area of Middle-Earth, it wouldn’t do it justice. The area is huge, you can find these evil-looking statues all around and sometimes it’s a little bit of a maze. So, the best way to compare it would be to say that it’s a combination of Rohan and Angmar, but on a much larger scale. And while this is only the first public test build and I am aware that there will be changes, I do have some things I want to point out.

You can’t use any old armour sets

Probably the first thing you will notice once you log in the U21 is the message that certain gear has been unslotted because you do not meet the requirements. These requirements are basically level of the gear + 10. So, if you are using a level 75 ToO set for a captain to get the Oathbrakers shame reset, you can only use it untill level 85. It’s the same for hunters using Erebor set, etc. Even though my warden has become the first character I gear it is only my “second main”. The first character was my captain so I will always have some love for it. It is a shame to see that we are robbed of having a good set bonus from lower levels while we are not able to get it on the level cap. I would have gladly used a Throne set for “Oathie reset”, but there isn’t any. Instead there are some sets which are next to useless. The only one I use on my captain is the yellow set. And you could even do without that one also, as it’s not that special. Captains have been complaining and suggesting some fixes to this since the raid has come out and there has not been any sign of anyone listening to it. And I can guarantee that we do not want to use a level 75 set. I would rather have more stats, more armour, everything. But we don’t have that option. The only still untested option is the Osgiliath armour. The question only remains how will it be scaled.

How to enter Mordor

Just to save you asking the /World, you will need to go to where the book left of. Go to Slag Hills, take the mount near Aragorn and do some short quests there. Leave the area, go back to Slag Hills and you can ride… khm, no… You can now simply walk into Mordor through the destroyed gate.

First quests

First quests will lead you to the Foothold of Udun and there you will be able to check out some of the gear. One novelty is the item Flame of Anclamir, which will allow you to deconstruct some items that drop in Mordor, which in turn will award you with items you need to collect to barter for better gear. From the forum: “Ash of Gorgoroth system: This system allows players to break down unused or unwanted Mordor equipment into Ash of Gorgoroth, which can then be used to purchase new equipment from a vendor. Some items cannot be deconstructed. Each Crafting Profession also has a new recipe to create an item that can be deconstructed”. I do think this item is missing some things too… For one, the quest you get for its introduction should be a bit better done, a bit clearer and second, I think the item needs some sort of indication that you have triggered it. Either the marching ants animations on the items you can deconstruct, like when you are about to place a housing item, or just change the cursor like when applying dye.

New ratings

New ratings are something I am not looking forward to. You may be tempted to powerlevel first and then go through the new area, but I’m still debating if that would be beneficial. I am a fully geared warden, with Moranon armour, gold jewelry upgraded with inlays, tempered essences, all stats upgrades, some virtues on level 30 probably. And I’m not saying this to brag, but to point out something I have an issue with and many of us will have on live if it stays like this. The new ratings curve for mobs and for players is too steep, in my opinion. Being an agility class my critical rating on warden on 105 was 27.5% and that’s with a lot of overcap on critical rating. Once I hit level 106, the critical rating dropped down to 21.6%. Critical rating cap was at 17.700 or so and I had 21.925. With 12.474 finesse I was over 20%, on level 106 I am at 7.1%. Tier 2 overcapped mitigations dropped bellow tier 1 cap. All in just one level. So, while I can understand that we should be using new gear and essences, I also think that we should be allowed to do something before we get killed every step of the way.

EDIT: On level 107 with the same numbers rating is as follows: Critical rating: 20.4%; Finesse: 6.5%.

EEDIT 2: On level 108 with the same numbers rating is as follows: Critical rating: 19.3%; Finesse: 6.0%.

Light of Earendil v Shadow of Mordor

From time to time you will notice a bar appearing bellow your morale and power bar. This will show you the ratio you have of light v shadow. From the forums: “Areas of Shadow can be found in varying intensity throughout Mordor. These areas weaken visitors, but the Light of Eärendil can counteract this darkness. Your character will see a Shadow and Light Rating, which will help you understand the threat posed by the Shadow. Items that grant Light of Eärendil can be found in Mordor”. This is something like a hope token or even older radiance, but it doesn’t add anything to your stats or whatever. It only prevents the shadow to add a debuff on you. You will be able to add light to yourself by using the new armour, weapons and jewelry.

New essences

When you check out the new gear and essences you understand the new ratings a little bit better, they have gotten a considerable buff too. But the problem still remains with the curve being so steep. Mobs getting a considerable buff, while you are getting a considerable drop. And frankly, while I do enjoy having a powerful character, I do not understand why rework the rating and then buff the essences too so we can reach the cap easily again. This one is just guessing, I still didn’t check how it would look on a fully geared 115 character.

I am very intrigued and very pleased with two additions to the essences. One is the vitality essence with 396 vitality. Which would give you 1980 morale. And the morale essence gives you 1966 morale. So, thumbs up for listening to tanks suggestions. The non-tank classes may not be as good as tank ones, but with the recent vitality point change, not as bad as before. I am very curious what will be the secondary bonus on it at later levels. The other essence I am intrigued with is the Outgoing healing essence. Since I do also have a minstrel I wonder how much effect this will have on healing, what is the cap on it, etc.

New relics you will be able to barter for a quest reward item – The silver signet of the Thandrim. This costs 50 of these signets, so I imagine there will be repeatables to get more of those, since it doesn’t seem only regular questing will be enough for those and the recipes for essences (cost: 15), and purple items (cost: 30), teal items (cost: 90). All single use recipes. You will be able to get settings, gems and runes. I’m not sure if there will be new crafted relics, since those are usually from cap guild, at least the good ones.

It is a sad day when a purple item outclasses your maxed out gold one in only 1 level. But it’s still nice to see that vitality, fate and finesse usefulness is actually coming back.

New creatures

I can’t now recall where I have read about this or heard this, maybe it was the 10th anniversary stream, but there was some indications about new creatures. So far I’ve only seen one. Maybe some skins have changed… Fire troll for example, but as for creatures. I only don’t recall seeing this one.

Virtues

Virtues went only up by one level. Since they didn’t move since the cap was 95 (?) and because of the play with the rating going on, I really hope that the virtues will go up by more than one level.

Water v Fire

And for some reason you can be hurt by water, but there are no issues if you walk, ride or swim through lava.

LOTRO Update 20: Fellowship crafting instances

This may be a little bit too soon for a 2nd part of the article, but this will just maybe clarify some other things. I have wrote in the first article about the items you can get, the differences and what you need to get those. You can check out that article here.

You can also watch videos on the new areas here.

In the meantime I was able to complete the prerequisites for the fellowship instances and I must say that going back and forth in Lang Rhuven was a complete pain. Not only did I need to enter and exit the fellowship landscape are several times, but the quests and deeds there were also insane. One of the quests, rescuing the horses, has you follow a horse around the camp, which you can’t let die. The horse is aggroing everything around itself and you end up clearing that half of the camp while you get it to safety. The deeds on the normal landscape have normal number for completing them. The deed for Lang Rhuven is 200 for the first tier and 400 for the second.

After you finally complete this line you get to complete to prerequisite fellowship quests in the towers, or should I say basements. In these you need to kill some mobs in the fellowship areas – behind the wooden gate in one and at the far end in the other tower. Only then you can go and finish the fellowship crafting instance you have completed the prerequisite for. For now and for my group, the scholar one seemed to be bugged as we couldn’t turn in some quest and we didn’t complete that one.

In the article from yesterday I have wrote about barter items you need for the new gear and there was one very curious item that seemed to be useless. Well, it’s not. This is for now the only useful item you can get by trading 20 of each flower for it. This set of brittle lock-picks is used to unlock the treasure chest which is found behind the boss. Rewards today weren’t anything special, seem to be the usual armour/provision/weapon. The boss did drop one tarnished sigil of Gondor for me. This seems to be random loot on boss kill, as we didn’t see it drop from any box for now.

There are some downsides to the fellowship version of the crafting instances. They just feel a lot like they added more mobs with more morale in a solo instance and raised the number of players that can join. This because when you’re mining for Dagorlad ore only one player will get the loot from the node. This node should be made into a quest-like item that can be used by everyone in the fellowship, so we don’t fight over those or abandon fighting to loot first. Also, the sidequests you get to pick some stuff up if one player does it, it doesn’t advance for everyone. So you will have 6 players wasting time on picking up some random items to advance the quest. The visibility of the chest behind the boss you would use the lock-pick on is also not the best as it had no name when we were inside, so maybe some glow to it would be nice.

You can watch the solo versions in the following videos:

In other notes… If you haven’t you can also go and check out the new LOTRO Beacon: Issue #2.

North Ithilien – A Preview in Pictures

Greetings LOTRO Players! In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the new sights that are coming soon when Update 19 goes live later this month. I’ll give my thoughts on the new region below, and also be warned that you should not continue past this point if you want to experience these wonderful new views firsthand!

Ithilien, the Land of the Moon, was long called the Garden of Gondor by its denizens, but foul orcs from Mordor drove the brave citizens west of the river many years ago. Now, its beauty lies undisturbed by civilization, seen only by a select few roaming warriors and hidden rangers. The journey into North Ithilien begins at the Cross-roads, a landmark set beneath the boughs of enormous shade trees. It is dominated by a statue of a King of Old whose head has been replaced by orcs with a crude stone bearing the mark of the Eye of Mordor.

The Cross-roads connects Minas Tirith to its sister-city Minas Morgul, with Osgiliath lying in between. Following the road east and south, we come quickly across a sinister gate leading to the infamous city of the Witch-king.

Unfortunately, the barrier cannot be crossed. Turning our sights north, the land slopes gently upwards, revealing fields of flowers and blooming trees set with ruins all about.

Many varieties of trees blossom here near the borders of Mordor — Many varieties of trees grow here near the borders of Mordor

Stately ruins dot the landscape, echoing the glories of Ithilien when its enemies lay dormant across the mountains.

Trees growing in the ruins of Aelin Veren

Continuing north brings us to Henneth Annun, the hideout of the Rangers of Ithilien, led by noble Faramir. They dwell within a cave that leads behind a roaring waterfall. On an interesting note, this cave is not instanced off from the landscape content; you can simply wander into the entrance of the cave and continue down to where the Rangers are stationed without ever hitting a loading zone.

The entryway to Henneth Annun sits atop a high hill

To the west, we get a fantastic view of the forests below and Cair Andros in the distance.

Riding west towards Cair Andros and turning a little north, we come across the Field of Cormallen. The beautiful King Crimson trees that line the clearing are a sight to behold, and I can’t wait to see this area in action for the party after the war is won!

Hurry up and get here already, Aragorn & Co!

Finally, heading north from Henneth Annun, we come upon Aragorn’s War-stead and our first glimpses into the wastes that surround Mordor known as Dagorlad.

The blasted area begins abruptly at the plains of Dagorlad, with the beauty of Ithilien only paces away

As promised, here are my thoughts after riding through the region for an hour or so:

The landscape looks beautiful. There are plenty of new art assets used, such as new types of trees and flowers, that keep the game visually interesting into update 19. Additionally, there is a good deal of variety, from the dark woods near Minas Morgul to the beautiful views of Henneth Annun. The world builders did a fantastic job of creating some breath-taking views in various places around this zone and cleverly winded the main pathway through the region to provide many of these moments. The new barter-flowers which are harvested in exchange for gear can be found in plentiful amounts all around the region; I was not particularly searching for them, and I harvested a good handful.

The wandering creatures in the area are more-or-less similar to what we’ve been seeing in most of Gondor: Bears, goats, birds, spiders, a few mountain-lions, and the occasional lizard. Of course, near Cair Andros were a great deal of Corsairs and orcs. Many were scaled above the level cap of 105, and I frequently saw mobs of level 107 or higher, making them more difficult to fight than anything in Far Anórien.

Lastly, the blue skies and bright colors that occupy most of the new region are a welcome breath of fresh air, relieving the ‘gloom-and-doom’ look of Central-through-Beacon-Hills Gondor. I was having a fantastic time exploring, and I hope you all will too when Update 19 launches later this month!

Please let me know in the comments below if there are any particular places you’d like to see more of. I’d like to also provide an article with pictures from the new housing neighborhood, depending on the status of Bullroarer this weekend!

LotRO and Lore: Statues of the Hobbits

Welcome back to LotRO and Lore, an article series where we take a look at a few of the stellar ways that Turbine ties Tolkien’s wonderful writings into the realm of the MMORPG. This week we survey the statues of the hobbits, a curious race of halfling inhabiting the Shire.

Hobbits have no want for intricate masonry or tall towers; their architects build only comfortable homes of wood and brick. They are little interested in history, save what directly concerns the Shire and their own families. Indeed, they have no desire to show off their works to the outside world, for they prefer that the outside world stays outside of the Shire. So the question one has to ask when travelling through the Shire is, ‘for what purpose might a hobbit construct a statue?’

There are 2 statues we can find in the Shire, both carved out of wood and likely whittled away from a singular tree. We will take a look at the first statue where it stands in the center of Michel Delving.

First, a bit of history. In the mid-Third Age, about 1700 years before Frodo begins his quest to destroy the One Ring, the Shire did not exist the way we know it to be. Instead, it stood as a province of the ancient kingdom of Arthedain. The rolling hills and vast fields of the Shire made for excellent farming land, but it was scarcely populated. Years of war and kinstrife reduced the realm from the proud land it once was to a smaller, martial nation. At the time, the Hobbits were simply assimilated into their neighboring kingdoms and counted as their subjects. Then, one day, two hobbits from the town of Bree had a vision to head west and settle a land to call their own. After officially acquiring permission from the king of Arthedain at Fornost, they set out on a quest to found a new homeland.

These two hobbits were Marcho and Blanco. The statue in Michel Delving depicts these two, obviously tired from the long journey and resting against their walking sticks while one wipes sweat from his brow. It is fitting to place the statue in Michel Delving, which is the unofficial “capital” of the Shire and holds the office of the Mayor.

Another statue may be found in the northern parts of the Shire, at the outskirts of the town of Brockenborings. It features a hobbit with a large club standing over a severed head. This carving commemorates the Battle of the Greenfields, a time when goblins from Mount Gram swept down into the Shire, lead by Golfimbul, their chief. A particularly brave and tall hobbit by the name of Bandobras “Bullroarer” Took lead a resistance effort against the goblin invaders, riding a horse into battle and swinging his great club as he decapitated the head of the goblin leader. He successfully defended his home from marauding enemies that day, and the Hobbits of the Shire were thankful for it, erecting this statue in his honor.

Have you found other ways that Turbine has placed bits of lore in the Shire? Share your discoveries and any comments on this week’s article below!

Want to know more about the Shire? Check out these pages on Tolkien Gateway:
Bandobras Took
The Shire

Interested in reading more LotRO and Lore? Check out these links:
The Real Bird and Baby
Statues of the Elves
Kheled-zâram and the Dimrill Dale