Mordor: What they didn’t tell you about allegiance and more

So, what do you do when the update first comes out? If you ask me, usually it’s the Epic Book or the epic story. But since this update came with increase in legacy tiers I waited a little bit and finished my legendary items first. It is certainly a big help in an area like Mordor. After that… Epic story. But, where did the story go?

Where is the story?

I will probably become even less liked than I already am for writing like this about a developer who is probably the favorite child of the player base, but so be it. Made of Lions, or as you can recognize him in some of my articles – Voltron, has told us on many occasions that the pinnacle of the story has been in the works for probably more than ten years. He has envisioned it, worked on it, dreamed about it, etc. I believe this is said in several interviews. In the last developer interview he even says that we have probably paused the previous chapter of the story seconds before the ring is destroyed. And he wasn’t kidding. As soon as we start it, we kill a few orcs and then… THE EAGLES ARE COMING. The words that will make some fans wet their pants, but what comes next, not so much. A little bit of running around fields of Cormallen and the story… the anecdote… is done in 15 minutes. The rewards at the end? A miniature model of Mount Doom. An emote called Strength of Sauron, ironically shortened /sos, looks nothing like the eye of Sauron as is more of a quest ring. The emote is ridiculous, but you can certainly have some fun if you go to a festival and mess with people trying to click on you. What else is there? 1 trait point and 5 LOTRO points. No mount, no cosmetics, no special items, nothing. From here you will continue on to the Black Book of Mordor which is also hiding an extra trait point behind its completion of chapter 4. Again, no special items at the end.

Some of you may want to jump in and say that it is not about the items, it is about the story. But, like I said, I am missing both. I am missing the story and I am missing the items to remember this point in time by something.

Allegiance, Crafting, Fushaum Bal and other quests

 

What is Allegiance?

Allegiance is this big mystery that nobody tells you what it is. No developer interview, diary or anything for that matter, a regular forum post for all I care. No, we are to guess how it all works. Well, it works like this. At level 110 you can start an introduction quest to Allegiance of your choice. But what nobody tells you is that you need to go do it or where to do it. What ever happened to those letters we used to get? Is it hard to make an invitation now? The introduction to Allegiance system starts in the camp of Udun Foothold by speaking to Eomer. Eomer will then send you to behind the Black Gate to speak to one of the faction representatives. After finishing these quests you will get a travel skill to the Allegiance of your choice. What the quest tells you in red lettering is that you can advance only one Allegiance at the time, but what it doesn’t tell you is that you can finish all the intro quests if you like. By finishing all these intro quests once you hit level 115 and the crafting instances become available you will be able to gain 2000 Allegiance Points for every faction weekly by doing just one crafting instance. Or 2 in case you start with Barad Dur, which has one relic bugged in a wall. So, potentially, 8000 AP daily from these untill you finish the 7th chapter of an Allegiance, which then for some reason makes the quest for it disappear. So, if gear is not an issue, I already suggested you don’t finish these and collect more points daily to finish the other ones faster. But how in Eru’s name do you start the crafting instances and the daily quests?! Well, these will start only after you have reached rank 30 with one Allegiance and finished the Black Book of Mordor. Which makes no sense, because you will have to go through almost 100% of the content to get one Allegiance to 30 by questing, deeding, etc. And what content is that? Well, in order to finish the level 109 Lost Lore of Dol Agarnaith quest you will need to go through a camp of level 115 mobs and with 100 shadow that you can in no way counter on that level. Then and only then will you be able to start the crafting instances and nothing else. Only after you restart the game will you get the landscape granted quest to visit your expedition leader and you will be able to pick up daily and weekly quests. Travel skills to Allegiance halls are also a different kind of headache. If you didn’t buy the hurried traveler and reduced the cooldown to 5 minutes you will be doomed to wait for 50 minutes to advance or turn in a quest. So, one quest can take you several hours. For some reason there is a travel option from the hall to Mordor, but nothing from Mordor to the halls.

Fushaum Bal and other quests

Many quests are for some reason very unintuitive. Allegiance to start. Fushaum Bal are also in that group. Once you start with FB you are considered to be very close to an enemy. Even though I do not know why you don’t get attacked right away then. After questing you will eventually become an outsider. Once you reach this standing you will open  your second set of quests for these groups. First set is available from landscape. Then after reaching neutral nobody tells you that there are new quests, you need to find this out on your own and check all the NPCs. And when this quest line is done you won’t be able to go back to the dailies they offer and fix it. Most quests when turning them in give positive reputation with one and negative with another faction. If you are using reputation accelerators you will gain double than you lose. There are also one or two quests that do not have this negative reputation, so you can use them to top of the reputation, reach neutral standing with both sides and then finish the quest FB resolution. Many have complained about this quest, since you are fighting the chieftains of the camps at once, so my suggestion is that you skill Talath Urui (or only do the start and skip Fushaum Bal) and go to Agarnaith and then come back. You will have some nice rewards and possibly a bit more Ash to trade in for other items. Watch out for the quests that can fail if you are seen by the Fushaum Guard. These are not properly shown on the radar and sometimes it’s even hardly noticeable in the quest description. Some have the red lettering you shouldn’t be seen, some don’t. There are few occasions where you need to talk to a statue. You know, like talking to SSG. But in this case, the statue reacts. But nobody tells you that you need to do this other than the quest ring on the radar. But you may have this turned of or have it very small or something else. You choose.

Missed opportunities

I think that SSG has missed a lot of opportunities to give some nice rewards in this expansion. In total there are maybe 3 or 4 good items that you can get from questing that you would use for your gear. Everything else is not really something you would want to use, just disenchant it to Ash right away. The Wastes for some reason had 3 or 4 dogs, but here zero pets. We can even have a person as our pet, a Loyal Swan Knight, but the goblin that says we will be the bestest friends doesn’t become our friend. The number of statues that gave us quests, we could have gotten one for housing.

Bugs or whatever it is

Through the whole region I did have the new kind of lootboxes drop, but I also had the Anorien ones. Black keys do not drop, but Steel sturdy ones do. I do not understand why instead of buffing hunter scrolls for Doomfold crafting the Anorien crafting ones were nerfed, but the +all stats food in Anorien was buffed. Crafting instances are still bugged. You are unable to finish anything except the main quest now. And it seems like they don’t reset properly, as the Alliance quests don’t appear either. I do not know the money issues with SSG, but the trailer they have put out has reached a very bad reaction and I would have expected them to take it down by now. I don’t mind some outtakes from the game, but some of those don’t even look like real fighting, just some posing of auto attacking while “a shot” is made. Some GM paning through Mordor and someone as a narrator speaking about it would have been much better than what goes for a trailer at this point. People are still very disappointed there are no High Elves in the game after promoting them as a part of the expansion and the disappointment isn’t small. Remember when I proposed they fix this item, due to its description on the item and in the quest? It should have been teal.

 

Well, they fixed it now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bellow is a gallery with some of the curious sightings in Mordor.

And for the end, the best Mordor boy band. You are…. My fiiiire. My ONE… De-sire… Believe when I say… I want all your money.

Allegiance: Pimp my dev interview

This article is satirical in nature and does not represent the official developer interview allowed by the SSG… The original interview has been used and built upon to provide you with more information.
The facts about Allegiance are accurate.

 

Hello, everyone. This time we are bringing you an interview with our developers UnfriendlyCat (UC), DrHashtag (DrH) and Voltron concerning the new Allegiance system.

 

What is the Allegiance system?

 

UC: The Allegiance System is a way for players to earn endgame rewards, new cosmetics, and experience four distinct storylines in a post-Sauron Middle-earth. After joining an Allegiance, players earn “Allegiance Points” to advance within their faction. Players will not be limited to only one faction. You can, in fact, finish the introduction to all of them, but making one of the allegiances active you opt for working on that one allegiance. The first allegiance you opt for will be faster to finish and the later ones will be slower. The speed is determined by the amount of points you will need to advance through the levels of the later allegiances.

As they level up within the system, they unlock barter currency to buy endgame rewards, special items, and story moments. You are gaining a special kind of tokens through the Allegiance system for barter and another kind of tokens are „Chapter tokens“ (let’s call them that) that will unlock the next chapter in your respective Allegiance.

DrH: You will be able to embark on the Allegiance System once you make way into the Mordor Expansion, but it will really pick up after a first tour through Gorgoroth, where it ties into the endgame.

+Arred: When you reach level 110 two things will open for you. You will be able to go just behind the Black Gate and speak to Eomer to start your Allegiance quests. At the same time a new series of quests will appear, The Lost Lore of NameOfTheRegion. These quests will have an acorn for a reward, that will help you advance your allegiance. The Allegiance isn’t your classic reputation system. Even though you do need to advance your standing to gain Allegiance tokens and experience various Chapters from each one, this is more imersed in the story rather than only earning standing and being done with it.

Voltron: One of the things I’ve been dissatisfied with about Reputations in the past is how story-agnostic they could feel. Yes, you’re helping various factions with their problems and becoming more and more respected in their society, but there was no real progression in a story sense. They respected you more and more, and offered you more rewards, but there was no real sense of a continuing storyline for most of them. Allegiances do have you filling up a bar, and there are repeatable quests and rewards, but for me the significant addition is that each of them tells a continuing story. I think of my Allegiances like Bingo Boffin style quest arcs, but instead of funny hobbit shenanigans you get dwarf- or Gondor-themed problems and stories, and instead of them advancing weekly they advance as you gain AP.

 

How many factions are there?

 

UC: There are 4 Allegiances:
– “The Kingdom of Gondor”
– “Hobbits of the Company”
– “Durin’s Folk”
– “The Court of Lothlórien”

Voltron: It’s about choosing the Allegiance to which you want to lend your skills, not necessarily the race you play.

 

You mention chapters. How many are there?

 

Voltron: Seven chapters per Allegiance, and whether we expand it will depend on whether the players like it.

 

Where did the ideas come from?

 

DrH: We modelled the Allegiance System after the oaths of service Pippin and Merry made to Gondor and Rohan, respectively. We wanted a system that would feel like it was part of your character’s story, a way to tell and remember the adventures that took place during their time in Mordor. We were also very clear about the fact that we didn’t want to create a ‘gimmick’ way outside of the core game loop. The goal here was to provide good, satisfying reasons for adventuring further in Mordor, and worthy rewards to take home with you.

 

Do I get to experience something unique with each?

 

UC: DrH can speak more to this but each Allegiance has its own unique storyline.

DrH: The storylines are the big difference between each allegiance, but that’s pretty major. There is a unique story about Gondor, the four hobbits, Gimli & Durin’s Folk, and the Elves—that you will only get from playing that faction line.

UC: Your choice order of Allegiances will not affect the availability of endgame gear. Your choice really just affects the order in which you experience story and gain certain cosmetic appearances.

 

How will the players advance and get the Allegiance Points?

 

+Arred: The players will have a few options to advance through their respective Allegiance. We have made it so that they can earn acorns, something like a reputation item, that will allow them to advance their chosen Allegiance. These acorns can be acquired via certain quests, deeds and daily quests in the new crafting instances, which is why we have advised you in our crafting diary to get introduced to all four Allegiances right away.

 

Anniversary Event Controversy And Word From The Dev’s

 

So by now, I hope you have been in and enjoyed the anniversary event. There is a bit of controversy that has erupted in the community over the new “scavenger hunt” event.

 

You will find a new quest give by the party tree, and you will have a list of things you must complete. it’s meant to celbrate LOTRO and take you back to some places and foes you have faced in the past, in theory that sound great, but some of them are in higher level area’s, or your flat you locked out getting there, so low levels are feeling left out.

Dev DrOctothorpe took to the forums to address this backlash.

In the new Scavenger Hunt, we wanted to celebrate the length and breadth of Lord of the Rings Online. That meant looking back over all the moments, regions, and yes, level ranges that cover the ten full years we have run.

When we sat down to decide how to celebrate a decade of our game, we fell in love with the idea of exploring the aspects of the game that you, our players, have told us caused you to fall in love with LOTRO: the story, world, and the many adventures, small jokes, and bits of color–sorry, colour– found across our rendition of Middle-earth.

We encourage lower-level players to make use of the incredible player community in LOTRO and get a little help from friends, kinships, and even kindly strangers to complete quests that go far afield. Also keep in mind that most of the rewards come from completing a single quest for each year. Our goal was to keep the event light and fun, where you could dip your toe in and get something out of it.

But here’s the important thing: the Scavenger Hunt will be back next year. The quests you have completed will remain completed and the ones that remain will be waiting for you. Of course, there will also be an eleventh year to finish, but that’s time for you. It marches onward for all the free peoples, even the Elves.

 

Too little too late? Makes sense to you? What do you think? Did you think the event was planned out well? or was just poorly planned?

 

Turbine Releases Dev Diary on Helm’s Deep Trait Trees

Earlier today, Turbine released their latest developer diary focused on the upcoming class changes for the Helm’s Deep expansion. This diary was written by HoarseDev and attempts to answer only one question: Why are the classes changing?

HoarseDev gives several reasons for the upcoming changes. Here is a bullet list of the reasons, each followed by my commentary:

  • Variety at the Cost of Potency

In essence, too many skills being acquired over the years has resulted in: a) Inability to grant newer, more powerful skills for fear that all classes would eventually be able to do all things, b) skill bars that were too full of stuff, c) redundant, boring and unused skills.

  • Homogeneity of Roles

If I’m reading between the lines correctly, HoarseDev is explaining why they couldn’t simply keep adding class traits to the current trait system. Once again, continuing to grant more and more traits & slots would eventually result in all classes being able to fulfill every role, no matter which build was chosen. It’s kind of like “a)” above, except with traits instead of skills.

  • Moment to Moment Play (& Additionally…)

These points are addressing the flow of combat, and seem to be openly admitting that the current combat is not fluid enough by today’s standards. Turbine intends to address this issue in a couple of ways: a) By removing less useful skills and making the skills that remain more potent b) By introducing new mechanics such as ground-targeting for crowd control and healing, and c) by incorporating “a bunch of brand-spankin’ new animations and effects”.

  • The Cost of Doing Business

Again, this section deals with the problems that come with having too many skills or traits and the effects that bloat has on the future of the game, and why the devs feel that these changes are needed.

And now we’ve come to the summation. This is what we’ve been waiting to hear Turbine say since the first hints of skill trees were dropped. Here’s the deal: The devs are re-booting the game. This isn’t just another sequel. This is Turbine wiping the slate clean and giving themselves room to work on continuing to develop the game for many years to come. The amount of character ability bloat that has been perpetuated over the last 85 levels was hampering the developers’ ability to develop. This is a long-term play, and it’s going to happen. Long-term strategies sometimes come with immediate-term sacrifices.

The diary was probably more concise than I:

These are big changes. They take some getting used to. We know this. We also know that for the good of the game and its longevity, we sometimes need to make big changes.

 

The new trait system that comes in u12 is really just the start of a conversation about how our classes work and how we can continue to make them better.

The comments above include my interpretation of the points contained within the post. I would highly suggest reading the diary for yourself and forming your own conclusion.

Developer Diary: Trait Trees in Helm’s Deep

Braxwolf Stormchaser

Helm’s Deep Hunter Dev Diary Released

Today Turbine released the developer diary that details Helms Deep changes to the Hunter class. Although we’ve had previous hints about the three trait trees and what they entail, the diary provided some new information about skills within each of these of which we were not previously aware. Below are some of the highlights that I picked out:

  • The Bowmaster line is a stationary, high damage, long range line. Those traited heavy in the bowmaster line will be dependent on induction skills to deal maximum damage from a long-range position. Moving from your stance will cause you to lose focus and subsequently require re-focus once you’ve again established your position. Bowmaster is the current “red line” of today, and my assumption (from the description in the diary) is that this line is the one that will change the least.
  • The Huntsman line is a movement-based, medium range, medium damage stance. While those traited huntsman will not have the heavy burst damage of the bowmaster, the ability to move and get off quick shots should still provide an ample amount of damage over the course of battle. Huntsmen will not only be able to fire on the move, they will not be penalized focus points for doing so.
  • The line that is likely to see the most changes is the Trapper of Foes. Several things are eluded to within the diary that might make this line much more interesting than it is today. While trapper of foes has always been focused on crowd control, the diary also mentions AoE and ally buffs as new key components to this line. Specifically, a new twist to the “low cut” skill is mentioned:

…as well as adding a root to Low Cut to lock an enemy in their traps to ensure a trap hits or deals all its damage to them.

  • a few other tidbits about trapper of foes can be pulled from the last paragraph:
    • Traps usable in combat
    • Little or no induction time for trap usage
    • Stronger traps
    • Ground targeting traps (like the Wildermore fish-net throw?)
    • Buffs and debuffs based on trap use

I’m glad we finally made it to “H” in the dev diary roundup. Reading about the changes to the huntsman and trapper of foes lines makes me excited to try out some of the new hunter skills! Let’s hunt some orc!


Braxwolf Stormchaser