ZAM News (full)

ZAM News (full) http://www.zam.com/ ZAM gaming news rss feed Expansion Diaries Posted; EU Welcome Back Week [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20623 Lord of the Rings Online news keeps pouring in as we approach the Dec. 1 launch of the Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion in North America. Following dev diary entries on on the <a href="http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20543" target="_blank">new main menu</a> and the upcoming <a href="http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20585" target="_blank">combat changes</a>, the team has posted entries that focus on the revamped <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/536-developer-diary-character-panel-update" target="_blank">character panel</a> and the level 62 <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/539-developer-diary-som-skill-upgrades" target="_blank">skill upgrades</a>. You can read both diary entries after the jump. In addition, Codemasters is preparing for the release of the expansion on Dec. 3 in Europe by hosting a <a href="http://community.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=10189&pagename=news&type=News" target="_blank">Welcome Back Week</a> from Nov. 23-30. Former players can return the Middle-earth for free and enjoy +25% bonus experience during the event.<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><blockquote> Developer Diary: SoM Skill Upgrades With the decision to place the main focus of the systems work for Siege of Mirkwood™ on our basic combat and item advancement systems, we had to re-evaluate what that would mean for class skills and how changing or adding to them would alter the balance we were looking for with the other changes. Turning too many dials at once can lead to unintended and, very often, unexpected consequences! We knew this overhaul would be necessary to complete the process we began in Moria that ensures the long-term advancement of characters in LOTRO. As a result the decision was made to scale back plans for the classes themselves. We appreciate how this may be disappointing to some of you, though we do hope the overall improvement to combat results in a new and rewarding gameplay experience. Despite this, each class is getting either a new skill or skill upgrade at level 62. For the most part these new skills are focused on utility rather than combat. With all that said let’s look at the skill upgrades coming in Siege of Mirkwood! Burglar Burglar’s Antidote replaces Cure Poison This is a long awaited upgrade to the Burglar’s Cure Poison skill. It is upgraded in almost every way, including level of effect dispelled, range, and induction time. Captain Fighting Withdrawal replaces Withdrawal This upgrade removes the damage penalty, increases the amount of threat reduction, and minimizes the threat gained through damage by the Captain while in effect. Champion Remorseless Strike replaces Relentless Strike This skill is identical to Relentless Strike in all aspects except that it has much increased critical and devastating critical damage multipliers. Guardian Brutal Charge replaces Charge This upgrades Charge to have the same effect as the Champion’s Sprint. Brutal Charge overwrites most snares while it is in effect. There is also a short term damage buff when Brutal Charge is first activated. Hunter Guide to Mirk-eaves – new skill This skill is available from Estellien, a reputation reward vendor in Echad Sirion. It requires acquaintance faction with the Malledhrim, the Elven expedition launched across the Anduin against Dol Goldur. This skill functions like other Hunter guide skills to port the Hunter and his Fellowship to Echad Sirion. Lore-master Ancient Knowledge of Cures replaces Leech-craft This skill uses all the restrictions and upgrades for Leech-craft but combines Wound cures and resistance with Disease cures and resistance. Minstrel Chorus of Restoration replaces Song of Restoration This skill now removes Dread from all members of the Minstrel’s Fellowship (including the Minstrel!). Rune-keeper Shall Not Fall This Day replaces Do Not Fall This Day This skill adds a small amount of Melee, Ranged, and Tactical Defence to the target in addition to the self-revive ability. In addition, if the target is defeated while this skill is in effect there will be no item wear due to the defeat. Warden Muster in Mirk-eaves – new skill This skill is available from Estellien, a reputation reward vendor in Echad Sirion. It requires acquaintance faction with the Malledhrim, the elven expedition launched across the Anduin against Dol Guldur. This skill functions like other Warden muster skills to port the Warden to Echad Sirion. For the full view of how combat has changed in Siege of Mirkwood, be sure to read the <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/532-developer-diary-combat-changes">Combat Changes Developer Diary</a> and the <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/536-developer-diary-character-panel-update">Stats and Character Panel Changes Developer Diary</a>!   <hr />   Developer Diary: Character Panel Update New Stats! Changed Stats! Along with the recently discussed <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/532-developer-diary-combat-changes">Combat System changes</a>, we’ve made some changes and new additions to your character’s stats and how they are displayed. This dev diary will point out these changes and provide a first look at the newly revamped character panel! Critical Defence (Melee, Ranged, Tactical) Players will now have three new statistics to help offset the changes to some creatures (see the Combat Dev Diary): Melee Critical Defence, Ranged Critical Defence, and Tactical Critical Defence. <ul> <li>Guardians and Wardens gain a passive trait at level 20 that increases their Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit from even level monsters by 5%.</li> <li>Captains gain a passive trait at level 20 that increases their Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit from even level monsters by 3%.</li> <li>The Champion’s Glory stance increases their Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit from even level monsters by 3%.</li> <li>The Champion’s Ardor stance increases their Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit from even level monsters by 1%.</li> <li>Heavy Shields will now increase their wielder’s Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit by 5%.</li> <li>Warden Shields will now increase their wielder’s Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit by 4%.</li> <li>Shields will now increase their wielder’s Critical Defence ratings sufficiently to reduce their chance to suffer a critical hit by 2%.</li> </ul> We want to have a clear delineation between Offensive stances and Defensive stances. Given the increased importance of shields for defensive purposes, a change to the Guardian’s Overpower skill is required. Guardians will no longer be able to use Shields while in Overpower stance. As part of this change, Overpower-based legacies will no longer appear on one handed weapons. Players will find new Legacy Exchange scrolls in the Guardian Trainer shop inventory that will exchange Overpower-based legacies on existing Legendary Items for new legacies. Vulnerability (Melee, Ranged, Tactical) Changes The Melee, Ranged, and Tactical Vulnerability statistics (which reduce incoming damage according to damage source) have undergone two major changes: <ul> <li>We have changed the name, since gaining negative vulnerability was a bit awkward and confusing. <ul> <li>Melee Vulnerability => Melee Defence</li> <li>Ranged Vulnerability => Ranged Defence</li> <li>Tactical Vulnerability => Tactical Defence</li> </ul> </li> <li>The statistics have been converted to ratings and the bonuses received from these ratings are capped at 15%. The Ranged Defence bonus on Large Shields and most skill bonuses will be left as a percentage bonus towards Defence, rather than a rating value. Virtue bonuses and item bonuses have been converted to rating values.</li> <li>These statistics will now also apply to damage-over-time (DOT) skills performed on you. The opposing statistics – Melee, Ranged, and Tactical Offense, will apply to DOT skills that you perform on targets.</li> </ul> Outgoing Healing Players will now have a new rating statistic to help increase outgoing healing from skills. The bonus received from this statistic is capped at 30%. Incoming Healing Changes The Incoming Healing statistic has been converted to a rating. All incoming healing bonuses from items have been converted to rating values. Incoming healing bonuses and penalties from skills and traits have been left as percentages. The bonus received from this statistic is capped at 15%. Healing Rank and Tactical Rank Our new Healing Rank and Tactical Rank statistics will allow players with healing and tactical skills to increase their damage or healing output, by spending points into their legendary items! Healing Rank Minstrels, Captains, Lore-masters, and Rune-keepers will have a Healing Rank legacy added to their legendary class items. These classes will be able to spend points on this legacy to boost their Healing Rank, which will affect heals, heal over time, power heals, and power heal over time skills. Tactical Rank Minstrels, Lore-masters, and Rune-keepers will have a Tactical Rank legacy added to their legendary weapon items. These classes will be able to spend points on this legacy to boost their Tactical Rank, which will affect tactical damage and DOT skills. Guardians have a similar Shield Rank value that affects their shield attacks. The Healing Rank and Tactical Rank legacies will be available on legendary items starting at level 50. Characters will also passively gain a small amount of Healing Rank and Tactical Rank as the character levels up from 1 to 50. Higher level legendary items will have a higher cap on their Healing Rank and Tactical Rank legacies, so make sure you upgrade your items as you level up! The Defences tab will list your character’s basic stats (might, agility, etc), avoidances, resistances, and mitigations. The Combat Effectiveness tab will show your character’s basic stats again, followed by sections for your Healing and Damage related stats. Under the Healing header, the new Healing Rank rating, the new Outgoing Healing rating, and Incoming Healing will be shown. Under the Damage header, the new Tactical Rank rating will be shown (or Shield Use Rank if you are a Guardian), along with your DPS values for the weapons you have equipped. As with the current Character Panel, you will be able to tooltip over any of the new statistics shown in each of the three tabs, to receive more information about that statistic. That sums up the changes and additions to your stats and character panel. Be sure to read the Combat Changes Developer Diary and keep an eye out for the Skill Upgrades Developer Diary for the full view of how combat has changed in Siege of Mirkwood! </blockquote> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:38:26 -0000 Diary Outlines Upcoming Combat Changes; NDA Lifted [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20585 Turbine made a couple of interesting posts regarding the upcoming Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion today. First of all, <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/532-developer-diary-combat-changes" target="_blank">a new dev diary entry</a> has been published that explains the combat changes players will see in the expansion. Weapon speeds and damage have been standardized for different classes of weaponry per weapon level, both skill queuing and combat animation management have been updated, and many powerful creatures will now do more damage. You can read the full diary entry after the jump. In addition, Turbine announced today that the non-disclosure agreement for the Siege of Mirkwood beta <a href="http://www.lotro.com/component/content/article/76-launcher-news/533-siege-of-mirkwood-non-disclosure-agreement-lifted" target="_blank">has been lifted</a>. This means that beta players are now free to talk about their experiences in the beta. Did you take part in the testing process? If you did, let us know your thoughts on the expansion.<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><blockquote> The Lord of the Rings Online™: Siege of Mirkwood™ expansion introduces exciting changes for the player combat system, and this developer diary will cover everything you need to know in the new world of combat! Weapon Speed and Damage Changes One change that you may notice immediately is that weapon speeds have disappeared from weapon tooltips. Weapons still have speeds, but the speeds and damage have been standardized for different classes of weaponry (one-handed, two-handed, bow/crossbow, javelin, staves and rune-stones) per weapon level. The way our weapon speed variations interacted with various combat mechanics resulted in a clear, optimal choice of weapon type for most classes. In most cases it was clearly advantageous to go with the slowest weapon possible in order to maximize your damage output. For example, most Burglars would choose to use slower one-handed maces instead of faster one-handed clubs or daggers. Because damage output could be affected significantly by weapon speed this became the single most important factor in choosing a weapon; stats, or other weapon effects, were secondary and in some cases completely ignored in favor of a slower weapon choice. Those players who were not aware of this mechanic would sometimes find themselves passed over or ridiculed for making the “wrong” choice for their class, something which definitely detracted from their enjoyment of the game. How many Burglars out there are using one-handed clubs in their main hand? In addition, because weapon speed was such a significant factor in overall effectiveness, this single stat would reduce the desirability of a large amount of weapon loot in the game. This in turn made it difficult and sometimes frustrating to find the “optimal” choice for your class, especially in later levels when you start searching for a Legendary weapon to match your character build and play style. Captains, you know what we’re talking about! How excited were you when the Watcher loot included a Captain’s Dagger of the First Age? We also wanted to improve the pacing of combat in general. Your weapon speed directly affects how frequently you can execute skills. By standardizing the speeds in this way it was easier to give the majority of weapons faster speeds and in doing so improve the pacing of combat overall for the majority of our players. By standardizing our weapon speeds and damage across various categories we were able to improve access to visual customization and also improve the variety of useful weapons in our loot system in general for all players. When combined with the changes to how your stats affect your abilities in Siege of Mirkwood, you will be very happy to have more choices in what you wield in battle! Here’s a more detailed list of how weapon speeds and damage have been changed for Siege of Mirkwood: <ul> <li>All weapon speeds have been normalized around the following categories of weapon, i.e. all weapons in each of these categories use the same speed rating: <ul> <li>One-handed weapons (sword, axe, mace, hammer, dagger, club, spear and implements)</li> <li>Two-handed weapons (sword, axe, hammer, staff, club, halberd, rune-stone, and implements)</li> <li>Bows and Crossbows</li> <li>Javelins</li> </ul> </li> <li>The “weapon speed” rating has been removed from item examination.</li> <li>Damage variance, or the range of damage per weapon, has also been standardized so that the high end of the damage range is consistent for a given category of weapon at a given weapon level. This reduced the high end of the damage range for some weapons and increased it for others. Almost all weapons will show a damage range change with this update.</li> </ul> The majority of weapons were given faster speeds than they had previously in order to improve the overall pacing of combat for players. As a result the damage range for most weapons has been reduced to compensate for the increase number of strikes that the faster speeds enable. Combat Effectiveness, Pacing, and Responsiveness Improvements Originally, the LOTRO combat system was designed with a slower rate of decision and pacing than you usually see in other MMORPG games. While this allowed us to have improved animation quality and provided more room for tactical decisions during battle, the overall feel of combat was described as “laggy” by many players. One reason combat felt slower and/or unresponsive to some was the fact that we only allow one skill to execute at a time. This improved overall animation quality but at the cost of speed and responsiveness; for example, Guardians would have to wait to finish executing their current skill before Stamp could execute and interrupt a monster preparing a stronger attack. Since you can only have one skill executing at a time, we support queuing a skill to be executed as soon as the previous skill is finished. Another reason that combat may have seemed “laggy” at times is that it does not always rely on the animations themselves to limit the pacing of skill executions. There is an underlying factor called the “action duration” which determines how long a skill execution lasts, which is independent of and longer than any animation for a given skill. This provided us with a consistency to enforce game balance while allowing the animators to provide some variations in pacing where it was appropriate without breaking the game. For example, Hunters may have noticed that the crossbow animation for Swift Bow seems to deliver damage faster than the animation for a regular bow. While the crossbow animation delivered the damage earlier in the attack than the bow animation, the skill duration is the same, regardless of the weapon, and you can’t execute your next skill until that duration expires. Since the crossbow animation finished sooner, however, it seems as though your character pauses for no reason before the next skill executes. That extra delay is the amount of the skill duration that was remaining after the animation completed; the skill queue UI illustrates this timing (see “Show Skill Queue” in the Panels section of the UI Settings tab of the Options UI). The bow and crossbow animations have been adjusted for Siege of Mirkwood, and this is no longer an issue thanks to the new combat system. <ul> <li> We have updated skill queue processing to ensure that the execution of auto-attack skills is much more consistent. Previously, it was possible to starve out the auto-attacks or have auto-attacks delay the execution of your chosen skills, depending on your play style. Further prioritization and more aggressive management of combat animations makes it a lot more difficult to do either of these things so, overall, players should be a lot closer in terms of effectiveness. </li> <li> We introduced a new skill timing which we’re calling “immediate.” These skills execute almost instantly when chosen, causing any prior skill to complete and make way for the “immediate” skill to proceed. These skills ignore the remaining “action duration” of the previously executed skill. We have added the “Immediate” key word to skill tooltips to make it easier for you to identify which skills use this new timing. </li> <li> We also updated the existing “fast” skill timing which we have used since the game launched. The “fast” skills will not accelerate the execution of any prior skill, but they will execute “as soon as possible” whenever a previous skill animation completes. These skills also ignore the remaining “action duration” of the previously executed skill. We have added the “Fast” keyword to these skills’ tooltips. </li> <li> The update to skill queuing and combat animation management has fundamentally changed how animations overlap and blend on the client. We have added two new combat options (see “Combat Options” on the Options panel) which allow you to tailor some aspects of our new animation management scheme so you can choose the appearance you prefer. NOTE: These options do not have any impact on your combat effectiveness; they are cosmetic and only affect your visual play experience during combat. <ul> <li> “Play Optional Combat Animations” – This option is off by default. With the new animation management scheme we sometimes bypass auto-attack skill animations in order to get to your chosen skills more quickly. By enabling this option your client will still play these optional animations. You will see more animations and appear to be attacking more frequently; however, you will also see more animation blending or interruptions as your chosen skills execute over your auto-attack skills. </li> <li> “Allow combat animation blending” – This option is off by default. When disabled, you will only see one combat animation executing at a time on any attacker; we do not attempt to blend animations, rather we interrupt any running animation prior to starting a new one. When enabled we will allow all prior animations to continue and will attempt to blend your next skill animation in. </li> </ul> </li> </ul> Powerful Creatures Players aren’t the only ones to receive enhanced combat effectiveness. As the power of Sauron increases, the most evil creatures throughout Middle-earth grow in might. Care should be taken when fighting powerful creatures; they are now much more dangerous than you may remember. What does this mean for me? The change above will affect Elite, Elite Master, Nemesis, and Arch-nemesis creature types from level 30 and above. These powerful creatures will do more damage and have bonuses to their critical ratings. Take Care! </blockquote> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:16:06 -0000 Dev Diary Introduces New Main Menu [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20543 Turbine has introduced <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/531-developer-diary-new-main-menu" target="_blank">the new main menu</a> for Lord of the Rings Online in today's developer diary entry. The new menu, which can be viewed after the jump, is comprised of "a nested structure of menus which will allow you to select the option that you need. You can open a submenu by hovering over the parent item, or clicking on the arrow on the parent item." The previous main menu still exists, but has been renamed the system menu. The team has also introduced the ability to customize your toolbar slots. According to the entry, "any option that you can pick from the new Main Menu is available to select as the action that the buttons will perform." To access this new feature, go to the Options Panel and select "UI Settings" or click the new Customize Toolbar Slots button to the left of the Auto-Attack button.<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><img style="margin: 6px;" src="http://www.zam.com/Im/Image/147996.jpg" alt="" width="546" height="486" /> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:18:21 -0000 Return to Middle-earth for Free from Nov. 12-18 [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20511 Turbine is hosting another <a href="http://www.lotro.com/news/377-welcomeback" target="_blank">Welcome Back Week</a> in Lord of the Rings Online from Nov. 12-18, so get ready to dust off your old characters and enter the world of Middle-earth tomorrow for some free gameplay. Players will even get a +25% experience bonus on mob kills all week long. If you decide to renew your LotRO subscription, you should consider signing up for a three-, six- or 12-month plan during the welcome back period to get the upcoming Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion for free. All players have until Nov. 18 to take advantage of <a href="http://www.lotro.com/mirkwoodoffer/" target="_blank">this offer</a>, so consider going multi-month soon if you don't want to pay $19.99 for the expansion. Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:12:35 -0000 Skirmish System Outlined in Dev Diary Series [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20490 Dec. 1 can't come quick enough for Lord of the Rings Online players. That day marks the launch of the <a href="http://www.lotro.com/mirkwood/" target="_blank">Siege of Mirkwood</a> digital expansion, which will call on users to infiltrate Dol Guldur with the elves of Lothorien. The update will also include the Skirmish system, which is the focus of an in-depth series of developer diary entries by Brian "Zombie Columbus" Aloisio. Aloisio has already written six entries on the Skirmish system. Six! That demonstrates the massive size of the system, which is comprised of "short, accessible, randomized, scalable, story instances with incremental rewards." You can read his first dev diary entry after the jump, which is an <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/484-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-overview" target="_blank">overview of the Skirmish system</a>. Have you finished the overview? OK, good. Now you can jump into the other five parts. Here they are: <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/499-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-story-instances">Part 2: Story Instances</a>,  <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/505-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-randomization-and-scaling">Part 3: Randomization and Scaling</a>,  <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/508-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-skirmish-soldiers">Part 4: Skirmish Soldiers</a>,  <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/514-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-rewards">Part 5: Rewards</a>, and <a href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/522-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-accessibility" target="_blank">Part 6: Accessibility</a>. Stay tuned for the final part, which will include Aloisio's experiences with making Skirmishes and the team's plans for the future.<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><blockquote> Hi there! Zombie Columbus here. In the past, I've tried to give insight into how the design and implementation process works, and I hope these diaries about Skirmishes are no exception. The Skirmish system represents a significant addition to LOTRO; it’s a big feature, so this dev diary will be broken into smaller components over the next few weeks. This first installment will focus on what our high level goals are, the initial design of the system and the process of re-design it went through to get there. To cut right to the chase: Skirmishes are short, accessible, randomized, scalable, story instances with incremental rewards. Why Skirmishes became this can best be explained by discussing what the designer’s goals for the system are. Everything we added to Skirmishes was done with a high level “vision” in mind. By sharing this vision with you, I hope that you will see why we made the choices we did, and how we ended up where we are now. Our goals were to: <ul> <li>Create finely crafted instance content that can be played by different group sizes and levels.</li> <li>Keep play-time short, allowing Skirmishes to fit into other activity cycles. Internally we've called them- "Pop-corn" experiences. If one is short and good, why not try another?</li> <li>Add randomized elements into Skirmishes to keep replays interesting.</li> <li>Encourage a rotational play of Skirmishes, to keep them fresh and prevent them from overshadowing existing playstyles. Skirmishes should complement the game, not alter it!</li> <li>Set up an incremental reward structure, like the instance barter systems.</li> <li>Allow players to feel that any amount of play time was a step closer to a desired reward.</li> <li>Give players a feeling of participating in epic struggles, and of being leaders of small armies.</li> </ul> Lofty goals to say the least; we aren’t the first to try randomized, scaling gameplay. The benefit to players can be great, though, which is why it is attempted as often as it is. We've been working on Skirmishes for nearly a year now, doing significant amounts of iteration, re-design, testing, and feedback collection from both developers and our Isengard players. Each sub-system was designed to work toward the above high-level goals. The initial design that eventually became Skirmishes began during a walk I went on with fellow designer Rhidden, not long after Moria's release. We mused about how we could put a fun sub-game inside LOTRO, using mostly existing tools, tech and art. I was playing a lot of Tower Defense inspired games at the time and Rhidden was interested in riffing on the popular Battle Instances. Mixing those and other inspirations together, we came up with the idea for LOTRO instances where the player would set up soldiers and siege weapons and use them against waves of incoming enemies. Some clunky ways to upgrade the soldiers and siege weapons were discussed, and we decided that putting the ideas together in a formal pitch might get them into the game. We put together a design document, circled it around the team a bit, got some feedback, and waited. As I mentioned, Turbine had just launched Moria, so there was still some room in the next expansion for original ideas like ours. It was our hope that our pet project could get into the mix and become a small addition to the game. Other designers put forward ideas for the extra room in the expansion, extending existing systems, or creating other new ones. All of these ideas were about to enter a Battle Royale. What followed was a text-book example of the saying: "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." I think it's safe to add game design to that list... Our lives for the next few weeks consisted of many meetings, discussions, proposals, counter-proposals, committees, sub-committees, e-mails and hallway discussions. Our little pet project expanded and changed in many ways, integrating ideas from all around the company, and eventually took shape as a marquee feature of the next expansion. Two of the bigger changes were Rhidden cycling off onto other projects, and jwbarry joining the team. He brought in some fresh perspective, a knack for making things work, and an emphasis on more story-oriented content. As the project gained momentum, we were allocated additional resources and people from inside the company, and soon the newly named Skirmish system was on track to be a significant addition to LOTRO’s next expansion. So, with all that out of the way, we’re ready to discuss the real nitty-gritty guts of the Skirmish system. We can say we want to keep Skirmishes from overshadowing other gameplay styles, but how can we work to that goal? As we publish more installments to this diary, various aspects of the Skirmish system will be elaborated on. As with all MMO development, we expect to change the systems and content we have in place based on player feedback – systems that work perfectly on one scale can behave very differently once released onto the live servers, with many players bringing their unique playstyles to the mix. We may even decide some of our high level goals are no longer valid. To me, this is a large amount of the fun and challenge of working on MMO’s -- change is just part of the game. We hope that you enjoy the change that Skirmishes represent! </blockquote> Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:45:48 -0000 Epic Book Series to Get Solo Mode in Expansion [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20449 Imagine for a moment if Frodo was unable to find a group to help him get to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. What if the little Hobbit was more of a solo player and wanted to complete the quest by himself? Well, it looks like that's what the Lord of the Rings Online team is working toward in Siege of Mirkwood. According to a <a href="http://my.lotro.com/orion/2009/11/04/problems-and-solutions-1/" target="_blank">blog entry</a> by Orion, too many players are abandoning the MMO's epic storyline since it requires players to form a group. Once Dec. 1 hits, Turbine will be introducing the Inspired Greatness system to entice players to try out these quests by themselves. Starting with Volume 1, Book 2, you'll be able to inspire your characters, which "increases morale and power significantly, increases in-combat and out-of-combat morale and power regeneration, increases damage output from melee, ranged and tactical sources, increases healing output for all healing skills." You can read the full blog entry below. [via <a href="http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/read/15438/Lord-of-the-Rings-Online-Epic-Storyline-Content-Getting-Solo-Mode.html" target="_blank">MMORPG.com</a>]<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><blockquote> <div class="postbody"> Problems and Solution #1 I am labelling this number one only because there may be more some day. I cannot think that I will write of any other problem tomorrow, as tomorrow I will begin working on solutions to the problem put forth in this little blog. We have a problem. We have this glorious epic storyline that takes you throughout Eriador but requires you, at various points, to find others to assist you. This is all well and good when you are a newer game and the majority of the populace is roughly the same level and progressing at roughly the same rate. However, when you are 2+ years removed from launch and looking at the trends and notice that more and more players are abandoning that rich - focal - part of your narrative game, then there is a problem. First and foremost we are a game driven by story. Your place in that story. How you deal with elements of that story and interact with the story. Our epic is clearly one of the most important facets of our game. Now, few people are continuing on with it post Volume 1, Book 1 and this means that we have a problem that needs a solution. The Solution? Moments of inspiration. These are the moments when your character digs deep into their reserves and finds something more. Whether this is drawn from the people around them or from their own sense of purpose these are the moments inspiring greatness. Starting with Volume 1, Book 2 - completely revamped and restructured in the upcoming release on December 1st, the Epic Book series will be getting treatment to identify key moments in your character’s life. These types of moments will allow your character to don the mantle or heroism and fight against far greater odds. Inspired Greatness does the following for a player: Increases morale and power significantly, increases in-combat and out-of-combat morale and power regeneration, increases damage output from melee, ranged and tactical sources, increases healing output for all healing skills. Through this we will be able address the problem highlighted above and apply the solution to all the Books comprising Volume 1 of the story of The Lord of the Rings Online. </div> </blockquote> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:45:16 -0000 New Expansion Trailer Posted; Free Offers Extended [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20405 Turbine just made a couple of interesting announcements regarding the upcoming Siege of Mirkwood expansion. First of all, the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsRWLtt2KuM" target="_blank">second Siege of Mirkwood trailer</a> is now available on YouTube. It features the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur explaining why he's going to lead his armies to war against the elves of Lothlórien: "I was a king once. Now I am Nazgûl!" In case you missed it, you can also watch the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKQSzw015xs" target="_blank">first trailer</a> on YouTube. In addition, Turbine has <a href="http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=300379" target="_blank">extended</a> its Siege of Mirkwood <a href="http://www.lotro.com/mirkwoodoffer/" target="_blank">pre-launch offers</a> to Nov. 18 to give players more time to get the expansion for free. All you need to do is become a multi-month subscriber or maintain your multi-month subscription plan to get Siege of Mirkwood for free. Since lifetime members can't change their subscription plans, they need to buy the Adventurer's Pack by Nov. 18 to take advantage of the free offer. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:09:54 -0000 New LOtRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screenshots Released [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20373 You may remember reading about the new <a href="http://lotr.allakhazam.com/" target="_blank">Lord of the Rings Online</a> digital expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, in our <a href="http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20332" target="_blank">recent feature</a> of an in-game tour with Turbine. The upcoming expansion is scheduled for release on December 1, 2009, which serves as a bookend to Volume II: Mines of Moria. Since then, Turbine has released a bit of juicy new media: a couple <a href="http://www.lotro.com/lotro-media/wallpaper" target="_blank">wallpapers</a>, and better yet, five new screenshots from the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. To view all five of the new screenshots, check out these direct links: <ol> <li><a href="http://www.zam.com/Im/image/147180" target="_blank">LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 1</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.zam.com/Im/image/147179" target="_blank">LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 2</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.zam.com/Im/image/147178" target="_blank">LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 3</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.zam.com/Im/image/147177" target="_blank">LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 4</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.zam.com/Im/image/147176" target="_blank">LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 5</a></li> </ol> You can also view these and more Lord of the Rings Online pics in the <a href="http://www.zam.com/game.html?page=screenshots;game=23" target="_blank">screenshots</a> section of our <a href="http://lotr.allakhazam.com/" target="_blank">LOTRO portal site</a>. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:55:06 -0000 Hobbits Going To War? ZAM's Tour In LOTRO's Book 9 [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20332 There are very few development teams in the MMO world that can boast of being able to release new content on a consistent basis, but it seems as though Turbine and their Lord of the Rings team has gotten that down pat, as December 1st will see the launch of their next digital expansion: The Siege of Mirkwood. The Siege of Mirkwood is also quite special for LOTRO fans, as this will act as the conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria, thereby suggesting that we may see a new expansion coming in the not so distant future. Either way, just as constant as the dev team is with their content updates, their PR guys work equally hard, making sure that with every coming book release also comes… an in-game tour! So today, Turbine invited ZAM.com to sit down with Adam Mersky, Director of Communications, and Aaron Campbell, LOTRO's Live Producer, to check out what makes Book9: Siege of Mirkwood one of the most action-packed expansions to come along in quite some time.<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><img style="vertical-align: middle; border: 2px solid black; margin: 6px;" src="http://common.allakhazam.com/images/c/6/c69c76fb0d9c1af620c69e35afd4ddef.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="171" />First of all, for anyone who hasn't been following Turbine's consistent flow of content updates, The Siege of Mirkwood follows players as they join the Army of Lothlorien to invade Mirkwood and drive the baddies out, as well as swinging by Dol Guldur (the Hill of Sorcery) to convince one of Sauron's Nazguls to vacate the premises (eviction notices were sent and ignored, I suspect). What's really interesting about this new Siege of Mirkwood expansion, however, is that players will really get the feeling that all of Middle Earth is going to war. Players will be joining Lothlorien's "A" team, their strike force, so to speak, to lead the Elvish armies to victory. One very welcome change (at least for me) that became noticeable as soon as the tour began was  that Turbine has really streamlined their combat system. Now players will find that their skills will be more responsive, as each time you use an ability, it will be used immediately while your auto attack damage will be relegated to the background. In this way, players may discover that combat has definitely become smoother with the launch of Siege of Mirkwood. <img style="vertical-align: middle; border: 2px solid black; margin: 6px;" src="http://common.allakhazam.com/images/e/0/e0c07a5bc32643d3f46170639bd69229.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="171" /> In terms of other game play upgrades, the team also notes that legendary items will be buffed to level 60, and items will be reworked to give more information up front, so players can determine if it's worth keeping from early on. As well, mounts have been transformed into learnable "abilities," to free up a bank slot. Finally, the team noted that a fourth relic slot has been added for players; a crafting relic slot! Getting back to the tour, as the team brought us further and further into the depths of Mirkwood (towards Dol Guldur), it was really cool to see how the landscape became more and more barren as we moved through it. Starting from the gorgeous banks of Lothlorien, players will immediately see how the forest withers and dies as they move further away. Thematically speaking, the team noted that the Siege of Mirkwood is really about challenge, loss and the dangers of overreaching. This goes back into the overarching theme of Moria, relating to the penalties of greed and what reaching too far can do to you (and has done to the Dwarves!). This is really about Middle Earth going to war, and players will definitely feel this as they journey through Mirkwood and experience the new skirmish system. <img style="vertical-align: middle; border: 2px solid black; margin: 6px;" src="http://common.allakhazam.com/images/6/9/69e3270edc5776107671fdd2f5236a15.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="171" /> With the skirmish system, players can instantly revisit older locations to defend their homelands from invading forces. For example, we decided to take up the defence of Bree skirmish, and we were instantly transported to defend the idyllic town of Bree from invading raiders and demonic beings. What was great about the skirmish system was that the encounters were entirely random, and there are many random 'mini-objectives' that can be completed within the skirmish to gain more rewards. This makes skirmishes a fantastic choice for players 'on the go' who want to experience something new each time they just want to smash some monster's face in. Skirmishes can be engaged by a single player, a three-person team, a six-person team and even a 12-player raid. Another welcome addition to skirmishes is the new ally NPCs that can be summoned by players as they enter the skirmishes. Each player will be able to get a single NPC to aid them in combat, and these NPCs can be upgraded in a wide variety of ways, to meet the individual players' needs. While I only got to see the herbalist NPC (a healer ally) and the archer NPC, there are a fair number of other archetypical NPCs that can be brought along, and each of these NPCs can be customized even more. The whole concept behind the skirmishes was to really hammer in the point that Middle Earth was at war, and I can only imagine just how awesome it would be to have a six-person team transformed into a 12-player army as each player summons his or her respective NPC. It really will feel like your own personal army! <img style="vertical-align: middle; border: 2px solid black; margin: 6px;" src="http://common.allakhazam.com/images/7/2/724a0102d3709c11010461133231b69d.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="171" /> What also comes with this skirmish system is their new reward system, which goes under the concept of skirmish marks. As they complete any of these skirmishes, players will be rewarded with a set amount of marks, depending on what objectives they meet, and these marks can then be used to purchase items and equipment from a huge array of choices. In addition to purchasing equipment, players can also buy abilities and upgrades for their NPC buddies, to help them as they fight more skirmishes. You can engage in these skirmishes from pretty much anywhere in the game, and these can be accessed as early as level 30. Finally, no content update would really be complete without a nice addition of new classic dungeon crawling content, and Siege of Mirkwood comes replete with three 3-person instances, one 6-person instance and one 12-person raid. While we didn't have the time to check out the new raid, many of the new instances were incredibly impressive in their scope and décor. We checked out the Sword-halls, a gladiator style instance where we faced off against three very difficult bosses, one at a time (and there's a challenge option to fight all three at the same time!), as well as exploring one of the towers of Dol Guldur. It's quite easy to see how much the team learned about high spaces and expansive landscapes, as Dol Guldur really shows this off as players battle along castle ramparts and peer out across the landscape. <img style="vertical-align: middle; border: 2px solid black; margin: 6px;" src="http://common.allakhazam.com/images/0/f/0f5685e1657f0ac3e67b9bd2e9594d39.jpg" alt="" width="604" height="171" /> Ultimately, Siege of Mirkwood is one of Turbine's most action-packed expansions so far, as they really do a great job of stressing the concept of Middle Earth going to War while also opening up even more content for players to explore. With the entertaining prospect of skirmishes and the freedom to explore the daunting dungeons of Dol Guldur, it's hard not to take up arms and join the Lothlorien army as they smash their way through Mirkwood. Christopher "Pwyff" Tom Editor ZAM.com Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0000 Win In-Game Prizes in New LotRO Lottery [Lord of the Rings Online] http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20228 UPDATE: The LOTRO Lottery has been <a href="http://my.lotro.com/turbinecommunity/2009/10/23/the-lotro-lottery-expands/" target="_blank">expanded</a> to add a Welcome Wagon Lotto for character between level 5 and level 15. Do you feel lucky? If you do, then you should try your luck in the new <a href="http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=298000" target="_blank">LOTRO Lottery</a> on <a href="http://my.lotro.com/" target="_blank">my.lotro.com</a>. Turbine has added a Lottery Widget to the community page that lets you enter eligible characters in a drawing for in-game items. The team decided to implement the lottery to give users something to do when they can't play. Also, it's fun to win stuff. The lottery feature is launching in beta and the initial drawing is a daily event that will run through the end of the month for some silver and two bundles of fireworks. The team's looking for <a href="http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428" target="_blank">feedback</a> on the lottery, so be sure to let Turbine know what you think while you try to win some prizes. More information can be found after the jump.<a name="pause" title="pause"></a><blockquote> From the earliest of times, games of chance have been a source of amusement and reward. Skill and determination are often required to advance in the life of a character in LOTRO. Now it’s possible to get an in-game perk for each of your characters just by playing in the new LOTRO Lottery! Like all of <a href="http://my.lotro.com/" target="_blank">my.lotro.com</a>, this feature is launching in beta. We’d love to hear your<a href="http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428" target="_blank"> feedback</a> as we tune and improve the system. Update: We have updated the prizes for the Lottery. No more tarts! Ready to play? Here’s how it works: 1. Log into <a href="http://my.lotro.com/" target="_blank">my.lotro.com</a> with your community login. 2. Look for the Lottery Widget (in the lefthand column by default). 3. If you are eligible for any current drawings, you may click on one to enter. That’s it! Select any drawings your character is eligible for and then check back when the drawing is complete to see if you won. Have a lot of characters? You may find it simpler to start at one of your character pages and enter drawings there. What Can I Win? Where Does it Go? The LOTRO Lottery is for characters, not players. Each drawing can have a different prize. Some drawings will be random; others will grant specific rewards based on a character’s class, race, level, etc. Entries are limited to one per character per drawing. Prizes are in-game items only, have no cash value, and are dispensed at Turbine’s sole discretion. Everyone who plays LOTRO on the North American service with a character that’s accessible via my.lotro.com is able to play and win! The First Drawing Our initial drawing during this beta test is a daily event and will run through the end of the month. Enter your eligible characters each day and you may win an item from our extensive Lottery Loot Chest. For this drawing we’ll be awarding a level-appropriate amount of silver and two bundles of fireworks to celebrate the launch of the Lottery! Any items won will be delivered to your character via in-game mail. The Lottery widget on that character’s page will also update to show which drawings have been won. If you don’t win, simply enter the next day’s drawing for another chance. Thanks for Playing! We hope you enjoy the LOTRO Lottery. Please visit the <a href="http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428" target="_blank">LOTRO Lottery Feedback forum</a> to let us know what you think about the system. Frequently Asked Questions My character doesn’t show up on my.lotro.com. Can I still play? Not with that character, but you may use (or even create) another character to play the Lottery with if you choose. We are aware that some players do not correctly appear in my.lotro.com and have an update in the works that should resolve the issue for the majority of players impacted. How do I know if I won? Check your in-game mail, or visit my.lotro.com the next day to see if you won! Why did you do this? The web team is constantly looking for fun and useful things to add to our sites so that players have something to do when they (gasp!) can’t play. Plus, as players, we think it’s pretty fun to win stuff. Where do I report bugs / send kudos / provide destructive criticism / conflate web development with game development? For now, we’d appreciate it if discussions of this type were in the <a href="http://forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?f=428" target="_blank">LOTRO Lottery Feedback forum</a>. Thanks! </blockquote> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:23:07 -0000