36 replies to this topic

[SellingTheDrama]

came across this today:

U6 story about new areas

the article lists each area and a little bit about it and at the end has a bunch of screenies of the new areas.

now my question is are they really new areas?

or is it like mirkwood and just one area with 7 lil sections?

the second is how i am reading it based on the descriptions.

but this could be a good thing sorta getting a update as big as mirkwood with all those sections.

[thordsvin]

I think a better comparison is Enedwaith. In fact they're fairly similar: 7 regions, No instances (at launch), free for VIPs, and level capped. I'd be willing to bet another similar region is added after Riders of Rohan (but just 1).

[Agra]

Map of the great River:



Source: https://twitter.com/...972342257205249

[Dalthalion]

Agra, on 29 February 2012 - 22:56, said:

Map of the great River:


Source: https://twitter.com/...972342257205249

That's odd.  I don't recall any mountains bordering the Anduin near the Brown Lands.

Quote

On the eastern bank to their left they saw long formless slopes stretching up and away toward the sky; brown and withered they looked, as if fire had passed over them, leaving no living blade of green: an unfriendly waste without even a broken tree or a bold stone to relieve the emptiness. They had come to the Brown Lands that lay, vast and desolate, between Southern Mirkwood and the hills of the Emyn Muil. What pestilence or war or evil deed of the Enemy had so blasted all that region even Aragorn could not tell.  The Brown Lands rose into bleak wolds, over which flowed a chill air from the East. On the other side the meads had become rolling downs of withered grass amidst a land of fen and tussock. - FotR, Book II, Ch 9, The Great River

[thordsvin]

Dalthalion, on 29 February 2012 - 23:06, said:

That's odd.  I don't recall any mountains bordering the Anduin near the Brown Lands

That's because mountains are used in MMOs to define a boundary. Really there aren't many other options. Would you prefer an invisible wall instead?

[Dalthalion]

If a combination of killer Orcs and invisible walls worked for pre-Mirkwood, something similar would have also worked better for this.

[Agra]

thordsvin, on 29 February 2012 - 22:47, said:

I think a better comparison is Enedwaith. In fact they're fairly similar: 7 regions, No instances (at launch), free for VIPs, and level capped. I'd be willing to bet another similar region is added after Riders of Rohan (but just 1).

http://forums.lotro....394#post6016394

[Darmokk]

At least they started to re-invest the rippoff money into the game.

[Hajile]

Oh dear. That couldn't get more wrong geographically if they tried. How generous of them to slap a half-assed microzone version of The Brown Lands into this map for variety's sake. And another zone, another clumsy ring of mountains? How lazy. How Turbine. Nice to see they've found a way to lever in yet another swamp, as well. Anyone would think they've got an obsession with the things...

I've looked at the screenshots - it looks to be a hodgepodge of recycled elements from Eregion, Evendim and Dunland, coupled with a bunch of new elements that couldn't look less Middle-earth-y if they tried.

Oh, and everybody is right - the music is dreadful.

Sorry to be negative again, but I'll stop saying everything Turbine do is awful when they stop doing everything so awfully.

[Knowfere]

That map is rather disappointing. I had in my mind an area the size of Moria, with vastly different areas, clearly marked and huge. This is...just another Enedwaith. Bummer

[Doro]

It's so wrong geographically. The hills that close the map in shouldn't exist, the part called the Brown Lands (another Enedwaith thing where a massive section of land is pushed into one bit, but this time it's not even its own region) is actually North Undeep, they've stopped the area getting closer to the Misty Mountains so they don't have to show the northern part of Fangorn and the southern part of Lorien, and they've put in a ring of hills that shouldn't even be there to close off the map (yes, I know I've already said it).

[Hajile]

Not to mention that those "seven new areas" that are already part of their marketing speak look absolutely tiny. From the map I'd expect the zone as a whole to be no bigger than Lone Lands. Perhaps a little smaller.

And the zone looks pretty basic and uninspired. You can look at it and see the path of progression through it. Coupled with the fact that it's a narrow corridor of land, I think people might be getting their hopes up if they're looking at it optimistically.

Love how they keep mentioning the number of quests to be included in these new zones, as if that's any indication of quality, or is indeed even relevant.

[Doro]

Hajile, on 01 March 2012 - 09:42, said:

Not to mention that those "seven new areas" that are already part of their marketing speak look absolutely tiny. From the map I'd expect the zone as a whole to be no bigger than Lone Lands. Perhaps a little smaller.

And the zone looks pretty basic and uninspired. You can look at it and see the path of progression through it. Coupled with the fact that it's a narrow corridor of land, I think people might be getting their hopes up if they're looking at it optimistically.

Love how they keep mentioning the number of quests to be included in these new zones, as if that's any indication of quality, or is indeed even relevant.

I never did understand why the number of quests was important, especially for an area update that we're already at the level cap for. It's as if they'd think we'd be happier with a zone the size of the barrow downs as long as it had 300 quests compared to an area the size of Forochel with 50.

[AgamemnonV1]

Why, why, why do they keep doing this? What is their fascination with turning zones into theme parks? Is there something wrong with Made of Lions? Are they sending him to Disneyland every other month or something?

The landscape shots are beautiful, but I look at the map and just shake my head. They shrunk numerous areas, thereby limiting the possibility to revisit said areas into larger zones. Ugh.

[Iorionael]

AgamemnonV1, on 01 March 2012 - 14:06, said:

The landscape shots are beautiful, but I look at the map and just shake my head. They shrunk numerous areas, thereby limiting the possibility to revisit said areas into larger zones. Ugh.

Just a thought, but is this the way it's going to be all the way to mordor?

Shrinking the areas so they can produce the content very quickly (for them) and say 'look at all the extra content we are giving you'?

As for all the extra money they are investing, just how much more resources does it take to regurgitate bits and pieces from other areas to produce 'new' areas? A helluva lot less than it would to actually design new gfx/sound/etc I bet...

[Dalthalion]

Iorionael, on 01 March 2012 - 15:20, said:

Just a thought, but is this the way it's going to be all the way to mordor?

Shrinking the areas so they can produce the content very quickly (for them) and say 'look at all the extra content we are giving you'?

Unless their upcoming Rohan contains the remainder of the Westfold, the Eastfold, the West-Emnet, the East-Emnet, it's going to be a poor showing.   I anticipate that a future land expansion of Anorien will be presented at some point, and that is a relatively small mass of land.

To answer Agamemnon's question, yes, something is wrong with MadeOfLions.  None of the contemporary Tolkien scholars that I've spoken to have ever heard of him.  What he is doing there, from a lore perspective, is beyond me.

[AgamemnonV1]

Huh? MoL is the landscape dev. I think you're talking about Berepheron, who is their resident lore expert. I've heard that quite frequently about him as well, but I seriously doubt his word has much merit to coders. If anything he could've been brought on board to work through the literature to find loopholes to what they could and could not do while also being able to come up with their own IP (like Garth Agarwen). If Berepheron was actually a Tolkien aficionado, he would've quit before LotRO was even released. Remember, the game has been breaking the lore since day one (Gandalf class). They probably just hired him because he could do what they wanted him to do (provide scenarios in which direction they would be developing content).

As for producing content quickly, no, I doubt it. Turbine's MO has always been to delay things as long as possible. They had a lot of leeway between the time from which Frodo left the Shire to the Fellowship sitting on its butt in Rivendell for some time. They then had this leeway again with Lothlorien. But now it's gotten to the point where the timeline in The Two Towers and The Return of the King will finish in the next month in-game timeline-wise, whereas they have spent the last FIVE YEARS stretching out The Fellowship of the Ring.

No, I think they will do everything they can to prolong the game as long as they can. They confirmed RoR will not take us to Edoras nor the Hornburg. We'll be stuck in central Rohan, probably fighting some small-scale war against Rhunic invaders. They will then take their sweet time alternating between the Battle of the Hornburg and the Last March of the Ents. Then, depending on how much cash there is in LotRO and whether or not WB thinks its viable or not, they might even take us off the path again by having us go East from Rivendell through Mirkwood, through Thranduil's Halls, through Lake-town, and then, finally, the Lonely Mountain (although I have my doubts about this). If they don't do that, then we'll follow the Rohirrim up to Anorien to have a chat with Gan-buri-gan. After which they'll throw us back to Aragorn and the Rangers and have us follow them through Erech and Southern Gondor, probably also doing something akin to making a temporary distraction of sorts (Corsair invader mini-war or something).

Now, what they do after that I have no idea. I don't think they'll let us be on all three fronts (Rohan offensive, Gondor defensive, Southern Gondor offensive), but I'm sure it'll work in instances and skirmishes (or it'll work the same way the Fords of Isen worked). Maybe they'll let us choose which side we'll be on or something. But they're going to do their best to prolong the Battle of the Pelennor Fields for as long as possible. Because after that they'll get real creative with trying to prolong the Field of Cormallen battle. I forsee many Osgiliath skirmishes, probably trying to secure Cair Andros, doing damage with the Rangers at Henneth Annun, scouting the Morannun, and taking pot shots at Minas Morgul.

Suffice to say, they have a lot of content to work with to prolong this game for another five years--if they wanted to.

[Dalthalion]

No, I'm talking about MadeOfLions.  He's the one who seems to think it's proper lore for Dwarves to be buried in the ground near the west-gate of Moria.  While not as lore-monkeyish as Berephon (who the scholars haven't heard of, either), he does have a role that is supposed to rely on lore, and he hasn't had a good showing since MoM.

[cossieuk]

Bullroarer is open but notes not up yet.  So you can go and have a look for yourselves at the new zone

[Hajile]

Dalthalion, on 01 March 2012 - 17:23, said:

Unless their upcoming Rohan contains the remainder of the Westfold, the Eastfold, the West-Emnet, the East-Emnet, it's going to be a poor showing.   I anticipate that a future land expansion of Anorien will be presented at some point, and that is a relatively small mass of land.

This is a fairly reasonable rendition of the borders of Rohan, and I could count six potential new zones: Eastfold, Westfold, Eastemnet, Westemnet, The Wold and the West-March. And that's without mentioning Fangorn.

The West-March borders Turbine's 'Gap of Rohan' map perfectly, so that would be a good place to put a western approach to the country, while their boneheaded 'Great River' map is a perfect fit for The Wold. Two funnelling points leading into a massive, expansive land. Then later, when it comes time to lead the player into Gondor, they can introduce Anorien.

That's six entire zones, each the size of the North Downs at least. Rohan is BIG. Anything less than that will fail to do it justice.

I'm going to get my predicting hat on again here, so we'll see how much I get right later:

Instead of the above, there will be only one zone named "Rohan" with several microzones - all with separate micromaps so the pedantic can claim they are separate areas.

The West-March will be a microzone swamp; because they apparently have to put them in every zone these days, regardless of how inappropriate it is; and The Wold will be their obligatory wight/undead/barrows microzone, because that's another flavour of design they lack the imagination to avoid.

The East and Westfolds will be tiny and house little more than the entrances to the instances of the region; and the East and Westemnets will be the assigned 'mounted combat' areas and will be large, but mostly full of nothing punctuated by camps of Orcs and Dunlendings. They will have slightly different colour schemes to differentiate them. One will be mostly brown and brushy, the other mainly green and grassy. My money is on Westemnet being the green one, what with it bordering Fangorn.