Lord of the Ring Online's Book 7 is just on the horizon and with new screenshots floating around and lots of information to be had we know that the fans are hungry for more!


Senior Designer Allan “Orion” Maki heeds the call of the people and shares a whole lot about Book 7 in the latest LOTRO Developer Diary. Find out all about the new way of thinking and how this effects this major update plus get detailed info on what the update will include!

Foreword

As a game developer, I often find people asking me tough questions about the future.

Recently, however, I have been spending my time peering into the past -- as if through Galadriel’s mirror -- reviewing early gameplay experiences. From this analysis we are making changes to better acclimate both those new to the wonderful world of Middle-earth and those new to MMOs in general.

It has been an extraordinary experience, one that I hope will be well-received by all our new visitors as well as anyone planning to play through the game again from levels 1-15.

A New Way of Thinking

When we carefully considered the experience that we needed to create for new players, 4 goals came to the forefront.

The gameplay should:

* Capture and engage players’ attention
* Provide interesting and varied questing and activities
* Introduce players to the game, rather than overwhelm them with detail
* Most importantly, be FUN!

With these four goals in mind we began playing through the new player experiences for each race to identify the high and low points of each race’s story. Not surprisingly, a lot has changed in the almost two years since The Lord of the Rings Online was launched! We found many places to enhance the early gameplay and story.

General Changes

Because of the differences between the two new player experiences, we will be discussing the Elf and Dwarf experiences extensively throughout this diary rather than focusing on the Man and Hobbit experiences. While there are changes to the Man and Hobbit experience from Jailbreak through the end of the Shire and Staddle, they are less substantial than the changes to the Dwarf and Elf experiences. Still, it is important to explain the changes that have been made to all four new player experiences.

We have added the ability to skip the new player tutorial from the character creation screen. This will allow a new character to use a selection box to skip over the new player tutorial instance (Jailbreak, The Silver Deep or The Fall of Edhelion) and make their way directly to the new player experience. Using this option will place you in the game world at level one without any equipment beyond your new starter gear.

We have also added a Skip Tutorial quest to each of the tutorial instances. This quest will advance you through to the public areas of Archet and the area outside of Thorin’s Hall at level two. You will have a choice of gear equivalent to what you would find within the tutorial instance.

The Skip Introduction will now skip you through the Raid on Archet and Skórgrim’s Tomb instances into the public version of the world. You will be level 5 and have weapon equivalent to what you would have in the tutorial instance. This option is still for advanced players and is not available if you have not previously completed the Raid on Archet or Skórgrim’s tomb with that specific race. This option is not available if you have chosen to advance the tutorial instance or taken the Skip Tutorial quest.

To read more please visit LOTRO's Official website!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Lord of the Rings Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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