Coming Your Way…Eventually

Closing

As LOTRO fans already know, crafting is now “officially” part of LOTRO. Steefel promised an upcoming dev diary (most likely next week) with more details on crafting and the crafting system.

When asked about PvP combat, Steefel simply replied, “Yep!’ Obviously, there will be PvP. How it will all play out in Middle Earth is still a mystery…at least as far as this preview is concerned.

At a recent European event, David Solari, vice president and general manager of Codemasters, suggested that LOTRO was targeting the 5.5 million subscriber World of Warcraft as its direct competition. I asked Steefel his thoughts on Solari’s comment, and he chuckled. “You’ve gotta love David Solari,” he said. “Basically, I’d say we’re trying to make the best game possible, and if any upcoming game is going to [dethrone WoW], this is the game to do it.”

LOTRO fans have been waiting for the game for a long time. The official forums for the game have evolved into an active, thoughtful, and close-knit community. Although new forums were launched today as a blank slate, community members are still registered on the new forums and should still have their original membership dates intact. The fans have been as patient as possible, and I’m certain most have been awaiting at least a tentative launch date.

What does Steefel have to say about when the game will launch?: “When it’s ready.” And “when it’s ready” means some time in 2007.