By: Martuk

Monday, November 12th Stratics played host for another edition of the House of Commons chat with the good people at Turbine. The discussion touched on many topics near and dear to the hearts of Middle-earth gamers and the coming of the Book 12 update. I was fortunate enough to be on hand and attend this informative little discussion and develop a summarized report on the evening for you, our beloved readers.

One of the hot topics on the night was the new announced area being implemented with Book 12. This new area is called the Delving of Fror and is an expansion into the Ettenmoores. The new area will be part of the PvP system and allow players a new area to fight over. According to Eldrad, the new area is a pvp mostly group/raid dungeon. It looks like the battle for the Ettens is about to get even more fierce.

PvP players will be happy to know this isn't the only change coming to the PvP system. The developers promised to keep check on the balance of PvP combat and even the discussed the possibility of female monsters down the road. Though that was not solidly confirmed, it was mentioned as something that might be looked into by Patience.

The cosmetics revamp for Book 12 has been a hot topic for some time now. During the chat, we did receive a few answers on some of the new changes slated for Book 12. Keth mentioned Book 12 will have a barber shop that will allow players to change their hair styles, facial hair, or even add something like a scar or other facial features. He also mentioned this little service won't be free. Hair cut and a shave? Two bits?

To add an even deeper option to appearance the developers are adding a new "Outfit System." This new system will allow players to wear one set of armor, but have the appearance of another set while maintaining their stats. You could wear a set of Mirrored Elvish armor, but maybe you liked the old copper armor look better. Now you can have it and keep your stats too. Not enough cloths for you? Well fear not. Dresses and a variety of social clothing will be added with Book 12 to offer an even larger variety of appearances for your avatar. The combination of this new system and all the new cloths should make for a variety of appearances.

There are two catches to this new system. You can't appear to wear armor you normally couldn't wear. A Lore-master can't appear to have Mirrored Ancient Armour and the system is not active in the Ettenmoors. This should eliminate any pvp concerns since you can't hide what you have within the Ettens.

align="center">
The new "Outfit System" will offer new
looks while keeping your set armour.

Housing will be going under a steady stream of changes in Book 12 and beyond. A few things to look foreword to for housing is the ability to hook bound items in your home. Maybe that nice glowing red sword isn't good for you to use now, but it might make a nice little wall mount. The ability to rotate items on hooks to better customize your home, and one thing we have all been waiting for. The possibility for our alt's to have a recall to house option.

One mysterious topic mentioned for Kinship housing were a series of new items that your Kinship will want to display for pride. While the developers did not go into specifics on these new items, the image of Thorog's head being mounted in my Kinships hall came dancing into my head. I guess we will have to wait and see what the developers have up their sleeves for this one. Until then, dance on Thorog...Dance on.

Stratics hosted a well organized chat and there is more information available. With some new information on book 12, including a new dungeon for the Ettenmoors, cosmetics information, and housing updates, everyone got a little something to make them happy.


If you want to read the full transcript from the chat, head over Stratics.

Discuss the chat on our Forums.


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

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Stacy "Martuk" Jones was a long-time news editor and community manager for many of our previous game sites, such as Age of Conan. Stacy has since moved on to become a masked super hero, battling demons in another dimension.

Comments