Lord of The Rings Book 13 Hands On Report

By Cody “Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor

The glittering gleam of an icy wasteland met my eyes as I pulled myself from the wreckage of my former ship. Hazy sunlight passed through the bleak, gray clouds that hung overhead. A bare strip of ice ran in front of my eyes, leading to several vicious looking creatures gathered around a few shoddily constructed huts. Checking that my weapons had survived the shipwreck with me, I began the trek down the icy path to meet my fate.

Over the past year, the developers responsible for Lord of the Rings Online have been pushing themselves to meet every expectation that was expected of them. With the Lord of the Rings intellectual property garnering more fans with every passing year, the pressure placed on the Turbine developers to release a solid and stable game was immeasurable. As their first anniversary draws ever closer, fans and industry veterans alike are anticipating some form of excitement coming out of Turbine’s Massachusetts-based development studios.

And luckily, Turbine has their next free update, Book 13: Doom of the Last-King, solidly underway and prepared for the April 24 anniversary. Recently, I had the opportunity, along with my colleague, Jeff “Ethec” Woleslagle, to dive into a hands-on preview of LOTRO’s Book 13. As my first hands-on opportunity with the LOTRO developers, I was more than excited to take a look at Turbine’s upcoming free expansion.

Along with some of my peers, I have a definite interest in Turbine’s continued development of the world of Middle Earth, especially when they delve into realms that are relatively unexplored by J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings. Although many of their updates have dealt with realms that Tolkien left open to the imagination, few were as empty as Book 13’s Forochel.

An Introduction to Book 13

Logging in as my dwarven fighter, I began my time in Book 13 on a thin swath of ice with a wrecked ship behind me. To say that the area is barren would be a pretty huge understatement. Throughout my visit in Forochel, I saw very little – if any – vegetation on the landscape. Unlike the rest of Turbine’s Middle Earth, Forochel is completely devoid of any substantial vegetative growth. However, in the place of trees and shrubs, the LOTRO developers have done a fascinating job of filling the space with incredibly organic looking ice flows, inventive bits of housing and buildings, and strikingly beautiful expanses of water.

As Jeff and I glanced about the landscape, looking at the amazing grandeur of the scene spread out before me, we nearly forgot to join our tour guides on our trip across the frozen tundra. Our first stop, one of the new “controlled points of interest” (or CPOI for short). As we battled the monsters guarding the outpost (variants on monsters we players have already seen in LOTRO), the developers explained that once we defeated all of the monsters, the area would then be controlled by the players, who could then grab quests from the NPCs that appeared.

With the monsters defeated, I eagerly clicked on one of the NPCs to see what sort of quests he had ready for me to undertake. After a quick browse of his quest text, I was happy to find that this particular NPCs very existence was dedicated to Book 13’s latest profession: Fishing!

Although fishing is a brand new profession in Lord of the Rings Online, most massively multiplayer gamers should be familiar with the often used mechanics surrounding the hobby. To cast your line, all you have to do is hit the hot key associated with throwing your bait out into the water. Once there, you simply wait until your fishing rod bends under the weight of a fish, then hit your hot key again to reel the captured aquatic vertebrate onto land.

Despite the simplicity of the system, the Lord of the Rings Online development team has done an excellent job of making fishing an intriguing proposition for players in the game. Not only are there dozens of new taxidermy trophies available to fishermen, but many new crafting recipes are associated with the addition as well.

Putting our rods and tackle away, our small party journeyed to the Lossoth Village; one of the few inhabited places in the bleak region of Forochel. As soon as we stepped into the area, I was surprised to find that almost every NPC in the entire area had some sort of quest I could undertake. As the developers have stated previously, over a hundred new quests have been added in Book 13, and it was apparent that many of them originated in the Lossoth Village and have to do with the new Lossoth Faction reputation system.

Yet the NPCs weren’t the only amazing portion of the village trip. After stepping into the area’s massive communal hut, I glanced around at the fantastic interior space that the LOTRO developers had created. According to our tour guides, the interior of this particular tent was a brand new creation for the LOTRO team, and it was apparent that they were very proud of their handiwork.

Monsters and Strategy

Once we had completed our tour of the Lossoth Village, our guides immediately teleported us to a variety of different locales to observe (and defeat) some of Forochel’s monsters. As you can see in our exclusive video previews – both Part One and Part Two – there are a variety of new creatures to encounter in the frozen wastes. From Ice Giants to Sabertooth Cats, the icy flows of Forochel hide a menagerie of hearty and hefty monsters.

However, those monsters aren’t without their own particular weaknesses. In the particular example of the Ice Giants, rather than simply make them standard monsters that any adventurer could take down, the developers opted to create something unique. In the chilly winds of their home, the Ice Giants are particularly powerful foes, able to crush man adventurers with their enormous clubs. However, if those adventurers pull the Ice Giants to steam vents (which are easily spotted on the landscape), the Ice Giants lose a great deal of their power and become much easier for groups to take down.

In fact, as we continued to fight, several more of these “strategic” encounters came up. For example, when we fought the mighty mammoth, once the creature was defeated we then had to deal with the critter’s rider, who was no push over.

While the warmth of the steam vents helped our group defeat the Ice Giants, the cold was similarly as harmful against our party. Although the winds couldn’t outright kill us, they did hinder the strength of our arms and cut into our ability to heal ourselves. Thankfully, the LOTRO developers had outfitted us with Forochel oriented gear that gave us resistances to the cold. Character’s without cold resistance will have to huddle around fires often, as heat sources are the best way to avoid degeneration from the chilly Forchel landscape.

Even with the chilling effects of the weather in Forochel, adventurers and explorers will definitely want to take a look at every nook and cranny in the new area. Forochel is an incredibly large space, along the same size as the North Downs, so groups of players will certainly be eager to check out the latest landscapes.

Dungeon crawlers will also find plenty to do in the latest update, with a very large public dungeon available to players who are interested in delving into this area of Forochel. As you can see in Part Two of our exclusive videos, there are plenty of interesting happenings occurring in the Forochelian dungeon, so be ready for some intense action!

Monster Play: The Orc Defiler

As the last segment of our journey, the Turbine developers set Jeff and I loose in monster play with a pair of brand new Orc Defilers. Unlike the rest of their Creep brethren, the Orc Defilers are masters of the healing arts, and use a variety of different magics, herbs, and potions to keep their allies alive.

However, the Orc Defilers aren’t without their own set of offensive weapons. Similar to the Lore-master, the Orc Defiler can hurl flaming gourds at his enemies, causing them to explode in a burst of flame. Debuffs are also a prominent part of the Defilers repertoire, so monster play aficionados shouldn’t be disappointed.

Doom of the Last-King Conclusion

Once again, Turbine has taken steps in the right direction with this latest addition to Lord of the Rings Online. Although Book 13 doesn’t add anything monumental, like a Balrog, it does continue to give players a reason to explore the depths of their game and discover new nuances to their LOTRO characters.  

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