Turbine announced at PAX that Lord
of the Rings Online would be seeing another expansion.
Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel walked us through some of what's to
come, and we had caught
it all on video. It would seem, though, that that wasn't
enough to satisfy the thirst of LotRO fans. They wanted more. So more
is what we got. We got back in touch with Turbine and asked the
questions fans wanted answers. Jeffrey Steefel and Adam Mersky,
director of PR were more than happy to answer.
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/74798/preview">Ten
Ton Hammer: Would you
say that, as you’re expanding the game into southern
Mirkwood, that the canon continues to help your task as game
developers, or is it getting in the way of the story you want to tell?
(Ralsu)
Jeffrey Steefel:
I guess it really depends on what you mean by the canon, because if
we’re talking the overall canon, a lot of the things covered
in the literature that we have access to - it actually helps us because
we’re reviving the whole story of the Golden Host and
what’s occurred in Mirkwood and the enmity between the two
polar opposites of Lothlórien and Dol Goldur. It give us an
opportunity to get a little more insight into Sauron and the history of
Sauron and what occurred there in the past.
So the broader canon actually helps us in creating a story that feels
like it belongs in Middle Earth because it refers to a story that has
belonged in Middle Earth for quite a long time. In terms of
‘hey, where’s the fellowship right now?’
- it gets a little more complicated. There’s a few
touchpoints that makes sense to the moviegoers - ‘hey, this
is where Gollum was being tortured’ and all that kind of
stuff - but it is a little more off the ‘tramway
ride’, so in that respect I think we have to do a little more
explaining especially for people who aren’t really
knowledgable.
So I think it depends on a person’s knowledge of the world
and the canon, but I do think (and this is something we’ve
followed since the very beginning), if what we’re creating is
a little bit off the beaten path but actually is right, like really
feels like it belongs because it has direct ties to the lore, it tends
to read better with people whether they’re familar with why
it’s there or not. It just feels right somehow, rather than
some crazy fantastical thing that we just came up with on our own.
Ten Ton Hammer:
Mirkwood’s a huge place and a lot of it would naturally be
inaccessible. Can you talk about the scope of the expansion and whether
locations like Woodmantown, The Old Road, the Narrows... will these
areas be in Siege of Mirkwood? (stefman123)
Jeffrey Steefel:
I think I’d be slapped if I tell what is or isn’t
included at this point, but we’re trying to give a taste of
the places from the lore that people would expect but, you’re
right - we’re doing a subset of Mirkwood. The obvious subset
is southern Mirkwood only, but really even more than that,
we’re really focused on the environs around Dol Goldur and,
more specifically, between Dol Goldur and the Anduin, because
that’s really where the story’s focused.
You start things out by being approached by the elves of
Lothlórien and are basically staging their activities. And
it really is going to be a pretty straightforward press on to Dol
Goldur. So Mirkwood tends to be centered around the areas in between
the Anduin and Dol Goldur and a little bit to the north and obviously
down to the south of Mirkwood.
With all things, the interesting thing is - how do we recreate the
feeling of expansiveness, but at the same time give you a concentrated
experience? So we want to give you the essence of Mirkwood without
hours of crawling through dark and brambles.
Adam Mersky:
The thing about Lord of the Rings Online is that the world is one of
our features. At some point you want to provide a focused
experience. We could easily run around and make sure we touch
every nook and cranny of Middle Earth that every fan has a favorite
part of. But then you have to balance that with the gameplay. Because
the world is a feature for us, the gameplay and the story probably
drives more in that direction than are we going to Goblin Town and that
kind of thing.
Ten Ton Hammer: Shifting
gears a bit, LotRO and Turbine are known for being on the bleeding edge
of tech, with more games actively using DirectX 10 technology than any
other MMO studio that I’m aware of. Next month
we’ll see the release of Windows 7 and DX11. Will
we see support for DX11 or perhaps the 64-bit client with Siege of
Mirkwood?
Adam Mersky:
If you saw the announcement that came out of AMD, they announced that
we will be working to support the technology. A timeframe as to when
it’s going to be implemented, how it’s going to be
implemented, has yet to be announced. We’ll wait till we get
closer to actually show some stuff.
But you’re right... back to the world as a feature, it gives
you that extra immersion. The stuff that they’re doing is
certainly interesting to us and certainly something that our engine can
handle.
Ten Ton Hammer: Along the
lines of engines and systems, will the new skirmish system allow
players to duo instances, or will you have to have more than two or
three players to be successful?
Jeffrey Steefel: Yea,
absolutely. The whole point of the skirmish system is that it scales. I
can go in with a 12-person group, a 6 person group, a 3-person party,
and even smaller groups. That’s something that
we’re going to limit for lots of reasons and beta’s
going to tell us how we have to limit it - just in terms of not having
30 billion instances created at the same time.
But, yea. I’m really curious to see how that pans out. Where
are the majority of people spending their time, and in what size
groups, etc.? We have some thoughts as to how that will pan out just
from what we see in the game. The three and six-man seem to be really,
really popular, and then there seems to be a specific audience that
really loves a 12-person raid. That’s the fundamental design
of the system, though, to allow for that.
Ten Ton Hammer: Any hints
on tie-ins to The Hobbit movie? Anything you can say just in general at
this point?
Jeffrey Steefel:
What I will say is this: obviously our license covers all of Middle
Earth and all of the literature. The Hobbit is a big part of that, has
always been a big part of that, and will be going forward. We want to
be very aware of where the IP is going in other mediums, specifically
in the films and other places. And that’s going to give us a
little more insight into how we want to leverage our license over the
next few years. We want to be as complementary to that as we can be.
Even though we’re the literary representation and not the
filmic representation, [the more complementary LotRO is] the better
it’s going to be for players, the better it’s going
to be for the overall community. We want people to feel like,
‘Wow, I can go experience this over here in a movie theater,
then play it here in a game.’ We haven’t locked
down yet what that means; whether there’s a ‘Hobbit
product’ or is it the parts of our world that we’re
exploring and all the interesting differentials between the fact that
we’re in the third age and that story takes place much
earlier - what are the connections between those two stories. Which,
again, we’re not sure in what way that manifests itself, but
gives us the same kind of opportunities we had in Moria where, not only
can we show you what it was like when the Balrog was released, to
experience the thing that you know, you can also experience what Moria
has become. We have that same opportunity in Mirkwood and some of the
other areas moving forward. Lots of possibilities there, but no locked
decisions yet.
Ten Ton Hammer: With the
two Hobbit movies set for release in 2011 and 2012, we’ve got
a little time.
Jeffrey Steefel:
We’ve got a little while, but in developer time... (laughter)
Ten Ton Hammer:
We’ve seen a lot of novelty games based on movies fail, and
please don’t think we’re putting LotRO in that
category by any stretch. But the issue with at least some of these
games seems to be timing - with the game coming out well after the hype
bubble has popped. Just in general, how important is timing the Hobbit
content with the movies, do you think? Are you trying to lead the way,
since SoM will be out well before the movies?
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/27308/preview">Jeffrey
Steefel: Again,
trying not to be too vague about things, the most valuable thing from
the consumers’ perspective and even the business perspective
is the growth and revitalization of not just the Tolkien community, the
fan community for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and also just for
fantasy in general - that is going to get a shot in the arm over the
next couple of years. Being a part of that is the most important thing.
It’s about seeing where that’s headed and how we
can leverage that as best as possible. Even though we’re not
necessarily planning on making a movie game, we already have built a
world that is Middle Earth and we have the opportunity to expand it in
multiple directions.
It’s certainly no accident that instead of completely
focusing on heading south, we headed across and started working our way
into Mirkwood before we perhaps head in other directions as well. Just
as the fellowship began to split off at this point in time,
we’re starting to branch out into other parts of Middle Earth
simultaneously instead of just following one line. But [Mirkwood] is
also the perfect place for our epic story anyway - Dol Goldur is just a
great location, has great history, it’s a great way to say
that the battles are really starting, and they’re starting in
the old familiar places. (laughter)
These are some of the things that were going on that maybe you
didn’t see in the films but there’s no question,
whether [Tolkien] talks about it or not, there’s bad stuff
going on between elves and folks in southern Mirkwood at the same time
that all the other things were brewing.
Adam Mersky:
To your earlier point about timing and movies, our game launched
several years after the third movie had been released and
we’ve done just fine.
Jeffrey Steefel:
Although some here would say that we wouldn’t have rather
released just as the movies came out. So, triple opportunity, right?
We’ve established the MMO, we’ve got an established
world and audience, and we’ve got these movies coming out,
that are just another kind of accelerant to what’s going on.
So we’re definitely very conscious of when the movies are
coming out and what they’re going to be, but our knowledge of
that isn’t that different than anyone in the
public’s. We don’t know what they’re
planning, exactly. We wish they’d tell us. (laughter)
Ten Ton Hammer: Any hints
on some of the famous characters we’ll see in Siege of
Mirkwood? Radagast or maybe others?
Jeffrey Steefel:
No hints right now, not today.
Adam Mersky:
The guys that write the story get real sensitive about us giving away
surprises.
Jeffrey Steefel:
They don’t sit far from my desk, either. (laughter) We will
certainly be giving you guys hints about that stuff going forward, but
not yet.
Ten Ton Hammer: One
feature of the expansion that has drawn a lot of attention is the
“world join” feature. Could you tell us more about
that?
Jeffrey Steefel:
It’s a pretty big step in that it’s the first real
opportunity for me to do gameplay on demand. Instead of me making my
way through the world, following the pre-defined steps we’ve
laid out for you to do the thing you want to do, have the experience
you want to have, or going to elaborate measures to group up with the
people I want to group with, find a place to meet, then start on our
way, now you have the opportunity very quickly and easily to go do
something with your friends for an hour. And I want to get into it
right away, and I want for it to be beneficial to my advancement path,
and I want it to be something that I can do it different ways at
different times. And all I really have to do is go into my UI panel and
choose the experience I want to have, initiate it, invite a couple
people, and I’m there.
So it’s meant to be an alternate experience, not to replace
what you’re doing in the game but to give you something fresh
and new and different from time to time to do to advance your character
through the world. There’s a lot of headroom with what we can
do with this, going forward. Making the way in which you meet up with
people more robust, for example. Or what you do when you’re
in that environment.
Ten Ton Hammer: So this
simply and easily carries you off to somewhere else, and that somewhere
else is an instance?
Yes, and that somewhere else is a place that almost everyone
that’s going there is likely to be familiar with. So
we’re intentionally doing these overlays as instances in
places players have already been. So you’re going back to the
Shire, you’re going back to Bree, you’re going back
to Weathertop and things have changed, because war is brewing now. The
town of Bree is under siege or there’s more battle and
violence erupting on Weathertop that you have to deal with. Basically
what happens is it plucks you out of wherever you are in the world,
deposits you in this instance, you have your experience, and then at
the end of this instance it puts everyone back right where they were in
the world.
Ten Ton Hammer: So this
ties directly into the skirmish system?
Jeffrey Steefel:
World join is essentially how you begin a skirmish. By the way, maybe
we can finally get this in print: world join has been renamed to
“skirmish join” to ease some of the confusion.
Ten Ton Hammer: Gotcha.
Any changes to talk about with monster play, anything new
that’s going on there with Siege of Mirkwood?
Jeffrey Steefel:
Nothing significant, to be honest. We’re obviously always
doing things to work with the balancing, the levels and classes of the
monsters to be appropriate to the level cap changes that
we’re doing so that the freeps and creeps will be balanced.
But as far as some of the significant changes we’re doing
with PvMP - like we did in Moria, for example, where we added the
artifact system and we reworked a lot of the hotspots and things like
that - nothing systemic like that for this expansion, for this
particular point in time.
Now, at PAX we did allude to that the skirmish system is the perfect
foundation for a battle system, and that’s not by accident.
We have every intention - when the timing is right - to take that to
the next level. So, imagine someday a skirmish instance is a PvP battle
instance and instead of simply skirmish join, you have the ability to
go into a matchmaking system and find people that are appropriate and
have a head-to-head experience. We’re not quite there yet,
but that’s the path we hope we’re on.
Ten Ton Hammer: Will
players have to be more conscious of power drain with the changes to
auto-attack? Will uninterrupted chains of spells change the gameplay
significantly?
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/27288/preview">Jeffrey
Steefel:
Just to clarify, auto-attack is still there as it has always been,
it’s just interruptable. It’s really more about
changing the way the animations actually work with user input. The
skills haven’t changed, the auto-attack hasn’t
changed, it’s more that if I’m in the middle of
auto-attack, and I decide I want to cast a spell or initiate a
particular attack and I click on the available icon, it’s not
going to gracefully get out of auto-attack to complete that animation
before it does the next skill. It’ll just stop the auto
attack in its tracks and immediately initiate the skill, which makes it
feel much snappier and responsive. It’s really more of a
usability change than a change to the way combat works.
Ten Ton Hammer: Will the
expansion include Mines of Moria? Are they going to be packaged
together?
Adam Mersky:
No, they’re not. Siege of Mirkwood is a digital expansion
that you’ll need to own Moria for, and that’s still
on the retail shelves in a complete edition.
Ten Ton Hammer: Will
Siege of Mirkwood be available for purchase at retail?
Adam Mersky:
This is purely digital, we’re not going to do any retail with
this expansion. We’re certainly not moving away from retail,
and we’ll certainly go back to retail in the future. But for
this update and this time where we are in the game, it made sense to
deliver a purely digital offering.
Ten Ton Hammer: Will
players have to buy Siege of Mirkwood to advance in the game?
Jeffrey Steefel:
Certainly to gain access to the additional levels and skirmishes, yes.
At some point you’re going to have to re-up, basically, to
move forward into the game. But we’re constantly trying to
make sure that we’re always adding stuff to the game whether
you buy the expansion or not. So, new combat system, new mounts system,
you get that regardless of whether you buy Mirkwood or not. Any other
changes and revisions to major systems, anyone that’s
subscribing to our game - for us, that’s just doing business.
That’s for any other updates too.
Ten Ton Hammer thanks
Jeffrey Steefel and Adam Mersky for taking the time to answer some of
the fans' questions.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Lord of the Rings Online Game Page.
