by Darkgolem on Apr 22, 2008
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
Turbines 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 LOTROs Book 13. As my
first hands-on opportunity with the LOTRO developers, I was more than
excited to take a look at Turbines upcoming free expansion.
Along with some of my peers, I have a definite interest in Turbines
continued development of the world of Middle Earth, especially when
they delve into realms that are relatively unexplored by J.R.R.
Tolkiens writings. Although many of their updates have dealt with
realms that Tolkien left open to the imagination, few were as empty as
Book 13s Forochel.
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 Turbines 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.
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album31&id=Forochel_3alt&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
alt="The Beautiful Landscapes"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album31/Forochel_3alt.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 156px;" align="left">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 13s 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.
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album32&id=council_elder_tent_2&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
alt="Lossoth Tent"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album32/council_elder_tent_2.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 141px;" align="right">
Yet the NPCs werent the only amazing portion of the village trip.
After stepping into the areas 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.
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 Forochels monsters. As you can see in our
exclusive video previews both
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30613">Part One and
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30888">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 arent 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 critters
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 couldnt 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. Characters 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.
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album33&id=weather_effects&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
alt="The Chilling Effects"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album33/weather_effects.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 141px;" align="left">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
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/30888">Part Two of our
exclusive videos, there are plenty of interesting happenings occurring
in the Forochelian dungeon, so be ready for some intense action!
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 arent 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 shouldnt be disappointed.
Once again, Turbine has taken steps in the right direction with this
latest addition to Lord of the Rings Online. Although Book 13 doesnt
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.
Comment in our
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?p=231505">forums
here!