by Stacy Jones on Jan 24, 2008
It has been a good while since we have had the pleasure of being treated to another Developer Chat with the good people of Turbine. That all changed last night as Warcry landed the first Developer Chat of 2008. It was a fun filled night of light humor as the developers joked and teased the community with juicy details, but always only offering a taste of the proverbial cake.
<!-- if (!document.phpAds_used) document.phpAds_used = ','; phpAds_random = new String (Math.random()); phpAds_random = phpAds_random.substring(2,11); document.write ("<" + "script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript' src='"); document.write ("http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adjs.php?n=" + phpAds_random); document.write ("&what=zone:75"); document.write ("&exclude=" + document.phpAds_used); if (document.referrer) document.write ("&referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); document.write ("'><" + "/script>"); //-->The night began with the introduction of the Turbine representatives for the chat. The panel included several of the Turbine favorites such as Ringleader Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of LOTRO, Matt "Scenario" Elliott, Lead World builder, Rhidden, Content Designer, Keth, Lead Content Designer, Ryan "Tens" Bednar, Systems Team Lead, Vanessa "Saffron" Price, Online Community Specialist, and of course Meghan "Patience" Rodberg. The topics of conversation covered content from the coming Book 12 update, future plans for Lord of the Rings Online, and even a glimpse at some planned content for Book 13.
The Player Housing system was a hot topic for the night and many people wanted to know what kind of changes might be in store for customizing their homes. Good news was bestowed to the masses as the developers informed them of the new changes set for Book 12 that will allow players to rotate items on their hooks to better customize their homes. This isnt the only change to customization. Players will also be able to light fireplaces and candles in their homes now as well. Now all it takes is one careless Captain to burn down the neighborhood. The Barter Trophy system has received another pass and now there are more items available from the local Taxidermist. There will now be a reason to pay a visit to some of the old bosses you havent seen in a while like Ivar Bloodhand. By collecting an item from certain enemies you can now exchange certain items for new Barter trophies. These new trophies will be bound so dont start seeing dollar signs just yet.
Beneros asked a question that generated a curious response in regards to class customization. He inquired if the developers had any plans to allow further class customization to allow people a more diverse choice so that all characters were not inevitably the same. Tens responded with a cryptic, but interesting answer stating
For Book 12 weve wrapped up our major class updates with the Month of the Guardian and Burglar. But, to be perfectly honest, we think that giving our classes more customization options is neat too. So much so, its currently a large portion of what the Systems Team is working on, now that we've got our major class updates out of the way. While I cant reveal any hard details, I can say that future class specialization will lean heavily on Traits, Items, and a feature to be announced at a later date.-Tens
What is this mystery mechanic you ask? Time will tell, but there are a few possibilities. Perhaps even one of my suggestions from a while back, a variation of an Alternate Advancement mechanic.
In our miscellaneous news, Scenario announced that in Book 13 we will get to see the shore line of the ocean for the first time. Be sure to check your Reputation Vendors again after Book 12 goes live as they will have new items available to craft social clothing, and look for Lord of the Rings Online to continue its global launch in 2008. With all the information that was bounced around last night there is only one thing we know for certain. We will get to see oceans in Book 13.
(Note: Patience has invited the community to join the Roheryn Preview Server this Friday, January 25th for a Monster Play Event. You can read more Here.)
Tell us what you think about the future of LOTRO on our Forums.
You can read the full transcript on Warcry for more information Here.