LotRO Shadows of Angmar

[Darkov]

Anyone been following this?

Been awhile since I found a good MMO worth wasting my time in, I mean I still play EQ, there just isn't anything that grants the same immersion for me.

I'm thinking LotR might be the one, the world looks lovely, I know the story and lore, but I'm not a purest so I won't cry if they step off cannon, and it has a nice basic mix of classes and races with the focus on group play!

Still, as a European I guess I will be in the Euro beta by Codemasters, but I'm hoping it's a new home for me, for a few months atleast.

[DemonMage]

I'll find out after I try it in beta(should be an "open" one if nothing else eventually), they seem to have changed it alot since the last time I checked it out... I'm liking the whole changing landscape thing as you progress along questlines, that sounds nifty. But it's hard to say, it will change a lot between now and release.

[Erling E.]

I've seen it several times at E3, and I have had a chat with many of the developers. I am definetly looking forward to it, but sort of by default. There are many elements that I am skeptical about, namely that it is very action centered - something I am not sure is what I want out of a MMO based on the Lord of the Rings. I think I would rather want a medieval-world-simulator sort of game, where crasting and building societies are at the center - as well as the action of adventuring. In this game, there will be no possibility of owning housing etc., or so I've been told. The heavy use of instancing is somewhat troublesome, so is the liberal use of story-based instances. For one, if you go into a town and it is burned down during a quest you do, others in the game might not see the town as burned down before they too have done the quest. Will this break the immersion? It remains to be seen. On a positive note: This is the Lord of the Rings, so it should be good content-wise!

[DemonMage]

Hmm, they changed to heavy usage of instancing? The FAQ says only a small part of the world will be instanced.

Specifically

How much of the game is instanced?

The majority of the game will occur in open, persistent scape. We anticipate 10-20% of the world will be instanced in one fashion or another.

Of course, the FAQ could be outdated or flat out wrong, I'm just curious.

[Erling E.]

No, that might be true. I'm glad if this is the case! But I still remain skeptical to how they are going to use instancing in story-critical areas, where there has been a lot of potential inconsitency between different player's game. Meaning, one guy see a town as burned down because he has got that far in the questline, while another player might see the town as up and running. This is something I saw at E3 with my own eyes, and I remember asking the developer twice if that was the case. Perhaps they changed that too?

[DemonMage]

That's in the FAQ too, and what I was refering to earlier, I think that's really cool. Better to have an oddity of someone seeing the town as still there, than just having it always be static and dull =-(

Though I'd just instance that and make it so you either go into the burned down version, or the still there version, depending on your progress. You could group up with someone to help out if they're on a quest that requires you to go into the non burned down version.

FAQ entry (http://lotro.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=52#gameplayquestions26) on that:
I’ve heard that LOTRO uses instancing technology. What is it, and how is it used?

We're using instancing in two basic ways in the game. As has become more common in other MMO's, instances place fellowships (parties) in an environment that is private to them, so we can craft a compelling adventure that will not be interrupted or interfered with by other players. We have also developed a more complex use of layered instancing, to "change the world" as part of special moments in the story. In layered instances, the player will encounter an area that during the course of a series of adventures will be forever altered in the "public" persistent world. For example, an attack on a town might result in the town being consumed in flames during a battle – returning to the town later, the player will discover the buildings are burnt to ashes. This will remain the open, public world from that point on for any player that had experienced those events in the game. We'll explain this exciting mode of gameplay in further detail in the future.

[Darkov]

I'm not sure if people who have and have not done the quest will be able to group together.

From my understand you basically progress through the server.. so in version A where the town is whole, you have players 1 2 and 3, in version B, where the town has been burnt down you have players 4 5 and 6, all of whom have done the quest. The players 4 5 and 6 can't meet or group with players 1 2 and 3 though until they too have done the quest.

What I've seen and read just sounds more like the Guild Wars tutorial, the first part is alone, the second part is open, then when completed you progress to the next stage of the world and can't go back. These stages happen several times in the world, forcing you through the game.