Developer Diary: Welcome Back to the Lone-lands
Welcome Back to the Lone-lands
Foreword
In Siege of Mirkwood™, I continued with a re-vamp of early game content in what has become a personal crusade for yours truly to improve player experience from beginning to end. For this milestone, I returned to an area in which I am well versed; I started here when I made my way onto the LOTRO team many years back. Here I am again…the Lone-lands.
The Lone-lands
Epic Story
The Epic storyline is getting spruced up as a result of the changes to the Lone-lands. There has always seemed to be a disconnect between Books 1 and 2 of Volume 1. There are roughly 15 levels worth of disconnect, as finishing Volume 1 Book 1 starts you on a quest far above your level. Further, you are told to go to a location far, far away from the Prancing Pony and through what used to be treacherous territory. The disparity in level has always been difficult for players to handle and it’s one of the first issues we decided to rectify with the Lone-lands update.
With the release of Siege of Mirkwood, all players following the Epic storyline will find that Gandalf now sends them to Saeradan to enlist the aid of the Rangers, to assist with finding another of Gandalf’s order. After making their way to Saeradan, players will find that he will now offer them a free ride to Candaith’s camp in the shadow of Weathertop. Be careful and watch out for any folk in need of assistance on the ride to Candaith! Once at his camp, players follow Candaith’s tale through the battle at the peak of Weathertop and learn of a new faction within the Lone-lands, the Eglain. (This is discussed further in the diary.)
To ensure that we continue forward with the same practices that we attempted to utilize in the Bree-land revamp, there will now be two versions of Weathertop. There is the group version, which remains unchanged, and a new solo version that will enable players to assail the great hill alone against the forces of the White Hand.
At the end of his tale, Candaith sends players to the Forsaken Inn to seek the favour of the Eglain agents staying at the Inn. A new horse travel mount will make the trip a little less risky.While earning the respect of the Eglain, players will follow the remainder of the story without any major changes until reaching the quest to breach the borders of Agamaur. Here, players will be given the option to undertake this adventure solo or with a group. The story concludes in much the same way as before, but the area of Agamaur is now very different, as will be discussed further in this diary.
The Eglain
Living in the harsh clime of the Lone-lands, the Eglain are an untrusting people. This was evident in the initial storyline, as the brothers Gadaric and Hunulf were quick to set players to tasks before allowing them to know the location of their home at Ost Guruth. While revamping the Lone-lands, we took the opportunity to introduce a new concept and direction for the faction system. This direction highlights changes that we hope to incorporate throughout the game at some point in the future.
All quests that have an impact on the Eglain will reward the player with Eglain faction. Any players who have previously completed quests that are being retrofitted with Eglain faction will have the appropriate faction added to their character upon logging into the game once Siege of Mirkwood is released. In addition, there are several new quests that will feed into this new reputation. The goal is to provide players following the natural course of questing in the Lone-lands the ability to obtain Eglain ranks without putting in too much extra effort. There are, of course, some bits of assistance that should help.
In addition to being part of the requirement to continue the Epic storyline, there are other incentives added to the equation. Once players achieve acquaintance status they will be able to purchase quests from a faction vendor in Ost Guruth. These quests directly relate to a vocation and can be completed as often as the player desires. The rewards are a small bit of coin and an increase in faction with the Eglain. The items the Eglain desire are already craftable by those vocations. You won’t need to learn new recipes for these items. These quests can be completed as often as the player wants and will not diminish the amount of faction received at any point. At Friend standing, players gain access to a pocket item unique to their class that is of rare quality and requires level 32 to wield. At Ally, they have access to the first part of a special jewelry set created with the healer, tank and damage dealer in mind. At Kindred, they can purchase the second piece of the jewelry set.
The number of quests prior to Agamaur, including the Epic Story, should allow players to progress to the Friendly tier of Faction without much trouble at all. Vocation quests can be used to attain the next tier or players can use the newly revamped instances of Garth Agarwen as a way to earn faction with the Eglain.
Before we get into the changes to Garth Agarwen, a bit about two new features in our instances:
Challenges
With Mines of Moria™ we introduced the concept of hard mode, a more difficult version of the instance that provided players with greater rewards. As we refined the system it became apparent that Hard Mode was not only a silly name, but also a rather obtuse system that did nothing to assist players in understanding what the objectives were. In order to adjust this, we have created Challenges.
Challenges are daily quests that are bestowed to all players who have not already completed them for that day, and meet all other quest criteria – prerequisites or level restrictions. These quests will appear in the quest tracker and display the success and failure cases for the players. Upon opening the quest journal, players can read the background on the quest and see further instructions on the challenge before them[Rewards for Challenges may vary slightly from instance to instance but, typically, they will be the following: coin, faction, and a barter token of some type. In the case of Garth Agarwen, the barter token is used to purchase rewards from the Eglain at the entrance to the Garth Agarwen area.
Optional Objectives
In addition to the new Challenge system, we have added another piece of tech to allow for Optional Objectives to appear for players inside any given instance space. Like Challenges, these appear in the standard instances and target monsters or other targets within the instance. Also like Challenges, these quests can be completed daily and reward players with coin and/or faction for their completion. There can be multiple optional objectives per instance. The first of these quests, appearing in the Garth Agarwen Cluster, provide up to four different objectives within the instance. Optional Objectives may be different for each player..
Optional Objectives are meant to follow the main path of the instance with minimal extra effort so that groups can work together to achieve each other’s goals. Further, since the optional objectives can each be completed once daily, players will have reasons for entering the same instance multiple times per day.
Garth Agarwen was the first instance created for LOTRO and was in need of a revision. As we set out to make the changes necessary to bring this instance into line with the rest of the game, it became apparent that only a significant overhaul would do. Thus, the Garth Agarwen cluster was born.
The former entrance of Garth Agarwen now houses a small number of NPCs who will provide players with a little more guidance for quests that go into the public area outside of the Garth Agarwen instances. NPCs in the area will also show players the items they can earn for completing the Challenges within the spaces. These rewards include new consumable tokens to remove defeat Dread — only defeat Dread — of the next tier once in a twelve hour (real-time) period, and weapons and shields for player classes of Incomparable quality. These items can be used at level 32 and should be useful to players well into their mid- to late-30’s; but not so good that they overshadow or replace the better crafted items in these levels. To obtain these items, players must acquire a number of Challenge tokens and then turn them in for the various pieces. All pieces are unique and cost the same amount of tokens, save the Dread-removing tokens.
Garth Agarwen
Garth Agarwen
Arboretum
Passing through the arch leading to the Arboretum, players will enter a familiar area where they will find the ancient and fallen Huorn, Grimbark. The Arboretum has been altered slightly to allow for a more open feel with more visibility and game space. Mob density was thinned significantly, and unified to create less of a menagerie of creatures and a more consistent theme to the space.
The Arboretum boasts one alternate boss creature, four optional objectives, and one challenge against Grimbark. We have made a pass through the treasure profile of the great tree and his drops are now unique to him. The Arboretum should prove to be a short instance allowing players to complete it within 15-40 minutes depending on group make-up, objectives completed, space explored, and difficulty chosen. The space is designed for level 32 players and meant for a small fellowship of no greater than 4.
Barrows
Entering the gate through the once-barred gateway within the ruins of Garth Agarwen, players will first encounter the Créoth, keepers of the dead. These descendants of Rhudaur watch over the “Noble Dead” and keep them safe from outside intruders. They serve as the watch guards within the space. Like the Arboretum, mob density and thus time investment has been greatly reduced to create a space that flows much better than previous incarnations. There are some twists to the space that will keep players watching their location the entire time.
As always, the master of the Barrows, Ivar the Blood-hand, holds sway here and together with his host of Wights will do his best to dissuade players from bringing about his untimely end. Defeating Ivar will reward players with treasure from an updated treasure profile unique to Ivar alone. There is one other boss within the instance, once a rare spawn, who now bars access to Ivar and his Challenge Objective. There are also four optional objectives within this space. The instance should prove to be a roughly 35-45 minute experience for players attempting the various objectives. The Barrows are designed for level 32 players in a small fellowship of no greater than 4.
Fortress
The Fortress now stands as the 6-man instance in the cluster. It boasts three optional objectives and two Challenges. The area is meant for a full fellowship of players at roughly level 32. Bosses in the space all have unique treasure profiles, save one optional objective target who shares treasure profiles with the lesser bosses from the Arboretum and Barrows spaces. These bosses include: Edan and Esyld, Vatar, Dúnlang, and of course The Red-maid, Naruhel.
Challenge modes in the space include a survival battle against the Créoth leader Dúnlang, who has captured some Eglain and is attempting to convert them to the service of the Red-maid, and the Red-maid herself. Each is unique and difficult. The completely optional Dúnlang may prove one of the hardest experiences found in a young adventurer’s life. Naruhel’s challenge has proven difficult in testing, though not impossible, and comes with a little payoff at the end to tie together the trials of the Red-maid once and for all. Maybe…possibly?
The space, if run simply to defeat the Red-maid, will likely take no more than 40-50 minutes for a solid group. Pacing and mob layout is much improved and the optional objectives should be compelling and quick. Each fight has been refined or left as-is to heighten the experience within the space. All treasure profiles have been upgraded to make running the space worthwhile to players of the appropriate level.
Western Lone-lands (Forsaken Inn)
The Forsaken Inn
We made no significant changes to the Forsaken Inn, as we have always felt it served, at least in the earlier quests, as a signature location and quest hub. The changes therein were done to streamline questing and provide players with a better overall flow to quest collection and completion, removing a lot of the back and forth that existed with the Minas Eriol area. However, we did move a few of the marquee players from within the Forsaken Inn to an undisclosed location abutting the Central Lone-lands, in a new quest hub area on the eastern side of Minas Eriol.
Central Lone-lands
Hunulf Munce and old Mugwort have moved to a new hub located on the far side of the bridge coming out of the ruins furthest east in Minas Eriol. The goblins within those ruins are no longer elite; instead, they should prove a challenging solo area or a good duo area as the goblins are now signatures. Beneath these ruins players will find the spiders have also undergone a similar metamorphosis.
This new hub serves as a good transition between the western Lone-lands and Central Lone-lands. It should serve to cut down on the travel that existed in the previous draft of the Lone-lands from Ost Guruth to the Half-orc and Dwarf Brigand encampments of the Central Lone-lands. We have also added a new public dungeon, albeit small, to the central Lone-lands. Here, players will find Refr Quicksilver watching over the entrance and a small number of new quests within the dungeon space further explaining the relationship of the Târkrip Orcs and Dourhand Dwarfs in the area.
Eastern Lone-lands
Ost Guruth maintains its status as the main quest hub, but the majority of quests directly feeding the home of the Eglain are reduced and more radial hubs have been added to alleviate the excessive travel in the east. Players will find that the ruins of Dol Vaeg contain a couple of new quest bestowers and a handful of quests, both new and old, targeting the fauna in the easternmost stretch of the Lone-lands and the overrun Wight ruins in the northeast.
Southern Bog
At the head of the southern Bog, players will note that the Earth-kin have added a small number of targets into the troll woods in the bog. These quests now target the area once populated by menacing Elite monsters. Players will find it is now filled with more manageable signature creatures. At the ruins in the deepest extent of the Southern Bog, three new bounty quests for the next tier of crafting and a bundle of new quests targeting the ruins in the southwestern part of the Bog round out the revamp of this area.
Agamaur
Agamaur sees the greatest change in all the Lone-lands. Once an exclusive area for group hunting, the majority of this area now supports solo or duo hunting. Group hunting can still be found in the now public areas of Garth Agarwen.
Conclusion
The Lone-lands has undergone a massive overhaul and should prove to be a good option for players looking to level from 22-32. In our next update, we plan to continue the revamp effort focusing on the second of the level 22-32 areas in the North Downs. This revamp will target areas from Trestlebridge to the Fields of Fornost, then east toward Kingsfell stopping short of Esteldín, Orthrikar and Meluinen.
We hope that these changes will provide a breadth of fun and entertainment for all our new players and those players returning to explore Middle-earth for their latest adventures!
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