Official: The Lord of the Rings Online™: Siege of Mirkwood™

[MadeOfLions]

Originally Posted by Cheesybatik

Will book 8 need to be completed in order to start book 9 (I'm assuming so)? I didn't exactly have any incentive to do book 8 so I ended up skipping it.

Speaking as a storyteller, I'd hope that you'd want to complete Book 8 in order to set the stage for Book 9! But as a game designer I recognize that Book 9 needs to be another on-ramp to the Epic, so you won't need to do Book 8 first.

MoL

[Cheesybatik]

Originally Posted by MadeOfLions

Speaking as a storyteller, I'd hope that you'd want to complete Book 8 in order to set the stage for Book 9! But as a game designer I recognize that Book 9 needs to be another on-ramp to the Epic, so you won't need to do Book 8 first.

MoL

I'm curious, do you and your fellow forum moderators/developers sit in a giant room spamming the refresh button now that the official word on a new expansion is released?

In all seriousness though, thanks for the quick responses

[Hobbit-at-heart]

Originally Posted by Sandriell

Soldiers are quite customizable: You can assign them traits, just like a player character, and you can alter their cosmetic appearance. (Beardless dwarves appear to be off-limits, still! Drat!)

ok, I have to ask: hobbit soldiers? oh please oh puleeeeeeeze???

[jayspeed]

Originally Posted by MadeOfLions

Speaking as a storyteller, I'd hope that you'd want to complete Book 8 in order to set the stage for Book 9! But as a game designer I recognize that Book 9 needs to be another on-ramp to the Epic, so you won't need to do Book 8 first.

MoL

Be more of a storyteller and less of a game designer. If people don't want to know what's going on with the story than they can skip the epic books altogether. Book 7 & 8 are needed to know what's going on in Book 9. I read LOTR from beginning to end. I didn't skip chapters since I would be missing vital story elements.

One big complaint I see about the epic quests are trouble finding a group sometimes. It would be nice if some kind of skirmish system or "henchmen" NPC's could be used to fill out a group if you want to solo the group quests. Maybe even use the banner system like in Book 8. 8.1 really had an epic story feel to me and I'd love to see that applied to other epic group quests. This way everyone gets to experience the main story of the game without searching for a group for hours on end. IMO the epic quest line is what sets this game apart from other MMO's. It actually has a story and a good one at that. I loved Volume 1 and I'm enjoying Volume 2 so far. Just a suggestion for future consideration.

[Agarwaen26]

Will book 9 be available to those who do not purchase the expansion?

I remember when MoM came out, Book 15 was released at the same time to all players regardless of whether they purchased the expansion. Can we expect the same with SoM? Personally it doesn't affect my decision to purchase the expansion but most of the posts seem to be complaining about having to pay to see the end of the volume, which is a valid gripe. However, if Book 9 is in fact a free book released along side the paid expansion, I think it would be wise to clarify this and ease some of the anxiety.

[MadeOfLions]

Originally Posted by Agarwaen26

Will book 9 be available to those who do not purchase the expansion?

Epic Book 9 and much of its Epilogue take place in Mirkwood, so you'll need 'Siege of Mirkwood' for it.

Originally Posted by Cheesybatik

I'm curious, do you and your fellow forum moderators/developers sit in a giant room spamming the refresh button now that the official word on a new expansion is released?

We've been working on this for awhile; it's nice to finally be able to talk about it! So there may be some Refreshing going on.

MoL

[Reodred14]

Originally Posted by Hobbit-at-heart

ok, I have to ask: hobbit soldiers? oh please oh puleeeeeeeze???

This would be awesome! i can just imagine a hobbit mowing down opponents with glee

hobbit army!

oh and this is another reason why we should be able to make hobbit champions

[jwbarry]

Originally Posted by Hobbit-at-heart

ok, I have to ask: hobbit soldiers? oh please oh puleeeeeeeze???

silly 10 characters

[Reodred14]

Ok i have a question...is the 19.99 price tag a mainstay for the expansion or will there be special deals regarding price like pre-ordering for MoM

[tanis0]

Originally Posted by Reodred14

Ok i have a question...is the 19.99 price tag a mainstay for the expansion or will there be special deals regarding price like pre-ordering for MoM

From a different thread: (see underlined part)

Originally Posted by marketroid

Since this seems to have turned into the main thread on the topic I'll address a couple of things that have come up.

The announcement today didn't contain pricing since we're focused on announcing the game features and doing previews at PAX. A subsequent announcement with those details will be out later. But since it's being asked, here's the scoop:

• Siege of Mirkwood will have a base price of $19.99. As with Moria last year, we're going to have a set of early upgrade offers that are very compelling. We're not quite ready to unveil those details yet, but we'll keep you posted.
• The epic story continues on in Volume 3 as a regular content update early next year.
• Some of the improvements to the game coming with Mirkwood will benefit everyone, but the key features will require the Mirkwood upgrade.

Hopefully this clears things up a bit.

[ajfrye44]

When you say the new Skirmish Join system doesn't interact with instances/PvMP, does that mean they won't cross paths, or wont' be accessible from. As in, a player wants to avoid death in either an instance or PvMP and can instantly be taken to a skirmish to do so?

And how will the new mount as a skill system work for dismounting in PvE and PvMP? Which is to say, other than choosing to end the skill, will the current channel system still be in place for NPCs and Creeps to disrupt?

[Zyrxagor00]

Originally Posted by MadeOfLions

Speaking as a storyteller, I'd hope that you'd want to complete Book 8 in order to set the stage for Book 9! But as a game designer I recognize that Book 9 needs to be another on-ramp to the Epic, so you won't need to do Book 8 first.

MoL

Good. I didn't do book 8 either. Any book quest that requires me to group doesn't get done. I'm glad you guys build occasional onramps here and there

[stubing]

Will we get any information on pvmp other than nothing "massive or significant?"

[TheOneRinger]

Originally Posted by ajfrye44

When you say the new Skirmish Join system doesn't interact with instances/PvMP, does that mean they won't cross paths, or wont' be accessible from. As in, a player wants to avoid death in either an instance or PvMP and can instantly be taken to a skirmish to do so?

And how will the new mount as a skill system work for dismounting in PvE and PvMP? Which is to say, other than choosing to end the skill, will the current channel system still be in place for NPCs and Creeps to disrupt?

Those be good questions that I want answers to myself!

Feel free to go ahead and answer at any time devs! You have my permisson!

[Reodred14]

Originally Posted by tanis0

From a different thread: (see underlined part)

Alright ty, i just wasn't sure if that meant special pricing or in-game rewards, such as the title and cloaks for pre-ordering MoM (or both)