Discussion: Next Instance Cluster - Early Next Year and back in Eriador

From the new podcast - Massive Online Gamer Podcast

Interesting tid-bit about the new instances that will probably be released the beginning of next year. In regards to the story for the new instances, now that the rangers have grouped up to head to Aragorn it has the following consequences.

"As a result of their departure, Eriador is basically bereft of so many of the folks who have have kept it safe and kept it balanced and this has opened up so many new opportunities of attack from the enemy and players will need to jump in and combat those enemies. You'll see some familiar faces...some enemies from before who have returned to make good on these opportunities and I think players will be very excited about it. In fact there's a big multi-boss raid that finishes it, which I think has our greatest challenge yet."
Edit: I hope I got it right

Any speculation on where these might be located and/or familiar faces we'll be fighting? Interesting that this will not be in Enedwaith/Dunland but in older locations? (Note: The title of the thread shoud have been "....and back in Northern Eriador - sorry for the confusion)

Another quote:

"Enedwaith is a great location, but if you remember from the original texts there's just not that much in it because the Fellowship goes through Moria and then down by Fangorn and so we're telling a part of the story that just was not dealth with much, so we felt like it would be so much richer for the players to return to some more classic battlegrounds than to pull something together through Enedwaith" ? (sounds like Enedwaithism....). "And it gave us the opportunity to focus on continuing to work on Isengard, which of course, you know, is something we are looking at for next year..."

Envoyé par robnkarla

"As a result of their departure, Eriador is basically bereft of so many of the folks who have have kept it safe and kept it balanced and this has opened up so many new opportunities of attack from the enemy and players will need to jump in and combat those enemies. You'll see some familiar faces...some enemies from before who have returned to make good on these opportunities and I think players will be very excited about it. In fact there's a big multi-boss raid that finishes it, which I think has our greatest challenge yet."

Hmm, that sounds a bit odd, imo. One of the key points of V3B1 was that the rangers were worried about what was gonna happen to Eriador once they left, and sending us back again to battle these threats seems like it would kind of ruin that suspense. I'd rather we left Eriador behind for a while, possibly not returning until after the Ring has been destroyed (not counting trips unrelated to the Epic storyline).

Then again, I'm looking forward to finding out what old enemies will return...wasn't the new gaunt-lord in Enedwaith about to resurrect one of his brethren that we've killed?

Envoyé par Macfeast

Hmm, that sounds a bit odd, imo. One of the key points of V3B1 was that the rangers were worried about what was gonna happen to Eriador once they left, and sending us back again to battle these threats seems like it would kind of ruin that suspense. I'd rather we left Eriador behind for a while, possibly not returning until after the Ring has been destroyed (not counting trips unrelated to the Epic storyline).

Then again, I'm looking forward to finding out what old enemies will return...wasn't the new gaunt-lord in Enedwaith about to resurrect one of his brethren that we've killed?

I noted this in the other thread, but I'll do it here too - Enedwaith *is* in Eriador. So is mostly everything west of the Misty Mountains.

Envoyé par Arbalister

I noted this in the other thread, but I'll do it here too - Enedwaith *is* in Eriador. So is mostly everything west of the Misty Mountains.

I do realize that in-game Enedwaith is included in Eriador, but the discussion around the quote gave me the distinct impression that the instance cluster was not in Enedwaith and that we will be returning to older zones. I'm quite curious as to where the instances will be located on landscape and how the timeframe will be addressed with multiple timeframes within the zones.

Also, it will be interesting to see if it will be part of a book update (epic story) or be in a different update.

I thought she said in the podcast that the instance cluster will be in Enedwaith. I'll have to re-listen to it. As others have said, Enedwaith is in Eriador.

-Bel

Envoyé par Belnavar

I thought she said in the podcast that the instance cluster will be in Enedwaith. I'll have to re-listen to it. As others have said, Enedwaith is in Eriador.

-Bel

Another quote:

"Enedwaith is a great location, but if you remember from the original texts there's just not that much in it because the Fellowship goes through Moria and then down by Fangorn and so we're telling a part of the story that just was not dealth with much, so we felt like it would be so much richer for the players to return to some more classic battlegrounds than to pull something together through Enedwaith" ? (sounds like Enedwaithism....). "And it gave us the opportunity to focus on continuing to work on Isengard, which of course, you know, is something we are looking at for next year..."

I took this as going back to back to previous zones rather that something new in Enedwaith, but I could be wrong.

As for the Eriador/Enedwaith - as I said already, yes Enedwaith is in Eriador. But "back in the other area of Eriador that is not Enedwaith" is a little wordy .

Envoyé par robnkarla

I do realize that in-game Enedwaith is included in Eriador, but the discussion around the quote gave me the distinct impression that the instance cluster was not in Enedwaith and that we will be returning to older zones. I'm quite curious as to where the instances will be located on landscape and how the timeframe will be addressed with multiple timeframes within the zones.

Also, it will be interesting to see if it will be part of a book update (epic story) or be in a different update.

It's not a mistake that they'd make - but it could be a smidgeon of misdirection. :-)

Envoyé par Arbalister

I noted this in the other thread, but I'll do it here too - Enedwaith *is* in Eriador. So is mostly everything west of the Misty Mountains.

Fair enough. When I said Eriador, I really meant the northern parts of it (let's call it Northern Eriador).

However, my original point still stands; The podcast mentioned that there would be new threats in the areas that the rangers used to guard, and that we would return to deal with those threats.
The rangers did a huge deal in V3B1 about leaving their lands behind and what would happen in their absence. I just found it odd that we would return north again to stop the upcoming threats, because it kind of ruins the whole point about the rangers not wanting to leave; Our characters could simply say "Nah, don't worry about that, we'll just pop back real quick and deal with that stuff, you go on ahead and we'll meet you again in Rohan".

As I said, it ruins the suspense of "What will happen to our old home when we leave it for the war in the south?"

EDIT:

Envoyé par robnkarla

"Enedwaith is a great location, but if you remember from the original texts there's just not that much in it because the Fellowship goes through Moria and then down by Fangorn and so we're telling a part of the story that just was not dealth with much, so we felt like it would be so much richer for the players to return to some more classic battlegrounds than to pull something together through Enedwaith" ? (sounds like Enedwaithism....). "And it gave us the opportunity to focus on continuing to work on Isengard, which of course, you know, is something we are looking at for next year..."

A shame they feel that way. I think elaborating on the less detailed parts of the lore is something they've done really well, and I'd rather they'd work their magic on Enedwaith than sending us back north simply because those areas are more familiar to us.

Been running around Northern Eriador for 3.5 years now.

Dont want to go back there...again (with the possible exception of Annuminas, its very under used.)

If the epic story has moved into Enedwaith, then the new Raid should be in Enedwaith. Or even back in SoM.

Eriador & Moria - been there, done that, want something NEW!

Envoyé par Kheld_UK

Been running around Northern Eriador for 3.5 years now.

Dont want to go back there...again (with the possible exception of Annuminas, its very under used.)

If the epic story has moved into Enedwaith, then the new Raid should be in Enedwaith. Or even back in SoM.

Eriador & Moria - been there, done that, want something NEW!

My feelings, exactly. Do not wants 'back there' again. New zones (or at least Rohan), plz. Spending more time backtracked in the old zones is going to equate to a uber snore coma for me, regardless of who's attacking it, and this is going to be a direction that points toward massive ZZZ's on my part. Blah.

Envoyé par Kheld_UK

Been running around Northern Eriador for 3.5 years now.

Dont want to go back there...again (with the possible exception of Annuminas, its very under used.)

If the epic story has moved into Enedwaith, then the new Raid should be in Enedwaith. Or even back in SoM.

Eriador & Moria - been there, done that, want something NEW!

100% agree.
How many times are you going to squeeze another meal out of last years leftovers?
Been in the freezer a long time, not too tasty.
I hope this time the raid loot doesn't have garbage stats on it compared to things from book solo book quests.
If you look in the lorebook under EPIC, you find a link to Annuminas there.
But I've had more than enough of UNDEAD after bg and the wraiths.
MORE THAN ENOUGH UNDEAD UNSEEN to last quite a while.
And please try to design a fight that's reasonably playable unlike the shameful mess you've made of the LT fight.

I"m going to bet they wheel out old Ferndur the gaunt lord, since....

Spoiler


They were trying to resurrect him in the undead.. eww... undead solo instance in the Lich bluffs.
Gag
Undead.... absolute gagfest.

I'll be the one to say it. What does it matter where they put it? All we have to do is use the lame Instance Join Panel and your there anyway. Sure it's convenient, but It so much better to travel to some epic location (like the Rift) than hit a button and be there. Cappy summons are still there but you're at least outside the door and can roam around.

Auto instance joins are lame IMHO.

UGH.........please no..........as much as i loved Eriador, we need to move forward already.....jeez.

Please please please reconsider.......just when we started going south........bang, U-turn back to the same spots again.

This is getting old.

Lotro 2011: The Revenge of Sara Oakheart !!!!!!!!!!

Nooooo!!!

DANGER DANGER FRODO ROBINSON! SPOILERS AND SPECULATION BE AHEAD!




I'm a little surprised to hear this; there were some locations in Enedwaith that I had pegged as future locations for instances. Most notably, of course, are the ruins behind the locked gate in the southwestern corner of the zone, but I imagined instances in a few other locations as well. Amon Min--the ruins north of Lhanuch--seem curiously underdeveloped; it's a prominent location in the zone, but I can only think of one quest that requires you to go there. There are a couple of quests that refer to Harndirion as haunted, so I always assumed that there were more stories to tell about it. The Lich Bluffs seem like an ideal spot for a Great Barrow-style instance, and I even imagined instances based around a drake cave or the dwarven ruins in Thror's Coomb. The last chapter in book 2 mentions some great beast under the earth that was slain by Nar's friend, which had me expecting a dungeon-delve to find that beast's little brother or something. And, of course, most importantly, there was the gaunt lord we discovered in the last of Mincham's quests. Indeed, there seem to be a lot of story threads in Enedwaith that seem unfinished. Perhaps we'll be picking up on those plotlines and exploring those locations in the epic quests, since I imagine we'll be in Enedwaith for a couple more books at least?

I'm a little curious, too, about these "familiar faces"... does that mean specific people, or does it mean groups we've fought in the past? I can't think of any particularly memorable villains who we've fought in the past who are still alive... although the gaunt lord in Enedwaith apparently has plans to resurrect the other four gaunt lords, so perhaps these are the familiar faces in question. If it just means groups of villains, then the brigands around Bree and the Shire and the remaining Angmarim seem like the two most likely candidates.

As for likely locations, I imagine Ered Luin, Forochel, Eregion, the Trollshaws, and the Misty Mountains are all out, since these locations have little or no ranger presence. The Lone Lands have Candaith, but he's just one ranger... and besides, the civilian population here is a bit sparse. Evendim has a very large ranger population, but there are almost no non-rangers living here... and Annuminas and the other Arnorian ruins are already largely under hostile control. Besides, we already have three instances set in Annuminas, and they're getting a lot of play these days; more instances here would seem redundant. I would expect the focus of this new instance cluster, therefore, to be the Bree-Lands, the Shire, and/or North Downs. After all, we know that the Bree-Lands and the Shire come under attack while the rangers are away, while the North Downs is on the border of a defeated but apparently resurgent Angmar, and there's still presumably quite an orc presence there.

I'm going to put forth a potentially farfetched theory... which will probably be wrong, because my theories usually are. I'm going to suggest that perhaps, in addition to getting a new instance cluster and raid, we're going to be getting a new zone: the South Downs. It's probably overly optimistic of me to think this, but I think it would make very good business sense for Turbine to do this. A low-to-mid-level South Downs zone would give Turbine another zone to sell to the F2P and premium crowd, which means that this zone would actually create additional revenue for Turbine. Releasing a new lower-level zone in Eriador also sends the message to F2P and premium players that Turbine will be creating content geared toward them rather than simply creating endgame content. A raid cluster and/or higher-level area (a la Annuminas) set here, meanwhile, would get lvl 65 characters rubbing shoulders with free players, and it would also dangle high-level, post-Mirkwood content in front of newer players who might still be on the fence about purchasing Moria and Mirkwood. It might encourage higher-level altaholics to purchase a new character slot and start a new character to play through the South Downs on-level.

And finally, a raid cluster centered around the South Downs would follow neatly, storywise, with what we've seen in Enedwaith and what Kate Paiz has said. The South Downs, canonically, were the base of the ringwraiths as they were searching for Frodo in the Shire, and they're the source of the bandits in the Bree-Lands and the Shire. They're the headquarters, in other words, of some of the most high-profile threats remaining in Eriador. As the heart of the old kingdom of Cardolan, with close ties to the Barrow Downs, they're also a natural location for an instance or raid based around the gaunt-lords. As the base of "Sharkey's men", the South Downs are also tied directly to Isengard, so an instance cluster in the South Downs doesn't take us too far from the story of the Grey Company as they head down to Rohan. And it would be quite easy for Turbine to add a little quest line to Enedwaith where we beat up some half-orcs or wights and discover Saruman's and/or the gaunt lords' plots in the South Downs, tying the two zones neatly together.

Just my thoughts.

Envoyé par Macfeast

... I'd rather they'd work their magic on Enedwaith than sending us back north simply because those areas are more familiar to us.

Well, from the Lore, what in Enedwaith were the Rangers protecting? As far as I know, nothing. The Rangers protected The Shire, Bree and the Bree Land, etc., i.e. the inhabited areas, not a uninhabited area like Enedwaith. I mean, if evil forces overrun Enedwaith, who cares? Bree or The Shire, or Thorin's Halls, a different matter. If the thought of the content is that, absent the Rangers, evil forces start moving into the areas they protected (fully in accord with the Lore), then the content has to be back in existing areas.

Envoyé par RickInVA

Well, from the Lore, what in Enedwaith were the Rangers protecting? As far as I know, nothing. The Rangers protected The Shire, Bree and the Bree Land, etc., i.e. the inhabited areas, not a uninhabited area like Enedwaith. I mean, if evil forces overrun Enedwaith, who cares? Bree or The Shire, or Thorin's Halls, a different matter. If the thought of the content is that, absent the Rangers, evil forces start moving into the areas they protected (fully in accord with the Lore), then the content has to be back in existing areas.

No, they didn't protect anything in Enedwaith, and if the reasoning for the new instances is to protect the areas the rangers leave behind, then it definitly makes more sense to go back north than to stay in Enedwaith. That I agree on.

However, it's the reasoning of going back in the first place, rather than making the new instances in Enedwaith, that I don't agree with. While it's obviously not as important to the rangers to defeat evil in Enedwaith as it would be in Bree, in Enedwaith there would at least be an evil they can deal with while passing through the area, and prevent it from spreading further. That's why I think it makes more sense to put instances in Enedwaith. Our rocket-powered horses aside, we are supposed to be leaving everything north of Enedwaith behind, riding to war in the south. It makes no sense for the rangers to go "Alas, I worry for our homes. We need to go south to the war, but what will happen in the north in our absence? Wait, you can go back north and help the people there, and return to us in time for the war."

As I mentioned earlier, it makes no sense storywise that the rangers talk about how much bad things is going to happen when we leave that we can do nothing about, and then the next second we suddenly return to do something about it. That's my main gripe about the whole thing; It just ruins the atmosphere they were trying to portray in V3B1.

If the instances are outside of the Epic storyline, then fair enough. In that case, I could easily see them as an "alternate timeline" with what would happen if we stayed behind (which already exists to some extent with skirmishes: the Bree skirmishes, for example). However, I'm strongly opposed to sending us back north again as part of the Epics.

Envoyé par robnkarla

From the new podcast - Massive Online Gamer Podcast

Interesting tid-bit about the new instances that will probably be released the beginning of next year. In regards to the story for the new instances, now that the rangers have grouped up to head to Aragorn it has the following consequences.

"As a result of their departure, Eriador is basically bereft of so many of the folks who have have kept it safe and kept it balanced and this has opened up so many new opportunities of attack from the enemy and players will need to jump in and combat those enemies. You'll see some familiar faces...some enemies from before who have returned to make good on these opportunities and I think players will be very excited about it."

Hate to be a debbie (or donald? lol) downer, (feel free to give me negative rep, I dont give a rats you-know-what), but this sounds like a smooth marketing ploy to excuse them from not making new landscape content...(yes I know they're "working on Isengard" -- which gives them an indefinite time period to finish..)....but they can skip a lot of the art and graphics work if re-using old instances and old areas. I dunno, I just got a really 'blah' attitude about the whole thing. Maybe time for another LOTRO vacation.

Thal

It's a month after F2P launch, I'm really hoping we learn some concrete news about future plans of the game.

IMHO, the main reason the game flopped while P2P was because of the slow stream of new content after Moria. Unless they change this, the new start they've made with F2P is going to be wasted...

They either need to hire more people, or hire better people, who won't produce stuff at a snail's pace.

It wouldst surprise me at all if the next raid cluster was spread out across multiple zones. Right now a max lvl toon has no reason to buy quest packs but if they put the new cluster all across the map non vip will need to buy multiple quest packs just for the instance cluster.

There is a big pimple on the face of eriador that could easily house the new cluster of undead. Weathertop. There can easily be a large city sized ruin inside that mountain. Read one of the merp adventure books which was about it.

Envoyé par Efol

It wouldst surprise me at all if the next raid cluster was spread out across multiple zones. Right now a max lvl toon has no reason to buy quest packs but if they put the new cluster all across the map non vip will need to buy multiple quest packs just for the instance cluster.

This makes sense to me as well. I would've probably dropped to a premium sub, but I wanted to go back and run Annuminas, Helegrod, and the Eregion instances on my 65's. If they keep putting new level 65 content in old regions, people will either have to buy the quest packs for those regions or keep their subscriptions active.

Envoyé par trancejeremy

It's a month after F2P launch, I'm really hoping we learn some concrete news about future plans of the game.

IMHO, the main reason the game flopped while P2P was because of the slow stream of new content after Moria. Unless they change this, the new start they've made with F2P is going to be wasted...

They either need to hire more people, or hire better people, who won't produce stuff at a snail's pace.

You obviously were not around when the game was launched then. We had pretty regular meaningful content for a while. I am just hoping they get the capital to do it again.

Envoyé par cicdle

You obviously were not around when the game was launched then. We had pretty regular meaningful content for a while. I am just hoping they get the capital to do it again.

He clearly said "after Moria". I agree with him completely. After Moria new content and perhaps more importantly, information on new content, dried up. This is when the populations started to diminish. Before then we had a steady stream of both. I don't mind it taking 3 months for some new content as long as I know it's coming. It's been a month since F2P launched, Turbine should give us something to look forward to. I think that would keep people playing more steadily rather than the huge amount of activity for the month following an update followed by 2 or 3 months of dead (relatively) servers.

Envoyé par Efol

It wouldst surprise me at all if the next raid cluster was spread out across multiple zones. Right now a max lvl toon has no reason to buy quest packs but if they put the new cluster all across the map non vip will need to buy multiple quest packs just for the instance cluster.

While it may or may not for the reasons stated , you may be right. Who is to say that the instance cluster will be contained all within one zone. It would be interesting to have a group of instances added across Eriador that would have a cohesive story-line.

Envoyé par Macfeast

The rangers did a huge deal in V3B1 about leaving their lands behind and what would happen in their absence. I just found it odd that we would return north again to stop the upcoming threats, because it kind of ruins the whole point about the rangers not wanting to leave; Our characters could simply say "Nah, don't worry about that, we'll just pop back real quick and deal with that stuff, you go on ahead and we'll meet you again in Rohan".

As I said, it ruins the suspense of "What will happen to our old home when we leave it for the war in the south?"

It does feel odd that we would do so much back and forth as well as trying to be in two places at the same time, but with the compressed timeline from this point on it will probably be closer to the norm. I'm just worried about the continuity of the timeline within the Eriador regions and how that is handled. (Talking a walk through Angmar - it's September, no look it's November....no wait...it's January now......oops my bad it's October....um no it's December and is anyone up for the summer festival?.....

Envoyé par Macfeast

A shame they feel that way. I think elaborating on the less detailed parts of the lore is something they've done really well, and I'd rather they'd work their magic on Enedwaith than sending us back north simply because those areas are more familiar to us.

I too would have liked to see what could have been done in Enedwaith (who knows - maybe one of the instances may be in the zone). I'm one of those that would have loved to see an instance and/or skirmish in Forochel

Envoyé par Elnaith

I pretty much read this of the quote:
Instead of creating new instances in the new zone Enedwaith they focus on revamping the older instances in the style of Annuminas etc. So it would make sense the "more classic battlegrounds" will be Carn Dum, Urugarth etc., filled up with scaled up critters.
The time saved up will be invested into the Isengard addon next year, which should bring new "innovative" stuff.

I dearly hope they will not overhaul the older Eriador areas with something like WoW Cataclysm and fill new mobs here and there. Only because the Rangers left to the aid of their king it does not mean that all of Eriador is doomed and cannot protect itself. Since we alsothinned a significant amount of enemy forces in over 3 years. This would really not make sense.

I would be surprised (and very disappointed) if this was only in reference to re-vamps of older instances and/or if the regions have been re-worked in a new timeline. I can't see them going back and gutting CD/Uru/etc. to be replaced by an updated version with a different story/setting and old enemies can't really take advantage of new opportunities with the storylines that are already in place.

That said, I do wonder if they will do something similar to what they did with the Rift Skirmish - re-use a location in a different way while keeping previous content inta-ct and/or updated with scaling.

"... so much richer for the players to return to some more classic battlegrounds than to pull something together through Enedwaith" ... "And it gave us the opportunity to focus on continuing to work on Isengard..."

I pretty much read this of the quote:
Instead of creating new instances in the new zone Enedwaith they focus on revamping the older instances in the style of Annuminas etc. So it would make sense the "more classic battlegrounds" will be Carn Dum, Urugarth etc., filled up with scaled up critters.
The time saved up will be invested into the Isengard addon next year, which should bring new "innovative" stuff.

I dearly hope they will not overhaul the older Eriador areas with something like WoW Cataclysm and fill new mobs here and there. Only because the Rangers left to the aid of their king it does not mean that all of Eriador is doomed and cannot protect itself. Since we alsothinned a significant amount of enemy forces in over 3 years. This would really not make sense.

Envoyé par robnkarla

From the new podcast - Massive Online Gamer Podcast

"As a result of their departure, Eriador is basically bereft of so many of the folks who have have kept it safe and kept it balanced and this has opened up so many new opportunities of attack from the enemy and players will need to jump in and combat those enemies. You'll see some familiar faces...some enemies from before who have returned to make good on these opportunities and I think players will be very excited about it. In fact there's a big multi-boss raid that finishes it, which I think has our greatest challenge yet."
Edit: I hope I got it right

Any speculation on where these might be located and/or familiar faces we'll be fighting? Interesting that this will not be in Enedwaith/Dunland but in older locations?

Familiar faces = Carn Dum, Urugarth, and Barad Gularan as scaled instances
Big multi-boss raid = scaled Rift raid

By the way in the Lord of the Rings maps Enedwaith is not in Eriador, this is only the case in the LOTRO map. Enedwaith is a region on par with Eriador in the Lord of the Rings maps.

Envoyé par Rehoboth

By the way in the Lord of the Rings maps Enedwaith is not in Eriador, this is only the case in the LOTRO map. Enedwaith is a region on par with Eriador in the Lord of the Rings maps.

Might want to check your Middle-earth maps, again. Everything west of the Misty Mountains is part of Eriador. There are sub-areas of Eriador - Angmar, Arnor, Eregion, and Enedwaith to name a few.

I have a framed 4x3 (roughly) map on the wall in front of me. :-p

Edit: Middle-earth Map

Envoyé par Arbalister

Might want to check your Middle-earth maps, again. Everything west of the Misty Mountains is part of Eriador. There are sub-areas of Eriador - Angmar, Arnor, Eregion, and Enedwaith to name a few.

I have a framed 4x3 (roughly) map on the wall in front of me. :-p

Ok maybe I've been tricked by the widest view map in LOTRO, which originally had Enedwaith as a separate major region. So I'll stay out of the debate until I have more information.

Envoyé par Arbalister

Might want to check your Middle-earth maps, again. Everything west of the Misty Mountains is part of Eriador. There are sub-areas of Eriador - Angmar, Arnor, Eregion, and Enedwaith to name a few.

I have a framed 4x3 (roughly) map on the wall in front of me. :-p

Edit: Middle-earth Map

Enedwaith is not part of Eriador:

Envoyé par The Lord of the Rings Appendix A I iii

‘Eriador was of old the name of all the lands between the Misty Mountains and the Blue; in the South it was bounded by the Greyflood and the Glanduin that flows into it above Tharbad.

Envoyé par robnkarla

From the new podcast - Massive Online Gamer Podcast
Another quote:

"Enedwaith is a great location, but if you remember from the original texts there's just not that much in it because the Fellowship goes through Moria and then down by Fangorn and so we're telling a part of the story that just was not dealth with much, so we felt like it would be so much richer for the players to return to some more classic battlegrounds than to pull something together through Enedwaith"

If Turbine is serious about this statement, I don't get it at all. For crying out loud, ANGMAR is nothing more than an appendix entry in LotR. Yet we are supposed to believe Turbine can't make rich content to fit places that aren't featured in the books. The whole design premise of LOTRO (in my view) is that Turbine is fleshing out and creating great storylines in the parts of Middle-earth that Tolkien did not painstakingly detail (because it is simply not feasible from a lore perspective for us to hold hands with the Fellowship during their travels). So, with all due respect, I really have to call BS on this statement about not being able to create a rich enough experience in Enedwaith. That simply flies in the face of everything Turbine has created so far in LOTRO. Furthermore, if that is really Turbine's perspective, if they don't feel that Enedwaith is important, then how do they expect the players to care about Enedwaith?

Hrm. Getting pretty riled up there. But that quote is very troubling to me.

This part doesn't make much sense either:

Envoyé par robnkarla

"And it gave us the opportunity to focus on continuing to work on Isengard, which of course, you know, is something we are looking at for next year..."

I don't understand how creating an instance cluster in old Eriador would take more resources than creating it in the Lich Bluffs (or anywhere else in Enedwaith).

Unless of course the plan is simply to repurpose existing assets and turn them into skirmishes, ala the Rift skirmish. If that is indeed what Turbine has in mind, my crystal ball says that there will be a lot of teeth gnashing in the playerbase - or even worse, complete disinterest.

As usual, more questions than answers and too much speculation to go around. This is worse than LOST, because with Lost it was fun for your brain and talking about it with your chums, this is turning into a nagfest. So far what I have got out of this thread is:

+ Enedwaith is most likely part of Eriador depending on who you ask
+ If we go back to older areas (CD/URU/BG) it would be bad story telling

I will wait for a more formal announcement before commenting or sharing how big MY Middle Earth map is on my wall

Envoyé par Vilnas

Hrm. Getting pretty riled up there. But that quote is very troubling to me.

Agreed. That quote goes against everything we've come to expect from Turbine after giving us Angmar, Forochel, Evendim, and the like. If they've really had a change of opinion and now feel that way, it doesn't look promising for those of us (me included) who want to go north to visit Thranduil's realm, Erebor, Dale and whatever the devs could cook up in the area. I realize this is Lord of the Rings Online, but I think it would be a huge mistake to go straight for Mordor via Rohan and Gondor, and leaving everything else untouched.

This sounds like a perfect opportunity for a revamp of the North Downs and perhaps a complete overhaul of Fornost and Dol Dinen. I say bring it on!!!

"And it gave us the opportunity to focus on continuing to work on Isengard, which of course, you know, is something we are looking at for next year..."

There's the reason right there.

It's much easier for them to create instances in old areas than it is to create them in new ones, especially areas that have very little to do with the original story.

I am guessing Enedwaith will be a forgotten zone quickly after we get to Isengard.

I did find it strange to begin with that we followed the company through Moria then into Lothlorien and Mirkwood, and now we're suddenly backtracking to pre-Moria zones with the release of Enedwaith.

I guess we'll see what November holds.

So the summoning horn at the dwarf-library in Enedwaith will go unused?

After giving it some thought, I foresee one new instance taking place behind the closed doors in the cave added in the Trollshaws with V3B1. I wonder what lies beyond that door?