Thread: Dev Diary Feedback: Update 2: Volume III, Book 3 Quest Notes

Today Jeff ‘MadeOfLions’ Libby brings us his latest edition of Quest Notes! Read more in his latest developer diary and post your comments here!

A quick correction! The sessionplay mentioned at the end is actually the *second*-most distant event so far. I forgot about a certain sessionplay during Volume I at the time of writing.

MoL

Can't wait for Monday! The new book looks swwwweeeeet! I haven't tried it on BR, I want it to be mostly a surprise! Can't WAAAAAIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!

~Rae

EDIT: Oh, and seeing Isildur? *Jawdrop*/*faint*

I am very excited to see the inclusion of the large amount of feedback. We get two long story arcs, one for people who like groups and one for everyone regardless of playstyle. Horray!

Really looking forward to this! Let's just hope Codemasters releases it in time (I'm a european player). Good job Turbine!

Originally Posted by MadeOfLions

A quick correction! The sessionplay mentioned at the end is actually the *second*-most distant event so far. I forgot about a certain sessionplay during Volume I at the time of writing.

MoL

Huh? I thought there was just the one in the tower in Carn Dum and then the two in Eregion, or was the one with Narmeleth not in Eregion?

Holy carp, Isildur! Tours.

-The Gneech

Originally Posted by TheOneRinger

Huh? I thought there was just the one in the tower in Carn Dum and then the two in Eregion, or was the one with Narmeleth not in Eregion?

By distant, he means time-wise.

Originally Posted by thegneech

Holy ????, Isildur! Tours.

-The Gneech

Holy Hobbits, Isildur, maybe? Holy corruption, Isildur? ... Holy Arrow'd Isildur? :3

Originally Posted by TheOneRinger

Huh? I thought there was just the one in the tower in Carn Dum and then the two in Eregion, or was the one with Narmeleth not in Eregion?

he's not talking distance, but time I believe.

Originally Posted by TheOneRinger

Huh? I thought there was just the one in the tower in Carn Dum and then the two in Eregion, or was the one with Narmeleth not in Eregion?

SPOILER ALERT:

In terms of the timeline, he is correct; The one with Narmeleth takes place when Sauron in the guise of Antheron/Annatar deceives the elves of Eregion, or in other terms, before the forging of the One Ring. As the new Session Play involves Isildur, it would have to take place after the session play with Narmeleth.

SPOILER END.

In other news, Isildur's quote made my signature. Really looking forward to seeing him enter the game.

Right, right, right... that's what I get for commenting before I read the article.

Having played the book on Bullroarer, I foolishly thought myself competent in understanding.

Originally Posted by TheOneRinger

Right, right, right... that's what I get for commenting before I read the article.

Having played the book on Bullroarer, I foolishly thought myself competent in understanding.

I was going to ask the very same question myself, and then read it :3
As a great man once said, take a look, it's in a book.

Originally Posted by Varenthor

EDIT: Oh, and seeing Isildur? *Jawdrop*/*faint*

The first cut on BR portrayed Isildur as having short, blond hair, in fact, he looked just like the stable master at Ost Guruth or somesuch place.

Stable Master: So many elves passing by comment on how much I look like Isildur, a king of old. Do you think we're related?

I realized it was just a placeholder, but props to the artists for giving Isildur a very kingly appearance.

I'm looking forward to Monday, so much to do to get ready before the servers shut down for update and after they're up. *cough cough* maybe I'm coming down with something, I bet it only gets worse over the weekend and I should stay home and rest up.

Can't wait until Monday!! Looking forward to doing the books, finishing up Vol. 2 on my LM, and learning the new instance and raid content! See yall in the game

Originally Posted by MadeOfLions

A quick correction! The sessionplay mentioned at the end is actually the *second*-most distant event so far. I forgot about a certain sessionplay during Volume I at the time of writing.

MoL

Thanks for that quick edit! It was my only complaint in an otherwise excellent Dev Diary.

Originally Posted by Namesse

The first cut on BR portrayed Isildur as having short, blond hair, in fact, he looked just like the stable master at Ost Guruth or somesuch place.

Interestingly, this is how I found out that Isildur would be present. While doing a forum search, a thread named "Isildur needs a new model" showed up among the search results.

Great work. Isildur would be a great addition to the kings in the books. Unlike Arvedui and Earnur he'll be in full health and uncorrupted(for now) too. Splendid armour on Isildur, the insignia is beautifully done.

No offense to any Devs, an not to spoil anything, but I did most of V3B3 on BR and it was rather uneventful. Figuring Isuldur played such a big part in the past, I thought there would be something more.

Looks like a lot of fun! I especially like that group players have a lot to do both in the Epic book and the new instances & raid, while solo/duo players like my wife and I tend to be aren't locked out of the Epic book. Sounds like a Win/Win for everyone, really.

(Yes, it was hard to resist throwing out a cheap Charlie Sheen joke above.)

Sweet armor, Isildur. Can I have a matching set?

Having played the new book on Bullroar I can guarantee you that it was one of the best delivered so far. It comes very close to the epicness of Volume 1 books. It even has one reward which is useful *surprise surprise!*
Volume 2 was a downfall and thank god V3 is showing more canon than ever. I can't wait the story to continue.

I just wished you had not spoilered the sessionplay in your diary. It would have been a real surprise to all the non BR testers. But again, it is very good. There was only one moment where I felt, noooooo! Not him! How could you!


As for the "In their Absence" arc I think it is a very vague argumentation to conect the rise of the Gaunt-Lords with the absence of the Rangers. The Rangers never had to deal with any of the Gaunt-Lords afaik. Gortheron would have done the same "project" even if the Rangers were still present in Eriador. Of course it is good for him without the small threat of the Rangers, but all in all I think it has nothing to do with them at all. Just a coincidence.

I really hope the story continues canon-wise as V1 did and that you give us more opportunities to witness glorious moments of the long past of Middle-earth. Isildur was just one!

PS: The armour of the numenorean soldier we play in the SP, would have been the uber-reward. Perhaps you could look into a possible reward of it in the next book, please?

I'm surprised that there was no mention of the 'rewards' for completing the story arc this time around. Is there anything worthwhile or will I be npc'ing a ton of garbage?

However, we’ll try and allow for groups as a first option, and only proceed to the ‘solo only’ option if it is truly necessary for story or gameplay reasons.

/cheer /cheer /cheer

Dang it, you made me lol with the "I'm kind of a big deal" bit.

These notes have me rather excited.

Originally Posted by Elnaith

As for the "In their Absence" arc I think it is a very vague argumentation to conect the rise of the Gaunt-Lords with the absence of the Rangers. The Rangers never had to deal with any of the Gaunt-Lords afaik. Gortheron would have done the same "project" even if the Rangers were still present in Eriador. Of course it is good for him without the small threat of the Rangers, but all in all I think it has nothing to do with them at all. Just a coincidence.

I think you underestimate the Dúnedain. Gortheron would have resurrected his brethren that's for sure, but sending two of them to Stoneheight and Northcotton Farms? Unlikely. Unfortunately for us (or them) he has learned that northern Eriador has been left unprotected and so he will not be hindered in anything he choses to do.

<nerdgasm>OMG! OMG! "We’re going to Gondor, and we’re going there in the Second Age of Middle-earth."</nerdgasm>

This update just keeps getting better in my opinion. I'm loving Volume 3 so far, and this little tidbit of news makes me excited for what lies ahead. I also think it's great you've decided to tie all the new cap-level instances together into one separate story, which will only make completing them that much more gratifying.

.
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Bah!

So all that content ends with a 12 man? Soooo...normal players (non-hardcore) would never be able to finish it without kin-hopping to a hardcore raiding kin.

Heh, and all the goodies like 1st agers and 2nd age ingredients and upgrades are also only for the hardcore....sheesh not even trying to appear to be a casual-friendly game anymore.

Guess LOTRO is now officially "raid or die" as far as kinships go.

You guys ought to remember what happened the last time you went totally in favor of the hardcore kins. A few months after Moria, the increased difficulty and radiance gating killed the on the fly PUG in favor of hardcore kinships getting enough "challenge" ...... and the population fell dramatically (everywhere but maybe the top 2 servers). It's the slow servers that are harmed the most by overly difficult content.

Well, I guess it's understandable, you've already run off most of the non-hardcore anyway.

Well thanks for soloizing volume 2 at least..hopefully it won't be too difficult as to be overly frustrating but still be a lot of good story, because there's really no reason for a non-hardcore to continue playing after that.

4 years is a lot of time for one game anyway.

Originally Posted by anwar

So all that content ends with a 12 man? Soooo...normal players (non-hardcore) would never be able to finish it without kin-hopping to a hardcore raiding kin.

All what content? The 'In Their Absence' quest chain? It does end with a 12-man Raid. Book 3 of the Epic Story has nothing to do with the Raid.

MoL

If only the final reward for completing this book chain would be all those barter items going into the barter wallet![One can hope...right..]

Originally Posted by anwar

.
Heh, and all the goodies like 1st agers and 2nd age ingredients and upgrades are also only for the hardcore....sheesh not even trying to appear to be a casual-friendly game anymore.

Last time I checked you can get 2nd Age ingredient by doing a 3 man 5 times...

Originally Posted by MadeOfLions

All what content? The 'In Their Absence' quest chain? It does end with a 12-man Raid. Book 3 of the Epic Story has nothing to do with the Raid.

MoL

I believe the poster you quoted was trying to express displeasure at the fact that the "In Their Absence" ends with a 12-man Raid.

Let me give you an example. I typically play with 2 other people. We 3-man a lot of content. We might be able to handle the new 3 man instances ourselves. We may even be able to continue through the quest-arc by scraping up three other players (would have to be PUG) and completing the two 6-man instances. But we have almost no chance at gathering up the remaining 9 characters we'd need to complete a 12-man raid. Our progress through the quest-arc would stop right there and never advance. Much like the (early) epic books.

In this way it seems the new "In Their Absence" quest-arc favors the hard-core raider set as they are the only ones that will have the resources (warm bodies) readily available to complete the arc.

I'm just trying to clarify the position of the poster to which you were responding. I hope I didn't miss the mark too badly.

Originally Posted by TheREALify

In this way it seems the new "In Their Absence" quest-arc favors the hard-core raider set as they are the only ones that will have the resources (warm bodies) readily available to complete the arc.

Well, you're making a choice. You are choosing to not continue the arc to the end. Being in a raid, now more than ever with the removal of radiance, isn't some magical attribute of a few people. If you don't want to do the raid, then so be it.

I don't like to do festivals. I'm not coming on here whining to Turbine to make festival quests raiding quests.

Originally Posted by Snowlock

Being in a raid, now more than ever with the removal of radiance, isn't some magical attribute of a few people.

Yep. My main didn't transfer to BR for some reason so I transferred my guard and played him in the new raid. I'm a raider so I had fun but my guard is not a toon I play. My guard is my metalsmith and has quest gear and jewellery, and LIs with ???? relics and only about 25 levels of points to spend. As such his gear sucks and I suck playing him but we were able to complete the first three bosses using my craptastic guard in a raid made up of half kin and half pug. And this on a test server with only a handful of attempts and no real clue on strats.

So quit whining, grow up, and join a pug raid already.

Originally Posted by Snowlock

Well, you're making a choice. You are choosing to not continue the arc to the end. Being in a raid, now more than ever with the removal of radiance, isn't some magical attribute of a few people. If you don't want to do the raid, then so be it.

I don't like to do festivals. I'm not coming on here whining to Turbine to make festival quests raiding quests.

You completely missed the point. One of the larger draws of the game as always been lore/story. They changed the epic books because so many people couldn't/wouldn't group to continue them and many complained. What they did here is opposite of what they have been doing - which is going in the wrong direction. No one is saying the raid shouldn't be there - it's that it shouldn't be tied to the quest arc to complete.

So quit whining, grow up, and join a pug raid already.

This is such an anti-productive comment. Forced grouping is atrocious, regardless of the difficulty of the content. There are many reasons why someone wouldn't want to do 12 man content. If they made raids last 30 mins, then I would do them -- there is absolutely no way I'm sitting in content for 30+ mins. Some of us have other priorities. LOTRO has never been a raiding oriented game, and it will never be. Get over it.

Originally Posted by Starrywisdom

You completely missed the point. One of the larger draws of the game as always been lore/story. They changed the epic books because so many people couldn't/wouldn't group to continue them and many complained. What they did here is opposite of what they have been doing - which is going in the wrong direction. No one is saying the raid shouldn't be there - it's that it shouldn't be tied to the quest arc to complete.



This is such an anti-productive comment. Forced grouping is atrocious, regardless of the difficulty of the content.

Most of our raids have some kind of quests that are associated with them. Why is it now a problem? It is not the epic line, it is at the end of quests that walk us through the new cluster.

Originally Posted by anwar

.
...sheesh not even trying to appear to be a casual-friendly game anymore.

Guess LOTRO is now officially "raid or die" as far as kinships go.

I lol'ed. Really hope this was sarcasm. LotRO has never been anything but casual-friendly. You'd be hard pressed to find another triple-A MMO that's more casual than LotRO, especially when it comes to end-game.

On the second thought, I'm starting to think your post was just a flame bait. Well done...

Alright Turbine I'll make you a deal. How about since you have this quest line going into larger group content, you give us back the epilogue? It's bad enough having deeds sitting around from content I was forced to do once for class quests etc, but half done epilogues are much worse. Sound like a decent trade?

Originally Posted by Starrywisdom

LOTRO has never been a raiding oriented game, and it will never be. Get over it.

Rift, Hele, Watcher, Turtle, DN, BG, and soon OD.

Yeah, you're right. LOTRO has never been a raiding game.

Originally Posted by opurt

Rift, Hele, Watcher, Turtle, DN, BG, and soon OD.

Yeah, you're right. LOTRO has never been a raiding game.

Wow, could you miss any more of an important word in what you quoted. The term 'oriented' you just skipped right over. LOTRO is not in any way, shape, or form a raiding oriented game. It's funny, because in attempting to disagree with me, you actually helped solidify my point. 7 raids(2 of which are about the only thing run anymore) in comparison to all the other content in the game shows how non-raid oriented the game is, thanks! If you're going to try to discuss a topic, at least fully read and attempt to comprehend what you are quoting

"As with the other Epic Books of Volume III, "Echoes of the Dead" is a Level 65 quest arc and is completely soloable. However, with a single exception (that we’ll get into in a moment), you can also complete this entire quest arc in a group if you like. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve mostly done away with the ‘forced solo’ quest instances for "Echoes of the Dead." That’s not to say that you won’t see them make their return in a future Epic Book (because you certainly will, in some cases). However, we’ll try and allow for groups as a first option, and only proceed to the ‘solo only’ option if it is truly necessary for story or gameplay reasons."

As this is an Epic(meaning all people can do it from F2P to VIP) why is the "Mysterious Relics" Deed NOT accessible? I own all the areas that the Mysterious Relics are in except Forochel, and I was unable to complete the deed because of it. Does this mean that I will not be able to do all of the instance line for this stuff? Is the Mysterious Relics deed going to change to F2P so that we can do this "Epic" line? How is this all going to work?