Smart Move

Mars505

Very smart move to have that new splash screen telling us when the first major update is coming 

Jackdog

For those who might be wondering here is a screenie and the official announcement

Coming in June!!

Shores of Evendim

The First Update to The Lord of the Rings Online™

The greatest fantasy of all time continues to expand!



Beginning in June, heroes can adventure to the Shores of Evendim, the first of many free updates to The Lord of the Rings Online™.



About 100 miles north of the Shire, in northern Eriador, lies Evendim, a vast region dominated by the Lake Nenuial; the ‘Lake of the Twilight’. On the southern shore, the ancient abandoned city of Annúminas —the former capital of the kingdom of Arnor ­ is well known amongst the Free Peoples. For according to the Legends, amidst its ruins lay a great wealth and powerful artifacts now threatened by evil creatures and the nefarious forces lurking in Angmar.



As the Fellowship prepares to leave Rivendell, Aragorn must re-forge Narsil, the Sword of Elendil. Gandalf has asked for help in Aragorn’s to search the ancient lands of Evendim for an ancient jewel that once belonged in the sword’s hilt. This powerful relic must be recovered before the Dark Lord Sauron finds it.



Players are challenged to secure the valuables of the abandoned city, defy Angmar’s encroaching grip on Annúminas and aid Aragorn in his quest to re-forge Narsil.



Key Features:

• Discover the lands of Evendim
• Explore over 60 new Quests
• Raid in the Battle for Helegrod
• Fight against 9 new monsters
• Upgraded music system adds new instruments and lets you share your music with others
• Equip collectible Armor Sets

Decadentia

Whats most amazing about this is...no one expected anything like this so early, I am actually impressed.

Kyleran

I, for one, am very impressed.  Lets see how well they execute it.....



Things are looking very promising for LotRO... I'm really looking forward to the next few months...

Fifthred

Me too , It is like agony getting to the 24th , lol . it is like the time is slowing down and it will never come, I am jonesing for lvl 16

Look at how bumpmapped that ground is in the image

bathory723

and the hidden Features includes what?

...nerfs

...fixed bugs (like they cant do it now)

...more nerfs

psyconius

Yes I am very impressed, and it helps push me back towards wanting to play at release again..



However, I still have the sting of 6.5 hours of downtime for a new splash screen =P

Wraithmire

Originally posted by bathory723

aww, I cant report you cause you've been reported already:( I was gonna report you for trolling...

tkobo

"Raid in the Battle for Helegrod "

Any word on what this means ? Are they talking about some contrived indoor dungeon raid (same old standard raid fare), or something more fun like a massive outdoor npc battle the players can take part in?

ayanel

Very impressive, and very smart move on Turbine’s part.

achesoma

Giving people a taste of what the free updates will be like is an incentive to get the $199 lifetime account.  Very smart move indeed.

peenk

My biggest beef with LOTRO is PvP, # of classes and small world.  If indeed they keep adding more and more areas this fast it might be worth something.  But for now I have no reason to buy this game because it doesnt offer enough when compared to other games (including non-mmorpgs that are around the same release date as LOTRO). UFO: Extraterrestrials comming out May 1st. just for start.  Just my $0.02.

Decadentia

They certainly are pushing the punch and pie early.

9.99$ Subscription available

Free Early surprise Update

Very few bugs

Polished

Free Russian Wives

It has everything

Jackdog

Like I really needed more incentive to shell out the 200.  I knew  the lifetime sub was going to be a bargain. This game is gonna rule them all.

OBK1

I have to say I am more and more impressed by this game the longer I play it. My main gripes with it is that it is somewhat small, which will get better with time and also that there is very little customization (sp?) within the classes (I hope this will get fixed too). Apart from this I am very impressed (well actually, it feels a little too hand held as well, but you tend to forget that since everything else is so good).

allegria

Very impressed.

So far, so fabulous.

-Allegria

wykkid79

Originally posted by OBK1

I have to say I am more and more impressed by this game the longer I play it. My main gripes with it is that it is somewhat small, which will get better with time and also that there is very little customization (sp?) within the classes (I hope this will get fixed too). Apart from this I am very impressed (well actually, it feels a little too hand held as well, but you tend to forget that since everything else is so good).

Playing to mid-40's on a minstrel in closed beta I can say that there was a good distinction in different trait layouts.  Some were amazing for healing, others really upped damage, some helped in pvp raiding more... etc etc.  The thing is, that was without any legendary skills.  From what I've seen the legendary skills really make you stand out.

And to get perspective, for a little while I took off all my traits to see if they made "little" difference... haha. I got raped.

AgtSmith

Originally posted by Decadentia


They certainly are pushing the punch and pie early.
9.99$ Subscription available
Free Early surprise Update
Very few bugs
Polished
Free Russian Wives
It has everything

Everything except a combat system that doesn't put you to sleep.  I was very high on LotRO and very impressed with the quality and polish of the game - but after a week I just become so bored with the incredibly juvenile combat system I gave it up.  It might be a well made game, they might provide allot of good content - but the mechanics of playing are still mind numbingly uninteresting.

Greyhawk4x4

Originally posted by bathory723

and the hidden Features includes what?

...nerfs

...fixed bugs (like they cant do it now)

...more nerfs

Blatant trolling

Jackdog

I guess this shoots the trolls argument that the world is too small right in the ass doesn't it  LOL

fiontar

As far as world size, after timing travel in Bree-land and comparing results to those I found recorded on the web for WoW, my educated guess is that assuming all the zones have roughly the same amount of area the current LotRO game world is about large as one continent in WoW pre-Burning Crusade. (Half WoWs original land mass).



That may seem on the small side, but remember that with WoW, as you progress any given character to 60 you tend to skip about a third or more of the zones almost entirely, depending on your preferences as to where you spend certain level ranges. For example, leveling up my Draenie Priest to level 58 I completely skipped Goldshire, Westfall, Red Ridge, Strangle Thorn Valley, Loch Modan, Dun Morough, The Burning Steppes, The Badlands, Tanaris, Silithus, The Barrens and Thousand Needles and of course the Horde Starting zones.



So, compared to the game most of us have some knowledge or experience of, this world is NOT as small as some people have tried to make out. LotRO makes much better use of that space in most instances and has a lot more quests. Add in regular free updates and I assume paid expansions and I'm not worried about there not being enough world to support continuing play.

wykkid79

Originally posted by fiontar

As far as world size, after timing travel in Bree-land and comparing results to those I found recorded on the web for WoW, my educated guess is that assuming all the zones have roughly the same amount of area the current LotRO game world is about large as one continent in WoW pre-Burning Crusade. (Half WoWs original land mass).



That may seem on the small side, but remember that with WoW, as you progress any given character to 60 you tend to skip about a third or more of the zones almost entirely, depending on your preferences as to where you spend certain level ranges. For example, leveling up my Draenie Priest to level 58 I completely skipped Goldshire, Westfall, Red Ridge, Strangle Thorn Valley, Loch Modan, Dun Morough, The Burning Steppes, The Badlands, Tanaris, Silithus, The Barrens and Thousand Needles and of course the Horde Starting zones.



So, compared to the game most of us have some knowledge or experience of, this world is NOT as small as some people have tried to make out. LotRO makes much better use of that space in most instances and has a lot more quests. Add in regular free updates and I assume paid expansions and I'm not worried about there not being enough world to support continuing play.

Some of the zones are bigger than Bree-land, the map scale isn't the same on all zone maps.

In fact, Angmar and North Downs are both bigger than Bree-land for sure.  Some are smaller though, so on average you're probably right.  Most fair estimates put it at 60% of WoW's launch area.  If they double that in a year... And quadruple in 2... Even with the simple graphics engine Blizz can't keep on pace with that.

SpectralHunter

Turbine has a reputation of frequent game content updates so I don't find this surprising.  After the debacle of DDO, they really are working hard to make sure LotRO is a hit.



Oh, about landsize.  The irony is, I'm already hearing complaints in broadcast that there's too much running in the game.  So what is it?  Too big or too small?  Honestly, it's a good size and the zones are bigger than most people think.

Gangster-Man

Uhhh you guys DO realize that they could have made this content a while ago, and just saved it for now and say "look how hard we work, already new zones! buy our game!". Don't be suckered too quickly into things people, think first.

Einherjar_LC

I have to echo previous sentiments about Turbine in that they are unequaled when it come to free periodic updates.

 

Despite what you think about their games, they are excellent at rolling out fresh content on a frequent basis and this announcement comes as no surprise.

Cerion

Originally posted by Gangster-Man

Uhhh you guys DO realize that they could have made this content a while ago, and just saved it for now and say "look how hard we work, already new zones! buy our game!". Don't be suckered too quickly into things people, think first.

Here, let me lend you my tin-foil hat.

Turbine is known for its content release.  The simplest explanation, and likely the correct one, is that they've been working on it (and perhaps they are still working on it). Occom's Razor.  No need to develop some conspiracy theory to explain this one.