Lord of the Rings Online's Update 39, Arenas of Conflict, Is Now Live | MMORPG.com

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Lord of the Rings Online's Update 39, Arenas of Conflict, Is Now Live | MMORPG.com

The new update has hit Lord of the Rings Online, and with it comes with a new 12-person raid, instances, class changes, and more. 

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Sovrath

Are any of these weapons or armor in the game? Because I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.

Sovrath

The_Real_Dural said:

gladiator pit.... in a Lord of the Rings game, ridiculous.

Well, in fairness, there is one in Shadow of War. Now, would there be arenas in other cities in Middle Earth? Possibly. I mean, why not. It's not like there weren't coliseums throughout history where people fought for others' entertainment.

Heck, we still have it now. Boxing, Ultimate fighting, various martial arts exhibitions.

Nebless

Sovrath said:

Are any of these weapons or armor in the game? Because I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.

From what I can see of it I'd say the Blue outfit is as is the sword. If that's the outfit I'm thinking it is I have it, the hat and sword. I generally don't do cloaks, but it looks like one I've seen before.

ValdemarJ

Sovrath said:

Are any of these weapons or armor in the game? Because I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.

I'm not sure if they're exact representations. That graphic almost looks like concept art. But there is a swashbuckler hat and that blue cape and robe (or something very similar) in the game. 

Several characters have extensive wardrobes with very similar gear. The stuff in the pic looks close to that, and I think somewhat accurately represents the armor types in game.

That said, the problem is they look better in the picture than they do in game, at least that would be my issue with it. If it's a screenshot of in game footage, it has to be doctored. The lighting in game doesn't look that good. The textures look more detailed. Maybe because it's squished down to a small sized?

Sovrath

I don't recall that shield. The curved sword is similar to one I have. I don't recall the sword the Orc has.

You both are correct about the blue outfit and hat though.

OldKingLog

Sovrath said:

The_Real_Dural said:

gladiator pit.... in a Lord of the Rings game, ridiculous.

Well, in fairness, there is one in Shadow of War. Now, would there be arenas in other cities in Middle Earth? Possibly. I mean, why not. It's not like there weren't coliseums throughout history where people fought for others' entertainment.

Heck, we still have it now. Boxing, Ultimate fighting, various martial arts exhibitions.

Hell we still have full on fight to the death gladiator fights in some places I've been ... er ... I've said too much.

As to all the puritanism over LOTR lore, that is what makes games based on said lore boring as all hell.

Scot

Graphics are still my minimum for a MMORPG and not every new MMO can get above that bar. I think this gladiator pit is in Umbar, an area only sketched in by Tolkien, so it is stretching but fits the lore in my eyes. As to saying the lore making games boring, there is a wealth of lore in Middle Earth that makes it the richest fantasy world there is. If as a game designer you can't find anything in that lore to add to a game based on that world, you just need to do some reading.

But lets be honest this gladiator pit was driven purely by gameplay considerations and dropped in, I can hope they only put it in because its Umbar, but that would be wishful thinking.

Sovrath

OldKingLog said:

Sovrath said:

The_Real_Dural said:

gladiator pit.... in a Lord of the Rings game, ridiculous.

Well, in fairness, there is one in Shadow of War. Now, would there be arenas in other cities in Middle Earth? Possibly. I mean, why not. It's not like there weren't coliseums throughout history where people fought for others' entertainment.

Heck, we still have it now. Boxing, Ultimate fighting, various martial arts exhibitions.

Hell we still have full on fight to the death gladiator fights in some places I've been ... er ... I've said too much.

As to all the puritanism over LOTR lore, that is what makes games based on said lore boring as all hell.

I'm the opposite, I prefer games based of lore to adhere to that lore, that world.

Having said that, with a game like Lord of the Rings Online, there are "bits" that are not in the books but that have been mentioned in a variety of other related sources. They are just not fleshed out.

There are also things that just make sense in the definition of a society. So any place where you have a lot of people making up, say, a town, then it makes sense for the people of that town to engage in activities that a town would have. Same with cities.

So I don't doubt that certain places in middle earth would have a fighting arena or coliseum.

lotrlore

OldKingLog said:

Sovrath said:

The_Real_Dural said:

gladiator pit.... in a Lord of the Rings game, ridiculous.

Well, in fairness, there is one in Shadow of War. Now, would there be arenas in other cities in Middle Earth? Possibly. I mean, why not. It's not like there weren't coliseums throughout history where people fought for others' entertainment.

Heck, we still have it now. Boxing, Ultimate fighting, various martial arts exhibitions.

Hell we still have full on fight to the death gladiator fights in some places I've been ... er ... I've said too much.

As to all the puritanism over LOTR lore, that is what makes games based on said lore boring as all hell.

Keep in mind too - we are in Umbar and the Harad - regions we don't know nearly as much about as we do Breeland or The Shire. So the creative license here can be off the charts.

Sovrath

The_Real_Dural said:

OldKingLog said:

Sovrath said:

The_Real_Dural said:

gladiator pit.... in a Lord of the Rings game, ridiculous.

Well, in fairness, there is one in Shadow of War. Now, would there be arenas in other cities in Middle Earth? Possibly. I mean, why not. It's not like there weren't coliseums throughout history where people fought for others' entertainment.

Heck, we still have it now. Boxing, Ultimate fighting, various martial arts exhibitions.

Hell we still have full on fight to the death gladiator fights in some places I've been ... er ... I've said too much.

As to all the puritanism over LOTR lore, that is what makes games based on said lore boring as all hell.

o yeah because everything out of the realm of the Lore has been so successful they've got millions o fpla.. o wait no they don't.

I think that the current state of Lord of the Rings Online has nothing to do with lore breaks or even sticking to the lore.

There are a lot of good things but there are a lot of head smashing things. It's just not a very captivating game when it comes to excitement.

FrodoFragins

Umbar having a fighting arena seems far less egregious than characters running around with Bog pets.  An arena certainly could exist there.  (And no I don't care about LOTRO's lore bending for the most part.  They needed to do it to get enough players.)

Scot

FrodoFragins said:

Umbar having a fighting arena seems far less egregious than characters running around with Bog pets.  An arena certainly could exist there.  (And no I don't care about LOTRO's lore bending for the most part.  They needed to do it to get enough players.)

If I remember aright we first started the new content debates lore wise back when they added the goat mounts. Compared to that and some other new content, a gladiator pit in Umber is  chump change.