Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
System: PC
Developer: Turbine
By Jake Vanderlinden, Associate Editor
MMO’s seem to be everywhere these days, from World of Warcraft to Star Wars Galaxies and even Age of Conan, with never an end and unlimited numbers of content updates it is easy to see why people love playing them. I have been a veteran of more MMO’s than I care to remember, knowing full well that time spent on productive things around the house or just not planted in front of the computer would be good, but it always came back on me to finish just one more quest before going to bed. But currently the vice I have been dealing with, since its launch in 2007, is Lord of the Rings Online. The basics of any online game are seen in every online game out there, the difference is what you find along the way, and every update keeps the format going. So having gotten the basics out of the way lets talk expansions.
LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood is the newest installment in the Lord of the Rings Online Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG though usually just an MMO) and from the get go any player will note key differences that come with this addition.
We find ourselves following the Fellowship of the Ring after they have left Loth Lorien and struck out on there journey to destroy the ring. However rather than following our heroes on their journey to Mount Doom, we are instead tasked by the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim to help remove the evils from Mirkwood and retaking the strong hold of Dol Guldur.
The additional story and book work is pretty straight forward and leads you throughout the expanse of Mirkwood at a good pace and allows you to complete all the quests at any given camp before pushing you on into the next part of the story. Though a forest Mirkwood is a dark and foreboding place filled with more enemies than a Warden can shake his spear at. As I moved through the areas and worked my way through the new five levels I found that random encounters got a bit tedious and that I was almost always in combat. But even these encounters are useful as you move your character from level 60 to 65, and the slayer deeds come a lot faster too, which is the new level cap for characters.
With new dungeons and instances the addition seemed more like an update than an actual expansion, the actual size of Mirkwood only rivals about the size of Loth Lorien which was an update itself, but the expansion part of it comes in the new combat system and single player Skirmishes.
The combat system has had a complete overhaul beginning with the new auto attack functions, originally you would have to wait for an auto attack to finish before a skill would activate, but now skills interrupt auto attacks thus allowing for a more seamless form of combat. Though every improvement must come with a set back as well, in this case it is in the form of running out of power more quickly, so as you burn through your skills and tear enemies to pieces you also need to watch your power pool more closely and make sure you have those celebrant salves ready. As a further note to combat all the weapons have had a retooling allowing for people to play a cosmetic weapon. Being a Warden I have always ran with a spear, and will continue to do so, but with the weapon changes all damage is even and weapon speeds are the same based on single or double hand use. What this means is that a single handed sword will do as much damage, and at the same speed, as for instance a dagger or mace. The same goes for two handed weapons like great swords and war hammers. Though an interesting idea I find it a poor attempt at simplifying weapons, as a veteran MMO player I really don’t like the thoughts of a dagger doing as much damage as a sword, or a sword attacking as fast as a dagger, but as for the overall adjustment I can see why they made it and applaud them for even trying.
Now the meat and potatoes of the expansion comes with the Skirmish addition which are small in game instances that allow some one to gain decent rewards and experience in a small amount of time. This is done simply by opening a window and creating a Skirmish, there are multiple choices all of which are automatically scaled to your current level and repeatable, and choosing where you want to go. You are given a soldier that can be leveled up and gains training in different arts to assist you through out the Skirmish, different classes of soldiers have different uses from healing to tanking and everything in between, and just like any character the higher the level the more useful the soldier. Skirmishes also have the capacity to accompany a multiplayer format allowing to be ran them as duos, 3-man, 6-man, and 12-man instances, with rewards being given in the form of Marks that can be bartered with various NPC traders, to get you everything from weapons and armor to a nice piece of jewelry or a cosmetic hat.
System: PC
Developer: Turbine
By Jake Vanderlinden, Associate Editor
MMO’s seem to be everywhere these days, from World of Warcraft to Star Wars Galaxies and even Age of Conan, with never an end and unlimited numbers of content updates it is easy to see why people love playing them. I have been a veteran of more MMO’s than I care to remember, knowing full well that time spent on productive things around the house or just not planted in front of the computer would be good, but it always came back on me to finish just one more quest before going to bed. But currently the vice I have been dealing with, since its launch in 2007, is Lord of the Rings Online. The basics of any online game are seen in every online game out there, the difference is what you find along the way, and every update keeps the format going. So having gotten the basics out of the way lets talk expansions.
LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood is the newest installment in the Lord of the Rings Online Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG though usually just an MMO) and from the get go any player will note key differences that come with this addition.
We find ourselves following the Fellowship of the Ring after they have left Loth Lorien and struck out on there journey to destroy the ring. However rather than following our heroes on their journey to Mount Doom, we are instead tasked by the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim to help remove the evils from Mirkwood and retaking the strong hold of Dol Guldur.
The additional story and book work is pretty straight forward and leads you throughout the expanse of Mirkwood at a good pace and allows you to complete all the quests at any given camp before pushing you on into the next part of the story. Though a forest Mirkwood is a dark and foreboding place filled with more enemies than a Warden can shake his spear at. As I moved through the areas and worked my way through the new five levels I found that random encounters got a bit tedious and that I was almost always in combat. But even these encounters are useful as you move your character from level 60 to 65, and the slayer deeds come a lot faster too, which is the new level cap for characters.
With new dungeons and instances the addition seemed more like an update than an actual expansion, the actual size of Mirkwood only rivals about the size of Loth Lorien which was an update itself, but the expansion part of it comes in the new combat system and single player Skirmishes.
The combat system has had a complete overhaul beginning with the new auto attack functions, originally you would have to wait for an auto attack to finish before a skill would activate, but now skills interrupt auto attacks thus allowing for a more seamless form of combat. Though every improvement must come with a set back as well, in this case it is in the form of running out of power more quickly, so as you burn through your skills and tear enemies to pieces you also need to watch your power pool more closely and make sure you have those celebrant salves ready. As a further note to combat all the weapons have had a retooling allowing for people to play a cosmetic weapon. Being a Warden I have always ran with a spear, and will continue to do so, but with the weapon changes all damage is even and weapon speeds are the same based on single or double hand use. What this means is that a single handed sword will do as much damage, and at the same speed, as for instance a dagger or mace. The same goes for two handed weapons like great swords and war hammers. Though an interesting idea I find it a poor attempt at simplifying weapons, as a veteran MMO player I really don’t like the thoughts of a dagger doing as much damage as a sword, or a sword attacking as fast as a dagger, but as for the overall adjustment I can see why they made it and applaud them for even trying.
Now the meat and potatoes of the expansion comes with the Skirmish addition which are small in game instances that allow some one to gain decent rewards and experience in a small amount of time. This is done simply by opening a window and creating a Skirmish, there are multiple choices all of which are automatically scaled to your current level and repeatable, and choosing where you want to go. You are given a soldier that can be leveled up and gains training in different arts to assist you through out the Skirmish, different classes of soldiers have different uses from healing to tanking and everything in between, and just like any character the higher the level the more useful the soldier. Skirmishes also have the capacity to accompany a multiplayer format allowing to be ran them as duos, 3-man, 6-man, and 12-man instances, with rewards being given in the form of Marks that can be bartered with various NPC traders, to get you everything from weapons and armor to a nice piece of jewelry or a cosmetic hat.
As expansions to games go this is one of the better ones I have played and the changes bring an all new dynamic to the game, with a little time I have found that even for someone that has played since launch the changes in combat can be overcome quickly, and the Skirmishes give a nice break on the tedium of level grinding that is found in all MMO’s. To this extent LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood earns 4 critical Subtle Stabs out of 5.
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