LOTRO Mines of Moria

[Kosi]

UK, September 26, 2008 - In creating Mines of Moria, the first full expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, developer Turbine is very much entering new territory. Bizarrely, for a creator of games that can take eons to produce and just months to expand, the Massachusetts-based developer has created more fully-featured MMO titles than it has add-ons. In these times when expansion seems to be a medal for commercial success, that might not seem worth shouting about, but to Jeffrey Steefel, LOTRO's executive producer, this overlooked fact is immediately amusing. "That's a good one" he says, mentally counting through Turbine's prolific back catalogue. "We'll have to steal that line. Until next year when we'll have another expansion."

For most of us, Turbine included, the geography of LOTRO's second volume is familiar ground. Whether via the words of Tolkien himself, or the cinematic recreations of Peter Jackson, we've trod metaphorically through the dwarven stronghold dozens of times already. For Steefel and his team, the challenge hasn't just been about enticing us back to the familiar, but excavating and building upon the hidden and unwritten history of Middle Earth; to make Moria "a believable place, that feels like a real interconnected world," as Steefel says. Turbine, in other words, want to change our conceptions of a world we think we know, but one that even Tolkien himself only ever scratched the surface of.

"People will have an image of Moria as a dark path that they have to get through as quickly as possible" says Steefel. "It's very dangerous and we definitely wanted to capture that. But there's a lot more history to Moria than that. It is a giant underground place and has bred and begot many civilisations over time, the greatest of which being the dwarves under the time of Durin. What we wanted to do was create the Moria that showed evidence of all that, so that you could explore and experience the dark and dangerous -- but we also want to show that this was not just a dungeon that Gandalf and the party went through to make it to the other side."

Players keen to make their way to the new level cap of 60 will be following more closely than ever before in the footsteps of the Fellowship who, when the Mines of Moria open for play, will be resting up at Galadriel's treetop penthouse. In the wake of Frodo and co., the dwarves have been inspired to take back their subterranean city and restore it to its former glory, which is where LOTRO's many rearguard fellowships come in. Among them arrive two new player classes, the controversial spell-casting Rune-Keeper and the Warden. Leaving aside whether JRR might have approved of ubiquitous wizards in his world, let's just say that with the trend moving toward dynamic hybrid classes it was necessary that Turbine embraced the concept. The new Rune-Keeper and Warden seem to have impeccable solo credentials, although their group abilities remain to be fully tested. Still, there have not been any player class additions since launch, and in the wake of Warhammer's rather novel bunch of Engineers and Squig Herders, Moria's brace of new classes are a much needed and welcome riposte.

On the subject of Moria's release between the twin pillars of Warhammer and November's Lich King expansion, Steefel appears unfazed as people miss the point and once again ask questions of LOTRO's credentials as a WoW-killer. In fact, after a year of consistent story updates, LOTRO seems to be happily going about its business, almost as if Turbine would rather let the new fight the old so that everything can settle down again. "I think we all have carved out our own spaces" he says diplomatically of the competition, "I'm not worried because there are things that we offer that none of those games offer and there's things that they offer that we don't. The advancements that we have in the game are exceptionally different and broader than what's available in other games. As for Moria, I don't think there's another place in any game that players are going to be able to go to that's as exciting to be in. The reality is that the way people play these games now is that they move in and out and around and enjoy things. If there is great content for people to consume, they'll consume it, whether they are existing or new players."
One new feature than will certainly interest veterans and newcomers is the new concept of Legendary Items, where some weapons can be customised with runes and can earn experience points and create a new way of leveling up separate from grinding a character. As a mechanic it's perhaps the closest yet that an MMO has come to allowing players to forge named items that are unique to them. It's also a mechanic that is hard to gauge during a brief play-test, and given the potential imbalances than could ensue, it's one that is probably very hard to get right were LOTRO an out-and-out PvP game. That it isn't should ensure that the potential for LOTRO to further assert itself apart from the competition will be further realised, which is something Turbine and their fans will no doubt relish.
Graphically, the Mines of Moria are rich with variety and scale and, given their size, are actually very smooth to traverse. Turbine are keen to get across that the entire area of Moria itself is the largest single underground area ever seen in a game, which may be about as pointless a claim as has ever been made, but at least gets across how much effort has gone into mining it out. From luscious subterranean gardens, sourced by amplified light through glistening crystals, all the way to ominous lava flows that blaze between imposing stone archways, Turbine are both playing to and going way beyond our expectations regarding what is possible in such a place. And they've gone beyond Moria too, to Lothlorien itself. With a new content planned for the coming year, released again through regular "Book" updates, we can all expect another busy year as we immerse ourselves within (and eventually emerge from) the gloom.

One area that has been in need of change has been LOTRO's take on PvP combat, where high-level "Free Peoples" (Freeps) have been able to fight across the Ettenmoors against Monster Players (Creeps), typically cast from the lower levels of experience. Steefel explains that as well as some considerable reworking that's been done on balancing the classes, and more fairly distributing the skills for the monster players, a mechanic will be introduced that borrows from the age-old capture-the-flag and that will become the predominant method of PvMP. Both sides will effectively raid each other's keeps to gain control of artifacts. These artifacts will then bestow upon the holders buffs and perks than will be felt by all, not just those fighting for control of LOTRO's only PvP zone. Perhaps most welcome of all is that the system will keep track of the strength of numbers on both sides. If mismatched it applies perks to the weaker side.
"All of this is just a pre-cursor to what we hope will happen to Monster Play over time," says Steefel. "We're crossing the Misty Mountains and we're getting into the more war-like parts of Middle Earth. When we get down into Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith, you can imagine battles raging there. That will be the perfect opportunity to expand on PvMP, but do it in a way that gives us an opportunity to give PvP players more of what they're looking for, but at the same time in a way that has to be right for the world. Doing that in Eriador right now doesn't really work."

Lord of the Rings Online will always be fundamentally a PvE game, asserts Steefel, which is one of its many strengths and one that has made it the No#2 online game behind WoW across much of the world, "but I think PvMP will become a much greater part of it, so stories will become campaigns; things that people can play on both sides," says Steefel. Until that point when we can perhaps wade through the dead in the aftermath of Helm's Deep, or perhaps take a small part in its glory, Moria and its subsequent books will offer more than enough to keep LOTRO fans engaged, and perhaps entice others to the banner. One thing is sure; as much as we have to look forward to beyond Moria, there is more to Moria than we all might expect and though the Balrog may adorn the cover, his fiery presence is only one among those that inhabit The Endless Deep.