The Fanatical Swordsman

Today there was more news of the Isengard expansion, and I am getting really excited! It was a preview released on PC Gamer by a guy called Josh Augustine. I would like to add my comments to a few selected sentences.

1. “Let’s get my personal favorite news out of the way first: with Rise of Isengard, Monster Play will finally be free-to-play for everyone, instead of reserved exclusviely [sic] for subscribers.”

I’m glad that this is going to happen, as it might revitalize PvMP, and with all of the changes in PvMP, we might actually have a flourishing community in the Moors!

2. “Monster Play is LOTRO’s version of PvP, where one team of players assumes control of “monster” characters like orcs, goblins, or spiders.”

This is incorrect for the current state of the game, as there is no way to play goblins. However, as players have been asking to play goblins, this might have been a slip of something we don’t know, for example a warg-rider class, since there have been certain skill updates proposed by Orion that have affected mount speed. Just a conjecture, nothing known yet.

3. “This expansion is a doozy, with over 400 quests included”

Heck yes. I love questing! I cannot wait. Now taking five level 65s (maybe six by the time it gets here) through all of that content…

4. “It’s a great part of the Lord of the Rings story to flesh out–where Tolkein briefly mentioned a conflict, Turbine has brought entire civilizations to life in stunning detail.“

This is true about Turbine’s entire approach to the game and its design. LOTRO is an incredibly rich source of “lore-completion.” The war in Angmar is simply entrancing, and the Epic Storyline is worthy of repeating, though I tend to outlevel it.

5. “LOTRO’s newly-added phasing technology – which allows the world to change in response to your actions (save a town, and they stay saved, to your perspective at least) – is used to its full effect for the first time ever in these new zones.”

This will be very exciting, as I greatly enjoyed the phasing they did with Volume III of the Epic Storyline.

6. “The level cap is being increased to 75, opening a bunch of new character skills and ways to customize your character as you attempt to bring peace to these warring people having to deal with Saurumon’s [sic] failed breeding experiments being dumped on their doorstep.”

Alright, aside from the fact that it is “Saruman” not “Saurumon,” I cannot wait to get more skills and traits! Also, I just want to point out that his breeding experiments hardly failed. Boromir would be outraged at his statement…if, you know, he hadn’t been killed by them…

Too soon?

Finally, Augustine ended with,

7. “Look for more details soon as we jump into the closed beta for a hands-on preview in the coming weeks.”

I really hope that the preorder of Isengard will get me into this closed beta.

That’s all for tonight, thanks for reading!

Geldarion