Jim Moreno delves into the dim forest of Mirkwood for a hands-on look at the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion.
Vanguard News
General news relating to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Jim Moreno finishes his look at how to RP using magic with some handy links from around the web.
Turbine has just released a new batch of screenshots for The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion to the award-winning MMO, which is scheduled to launch on December 1st in North America. The images depict the new Scuttledells region deep in the forests of Mirkwood.
Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online. For more Siege of Mirkwood screenshots, visit WarCry's Lord of the Rings Online Image Gallery.
Folks purchasing the new 2010 MMO Calendar will directly benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital. MMO developers including Turbine, Blizzard and Funcom have all contributed artwork to make this one of the hottest calendars on the market. Read on and MAKE A DIFFERENCE in a child's life!
In this week's RoleCraft, Jim Moreno looks at the actual act of casting the spell itself.
Turbine has just released the first video trailer for The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion which is scheduled to launch on December 1, 2009 in North America. Check it out!
Turbine has released seven brand new screens from the Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood. The screens give a creepy look at Dol Guldur Tower. Enjoy!
In this week's RoleCraft, we'll look at how a spellcaster puts their magic to good use in the world of roleplay.
Turbine has announced a the release date for the Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood. Set to debut on December 1, 2009, Mirkwood will arrive just in time for the holiday season! Grab all the details and check out a few screens after the jump.
Lord of the Rings Online will be expanding soon with Siege of Mirkwood. Turbine has released details about the expansion which you can read after the jump.
This week in RoleCraft, we look at how players can work the mystical arts of magic into their RP.
The 2nd Episode of Casually Legendary has been released and is available for download!
Casually Legendary is a blog and weekly podcast that discusses Lord of the Rings Online content from a casual players point of view because (for us older gamers) real life needs to come first.
Jim Moreno looks at how roleplayers can create a character who is in the military.
Lord of the Rings Online players will have more to explore in this fall's expansion, Siege of Mirkwood. The expansion includes a level cap rise as well as a host of other things. Check it out!
Before heading off to PAX, Lady Sinaea made sure to post RingCast #36, which is now live over at VirginWorlds.com.
This episode's topics: Book 8 patch, New bounty quests in Esteldin, Lore segment: How did Bilbo really obtain the One Ring?, The Hobbit, edited, & Do not ever give your account info to anyone!
RingCast is the show where you'll find everything related to Lord of the Rings: Online - Shadows of Angmar. It covers the state of the game as it stands now, as well as new information as it develops.
Felicia Day's MMOG-focused comedy series is great at getting laughs, but can it also teach us things about roleplaying in online worlds?
A collection of the finest RP links from around the Internet.
Morale is a very real aspect of warfare. Historical battles are as often won through moral superiority as physical strength. Rules that account for morale loss (and less frequently, morale gain) are very common in military computer, miniature, and board games yet have been largely neglected for games where a player controls a single avatar.
One of Turbine's developers for Lord of The Rings Online, Orion, has been posting an interesting and in-depth behind the scenes look at the mind of a developer when designing an MMO.
We get a interesting and frank look at Orion's work on redesigning Garth Agarwen, and some direct feedback to players responses. Head on over to his blog and check it out!
As long as player action sequences are the driving force behind special maneuvers, MMOs will be nothing but a numbers game. The key to break this cycle is to focus on responses to the enemy's actions.
Turbine's announce a "Design a Horse" contest for Lord of the Rings Online:
LOTRO fans, it's time to show us your artistic and creative skills: we're giving you the opportunity to submit your very own design for a horse which could be taken and implemented into the game as a player mount in a future content update.
You can read more details about the contest here. If you're interested, you have until July 28 to get your sumbission in!
Summer has arrived in the Lord of the Rings Online world. To find out all the ins and outs of the Summer Festival, click below for the link and to read a snip.
Turbine has released Book II: Chapter 8, Scourge of Khazad-Dum for Lord of the Rings Online. Find out more about this free content update after the jump.
How much of an MMO is button smashing and how much involves actual skill? This installment is an investigation of how armor choices and shield employment can yield more combat decisions.
We would like to thank Turbine and Codemasters for taking time out of their busy schedule to chat with us. Here is the transcript from the developer chat if you missed it:
WarCry: Vetaro: Does it feel discouraging when players tend to only focus on bad things about new content a while after it went live? Critics always scream louder than happy players...
Orion: Not at all. In fact, criticism is excellent it lets us know where we need to improve. The only frustration that arises in when you cannot answer someone as honestly as you would like, due to the rules and regulations in place. Every time that we see something negative we look at the complaints objectively, go back into the game and see what the core of the issue is and see if we can find out what the loud voices are truly trying to say.
Orion: More often than not the screams can be addressed with something fairly minor. Sometimes, the negative highlights deep-seeded issues and we can make people feel better. I learned a long time ago that you need to have a thich skin in this industry. Keep on smiling and never let them see you sweat.
Also a German translation has been made available at http://www.buffed.de/forum/index.php?showforum=44
Turbine has released a cool half dozen new screenshots from Lord of the Rings Online's new content expansion, Scourge of Khazad-Dum, due out later this month. These screens feature the Hall of Mirrors and can be seen after the jump.
Next Friday, WarCry and Turbine are teaming up to give fans of Lord of the Rings Online an opportunity to chat with the dev team via IRC! Read more details below the cut.
We had the chance to host a chat with some of the developers for Lord of the Rings Online!
Check out what the devs had to say to questions from players:
WarCry: MataTahu: Question for Fantus and the rest of the World Team: Any chance you could dangle a bite in front of us, of what areas of the map are due to be released "soon"? Soon meaning in the forseeable but indefinite future, of course!
Fantus: We are working hard on Mirkwood at the moment, as well as several instances. As far as when you will get them? Soon.
Fantus: We plan on going to new areas after that, but that is a bit too far in advance to fill you in on, just yet.
Turbine has just released the latest batch of screenshots for the upcoming Volume II: Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dum, the next free content update for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria.
The new screenshots illustrate the new crafting halls, which will be added with Book 8 in June.
The new screenshots can be found in our LotRO Vol. 2 Bk. 8: Scourge of Khazad-dum gallery. 
Turbine's published a new developer diary for Lord of the Rings Online, this one dealing with all the changes coming to crafting with Book 8.
There are some significant enhancements in store for the crafting system in The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Book 8, and we'd like to take time to provide the details for those who love to make stuff in the lands of Middle-earth!
There are a lot of details, so grab a mug of your favorite drink, get comfortable, and take a look!
Turbine's shared an interesting post on their official forums for Lord of the Rings Online:
As LOTRO has grown, the LOTRO team has gone through periods of growth and transition. Since some of our older developers have moved onto new tasks and newer developers have come on board, the LOTRO Systems team and I would like to take this opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to you. We would also like to announce a new way to broaden our communications with you, through our official LOTRO Systems forum account.
You can read the rest of Jalessa's post here.
John Funk tours the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online Book 8 and the celebrations of the Summer Festival.
I like stats as much as the next person (probably more), but when warfare is boiled down to raw probabilities, battlefield skill disappears. The building of the best stat base becomes much more important than any sort of tactical competency. Instead of seeking a skill based work-around, games come up with new statistical probabilities.
Turbine has released six new screenshots from the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online content expansion, Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dum. Check them out after the jump.
Following game companies on Twitter is a great idea, particularly when you get an up-to-the-minute update on your favorite game. Turbine has just announced via Twitter that Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-Dum is coming in June! Read more after the jump.
