6 May 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Judging by the length of the books and the tomes of additional content that’s come out since, including posthumously, Lord of the Rings Online players don’t have too much to worry about. And if you were starting to worry recently, Turbine Entertainment timed their announcement like an Apple product being created. Just in time!
The company, which recently announced the DC Comics MOBA Infinite Crisis, will be releasing the latest update to the MMORPG on May 13. Update 11: Treachery of the White Hand will set players through adventures across five new areas as they continue the LotRO epic storyline. In addition to the areas of Wildermore, gamers can partake in a vamp of mounted combat, a key component of Riders of Rohan, or enjoy new daily and VIP benefits.
Hit the jump for the static glory that is to be Treachery of the White Hand. Continue Reading
24 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Turbine Entertainment is certainly keeping itself busy. Launching Riders of Rohan late last year and into early this year, the company followed that up by announcing the DC Universe-based MOBA Infinite Crisis between PAX East and GDC. Today, the developer and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, revealed plans to release Helm’s Deep, a digital expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, during fall 2013.
The expansion will include all the usual for LotRO. The level cap will be raised from 85 to 95, complete with new skills and specializations. Helm’s Deep will unlock a massive amount of new content for all characters level 10 and over and the Westemnet of Rohan will be fully explorable. The epic storyline will continue with the presence of such namesakes as Aragorn, Éowyn, and Éomer.
“With Helm’s Deep, we’re bringing the War of the Ring to players on a monumental scale,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine. “Our team is thrilled to create another iconic moment in Middle-earth, and put players in the center of the action.”
Time will tell if we see the same massive technical updates to the game as we did with RoR. Stay tuned to Lore Hound for all the updates on Helm’s Deep as they’re announced.
8 March 2013 | |
Pherephassa
It’s clock watching time! I am sitting here, waiting impatiently for the Neverwinter servers to open, letting myself and all the other gamers avidly waiting for a peek at Neverwinter in to play. It was smooth sailing last time, here’s to hoping it’ll remain smooth this weekend as well! I am a bit concerned, given a few changes they’ve made to the game since the last weekend – evidently you can’t move anymore while casting, which rather detracts from the ‘action’ element for me, but I’ll be seeing how that actually plays out shortly! “You are not allowed to play” “You are not allowed to play” “You are not allowed to play” I wonder just how many other people are at their computers already slamming at the login servers. :)
My attention has largely been focused on Neverwinter, although there has been other news trickling through as PAX announcements have been coming out. Several games have entered new beta phases, more purchases have been made, and iTZKooPA has delivered more lore background on the deities of SMITE.
Hit the jump to see it all!
Continue Reading
6 March 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Players still pining to get ahold of all of the Riders of Rohan expansion for Lord of the Rings Online are now one step closer today. Update 10: Against the Shadow Part Two has been pushed to the servers during today’s maintenance and brings with it the second part of RoR’s delayed instance cluster. Staying true to its word, developer Turbine has been producing high-quality content at a rapid speed to make up for the delay.
First discussed a few weeks ago, Update 10 is dropping four new raids on the Road to Erebor:
- The Bells of Dale (6-man)
- Road to the Lonely Mountain (12-man raid)
- The Fires of Smaug (12-man raid)
- The Battle for Erebor (12-man raid)
The update will include a an updated epic storyline for “In Their Absence.” Scaling for players level 65-85 is now available and the Ost Dunhoth raid has been retuned and split to three distinct encounters.
Hit the jump for the latest stills from the Road to Erebor and further details on the new instances.
Continue Reading
25 February 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Turbine Entertainment dropped some sad news on Lord of the Rings Online players late last year. After much beta testing, Turbine announced that the Riders of Rohan expansion pack would missed its initial deadline. Well, in a fashion. Instead of fully delaying all of the expansion’s features, including mounted combat, the develop took the unusual approach of segmenting the content.
Update 9 brought the first batch of post-launch content. Update 10 will have the second part of instance content. Four instances to be exact! The second go is focusing on guild content, featuring three 12-man raids across the lands of Rohan. The fourth instance induces a more intimate 6-man affair a bit out of the way in the Lonely Mountain area.
So yeah, lots of new dungeon content. But there’s more. Lord of the Rings Online – Update 10 includes another Turbine update, similar to the Return to Gianthold of Dungeons & Dragons Online. The updated “In Their Absence” questline has been retooled to scale for players level 65-85 and includes a retuned Ost Dunhoth.
Check out the full gallery after the cut. Continue Reading
18 December 2012 | |
pixiestixy
Spoiler warning: Spoilers may lie ahead for those of you who have not yet seen or read The Hobbit. Read with caution.
Being the fantasy-loving audience that you are, I’d venture to bet that a fair number of you, like me, took a trip to the theater sometime in the past few days for the opening weekend of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. And oh my. Wasn’t it grand?! That nostalgic setting, the familiar characters we all loved from the Lord of the Rings trilogy along with the new faces of dwarven determination, the story of overcoming even your own expectations to become a hero, that beautiful musical score, the horrific hordes of enemies to overcome.
Just, wow. I could go on and on about how much I loved this movie. And it’s so easy to see why J.R.R. Tolkien is known as the father of modern fantasy literature. In The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Silmarillion, Tolkien weaved together an intricately spectacular and intriguing world that still mystifies audiences today.
But that’s not precisely what I wanted to discuss today. Because the reawakening of my love for this universe has got me absolutely craving more. And I have to wonder: why isn’t Turbine Entertainment doing more to promote the fact that Lord of the Rings Online can provide “more” for myself and others like me who also were brought back into the fold of the LotR universe after seeing The Hobbit? Continue Reading
25 October 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
Turbine Entertainment, creator of Asheron’s Call, Dungeon & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online, has been hit by an unspecified number of layoffs according to the Boston Globe. Close to the developer’s hometown of Needham, MA, the Boston Globe confirmed the layoffs with a spokeswomen for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Turbine’s parent.
“As part of the continual review of our business operations and fluctuating market conditions, we have had to make reductions in our Turbine workforce,” said Remi Sklar.
Turbine Entertainment has more than 400 employees and is the backbone of the video game industry in the area. The news is especially surprising given the fact that Turbine announced it had hired handful of top-level talent, including 38 Studios, Petroglyph, Zynga and Mortal Kombat alums, earlier this month.
This is the second layoff to hit the Boston video game industry this week. Zynga announced the shutdown of its Boston studio as part of a 5% staff reduction (while the Apple press event was top of the tech news) on Tuesday. Continue Reading
15 October 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
Turbine Entertainment has kicked Riders of Rohan out the door. Now live on servers, the fourth expansion to Lord of the Rings Online allows players to proceed to level 85, acquire level 85 legendary weapons, opens six new zones and is now available to Mac gamers. Turbine fully means “Riders,” as most of the zones are the plains of Rohan were players can ride steeds into combat, introducing an entirely new mode of combat to Middle-earth. The new combat comes with a handful of complimentary features, including open tapping, the warband mob type and remote looting.
Lore Hound has been sniffing around Turbine’s latest expansion since it was announced not too long ago. Hit the jump to catch all the news, including zone introductions, media dumps and a collection of developer interviews. Lastly, you’ll get the last media dump that Turbine provided to tease the launch.
See you on the plains.
[Update]
Turbine just unveiled a launch trailer for Riders of Rohan. It’s been added to the post after the cut.
Continue Reading
