LotRO Exclusives

Part 1 of our preview can be found here.

Our next stop on the tour was the Twenty-First Hall, a hub of trade and social activity for players in Moria. Again, you can get a glimpse of just how large the caverns of Moria really are, and the fact that there are no loading zones in-between areas is truly remarkable. The Twenty-First Hall is home to one of the forges in Moria, and here we were introduced to the Legendary Weapon system, another customization technique in Moria. Essentially, some weapons in LOTRO can be identified as "Unique" and can be developed into Legendary Weapons. As you kill mobs, in addition to gaining experience for yourself, you're also gaining experience for your weapons. When a weapon gains enough XP, it can be reforged at the forge-master, and gain "legacies". Legacies are basically special bonuses provided by the item and can be anything from increasing the power or duration of a class ability, to adding DPS to an item. Every time a Legendary Weapon is reforged, it can gain new legacies. Furthermore, the player is given a certain amount of points that he can spend to improve legacies. Some legacies are ranked higher (i.e. better) than others, meaning they'll cost less to develop or provide more of a bonus at each point investment, or have longer duration effects. These points are given back at each reforging to allow the player to choose how to respend them with the new legacies. With up to six Legendary Weapons, the player is able to have a set of top-tier weapons with a wide area of customized uses, without having to depend on raids or camping mobs for a rare drop (though, other rare items than weapons will still drop this way). A player could choose to develop one weapon by putting all his points into increasing its DPS, while developing another weapon to have better tanking stats, and a third to have better offensive skill abilities. These weapons can be further customized by drop-in relics that provide even more enhancements. The result is yet another layer of customization providing for a truly deep and varied experience.

I must confess, I've never been a big Lord of the Rings fan. The first movie was pretty good, parts of the second and third ones as well, but nothing spectacular. (I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the fanboys now. WHAT! HE MENTIONED THE MOVIES BEFORE THE BOOKS? BLASPHEMY!) Yes, I've read the books too, every tortuous long minute of them. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some fantasy books, and I actually find some aspects of the Tolkien universe pretty intriguing. But I'm a law student; I already spend my days reading through hundreds of pages of dense material, it's not how I'd prefer to spend my off time.

Finnbarr Galedeep here!

Last week I had an opportunity to interview a player who I find to be a very respectable player.
I have followed him into many raids and have always found that you'll always gain something when your with him whether it be In-game or out of the game. In-game he's a great leader and follower. Out of the game he's an awesome friend who will always have your back. After hitting him up on my friends list I asked him if it would be okay if I could interview him. He said yes but only under the condition that I gave him all the money I would ever make...

Finnbarr Galedeep here.

October-29th-2008:  

Sun, Founder of "the WATCH" 's Memorial.

A year ago the Founder of the Kinship "the WATCH" died of "Pulmonary embolism".
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of the pulmonary artery or one of its branches, usually occurring when a blood clot from a vein becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs...

Finnbarr Galedeep, resident of the Windfola Server, conducted a player interview with Coltsfoot Wyrmwood from the Landroval Server in the popular MMO, The Lord of the Rings Online!

Hello there! Finnbarr Galedeep here of the Windfola Server!

I was feeling quiet interested in how a longtime friend of mine was doing. On another server. Coltsfoot Wyrmwood, A hobbit who was once a being of the Windfola server, now dwells in the Landroval server. We did a small bit of gaming together when she was on the Windfola Server, but her hobbit heart called and was drawn to Landroval where she is the Founder of the Role-playing Kinship: 'Lond Treneri'.

LotRO Stratics is pleased to announce that we have updated and added three new official Mines of Moria Videos to our Lord of the Rings Online Video Gallery! Two of the new videos give a brief introduction to the two new classes in the Mines of Moria, The Warden and The Rune-Keeper! The third video is a "fly-through" of the new area to be added with the Mines of Moria, The Foundations of Stone!

Head on over to our LotRO Video Gallery to check them out now or browse past videos for The Lord of the Rings Online!

LotRO Stratics is pleased to announce that our Lord of the Rings Online Events Calendar has been fixed and brought back online! It is now ready to accept your Event Listings! The Calendar works much like the Calendar over at the LotRO Turbine Forums -- but has a few display quirks we've got on the list to iron-out. The display quirks are that it doesn't display new events when viewing the LotRO General Discussion Forum however, if you enter the Calendar itself, all posted Events should display properly.

All LotRO Related Events, whether in-game or in the real-world will be accepted (given of course that they adhere to our Rules of Conduct for the Forums) to the LotRO Calendar. If you have any troubles using our Calendar or need assistance or advice in getting your Event posted to it, please do not hesitate to contact me by Private Message or by E-Mail at lotro@stratics.com

I have taken the liberty of adding several Events that were originally posted to the LotRO Turbine Forums. We'll be accepting any LotRO Related events, whether thet are specific to the North American Servers or the European Servers. Please be sure to place in the Subject line what Server or World Region, as applicable, your Event pertains to!

This is just the first in many things in store for reshaping LotRO Stratics! Please send any LotRO Stratics related feedback to lotro@stratics.com

Many thanks and safe travels!
~The LotRO Stratics Team

Online Entertainment Veteran Opens New Studio to Support Rapid Growth

WESTWOOD, MA – October 13, 2008 -- Turbine, Inc., a premier creator and operator of massive, persistent online worlds, today announced the opening of a new studio located in Redwood City, CA. The new studio will help drive Turbine's rapid growth and further accelerate Turbine's goal of becoming a global leader in online entertainment. Turbine also announced the hiring of Dave Brevik as Creative Director, Jeff Lind as Engineering Director and Matt McKnight as Studio Director of its new California studio. The new studio will be a vital part of Turbine's corporate vision as it brings new titles to market, expands the platforms it supports and introduces new technologies to expand and grow the communities that are the foundation of online games.