Tag: Lord of the Rings Online

Try LOTRO and DDO In Your Browsers With Gaikai


Well, don’t get your hopes up. Turbine today announced Gaikai, allowing players to trial Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online without having to download either game’s client. Playable through your browser, the trial is heavily limited: One hour, due to technical issues that prevent any repeat or extended play at this time.

Currently, the LOTRO trial on Gaikai will allow you to play for up to one full hour. For most players, this will allow you to create your character and complete the starting area for your race. At the end of the trial, you will be logged out from the game and your character and progress will be stored on our servers. You will then be provided with links to download the game client to continue your adventure.

You can find the entire FAQ at the link below, this promotion (for now at least) is only an incentive to give the game a try.

(Source: LOTRO website)

Lord of the Rings Online: Removing Transfer Restrictions


When MMOs open their games to the public, the standard servers tend to fill out rather quickly, but the servers that were popular prior to the transition are regularly first to become overloaded by a combination of new and returning players creating and transferring characters. In the case of Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine decided to restrict character transfers over to select servers: Brandywine, Dwarrowdelf, Elendilmir, Imladris, Landroval, and Riddermark. With the recent update allowing players to pay for characters to transfer with Turbine Points, Turbine announced that the restrictions will be lifted on server transfer.

That is to say, the transfer will still cost you the standard price: $25 or 2995 Turbine Points. You can check out the whole post here.

Got through the whole article without a TP joke. You all sit tight, this is a cause for celebration.

Turbine Issues Account Security Warning


Greetings,

Turbine is concerned that a third-party recently may have attempted to access forum account information. There is no indication at this time that your account was modified or compromised. For your protection we suggest you change the password to a unique, hard to guess password not associated with any other sites or services. If you changed your password after October 11th, then you can disregard this message.

To change your password, please follow these steps:

  1. Go to https://myaccount.turbine.com/ and click on “Forgot your password?” You may also click this in the game launcher.
  2. Follow the instructions on how to recover your password. A new password will be sent to this e-mail address.
  3. Once you have received the password reset e-mail, change your password. Please remember to use unique, hard-to guess passwords that are not associated with other online services or sites.

Turbine takes your account security seriously. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at https://support.turbine.com/. You may submit a new inquiry to our Customer Service team, and they will be able to assist you further.

Thank you,

Turbine Support

(Source: Email sent out to Turbine account holders.)

Turbine: Change Your Passwords


Number one question coming into MMO Fallout over the past few days: Has username and password information been stolen from Turbine’s forums? The answer, until something official can be confirmed, should be taken as a probably. While not confirming that any data was stolen, Turbine posted a news bulletin of the forum maintenance with the added note that polayers should change their passwords.

As an additional precaution we recommend that all players change their passwords by visiting http://myaccount.turbine.com. Please remember to use unique, hard-to guess passwords that are not associated with other online services or sites, and always look for and report unusual activity in your account to Turbine customer support.

I recommend changing your password proactively.

I Love A Good Conspiracy Theory: LOTRO Forums Hacked?


Nothing says loving like a hot conspiracy bun in the oven, I always say. If you use the Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons forums, you’ve likely noticed that Turbine has taken them down due to an unspecified issue:

We have identified a potential issue in the forum system.  As a precautionary measure we have disabled our forums while we investigate.  We will bring the forums back online when we complete our work.  We thank you for your patience.

In all honesty, and given the unseen amount of people who work to crack forum software, this will likely turn into a vulnerability issue. If my assumption is correct, they wouldn’t be the first forum knocked out today (my favorites list shows three fan sites down due to a breach of security). But the important thing is that Turbine is able to do damage control and get the forums back into a working state. Tweakers.net is reporting that the servers have indeed been breached, via SQL injection, although there has been no confirmation from Turbine. Reportedly this issue stems from some poorly assembled coding used to transition Codemasters customers over to Turbine’s service.

While the Turbine forums are down, why not browse the third party forums and take in the conspiracy theorists?

I found it amusing that just after they added the thread saying they want to hire new developers that the forums mysteriously were brought off line

I love the idea of the ex-employee happening to be a skilled and vengeful hacker. It’s like a murder-revenge story, but suitably nerdy.

Lord of the Rings Online Begins European Migration


The European servers for Lord of the Rings Online should be down by now, as the big migration begins toward a single global service for Turbine’s MMO. Beginning today, Turbine will be transferring users to the new Lord of the Rings global service, a transition that will take approximately two to three days. To entice players, Turbine is offering a full year of VIP for £79.99.

The global faq can be found here. Hopefully the transition goes seamlessly. It’s been a good few years for Lord of the Rings players in Europe under Codemasters, hopefully Turbine can show them just as loving of a home when the move is completed later this week.

Turbine Taking Back Lord of the Rings Online Europe


Back when Turbine relinquished control of Dungeons and Dragons Online from Codemasters, following the game’s transition to free to play, a lot of us guessed that Lord of the Rings would undergo the same treatment, especially when Codemasters delayed the transition by two months due to contractual issues. With Turbine’s acquisition by Warner Bros, it was only a matter of time before Lord of the Rings Europe transitioned back to its developer’s hands.

Luckily, we have an actual date this time. On June 1st, Lord of the Rings Online will merge into one megaservice. In order to prepare, anyone with a Codemasters account will be required to transition their details over to Turbine, in an account migration process that will be released at an unspecified time before the transition. All characters and items, as well as VIP points will be moved over, and remaining VIP time will transition over. You will have to reenter your billing details, as those will not transfer (due to privacy laws). The forums will not be transferring, and Turbine warns against items in the auction house come June 1st. In addition, Turbine will not be accepting any Codemasters brand serial codes, so if you’re sitting on one, best use it before the service transitions.

You can read more at the Turbine FAQ: http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews/1157

Cash4Trash: Lord of the Rings Online Task System


I don't have many other LOTRO images...

Back in 2009, Jagex implemented a jobs system on Runescape mainly for new players where they could take tasks doing menial work with low level skills in return for gold, as well as an occasional experience lamp. This gave players a reason to work on their crafting and combat skills for a reward other than what is commonly known as vendor trash. Of course, this feature was removed due to low player participation, but the point still stands: It was a useful system.

Turbine is bringing 250 new quests into Lord of the Rings Online in the form of a task system. Using a similar idea to Runescape, players will take up bulletin board messages in towns offering repeatable quests, tasking players with gathering vendor trash from nearby mobs in return for an experience reward to augment the grinding process, as well as an occasional reputation reward. These will also go towards new deeds offering unique cloaks.

The tasks are limited, however, starting at five per day and going up to 10 by completing deeds or purchasing the increase through the store. This system is mainly for free players who wish to augment their leveling but don’t want to pay for zone packs. Players may also only take a task up to four levels over the task (A level 8 task can only be completed up to level 12, for example).

You can read the whole story here: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/901-developer-diary-tasks

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Looking Back, Moving Forward: October ’10


A BBB Month

If you woke up with a strange urge to gorge yourself on meat stuffed with other meats, it must be November…or just another Monday morning. With November coming, and the holiday season right around the corner, we take a look back on what October brought us: Halloween events, particularly in the hat trading simulator formerly known as…I believe it was called Team Forts. Yes, while we were busy killing all the demons (only to find out we were the demons), it was business as usual in the land of MMOs and the developers who create them.

Naturally the Better Business Bureau makes number one on our list. Now, most of the companies remained unchanged with their scores since July, except for Cryptic Studios who apparently took my advice and started replying to complaints. Their score now sits at an A- from its original C. The “Checking In With The BBB” will be back in January.

DC Universe Online was delayed. Sorry, Joker! Those who preorder before November 15th get guaranteed access to the beta, however. Those who didn’t preorder get jack squat. Although there is no set date, DC Universe Online is set to go live sometime in early 2011.

Square Enix announced an embargo…I mean a voluntary request that reviewers hold off for thirty days, a threat I would like to see enforced through practically every gaming website/magazine in existence losing their free swag, because the grand majority completely ignored this request. You can still send us swag, Square, we love you for your need to smother your customers, not in spite of it.

And speaking of Final Fantasy XIV, the game bombed on Amazon.jp. Final Fantasy XIV on Amazon’s Japanese website still carries a 1.5 star rating, with 137 one-star ratings to five one-star ratings. Square Enix would later reward early adopters with a free extra month of the game. My apologies to the owners of Gizzard Blendtertainment for any confusion that the article caused.

Lord of the Rings Online in Europe…what a saga. Through October, MMO Fallout brought you weekly updates on the situation regarding LOTRO’s release in Europe under Codemasters, as well as our own speculations (that turned out to be correct) on whether or not the issues were really technical. Codemasters announced that Lord of the Rings Online Europe will make the free to play transition on November 2nd.

Speaking of cash shops, Eve Online is getting one. Don’t worry, kids, it’s only vanity items. In the same interview, CCP’s own Tori Olafsson denied any claims that the developer was working on an Eve Online 2, or reboot of Eve, noting that such options had “no purpose.”

Oh don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming! With the launch of the new Everquest II Extended, Sony announced that Everquest II servers would be merging, shutting down a total of six servers.

All Points Bulletin joins the ranks of Earth Eternal in games that are dead, but not really dead because someone might be buying them, but they aren’t playable. Neither game is online, and though we know there is a buyer for Earth Eternal, and likely one for All Points Bulletin, we still don’t know who it is yet.

And finally, likely the biggest double-take of October, the announcement that Champions Online would be going free to play. Yes, Cryptic wants to take their thumb out of the pie and shove their entire fist into it as Champions Online goes partially Turbine this coming Q1 2011. More on the Champions Online transition…soon.

Looking Back, Moving Forward: October '10


A BBB Month

If you woke up with a strange urge to gorge yourself on meat stuffed with other meats, it must be November…or just another Monday morning. With November coming, and the holiday season right around the corner, we take a look back on what October brought us: Halloween events, particularly in the hat trading simulator formerly known as…I believe it was called Team Forts. Yes, while we were busy killing all the demons (only to find out we were the demons), it was business as usual in the land of MMOs and the developers who create them.

Naturally the Better Business Bureau makes number one on our list. Now, most of the companies remained unchanged with their scores since July, except for Cryptic Studios who apparently took my advice and started replying to complaints. Their score now sits at an A- from its original C. The “Checking In With The BBB” will be back in January.

DC Universe Online was delayed. Sorry, Joker! Those who preorder before November 15th get guaranteed access to the beta, however. Those who didn’t preorder get jack squat. Although there is no set date, DC Universe Online is set to go live sometime in early 2011.

Square Enix announced an embargo…I mean a voluntary request that reviewers hold off for thirty days, a threat I would like to see enforced through practically every gaming website/magazine in existence losing their free swag, because the grand majority completely ignored this request. You can still send us swag, Square, we love you for your need to smother your customers, not in spite of it.

And speaking of Final Fantasy XIV, the game bombed on Amazon.jp. Final Fantasy XIV on Amazon’s Japanese website still carries a 1.5 star rating, with 137 one-star ratings to five one-star ratings. Square Enix would later reward early adopters with a free extra month of the game. My apologies to the owners of Gizzard Blendtertainment for any confusion that the article caused.

Lord of the Rings Online in Europe…what a saga. Through October, MMO Fallout brought you weekly updates on the situation regarding LOTRO’s release in Europe under Codemasters, as well as our own speculations (that turned out to be correct) on whether or not the issues were really technical. Codemasters announced that Lord of the Rings Online Europe will make the free to play transition on November 2nd.

Speaking of cash shops, Eve Online is getting one. Don’t worry, kids, it’s only vanity items. In the same interview, CCP’s own Tori Olafsson denied any claims that the developer was working on an Eve Online 2, or reboot of Eve, noting that such options had “no purpose.”

Oh don’t tell me you didn’t see this coming! With the launch of the new Everquest II Extended, Sony announced that Everquest II servers would be merging, shutting down a total of six servers.

All Points Bulletin joins the ranks of Earth Eternal in games that are dead, but not really dead because someone might be buying them, but they aren’t playable. Neither game is online, and though we know there is a buyer for Earth Eternal, and likely one for All Points Bulletin, we still don’t know who it is yet.

And finally, likely the biggest double-take of October, the announcement that Champions Online would be going free to play. Yes, Cryptic wants to take their thumb out of the pie and shove their entire fist into it as Champions Online goes partially Turbine this coming Q1 2011. More on the Champions Online transition…soon.