Tag: Turbine Entertainment

Lord of the Rings Online Lays Out 2018 And Beyond


Standing Stone Games Executive Producer Severlin posted a short announcement on the Lord of the Rings Online forums this week detailing the company’s plans for the title going forward into the rest of 2018 and beyond. The post talks about changes to classes, festivals, and more, including the coming update that will take adventurers to the Lonely Mountain and also increase the level cap to 120.

Let’s look ahead to Update 23! We will be journeying to the Lonely Mountain, and from there following the eastern paths to the Iron Hills, and north to the Grey Mountains. We’re excited to put these important parts of Dwarf culture and history on the map. Update 23 will also come with an instance cluster and, later in the year, a new raid. Our new instances will be designed for both groups and solo players, allowing everyone to see the storyline that unfolds in those instances. Full groups will also be able to enter into the more dangerous tiers of these adventures. The new landscape has 80 new quests, and the Black Book of Mordor will continue its story into these new regions. Update 23 will also increase the level cap to 120.

More information can be found at the link below.

(Source: LOTRO)

Daybreak Game Company Is Now Publishing LOTRO, DDO


Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online are no longer under the leadership of Turbine Entertainment. In an unexpected announcement, both development teams have been spun off to form Standing Stone Games. Rather than staying on and acting as publisher, that role will be taken by none other than Daybreak Game Company. The entire announcement is below:

Greetings,

Today we have some momentus news! The game teams responsible for The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) are now moving from Turbine to Standing Stone Games, a newly formed indie game studio. In addition, we’ve partnered with Daybreak Games to provide global publishing services. They’ve had a long, successful history developing and publishing MMOs, and we’re happy to lean on their expertise.

With the announcement out of the way, I wanted to talk to you about what all this means.

We’re embarking on an exciting adventure as Standing Stone Games, a newly-independent studio staffed by people who have been working on DDO and LOTRO for many years. The teams remain very much committed to both games and are thrilled to continue development and operations of these games as an independent studio. This is an opportunity for us to bring about our dreams while still working on two of the biggest licenses in video games. It’s a huge honor, and for you this means your games will continue to grow and improve. We love to focus on games with a high level of depth and scope, and we can’t wait to show you what the future brings.

Although a great many exciting things are happening on our end, you’ll be able to continue playing the game(s) you enjoy with as little interruption as possible. Our development continues on track, and the plans we have already announced remain firmly in our future view. Again, although we are a new studio, we are also the same developers who have been and will continue to work on our games.

Our success has always been possible because of your support. As we move forward, this is more important than ever. The ultimate goal of our new studio is to continue to bring you amazing experiences. We are excited for the future, and we’re thrilled to have you with us on this journey.

Here’s to great games, epic adventures, and memorable times with friends!

~Sev

There are plenty of questions left to ask, like whether the two games will be brought under the umbrella of Daybreak’s All Access service and what this means for Turbine Entertainment, whose only major game in nearly ten years (Infinite Crisis) was met with poor reception and shut down close to its launch.

(Source: LOTRO)

Asheron’s Call Still Offline, No Remedy In Sight


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Asheron’s Call went offline two weeks ago for extended maintenance, and it still hasn’t woken up. In a post on the official forums, Turbine staff have been giving daily updates on how things are progressing, but so far the company has no idea how much longer the maintenance will take.

We’ve identified additional engineering work that will be required in order for us to reopen the worlds to you, and are currently working through the best way to get that work done. At this time we do not have an ETA on when the worlds will reopen, but we expect to have more information for you within the next couple of days. We apologize for the delay, and know that we are working to get the worlds reopened to you as soon as possible.

(Source: Asheron’s Call)

Lord of the Rings Safe Until 2017


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When it comes to licensed MMOs, there is always the risk that the game will shut down not because of a lack of population, but due to issues over renewing the license. For Lord of the Rings Online, players are understandably concerned over Turbine’s license expiring at the end of the year. Luckily for all of us, Turbine has announced that the license has been renewed through 2017.

We have said as far back as July of 2013, we plan to support LOTRO for many years to come. I really want to be as clear as possible on this subject to avoid any further confusion or misunderstanding. The license was renewed. I think it’s rather clear and direct. I can’t think of a more direct way to say the license was renewed than to say the license was renewed. We have an agreement that runs through 2017.

Barring some sudden drop in population, players have little to be concerned over.

(Source: Contains Moderate Peril)

Fallen Earth/ Lord of the Rings Online: Welcome Back!


Lord of the Rings Online uses this room as well...

Hey there ex-Fallen Earth and Lord of the Rings Online players! I know what you’ve been thinking, “I’d like to get back into [insert game here], but I just don’t have the cash right now to foot the fee for a game I don’t even know I will still enjoy!” Boy do I have a surprise for you. Both Fallen Earth and Lord of the Rings Online are running welcome back campaigns!

Fallen Earth players should have received an invitation through email by now. The offer is for ten free days to check out all the new updates, from graphics enhancements to the new construction skill, optimizations, and more! All you have to do is log into your Fallen Earth account on Fallen Earth’s website and follow the instructions to activate your free ten days.

Lord of the Rings Online, on the other hand, is giving you a free weekend. Second to Valve for free weekends, Turbine is offering the game from today until Monday for absolutely free, plus benefits! Players who partake in this offering will find that stable-masters have lowered their price to absolutely free, not to mention a 5% experience buff that will stack on top of your rest experience.

I’m mentioning both Fallen Earth and Lord of the Rings Online not just because both happen to be running this offer concurrently, but because both companies are well known for treating their customers well. Fallen Earth continues to grow in subscribers, and Lord of the Rings Online is one of the sleepy giants of the MMO World. Anyone looking to get some free time with the updated version of either game should dive into it.

Unless you’re in Europe, in which case you can’t partake in the LOTRO free weekend. Sorry! Consider complaining to Codemasters, assuming you aren’t already.