LOTR Online dev diary: Wild Lands

Developer Matt Elliott gives us a lecture on World Content Systems 101 in his latest dev diary entry, where he talks about how their goal with The Lord of the Rings Online is not only to give players a kickass epic story, but also to support that through visuals.

So, what they’ve done is they worked on, and enhanced, the world systems to give good visual support for the game plot and make your experience more immersive and alive. According to Elliott, “World Content Systems encompass all the little bits and pieces of gameplay and non-quest content available in the game.” For Shadows of Angmar, these systems are Ambient Creatures, Treasure Chests, Rare Monsters, and Crafting Resource Nodes. Each system is designed and crafted with the sole intention of bringing Eriador as alive as they can.

Elliott gives a lengthy discussion of each system but for this post, we’re just gonna pick one that we find most interesting, and that is the Rare Monsters system. Under this system, the monsters are classified into three tiers according to difficulty. Tier 1 rare monsters have more health and armor, but those can be countered with a higher damage output. Tier 2 rare monsters on the other hand have higher health, armor, and damage output and have skills that your ordinary monsters don’t.

Tier 3 monsters are on the same level as the bosses and require a full and organized fellowship in order to be defeated. And to give you a glimpse of LOTR Online’s Rare Monster system, here’s one screenshot of a green monster whose tier we have yet to find out. If you’re interested in knowing a detailed description of the World Content Systems to be featured on the game, simply click on the read link below and you’re all set.

Developer Matt Elliott gives us a lecture on World Content Systems 101 in his latest dev diary entry, where he talks about how their goal with The Lord of the Rings Online is not only to give players a kickass epic story, but also to support that through visuals.

So, what they’ve done is they worked on, and enhanced, the world systems to give good visual support for the game plot and make your experience more immersive and alive. According to Elliott, “World Content Systems encompass all the little bits and pieces of gameplay and non-quest content available in the game.” For Shadows of Angmar, these systems are Ambient Creatures, Treasure Chests, Rare Monsters, and Crafting Resource Nodes. Each system is designed and crafted with the sole intention of bringing Eriador as alive as they can.

Elliott gives a lengthy discussion of each system but for this post, we’re just gonna pick one that we find most interesting, and that is the Rare Monsters system. Under this system, the monsters are classified into three tiers according to difficulty. Tier 1 rare monsters have more health and armor, but those can be countered with a higher damage output. Tier 2 rare monsters on the other hand have higher health, armor, and damage output and have skills that your ordinary monsters don’t.

Tier 3 monsters are on the same level as the bosses and require a full and organized fellowship in order to be defeated. And to give you a glimpse of LOTR Online’s Rare Monster system, here’s one screenshot of a green monster whose tier we have yet to find out. If you’re interested in knowing a detailed description of the World Content Systems to be featured on the game, simply click on the read link below and you’re all set.