Interviews

LotRO Vol. 2, Book 8 Play Session

Encountering The Blind One

While Campbell wanted to keep the Mistress of Pestilence (the raid's final boss) a surprise, I did get a peek at some of the other bosses in the zone. The first bosses are a pair of trolls, one of whom announced to his brother that "You take the weak one, I'll take the ugly one!" I'm almost offended. There was also an Orc who drew powers from pedestals that had to be activated to render him vulnerable, with the catch that only certain classes could activate certain pedestals. The final boss that I got to check out was The Blind One - despite being blind, he had no problems munching on my (admin-invulnerable) face or summoning dark holes that sucked my character down into them.

Moving back into Lorien, I had the opportunity to "tell the tale" of how my character had dealt with an Orc chieftain named Mazog - read: I'd play through the encounter myself. It's a solo space, and you have some NPCs that you can direct accordingly to attack, defend, or restore your Morale or Power. While there wasn't any direct choice - I had to choose to trade his life for that of a Dwarf captive - Campbell said that in future installments the LotRO team wanted to provide choices with direct consequences.

On the less dire end of things, I checked out the Summer Festival celebrations. The highly prized Horse Token, Campbell told me, was still a part of the festivities but was no longer tied to just the horse races - you could earn one through a variety of competitions. One of which was a combination race and eating contest - which really just seems like a recipe for disaster. Players can bet on one of four hobbits who will run around from table to table eating their fill, and if their chosen hobbit wins the race (held every 10 or so minutes) they'll get some rewards. Unfortunately, the hobbits that Campbell and I placed our bets on came in 4th and 3rd place, respectively.

I guess I just don't have good luck betting on hobbits. To learn more about the upcoming Book 8 and the Summer Festival, WarCry is holding a developer chat with the LotRO team tomorrow, June 3rd, and next Wednesday, June 10th! Hope to see you there!