2007 left many great memories and loads of new content for Lord of The Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (LOTRO). With this year now coming to a close, it's time to turn our attention to the future and some of the many great things in store for the 2008 year. If Turbine continues to put forth the effort they did in 2007, then 2008 will be a very interesting year for LOTRO.
The very first thing the 2008 year will bring to LOTRO is the coming of the 4th free content update currently referred to as Book 12. The full name of this book has yet to be named, but it is speculated that we will be getting that name around the middle to end of January. (I emphasize speculate. There is nothing concrete at this point.)
There are some aspects of Book 12 that have been confirmed by the developers over at Turbine. This book will bring about change for the Guardian and Burglar class as they receive their themed "Month of (Insert class here)" update. New customization options are a huge part of this update as players will not only be able to alter their characters face and body with new features through the Barber Shop option, but with the new outfit system, they can change their characters appearance to allow them the option of displaying any armor they could equip while still wearing their good stuff. In other words, if you have a shiny set of Mirrored Ancient Armour, but you prefer the look of the old Polished Elven armour, then you can have that look and keep the stats of your mirrored. Add to all that the new area of The Delving of Fror and a complete revamp of Angmar and we have a great start to the new year.
The "Month of (Insert class here)" update will bring a lot of new changes for the Guardian and Burglar class. This has been a long awaited change and should benefit both of these classes greatly. Let's take a look at some of the confirmed stuff in the works.
Guardian: The Guardian is perhaps one of the more solid classes of Middle-earth. Despite their lack of high level skills, the Guardian is one of the most balanced classes and one of the best designed to fill its roll. The Guardian however, suffers from slow kill syndrome (Yes I made that up, but it fits.) One thing the Guardian can do is survive. He can solo, and he can last longer than most in a bad situation, but when it comes to soloing, the Guardian is painfully slow. This update will offer some options to change that a bit.
# New Skill: One new skill generating a lot of discussion is one mentioned recently by Hakai. This new skill will allow Guardians to protect a single target by transferring all incoming damage to themselves.
# Two-handed Weapon Stance: This new stance is meant to give the Guardian a stance to sacrifice defense for offense. While in this stance, Guardians will be able to wield two handed weapons more efficiently and gain access to skills that they can only use in this stance.
The Guardians will be receiving a skill pass with this update to provide them with some new skills, and some updates on a few older ones. Not all the information for the Guardian has been released, but we have been assured that a Developer Diary will be coming soon to explain the changes in greater detail.
Burglar: The Burglar is excellent when you need to start a Fellowship Maneuver, but this class is somewhat under-rated and often times hard to find. Some of the Book 12 changes should make this class a bit more fun. Some of the Burglar changes follow...
# New Toggle Skill (Mischief): This skill will emphasize the Burglar's Tricks and Crowd Control reducing the recovery time of Riddle from sixty seconds to thirty seconds.
# Fellowship Maneuver (FM) Response Skills: This new skill set will allow the Burglar to use certain new skills after his fellowship has successfully pulled off a FM.
The Burglar class will also be getting a skill pass for new and old skills. This update should make all of you stealthy assassins smile with glee, just before you drive a dagger into some unsuspecting schmo's back, and pry his coin purse from his dead decaying hand.
What changes might we see for Angmar? Nazgul[
Class changes are not all we have to look forward to. Angmar is getting a face lift. Now I know what you are thinking. Why give a face lift to Angmar? Well allow me to explain. You hit level 40ish and you make it to Angmar. The land of ultimate evil, an evil land home to ancient evils, undead, vicious green liquid rivers that can melt the skin clean off your face, and former home of the Witch-king of Angmar himself, the strongest of the nine Nazgul of Middle-earth. You enter these evil lands to face creatures of untold evil, and upon setting foot in this ancient land you come face to face with ultimate evil, terror beyond reckoning. There, staring you in the face is your first evil foe of Angmar. The dreaded beast is drooling at you as he stares you down with his beaty eyes, and what is this evil creature of horror? A Wild Boar!!! I think I have made my point.
Angmar is a pretty decent place, but there are a few things lacking a bit and the developers know this. They have made it their mission to revamp Angmar with a whole new look and adjustments on several of the quest to make them more in line with the theme of a place of ultimate evil. In other words, No Boars!!!
Book 12 is the first of many new things we can expect to see in 2008 from LOTRO. This New Year should bring several new Epic Book updates and in all likelihood, LOTRO's first expansion. Where will this new expansion takes us? That my friends, is anyone's guess, but my money is on some of these areas, Moria, Mirkwood, Lothlorien, and Fangorn. 2007 was a great year for LOTRO and 2008 is already poised to bring us a slew of new content to our little corner of Middle-earth. Until next time, as the sailors say, "May the wind be at your back." To which the Burglar's reply, "And a dagger be in it." See you in 2008.
