Draigoh is a new boss raid that will make its appearance in the Rise of Isengard expansion. If you want to try this raid out in beta there is a guide written by lotro.com forum member Azahran, member of the Meneldor PvMP guild. We are not sure if the skills and the mechanics of the fight will change after the expansions launches or in some of the subsequent patches, but for now this is the most exhaustive guide out there, with video for various character roles and all that jazz.
Beta discoveries for Lotro Isengard expansion |
Yesterday I came across this great thread - a list of the things that we can expect in the Rise of Isengard expansion. It's still in beta stage, so it's subject to change before final release on September 27th:
- Tier 7 crafting name: Westfold
- Wood resource node: Birch (with wax, turned into Birch boards)
- Ore resource node: Skarn
- Scholar materials: Dunlending and Gondorian scraps of text
- Jewels and shiny metal: Green garnets
- Cook ingredients: ??
- Tailor hides/leather: ??
- Ingot combinations (khazad bronze, westernesse, white gold): ??
- Special craft item (shards, mithril flake): Cracked Rhi Helvarch Sigil
- crafting critical items for each profession: ??
- new "best" token name: ??
- new "best" LI Symbol: Worn Symbol of the Elder King (WSEK?) for level 75 First Age and Worn Symbol of Celebrimbor (WSOC?) for 75 Second Age
- new "best" empowerment scroll: Scroll of Greater Empowerment
- new guild rep level: Master of the Guild (takes 45k more reputation, so start saving up those rep. items!)
- new faction rep: Men of Dunland and Theodred's Riders
- Rep-wise Kindred is Kindred and Guild is Master of the Guild.
- epic quest beginning: Zudrugund (Nar's Peak) for both forks of the epic quest
- New LM pet: Limrafn with the following skills (Flashing Flank Attack guaranteed flank, Nature's Light returns 5% damage for 30 seconds,
- Nature's Gift returns 10% max morale but sacrifices your pet, NO auto-attack option)
- Players will be on "friendly terms" with half-orcs.
- Scholars can now make pocket items.
On crafting guild reputation: since MoG costs 45k rep. and each Large Supreme version will earn you 5k, you'll need at least 9 of them to get to the next level. You can, of course, cut down on that number by crafting ALL items.
- Large Supreme - 5k
- Medium Supreme - 2.5k
- Small Supreme - 700 rep
- Large Master - 4k
- Medium Master - 2k
- Small Master - 600 rep
- Medium Artisan - 1.5k
- Small Artisan - 500 rep
- Medium Expert - 1.2 k
- Small Expert - 400 rep
In my opinion, it's never worth using the crafting materials on smalls, unless you're using them in a recipe, but if you haven't saved up larges, you might be desperate. Something to remember about that, these are the numbers for EXISTING rep trade...there is the MoG level which will likely have it's own Small, Medium, and Large. I'm no mathematician, so I can't figure out the approximate increase, but maybe someone out there actually knows the numbers already.
The report is also that the useful and worthwhile recipes are all faction reputation linked, meaning low level alts will not have a chance to craft the important stuff.
LIs: Legacies from level 65s will not work on level 75s as expected. You will also need to level multiple level 70 weapons up to level 30 in order to get the rune types needed for level 75s, but it could be assumed that they will be awarded in quests, as drops, and available to barter with enough reputation. Just like crafting gets a new tier, relics and shard will likely get an increase to 7 and the extraordinary relic shard cost will be high.
PvMP - there will be Freep cloaks available that can be useful even as low as Rank 4 and the level 75 Freep PvMP gear is comparable to much of the other gear, meaning it's actually not a waste of time or just for fun anymore. Grinders in the Ettenmoors may actually get raid worthy or raidable gear by trading Tyrant's Crests, Chieftan's Brooches (20 per piece) for a class set AND you can trade your level 65 piece for a level 75 piece, presumably with a lesser cost. Also mentioned were ring sets, off-hands, and relics (class specific).
Skirmishes - though there haven't been any new skirmishes listed as released, you will likely have to grind out some more SMs. You can trade a Veteran Fourth Mark and 5.5 SMs for Superior Fourth Marks, but you'll need around 100 of them to get about 4 of the 6 available pieces being released for level 75 PvE. Skirmish marks will also be tradeable for scrolls according to some pictures I have seen, so why you'd want to trade in SMs for S4M instead of grinding those out in instances might depend on the drop rates OR if you can get a group together for a skirmish. It's not clear if they'll drop solo, but it seems unlikely. It's also possible that for one S4M and 2.6k SMs you can get one of the Scrolls of Greater Empowerment. For me, I first concentrated on getting a number of things together before I started worrying about the tiers, but some people might just go ahead and do all that work up front. Symbols are able to be traded for in the current release (at least the Celebrimbors) but it's not clear if any of them will be able to be skirmished for in RoI. Either way, there is a lot of work to be done and the first person with a full set pretty much will HATE skirmishes and instances until there are new ones released.
[Ardineck]
Lotro Discount Sale in August |
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There is a limit of 5 uses of these coupon codes per account.
Lotro Rise of Isengard: The Visual Tour |
The Lotro Rise of Isengard NDA is lifted and new screenshots pop up like mushrooms after a rain: new Draigoch screenshots, shiny new clothes, Isengard surface, Isengard Depths, Inside Orthanc and much more
[source]
Lotro Rise of Isengard NDA Lifted |
Today Turbine has announced that the NDA for Rise of Isengard is lifted. Check out new The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard screenshots and Isengard map in the gallery below, and a LotrO dev diary - Dunland.
Dev Diary - Dunland
New LOTRO Store Sales |
During the next few days (August 26th - September 1st) Turbine is offering new Store Sales:
- Shared Storage 476TP - 796TP
Share items among your characters on the same server!
Easily manage shared items!
Start with 20 slots; up to 80 extra slots available.
Filter and search for items by name! - Vault Upgrades 156TP - 716TP
Store and organize your character's items!
Increase your number of vault storage slots by 15 per Vault Upgrade; up to 150 slots available (every character receives a 30-item vault for free).
Filter and search for items by name! - Inventory Bags 396TP (Free for VIP)
Increase the amount your character can carry. Unlock a 4th and 5th Inventory Bag for all characters on your account - an extra 15 slots each! - Currency Cap 316TP (Free for VIP)
Carry unlimited gold!
Remove the restriction on currency from all current and future characters created on your account!
Allows you to buy a Deluxe house, which grants even more storage!
[Source]
First Look at Lotro Monster Play Updates |
Today, Turbine has released a new batch of screenshots from The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard, the upcoming expansion to the award-winning MMO, which will launch on September 27th. The new screenshots provide the first look at updates and enhancements being made to Monster Play in the new expansion.
Lotro Developer Diary: Isengard Itemization Improvements |
In a new dev diary Lotro team discussed two main issues from which many different problems spread:
- It is nearly impossible to accurately predict the combinations of gear that players will wear in order to get themselves to their stat caps.
- Steps between gear levels was too small, too incremental
First Lotro Screenshots of Orthanc and Gap of Rohan |
While we are all waiting for the Lotro Rise of Isengard Beta invitation, Turbine has released new set of breathtaking screenshots of Orthanc Tower and Gap of Rohan Camp.
Official announcement:
Today, Turbine has released a new batch of screenshots from The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard, the upcoming expansion to the award-winning MMO, which will launch on September 27th. The new screenshots provide a first look at the Tower of Orthanc, as well as the Gap of Rohan!
How to increase your chance for an invitation to LOTRO Rise of Isengard Beta program? |
Most of you are probably aware that Lotro Rise of Isengard Beta starts on July 27th. As Turbine announced there is no application process, Rise of Isengard beta will be "Invite-only" program. There are many factors that determine whether you will be invited to beta program or not, but you can increase your chances by:
- having pre-ordered Isengard
- being an active Lotro player
- not having any NDA violations
Unfortunately participating in any previous Beta programs will not increase your chance to get the invitation for the Rise of Isengard Beta program.
Having pre-ordered Isengard does increase the chances you will be selected, but we will be inviting active players from VIP, Premium, and Free player groups so everyone who is an active player has a chance of being invited.
Basically, if you haven't played regularly and fairly recently and are hoping to get an invite so you can take a look around, you're probably going to be disappointed.
[Sapience]