A Casual Stroll to Mordor

Dev Diary: Dol Guldur

Posted on 12. Nov, 2009 by Merric in Turbine

Today saw the release of a Dev Diary “Introducing Dol Guldur” by Tsieng Liu of the LOTRO Dungeons Team (wow, I bet that’s an awesome team to work on), discussing different topics including how the dungeon area is laid out, a brief look at the dungeons and how they will work.  I personally have been blowing off the potential of end game dungeon crawling and raiding, but I have to say that this post has me rather excited!

So the breakdown of the fortress is as follows:

• Three 3-person dungeons:
  • The Dungeons of Dol Guldur
  • The Sword-hall of Dol Guldur
  • The Warg-pens of Dol Guldur
• One 6-person dungeon, Sammath Gul
• One 12-person raid, Barad Guldur

Tsieng describes the different dungeons, showing how the Dungeon Team really tried to ensure that the 3-person dungeons weren’t designed around the typical group make-up (tank, healer, DPS).  So for “The Dungeons of Dol Guldur” the fellowship will find themselves primarily avoiding mobs rather than killing them in order to free prisoners located within the instance.  If you are caught, you are put in jail which reduces the amount of prisoners you are able to free, which is bad because the more prisoners you free the more “extra rewards” you will earn.

The Sword-hall sounds similar to an “arena” style match where you face waves of mobs, and then a boss; waves of enemies, then a boss; etc.  Although if you choose to go through the challenge mode you will face all three bosses at once.  Lastly, the Warg-pens is admittedly a more typical dungeon design where each breed of warg has their own unique ability.  The twist on the dungeon is that there is a “pool” of different breeds available for the dungeon, and which ones you will face are chosen at random when the instance is first entered.

Sammath Gul sounds like a typical dungeon, with three bosses and a fourth one opened once the challenge mode is completed.  And Barad Guldur is the least described dungeon, leaving the only information we know about it being that the end boss is a Ring Wraith riding a Felbeast.  Although we will have to wait and see, outside of The Sword-hall, it doesn’t sound like there will be much room for non-traditional groups in any of these instances.  Don’t get me wrong though, I understand that there are plenty of successful non-traditional (no tank/healer) groups out there, but they are still rare enough that people brag about them on the forums.  Most groups are going to still want a designated tank and  healer.

What we do know is that there will be two new mechanics introduced with these dungeons:  Splash Damage and Terror.  Splash Damage is damage that splits its damage evenly amongst targets in a given area meaning the more people hit by the damage the less damage it does to one individual, but if it hits a single player they could well be defeated.  Terror appears to be a two-stage mechanic upon where the player first cowers and is then feared.  These two mechanics will definitely make fights much more interesting and require some thinking on the part of the players.  I welcome this quite with open arms as I truly believe that variety in fights, while frustrating at first, really add a sense of accomplishment upon victory; especially in challenge mode which will result in more barter tokens and “a chance at rare loot”.

Tsieng closes with stating that the radiance requirements for Barad Guldur will be accomplished by aquiring barter tokens from “the cluster” which I assume are the 3-man instances.  The tokens will be received in normal and challenge mode, with challenge mode rewarding a higher number of tokens.  A new “tier” set of gear will also be available exclusively in Barad Guldur, but completing the set will require completing each of three challenges within the raid instance.  Also, each of the dungeons will have their own set of deeds which completing will result “with an extra special reward”.

Overall, I’m happy with the sounds of the dungeon.  I was a bit nervous with how Turbine was going to handle the new gear, but I can handle a barter token system that leads into raids as long as everyone in the group is awarded the tokens and the fellowship won’t have to rely on random luck to be rewarded.  I imagine this is the way it will be, but this wasn’t clearly defined in the post.  I also like the sound of The Sword-hall with its stress on stealth over confrontation and I’m interested to see what challenges the rest of the dungeons hold as well.  I do love dungeons and raiding, but there is a part of me that hopes we will see some additional dungeons/raids before the release of the next expansion.  I’m not trying to sound negative or greedy, but let’s be realistic here:  How many times are you going to do three 3-man instances and one 6-man instance before you’re absolutely sick of them?  Especially if you have alts or if you’re a class in high demand such as a healer.  And since it was stated that radiance gear is not going to be crafted, these are the only dungeons that are going to provide the radiance gear needed for the raid.  Overall I’m impressed though and I’ll worry about my end-game when I’m actually there (which will be a while).  Until then, I’ll just enjoy the news and screenshots.

Tags: dev diary, Dev Team, dol guldur, dungeon, raids, Siege of Mirkwood