Massively has gotten the scoop on some Book 8 details, and even future updates to the game. Dol Guldur guys - just like I said. I like the sound of the "skirmishes" idea. Having an instance type environment that doesn't require a set number of players or class composition will be a great boon to grouping content.
One of the biggest hurdles to group play is the organization before the actual play. I would love to see this approach done for all instanced group play content. That means that there would be no content that could not be completed. Of course, rewards would have to scale to the difficulty of completing an instance with a duo versus a full group, or a raid with 12 people versus 18 etc. But still, the content and story within that content would be accessible to everybody. It also wouldn't be a mutual exclusive situation between "casual" and "hardcore" players.
I honestly don't see this type of system making its way into all the group content in the near future. If the older group content isn't a ghost town now, wait until all new group content is much more accessible - you'll never see groups trying to take on content that is harder to organize. Path of least resistance ya know? But if Turbine decided to revamp all the previous group content in some future that implemented this dynamic instancing, then we might see something far reaching in its impact - not only for LOTRO but for MMO gaming in general.
The last item I'd like to mention is the level cap increase by year's end. They didn't mention an expansion with that comment, but considering the previously stated goal of one expansion per year, we're on tap to see an expansion and level cap increase by year's end. Not a surprising development, but interesting to see the absence of expansion talk considering its mention.
EDIT: A nice forum topic on the subject can be seen here with some dev responses. Looks like the preview went out to a few press outlets, in this case, 1up.com.
One of the biggest hurdles to group play is the organization before the actual play. I would love to see this approach done for all instanced group play content. That means that there would be no content that could not be completed. Of course, rewards would have to scale to the difficulty of completing an instance with a duo versus a full group, or a raid with 12 people versus 18 etc. But still, the content and story within that content would be accessible to everybody. It also wouldn't be a mutual exclusive situation between "casual" and "hardcore" players.
I honestly don't see this type of system making its way into all the group content in the near future. If the older group content isn't a ghost town now, wait until all new group content is much more accessible - you'll never see groups trying to take on content that is harder to organize. Path of least resistance ya know? But if Turbine decided to revamp all the previous group content in some future that implemented this dynamic instancing, then we might see something far reaching in its impact - not only for LOTRO but for MMO gaming in general.
The last item I'd like to mention is the level cap increase by year's end. They didn't mention an expansion with that comment, but considering the previously stated goal of one expansion per year, we're on tap to see an expansion and level cap increase by year's end. Not a surprising development, but interesting to see the absence of expansion talk considering its mention.
EDIT: A nice forum topic on the subject can be seen here with some dev responses. Looks like the preview went out to a few press outlets, in this case, 1up.com.
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Ï find the skirmish idea great.
Now, I usually play healer classes and I like group content, but take for example my wife. She likes to play alone and gets really nervous when she has to deal with other people in game. She finds it very frustrating that the epic quest line cannot be soloable.
Even if this system is not implemented for all group content, it would be really nice if the epic quest line was changed this way.
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