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Mae Govannen dear readers, we will introduce you to some new information about the game and also some general things. before we make it really exciting you can find above a picture where we all had our picture taken together.
There was also a merchandise or two to hand out . One of our editors Skymanic was at the meeting.

Skymanic: ” I took a train earlier to get to the meeting on time. Meanwhile that I was already 18:15 there I did not have to wait long there already Cordovan came”
Skymanic has also told us about it that they then went towards the bar and so 5 minutes before the meeting point, the rest of the team came. He also asked Cordovan some general things for the time being.

We also had conversations about hobbits and dwarves, which were rather general to that each individual had introduced himself from Standing Stone Games.

At the meeting was: – Cordovan ( Jerry Snook)
– Chris Pierson
– Ryan Penk ( Pinion)
– Marcy Brown ( Localization )
– Sarah Libby – Office Manager ,QA

1st question: How was it at Gamescom and in Cologne?

Cordovan ” Jerry Snook ” reported that he already visited the Gamescom on Wednesday among other things in the retro department. Who follows Cordovan meanwhile knows that he likes to do a lot with retro.

But he also visited Cologne and was fascinated by the architecture of the Cologne Cathedral.

Even Pinion has seen one or the other from Gamescom, the most fascinating for all was probably Dune Awakening.

2nd question: How long will SSG stay in Cologne ?

On the day of the meet and greet Cordovan told among other things that they use the opportunity of their last day to meet the players. Because on Friday 26.08.2022 SSG flew back again.

While we had many conversations Pinion told about the fact that they fly almost 6 hours. Is a damn long time but also someone like Skymanic traveled by bus and train already on Monday but needed to the hotel about 7 hours.

3rd question: What is the background of ( Before the shadow)?

While we all were sitting down together, the questions started to tumble. As written above, it is about the expansion “Before the Shadow”.

Chris Pierson told us that it is a very green landscape and there will be a lot to discover, but also new stone textures are probably there. It’s aimed at new player experiences to have something new to start with. We also want to show players that there are other ways than perhaps only the 3 known starting areas. so much one wanted but then not yet go into detail. One thing is for sure we get a new story told.

The conversations led to the end to a new question.

4.Question: Are there any scheduled changes in the PVMP?

They could tell us much less about this, as Orion knows more about it .In any case , we gave them our feedback on this , maybe one or the other will also appear in the near future.

The next question is about modernization of the game in the wake of what EG 7 had announced.

5th question: Do you know anything about a Lord of the Rings Online revamp?

Chris Pierson and Pinion did not really go into it. Skymanic have then shown a picture to the announcement. Thereby have let themselves be lured nevertheless somewhat. We can certainly be curious about what happens there . There are also some things that are currently fixed on the engine and also on the old game code.
If and when we will see a revision is unclear. I think EG7 has already made an announcement that SSG still keeps secret.

6.question: When will the river hobbit come?

Only one thing could be said about it it doesn’t come with the extension ” Before the Shadow”

After some time came then one or the other question to Jerry

7.question: What about free transfers?

There should be a overflow server where you can switch to (EU as well as US servers can probably switch back there you can then only switch on the server from EU or US where you came from. We will provide a kind of short period. It would be possible that they make a server with a higher number of players a little emptier , however, this could create another server with a high number of players.

Skymanic then also had time to talk with Pinion. A next question is about the new skirmish.

8.Question: A new skirmish , Will the rewards be tweaked?

With the new skirmish is intended to bring back again several new skirmishes . New rewards that are extra then customized for these skirmish. We want to rework possibly also one or the other at the skirmish system, it is really to wait what exactly is meant by it.

A possibly interesting question about the current raid and how to proceed with the levels T1-T5.

9.Question: Are there any adjustments to Hiddenhoard ?

Unfortunately, in the schedule is currently not 100% planned an adjustment. In addition, we talked about the tier levels 1-5. As a suggestion came possibly T5 or T4 with a challenge of special mechanics to add again.
Skymanic told Pinion that T4-T5 are a nice addition but don’t bring the old feeling like at level 75 or 105.
As a suggestion Skymanic brought that T4 and T5 could be shortened and go back to T3 and bring in a challenge that you might have to activate.
We will see what will be done differently or better in the near future. Possibly one goes away with raids of T4 and T5 again.

Question 10: The Delving System, what exactly is it?

The delving system is based on a use of a stone in a mission for now, later instances and raids. With this system, you can change the difficulty in any way, among other things, there should be special mechanics, special enemies or anything else that could make it a little harder.

A currency will be available that can be exchanged specifically at a trader. Rewards can be different.
The delving system is not intended to replace the T1-5 difficulty system.

Now it goes more into the general over. Where Pinion among other things has asked a question that has kept us busy for a long time, but has brought out one or the other info yet.

A question ( Which was the best raid boss encounter ?)

Skymanic:” For me, the Id4 with corruptions was very interesting from the Throne of Terror . At level 105 T2 was this Encounter really very challenging and could relatively still compete with other raids, because it was the 1.Raid after level 85.”

Pinion: “Yes, that was definitely one of the most beautiful boss Encounter just because we could offer there something challenge “

Furthermore, one of the greatest raid bosses was Thaurlach at level 50.Pinion: “That was actually before my time, but I must really agree with this Thaurlach is really cool “

The question came up: will it be possible to scale this raid? Possibly this will be possible in the future, but it is not 100% confirmed.

Skymanic: “One of the best fights was Tower of Orthanc with Saruman’s rings because the purple color was not visible. This bug was fixed with the release of Isengard on the legendary server Anor)

Pinion: “Definitely that was one of the most difficult encounters because you didn’t see the purple color at the beginning of the time.

We looked for possibilities and then also found out why this problem existed. Saruman was already using the colors for the ornaments, but it was Saruman who was blocking the color because of the many ghosts and apparitions. Nonetheless, it was easy to fix it then.”

Next we came to the topic of Draigoch: Draigoch was one of the most beautiful Encounter just the challenge with the Fellowship Maneuvers.

Pinion: “Draigoch and the Fellowship Maneuvers were really a difficulty in themselves, because you also had to press the maneuvers in a certain order. On top of that, the maneuvers were still scaled at that point. Maybe we will rescale the maneuvers in the future “

How you can see from these discussions, there was a lot of conversation. Perhaps also the one or other information that was perhaps unknown. It was a great meeting reported Skymanic. Maybe there will be another meeting in the future.

Here you can find the merchandising that Standing Stone Games presented.