Developer Diary: Jared Hall-Dugas Oh, a-Raiding We Will Go

We've done it! We've discovered the formula for fun: [(x * 2.342) + (y * 2) + z⁴] / 24 = FUN!

Um, what? (See? You should have paid more attention in algebra class...I'll come back to this in a moment.)

Raids...

Yes, we mean raids. The same raids that weren't originally planned for our game (see "Friends Don't Let Friends Tank Balrogs"). This isn't so much a philosophical change in our game, but rather an additional gameplay dynamic we have decided to include. For some members of our community, this means much rejoicing, but for others, there's a bit more concern, even fear. I'm here to give you a little more information about our raid plans to help alleviate some of those fears.

So does this mean no more soloing?

Absolutely not! As LOTRO moves forward in development, we've taken a very hard, long look at endgame content. One of the many proven-successful elements that we came up with was raids. This will be a very important dynamic for kinships and players who enjoy grouping.

We recognize that different segments of the gaming population like different styles of gaming. Solo play, being one of those primary styles, is still very much alive and well. We're not attempting to replace solo play with raids and other group content. We are simply increasing your options, augmenting our previously announced plans with a whole new facet. Players who prefer not to raid will not have to do so. We feel that it's important to have endgame content that reflects the players' many different play styles.

Oh great! 40-man raids that I'll never be able to organize and maintain?

Not quite. The currently planned maximum party size for our raids is 24. We understand the challenges inherent in organizing fellowships in any MMO, and that these challenges multiply exponentially the larger a group gets. We chose a number we felt would provide that epic grouping feel with a more manageable group size (more on that below).

So what do I get out of raiding?

Raiding is about having compelling, fun experiences. As we've worked through these instances, it's been great fun trying to create memorable moments. Raids allow us to go over the top and shoot for the moon; we can create moments that you talk about with your friends for days and weeks after they happen. We've already had some of those moments internally as we've played through the content!

The other objective of a raid, obviously, is loot. Loot in our raids is unique, but we won't limit good loot to just those areas. Again, we are not forcing casual players to participate in raids; there will be other places for more casual players to hunt for good loot.

You'll also be experiencing part of our endgame content plan. Raids are one aspect of what we plan to offer the players when they reach the higher levels. More details to come on those "other aspects"...

So what exactly is a raid in LOTRO?

Raids give us the ability to create more difficult encounters, more challenging puzzles, and more exciting gameplay moments. We split ourselves into small teams of individuals and work at planning all of the aspects of a raid together to create a well-crafted, hand-sculpted experience.

This starts with creating an area which is uniquely beautiful, whether it is on the open landscape or in a dungeon. We want players to come out of these raids with fun memories galore.

Once we come up with a biome (the environment, lighting, atmosphere, and so on), we then work on populating the space with monsters, décor, and surprises. The décor falls to the Worldbuilders, and monsters are the task of the content designers.

Our main goals for raid design are to space out encounters properly, have a good mix of tough encounters and unique moments, and make sure that monsters make sense and act in a way that players can figure out strategically. We want you to be able to learn from your party's defeats and not make the same tactical mistake twice. Raids should be hard but not impossible. After all, we do want you to get to the end... eventually!

So what's with that formula?

As I stated before, raids = [(x * 2.342) + (y * 2) + z⁴] / 24 = FUN!

You know what the 24 stands for already (max size of people in a raid), so let's look at the rest of those variables (our deepest apologies to any math teachers reading this):

Let's talk about "x", baby.

First off, we wanted to look at bosses. While we discussed what skills we could give to bosses and what nasty surprises we could build into encounters, we also wanted to make sure that they were tough enough. We needed to create a new monster classification tailor-made for the raid dynamic, and so we did just that. This enabled us to be sure our bosses couldn't be taken out by a raid group of twenty-four damage-focused characters in mere seconds. So we took it up a notch.

We increased the hit points of our raid bosses, as well as the number of skills and special attacks they could make. This makes the raid bosses hit harder with attacks that you must defend against differently, thereby increasing the difficulty.

"y" in the world would I do raids?

Answer: To see incredible areas and fight astonishing monsters! To be one of the few in the game to say that you have defeated the greatest of foes in Middle-earth! To prove to everyone that you are a great hero and deserve great riches! Yep, one might say we took it up a notch.

Raids are a particular type of gameplay that many people love. The sense of doing something as a team in cooperation with twenty-three of your friends is very fulfilling. The ability to gain a sense of accomplishment and a reward for that accomplishment is wonderful as well. We want our raid system to be about more than a grind for loot; we want the experience itself to feel like a reward for those who are going to experience it only once or twice. Really the question is... why in the world would you not want such an experience?

"z" - fighting to the fourth power?

There's a big difference between non-raid, single-fellowship combat and fighting as a united group of four fellowships. It is not simply a matter of four times the action, because buffs stack, firepower increases, healing becomes easier, etc. So...we took it up several notches.

We felt that having four fellowships (not 5, not 3, etc.) allows us to give a good large raid feel to the encounters but also keeps it small enough so that players don't feel like cogs in the machine. This is important. We've played some of the larger raids out there and while the chaos of such a massive battle can be fun, that's just not the experience we're after here. Pressing a button seventeen times in a fight does not a raid make.

In LOTRO's raid system, monsters come in greater numbers, difficulty is pushed up so that the players are facing much tougher mobs, and tricks are multiplied so that players have to constantly be on their toes, thinking strategy and tactics.

We wanted players to have an experience they remembered, be it their first time in the instance or their tenth. We think our raids will accomplish this, and are looking forward to your feedback after playing them!

[Comments? Post them on our forums!]

So you want to know about me, hmmm? I'm a content designer for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. This is my first job as a video game designer and wow, what a treat it has been to work on something so close to my heart. I started as a QA tester and joined the LOTRO team in October, 2005. I am, of course, a life-long gamer and avid fantasy / sci-fi reader. I finally got a chance to go to video game school at DigiPen and went for two years before getting my job here. It is truly a dream come true for me!

My first computer was one of those old Radio Shack machines that attached to a keyboard and a tape cassette player. You would put in your Frogger, Asteroids, or Moon Lander and play away on your black and white screen - quite some fun for a six year old! I remember growing up and going to the Nintendo championships that were held near my hometown. I went and tried to become the next wiz kid, but to no avail (although I did get to the second round).

The Lord of the Rings series were the first real books I ever read on my own. While I am nowhere near the lore-master that some here at Turbine are, I do love the books dearly and they founded my love for the genre. I'm currently reading Melanie Rawn, Tad Williams, and George R.R. Martin – and waiting eagerly for their next books!

What else? There is so much more that I can not squeeze into this profile. Feel free to ask away and if I have time, I will be happy to answer! I, like you, cannot wait for this game!