Artifacts: The Gift of the Carrock and Splinter of Mordírith’s Crown
Artifacts are hidden behind the Captain-General/Tyrant at each location, and the room where they are kept can only be accessed when players or monster players defeat the leader of the keep. When this happens the gate blocking access to the Artifact room will open and allow the capture to take place.
As with capturing flags, players and monster players who don the role of artifact bearer are unable to use stealth or speed-increasing skills and can attack and use most skills as normal. Artifacts, however, are items of extreme power and grant the bearer some bonuses as well. The bearer of an artifact gains a slight boost to their speed and they are made immune to all negative combat effects – no stuns, no speed modification, no knockdowns, no conjunctions. The power of the artifact is so great that it infuses the bearer with these abilities. Bearers will be recognizable from a fair distance as the artifact will appear not on their person but as a visible effect over their head.
The two artifacts are a Splinter of Mordírith’s Crown for monster players and The Gift of the Carrock for players. To capture an artifact, you must first control your faction’s artifact; if you don’t control your artifact, you must recapture it before you can attempt to control your opposition’s artifact. You will not be allowed to attempt to capture an artifact that you cannot claim. Capture is done by taking the artifact from the holding location at your opposition’s main keep and delivering it to the Artifact Room within your own main keep.
Once captured, an artifact will remain in your faction’s possession until captured by the enemy, and once taken, an artifact bearer has thirty minutes to deliver the artifact to their main keep. If the bearer is slain, the artifact will leave the world until those thirty minutes have expired and will then return to the current owner’s main keep.
Ex. The monster players lost the Splinter of Mordírith’s Crown to the players and are on a mission to get the artifact back. Nidor the enterprising Weaver is chosen to bear the artifact on the return trip to Dâr-gazag. Along the way, the defense force around Nidor is picked apart and the spider is, sadly, defeated near the Steps of Gram. The excursion took twenty minutes to complete. Ten minutes after defeat the artifact reappears, safely, behind the gate at Ost Ringdyr and the monster players must now mount another assault.
Artifacts, Tol Ascarnen, Tírith Rhaw, Lugazag, Isendeep, Grimwood, and Rewards – Oh My!
For a long time Free Peoples players have been asking for a reason to go to the Ettenmoors. We close this developer diary talking about a reason we added with the Mines of Moria launch. Artifacts are a new concept for The Lord of the Rings Online; and this provides us with an opportunity to introduce new gameplay around them. Our overall goal in the Ettenmoors is to drive combat.
Artifacts have an importance to Eriador which is all their own. They represent the forces of Good and the forces of Evil. The Free Peoples, led by Captain-General Lainedhal, are out to crush the forces of Angmar within the Ettenmoors and stem the war from spilling further south. The Gift of the Carrock is meant to inspire the forces in the Ettenmoors as much as the Splinter of Mordírith’s crown is meant to inspire the forces of Angmar there.
At this time, none of these benefits apply any effect to the Ettenmoors for players or monster players. We will assess what we can adjust there to make certain that the bonuses are fair and balanced before we add them to the mix. At this time, artifact control is akin to Hope and Dread for monster players.
Free Peoples controlling both the Splinter of Mordírith’s Crown and The Gift of the Carrock provide all players within any region of Eriador – except instances and the Ettenmoors – with the following:
- “A Quiet Calm” - 3% bonus to earned experience.
Not to be outdone, Tol Ascarnen decided that it wanted in on the mix and asked for some level of inclusion. Free Peoples controlling Tol Ascarnen and both of the Artifacts in the Ettenmoors provide all players within any region of Eriador – except instances and the Ettenmoors – with the following (this skill replaces the previously mentioned bonus):
- “Peace and Quiet” - 5% bonus to earned experience
Once we let Tol Ascarnen get into the party, other areas got a little jealous so we let them in on the fun too. Controlling Tol Ascarnen, Tírith Rhaw, Lugazag, Isendeep, the Grimwood Lumber Camp, and the Gift of the Carrock provides the following to all regions of Eriador – except instances and the Ettenmoors:
- A 5% reduction in combat related item wear
- +50 Maximum Morale
Finally, when Free People control all locations in the Ettenmoors and both of the Artifacts within the Ettenmoors, all players within any region of Eriador – except instances and the Ettenmoors – receive the following (all of these are exclusive to the bonuses listed above):
- A 10% reduction in combat-related item wear
- +100 Maximum Morale
- + 5% bonus to out-of-combat movement speed
The battle in the Ettenmoors will now influence Eriador, though ONLY IN A POSITIVE MANNER. Players fighting and winning the battle of the Ettenmoors will provide those within Eriador with enhanced abilities and the quiet calm necessary for learning the most from your experiences. The goal here is to directly drive the conflict in the Ettenmoors; towers, the mine, the lumber camp and the Tol Ascarnen keep now play a viable role to the entirety of Eriador. This means that those who participate in the battle of the Ettenmoors will be helping their fellows.
We have also added new rewards for players with new armor sets, potions, and other items for battle in the Ettenmoors. The new armor set is the first set created for the new Ettenmoors, and requires tokens received from killing Tol Ascarnen and tower Tyrants. There is also a new barter item, that can only be obtained from the two strongest enemies within The Delving of Frór, needed to obtain these new armor sets.
a priori à rien pour les monstres c'est pour motiver les héros à venir.