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Kiralynn
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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

CLUB NEWS

The Galloping Gala screenshot contest winners have be announced! These creative players received 500 Turbine Points and a special forum title.

Head of the Herd – Rawien of Anduin
Best of Breeds – Akronthorsen of Riddermark
Party Photographer – Knutar of Marathon
Race Photographer – Rosline of Withywindle (Attending the Trivia Race of Withywindle)
Best in Show – Caldarius of Belegaer


Lego has released their Lord of the Rings toys. So far, you won't find any of the named horses from the books, but we're hopeful that they will appear in future sets. Click here for more information.

Ten riders gathered at Hengstacer Farms on Friday, May 25th for a flash race. Qiredis crossed the finish line with a clear lead of three-and-a-half lengths, winning 5 gold. He credited Evermind for an excellent sense of direction. Neowin urged Silver into second place, winning 3 gold. Byrcha finished in third place, a significant distance behind the lead riders. She went home one gold richer. Naurlinnod also performed well and we hope to see this new rider at future races. Special thanks to volunteer judges Anarwald and Naethril. Click here to read the full article.

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Windy Acres Ranch is attempting to collect the default names of all mounts in the game. Several names are still a mystery. Click here you would like to help with this project.

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RIDERS OF ROHAN NEWS

This issue, we'll try to piece together all of the clues Turbine has left us concerning mounted combat in the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion.

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First, we'll take a look at Turbine's press release:

"Introducing Mounted Combat – Ride into Combat atop your loyal War-steed as you defend the people of Rohan from the forces of Isengard and Mordor. Customize your War-steed’s armor and level its skills over time to aid you in mounted defense of King Theoden’s lands. Mount your steed and gather your fellows to fight against Warbands, contingents of roving warg riders that have been scouted all over the Plains of Rohan! It falls to you to head off and defeat this new threat before they over take the land."


Next, let's hear from Kate Paiz in her interview with PC Gamer in February:

“My sense of it is, you’ll be riding across the plains, and you’ll look off into the distance and you see this column of smoke and you’re like “huh, I wonder what that is” and you realize that the smoke is coming closer to you, and is in fact a mounted band of Orcs sent out by Saruman to harry the villagers of Rohan,” she said, “You have decide whether you’re going to ride in the opposite direction, call a few friends or heedlessly charge into battle.

As you ride towards the enemy, you’ll be able to activate a new set of mounted combat skills for your horse and your warrior that will connect as you race past them. If your foe is still alive, you can circle back and take another charge. If you or your opponent takes a hard enough hit, you can be set flying off your mount, and the fight will continue. At that point you can choose to keep your advantage of being mounted, or whether you dismount to take care of your foes with your very hands."

"You’ll be able to customise their [warhorses] physical appearance and also the abilities that they lend you so they’re a good match for your character and the abilities you have already."

"There will be a variety of customisable options both in the store, and earnable in-game."


From the press release, it sounds like these warhorses will be faster than the current +62% and +68% mounts. The extra speed will be essential for traveling in Rohan:

Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online, said "This is going to be another outstanding year as we celebrate our fifth anniversary and introduce a wealth of new content throughout the year, ending with our arrival in Rohan. One of our largest expansions ever, Rohan is expected to be twice the size of the recent Rise of Isengard expansion and includes the most new game systems and technology we've introduced since 2008's Mines of Moria."


Here are the related questions and answers from the Community Q & A released on June 1st:

Q14: Any plans to update/revise the game engine given improvements/advancements in other games over the last few years. to being able to introduce new features or gameplay mechanics to lotro? - Mike Belcher

A: With every major update we seek to make improvements to core gameplay mechanics and introduce new features. We have several improvements of this kind in store for our Riders of Rohan XPack. The most important of these is Mounted Combat itself, in which players and monsters exchange powerful blows while moving at high speed. - N. Sitkoff, Lead Engineer

Q28: Why can't I shoot my bow from mounted position? - William Wood

A: You can’t?? Weird, I can. I was just doing that this morning. Oh wait, I work on LOTRO. Oops. . The good news that you might be happy to hear is that the new mounted combat system coming with the Riders of Rohan Expansion pack will allow you to do just that (that’s assuming you play a class that can use a bow)! - Linda “LLena” Currie, Design Director


There are several facts that we have been able to research thus far:

* Mounted combat will take place only in the East Plains zone of the expansion, at least initially.
* War mounts are larger, faster, armored and customizable.
* There are rumors that war mount gear will be part of the legendary item system.
* War mounts will have their own trait system and can be leveled.
* As with non-combat mounts, characters can be knocked off of war mounts.
* There will be one-on-one fights and clashes with large "Warbands".
* Enemy Warbands will roam the zone and be stationed in key locations, such as Helm's Deep.
* The idea is for characters to charge, clash, and wheel around to gain combat advantages.
* Characters will gain special mounted combat skills. One of them is called "Trample".
* Some of the existing skills will be usable from horseback.


Have you heard something we missed? What do you think about the upcoming mounted combat system?

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UPCOMING EVENTS

The Fellowship Run
Date: Wednesday, July 11 at 9:30pm ST
Place: Hengstacer Farms, Bree-land.
* Horse Show – This is a look-alike contest. Participants must look like Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, Elrond, Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn, Goldberry, Belladonna or Rose Cotton.
* Horse Race – This is a relay race requiring teams of three riders. Goats will be allowed.

Click here for the full event schedule.

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EQUESTRIAN NEWS

This month's equestrian feature is the Steed of Minas Ithil. It is an exclusive, fast (+68%) mount available through the Turbine store. This dappled grey horse is draped in the colors of the noble soldiers of Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon.

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Contact Kiralynn if you need reputation items for Bree, Mathom, Wardens, or Rivendell in order to purchase a horse. You can also request monetary assistance in purchasing your first steed. Have spare reputation items? Consider donating them to the ranch to help young riders buy new mounts.

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RACING TIPS

If you are galloping toward multiple jumps that are very close together, don't take them straight on. Your steed will need a full stride between jumps. He will need even more room if he is running faster than normal. If you don't give him enough room, your steed will balk or catch a hoof on the obstacle. Go through the obstacles in a zig-zag pattern. Take the first jump at a right angle, the second at a left angle, the third at a right angle, and so on. This will give your steed an extra half a second to find his footing.

If you are suffering from terrible lag and can't seem to leap across the water obstacle on the festival race course, take the low road. As long as you keep to the inside of the track and make clean jumps, you can win the race even if you are bogged down by both sticky mires.

Have a tip to share? Reply to this post!


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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

Thanks for the interesting news about mounted combat. This will really boost game time fun!

Racing tip: I race at the 2 courses during festival times and found that if I jump just as I hit the water I can miss about half of the bog before it triggers. Not much extra time but it can make a difference


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Kiralynn
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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

Those who pre-order the expansion will be given the Steed of the Eastemnet, an exclusive Rohirrim mount available immediately. When Riders of Rohan launches, those who pre-ordered the Legendary Edition will also have a matching war steed.

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Here is a preview of some of the other war steeds:

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Here is actual in-game video of mounted combat!



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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

CSTM mentions a horse-session available with the Rohan preorder (similar to the chicken-run sessions). Some Banders witnessed this in-game last evening. Sounds like fun!


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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

If you order the Legendary edition of "Riders of Rohan", you will gain this "exclusive Rohan content" to upgrade the abilities of your war steed. Apparently, pre-order is not required:
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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

There are two deeds available to players who buy the Legendary edition. Goldenstar of CTSM and Elahedor were able to tell us more about them:

Goldenstar says, “The horse deed appears to be one of the Legendary Edition exclusive content. A deed is added called “An Unusual Arrival” that talks about the new horse in Combe. We think this deed is the key to unlocking the quest. We’ve only confirmed that a Legendary Edition has it and a non-pre-order does not have access.

For the deed itself, you must complete repeatable horse quests 60 times to complete the deed and get the cloak and title. The first time through you do 7 initial quests and then 2 dailies. From then on you have 2 dailies to do. There appear to be 8 repeatable quests total that rotate.

There is another deed for doing each of the 9 total quests one time each. I don’t know what the reward for that one is. Sorry.”

Elahedor says, “There are two deeds:

Discovering the Descendent
This deed requires you to complete 9 specific quests. The chain starts in Combed and leads to Hengstacer’s Farm. Most of the quests ate granted by Eogar.

Horsing Around
This deed requires you to complete 60 quests involving the mysterious horse. The quests are the same as for Discovering the Descendent deed.

It appears the Eogar gives only 2 of the possible 9 quests each day. The quests are chosen randomly and reset at 3am EST.”


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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

Are the 5-6 versions of the warhorse which we see above just a cosmetic look on top of the same levelable warhorse? Or are these individual horses for which I would have to add another wing/level to my stable?


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re: Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 18 - Mounted Combat

I am not 100% certain, but from a conversation I had, it sounds like these are just skins, similar to skirmish soldier appearance. You will not have to level multiple war steeds. I hope that it won't cost money and require a visit to a special vendor to slot in different looks, however. It would make war steed appearance far less convenient than character wardrobe.


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