Legendary Items
The new Legendary Item Advancement System is designed to replicate the kind of connection with individual weapons characteristic of the most famous weapons found in Tolkien lore. Bilbo's short sword Sting, Gandalf's Glamdring and Aragorn's Andúril are renowned as superior implements of battle, and Turbine wanted to give players a similar sense of ownership over their own hardcore hardware. To that end, two new NPCs called Forge Masters and Relic Masters were added to assist in the construction and maintenance of a special new class of customizable weapon. These weapons, denoted by gilded borders on their icons, can be forged and re-forged with a variety of abilities and stat boosts and actually grow in efficacy over time.
While Forge Masters are necessary to identify and reforge the legendary weapons and items a character may come across throughout his or her adventures, Relic Masters provide the raw materials for further modifications and can break down existing weapons into their constituent runes. Basically, players can choose to have a Relic Master destroy some of their legendary equipment for components that they can then infuse into another, while Forge Masters undo these infusions and increase the item's abilities through successive recastings. Players can even name their gear during the reforging process, giving their new gear a specific identity.
Their legendary equipment gains experience and levels alongside their character, so the more they are used, the more powerful the items will become. Special drops known as Heritage runes can be applied to legendary gear that will instantly increase the amount of experience points and artificially level them. Between the increased potency through use and the reforging and slotting of stat-boosting runes and gems, the Legendary Item Advancement System has the intended side benefit of eliminating the "loot malaise" that goes along with scoring new gear that may outshine previous hard-won acquisitions. For instance, if a player likes his axe he needn't vendor them just because he found some new axe with slightly better stats, because he can just break down the new axe and add some of its pieces to his old standby. It's not a straight-across stat trade, but it should give his favourite pieces a bit of extra longevity.
Currently, each class may acquire and equip two items: a class weapon, and a class item. The weapon may be any of the common types of weapon available to the class, while the item is often a class-specific aid (such as a Minstrel's songbook or a Captain's emblem). These Legendary items range in base power by level (51-60), rarity (Third-, Second-, or First Age), and the random abilities assigned to them. Because of this, it is quite possible for, say, a common Third Age weapon at level 60 to outperform a rare Second Age at level 55. It is even possible, though extremely rare, for the combination of random attributes on the player's first, quest-granted weapon to prove superior to all subsequent combinations. Thus the intended goal, the prevention of 'loot malaise', holds theoretically true, if statistically improbable. It also remains confined to the Legendary system items, at least for now.
Read more about this topic: The Lord Of The Rings Online: Mines Of Moria
Famous quotes containing the words legendary and/or items:
“All legendary obstacles lay between
Us, the long imaginary plain,
The monstrous ruck of mountains”
—John Montague (b. 1929)
“A favorite of outdoor alcoholics, connoisseurs and Fundamentalists, these pills turn water into wine. In 10 minutes the most fetid swamp scum in the forest can become modest red, elusive and light on first taste, yet playful—one might say a trifle impudent—on the afterbite. Saves pack space by eliminating need for bulky corkscrew, decanter and bottles. Store pills on their sides in a cool dark place.”
—Alfred Gingold, U.S. humorist. Items From Our Catalogue, “Wine Pills,” Avon Books (1982)