With Lord of the Rings Online’s Before the Shadow update right around the corner, there are a whole lot of things to be excited for this mini-expansion. One of them is a collection of soundtrack additions by composer Bill Champagne, which is always welcome news.
In last week’s developer livestream, Champagne introduced the soundtrack and gave fans a preview of it over the course of an hour. It’s as good a way as any to get psyched up about this fresh region of Middle-earth that’s about to open its doors.
Over on the forums, SSG continues to explain and promote the delving system, which is Before the Shadow’s primary endgame mechanic. “The delving system is, primarily, created to provide an alternative to end game raid progression for those players who do not wish to engage in raids,” said the studio. “The secondary goal of the system is to provide another options for players who wish to challenge themselves and work toward items that they may find appealing or worth acquire.”
The studio predicts that delvings won’t be universally embraced: “We expect, as with anything new, that some players will like it and some will not. Some will engage in a hardcore sense and stay pegged at tier 10 and crush the system fast. Some will engage and disengage. Some will enjoy doing a delving or two a day and working toward that progression over time.”
