Standing Stone Games opened up Lord of the Rings Online’s Bullroarer test server last night with multiple surprises for content and customization.
“LOTRO is celebrating the uniqueness of every player!” the test patch notes say. “Our latest update celebrates individuality with additional character customization options for the Race of Men (humans) that let players express themselves in new ways. We want to make as many players feel represented in the game as possible, and we are introducing new character creation options for your face, hair, and body! We know there is more work to do to offer a wider variety of character creation options, and we will be following up this release with additional options in the future.”
All of that translates into a broader range of body proportions and “more shared options between genders, including hair and beard styles where applicable,” in addition to better textures for everyone.
YouTuber Pontin Finnberry has kindly posted a video with all of the new face and hair bases and skin tones, which show a wide range of global ethnicities represented. The new hair options and deeper skin tones will be particularly welcome, but there’s also just tons more fine control over every piece of face period.
SSG is nuking “culture war” trolling from the main thread, but so far the best useful feedback revolves around asking for an expansion to the list of character origins to match the expanded ethnic choices.
Gwathrenost, the Witch-king’s Citadel, is also available for testing; it’s a level 140 raid in Carn Dûm.
The patch further includes a raft of class, monster play, and instance tweaks. As for the planned crafting updates? “It has been being worked on, but we don’t yet have a timetable to announce further,” SSG’s Cordovan says.
