The Lord of the Rings Online E3 Previews
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 763
This use of instances allows players to experience and participate in key story events for themselves, regardless of the state of the world and the other characters within it. Every Human character will experience the destruction of Archet, and once the village has been destroyed, it isn't possible to accidentally stumble across a pristine version of the village. Transitions between instances weren't quite seamless - they involved a short loading screen, equivalent to most other zone transitions - but they were certainly quick enough not to be a major inconvenience. On the other hand, the non-instanced landscape, which should comprise at least 70% of the game area, is completely seamless.
And a snip from Game Club Central's article:
Character development is based on race and racial region, as well as a 'class' choice providing direction for the player to develop in. Skill development and attribute advancement are both based on race, with minor adjustments made by sub-region for the race chosen (ie, a human from the farmlands, is definitely not the same warrior as a son of royalty, or one hobbit region is better at thievery than another, etc). The skill set resulting is a prefabricated one based on the racial and sub selections made at time of player creation.
