The Lord of the Rings Online Book 12 Preview
-
Category: News ArchiveHits: 843
Also in the Ettemoors is an entirely new dungeon with some peculiar properties. First of all, it won't actually open until your side manages to capture a majority of the Ettenmoors' strongholds, which have been augmented to allow the controlling team to buff up the structure's defenses. At that point you can head over to the eastern edge of the zone and drop into the dungeon, known as the Ettendeep. But things aren't that simple. While you've got a majority hold on the zone's strongholds, it's possible to lose it. To clarify, just because your group heads into the Ettendeep doesn't mean they're safe from the monster players. The PvP battle for strongholds still rages while your side's representatives are down in the dungeon, so it's entirely possible for the other side to wrestle majority stronghold control from you, gain access to the Ettendeep, and actually wipe out your dungeon party. While the Ettendeep does exist in a different space than the Ettenmoors, meaning you pass through a loading sequence to get there, it's still a public space.
That's why it needs to be such a big dungeon because, potentially, you could have gatherings of 30 heroes and 30 monster players doing battle down there, and that's not even taking into account the roving hordes of NPC monsters who'll attack either side indiscriminately. Securing some of the powerful items, monster player skills, and the like hidden within the Ettendeep seems like it would require quite a bit of coordinated effort, as players within the dungeon would have to make sure they post lookouts, just in case the other side of the PvP battle happens to take controls of enough strongholds to gain access themselves. We also got the opportunity to battle briefly against the Ettendeep's main mob, named Gaergoth the Unbound (why is "g" such an evil letter?). With over 300,000 hit points and massive dual crescent blades he's a formidable foe, basically a raid target. Making things more difficult are little fiery wisps that constantly spawn around him, singing party members as Gaergoth blasts out waves of fire.
