Players of The Lord of the Rings Online’s Delving system have reason to be excited for the upcoming Return to Carn Dum expansion, as Systems Designer Mitth recently shared details about the new changes to the system in a developer diary.
The changes to the system are broken down into four categories, starting with general balance adjustments. Specifically, the difficulty modifiers of enemies will be lowered, particularly in Tiers 5 through 10. Additionally, the alert range of enemies will be decreased at higher tiers, and the radius effects that activate other enemies in the area once alerted will be smaller.
Malice changes are also on the way, including a shift in the rotation of Malices from a weekly to a daily schedule and the addition of a sixth variant. New Malices that players can counter will be added, including Epic Monster Skills and Cursed Hotspots. Some Malices will be replaced or reworked, and a balance pass will be done on others.
Delving gem consolidation is another change players can expect, with fewer gems needed for more inventory space. There will be four gems that can be used across 12 tiers, with each gem unlocking three levels of delvings. Gems will no longer have cracked versions, and players will get the next gem when they successfully complete a delving.
Finally, reward updates include the addition of two weekly quests to Delvings, with rewards of Virtue XP and Delving Writs. Instances will also be added to Delvings, with The School at Tham Mírdain and The Library at Tham Mírdain offering a small chance at a second, rare Delving Box with rare rewards. The worst individual rewards from the Tier 7-10 band will be eliminated, and rotten fruit and lumps of coal will be removed from treasure tables.
According to Mitth, these changes are in response to player feedback, and the team behind The Lord of the Rings Online’s Delving system is eager to hear more. The system was ambitious from the start, and it has taken time to build, tweak, and adapt it for the live game. Mitth encourages players to share their thoughts on the system in the comments.
Return to Carn Dum is expected to be released soon, so players won’t have to wait long to try out these exciting new changes to the Delving system.