Originally Posted by Scenario Originally Posted by

A Fresh Coat of Paint

by Matt “Scenario” Elliott



When you build a home, it is easy to think that it is the most perfect thing ever. But then, as time goes on, you look at the work you’ve done and begin to see occasional cracks in the plaster, scuffs on the floor and maybe a few horrible choices in paint color. It’s still your home – and you love it – but that doesn’t mean it can’t use a facelift once in a while.



That’s what returning to work on LOTRO was like for me. My name is Matt Elliott and I was a member of LOTRO team from development all the way through to the launch of Rohan. After taking a break from Middle Earth for several years, I was invited back to the World Design team, and reacquainted myself with the world we created. There is a lot of love that went into building the landscapes of Eriador, Rhovanion and beyond – but the cracks in the plaster of our earliest regions are showing.



To ramp back into building worlds, I was asked to take a critical look at Breeland and other areas to see what updated design principles and assets could be incorporated into our oldest of homes. It was a great way to get muscle memory going again, and it wasn’t long before using our tools became second nature for the second time.



What does this mean for Breeland and Ered Luin?

Most noticeably, Breeland has been given a high-level polish pass. Expect to see fewer impassable cliffs – and polished impassable cliffs where they are needed. Some terrain textures have been replaced with newer, better looking textures. New waterways and polished water materials have been added to make the landscape feel more like an ecosystem. Trees and frills have been updated in places to take advantage of newer and more detailed assets. Plus – a few small surprises have been added here and there to keep things interesting.



In southern Ered Luin, we have begun the process of recomposing the look of the mountains surrounding the playable areas to match our current standards (if only we had the expertise with these tools 13 years ago that we do now!) as well as smoothing out the playable terrain to make it less tedious to traverse.



What’s next for this house?

Everyone on the World Team has portions of the original landscape that we’d like to polish. We’ve got a lot on our plate preparing for Update 23, but as we have time, we intend to look back at our older regions and see where we can spruce things up with a fresh coat of paint.