Template talk:Mordor

I'm curious, why is this split into "The Expansion" and "not the expansion"? It seems a little unwieldy as navigation templates go. Are they separated in-game? -- Elinnea (talk) 03:05, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

In-game, the older areas - North Ithilien and the Wastes, etc. (areas East of the Anduin) - are part of the Mordor pulldown on the map. However, most folks considered them part of Gondor (Anorean). I just separated the two to make it clear what was part of the new Mordor Expansion. I assume that as we hit Update 22, we can merge the two together and nobody will know (or care) about the difference. However, the split will still exist -- unless you purchase the expansion, you can't access the "new Mordor." In that sense, this is a unique situation that we have not encountered before. Almost as complex as the before and after battle stuff.

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 01:05, 12 August 2017 (UTC)

By access, do you mean you can't enter it at all? Is it different from how Moria and Rohan are all in the Rhovanion template together even though they're different expansions? I don't have any characters who've gotten all the way to Mordor, so I don't know what it's actually like, I'm afraid. But then if you're planning to merge them eventually, maybe this discussion doesn't matter too much. -- Elinnea (talk) 14:34, 12 August 2017 (UTC)

Correct, if you do not purchase the Mordor Expansion, you do not have access to any content other than the Epic Quest line - which does not actually enter Mordor, except by way of what would otherwise be called a Session Play, and then only briefly before you are returned to North Ithilien. The NEW "alternate Epic line" -- "The Black Book of Mordor: Where the Shadows Lie" -- is available only if you have purchsed the Expansion. (If I remember correctly, there is a multiple-month passage of time between the destruction of the Ring and the Crowning of the King. One assumes that Update 22 (nominally in December) will resume that Epic story line). So this is kind of a "left handed" way of beging able to say "The Epic Line is still Free."

Put another way, in both Moria and Rohan (as well as Mirkwood, Rise of Isengard and Helm's Deep), the Epic quest line ran through the Expansions. However, at least so far, the Moria Expansion is being kept independent -- making the Morannon, kind of a "Pay Wall" if you will. Which is actually quite ingenious on SSG's part, for multiple reasons. Not the least of which, Tolkien never wrote much of anything beyond the destruction of the Ring as far as the various areas in Mordor and beyond are concerned. One can only guess how SSG will handle the Harad and the lands to the south, which, again if I remember correctly, are give a passing reference in the Trillogy. This gives SSH a pretty free hand on how they develop "Mordor" and the lands to the North, East, and South of it, as well as avoiding many issues with Intellectual Property issues.

So, in short, there are a LOT of changes associated with Mordor which people are only beginning to encounter, document, and understand - the Allegiance System being one of them as well as the significant changes in the combat system which some call Radiance 2.0 Shadow of Mordor (Effect) / Light of Eärendil

Wm Magill - Valamar - OTG/OTC - talk 16:25, 13 August 2017 (UTC)