After I'd logged back in, the two of us headed to the Waterworks. The Waterworks are built around a vast underground lake, built not just to act as underground cooling chambers for the blazing forges nearby, but as the power behind the whole civilization of Moria itself. While many of the places in Moria had been thoroughly fleshed out in the source material - such as the aforementioned 21st Hall or Durin's Tomb - the Waterworks was an area where the Turbine crew had a bit more freedom to explore on their own.
Though the Fellowship was bound to their path from A to B, here the developers had the chance to stray from that path, along with places like the Flaming Deeps, Durin's Throne Room, and the Foundations of Stone. According to Campbell, LotRO Executive Producer Jeffery Steefel describes the atmosphere and design of the Waterworks as similar to that of the classic 1920s sci-fi Metropolis, a comparison not entirely unwarranted.
We moved from water to fire, checking out the Flaming Deeps. Here, the local Orcs apparently spent too much time close to the fire and caught on fire themselves. One wonders how said Orcs work from an evolutionary standpoint. Upon slaying a handful of these enemies, I was told that one of my legendary weapons - my Mace of the Third Age - had leveled up, and Campbell took the opportunity to expand upon Moria's legendary weapon system.
As characters adventure, they might find a "generic" legendary weapon (oxymoronic as it might sound), like the "Guardian's Axe of the First Age" or something along those lines. These weapons can be identified, revealing their history and their Legacies: strengths, skill benefits, and capabilities, all of which would be specific to the wielder's chosen class. Weapons gain experience just like a character would, and upon leveling up will accrue points to spend on these Legacies, enhancing the weapon's abilities in combat. These weapons can further be customized through Relics - each one comes with three open slots for a Setting, a Gem, and a Rune (in ascending order of rarity), which offer stat or ability bonuses.
Though points spent as the weapon levels up can be used to advance its existing Legacies, every tenth level players will have the option to reforge it, refunding all points spent - and can add an additional Legacy of their own, which is a nice little touch that makes the player feel like a hero or a champion in their own right. Upon reforging, any slotted Relics can be safely removed (otherwise, the only way to get them out is to replace them, which will destroy whatever is currently in the slot). There's also the option to name the weapon whatever you'd like when you reforge; my "Captain's Sword of the Third Age" became "This Is A Totally Awesome Sword." (If you're reading this, Aaron, I'm sorry.)
Relics and legendary weapons can both be deconstructed, combined and reappropriated to create new Relics - the philosophy, according to Campbell, was that they didn't want anything to be wasted. If you had an item you weren't using, you could repurpose it to advance one you were. Interestingly enough, it had been my legendary mace that had leveled up, though I'd had my sword equipped - players can slot up to six items to gain experience, split between however many they'd like. They can level up all six more slowly, or focus on just advancing one at a time.
We continued on in the Flaming Deeps, which Campbell continued to explain was an area close to where the Balrog might have first exerted his power. One of the primary goals for Moria is to make sure that every space told a story; they want every area to have a unique feel and presence in relation to the others. One of the ways in which the team sought to do this is with the architecture of Moria. In the earlier parts of the kingdom, the stonework is rougher, less advanced. However, as players advance deeper into the Mines, the architecture becomes more ornate and advanced - representing the growing arrogance of Durin and the Dwarves leading to the fall of their race.
Perhaps the single most impressive Dwarven achievement is the Endless Stair, a dizzying spiral that players will traverse from top - the snow-covered peaks where the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog reached its conclusion - to the bottom, an area that the team refers to as the Foundations of Stone. It was there that the Dwarves "delved too deep," uncovering some Nameless enemies as well as one in particular who happened to be made of smoke, fire, and one hell of a temper. The Endless Stair lives up to the name, and Campbell mentions that he'd fallen off it once during early testing, and his character had still been falling three minutes later. Really, it's quite a drop.
Continuing the theme of architecture reflecting the history of Moria is a large indoor garden built during the period when the Dwarves were friendliest with the Elves of Lorien. While showing me around the garden, Campbell was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the Wolf-Riders had an entirely new model; for developers, seeing a game slowly come together is an unsurpassable feeling.
