What the cluck?

Recently Turbine announced the soon to come “session play” feature for LOTRO. Here’s the official quote:

Session Play is a new system that allows you to play as a character other than your normal character. These characters do not have permanence, so you don’t keep them like you do your Free Peoples or monster play characters. You could play as a Ranger, a Troll, or… a chicken. It’s an opportunity to explore Middle-earth from a different – and sometimes unexpected – viewpoint.

So uh.. yeah.. what happened to these massive lore restrictions? We aren’t allowed to have PVP servers because that would not be canon. We can’t have more classes because that wouldn’t fit the world. We are limited on our race choices in order to be consistent. Yet here we have… Chickens? I’m confused and perhaps I am reading this all wrong but from what I have read players will have the opportunity to run around the world as chickens. CHICKENS!

I hate the idea and it baffles me why things like chickens are making it into the game when there is still a list of things the game needs. Let’s hope they are limited on where they can go in the world because the thought of seeing a dozen chickens in Bree makes me ill.

**Addition at 11:45am PST**

It appears that this is indeed on a lesser scale for two of the playables. As noted in the comments section of this post the Rangers and Trolls are monster play additions. I find this idea to be fantastic because it definitely is needed to fluff up a flat part of the game and it fits the “feeling” of the game. The devs touched on the trolls and rangers as one-time-plays that are purchased with destiny points. So once again I’m fine with that.

I still have it out for the chickens though. Taken directly from the sneak peak:

As a feathered fortune-seeker you can talk to other animals and learn more about the world from the point of view of characters like Old Sally, Wolf, Grip, and Fang, and other famous and furry personalities from The Lord of the Rings Online. Talk to a cat in the Cat Lady’s house in Bree, or meet the im-peck-able Radagast. This new experience will give you a view of the story line from a different perspective and introduces unique skills, quests, accomplishments, and even an alternative way to earn Destiny Points during your explorations!

So these damn chickens are actually going to be running around in Bree and Lone-Lands (those are the only two I’ve confirmed from the text). I won’t lie, I’m cynical when it comes to things like this. It seems ‘cheesy’ to have this little “oh hey lets go talk to people as a chicken to find out what they think about talking to chickens!” Do any of you seriously think Radagast the Brown talking to a chicken is a “neat thing”?

Ranger and Troll – perfectly acceptable. Chickens – Why?

  • There are plenty of things the game needs, Keen. You’re right. But one of the things that’s best about LotRO in my book is that the developers are having fun making things. I’m willing to bet that the chicken side of things was a side-item like the music system and decided to get add in full.

    You DID notice that you’ll be able to also play as Rangers and Trolls, right? The chickens are just the more “talkable” part of the Session Play system, and so it’s getting introduced 1st.

    Chill out, my brotha. 🙂

  • The Ranger and Troll will be in Monster Play – which is fine because that makes sense to me.

    But Chickens running around? I would really like to see these restricted to a poultry only area. Let them be playable in the mini-games and such but I’d prefer they not make their way into the “real game”.

    But like I said I could be reading this all wrong and chickens could be just that – mini games. In which case I wouldn’t care.

  • I’m wondering too about how much world they can traverse. it would seem rather odd to have a bunch of level 50 chickens in Angmar. I’m sure Turbine has thought of that.

    Oh check my blog. I used you for inspiration on a long post. Forgive me if it seems I’m picking on you at 1st. Not meant to.

  • I made an addition to my post. It seems the chickens are indeed going to be in Bree and in Lone-Lands.

    It’s getting too close to that World of Warcraft “let’s be orcs and adopt orphans!” bull.

  • Eh, Bree and Lone-Lands I’m fine with.

    Because it’s really just a fluff item to keep people who love those sorts of additions happy. Think of it this way, Keen. They had to get it past Saul Zaentz before doing it, so at least the holder of Tolkien’s estate is okay with it. 😛

  • Radagast, the crazy wiz, loves the animals. We just went through an instance the other night with him and the guy would stop mid battle to talk to squirrels and frogs. By the end of it, he had a entourage that ace ventura would have been proud of.
    I see this as more of an appetizer before the next big update.