欢迎来到Forochel（…如何做到OOXXOOXX）
13 April 2008
经历了数周对艾辛格玩家的戏弄，直到后来终于恢复正常的论坛，现在我们已经十分确定Forochel将是魔戒第十三章“末日帝王的审判”的全新区域，玩家将有多的机会来开拓这块大陆（针对44-50级的玩家），并且能赢得Lossoth的信赖——北方废墟的土著人。
Forochel是一个被玩家和我们世界开发团队共同期待的一个区域，这是护戒队走的不寻常的一条路，这就使我们在设计方面有了很大的空间和弹性。新的场景也正好给了我们一个机会来尝试新开发的制作工具，正好应用在即将开发的新地图：马利亚矿井。
Forochel世界的设计目的
就在我们着手开始开发的时候，这些和我们所熟知的寒冰场景是多么的近似。薄雾山脉、冰封海湾、伊瑞德隆（就和我们现在的英格兰地区一样），我们所能知道的就只有雪！对Forochel的雪景布置并不像以前的雪域风情。
为了表达出生物的多样性，我们参考了照片和电影的资料记录，就像我们做的所有场景，我们要求依托真实的世界而开发出一套基础的纹理结构数据，而在这个进程中，我们决定将把大部分Forochel地区没有植被的情况作为一个突出的表现要素。
没有树木这些将带给我们很多有趣的挑战：树木可以增加很多景观，他们可以填补空间，提供装饰，轻松引导视觉方向，并让人感觉到区域的多样化和趣味化。
但是我们还是要种一些树在Forochel的（主要是为了给玩家表示出目标方向），所以这就要求我们从其他的角度来修饰好我们的景观。
我们的总体目标是要让Forochel感觉起来非常辽阔，我们可以从两方面来入手。在完成第十一章：伊利雅德的卫士 之前，景观开发组就已经开始创作Forochel了，这就使得我们的景观开发组在大量实际内容开发前有充足的时间来描绘和修饰景观。这个同样也需要内容开发组来协助完成景观创作，直到Forochel开发的尾声，我们发现我们已经开发出了一个相当于北部丘陵大小的区域。除了我们开发的这个怡情的景观外，我们还需要这块地方能让人感觉到辽阔，所以我们使用了很多比实际可行区域要低很多的禁行区域，这样我们就可以沿着可行区域去制作森林和苔原，给这个辽阔的地域一个更无垠的感觉。如果我们愿意开发的话，这样也是给我们留下了一个极好的扩张地图的伏笔。
另一个特别的用来开发Forochel景观的就是我们引入了全新的景观开发技术——双层远景景观技术。这个技术可以让我们设计出更逼真的洞穴（就像矮人的邻居），不需要用大量的石块来砌筑。这一高新技术为我们展现了未来可能出现的更让人振奋的东西，我们也很高兴的介绍该技术的受益者Forochel。
我们学到的教训！
我们为了魔戒的工作也花费了很多年的时间，我们也得到了很多教训：
我们认识到玩家喜欢在游戏中面对那些有正常情商的怪物。
我们认识到设计一个不停召唤小怪的精英BOSS是非常失败的设计。
我们认识到玩家不喜欢满街都是游荡的怪物。
这里有主题么？是的，有。Forochel是我们从测试程序和艾文汀、塔布鲁伊，空中通道和安格玛这些部分得到的教训的总结。我不敢保证所有玩家的烦恼问题都会被解决（因为一些是游戏设计的问题,对不起），但是我们会非常认真的对待我们收到的反馈，并付诸行动。
传送同样也是一部分我们所学到的教训，在过去的几次更新中，你会发现我们增加了更多的传送路线（尤其是在安格玛和艾文汀里）。而第十三章，Forochel将会在整个区域增加更广泛的传送网络，这个传送网络将会提供更多各种普通传送路线和名门快捷通道。
环境憎恶你们！（但有时也会表示一点爱）
“环境也是对手”的概念已经跟随了魔戒的开发团队很长时间。早在独自开发的时候，我们就娱乐性的在塔布鲁伊，空中通道做了尝试性的开发。而现在Forochel里，我们已经在这个概念上走出了相当的路程。
人物对环境的第一反映将表现在呼吸。在第十三章我们讲引入表面温度系统。这个系统允许环境对你的人物产生不同的温度效果影响。这样的话，当你步入Forochel，薄雾山脉、冰封海湾、伊瑞德隆，你将会在空气中看到你的呼吸，如果你更深入寒冷地带，它的效果就会更出色。这个特点对游戏操作没有任何影响，这纯粹是一个额外的添加效果。
在第十三章中，暴风雪已经开始进行了一个重大的视觉更新并在Forochel里扮演了一个关键的部分，同样扮演了天气系统的一部分，还扮演了稀有怪物系统的一部分。一些暴风雪刮着刺骨的寒风，剩下你能做的也只有对抗寒冷了。不过不要担心，你不会无助的面对它的。
Forochel里的冰封海湾是“环境憎恶你们”的最后一部分了。这个巨大的海湾面向北部海域，更像是一个包围着它的陆地，极度冰冷的水。极度的！事实上，呆在水中会严重影响你的士气并能导致无助（在一些特定地方）。因此，水实际上就扮演了北方禁行区域的角色，除非绕过海湾走。
现在，结束了所有的“憎恶”，那偶尔表示的一点爱是什么呢？所有Forochel景观能带给你们的享受就是我们真正想为你们做的，在Forochel中为了抵御强风和深寒，玩家在村庄或者帐篷里，通过各种各样的地热风口和生篝火来取暖，在某特定区域，玩家还可以脱掉湿衣服来给自己创造御寒的环境。
总结
Forochel是一个我们花了2个更新周期的工作。我们从以前发布的景观中学到很多教训，并取之精华，去之糟桲。
就我个人来说，我真的非常高兴把Forochel带给了魔戒，这一直是一个我一直想实现的场景。一个小小的传说，就给我们提供了丰富的创作空间，仅仅一个小小的传说，就给我们带来了众多的有趣的探索。
祝各位开拓者快乐。
原文
Book 13: Welcome to Forochel! (or…How to Make a Region Without Trees)
[11-Apr-2008]
After weeks of teasing the Isengard players and later the Live forums, it is now known without a doubt that Forochel is the newest playable region for The Lord of the Rings OnlineTM: Shadows of AngmarTM. With the launch of Book 13: Doom of the Last-king, players will get the opportunity to explore this brand new region (aimed at level 44-50 characters) and earn the trust of the Lossoth - the native folk of the Northern Wastes. Forochel is a region that many of us on the World and Content teams have been looking forward to for a long time now. It is off the beaten path of the Fellowship, which affords us a lot of flexibility in terms of design. This new landscape also gave us an opportunity to try out some new tools that were just recently developed for our upcoming expansion, Mines of MoriaTM!
World Design Goals
By the time we started development of Forochel, we were quite familiar with wintry landscapes. Between the Misty Mountains, the Coldfells, and portions of Ered Luin (and New England being what it is), we know snow! The trick with Forochel was coming up with a presentation of a snowy landscape that didn't look like our previous areas.
To achieve that biome difference, we hit the photo and film references. Like all of our regions, we called upon references from the real world to develop a set of textures and assets that would make Forochel stand out. During this process, we decided upon a distinct lack of trees across the majority of Forochel as being one of the region's distinguishing factors. The lack of trees led to some interesting challenges; trees add a lot to our landscape - they fill space, provide decoration, and easily break up sight-lines and can make an area feel more interesting and varied. We still used trees in some portions of Forochel (primarily as a way to introduce players to the region) but this goal forced us to think differently in how we decorated our landscape.
One of our chief goals for Forochel was to make it feel massive, and we were able to achieve this in two ways. Since the completion of Book 11: Defenders of Eriador, the World team has been working on Forochel. This allowed the World team plenty of time to develop and polish the landscape before heavy content development on the region occurred. This also allowed the Content team the time to fill the landscape with quests, and at the end of Forochel's development, we have a region that rivals the North Downs in size. In addition to the scope of the playable landscape, we wanted the region to feel expansive, so we used region-impassables that are much lower than those found in our other regions. This gave us the opportunity to develop forests and tundra beyond the playable areas, giving this already large area a much larger feel. This also provides an excellent opportunity to expand Forochel in the future if we so desire.
Another special addition to the landscape of Forochel is the introduction of some brand new landscape technology - Dual Heightmap Landscape. This feature allows us to develop more organic cave settings on the landscape (similar to the Dwarf neighborhood) without having to use large numbers of rocks to plug the ceiling. This tech offers some very exciting possibilities for the future and we‘re happy to introduce this feature to players in Forochel.
Oh the Things We've Learned!
We've spent a lot of time working on LOTRO now, and over the years, we've learned a number of lessons:
We've learned that players like a healthy mix of monster moods on the landscape.
We've learned that elite monsters within mixed spawns are a bad idea.
We've learned that players aren't fans of roads with heavy monster patrols.
Is there a theme? Yes there is! Forochel is very much a culmination of all the lessons we've learned from the Beta Program and the areas of Evendim, Tâl Bruinen, High Pass, and Angmar. I can't say we've ironed out all the issues that annoy people (because some of those are by design, sorry!) but we did look very intently at the feedback we've received and put it into action in Forochel.
Travel was also a big component in the "Things We've Learned" category. Over the past few updates, you may have noticed more travel routes (particularly in Angmar and Evendim). For Book 13, Forochel will launch with a broad travel network across the region. This network will offer a variety of normal travel routes as well as Reputation-gate Swift Travel Routes。
The Environment Hates You! (and sometimes, it shows you a little love)
The concept of using the Environment as an enemy has been floating around the LOTRO Dev team for a long time now - as far back as the Lonelands development period. We toyed with this notion a little bit with Tâl Bruinen (brambles and rocks in the road) and the High Pass (rare monster-driven blizzards). In Forochel, we're taking that concept a few steps further.
The first reaction your avatar will have to the environment will show in its breath. Book 13 sees the introduction of the cosmetic temperature system. This system allows the environment to have various cosmetic influences on your character. In this case, when you enter Forochel, the Misty Mountains, the Coldfells, and portions of Ered Luin, you'll see your breath on the air. The deeper into wintry territory you trek, the greater the visual effect you'll see. This feature has no gameplay impact; it is purely an extra bit of immersion.
Blizzards are receiving a significant visual update for Book 13 and play a key part in Forochel, both as part of the normal weather system and as part of our Rare Monster System. Some blizzards have bitter winds that chill you to the bone, leaving you less able to combat the effects of cold. Don't worry though - you won't be defenseless against the bitter cold.
The Ice Bay of Forochel is the last bit in the "Environment Hates You" Department. This large bay opens to the northern seas and, much like the land around it, this water is cold! So cold, in fact, that staying in it can seriously impact your morale and can (in some locations) lead to incapacitation. Because of this, the water acts as a northern impassable for Forochel, barring passage beyond the bay.
Now, after all that hate - how about some love? With all the things the landscape of Forochel could do to you, we wanted to provide some things it could do for you. In order to combat the bitter winds and freezing waters of Forochel, players will be able to warm themselves in the villages and camps of the region, on the various geothermal vents scattered across the region and at campfires they themselves can make. Using these locations and/or items, players can strip the cold from themselves and, in some circumstances, provide themselves with defense against chilling environment.
In Conclusion
Forochel is a region that we've spent two update cycles working on. We've taken the lessons learned from our previous landscape releases and have attempted to include the good, and skip the bad, for Forochel.
Personally, I am really happy to bring Forochel to LOTRO. It is an area I've wanted to see realized for a while now; it is a land of little lore, which gives us plenty of room to stretch creatively but just enough lore to have some very interesting hooks. Have fun exploring it!
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