I’m just now getting back from vacation and wanted to share a few thoughts about what I think will happen this coming year.  It has been a rough 2010 for Turbine with the massive undertaking that was the F2P transition, but I’m quite excited for this year as I really think Turbine will hit their stride with the switch and get back to the SOA release pace.  I’ll keep these short, so here goes:

  • We will see at least 5 updates to the game this year.  We know of 3 (raid cluster, summer, and Isengard) but I’m thinking there will be two that are either “Month of” patches that bring class tweaks or story updates.
  • Isengard will start off Volume 4 of the epic line, and will hit in October.  OK, this might be a bit of a wish, but I’m thinking earlier then most expect and since November is their normal release I wanted to push it up a bit as that also gives room for a post Isengard update.
  • The new raid cluster will be a huge boost for Turbine and will keep most end-gamers active until Isengard
  • In addition to the LI overhaul, we’ll see the trait system tweaked or some other progression system introduced
  • The PvMP revamp will be great for VIPs but will fall flat for free players and will not include any new classes, freep or creep.
  • Turbine will push the limits of what’s accepted in the store and will cross the line enough that they’ll need to do a mea culpa and give something back to the players.
  • My gimme – there will be new podcasts.  I’m cheating here as I’m starting one, but I’m also predicting there will be at least one more.

Can’t wait for the fun this year, and I should have my first podcast episode up soon!