Tuesday saw the release of another Dev Diary where Vastin discusses the development of Mirwkood as a whole instead of a particular aspect of the upcoming expansion as we’ve become accustomed to.  Although there was no specific game mechanics discussed I found it fascinating to hear about how Turbine’s developers have gone about designing different zones and quests; how they’ve been working on preparing the servers from the initial influx of players into the zone; and how they’ve been trying to insure that the creatures and Free Peoples fit in both logically and from a lore perspective.

Later in the day New Fall Festival Lotteries were introduced into the new lottery system. I love the spirit of this lottery and hopefully I will win something! I also think this is great for those looking to gain items from the fall festival, but may have found their time limited during its duration. That being said it might be a little disappointing to those who already have obtained all the festival’s items. On the other hand free items are awesome and I can’t recall any other gaming company doing anything like this and I certainly don’t expect Turbine to be able to whip out any new items that haven’t been through the normal testing process for what seems to be an incredibly smart, generous and spontaneous idea. Kudos Turbine for doing this and proving once again that you guys care about supplying your customers with the things they love.