At Codemasters Connect '08, the Turbine team has announced the first expansion for the company's very successful MMORPG, Lord of the Rings Online. Titled "The Mines of Moria", this new addition will do what players have come to expect from an expansion:

BIRMINGHAM, UK – March 14, 2008 - Turbine, Inc. and Codemasters Online today unveiled Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online™, the first retail expansion for the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). Announced in Birmingham, the childhood home of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ will expand the online world of Middle-earth to let players explore the ancient underground cities of the dwarves, battle epic characters in the depths, face off with the Watcher, be a part of the fateful release of Durin’s Bane and more! The Lord of the Rings Online expects to open Volume II of its epic story in the fall of 2008 with an increased level cap, two new classes and the introduction of a unique item advancement system.

“The Mines of Moria is one of the most epic settings in all of fantasy fiction,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “No one delivers more quality content than Turbine and with our journey into Moria, we will raise the bar even higher. We are adding vast amounts of content, debuting massive new environments and unveiling numerous unique feature sets, like item advancement, which will create entirely new dimensions of compelling game play and social interaction which are unique to The Lord of the Rings Online experience.”

NEW FEATURES:

• Speak Friend, and Enter – Moria, called Khazad-dûm by the dwarves, was their capital and the grandest of cities. This enormous underground cavern in north-western Middle-earth, comprises an immense network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls that run beneath and ultimately through the Misty Mountains. For the first time, players of The Lord of the Rings Online will enter this ancient city which has served as the foundation for the modern-day dungeon-crawling adventures to battle the hordes of goblins and the Nameless of the Deep and journey through hundreds of new quests within six new kinds of stunning environments.
• The Epic Continues! — The Mines of Moria represents the beginning of Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online. Players can experience six new books as part of this update and participate in the release of Durin’s Bane, battle the Watcher, aid Galadriel and more!
• Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 60, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests. The crafting system will also expand, giving players the ability to craft even more powerful items.
• Discover Two New Classes — The Rune-keeper and the Warden, the first new classes to be introduced since the launch of the game, allow players to build exciting and powerful new characters in The Lord of the Rings Online in diverse new ways.
• Forge Legendary Items – The Mines of Moria will introduce Turbine’s new item advancement system to The Lord of the Rings Online. Players will be able to forge weapons and class-related equipment and evolve them to build a legacy the likes of Bilbo’s Sting and Gandalf’s Glamdring. These legendary weapons will level-up along with the player, allowing customization by advancing the item’s virtues, adding runic legacies, modifying its titles and forming fables.

To celebrate this exciting news, Turbine and Codemasters also announced today that they will kick off a major promotion that invites everyone to unlock the Mines of Moria by visiting http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Visitors can learn more about Mines of Moria and play special mini-games that will be periodically released over the coming months. Certain players who participate can complete special deeds through game play and other means to unlock exclusive previews, assets and special in-game items that may help them when they delve into Mines of Moria this fall. The Unlock the Mines of Moria promotion is scheduled to begin at the end of this month.

Our own Donna Desborough is attending Connect '08, and we expect to hear more on this story from her in the coming days.

Ooh, nice. :D This looks promising

Very nice.  Sounds like they are making some great additions to the game.

looks like LoTRO is gonna be on top again ( for now! because AoC is coming and WAR!!)

Seriously tho Im glad they did this, I was hoping they would actually give us an expansion not just another game update although the dungeon added in the last update is awesome.

Oh, this is very good. Might just spend the entire weekend working on my character.

I have to say that I've been enjoying the game more and more since they added the cosmetic features and since I got a new computer and can pretty much have my settings on ultra high.

The world is so beautfiul.

And if you take the game for what it is, it really can be epic. I don't think people realize how large this game world is going to get.

MORIA! Finally!

'nuff said

aye moria is great indeed, this is the content I was hoping for at launch but it's all good. I'll be back for this expansion for sure. Rune-keeper sounds interesting and moria well need I say more its MORIA.

I want to know more about those two classes. The game world is beautiful, the Epic quests are engaging, but I can never get into the game due to the classes. Hopefully the new classes will appeal to me.

One of my complaints may be gone...

The classes were so cut and dried...but, hopefully these will prove to be more interesting

Now...what about the UI, animations, and slightly bland gameplay and combat?

Congratulation Turbies!

Moria Expansion was expected ... but two new classes ! A surprise

Increased level cap , nice

But what got me most intrigued is the weapon leveling ... sounds like an interesting new concept ...

All in all , it will be well worth the money

Should anybody really be down there in Moria?

Should those mines really be populated like a Shopping Mall?

Seems kinda silly for us to be down there, seems like something the Epic Book Quests should skip over, for anyone who's not protecting Frodo.

Whatever though, popular demands wins over Theme again.

Originally posted by CujoSWAoA

Should anybody really be down there in Moria?

Should those mines really be populated like a Shopping Mall?

Seems kinda silly for us to be down there, seems like something the Epic Book Quests should skip over, for anyone who's not protecting Frodo.

Whatever though, popular demands wins over Theme again.

Well, my thought (and I know people are not going to like this) is that:

A, I agree with you and therefore it can't be an open space
B, It has to be instanced to the party
C, it has to be "after" the Fellowship goes through

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Originally posted by CujoSWAoA
Should anybody really be down there in Moria?
Should those mines really be populated like a Shopping Mall?
Seems kinda silly for us to be down there, seems like something the Epic Book Quests should skip over, for anyone who's not protecting Frodo.
Whatever though, popular demands wins over Theme again.

---

Let me help you out, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed. Only thing that could beat my excitement as a new environment is mordor itself.

Wow!!

Such vision and breath taking inovations......

Originally posted by Thaliost

Wow!!

Such vision and breath taking inovations......

Hard to tell if that was sarcasm or not...heh.

Originally posted by uohaloran

Originally posted by Thaliost

Wow!!

Such vision and breath taking inovations......

Hard to tell if that was sarcasm or not...heh.

It is :)

Originally posted by openedge1

One of my complaints may be gone...

The classes were so cut and dried...but, hopefully these will prove to be more interesting

Now...what about the UI, animations, and slightly bland gameplay and combat?

I don't think an EQ2 player has any room to complain about UI, animations and bland gameplay / combat lol, LOTRO offers the best in all of these.

The UI is minimal which is how MMO's should be, you can scale the size of all UI features.

The animations in LOTRO are by far the best in any mmo, even the emotes.

And combat is by far the best.

Hmm...this sounds very interesting!  I plan on taking another look at the game when the expansion comes out.  I'd still love to see playable "evil" races, but I doubt that will ever happen.

Originally posted by Lobotomist

Congratulation Turbies!

Moria Expansion was expected ... but two new classes ! A surprise

Increased level cap , nice

But what got me most intrigued is the weapon leveling ... sounds like an interesting new concept ...

 

All in all , it will be well worth the money

I don't know who created the concept of weapon leveling in MMORPGs, but I do know that DAoC came out with it with Trials of Atlantis and then Darkness Rising. So it isn't a new concept. But I agree, it sounds intriguing and I bet it will be fun.

The game was just beginning to become boring for me and this announcement brought my excitement back. Thank you Turbine :)
But before the expansion we expect book13 and 14, I hope they'll provide us something to do while we are waiting for Moria.
The expansion will be paid, I suppose?