http://www.lotro.com/mirkwood/

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TURBINE UNVEILS
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: SIEGE OF MIRKWOOD™
New Digital Expansion to the 2008 MMO of the Year Launching this Fall
WESTWOOD, MA – September 4, 2009 - Turbine, Inc. today unveiled The Lord of the Rings Online™: Siege of Mirkwood™, the digital expansion to the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online. Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this Fall with an increased level cap, a new region including the legendary evil fortress of Dol Goldur, major enhancements to combat and Legendary Items and the introduction of Skirmishes, a new system where players will train customizable soldiers and take them into battle as part of the War of the Ring.

 

“2009 has been a year of unprecedented growth for The Lord of the Rings Online and the launch of Siege of Mirkwood will end the year with a bang,” said Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “As the game expands east of the Misty Mountains, players will face the raging war and shadow that has spread across Middle-earth and the new Skirmish system will thrust players and their soldiers into the War of the Ring.”

NEW FEATURES:

* The Epic Conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria™ – Under the command of Celeborn and Galadriel, players will fight through vast armies of Orcs alongside the Elves of Lórien in a battle that will take them to Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths. This update includes Book 9 and the Epilogue to the sweeping epic tale begun with the award-winning Mines of Moria expansion.

* Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 65, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.

* Answer the Call of War! – Jump into the heat of battle with the new Skirmishes feature. Skirmishes offer endless action in repeatable, randomized instances where players can create and lead customizable soldiers into battle, training them to greater skill as they earn victories against the forces of shadow. Answer the call of war wherever violence erupts with the new “World Join” function that lets players and their fellowships band together to fight in various locations throughout Middle-earth.

* Take up Arms! – Infiltrate the dark jails, deadly arenas and savage stables of Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths, and strike a blow against Sauron’s forces in new 3 and 6-player instances. Call upon your fellows to adventure into the most deadly 12-player raid yet and face the ultimate challenge – the Nazgûl Lord!

* Major Gameplay Enhancements – Turbine continues to improve the award-winning experience of LOTRO with major improvements to the combat and Legendary Items systems. Players will experience improved responsiveness when in the heat of battle. Players will also be able to create and craft their own customized Second and Third Age Legendary Items from raw materials and grow their weapons’ power to level 60. Achieve new Legacies, new titles, and a fourth Runic slot that will make Legendary Items even more unique and powerful.

The Lord of the Rings Online is an award-winning MMORPG that delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most beloved fantasy adventure of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the great underground realm to the menace of Mirkwood, players will experience the world of Middle-earth as never before. The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood will be available as a digital download this Fall. Details regarding Siege of Mirkwood’s pricing and availability will be unveiled soon. For more information or to download a free trial, visit www.lotro.com/mirkwood.

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And there's already people saying, "Turbine's going to make us pay for this? What's so great about it?"

Talk about spoiled - I guess that's the downside of having free content updates. Now I guess Turbine will have to add Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Rhûn, and Harad - all at once - before they'll justify paying for an expansion .

Skirmish system is what has me most interested.

Originally posted by Comnitus

And there's already people saying, "Turbine's going to make us pay for this? What's so great about it?"

Talk about spoiled - I guess that's the downside of having free content updates. Now I guess Turbine will have to add Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Rhûn, and Harad - all at once - before they'll justify paying for an expansion .

Skirmish system is what has me most interested.

You seem to forget that people pay $15 a month to play these things.  So we are paying for those "free updates"  and if I'm going to spend $40-$50 in one go I want it to add something new and exciting to the game.  A few instances, a raid, and a smallish sounding new area are not things I look for in an expansion.  Skirmish system could be the equivalent of the EQ2 arena system which fell flat on its face.  I'll judge once I know more about it, but it sounds like a repetitive mini-game.

Originally posted by Silacoid

Originally posted by Comnitus

And there's already people saying, "Turbine's going to make us pay for this? What's so great about it?"

Talk about spoiled - I guess that's the downside of having free content updates. Now I guess Turbine will have to add Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Rhûn, and Harad - all at once - before they'll justify paying for an expansion .

Skirmish system is what has me most interested.

 

You seem to forget that people pay $15 a month to play these things.  So we are paying for those "free updates"  and if I'm going to spend $40-$50 in one go I want it to add something new and exciting to the game.  A few instances, a raid, and a smallish sounding new area are not things I look for in an expansion.  Skirmish system could be the equivalent of the EQ2 arena system which fell flat on its face.  I'll judge once I know more about it, but it sounds like a repetitive mini-game.

So what do you look for? A whole new continent, right? How do you know how big or small Mirkwood is? I also think it'd be smarter to judge it once we know more about it. I'm just surprised that, already, first impressions are negative because people don't think it's enough to call it an expansion.

Other games don't patch a lot of content like Turbine does, for free, yet people who play those games also pay $15 a month. The $15 allows you to play the game; it doesn't have to pay for content updates. That's a choice Turbine made, and it looks like it may hurt them right now. People expect this kind of thing to be a free update, not worthy of charging it as an expansion (they may even charge something cheaper like $20 or $30, so we'll have to wait and see). As for a repetitive mini-game, it's at least something different. You need multiple things to do at higher levels or the game becomes stale. 

The skirmish system sounds like you command npc troops and lead them against other armies.  At least that is how it reads above.  It sounds really cool in concept. 

It might be enough to get me to resub and see what it is like. 

Originally posted by Silacoid

Originally posted by Comnitus

And there's already people saying, "Turbine's going to make us pay for this? What's so great about it?"

Talk about spoiled - I guess that's the downside of having free content updates. Now I guess Turbine will have to add Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Rhûn, and Harad - all at once - before they'll justify paying for an expansion .

Skirmish system is what has me most interested.

 

You seem to forget that people pay $15 a month to play these things.  So we are paying for those "free updates"  and if I'm going to spend $40-$50 in one go I want it to add something new and exciting to the game.  A few instances, a raid, and a smallish sounding new area are not things I look for in an expansion.  Skirmish system could be the equivalent of the EQ2 arena system which fell flat on its face.  I'll judge once I know more about it, but it sounds like a repetitive mini-game.

This is a full expansion with new features new content and huge changes to existing systems.

At the end of the day, you have gotten more for free from turbine for you 15$ claim to entitlement than you would have ever gotten from any other development house.

Spoiled is definitely the right term I think.

Sane people look forward to the expansion.

Very interested to learn more about this digital download...even if I do have to pay for it.  :)

 You people are serious? Your actually going to pay money for this expansion? 

Sorry if im not jumping to join in with the crowd and say "what a great expansion" because honestly this is the saddest excuse for a payed update I have ever seen in my life.

Seriously what are you getting for this? Someone said "New features, content and changes to exsisting systems".

Um ok I see one new feature, which just sounds like a solo freindly side grinder for the new 5 levels they added. 

Content? I see new missions, that is all. Why not throw in something of value other than just quests? Whatever happened to new hobbies? Or maybe a revamp to the horrible housing system? Or even just something to make the game not just about fighting. 

I remember when this game was originally known as Middle Earth Online, and it was actually going to be good. They had a system where you could write your own books from parchment found in rare dungeons. It was kind of a way to "Pass on your story's to others" like Bilbo did.

Why not something innovative and new like that? Instead you get Skirmish's with NPC "Pets" and some tweaks to combat.

I played LOTRO and I actually enjoyed the month or so I spent in game but this is not worth whatever price they are throwing on it.

-Jive

Maybe it will be a "Pay what you want" thing like Radioheads album and now the new Championship manager game. Turbine is known for innovative pricings! As a lifetimer who have been playing free for over a year I dont mind paying some extra.

Remember where you read it first ;)

The expansion sounds awesome to me!

Skirmish system definitely sounds interesting... I think it's a natural progression from the defense instances (the 3 angmar battle instances and the Defense of Lorien) which were awesome.  And the Call to Arms sounds interesting.  But what I'm really curious is how the combat overhaul will work.  I know there are people who find the combat in Lotro slow so maybe they are speeding it up? Maybe there will be fewer auto-attacks, and faster attack animations to accomplish this.  If so I think this is cool.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

 <snip>

 

At the end of the day, you have gotten more for free from turbine for you 15$ claim to entitlement than you would have ever gotten from any other development house.

Spoiled is definitely the right term I think.

 

 < /snip>

sorry but two small additions that were supposed to be in the release of MoM to start with is hardly "more than being entitled to" for 15 bucks a month.

this is not saying anything about Siege of Mirkwood, since there's not enough info for now to make an informed statement.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by Silacoid

Originally posted by Comnitus

And there's already people saying, "Turbine's going to make us pay for this? What's so great about it?"

Talk about spoiled - I guess that's the downside of having free content updates. Now I guess Turbine will have to add Gondor, Rohan, Mordor, Rhûn, and Harad - all at once - before they'll justify paying for an expansion .

Skirmish system is what has me most interested.

 

You seem to forget that people pay $15 a month to play these things.  So we are paying for those "free updates"  and if I'm going to spend $40-$50 in one go I want it to add something new and exciting to the game.  A few instances, a raid, and a smallish sounding new area are not things I look for in an expansion.  Skirmish system could be the equivalent of the EQ2 arena system which fell flat on its face.  I'll judge once I know more about it, but it sounds like a repetitive mini-game.

 

 

This is a full expansion with new features new content and huge changes to existing systems.

 

At the end of the day, you have gotten more for free from turbine for you 15$ claim to entitlement than you would have ever gotten from any other development house.

Spoiled is definitely the right term I think.

Sane people look forward to the expansion.

 

Not true

Most companies don't do well enough to justify releasing a pay 2 play expansion and instead release them as free patches. There are only a few games you can compare LOTRO to and I don't think they give you a ton of content for free compared to other games.

Even Everquest II releases large content updates between expansions for free (new starting city, new race, multiple instances). So I wouldn't say Turbine is king of the free updates. 

Well, now we know how Turbine was going to release another book and a paid expansion this year.

By making the book the paid expansion.  Genius! Sheer genius.

Originally posted by areb

Skirmish system definitely sounds interesting... I think it's a natural progression from the defense instances (the 3 angmar battle instances and the Defense of Lorien) which were awesome.  And the Call to Arms sounds interesting.  But what I'm really curious is how the combat overhaul will work.  I know there are people who find the combat in Lotro slow so maybe they are speeding it up? Maybe there will be fewer auto-attacks, and faster attack animations to accomplish this.  If so I think this is cool.

floon commented on the official forums that they aren't really revamping combat as much as they are just trying to smooth it out a bit.

From the sounds of his comments, they are making skills interupt the auto attack and fire off more quickly rather than waiting for the auto attack animation to finish before firing off the skill.  It should make combat feel a little more fast paced.

Originally posted by trancejeremy

Well, now we know how Turbine was going to release another book and a paid expansion this year.

By making the book the paid expansion.  Genius! Sheer genius.

Do you still play this game? Just asking because if you do i cant figure out why.

Eh? How do we know how big or small mirkwood will be?  Granted, I don't think it will be that huge, but it's cool that you already know everything about the xpac, combat, the new instances, the book, and the skirmishes before the rest of us.

I would love to hear the details you know, and why that makes the game bad, and not worth buying now.

I played LoTRO for 3 months. Coming off of AoC I was ASTOUNDED by the sheer polish of the game client, features and the richness of the PvE.  Truly an amazingly made MMORPG. That being said, as a big fan of LoTR, the parcelling out of Middle Earth in expansion or update really kind of killed it for me. I'd have prefered to play Middle Earth Online than LoTRO.

As I played it occured to me that due to the way the game was designed if/when Gondor was released, Bree would still be the main center of player activity due to level/story restrictions and that was just depressing.

Originally posted by Swanea

Eh? How do we know how big or small mirkwood will be?  Granted, I don't think it will be that huge, but it's cool that you already know everything about the xpac, combat, the new instances, the book, and the skirmishes before the rest of us.

I would love to hear the details you know, and why that makes the game bad, and not worth buying now.

If you post was for me, i dont know much about it. I was asking Trancer if he still played and why as he always is very negative about the game.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Swanea

Eh? How do we know how big or small mirkwood will be?  Granted, I don't think it will be that huge, but it's cool that you already know everything about the xpac, combat, the new instances, the book, and the skirmishes before the rest of us.

I would love to hear the details you know, and why that makes the game bad, and not worth buying now.

 

If you post was for me, i dont know much about it. I was asking Trancer if he still played and why as he always is very negative about the game.

When did you get so gung ho about the game?  I seemed to recall, you disliked LOTRO too (to a degree), for the same reasons. And indeed, I found your post in the suggestions forum that I remembered.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2783505

My problem with lotro is finding groups. Some of the quest chains are so long that groups fall apart before completing. Im on the last spider sac kill of the last part of a chain in Trollshaws. Ive tried for three days to get a party to go in and kill spiders. Today i found one guy and told him we could two man it (hell in one more level i will be able to solo it) but he said he had bad memories of that quest and didnt want to do it. That did it for me, i cancelled my subscription and uninstalled. Im on at different times of the day and night and find it odd how unpopulated the trollshaws are.

So to answer your questions, yes I still play LOTRO. I try to log in and do a few quests, but invariably have to quit playing because I get stuck on a quest that needs a group and I don't have one (nor can I find one). I kill some stuff for a while, then log out frustrated because I love the gameworld, I just don't have anything to do in it except grind.

I blame a lot of the problems with LOTRO on turbine driving away players with poor design decisions. And considering they have close to $300 of my money, of course I follow the game quite well. That's a lot of money to me, and I've gotten very little return on it.

Originally posted by trancejeremy

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Swanea

Eh? How do we know how big or small mirkwood will be?  Granted, I don't think it will be that huge, but it's cool that you already know everything about the xpac, combat, the new instances, the book, and the skirmishes before the rest of us.

I would love to hear the details you know, and why that makes the game bad, and not worth buying now.

 

If you post was for me, i dont know much about it. I was asking Trancer if he still played and why as he always is very negative about the game.

 

When did you get so gung ho about the game?  I seemed to recall, you disliked LOTRO too (to a degree), for the same reasons. And indeed, I found your post in the suggestions forum that I remembered.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2783505

My problem with lotro is finding groups. Some of the quest chains are so long that groups fall apart before completing. Im on the last spider sac kill of the last part of a chain in Trollshaws. Ive tried for three days to get a party to go in and kill spiders. Today i found one guy and told him we could two man it (hell in one more level i will be able to solo it) but he said he had bad memories of that quest and didnt want to do it. That did it for me, i cancelled my subscription and uninstalled. Im on at different times of the day and night and find it odd how unpopulated the trollshaws are.

 

So to answer your questions, yes I still play LOTRO. I try to log in and do a few quests, but invariably have to quit playing because I get stuck on a quest that needs a group and I don't have one (nor can I find one). I kill some stuff for a while, then log out frustrated because I love the gameworld, I just don't have anything to do in it except grind.

I blame a lot of the problems with LOTRO on turbine driving away players with poor design decisions. And considering they have close to $300 of my money, of course I follow the game quite well. That's a lot of money to me, and I've gotten very little return on it.

Groups can be hard to find. Ive been back to the game about three weeks and have found that some of the quests can be done with a smaller group and that is a help. The game is a bit top heavy now and Angmar is pretty deserted and from what ive heard it always has been pretty sparse. I cant speak of how the Trollshaws are now as my main is past that area and my alt is too low to go there. I do see lots of people in Moria and have been able to do some group material. After you get to the MIsty Mountain i think you will find grouping a bit easier. Seems there are always people going into Goblin Town to quest and get rep items. I play on Landroval and if you do was well i would be happy to help you get some of the group stuff done, just let me know.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by trancejeremy

Originally posted by grandpagamer

Originally posted by Swanea

Eh? How do we know how big or small mirkwood will be?  Granted, I don't think it will be that huge, but it's cool that you already know everything about the xpac, combat, the new instances, the book, and the skirmishes before the rest of us.

I would love to hear the details you know, and why that makes the game bad, and not worth buying now.

 

If you post was for me, i dont know much about it. I was asking Trancer if he still played and why as he always is very negative about the game.

 

When did you get so gung ho about the game?  I seemed to recall, you disliked LOTRO too (to a degree), for the same reasons. And indeed, I found your post in the suggestions forum that I remembered.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2783505

My problem with lotro is finding groups. Some of the quest chains are so long that groups fall apart before completing. Im on the last spider sac kill of the last part of a chain in Trollshaws. Ive tried for three days to get a party to go in and kill spiders. Today i found one guy and told him we could two man it (hell in one more level i will be able to solo it) but he said he had bad memories of that quest and didnt want to do it. That did it for me, i cancelled my subscription and uninstalled. Im on at different times of the day and night and find it odd how unpopulated the trollshaws are.

 

So to answer your questions, yes I still play LOTRO. I try to log in and do a few quests, but invariably have to quit playing because I get stuck on a quest that needs a group and I don't have one (nor can I find one). I kill some stuff for a while, then log out frustrated because I love the gameworld, I just don't have anything to do in it except grind.

I blame a lot of the problems with LOTRO on turbine driving away players with poor design decisions. And considering they have close to $300 of my money, of course I follow the game quite well. That's a lot of money to me, and I've gotten very little return on it.

Groups can be hard to find. Ive been back to the game about three weeks and have found that some of the quests can be done with a smaller group and that is a help. The game is a bit top heavy now and Angmar is pretty deserted and from what ive heard it always has been pretty sparse. I cant speak of how the Trollshaws are now as my main is past that area and my alt is too low to go there. I do see lots of people in Moria and have been able to do some group material. After you get to the MIsty Mountain i think you will find grouping a bit easier. Seems there are always people going into Goblin Town to quest and get rep items. I play on Landroval and if you do was well i would be happy to help you get some of the group stuff done, just let me know.

I think you have just ruined his game by not echoing his cries.... :D

DB

It seems kind of like a "half" expansion at half price ($20). I wouldn't mind two of these per year, it surely won't break the bank. Looking forward to SoM!

they should keep with the books updates, and add mirkwood with them (without having to pay) but  they  must have their reasons to do that.

Originally posted by Einherjar_LC

Originally posted by areb

Skirmish system definitely sounds interesting... I think it's a natural progression from the defense instances (the 3 angmar battle instances and the Defense of Lorien) which were awesome.  And the Call to Arms sounds interesting.  But what I'm really curious is how the combat overhaul will work.  I know there are people who find the combat in Lotro slow so maybe they are speeding it up? Maybe there will be fewer auto-attacks, and faster attack animations to accomplish this.  If so I think this is cool.

 

floon commented on the official forums that they aren't really revamping combat as much as they are just trying to smooth it out a bit.

From the sounds of his comments, they are making skills interupt the auto attack and fire off more quickly rather than waiting for the auto attack animation to finish before firing off the skill.  It should make combat feel a little more fast paced.

If that happens, it will be the last nail in lotro's coffin for me...

As for SoM. It seems small to be honest, but I will hold my critism for a while longer. But ill say this; nothing in SoM's shortnotes impressed me.

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Originally posted by kamikkaze
they should keep with the books updates, and add mirkwood with them (without having to pay) but  they  must have their reasons to do that.
 

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Of course they have reasons. The reason is that they cannot afford to. There is a reason they do not release subscription numbers, and it is not one that works in their favour. They do, in fact, alienate players with bad design decisions and bad policy decisions, and this is just another example in a long line.