We spent some hands-on time with the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online during last week's Wayback Wednesday. Today, we're offering a recap of our experiences during the event in this exclusive preview.

The primary feature that will get you get excited for Riders of Rohan is the addition of War-steeds and the introduction of mounted combat.  War-steeds are not your typical horse.  They are stronger, faster, and have the capability to carry you into combat.  They are the Six Million Dollar Man of the horse world. You will be granted your War-steed while working through the epic quest line in the Riders of Rohan expansion.  War-steeds are highly customizable in a number of ways.

Read more of Rob Lashley's The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan Exclusive Preview.

I have to admit... this makes me want to level my Champion or Warden to 75 finally.

Mounted combat is something rarely tried in a MMO.  I am looking forward to trying this out in Lotro, of course I need to get at least one of my avatar's to 75 first which of course means I have to spend a lot of time in Moria, ugh.

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This is going to be a very good expansion cannot wait for Sept 9th.  Mounted combat is just another feature to add to their list of great features people complain other newer games dont have. 

I'm really interested to try mounted combat.  Seems like they have been working on it forever so I expect it to be very polished and fun.

This actually looks fairly good I wish more fantasy MMOs implemented mounted combat its a pretty awesome feature. I just wish they had gone to effort to truly capture the essence of the tolkien universe in LoTRO instead of this WoWish themepark port, its good and I will certainly give it a try but I doubt I will stick with it for long if I am honest.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Mounted combat is something rarely tried in a MMO.  I am looking forward to trying this out in Lotro, of course I need to get at least one of my avatar's to 75 first which of course means I have to spend a lot of time in Moria, ugh.

How so? EverQuest 2 had mounted combat since it launched back in 2004.

I always loved to fight with my Paladin from his white armored horse. :)

I always planned on going back to lotro when rohan came out, but now I'm really happy about the expansions.  I like how you can customize your horse.  I liked the mounted combat in AoC somewhat, but they never expanded on it.  Lotro, like alot of things, has done it right.

Originally posted by Raven

This actually looks fairly good I wish more fantasy MMOs implemented mounted combat its a pretty awesome feature. I just wish they had gone to effort to truly capture the essence of the tolkien universe in LoTRO instead of this WoWish themepark port, its good and I will certainly give it a try but I doubt I will stick with it for long if I am honest.

Yeah, this game used to be great back when it was launched because it did exactly that.  You actually felt like you were in the Tolkien universe.  The whole thing just felt like Lord of the Rings.  They lost that somewhere along the way as they tried to appeal to a larger audience.

Once they added the Runekeeper class (that literally shoots lightning bolts) and decided to take a big dump on the LOTR feel, I knew my time was limited. 

I just took the plung and committed to 3 months vip and plan on continuing afterwards as lotr is now my new main game.  Tired of throwing away cash over the last years for 3 months here, 3 months there, 'mmorpg' fail games.  I'm an idiot for over looking this gem for so many years and finding out that they hold the license agreement til 2017 + the community tells me it is and will be thriving for many more years to come. 

This expansion is the perfect opportunity for me to level up and get to this awesome new content with both new and old players.  Cant wait.

Guess what Turbine....horses CAN swim.

Honestly wish I could have gotten into the game I loved the intitial feel of the game but for some reason I just fizzled out around level 33. Though have not touched it since game was about 8 months or so old.

Originally posted by avalon1000

Guess what Turbine....horses CAN swim.

I was really hoping they'd take the opportunity to nail that down.  there are 0 gameplay excuses for losing your mount in the water.  Hell, you don't even have the submerge issue, here...

Originally posted by avalon1000

Guess what Turbine....horses CAN swim.

Even mounted by a fat hairy dwarf in heavy armour? :)

Originally posted by avalon1000

Guess what Turbine....horses CAN swim.

That's just crazy talk!

The mounted combat mechanics sounds really good, it have been neglected in MMOs for long. :)

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Mounted combat is something rarely tried in a MMO.  I am looking forward to trying this out in Lotro, of course I need to get at least one of my avatar's to 75 first which of course means I have to spend a lot of time in Moria, ugh.

How so? EverQuest 2 had mounted combat since it launched back in 2004.

I always loved to fight with my Paladin from his white armored horse. :)

The poster said, rarely tried, not that it had never been tried before. Also, as someone who has played EQ2 extensively, I can honestly say that I do NOT consider that to be mounted combat - mounts in that game operate as little more than speed buff. It's basically the lower half of your body frozen to the mount while the upper half of your body does the exact same animation as if you weren't mounted. It's a visual effect, nothing more, whereas the mounted combat LotRO is doing has more substance.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Mounted combat is something rarely tried in a MMO.  I am looking forward to trying this out in Lotro, of course I need to get at least one of my avatar's to 75 first which of course means I have to spend a lot of time in Moria, ugh.

How so? EverQuest 2 had mounted combat since it launched back in 2004.

I always loved to fight with my Paladin from his white armored horse. :)

The poster said, rarely tried, not that it had never been tried before. Also, as someone who has played EQ2 extensively, I can honestly say that I do NOT consider that to be mounted combat - mounts in that game operate as little more than speed buff. It's basically the lower half of your body frozen to the mount while the upper half of your body does the exact same animation as if you weren't mounted. It's a visual effect, nothing more, whereas the mounted combat LotRO is doing has more substance.

Yes but in lotro before now combat got you dismounted, in eq2 you never got dismounted you fought while on your mount, unless you were in a raid zone.  Sorry I will stick with eq2, it has everything that lotro been missing since the beginning.  I know folks have been biting at the bit to play rohan, some of them are going finally.  I am just waiting for the email from lotro that my account has been temp banned again because I will not buy this expansion.  I did not buy the last one and got temp banned for inactivity.  This time I will not even fight it, goodbye lifetime subscription.