Our team recently had the privilege to hang out with some of the Lord of the Rings Online team to talk about and tour Update 10: Against the Shadows. We were joined by Hannah Foell, Leo Tan and Todd DeMelle for a firsthand look at the new content. Tell us what you think in the comments.

We started our adventure in the Bells of Dale. The Bells is a 6-man instance. At the beginning you are met by Dale’s king and asked to alert his people to an impending invasion. As it turns out the invasion has already started but the city is not yet completely under siege. As you make your way to the bell tower you will fights waves of Easterlings and Skrzig (He of the unpronounceable name). Beta being beta, we did get blocked after killing Skrzig and were not able to finish the Bells of Dale.

Read more of Rob Lashley's Lord of the Rings Online: Crush the Easterlings.

Played both AC and LOTRO a hell of a lot over the years.

Both awesome games in their prime but now kinda suffer the wrath of greed. LOTRO is such a cashcow now it's not even funny.

I'm curious why Turbine went from such a strong industry name to releasing nothing in the last several years, they were one of my faves back in the day.

Originally posted by Mithrundir
I spent hundreds of hours waiting for some real pvp patches to hit Lotro over 5 years. That Isengard expansion was the last straw for me. Worst expansion I've ever seen in an mmo, didn't even have the content to reach the new lvl cap without grinding. It's a shame Middle Earth will never get the care it deserves. Atleast we have The Hobbit movies to look forward to.

ROI was fun. And I do believe Middle Earth are getting the love it deserve....And dont watch the Hobbit, its  really bad  compaired to what the book are trying to tell.

Hope you are gonna play roi soon because it is a good one. Just play it slow and read the story line ;)

Haters gonna hate

Still one of the best complete mmo's out there, minus pvp.

Really if you have a powerful pc and can max out dx11 on a 30" panel, with a good pair of headphones, you can get lost in it.

Originally posted by tinywulf

Haters gonna hate

Still one of the best complete mmo's out there, minus pvp.

Really if you have a powerful pc and can max out dx11 on a 30" panel, with a good pair of headphones, you can get lost in it.

I wholeheartedly agree 100%. Also, the world simply is huge and feels it too. 

Originally posted by tinywulf

Haters gonna hate

Still one of the best complete mmo's out there, minus pvp.

Really if you have a powerful pc and can max out dx11 on a 30" panel, with a good pair of headphones, you can get lost in it.

Agreed.

Lotro and AoC are the only two MMO's that I actually listen to the game. All others I listen to Zeppelin, Hendrix and Skynard while playing.

Originally posted by tinywulf

Haters gonna hate

Still one of the best complete mmo's out there, minus pvp.

Really if you have a powerful pc and can max out dx11 on a 30" panel, with a good pair of headphones, you can get lost in it.

Originally posted by Machination

Originally posted by tinywulf

Haters gonna hate

Still one of the best complete mmo's out there, minus pvp.

Really if you have a powerful pc and can max out dx11 on a 30" panel, with a good pair of headphones, you can get lost in it.

I wholeheartedly agree 100%. Also, the world simply is huge and feels it too. 

Originally posted by Thorkune

Originally posted by tinywulf

Haters gonna hate

Still one of the best complete mmo's out there, minus pvp.

Really if you have a powerful pc and can max out dx11 on a 30" panel, with a good pair of headphones, you can get lost in it.

Agreed.

Lotro and AoC are the only two MMO's that I actually listen to the game. All others I listen to Zeppelin, Hendrix and Skynard while playing.

^

This. 

Also alot of people DO NOT know there are two different clients. normal and high-res.

As has been mentioned this is/was NOT an update in any meaning of the word.  It is/was the rest of the RoR x-pac.   It  has absolutely nothing to do with Rohan and oddly enough considering the locals of the cluster and the timing very little to do with the hobbit.  You guys said here you were gonna try actually giving real feedback on "previews" http://www.mmorpg.com/showVideo.cfm/videoId/2956 and not blow smoke up developers ***&, whens that gonna start?

Originally posted by Mithrundir
I spent hundreds of hours waiting for some real pvp patches to hit Lotro over 5 years. That Isengard expansion was the last straw for me. Worst expansion I've ever seen in an mmo, didn't even have the content to reach the new lvl cap without grinding. It's a shame Middle Earth will never get the care it deserves. Atleast we have The Hobbit movies to look forward to.

Lotro was never designed for pvp, it is an afterthought and will remain so.  If you expect expansions to improve it, you are looking at the wrong game.  Lotro is designed strictly for pve.

As to the new expansion, either you did not reach lvl cap or you skipped a lot of quests because there really is little grinding beyond cranking out quests in this expansion.  I still think Turbine is one of the best developers out there and always look forward to the new content they produce.  The nice thing it usually fits in quite well with the lore.