MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller recently spoke with the team at Turbine about Lord of the Rings Online, where the current game is and what the team has planned for the future.

At PAX East Turbine was not pulling any punches. They had a massive booth and games for players to check out. With DDO continuing its drive in the FTP market we got a chance to ask about LOTRO and talk about the latest Volume along with Oath of the Rangers. The LOTRO team is going strong with lots of plans for the future. They stick to their goals of keeping players in the epic story lines of Tolkien's world and making them feel like a part of the journey as well as participants in the War of the Ring.

Oath of the Rangers focuses on Aragorn gathering his allies for the battle with Mordor. Players are asked to go out and align forces with the free people of Middle Earth. One of the great things that the team talked about was the Inspired Greatness Buff that is now part of the game. Taken from story elements like Samwise Gamgee and his heroic rescue of Frodo, the inspired greatness allows fewer players to take on great odds. With this system players can now run a six person instance with four players. It also allows for a broader range of solo content that gamers can experience. This opens up the door for players to get to see all of the content in the game without having to be part of a large group. The team has been happy with this addition because it was a central theme in Tolkien's work as well. Fewer players beating the odds and working together for glory is definitely a great element to this game.

Read the LotRO Update.