LOTRO to get DLC expansion this year

By Oli Welsh Published 4 September, 2009

Level cap raised in Siege of Mirkwood.

Turbine has announced that Lord of the Rings Online will expand by one zone and five levels with a paid "digital expansion", Siege of Mirkwood, this autumn.

More than a free Book update, less than a full expansion pack, Siege of Mirkwood is billed as the "epic conclusion" to Volume II: Mines of Moria, which was kicked off with last year's boxed expansion of the same name. The price of the update has yet to be revealed.

Siege of Mirkwood increases the level cap to 65 - with the associated new traits, skills, class quests and so on - and opens up the spooky forest of Mirkwood, culminating in the fortress of Dol Goldur, home of the Ringwraiths. Dol Guldur will contain dungeons for three and six players, and a 12-man raid.

You'll also get the new Skirmishes system. Skirmishes are repeatable, randomised instances in which you'll be able to create, command and train up a customisable team of soldiers. Combat and the Legendary Items system will also get an overhaul.

Paid DLC is an interesting new business model for the Tolkien MMO, which has previously followed the time-honoured path of subscriptions plus substantial, boxed expansions. Will LOTRO players be prepared to start paying for content updates as well?

We'll bring you more info on Siege of Mirkwood when we have it.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (9) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hiddenranbir #1 2 years ago

    Since I'm life-subbed and got my return, I'm cool for it. Their updates have always been value for money to me.

    Although the chore of radiance armour is...a chore. :(

  • Spekingur #2 2 years ago

    The requirement of needing radiance armour to do this and that threw me a bit off the game, to tell the truth. That and the fact that I am (or was) playing with people that could spend whole days playing. That just automatically gives them a headstart on everyone. Sometimes I think people forget that games are entertainment, they should never be "work". If they are work and hectic at that, then you are just doing it wrong.
    (Excluding of course, those who actually work in the gaming industry.)

  • organica #3 2 years ago

    Woo! Since I've hardly touched on the Mines Of Moria content so far I'm quite glad it's not a full expansion. Suspect that'll be coming next year, hopefully with a focus on Rohan/Isengard etc. Really looking forward to the Skirmish system, especially since it fits tightly with my main Captain character.

  • hiddenranbir #4 2 years ago

    [link url=http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread. php?t=377502
    ]http://co mmunity.codemasters.com/forum/s...[/link]

    More detail on it.

  • Aeterna #5 2 years ago

    Thanks for the link hiddenranbir.
    Saved me some time to go to the forums myself. ;)

    Looking forward to the changes, and finally, being able to interact and do things while mounted, Woohoo!

  • ZuluHero #6 2 years ago

    I keep going back to Lotro. Its an awesome game. I've still not made it to the MoM stuff yet though :(

    I really need to find some friends to keep my interest in it, i think thats one of the reasons i keep leaving (that and now i have a daughter, my erratic playtimes, i suspect)

    I think DLC for MMOs is a pretty cool idea tbh (as long as thy pitch the pricing just right, im all for paying for new cool stuff in my mmos, i quite like this method in Free Realms, my currunt on again, off again MMO. I know thats a micro-transaction model, but why can't it extend to something similar for new areas and content? I really hope it pays off for codemasters and turbine.
    Edited by 2 at 05/09/09 @ 08:26

  • hiddenranbir #7 2 years ago

    I'll be your friend.

  • TheTingler #8 2 years ago

    I love the game, and Turbine have been giving away pretty substantial updates and entire regions for free. The only time they're made us pay extra is for Moria, and that place is utterly extraordinary. I can't walk into a room there without going 'wow' at something. Just yesterday I was playing and saw what I thought was grey wall with a simple pattern on it, until I perchance looked up and saw it was actually part of the beard of a massive stone dwarf head that towered over the entire chamber. That got a "gosh" from me!

    So, in conclusion, if Turbine want to charge I trust them to make it worthwhile! As long as they don't release Lord of the Rings Online 2 next November...

  • nikephoros #9 2 years ago

    Do you think that: Lord of the Rings game is cheap disappointment? Some people think yes, believe it or not.... http://entert aininggames.wordpress.com/
    Edited by 1 at 07/09/09 @ 16:38