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The Lord of the Rings Online News
Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard Screenshots
Jul 27th
The Lord of the Rings Online dev team has released six new screenshots from the upcoming Rise of Isengard expansion. The screens feature the Tower of Orthanc, as well as the Gap of Rohan. Rise of Isengard is scheduled to be released on September 27th. Check the screenshots out in our Lord of the Rings Online gallery.
Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard to Launch Beta Next Week
Jul 22nd
Turbine announced today that Rise of Isengard, the third expansion pack for free-to-play giant Lord of the Rings Online, is set to enter into its Beta Testing phase on Wednesday, July 27th. The beta is by invitation only, but if you pre-purchase the expansion, you'll get preferred access.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE: RISE OF ISENGARD FEATURES:
* Explore Three New Regions! – The time has come for you to turn eastward, toward the vale of Isengard. Where ancient forests once flourished, a corrupted waste of metal and wheels suffers under the thrall of the traitorous wizard Saruman. Here, in the shadows of the tower of Orthanc, gathers an army of Orcs and Uruk-hai, toiling to make ready for war. Forge ahead into these devastated lands and uncover new quests, skills, and traits as you strive to thwart Saruman’s ambition. - Dunland – Adventure amidst the bright forests in the foothills of the southern Misty Mountains. Beware the Dunland Clans, rugged warriors tempted by the dark promise of power. - Gap of Rohan – Battle over the legendary pass between Eriador and the plane of Rohan. This key strategic point must be defended against the ambitions of Sauron. - Isengard – Explore More >
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: RISE OF ISENGARD™ TO LAUNCH BETA PROGRAM ON JULY 27TH – news from LOTRO
Jul 21st
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: RISE OF ISENGARD™ TO LAUNCH BETA PROGRAM ON JULY 27TH
Turbine announced today The Lord of the Rings Online™: Rise of Isengard™, the next expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) will launch its Beta Program on July 27, 2011. The Rise of Isengard Beta Program is Invite-only. Players across North America and Europe can pre-purchase Rise of Isengard to receive special benefits including preferred access to the Beta Program. For more information visit http://www.lotro.com/isengard.
Lord of the Rings Online: New Screens – Rise of Isengard
Jul 20th
Turbine has released a new batch of screenshots from the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online Expansion pack, Rise of Isengard. The screens detail the brand-new region of Dunland, one of the three new regions coming with the expansion pack coming on September 27th this year.
Check out all six right here at MMORPG.com.
Lord of the Rings Online: A Chat with Jordan Long: The Man in the Box
Jun 24th
Jordan Wayne Long contacted us via e-mail to share a project he’s beginning in July. He’s a performance artist from Arkansas and as a piece on trauma and the ways to deal with it; he’ll be shipping himself in a tiny box across country armed with only Lord of the Rings Online to keep him company. We sat down with Jordan to discuss the project and the motivation behind it. Take a look!
MMORPG: Well let’s start with the obvious, Jordan. Tell everybody who you are, what your background is, and what exactly it is you’re doing.
Jordan: I'm a video and performance artist originally from Bald Knob, AR. I graduated in 2011 from Cranbrook Academy of Art with my MFA. My works deals with trauma and the mechanisms I and others use to deal with it.
Read more of Bill Murphy's A Chat with Jordan Long: The Man in the Box.
Lord of the Rings Online: 12 Month VIP For $99.99
Jun 5th
The folks over at LotRO have announced a super special deal for anyone who's looking to be a VIP subscriber of Lord of the Rings Online. Invest in a full year for only $99.99, an almost $80 discount from the month-by-month payments of $14.99 a month. Check it out!
Now is the best time to become a LOTRO VIP! For a limited time, you can get your 12-month VIP subscription for $99.99
Being a VIP means you have access to all quest packs, races and classes* during the course of your subscription**. Plus, you'll get exclusive early access to new content, extra character slots, a monthly Turbine point grant, and much more!
Read more at the Lord of the Rings Online official website.
Lord of the Rings Online: Lost Legends of Eriador Released
May 24th
Turbine has announced that the latest update to Lord of the Rings Online has been released. Called 'Lost Legends of Eriador', the new patch brings a boatload of changes not the least of which are new scaled instances, new skirmishes and other bug fixes and enhancements.
It's the Little Things That Count:
The following items have been changed or added to the game based on player feedback & suggestions.
- The Title panel now allows you to search for specific titles.
- The map notes for stable-masters now display their location name in their tooltips.
- Three new Community Designed relics have been added to the melding panel!
- Critical Success during relic forging now has a small chance to provide additional relics in addition to bonus shards.
- Edhelharn Tokens can now be stacked to a max of 20.
Read the full patch notes on the Lord of the Rings Online site.
Lord of the Rings Online: Update 3 Skirmish Updates
May 23rd
Turbine devs Bob “Maurath” Hess and Joe “jwbarry” Barry have posted a pair of blogs dedicated to the new skirmishes that Lord of the Rings Online players will find in Update 3. Hess details Attack at Dawn, with Barry introduces players to The Icy Crevasse.
About The Icy Crevasse:
When picking a location for new skirmishes, we want it to be iconic, memorable and someplace we feel hasn't reached its full potential. For Forochel, we've gravitated toward the crevasse that scars the southern section of the region. This space has great visuals, a tight channeled feel, and previously only had a horse route running through it. It also feeds into our story: A sorcerer from Angmar attempting to channel a blizzard through the crevasse and out into the waters of Evendim.
About Attack at Dawn:
When looking over locations we consider a number of different choices such as Nan Wathren, and Ost Galumar in Nan Amulug West. But after looking over several options, we determined that Dol Dínen in the North Downs really lends itself to the format. As both a small and regular-sized fellowship content area we feel that it might allow new players to experience the area and former visitors to experience it in More >
Lord of the Rings Online: Update 3 Developer Walkthrough
May 21st
Turbine and the Lord of the Rings development team have been working quite hard during the first half of 2011 to bring to large updates into the game. MMORPG.com Lead Writer Bill Murphy recently had the opportunity to participate in a developer walkthrough of Update 3 with Turbine developers Linda Currie and Aaron Campbell. See what Bill discovered during his guided tour.
The topic of conversation (and playing via the test server Bullroarer) was none other than Update 3, which launches today for the NA crowd. Before we got started Aaron wanted to make sure we also mention the upcoming takeover by Turbine of the European servers for LotRO. He stated that this is scheduled to go down on June 1st and that when the servers come back up under Turbine’s control that’s when the EU folks will get Update 3 too. After that brief PSA though we moved onto the goods: content Update 3 for the free version of LotRO.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Lord of the Rings Online: Update 3 Developer Walkthrough.
Lord of the Rings Online: Update 3 Release Coming May 23rd
May 17th
Turbine has announced that the Lord of the Rings Online Update 3: Legends of Eriador patch is scheduled to be released on May 23rd. Update Three features two new 3-player instances and two new skirmishes as well as new Turbine Store items.
- Halls of Night: Level 40-65 – This story draws from the tales of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin and their experiences within the Barrow-downs. Nightmare, an ancient Barrow-wight, has trapped your spirit within his mysterious dreamscape. To wake you must battle against the evil that haunts this dream realm, or risk sleeping forever!
- Inn of the Forsaken: Level 20-65 – Tales have spread across Bree and the Lonelands of the noises that fill the Forsaken Inn when the moon is high. Travelers tell stories of a stolen ruby necklace hidden within a maze of twisted caves and protected by traps, riddles, guardians who never sleep, and a ship marooned deep underground.
Read more about Lord of the Rings Online Update 3.