This year, Codemasters (European publishers of LoTRO) held their first global gaming event “Connect 08” in Birmingham, England. At an exclusive press briefing this morning, Turbine’s Executive Producer, Jeffrey Steefel announced the launch of Volume II of “Lord of the Rings Online” in the Fall of 2008.

“Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria” will see players travel beyond the Misty Mountains, out of Eriador and journey through Eregion to “Khazad-dûm” – the Mines of Moria, and onward to Lothlórien.

Steefel spoke enthusiastically about these new zones. “Getting through Eregion will be pretty tough, with new challenging creatures in your way, so we’re enabling players to advance beyond Level 50 up to 60”.

“And you’ll enter Moria just after The Fellowship have passed through, so you’ll have to deal with a whole mess they’ve stirred up. As well as the Balrog, Tolkien mentioned other enemies to be faced; hordes of goblins, “the Watcher” and “the Nameless” – they’re all there.”

Beyond Moria lies Lothlórien, where players will meet The fellowship, and receive gifts from Lady Galadriel herself.

“What better place to launch this new volume than here in Birmingham where Tolkien spent his boyhood”

In addition, a range of other enhancements were announced:

• Two New Classes — The Rune-keeper and the Warden, the first new classes to be introduced since the launch of the game, allow players to build exciting and powerful new characters in The Lord of the Rings Online in diverse new ways.
• Ancient Dwarven Treasure (described by Steefel as “Uber Loot!”)
• As well as the three new zones of Eregion, Moria and Lórien, there will be World Changing Instances
• Environment-Aware AI – mobs will exploit their environment to challenge players’ skills.
• New Reputation “The Elves of Lórien”
• Forge “Legendary Items” - Players will be able to forge weapons and class-related equipment and evolve them to build a legacy the likes of Bilbo’s Sting and Gandalf’s Glamdring. These legendary weapons will level-up along with the player, allowing customization by advancing the item’s virtues, adding runic legacies, modifying its titles and forming fables
• Epic High-Level Instances with leaderboards – Players will be able to track their achievements in-game and on the web.

Turbine & Codemasters announced their release strategy for coming years; regular updates with enhancements (Books) during each year, with major updates approximately once a year (Volumes).

In advance of Volume II, an update during the Summer will introduce new features to “Volume I: The Shadows of Angmar”:

• Five new areas including “Forochel” where players will get their first glimpse of the Sea in Middle Earth, along with Tundra and winter forests
• Level 44-50 Quests, including the final stages of “The Shadows of Angmar”
• Enhanced Fellowship functionality including “Mustering Horns” to summon fellowship members
• The introduction of Hobbies, first of which is Fishing, with associated deeds, traits, titles, and trophies.

Leading up to the release of Volume II there will be Mini-Games at www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. The first game “King Under The Mountain” begins on 31^st March, to be followed by “Swig & Toss” and “Eleventy-Seven Morsels”. Completing these games will grant deeds and in-game items.