Le miniere di Moria ci aspettano

E’ stato annunciata ieri, durante l’evento Connect ’08 a Birmingham, la prima espansione a pagamento di The Lord of the Rings Online. Si chiamera’ The Mines of Moria ed uscira’ a fine anno.
Ecco i primi articoli.
Eurogamer.net

First LOTRO expansion announced
News by Oli Welsh

Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine unveiled the second volume of the Tolkein-licensed massively multiplayer RPG at Connect 08 in Birmingham today.

Speaking at the Codemasters Online Gaming event, executive producer Jeffrey Steefel said it will be titled The Mines of Moria and is down for a release before the end of the year. It will be the first of a series of planned yearly updates to Lord of the Rings Online.

The Mines of Moria will take high-level players out of the kingdom of Eriador and into the goblin-infested underground world, formerly a dwarven kingdom, just after the Fellowship of the Ring has passed through it in the events of the books. The Mines will be a reproduced as a single, continuous space in the game.

Players will face off against bosses famous from Tolkien lore – The Balrog and The Watcher. Steefel promised fighting the former in particular would be an "unforgettable" experience, but he didn’t explain how it would fit into the official Lord of the Rings continuity.

Ten new levels will be added to the game, raising the cap from 50 to 60. In addition there will be two new classes, the Warden and the Runekeeper. Steefel refused to elaborate on these, promising more information in the coming months. They sound like a tank and caster to us but that’s just a guess.

A new Legendary items system will also be introduced. This will essentially allow certain equipment – armour, weapons and shields – to develop its own advancement path alongside the player character, gaining experience, deeds and legacies, and becoming an intrinsic part of high-level players’ character builds.

Other features announced include a large number of instances for groups of 3, 5, 12 and 24 players, new monster player scenarios, a new system of leaderboards and achievement rankings, dynamic lighting effects, more environment-aware AI, and a chance to join the Fellowship in Lorien, tying players even more closely into the Lord of the Rings storyline.

To promote the new expansion, Turbine has just launched a website: unlocktheminesofmoria.com. You can register there now for a chance to play though a web adventure that will unlock in-game deeds and items for your LOTRO character, as well as previewing the events of the new volume. The first web minigame, King Under the Mountain, launches on the site on March 31st.

Steefel also mentioned that LOTRO would be launched in Russia, China and Korea this year, and provided some details of the next free updates to the game – Books 13 and 14. Book 13 will feature a new region, the introduction of a hobby system with fishing, and improvements to the game’s ‘looking for group’ interface.

Look out for further updates from Connect 08 – including more on Lord of the Rings Online and NetDevil’s space combat MMO Jumpgate Evolution – in the coming days.

Play.tm:

Codemasters unveil LoTR: Mines of Moria

Pack will arrive in late 2008

Speaking at the Codemaster Connect 08 event in Birmingham today, Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online producer was on-hand to officially announce a new expansion pack for the popular MMO title.

Called "The Mines of Moria", the first official LoTR expansion will be released later this year, and promises wholesale improvement and expansion of the persistent world title.

The new add-on will see us entering new areas of Middle-Earth, specifically Moria and beyond this, Lorien. A third region was mooted but goes unnamed at present. 10 new levels will see the game’s cap boosted to 60, with two new classes being offered: the Warden and the Runekeeper.

In the mine’s we’re promised epic environments and vast halls, with top-notch loot on offer. Balrog and the Watcher will count among the new bosses to counter, with world altering instances and stunningly rich dwarve cities offered by the producer.

Entering Lorien players will receive gifts from Galadriel, the pack also introducing Legendary Items (objects that will evolve as the player progresses), et al. Big raids were also mentioned.

Turbine also confirmed that they are planning annual expansions to the Lord of the Rings Online, another offering hinted for 2009.

In the short-term, MMO players will also be getting Book 13, ‘Doom of the Last King’, which will offer a new icy coastal region to explore, weather which impacts your character and the related gameplay… as well as, well, fishing.

War Mammoths and a new race, The Lossoth, will also be added, alongside new monsters, fellowship enhancements and more.The developers even confirmed that Book 14 will arrive later in the summer, which will carry players through to the expansion pack, and allow them to visit the Ring Forge in the process.

More from Connect 08 as we get it.

Ecco, infine, il comunicato stampa con cui DDE (distributore italiano di Codemasters) annuncia l’uscita di Mines of Moria. Visto che impediscono il copia/incolla l’ho messo su Megaupload a questo indirizzo.

Aggiornamento. Ecco, infine, il comunicato ufficiale di Turbine (grazie al Guardiano Nurin per aver messo il link sul forum della Kinship):

THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: Mines of Moria™ Unveiled at Connect 08


Volume II of the 2007 PC Game of the Year Expected to Arrive at Retail This Fall


BIRMINGHAM, UK – March 14, 2008 – Turbine, Inc. and Codemasters Online today unveiled Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online™, the first retail expansion for the award-winning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). Announced in Birmingham, the childhood home of J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ will expand the online world of Middle-earth to let players explore the ancient underground cities of the dwarves, battle epic characters in the depths, face off with the Watcher, be a part of the fateful release of Durin’s Bane and more! The Lord of the Rings Online expects to open Volume II of its epic story in the fall of 2008 with an increased level cap, two new classes and the introduction of a unique item advancement system.

“The Mines of Moria is one of the most epic settings in all of fantasy fiction,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “No one delivers more quality content than Turbine and with our journey into Moria, we will raise the bar even higher. We are adding vast amounts of content, debuting massive new environments and unveiling numerous unique feature sets, like item advancement, which will create entirely new dimensions of compelling game play and social interaction which are unique to The Lord of the Rings Online experience.”

NEW FEATURES:

  • Speak Friend, and Enter – Moria, called Khazad-dûm by the dwarves, was their capital and the grandest of cities. This enormous underground cavern in north-western Middle-earth, comprises an immense network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls that run beneath and ultimately through the Misty Mountains. For the first time, players of The Lord of the Rings Online will enter this ancient city which has served as the foundation for the modern-day dungeon-crawling adventures to battle the hordes of goblins and the Nameless of the Deep and journey through hundreds of new quests within six new kinds of stunning environments.
  • The Epic Continues! — The Mines of Moria represents the beginning of Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online. Players can experience six new books as part of this update and participate in the release of Durin’s Bane, battle the Watcher, aid Galadriel and more!
  • Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 60, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests. The crafting system will also expand, giving players the ability to craft even more powerful items.
  • Discover 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.
  • Forge Legendary Items – The Mines of Moria will introduce Turbine’s new item advancement system to The Lord of the Rings Online. 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.

To celebrate this exciting news, Turbine and Codemasters also announced today that they will kick off a major promotion that invites everyone to unlock the Mines of Moria by visiting http://www.unlocktheminesofmoria.com. Visitors can learn more about Mines of Moria and play special mini-games that will be periodically released over the coming months. Certain players who participate can complete special deeds through game play and other means to unlock exclusive previews, assets and special in-game items that may help them when they delve into Mines of Moria this fall. The Unlock the Mines of Moria promotion is scheduled to begin at the end of this month.

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