Executive Producer Kate Paiz gives us the scoop on this year's content for LotRO!

Last week, ZAM brought you the latest dish on Dungeons & Dragons Online in this upcoming year. That’s just one side of the Turbine interview, however; the other concerns Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) and the BIG news coming up in Middle Earth! Excited yet? No? Ok, how about with this: A new region, currently called The Great River; an increased level cap, up to 85; and a brand new expansion, the Riders of Rohan! You’d better be interested now; read on for the details!

First, LOTRO’s executive producer Kate Paiz discussed the 2011 advancements. “In 2011, Isengard was our biggest seller so far,” she started, “2011 was our first full year as free-to-play, and we had a new audience, especially as we brought a whole lot of Europeans over. We kept our older players happy and satisfied… we put some overall polish on our items and, of course, our Rise of Isengard content was really a wonderful expansion, a chance for our players to go ‘Oh, I read this in the book!’ They love the fact that they can see behind the main characters but still get to fight Sarumon and be toe-to-toe with Orthanc.” She mentioned that they want more... and goodness, the next portion provided just that!

“In 2012 there are really three main things that are coming. One is, we’re going to be creating a new, really kick-ass expansion pack, the Riders of Rohan… the second item includes some content updates, the first coming in the spring. We don’t often do a new region, but we have a lot of enthusiasm to get the Rohan storyline going and we are ready to give in. So the new region is going to be tentatively called ‘The Great River.’ It’s going to take you south of Lothlorien, which will take you right to the northern edge of Rohan come spring, right near the Fangorn Forest. And the third thing, again, with our new audience, we want to bring new content on a monthly or near-monthly basis. So one of the things you’ll be seeing starting in January is new patches with new mounts, store items, cosmetics, new festival content updates… smaller than a breadbox, but really trying to recognize the pace of the interest for our players.”

The Great River: “I’m going to wait on storyline features for the call I’m sure we’ll do with you as we get closer… but I’ll talk about an extension of an existing system, which is… soldiers. We have soldiers that you can summon and will help you out.” The system is for when you don’t have friends online or players available to group, and Katie says, “We’re extending that mechanic so that you can summon the soldier not only in skirmishes, but also in the landscape as well!” Although they will not be available in instances yet, the team will be watching how they will do in the field.

Onto the expansion pack details... as much as they would tell us! “The expansion, coming in fall, will have a large region of Rohan in it… now, Rohan, if you remember your map, is a really, REALLY huge space. If you check your map, it’s about half the size of Eriador. That’s a little much for the initial expansion pack, so we’re going to introduce the eastern plains of Rohan. And, along with those plains, there will be two smaller areas as well. We’ll have the Eves of Fangron, and Amon Head, most popularly known as where the Fellowship broke up and one member died.”

So, what should we know about Rohan? “It’s roughly twice the size of Moria, yet the content model will be very different. In Rohan, we think of plains, and epic clashes…. So we’re introducing mounted combat. It’ll be a high-speed combat mechanic; we’re creating a new monster experience type called War Bands. There will be a very interesting, randomized mechanic, where… all of a sudden you spot clouds, and the cloud comes closer… and the War Band appears!” The mount will be a new companion. It will have armor and skills; able to trample the enemy and fight the war bands on the plains. “It will be a really wonderful mechanic the players will find fun, and will be able to give us feedback this summer,” Katie ended.

“Of course, we will be doing a level cap increase; the level will go up from 75 to 85,” Katie continued, “we’ll simply have to have more skills and your levels will have to go up!” I also asked about the western plains (as the eastern are what’s to be released in the expansion,” and was told a perfectly per functionary answer: “The Riders of Rohan will just be the beginning of all the content we will be bringing to the game. Whether just updates or expansions, we can’t say right now.” Katie added, “Helm’s Deep is not in the Eastern part of Rohan, so that is a gap to be filled down the road.”

LOTRO seems to have plenty available for its players this year; and the content we’ve described here includes only the latest patch and distant news of the expansion. With their hectic schedule of monthly or bi-monthly content release, who knows what Turbine will bring out as time goes on? Stay tuned to see!

Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland, Staff Writer.