Lord of the Rings Online players that seem to constantly broke can get some advice on saving some silver in those awkward 20 something levels. MMORPG.com has a guide with some straight talk on making and keeping money. Some suggestions like don’t keep hiring horses at 20 silver a pop one way are common sense. There are a few suggestions that may not have occurred to you and are worth checking out.
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The Mines of Moria expansion for The Lord of the Rings online has been out for close to a month now, and the content included in the expansion just keeps getting more and more interesting. This week, Turbine has released a Hero’s Guide to the Silvertine Lodes and here is a excerpt from the post:

Deep in the belly of the great Misty Mountain peak called Celebdil by the Elves, Zirak-zigil by the Dwarves, and Silvertine by Men, one of the great quarries of Khazad-dûm lays in shadow and dust, waiting for its restoration, waiting for the echoes of pick-axes and miners’ songs to fill its empty caverns and tunnels once more. This deep place, known as the Silvertine Lodes, once glittered with ore and shone with the light of crystal lamps glinting off raw mithril. Now it gapes like a hole not just in the earth but in the image of Khazad-dûm.

Once, many long centuries ago, this hole was begun beneath the mountain to supply stone for great palaces and castles in Khazad-dûm and in far-off kingdoms beyond. But the Dwarves of Moria kept digging, beyond caution or reason, mad in their pursuit of mithril, until the Silvertine Lodes were all but exhausted. They scratched away at the dignity of the mines until little was left but a pit in the earth.

Sounds like a neat game area to me, and I have not even gotten finished with the Mirobel quests yet. There is so much to see and do in the new expansion and it seems that I am learning about another cool new area each week. This is thanks to the folks over at Turbine constantly updating the guides which are full of lore and mysterious creatures you will encounter. My only worry about all these cool new areas is that I will be a lvl 60 before I even get there because I have not finished Book 9 yet for crying out loud.

Anyway, enjoy the newest edition to the lore book, and a hearty thanks goes out to MMORPG for the heads up.  Also, in case you were wondering, the screen above is my in-game character with a redhorn goat. Those things are so damn cute!

1UP is appealing to gamers to take a 5-10 minute break from their games to fill out the 2008 MMO Gaming Study survey. Those who make time for this no fail quiz by December 1st will be entered in a Sweepstakes to win a $300 American Express Cheque.

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Thanks again for your continuing support.

Turbine has unveiled yet another new video for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. This new video depicts an epic raid on the Watcher, an encounter that players can experience with the new expansion.

In Mines of Moria, Volume 2: Book 1, Chapter 8, an in-game cut-scene will introduce you to the nasty tentacled kraken-type creature you may remember from the movie The Two Towers. The Watcher in the Water resides just outside of the door to Moria in a lake, and should you survive–this will not be your last encounter with the Watcher–you will need to come back with better weapons, and begin a 12-man instance (raid). Trust me, you will need all the help you can get in defeating this monstrous behemoth.

It sounds challenging just like everything is thus far in the new expansion, but no matter how hard or frustrating it gets, the rewards and enjoyment you take away from the game are sweet indeed.

Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria is in its first week after launch. Turbine is celebrating with a veritable trove of trailer and videos featuring the expansion’s new areas. Today’s offering covers Zelm-melek within Khazad-dûm itself.

Today Turbine unveiled two new videos for the The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, the first expansion for the multiplayer online game, which just launched yesterday.

The newly released videos depict two of the many new areas that have been added to the game with the expansion. The first trailer above, is the Redhorn Lodes and the one below is of the Great Delving.

You know, I never thought I could ever enjoy LotRO any more than I already do, but Mines of Moria has brought my enjoyment of the game to an all new level, and I cannot for the life of me even describe just how much.

Turbine has opened a new path to adventure for players of the Lord of the Rings Online with the launch of the Mines of Moria expansion. With ten new levels, three areas including the vast Moria dungeon crawl, legendary items and two new classes Mines of Moria has a lot to offer just a little over a year since the release of the original LOTRO: Shadows of Angmar.

To kick off the release, Turbine has a new trailer for your viewing pleasure:

You can dig up the LOTRO: Mines of Moria in retail stores or upgrade your account online at The Lord of the Rings Online website.

Originally planned to be released on December 15, gamers looking forward to playing Pandemic Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: Conquest will have to wait just a bit longer. Slated for the Nintendo DS, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 the game will now ship January 9, 2009 internationally and January 13, 2009 in the U.S.

Brought to you by the same studio that created gamer favorites Star Wars Battlefront and Star Wars Battlefront 2 , this new take on the battle for Middle-earth will be reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings universe of J.R.R. Tolkien that you watched in the films. Not only will you be able to single-handedly fight for the forces of good, but in multiplayer mode you will be able to join with others to save the land from the ravages of Sauron’s army — or instead choose to fight along side cave-trolls, goblins, and the Urukai if you are so inclined. With the ability to participate in 16-player battles online or through four-player online co-op campaigns, you never have to go it alone no matter which side you choose. Hero-only “Deathmatches” are also to be made available, and there is also the “Ring Bearer” quest where you alone must escape the horrid Ringwraiths armed only with the famous dagger Sting.

In Conquest, gamers will be able to choose from different battles from the film such as Helm’s Deep, Pelennor Fields, Minas Tirith, The Black Gates, along with other skirmish areas such as Moria, The Shire and Weathertop. Some other battles or skirmishes that were not featured in the movies will be added as well, these will be from both the books and made up by the writers for the game but will remain true to Tolkien’s lore.

Josh Rednick, co-founder of Pandemic said it best when describing what players can experience when picking sides in The Lord of the Rings:Conquest:

“Players will finally be able to fight through Middle-earth along the frontlines of good or evil…and what The Lord of the Rings fan hasn’t fantasized about joining Sauron’s army to slay Hobbits?”

Yes Josh, there have been many times I have personally wanted to go on a Hobbit killing rampage while playing The Lord of the Rings Online due to the many errands my character had to run for the furry footed busybodies, and suffice it to say, if the game would have let me, I would have relished in the opportunity to turn Michael Delving into nothing short of a rubble filled crater.

While you are waiting for the game to land in retail, fans of The Lord of the Rings universe can participate in a “Battle for the Ring” community program where the more active you are, the more “gold” you will earn. The social network offers activities and incentives for members to fight against good or evil and earn temporary ownership of the Ring. Prizes are pretty sweet, with the Grand Prize winner (500,000 earned gold) receiving a package that contains a Samsung HT-Z310 Home Theater System, while other prizes range from winning the Xbox 360 version of the game to Microsoft Points. To try your hand at this, just go online and register and see how much gold you can earn.

Turbine has released a new trailer for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria expansion and while it may be very short in length, it makes up for it in quality.

If you have not been keeping up with what to expect when you enter the dwarven city of Moria, then the trailer should speak volumes. The prerequisite Goblins and Wargs are present, but this time the Goblins are actually riding the Wargs – which you should be familiar with if you read the books or have seen the movies. The atmosphere looks very lush for the decrepit state it’s in, and with so many different obstacles inside you never know what will be lurking around the corner.

One thing you will notice is that the winged denizens of Angmar, the sexy but dangerous Merrevail, are back along with what appear to be winged demon men which will be new to the expansion. What challenges these monstrous creatures will provide is anyone’s guess but they do look formidable indeed.

After you have watched the trailer, FileFront has some exclusive shots pulled straight from the Mines of Moria Beta up for your perusing. The expansion invades retail on November 18 and if you still have some unfinished adventures floating around in your quest log, you may want to log into the game and get them out of the way. Once the Mines of Moria goes live, it may be a while before you ever wish to go back to the comfort of The Shire.

Turbine has followed the call to go west and spread its business coast to coast. The new Redwood City, California studio will be headed by new recruits Dave Brevik as Creative Director, Jeff Lind as Engineering Director and Matt McKnight as Studio Director.

The growing developer has several MMOs to its name including Asheron’s Call, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. The first LOTRO expansion Mines of Moria is out next month and Turbine expects to have a social gaming network up and running by the end of the year. A new console MMO is also in the works. The west-coast studio is just another step in Turbine’s longterm plans for growth as one of the largest privately-held developers of online games in North America. Look for more new projects with the same attention to detail that has made Turbine a very successful developer of MMOs.