Turbine Previews LOTRO Expansion and Book 13 & 14 Content

Jeffery Steefel, Executive Producer for Tolkein’s World of Warcraft.. err. Lord of the Rings Online took some time from his busy producing to speak with Ten Ton Hammer’s Jeff Woleslagle about the upcoming Mines of Moria game expansion as well as some of the content that players should expect to see in Books 13 and 14 of the game.

Steefel discusses The Lord of the Rings timeline in relation to the game and how players can expect the game to develop over time, even with the expansion.  The game is moving across the Misty Mountains through the biggest dungeon crawl imaginable. It’ll be interesting to find out how they keep the content related to the world of the book without expanding too much into something that drags characters away from the focus on the growing darkness in Moria and the growth of Sauron’s forces. Along with Moria, Steefel mentions that the elven lands of Lorien will be appearing.

Book 13 adds a new region to the north of the current lands – including a big concentration on the arctic setting and new environmental effects like frost and exposure. Book 13 is expected to make a Spring release. While it seems odd to be exploring the north of Eriador while the Fellowship continues south Steefel mentions the decision was needed to give the Fellowship time in the game’s chronology to make their way forward into the 2nd volume of the series.

via Ten Ton Hammer