Shamelessly stolen from the CM forums - they were useful today!
Planned for Book 8
* Coming in June
* New party based instances
* Summer Festival
* Epic Storyline
Rest of 2009 Plans
* Expansion
* Southern Mirkwood and Dol Goldur
* Introduce Skirmishes
* Increase the Level Cap
* Much more (but nothing we’re talking about yet)
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Upcoming content for Volume 2, Book 8
Later on in the year, players will get the opportunity to explore deeper into the southern Mirkwood area, focusing mainly on the city of Dol Guldur, previously known to the Elves as Amon Lanc. You may remember Dol Guldur as Sauron's stronghold where he retreated after the One Ring was lost. It became a key fortress that allowed Sauron to regain his strength and rebuild his armies.
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New Game Mechanic
A major game mechanic being introduced later this year will be known as Skirmishes. This name may change, Steefel points out, but it's their working title throughout production. They're described as dynamic instances that are aware of the party's size, and they respond accordingly, in relation to how big or small the party is. They are also repeatable, and will have multiple objectives that will give you enough incentive to do them multiple times with different sized groups. "It's the natural evolution from the focus on small party dynamic instanced experiences, and it takes it to a whole new level," Steefel says. Plus, we were teased with a bit of exciting information regarding customizable soldiers that you can train and bring into these skirmishes. Unfortunately, that's all we got on that.
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Anniversary Bonuses
Newcomers who don't own the game can pick it up for the bargain bin price of $10 -- a hell of a deal, considering it includes the original game and the Mines of Moria expansion (in other words, every bit of content to-date), plus 30 days of free game time. And as one more additional bonus, anyone with an active subscription as of June 30 will receive a passive, in-game gift known as the "Writ of Passage" which will treat players to a permanent 20% discount at stable masters.
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This is the forum post
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=263885News Article 1
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=263885News Article 2
http://www.massively.com/2009/04/24/...ced/#continued