LOTRO’s second expansion takes place in the massive forest of Mirkwood, allowing you to continue exploring Middle-Earth. Numerous updates will be made, and there are new story quests, instances, raids and even a new way to play the game. This preview will give you all the details of the expansion.
The first thing to note is that the level cap will be raised to 65, once again allowing your characters to gain experience. They’ll primarily be gaining it in the titular new area, the large forest of Mirkwood, which will offer over one hundred new quests, including an extension of the game’s main storyline. Players will also earn access to new skills, traits and virtues that will allow for further customisation of their characters.
The legendary item system introduced in Mines of Moria is also receiving an upgrade, so it’s not just your character that you’ll be able to improve. Legendary weapons can now get as high as level 60, and players will be given additional options on how to use them with new titles, legacies and a forth rune slot. Players who are into crafting will be given additional options in customising crafted legendary items, further enhancing their flexibility.
One hundred plus hours of content has been promised for Siege of Mirkwood, which means that players will have plenty of new gameplay to look forward to. Some of the biggest new additions are outlined below.
Aside from the land of Mirkwood itself, skirmishes are the biggest addition being introduced in this expansion. Put simply, skirmishes are a series of twelve, semi-randomised and scalable instances that offer unique rewards and new ways to level up. Every skirmish can be fought by one, three, six or twelve players, starting as early as level 30. The difficulty and amount of enemies faced in skirmishes will be scaled so groups of every size and level will have an optimal challenge. Players will also have some control over this, being able to increase or decrease the difficulty as they feel is necessary. In addition, both the enemies fought in each skirmish along with optional objectives for the skirmish can change, providing a unique experience nearly every time a battle is fought.
Even if you choose to fight a skirmish solo you won’t be going it alone, as every player will be able to create and manage a soldier to fight alongside their character. Soldiers are only useable in skirmishes, but they are highly customisable. They can be assigned traits and can have their appearance altered, and while you cannot directly control soldiers in combat the way in which you build them beforehand will go a long way towards determining how useful they are. The more skirmishes you complete the more powerful your soldier will become, and you’ll also be able to make your soldier stand out more from those of other characters.
Skirmishes are expected to take around thirty to forty minutes each to complete, and can be accessed from anywhere in Middle-Earth. You can enter a skirmish from anyplace you like, as can any allies you choose to fight alongside. When the skirmish is complete, you’ll all be returned to your original locations. This makes the skirmish system a very accessible new way to play LOTRO.