Riders of Rohan!

[Palantir]

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This expansion sounds fun, much more so than the "Isengard" part (although I did already encounter Saruman once in Dunland).

New Expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online™ Launching Fall 2012

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled today The Lord of the Rings Online™: Riders of Rohan™, the latest expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine. Riders of Rohan expands the online world of Middle-earth where players join forces to ride into the Plains of Rohan. Riders of Rohan launches in the Fall of 2012 with an increased level cap, the vast plains of Rohan including iconic locations such as Amon Hen and Fangorn Forest, the new Mounted Combat system and much more!

One of our largest expansions ever, Rohan is expected to be twice the size of the recent Rise of Isengard expansion and includes the most new game systems and technology we've introduced since 2008's Mines of Moria.”

NEW FEATURES:
•Experience the Riders of Rohan – Join with the Rohirrim and ride across the sprawling Plains of Rohan; witness the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen; forge alliances with the Ents of Fangorn; and aid Éomer, adopted son of Théoden, as he seeks to protect his homeland from the growing Shadow.
•Introducing Mounted Combat – Ride into Combat atop your loyal War-steed as you defend the people of Rohan from the forces of Isengard and Mordor. Customize your War-steed’s armor and level its skills over time to aid you in mounted defense of King Theoden’s lands. Mount your steed and gather your fellows to fight against Warbands, contingents of roving warg riders that have been scouted all over the Plains of Rohan! It falls to you to head off and defeat this new threat before they over take the land.
•Advance to level 85 – Continue your legend in the next chapter of The Lord of the Rings Online. Experience new adventures in the epic story, and gain new skills and deeds as you face new challenges on your journey to 85!

http://www.lotro.com/news/pressreleases/1736-warner-bros-interactive-entertainment-and-turbine-unveil-the-lord-of-the-rings-online-riders-of-rohan

The mounted combat will be fun but exploring Rohan & Fangorn Forest interests me the most. I'll have to push at least 1 of my alts to max level before fall.
Being twice the size of "RoI" should have "RoR" encompassing all of Fangorn Forest & from The Gap of Rohan to the Anduin River. I just wonder how far "south" they will go? I suspect they will hold off on Helms Deep & Edoras for a RoR expansion.

After seeing how big & busy the Dunland town of Galtrev is I expect great things from Turbine when finally we get to Edoras & Minas Tirth.

 

[Redwolf]

Putting my CM hat on, I have concerns that the combat model for mounted combat is hopefully good but might be dumbed down or underdeveloped at release time.

Still good. Not that I have any characters anywhere close to the current level max so I don't see how I can enjoy it anytime soon.

 

[Palantir]

I share your concern but they mentioned Mounted Combat being implemented quite a while ago I think before Skirmishes came up so I think it will ok.

I'm sure after it gets going they will quickly tweak & upgrade it if needed as "MC" will probably be a huge part of all Rohan Quests & on into Gondor.


On another related topic:

I'm beginning to wonder if there will be a "Hobbit" expansion put out for LOTRO (North Misty Mts / North Mirkwood / Ererbor). I figured it was as sure thing with "The Hobbit" movies being made. The Mirkwood expansion was off-the-track yet they made it as a time filler, so a Lonely Mountain "filler" before Rohan seemed possible. However, now that they have us going into Rohan itself after Aragorn the odds seem against Turbine sending us all that way northward.

Any thoughts?

 

[BlitzCanuck]

I'd be shocked to see any surprise release content prior to Rohan that they just announced.
I don't think there is a precedent for that.
And besides that, the game doesn't seem to be tracking with the movies.

I wish they would release new content without raising the level cap. I won't even have all of my alts up to 75 before they raise it to 85. But primarily i dislike it because it renders dungeons obsolete. From what my kinnies are saying, apparently you can now do most of the Moria instances with just 3 level 75's or even 2 if you have a good healer.
Besides skirmishes, what is there to do now once you get to level cap? Draigoch raid and what else?

 

[Redwolf]

Yeah it's a problem. I never leveled all the way through and out of Moria, and I dread it. I can't even decide which character I would want to use. Then to see the Riders of Rohan I would have to do all the other things between Moria and Rohan, I can't go directly to Rohan.

Then, after having invested all this time to level where I can do Rohan I have ruined that character for the other content. And of course I have no idea which content package I actually like or not.

 

[Palantir]

There may be some benefits to my having so many alts then, options.
I divided up Middle Earth for all my alts (Kinship story) so some focused northward or southward. One, my 66 Warden does all the yeoman work collecting resources wherever needed, which is why at 64 was the first to enter and explore all of RoI gathering stuff. Of course that’s the only way my lvl 45 max-crafters can keep my upper alts supplied with the new food & potion items.
All my alts will follow the Epic Quest line but they will only concentrate on quests in their areas. Let me tell you the ones going north are happy they are not going to have to spend much time in Moria! My two 50+ lvl alts are currently on hold because they ARE in Moria. I admit the developers made Moria what it should be, dark & depressing.
I was surprised to see the cap being raised as well with RoR since they just raised it in RoI. Although having already reached lvl 70 with 1 hunter I found it VERY EASY to level past 65 in Enedwaith & Dunland just doing the normal quests. I though the climb to 75 would be arduous but think it will be easy to obtain in just a few more play sessions.
I’m enjoying the quest variety in RoI and reading the stories behind them.

Coming upon this view unexpectedly was a pleasant surprise. What's even better, there must be a hundred NPC's moving around down there & some in formation! No clue yet as to questing inside but it looks fun.

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[BlitzCanuck]

@Palantir
unfortunately that view belies the reality of the situation; you don't get to quest inside that town except for one instanced quest. Disappointing, i know.

 

[Palantir]

Ack!!!

Well I made it "inside" that village in the instance you mentioned (I'm guessing).
I must say if that’s our only time inside at least it was different & exciting.

However that brings up the question of why they went to all the trouble of creating such a "living" village that you can see but only visit once? Seems like an enormous waste of development time.