The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood | ||||
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| Official logo for Siege of Mirkwood | ||||
| Siege of Mirkwood | ||||
| Released | December 1, 2009 (US) & December 3, 2009 (EU) (release notes) | |||
| Nickname | SoM | |||
| Level cap | 65 | |||
| Region added | Southern Mirkwood, Enedwaith | |||
| Production | ||||
| First announced | September 4, 2009 | |||
| Pre-order period | Unknown | |||
| Soundtrack | Unreleased, composed by Steve DiGregorio | |||
| Developer | Turbine | |||
| Expansion Chronology | ||||
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The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood is LOTRO's second expansion. With this expansion, players could venture into the grim Southern Mirkwood, joining the Elves in their siege of Dol Guldur. The expansion was the first to be sold web based only.
On April 13, 2022, the expansion was removed from the Store in anticipation of Update 33, which will make its contents available for free to every player.
This page aims to give an overview of the release history and the main features of the expansion.
Content
Character progression
Just like with Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood expanded character progression by adding levels. However, the amount of levels was lower: five levels were added, raising the level cap from 60 to 65. Players could also make their character more powerful by acquiring new gear with higher stats and leveling up their Legendary Items with five additional levels. LI's were made to be more customize-able, with a fourth runic slot added and the ability to craft Second Age Legendary Items.
No new crafting level was added; tier 6 remained the highest level. However, new crafting recipes were released. Many of these recipes could be bartered with the new Malledhrim faction.
Story & quests
The story content of Siege of Mirkwood upon release concludes the Mines of Moria story, the second of the Epic books. The third Epic story line, Volume III Allies of the King, launched a couple of months later. This story line focuses on the Grey Company and is completely unrelated to Mirkwood. The story continues in the Rise of Isengard expansion.
Landscape
The following new regions were added:
- Southern Mirkwood
- Enedwaith (added at a later date)
Skirmish system
A new instance type was introduced, called skirmish. Skirmishes contain automatically generated randomized enemies. The idea was that this would make encounters less predictable, offering more exciting gameplay. Skirmishes can be played solo or together with other players (1 to 12 players, depending on the skirmish). Within a skirmish, players are paired with a Skirmish Soldier that reacts to simple commands. The soldier can be customized with a trait system, both in battle proficiency and in appearance.
Dol Guldur instances
The expansion also came with a set of regular instances, themed around the siege of Dol Guldur.
| Dol Guldur instance cluster | |
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| Instance | Designed for |
| Sword-hall of Dol Guldur | 3 |
| Warg-pens of Dol Guldur | 3 |
| Dungeons of Dol Guldur | 3* |
| Sammath Gûl | 6 |
| Barad Guldur | 12 |
*This instance was years later converted to a full fellowship instance (designed for 6).
Production and sales
September 4, 2009, Turbine officially announced the development of Siege of Mirkwood. That same year, the expansion was released on December 1 in North America and December 3 in Europe.
Gallery
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Concept art of a fellbeast by Tara Rueping, made in the spring of 2009
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Concept art of Dol Guldur by Tara Rueping
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Siege of Mirkwood splash screen
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Official game manual cover featuring Siege of Mirkwood
External links
- Interview about LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood MMOReviews.com, interview with Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online, 2 October 2009.
- Unreleased Siege of Mirkwood soundtrack YouTube video, uploaded by user Tesalion Lortus on 3 November 2017.
References
| Expansions
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| Major Expansions: Shadows of Angmar (2007) • Mines of Moria (2008) • Siege of Mirkwood (2009) • Rise of Isengard (2011) • Riders of Rohan (2012) • Helm's Deep (2013) • Mordor (2017) • Minas Morgul (2019) • Fate of Gundabad (2021) • Corsairs of Umbar (2023)
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