Mines of Moria screenshots and some info

[Terina/Sinaroc]

First here's the screenshots, first 20 are shots of the game and characters. The rest is concept art and that silly web based game.

pc.gamespy.com/dor/objects/14241090/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria/images/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria-20080707050327299.html

Here's some info
pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria/886747p1.html

au.pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria/886732p1.html

Book 14 will also mark the launch of more worldwide server and live events. This, according to Steefel, is a legacy of Turbine's experience with Asheron's Call. "We want to do more to make the world feel alive for players," he said. To that end, the game will be instituting more festivals and calendar events as well as offering server-wide goals for players to push for. One of the big ones that will go live with Book 14 is a chained series of "Battlefield" instances. These are special missions that open in sequence only when beaten a certain number of times within a specific time period. They include an assault on the city of Aughaire, a confrontation at the so-called Angmarim "Line-of-Death" and a final attack on Carn Dun itself. "The idea here is to make the world feel more alive by letting players participate in the actual war."

Battlefield instances will begin with an announcement that the Free People-allied city of Aughaire is under assault by the forces of the False King. Players who choose to do so will enter the instance to find a skirmish line of Aughaire tribesmen defending against Angmarim soldiers. The goal is to defend Aughaire for 45 minutes and save a certain number of allied tribesmen. "We wanted these instances to present players with more tactical battles that require some strategy to solve," Steefel said. To that end, the instances are somewhat randomized as to where defenders and attackers will appear. The second instance (which opens when Aughaire is successfully defended a number of times) is a conflict at the "Line of Death" in Angmar. The line of guardian statues that slaughter anyone who crossed their path has been strengthened by Angmarim sorceresses who must be killed to beat the scenario. Finally the players will take part in the assault on the gates of Carn Dun, in which they'll have to split their time between defending their base camps and taking important points within the town around the gates.

Now this is where people go "oh cool" and reply to the thread lol

[jim]

That does look pretty cool.

Besides the level cap increase I'm really looking forward to the legendary weapon system.

[Terina/Sinaroc]

Nice summary that I took from this thread, links to newer articles here to.
forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=148656

Among the new things to expect (and more details on previously hinted ones):

* We get to battle the Watcher!
* Traits have been redone, allowing to have certain combinations give bonuses (Quote: A Champion, for example, can slot eight specific class traits in the "Order of the Shield" configuration that not only helps the Champion tank more effectively but also offers special line bonuses just for that configuration.)
* Will try to make it so current items aren't worthless (didn't have any details on how it would work, though...).
* Storyline: help Dwarfs from Iron Hills try to reclaim Khazad Dum after the "Power vacuum" caused by the Balrog's death.
* Theme: Light vs. darkness (hinted at shadow damage from creatures of the deep).
* Glowing crystals and fungus will help light the way (and will be part of quests, apparently).
* Quote: The entrance hall is a majestic path carved into the living rock lit by huge iron spheres embedded with glowing crystals that hang from chains. "Pull back and look up," Steefel says to the Turbine demonstrator running the demo. He does so and we're immediately overwhelmed by the vastness of the space. Steefel laughs a bit, "That's the reaction we're going for all the time in Moria... that sense of awe and wonder."(AKA OMG IT'S HUGE!).
* Shows the dark side of dwarf's past (Quote Ker: "One of the things we're looking to explore is the darkness of the dwarves. Why did Khazad-dum go so wrong? The Balrog was the reason why it was abandoned, but the Balrog was awakened by the greed and hubris of the dwarves. We want players to realize just what it means to 'dig too deep.'")

The second article goes into detail about the legendary weapon system. Here is the new info:

* Legendary Weapons start as "Unidentified", basically as a regular mob drop with few buffs and need to be taken to a Forge Master to be activated.
* Unidentified Legendary weapons are able to be sold on the AH. Once activated (and not bound), they can only be traded directly to other players. You can have a maximum of 6 bound legendary weapons per character.
* Legendary weapons will have "Legacies". Quote: Legacies are one of approximately thirty possible inherent properties that are assigned randomly to the item. The number of legacies assigned is also random within a specified range determined by the item's base quality. A "rare" or yellow item can only get one or two legacies while an "epic" purple might get four or five and an "incomparable" or teal weapon could get up to nine (though that would be extremely rare). Each legacy is also assigned a "Quality" rating (gold, silver or bronze) based on how powerful it is.
* Your weapon levels with you, giving you "Legend Points", which can increase your quality ratings on your Legacies. You can get items to split the points between all legendary items you own.
* Quote: Relics in MoM are obtained only through the destruction of legendary items at an Item Master. The level of the legendary item destroyed determines the power of the resulting relics... *snip* Each relic created will have two or three static bonuses attached to them and be classified as a "Beginning," "Middle" or "End" relic. These can be slotted into one of the three special sockets available on the weapon.... *snip* Relics themselves are ranked by tier, with eight potential tiers that determine how powerful their static bonuses are. Fortunately, a relic's tier isn't permanent. Upgrading relics is the major function of the "Relic Master," the second new NPC being added to the game. The Relic Master has the capability of combining relics of like tier into a new, higher-level relic. If the re-forging goes well, the player trades a couple of lower-tier relics for a higher one. If it goes badly, the player will receive a few randomly selected equivalent-tier relics back.

And now for article three, giving us the basic outline of the new classes:

* Runekeeper- Magic class (like Galadriel, rather than the Loremaster's "Nature" magic), main role is ranged DoT and secondary is Healing. Uses Light Armour
* Warden- Medium armour Melee Class, main role is off-tank. Quote: The Warden's main abilities are triggered by a new "gambit" system. These are special attacks and status effects triggered by firing off certain combinations of moves in sequence. Thus a "Power Attack" designed to take advantage of a specific break in a creature's defenses might be fired off by using four specially-colored attacks in a row, while a different attack designed to slow an enemy's attacks could be used to set up combos that let companions regain some health or power.