LotRO, A Look Back: Books 10 & 11
On August 21, 2007, Book 10: The City of Kings was released and opened up the city of Annúminas was for players to experience. Unfortunately, the city had been invaded by the forces of Angmar, and players had to fight to keep certain points of the city friendly to them. If they failed, the entire area will fall under the Witch-king's control.
Hunters and Captains both received class reviews, and a new mechanic was introduced called Critter Play. Different than PvMP, Critter Play allowed players to take on new forms in a PvE setting. The first form introduced was that of a chicken. Not to be outdone, Trolls, and Rangers were introduced into PvMP as well as a very large polish pass on PvMP as a whole.
Other new features brought to the game were factions with the major races (with rewards for increasing said faction) and the bartering system which allowed players to turn in certain monster drops for armor rewards. And of course, no Book is complete without a raft of new quests introduced for high level players to grind through.
Book 11: Defenders of Eriador
Come the Fall, Book 11: Defenders of Eriador was launched. October 24, 2007 to be exact. This content patch was different in that it did not expand the playable area significantly. It did add two small regions, One was Tâl Bruinen in the Trollshaws, which reveals the path to the city of Hollin, which the Fellowship passed while venturing to Mordor.
The second was the High Pass in the Misty Mountains, bringing players closer to the Mines of Moria than ever. In doing so Turbine brought Goblin Town into the game, the city of goblins that kidnapped Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and the location where Bilbo first encountered the One Ring. And best of all, players got to meet Gollum in-game.
Book 11 also added the second raid instance to the game along with a new storyline to the mix - the Rift of Nûrz Ghâshu. This raid instance follows the giants of Angmar, enslaved to mine for the forces of the Witch-king in order to give Angmar the materials to wage war. This instance also unveiled an imprisoned Balrog, who apparently is not happy to have visitors. On the upside, he dropped great loot.
But the most memorable contribution of this patch had to be the introduction of player housing. With instanced racial neighborhoods, each with its own distinct architectural flair and different levels of housing, new abodes were snapped up quickly. Furnishings, both purchased and crafted, became popular and players created events in their neighborhoods for others to participate in.
Finally, Lore-masters and Minstrels were up for class polishing. Among other changes, Lore-masters were given access to non-combat pets and minstrels were not only granted the ability to teach other classes different instruments, but were given a new dps stance to solo better. %Gallery-10737% %Gallery-8467%
