Low-level guide to Mines of Moria: What's in it for me?

So you are enjoying Lord of the Rings Online, and are looking forward to the Mines of Moria expansion tomorrow, but you're wondering if it will actually have anything for you, as a low-level casual player. This is a very common concern with most MMO expansions, so we've assembled a little guide for those of you out there who could really care less about the hardcore 12-man raids or end-game content offered in Mines of Moria. What's in it for you?

Luckily, there is quite a bit, but it often gets overshadowed by the information for the higher level players. Follow along after the cut for a summary of the improvements available to those unsure about purchasing Moria with only low-level characters, as well as some of the lower-level features that will be available with the free Book 15 content upgrade.

Two new classes
The Rune-keeper and the Warden are both brand new classes that are included in the Mines of Moria expansion. Both of these will act as the current classes, as their starting zones depend on their races. There is no new starting zone specifically for these classes.

Two extra character slots
The max characters allowed per account has now been changed to seven, allowing you to experiment more with the new classes, or create yourself a mule character for those bug eyes and boar intestines you've been gathering!

Crafting improvements
While the higher-tier crafting changes will be mostly for high-level characters, it is entirely possible to experience these changes without necessarily hitting level 50 (or now, 60). The sixth crafting tier has been added, and crafting guilds will allow players to specialize in their crafting profession of choice. These crafting guilds won't be found within the mines though, as many people had suspected. Here's a list of their locations in the existing lands of Middle-earth:

• Cook's Guild - Michel Delving

• Jeweller's Guild - Esteldin

• Metalsmith's Guild - Thorin's Hall

• Scholar's Guild - Rivendell

• Tailor's Guild - Esteldin

• Weaponsmith's Guild - Thorin's Hall

• Woodworker's Guild - Esteldin

Intro Raids and Instances
That's right, raiding and instancing isn't just for the max level characters with a full party any more. Moria will introduce two new three-man instances for anyone who wants to take part in the excitement of a raid, without the preparation and time needed to get five or eleven other people together.

Changes included without buying the expansion
To be fair, there will also be some changes to the game that will come as part of the Book 15 free content upgrade. These include the combat changes, the Ettenmoors overhaul, the fact that quest items will now be stored out of your inventory bags including a new keyring feature for stored keys, hundreds of new quests, deeds and accomplishments, and of course, the updates to the UI. This includes improvements to the Trait UI (with new Trait Sets), skill/action bar additions and more. This free Book 15 content includes even more that doesn't require the purchase of the expansion, yet it is made for the higher-level characters. We will touch on that content, plus all veteran Moria content in a future article.

So in summary, you can certainly choose to not buy the expansion if you don't think you're ready, and still enjoy gobs of new content without paying a dime. However, as you can see from this article, and the new complete Mines of Moria release notes, there's certainly plenty of new shinies to make it worth the $30 USD price tag. Even if you don't own the game and are looking to get into it for the first time, we can't think of a better time than now to purchase the Complete Edition for $40 USD. This includes the entire game (Volumes 1 and 2) plus a free month.

So give it a shot. LotRO may become much more than a casual game to you.