The quest to destroy the One Ring continues. Adventurers that dare enter the Mines of Moria, the first expansion to Lord of the Rings Online, will face a paramount journey into a world beneath Middle-Earth. Turbine Entertainment has announced an official release on November 18th across North America, Europe and Australia. The expansion will introduce the second chapter or more familiar volume based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic series.

General features include hundreds of new quests to help aid players through the raised level cap which is sixty. Reaching the top isn't fun without the new traits, virtues, skills, and class quests that will entice and encourage progression. Players looking for a new class to play can try out The Rune Keeper and The Warden. One is based on warrior elements and the other on caster.

If tending to your digital hobbit-weed garden isn't your thing an evolved crafting system will allow for player forged legendary weapons like Bilbo's Sting. What makes them legendary is that they are sentient in nature thus making their stature or power advance kind of like levels.

If you already play LotRO you most likely won't need to upgrade any hardware; however, Mines of Moria will tack on an additional several gigabytes.

Anticipated Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP
Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 1.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 512 MB
Video: 64 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 3 or ATI® Radeon® 8500
Disk Space: 11 GB available
DirectX: DirectX® 9.0c
Optical Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet: 56kbps Modem

Anticipated Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP / Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 1 GB
Video: 128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® FX 6800 or ATI® Radeon® X850
Disk Space: 15 GB available
DirectX: DirectX® 9.0c
Optical Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet: Broadband DSL/Cable

Three different editions of the expansion will be available at launch.

The standalone expansion with one bonus in-game item.

A special collector's edition includes the expansion and bundles the original Lord of the Rings Online. Goodies include: 60 days of free game time for both new and current subscribers. A "where the Fellowship walked" map. A Gold "One Ring" with a velvet pouch. An Elven cloak brooch. Soundtrack CD. 3 of 8 special in-game items. 6 buddy key kinship postcards. Both the ring and pouch aren't made from gold or velveteen.

The compilation pack bundles the original Lord of the Rings Online with the expansion. It includes 30 days free game time and 2 bonus in-game items.

Pricing for Oceanic territories is not listed on Codemasters website. The MSRP US price however is $39.99 for the complete edition and $79.99 for the collector's edition. Right now, it looks like the pre-order bonus that opens up the US$199 lifetime membership and US$9.99 a month subscription plan is not available outside of Canada and the US. We will try and confirm whether or not a similar promotion is planned for Oceanic players.