In a genre defined by the ubiquitous World of Warcraft, the road to success is littered with failed attempts to hook into the paid subscriber's wallet. Despite the glut of fantasy MMO titles and intense competition for subscribers, Turbine seems to have found its niche with Lord of the Rings Online. Last year saw the release of the first expansion, Mines of Moria and the latest iteration in the massively multiplayer Middle Earth saga, Siege of Mirkwood, has just hit the digital shelves.

Calling the Siege of Mirkwood an expansion is a little misleading. There are no new classes, the level cap was only raised by five (from 60 to 65) and there's only one - admittedly rather expansive - new area. Nor does it add a new volume to the epic story, instead completing the Volume 2 storyline started in the Mines of Moria expansion.

Despite these criticisms, the latest episode in the story is the jewel in the crown. The storytelling alone makes it well worth the price of admission. Starting at the borders of Lorien, Book 9 takes the player into Mirkwood, assisting a large force of elves pushing towards Dol Guldur, a foreboding fortress once home to Sauron and now occupied by his Nazgul thralls, along with a horde of orcs, trolls and other dark denizens. For a Tolkein obsessed lore monkey such as myself, it hit all the right notes and was a real joy to experience. Alongside the main storyline are well over a hundred side quests throughout the area, running the gamut of the MMO mainstays - genocidal grinding, item collection, escorts and exploration, albeit with a number of quite interesting twists. One quest, where the player is tasked with finding some lost dwarves in the swamp, was particularly inspired... The quest hubs are well laid out, thankfully, unlike some past releases dominated by endless back and forth travel.


The real meat of the "expansion" lies in a brand new gameplay addition – skirmishes. Straddling the divide between PvE and PvP, this feature adds set-piece instances detailing various conflicts between the free peoples of Middle Earth and the forces of darkness. Each player is given their own lowly conscript to train – a computer controlled ally chosen from a range of archetypes: tank, healer, melee and ranged dps. These soldiers are only usable in the skirmish instances, unfortunately, and truth be told aren't always that smart. They'll stand by and watch their mentor get pummeled into the dirt without lifting a finger. When they do help, they are invaluable, particularly when running solo. The skirmishes scale to allow solo, 3, 6 and 12 man groups, the latter being rather impressive to behold, if a little taxing on the computer hardware – 12 players, 12 conscripts and a horde of enemies is nothing short of chaotic!

This new technology is used to good effect and, happily, skirmishes aren't restricted to “end game” content. The first skirmish choices appear at level 30, with more unlocking every 5 levels thereafter. There are currently a dozen instances, each with a range of optional randomised boss encounters. It's proving to be an addictive sideline. Each skirmish takes around 20 minutes and awards tokens that can be traded for a truly vast range of rewards, including new legendary items to match the raised level cap.

The low level additions don't end with the skirmishes, either. As the general server population has levelled up to dizzying heights, older areas and instances have become barren and finding groups for lower level content is difficult, if not impossible. In an inspired move, the developers have started a pass through all the low level content, polishing up old areas, completely redesigning some instances to cater for those with time constraints and reworking some of the key quests to cater for solo players. There's certainly much more incentive to revisit the older content with alts and the removal of content bottlenecks, benefit existing players and newcomers alike.


The stodgy combat system has also seen an overhaul - weapon speeds and damage have been normalised to allow a greater variety in effective weapon types for any given class. Combat animations have been polished too, and melee combat now looks and feels much more visceral and immediate. There's still no mounted combat but it's now possible to talk to quest givers from horseback and to change zones without dismounting, saving a lot of unnecessary time... social mores be damned. These changes all constitute part of the “New Player Experience”, which for many has rather negative connotations due to the much reviled NGE that befell Star Wars Galaxies, but it's been well received on the whole.

Having only just hit the level cap, I haven't experienced the new group instances introduced this expansion – there are a range of 3-person and 6-person missions within Dol Guldur, along with a 12-man raid facing up against one of the feared Nazgul themselves. Time will tell whether Turbine are back to form in the raiding area, though, after the less than critically acclaimed Moria offerings.

Overall, despite the initial feeling that this is a paid content patch, there is a lot to like about Siege of Mirkwood. Past subscribers owe it to themselves to check it out, if only to experience the conclusion of the Mines of Moria storyline and the skirmish system and for newcomers, the 10 day trial beckons. It will never be World of Warcraft, but then again, why should it be? For a story driven online role playing experience, LOTRO can't be beat.