Thread: New Areas after Rohan? Post your thoughts here!

So one of the bigger things I've been hearing as I read articles about the release of Rohan and the raising of the cap to 85, is where next? How much more will we get? I would like to bring up something that hasn't been delved into anywhere I've read, and that is the gate in Michel Delving that says "locked" or some other such nonsense, but if you go to the map you see that it say "To Far Downs" but there's no way to get there. Has Turbine forgotten about this? Or is it a potential end-end-game area, maybe where you get your last fling before travelling across the sea? What about the Blue Mountain southwest of the Shire? Maybe that could be a new area. South of Bree-land, heading south on the Greenway? Could there be a new area down there? Be aware that this is all just speculation of things that maybe I would like to see. I say, why keep pushing east towards Mordor when there's potentially unexplored area south of where we've been before. South of the Great East Road you also have the South Downs. And why don't we get Dale? Or even just Esgaroth? You can have your cultural affiliation as a man as being from Dale, so shouldn't we be able to visit? I would think that would be really neat. But then again that was part of the Hobbit, and I have an entirely different idea about that. Of course we will get Gondor, I think we can safely say that it will be huge. If Rohan is going to be twice the of Isengard, I think Gondor, based on Tolkien's maps, will be about 6 times bigger than Dunland. And then I think we'll have Mordor, though I'm not sure how it will work because you certainly won't be able to enter through the front door until after the Ring has been destroyed... So these are my thoughts, let me know what exactly you're thinking about all this...

Speculation on regions still to come:

1. East Rohan (with RoR)
2. West Rohan: Edoras, Helm's Deep
3. Anorien (incl. woods of the Wild Men and maybe Osgiliath)
4. Pelennor Fields (incl. Minas Tirith and maybe Osgiliath)
5. Ithilien (maybe incl. Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol)
6. Dagorlad (the gates of Mordor)

I have no idea how Turbine is going to handle the Battle of Helm's Deep. It's so iconic that they can't skip it, but it would be *very* hard to justify Dwarves, Elves, and Hobbits participating in the battle, unless they arrive with Gandalf or Erkenbrand as part of the final mop-up. It could be handled via session play, I suppose.

I figure we have two major expansions left:
1. Battle of the Pelennor Fields (with surrounding land areas)
2. Sauron's Downfall (the march to Mordor, the final battle, and the game's denouement)

What we won't see:
* The Paths of the Dead
* Anfalas/Lebennin/Belfalas/Dol Amroth/Pelargir
* most of Mordor: Gorgoroth, Mount Doom

Although the Paths of the Dead are iconic, the lore is restrictive. Gimli is the only Dwarf to enter (reluctantly), and Legolas the only Elf. There are no Hobbits in the party. Race of Man characters could possibly be accounted for as members of the Grey Company, but that won't happen since the other races are restricted.

Also, the Paths of the Dead and southern regions of Gondor would offer no combat opportunities until Pelargir.

Instead of following Aragorn, Turbine will have our heroes accompany the Rohirrim as they muster and ride to Minas Tirith.

Mordor, I suppose, is a possibility. If instead of marching with Aragorn and Imrahil, our heroes are special agents sent into Mordor, we'd get a view of Sauron's downfall from inside rather than from the plains of Dagorlad. That would open up the possibility of us hindering the Orcs' pursuit of Sam and Frodo, and we might even get a glimpse of Gollum before the end.

I like speculation like this, gets hopes up about what may be to come. The southfarthing would be another as-yet unopened zone they could implement, perhaps after Mordor. Ya know when Sauroman went and took over the shire and all the pipe-weed fields in the southfarthing. There's definitely options for the shire area after Saurons fall in the lore.

Mordor itself I would think will be done in increments/phases. Maybe the final battle(where they charge the front gate of Mordor to distract Sauron from Frodo's doings)could be a raid. Not a boss fight raid, but a wave upon wave of orc/gobin/troll raid, an endurance thing where you have to survive long enough for Frodo to do his thing. Then afterwards the cleanup of Mordor, did all the orcs just vanish? There lots of possibilities for the future, al of them exciting.

I think maybe when we come back from Mordor, there will be even more new areas, like the Far Downs, south of Andreg, and then of course we might also see a different Shire, and a final raid against Saruman or something.

Don't forget about the battles in the North... Lorien under assault from Dol Guldur, Thranduil's kingdom, the Battle of Dale.

I definitely want to see Erebor before this whole thing is done.

At chance to tackle areas just outside but parallel to the story line. The Corsair pirates and reducing the size of the fleet able to attack Gondor. Tackle offshore island home of the Corsair pirates. Defend coastal towns from raids, attack beached ships, swim to ships anchored offshore to sink them. Battle Southrons seeking passage aboard Corsair ships to the war zone.
Destroy the Haradrim on the Corsair Islands before they can reach the mainland.
Three maps North Corsair Island, Central Corsair Islands and South Corsair Islands and associated coast each being more difficult than the last, before returning to Gondor to do battle there.

My speculation:

With RoR we go to Rohan and they'll build that out completely.
Then they will take a side track and take us deeper into Mirkwood and on the way to Erebor.
Then Saruman will have regained his power and launches his attack on Helm's Deep where we can go to see the aftermath.
After that we move to Gondor and all the rest of Middle-Earth to secure it while Sauron prepares to make his move on Minas Tirith.

In the far end of this Game they will make the Black Gates a final PvMP battle ground when there is just nothing anymore to fill in

Originally Posted by Issachar44

What we won't see:
* The Paths of the Dead
* Anfalas/Lebennin/Belfalas/Dol Amroth/Pelargir
* most of Mordor: Gorgoroth, Mount Doom

Although the Paths of the Dead are iconic, the lore is restrictive. Gimli is the only Dwarf to enter (reluctantly), and Legolas the only Elf. There are no Hobbits in the party. Race of Man characters could possibly be accounted for as members of the Grey Company, but that won't happen since the other races are restricted.

Also, the Paths of the Dead and southern regions of Gondor would offer no combat opportunities until Pelargir.

Although the Paths of the Dead themselves woulod have no combat, what followed could. There could be a session play as either one of the Freeps that went through, or even as one of the Oathbreakers, taking on the Corsairs, and then a later session play at Pelennor.

The Paths themselves could be the lead in / entrance to the sessions.

Originally Posted by Issachar44

What we won't see:
* The Paths of the Dead

I think this could be doable trough session play, it would not break any lore if we came in session play as 1 of the rangers in grey company, i really really hope they dont skip it!

Originally Posted by Issachar44

Although the Paths of the Dead are iconic, the lore is restrictive. Gimli is the only Dwarf to enter (reluctantly), and Legolas the only Elf. There are no Hobbits in the party. Race of Man characters could possibly be accounted for as members of the Grey Company, but that won't happen since the other races are restricted.

I guess we could pass through after the ghosts are gone.

Originally Posted by rtb61

At chance to tackle areas just outside but parallel to the story line. The Corsair pirates and reducing the size of the fleet able to attack Gondor. Tackle offshore island home of the Corsair pirates. Defend coastal towns from raids, attack beached ships, swim to ships anchored offshore to sink them. Battle Southrons seeking passage aboard Corsair ships to the war zone.
Destroy the Haradrim on the Corsair Islands before they can reach the mainland.
Three maps North Corsair Island, Central Corsair Islands and South Corsair Islands and associated coast each being more difficult than the last, before returning to Gondor to do battle there.

That would require us somehow passing through the White Mountains before Aragorn and the Grey Company, I don't think that's going to happen.

Going through past the Shire to the areas between the Shire and Ered Luin would be nice. South Farthing too. Busting past the level 12 highwaymen at the gate towards Dunland = good and fun and finally! The Hobbit release may induce some movement north towards Dale. Everyone wants to be able to look over the rail of Laketown to see the dragon's bones on the bottom (at the least) or even session play Bard the Bowman (at the best) - being played by a fine Welsh actor, Luke Evans, in the upcoming movie.

Based on the way Turbine is rolling, I can actually imagine some things inside Mordor, afterwards. There's a ton of things to clean up after all. Also afterwards, I believe that Galadriel makes good work of taking down that tiny (tiny) little fortress in Mirkwood (ha!) and I'd like to see her throw down that bad boy.

Originally Posted by Aisolon

My speculation:

With RoR we go to Rohan and they'll build that out completely.
Then they will take a side track and take us deeper into Mirkwood and on the way to Erebor.
Then Saruman will have regained his power and launches his attack on Helm's Deep where we can go to see the aftermath.
After that we move to Gondor and all the rest of Middle-Earth to secure it while Sauron prepares to make his move on Minas Tirith.

In the far end of this Game they will make the Black Gates a final PvMP battle ground when there is just nothing anymore to fill in

I like the idea of this Especially having the Black gate as a PvMP battleground, huge battles with Eagle and Nazgul reinforcements from above

This year and the next we have The Hobbit movies releases, so doing northern Rhovanion is a MUST for attracting all these people fascinated with them. Just imagine northern Mirkwood with magically poisonous waters, the elf knigdom in the forest, Erebor, Esgaroth with the remains of Smaug rotten, the Kingdom of Dale, bits of Rhûn...

New start points can be added with new hosuing places: Elf Kingdom, Dale Kingdom and Erebor. A new race: "Beornids" that can be used 1 time per account after having 4 characters of different races at level 75 or more...

Hobbits, not having more avaible starting points, (and dwarves?) can start in a "backwards" time period having quests (in a limited world) related to The Hobbit adventure and then link to the normal adventure, like starting at level -20 (yes, minus 20), an extra Epic Book or something like this.

Also they can revamp Rivendell, looks outdated with these bonsai-like trees with textures shown like origami models, the geometrical anti-elf apperance of the Last Homely House and all these decorative houses with no indoors.

Originally Posted by Issachar44

Instead of following Aragorn, Turbine will have our heroes accompany the Rohirrim as they muster and ride to Minas Tirith.

Mordor, I suppose, is a possibility. If instead of marching with Aragorn and Imrahil, our heroes are special agents sent into Mordor, we'd get a view of Sauron's downfall from inside rather than from the plains of Dagorlad. That would open up the possibility of us hindering the Orcs' pursuit of Sam and Frodo, and we might even get a glimpse of Gollum before the end.

I really, really, really don't want my Gondorian to ride with the Rohirrim to Pelennor.

Maybe if we got a choice to stay with the Rohirrim or go ahead to Gondor first like Gandalf and Pippin did, that would be great.

As for Mordor, I really don't see any way for a player to be inside Mordor while Barad-Dur is still standing. Afterwords, sure. The slaves of Nurn still need freeing after all.

Beyond the end of the War of the Ring, there is still the scouring of the Shire, and all the regions we have missed like the Tower Hills, South Farthing, North Mirkwood, Erebor, Rhun, Harad, Umbar, Khand, etc. Though I really, really hope Turbine takes a break and does some fluff stuff like housing and hobbies and emotes before pumping out more content first.

I would like to see the area south of Breeland opened up. This could give a new zone (maybe call it "Minhiriath") or two that could allow players to follow the Greenway south from Breeland and eventually arrive in Enedwaith. It could also include the ruins of Tharbad, which could be an interesting area to explore. I'm not sure how it would fall in line with the epic storyline, but then again, maybe it wouldn't have to. It could just be a new zone for questing exploration. Tharbad would be approximately straight west of Mirobel and north-west of the closed gate in Enedwaith.

[QUOTE=Carallot;6115678 A new race: "Beornids" that can be used 1 time per account after having 4 characters of different races at level 75 or more...[/QUOTE]

### is a "Beornid"?

I doubt we'll ever see Dale or the Lonely Mountain. Afaik Turbine doesn't have a license for The Hobbit content, just LOTR. Besides, it would have to be a post-hobbit Dale anyway, to make sense with the timeline we are currently in.

Originally Posted by Moejo

I doubt we'll ever see Dale or the Lonely Mountain. Afaik Turbine doesn't have a license for The Hobbit content, just LOTR. Besides, it would have to be a post-hobbit Dale anyway, to make sense with the timeline we are currently in.

It's all the same, if I'm not mistaken. I think all of Tolkien's work is under one license, how else would LotRO be able to make such heavy references to the Silmarillion, and have a class based entirely on the main protagonist from The Hobbit? But that's just my two cents, that may not be right at all.

I've read too many comments stating that Turbine has no access to the Hobbit licence (possibly "anymore") to dismiss it entirely. However, Dale, Erebor and Mirkwood are all mentioned explicitly in LotR, and would be perfectly doable solely on the LotR licence, so long as they didn't play too much on the Hobbit references. But as Moejo points out, it will be late 3rd Age Dale/Erebor/Mirkwood anyway. Which I'd still love

What would really be nice, and I can't see how it will be avoided, is more options levelling down the ladder - as soon as you hit Moria choice is very limited until you hit Enedwaith. I'd think that some carefully planned areas with end content (a raid/fellowship) for the 75s/80s and some quests starting at around lvl 50 would be a nice addition. Minhiraith with a high level Tharbad could be good, and would enable characters to level in a geographically intuitive way (having a Lvl 50+ Dale would require you to go through Moria or Enedwaith & Dunland, which is... not really the point).

But whatever Turbine decides to add is good for me. I'll play through all of it. Eventually.

Originally Posted by sarlinspellweaver

I've read too many comments stating that Turbine has no access to the Hobbit licence (possibly "anymore") to dismiss it entirely. However, Dale, Erebor and Mirkwood are all mentioned explicitly in LotR, and would be perfectly doable solely on the LotR licence, so long as they didn't play too much on the Hobbit references. But as Moejo points out, it will be late 3rd Age Dale/Erebor/Mirkwood anyway. Which I'd still love

What about Thorin's Hall? is totally based in Thorin Oakenshield, a major character in The Hobbit. I'm sure that they can do all northern Rhovanion without any license problems. Like they indvented the elvish starting point (elfs, in hobbit/lotr age, are only in 4 places: Mirkwood, Lórien, Rivendell and Mithlond). Also "Thorin's Hall" seems an inadequate name, better "Thráin's Hall" or a neologism in dwarven language.

Originally Posted by Ironcrown

### is a "Beornid"?

A bad translation (sorry!) from the catalan adaption of the book "The Lord of the Rings" to english of "Beornings", the descendants of Beorn, a character seen in The Hobbit. They are demigiant-human-like shape-shifters. More info:

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Beornings

Usually they are considered "men race", but I see them as different as a hobbit from a man (in this picture Gandlaf, a maia, looks more a man than Beorn):



http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_logg6p8J4c1qipfy5o1_500 .jpg

i want harad and lands in the east, here would lotro have much freedom to implement what they want. i cant wait to swim in the sea of Rhun.

Ye gods! I'd really like to see Minas Tirith and Osgiliath!
But we'll see Meduseld and Helm's Deep soon, I'm pretty sure.

Well i think that Dale Erebor North Mirkwood and generally north Rhovanion have the requirements fot starting regions
1st Elves,Dwarves,Men even and hobbits can start from there
2nd there are a variety of regions that the players can pick quests and epic quests for example mirkwood grey mountains iron hills even Mount Gundabad
And i have an idea how they can introduce this:
if you see the map to make all this you will need an expansion in the size of Shadows of Angmar.The player that has started from shadows of angmar cant start from there and the players that started from north rhovanion can pick different storyline:
The can start a prologue questing until one level and then (level 37 when book 4 begins) The council of about the fate of the ring will be held in Imladris and the player will be invited to go because the kingdoms of the rhovanion because of his deeds will send him (for example an elf can go with legolas) and pick the story from book 4 of volume 1(http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Quest...d_the_Rider%3F)
and do volume 2 volume 3 as we do)
Here also is a map that shows the starting regions and how the connection with existing regions can be made

Thats my suggestion

The reason there is no alternative to Moria is because it is the only path to rohvannon. What if they introduced a a southern/western misty mountains area as an alternative to Moria for levelling and to get to rohvannon. It could also be used to open up northern mirkwood and dalelands. I was thinking there would be quest hubs at beorns house and an eagle encampment. As well as others.

Originally Posted by Hostet617

The reason there is no alternative to Moria is because it is the only path to rohvannon. What if they introduced a a southern/western misty mountains area as an alternative to Moria for levelling and to get to rohvannon. It could also be used to open up northern mirkwood and dalelands. I was thinking there would be quest hubs at beorns house and an eagle encampment. As well as others.

in fact there are 2 alternatives
1st high pass
2nd redhorn pass

Originally Posted by kostavrizov

in fact there are 2 alternatives
1st high pass
2nd redhorn pass

In the game there are no other alternatives.

Originally Posted by sarlinspellweaver

I've read too many comments stating that Turbine has no access to the Hobbit licence (possibly "anymore") to dismiss it entirely. However, Dale, Erebor and Mirkwood are all mentioned explicitly in LotR, and would be perfectly doable solely on the LotR licence, so long as they didn't play too much on the Hobbit references.

That last bit is the problem: there are just too many details that only show up in The Hobbit, and they could not use any of them. The simplest example is the name of "Lake-town". That's its common name, but it could not be used in LOTRO unless they have a license to The Hobbit. In The Lord of the Rings, it's only referred to by the elven name (Esgaroth). There's tons of backstory and detail that would simply need to be left out if it were done in this game unless they can get WB to agree to reacquire the Hobbit license for LOTRO.

As for South Farthing in the Shire, I've always thought they might have set that aside to give themselves some options for things like the Scouring of the Shire. No, it's not right to have it limited to the South Farthing, but that would allow them to have a place in the Shire with a very different level and experience (without wrecking the story-line for newer players).

Anyway, I know this isn't a popular opinion, but my guess is that LOTRO will close down in 2017 when the next license extension expires. It currently expires in 2014, but they have an option to extend to 2017. After that, I wouldn't be surprised if revenues have dropped to the point where an expensive IP license renewal doesn't make much sense - that's just the way most MMO revenue curves go. If that's correct, they probably need to aim south in order to complete the LOTR story arc, especially if they cannot do an expansion every year.

Khafar

Originally Posted by Khafar

That last bit is the problem: there are just too many details that only show up in The Hobbit, and they could not use any of them. The simplest example is the name of "Lake-town". That's its common name, but it could not be used in LOTRO unless they have a license to The Hobbit. In The Lord of the Rings, it's only referred to by the elven name (Esgaroth). There's tons of backstory and detail that would simply need to be left out if it were done in this game unless they can get WB to agree to reacquire the Hobbit license for LOTRO.

Khafar

I'm waiting to approach the entrances to Goblin Town and see them blocked off with yellow tape and an "off limits" sign. Or they could rename it to "Orc-type creature palace", where you can visit Smeagol's Den. I suppose they got those in when they had the license, would be the reasoning.

From what I read in an earlier post, are we saying there is no enemy presence in Gondor west of Minas Tirith, south of the White Mountains? Someone said there would be no combat opportunities there. Seems hard to believe, and a real shame if we can't visit that area. I'm sure they could think of something for us, they have already in other areas where there shouldn't really be an enemy presence, like the Shire.

I forsee more Mirkwood and the Lonely Mountain... what with the Hobbit movie (horribly made and messed up) coming out and all.

The game is still unfolding. I'm sure that Turbine aims to follow the epic story to Mordor. it's all about the ring. Eventually tha story will end.

The possibilities are so many!

South West part of Eriador/North Rhovanion and more. When the epic story and the level cap reach their end of the line,Turbine will need to find ways to give new content to players. New PVP areas,a new way of advancement since level cap will reach it's end,legendary system,raids and so many things will have to adjust to the fact that we won't be leveling anymore.

I love all the theories above!

Originally Posted by kostavrizov

Well i think that Dale Erebor North Mirkwood and generally north Rhovanion have the requirements fot starting regions
1st Elves,Dwarves,Men even and hobbits can start from there
2nd there are a variety of regions that the players can pick quests and epic quests for example mirkwood grey mountains iron hills even Mount Gundabad
And i have an idea how they can introduce this:
if you see the map to make all this you will need an expansion in the size of Shadows of Angmar.The player that has started from shadows of angmar cant start from there and the players that started from north rhovanion can pick different storyline:
The can start a prologue questing until one level and then (level 37 when book 4 begins) The council of about the fate of the ring will be held in Imladris and the player will be invited to go because the kingdoms of the rhovanion because of his deeds will send him (for example an elf can go with legolas) and pick the story from book 4 of volume 1(http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Quest...d_the_Rider%3F)
and do volume 2 volume 3 as we do)
Here also is a map that shows the starting regions and how the connection with existing regions can be made

Thats my suggestion

It's too unrealistic for expansion to be SoA size. I suggest more real variant for expansion with new starting point for Beornings. Yes we have Mistys and Trollshaws not far away. So we really need to level from 1 to 30 then we can go to Rivendell (via teleport\fast travel for not being killed by high-level mobs in High PAss) and level up further from there. For 30 starting levels we need just 2 regions: Carrock for 1-15 and Gladden Fields for 15-30. For endgamers Turbine can add 3rd region: Mount Gundabad with land between it and Carrock. It will add +5 to levelcap and will be lore appropriate place for end-game raids. Land between Gundabad and Carrock can be a place for mounted combat raids (that we get in RoR), it's big and empty enough

Expansion with 3 regions, +5 lvls, new starting point with 1 new race and 1 new class seems to me realistic enough to hope . It seems like MoM-like size expansion.

Originally Posted by Wanderv

It's too unrealistic for expansion to be SoA size. I suggest more real variant for expansion with new starting point for Beornings. Yes we have Mistys and Trollshaws not far away. So we really need to level from 1 to 30 then we can go to Rivendell (via teleport\fast travel for not being killed by high-level mobs in High PAss) and level up further from there. For 30 starting levels we need just 2 regions: Carrock for 1-15 and Gladden Fields for 15-30. For endgamers Turbine can add 3rd region: Mount Gundabad with land between it and Carrock. It will add +5 to levelcap and will be lore appropriate place for end-game raids. Land between Gundabad and Carrock can be a place for mounted combat raids (that we get in RoR), it's big and empty enough

Expansion with 3 regions, +5 lvls, new starting point with 1 new race and 1 new class seems to me realistic enough to hope . It seems like MoM-like size expansion.

Simply love the idea! I see that the size of all northern Rhovanion is probaby too much, but I would think of at least adding Erebor, Dale and Thranduil Halls (each one 1-10) just as starting points with a common 10-20 level zone in Mirkwood. Just to engage people who have seen the movie to see "~80 years later how is now" with all rebuilt but with a few things to be done.

After that, i would make Mirkwood Mountains 20-35 and Gladden Fields 30-45 to connect to Misty Mountains (39-50) and finally Rivendell. With that Beornings and Rhovanion players can share a common field with no "magical teleports". Also they can add a 45 level quest with NPC beornings to cross the High Pass to skip still not existing areas an dkip the level 50 Misty Mountains.

The only problem is that in Rhovanion, compared to Eriador, the number of quests would very low. What about "you can start here after having already an eraidor character of the same race"? Like my limitation in a previous post to beornings to avoid the "too much Gandalfs" effect.

Originally Posted by sarlinspellweaver

I've read too many comments stating that Turbine has no access to the Hobbit licence (possibly "anymore") to dismiss it entirely. However, Dale, Erebor and Mirkwood are all mentioned explicitly in LotR, and would be perfectly doable solely on the LotR licence, so long as they didn't play too much on the Hobbit references. But as Moejo points out, it will be late 3rd Age Dale/Erebor/Mirkwood anyway. Which I'd still love

Pardon me if I am wrong but Warner Bros (WB) is now the owner of Turbine and at same time is one of the producers of "The Hobbit". Just check the intros when you launch Lotro and the trailer of the movie. There are displayed WB logos very clearly.

For this reason I would expect that after the first movie in December, if they prepared in advance some juicy stuff (new mirkwood expansion, beornians and Lake city) we could see a big surge of people coming to play to Lotro. if they are smart they could ride the wave of the movies for the next 2 years a make a lot of money.

all depends if they put the money/resources in advance. As many of you i am here from the beginning and despite some shortcomings i am amazed for the progressing work quality (textures, landscape and epic quests) of the 3 last expansions (enedwaith, dunland and the river ).

I really hope they not spoil this perfect opportunity.

Do you hear me Warner? Give to Turbine more money, a lot more and developers!

Originally Posted by Thoraldir

Pardon me if I am wrong but Warner Bros (WB) is now the owner of Turbine and at same time is one of the producers of "The Hobbit". Just check the intros when you launch Lotro and the trailer of the movie. There are displayed WB logos very clearly.

That doesn't mean anything unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Reniannen

That doesn't mean anything unfortunately.

hmm, what do you mean? That WB would not share the IP that owns inside it's own group or that the logo does not mean that Turbine is a WB subsidiary and the WB has not the IP from the Hobbit movie.

I don't know if any of you played the WB sponsored game "The Lord of the Rings - War in the North" but there they used textures and material form the Jackson LOTR trilogy.

Where is possible to check? Anyone has any link that states that WB has not the right to use IP related to Hobbit?

Originally Posted by Grindl

Don't forget about the battles in the North... Lorien under assault from Dol Guldur, Thranduil's kingdom, the Battle of Dale.

I definitely want to see Erebor before this whole thing is done.

Agree, whole-heartedly. Plus the Iron Hills, and the Withered Heath as well (here there be dragons). These battles, while not told about in detail in the original books, was mentioned as being just as important as the final battle before the gates of Mordor. At the very least, we should see "Instances" of these.

Wouldn't it be great too if you chose, say an Elf of Lorien, a Dwarf of the Lonely Mountains or a Man/Woman of Rohan that you could *start* in those areas (even if it was just a training "Instance"), before being brought to Ered Luin?

I see so much possibility...

So far a lot of this game has been a lot about "The war of the ring" Not the ring itself, that being the case Erebor is a major battle-ground in the war of the ring. They have plenty of opportunity's to take there without using the hobbit, although I really wish they would get the license back if they lost it.

Originally Posted by Aisolon

My speculation:

With RoR we go to Rohan and they'll build that out completely.
Then they will take a side track and take us deeper into Mirkwood and on the way to Erebor.
Then Saruman will have regained his power and launches his attack on Helm's Deep where we can go to see the aftermath.
After that we move to Gondor and all the rest of Middle-Earth to secure it while Sauron prepares to make his move on Minas Tirith.

In the far end of this Game they will make the Black Gates a final PvMP battle ground when there is just nothing anymore to fill in

Very interesting. LOVE the idea of the Black Gates as a PvMP battle ground! That would be epic. Though, hopefully, we'll actually get some attention to PvMP before then.... ahem...

It's not going to stop at the black gates I think.

We will go into Mordor, the same we went into Moria.

Either it will be a covert mission to scout, create mayhem, sabotage, protect Frodo, Sam & Gollum from afar, etc., for Aragorn, or it will be mopping up the place after Sauron fell.

But no way they are going to let this ultimate epic pass. No way.

Originally Posted by Josi

Very interesting. LOVE the idea of the Black Gates as a PvMP battle ground! That would be epic. Though, hopefully, we'll actually get some attention to PvMP before then.... ahem...

That location is far too iconic to be allowed to be for PVMP only.