The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood

The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood is the second retail expansion pack for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar and was released on December 1, 2009 in North America and December 3, 2009 in Europe. Unlike the first expansion this edition was only available via a web based download.

The expansion added the southern region of Mirkwood. The game's level cap has been increased to level 65, and the expansion included the conclusion to Volume II of the epic storyline. It also introduced a new "skirmish" system that allows for repeatable, randomised and scalable combat based instances that can be accessed from anywhere in the game world for 1, 3, 6 and 12 players and new 3, 6 and 12 player private instances that take place in Dol Guldur proper.

Storyline
The third story line, the Epic Quests, continues the player in following the path of the fellowship. Much like the first and second, it focuses on both new additions, created by the makers of the game, and directly related material from the Lord of the Rings story. Unlike the first two stories where the story line shared the same title as the video game, Siege of Mirkwood's story line was called Allies of the King.

Volume III: Allies of the King
Book 1 - Oath of the Rangers

Elrond received a mysterious message from Galadriel, telling him to gather the Rangers of the North and send them to Rohan to help Aragorn. The player is summoned to the Last Homely House and given a list of Rangers to recruit: Radanir, Candaith, Saeradan, Halros, Halbarad, Calenglad, Lothrandir, Corunir and Golodir.

Book 2 - Ride of the Grey Company

Free Updates
Like Shadows of Angmar and Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood continues to regularly release updates.

Book 1: Oath of the Rangers
Book 1 was released on March 1, 2010.

Updates include (complete release notes):
 * The beginning of Volume III in the epic story line.
 * The ability to solo the Volume I epic story line.
 * A duo mode for most skirmishes.
 * Crafting updates.

Book 2: Ride of the Grey Company
Book 2 was released on September 10, 2010 in North America. (September 8, 2010 for subscribers). It has since been delayed in Europe and a new release date has yet to be confirmed.

Updates include (complete release notes):


 * New region: Enedwaith
 * Lord of the Rings Online Free to Play subscription
 * Book 2 in the Volume III epic storyline
 * Scalable instances
 * Improvements to the vault, and a new wardrobe system for cosmetic items
 * Updates to the captain class
 * The Lotro store, where players may purchase convenience items. Points either earned through gameplay, through the VIP program or by being purchased.
 * The introduction of Lua Scripting
 * DirectX 11 support

New Areas
The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood expanded the world of Middle-earth by adding southern Mirkwood

Southern Mirkwood

 * Ost Galadh: The base of operations for the Elves of Lorien.
 * Dol Guldur: The ancient stronghold of Sauron.