Turbine and Warner Bros. Interactive have announced the next exciting The Lord of the Rings Online expansion pack, The Lord of the Rings: Riders of Rohan. LOTRO, which has become Turbine's free-to-play flagship title, saw its best expansion last September with Rise of Isengard, and this one is going to be even better.

“2011 was another banner year for The Lord of the Rings Online with consistent growth for the game, a successful unification of our European and North American services and the success of Rise of Isengard, our best selling expansion to date,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. 

For the fifth anniversary of the game, players will be able to join forces with others to ride into the Plains of Rohan. The expansion will bring new areas, mounted combat, a higher level cap, and a whole lot more.

“This is going to be another outstanding year as we celebrate our fifth anniversary and introduce a wealth of new content throughout the year, ending with our arrival in Rohan.  One of our largest expansions ever, Rohan is expected to be twice the size of the recent Rise of Isengard expansion and includes the most new game systems and technology we've introduced since 2008's Mines of Moria,” said Paiz.

For all the details on The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan and the upcoming updates, check after the break.



Before players get to trek out into the plains of Rohan, LOTRO gamers will be treated to several updates that will introduce new regions and allow players to finally leave Isengard and go back to the fellowship, in The Great River area. This new area will fall between where Lothlorien and the Sanghorn Forest currently are, and this area will also start the path of Rohan. It will feature Rohirric architecture and will give players the chance to fight easterlings.

In the Spring update, Turbine will be introducing a new "soloification" feature that will give players who don't already have pets the ability to summon a soldier who will help you in combat. Companions are coming to LOTRO!

On top of these updates Turbine will be releasing monthly patches to add more goodies to the LOTRO store and to integrate bug fixes, festival updates, new rewards, and more.

By the time fall rolls around we'll get to check out the first half of Rohan. You see, Rohan is so freaking huge that right now Turbine is only releasing the Eastern part of it. The whole zone is about half the size of Eredor and twice the size of Moria total, if you're looking for a comparison. This expansion won't bring things like the Battle of Helm's Deep to the game yet, but Turbine is of course looking in to adding that in the future.



The experience will go something like this, according to Turbine:

"Join with the Rohirrim and ride across the sprawling Plains of Rohan; witness the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen; forge alliances with the Ents of Fangorn; and aid Éomer, adopted son of Théoden, as he seeks to protect his homeland from the growing Shadow."

In order to make your way across the plains, you're going to need a loyal War-steed. That's right folks, we're all getting war horses and they are going to be bad ass. You'll be able to customize your War-steed's armor and level its skills over time so that it will be able to aid you in mounted combat. Mounted combat will let you fight against Warbands throughout the plains of Rohan in defense of King Theoden's lands, and it sounds absolutely awesome.

Additionally, the expansion is also going to add in two smaller region locations, Fanghorn Forest Edge and Amon Hen (the place where Boromir died in the movie). It will also raise the level cap to 85. You'll be able to start your journey in to the Plains of Rohan at level 75 though, where all new challenges, skills, and deeds await you as you continue the epic Lord of the Rings story. 

The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan expansion will be hitting in the fall, and make sure to check out The Lord of the Rings Online's website for all the details about the upcoming patches.