The day has arrived and the eighth expansion for Lord of the Rings Online is set to go live today. Say hello to the Fate of Gundabad.
The fate is per-determined by the quest chain I’m sure
As I noted previously, this expansion “farms the appendix” of the Lord of the Rings books, to which Turbine/SSG/Daybreak/EG7 have the rights to use for their game. While the team yet has events in the main story to cover, they have never shown any desire to rush to the end of the tale… reaching “done” being anathema to MMO devs… so the game carries on with its side journey into the war between the the dwarves and the orcs, started last year with the War of the Three Peaks expansion-ette.
From the expansion page:
Following the grueling battles and heavy tolls of the initial assault, Prince Durin and his allies now regroup and prepare their final offensive on the mountain-home of Gundabad, seeking to reclaim their ancestral legacy from the corruption of the Orcs, hobgoblins, and Angmarim that have been infesting it. As the great dwarven army musters, tensions remain high between the Longbeards, Stout-axes, and Zhélruka, threatening to break the already fragile alliance before they can recover and restore their birthright. Meanwhile, thought to be fractured and pushed back by the dwarven victories, the host of Orc-Chieftain Gorgar the Ruthless now unites under the true Lord of Gundabad – the fearsome, great dragon Hrímil Frost-heart – who will stop at nothing to bring an end to Prince Durin and his followers.
Everybody loves and orc with a grudge.
The expansion features the following:
- New Brawler class
- Level cap raised from 130 to 140
- New mobs to face, new zones to explore
- New instances and raids
In addition, there is the newly revamped (and hopefully now fixed) legendary item system to work with.
The expansion is available for purchase and comes in three different flavors:
Standard Edition – $40
- Fate of Gundabad Content
- Brawler Class
- Extra Character Slot
- Standard Expedition Supplies
Collector’s Edition – $80
- Fate of Gundabad Content
- Brawler Class
- Extra Character Slot
- Improved Expedition Supplies
- Brawler Gauntlet Box
- Level boost to 130
- Gundabad Cosmetics
- Gundabad Mount & War-steed
- And more bonus items!
Ultimate Fan Bundle – $130
- Fate of Gundabad Content
- Brawler Class
- Extra Character Slot
- Ultimate Expedition Supplies
- Brawler Gauntlet Box
- Level boost to 130
- Gundabad Cosmetics
- Gundabad Mount & War-steed
- Fateful Gundabad Cosmetics
- Thunder Boar & War-steed Appearance
- Dye Carry-all
- 10,000 Virtue XP
- And more bonus items!
As I said before, the fact that the expedition supplies in the two more expensive bundles include XP accelerators seems a bit ironic… your new content is so good let me help you speed through it… but the have to load up on some extras to get people to pay a premium price and boosters like that cost nothing at all to throw in the box.
