Lord Of The Rings MMO Adds Seventh Expansion, Featuring New "Visions" Feature

Just like Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, the Lord of the Rings MMO continues to receive new expansions many years after release. The newest expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online is called Minas Morgul, and as its name suggests, it takes players to the dark and scary Dead City.

Intriguingly, the expansion’s narrative focuses on discovering untold “secrets and visions of the Second Age.” That’s curious because the Second Age is also when Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV takes place, though the game and the show do not appear to be connected (more on that later).

“Players will infiltrate the city and visit other places of lingering evil in the region, such as the Houses of Lamentation,” reads a line from the press release. “With the defeat of Sauron and destruction of the One Ring, the remnants of Mordor’s armies struggle in the power vacuum, and it will be up to players to help ensure that the last traces of evil are routed from Middle-earth.”

When players visit the “Mordor Besieged” location, they can use Isildur’s shade to “participate in the visions of the Second Age.” In these visions, players will take on the role of a hero in a similar class to their own as they experience the events of the Second Age.

The new Minas Morgul expansion also raises LOTRO’s level cap to 130 and adds seven new instances. A new 12-person raid featuring Shelob the spider as the enemy is also included, as are 250 new quests. The Stout-axe Dwarf is being added as a new playable race.

The Minas Morgul expansion costs $40 USD for the standard version. The Collector’s Edition costs $80 while the Ultimate Fan Bundle runs you $130. Go to the LOTRO website to learn more about the various bundles.

LOTRO is developed by the Boston-based Standing Stone Games, which took over development on the game from WB Games Boston (formerly known as Turbine Inc.).

Amazon’s own game development studio is developing a free-to-play Lord of the Rings game that is based on the Lord of the Rings books. The game is separate from the Amazon show, despite Amazon working on both the game and the TV program. It remains to be seen what impact, if any, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO will have on LOTRO.

Minas Morgul is the seventh expansion for LOTRO. It follows Mines of Moria (2008), Siege of Mirkwood (2009), Rise of Isengard (2011), Riders of Rohan (2012), Helm’s Deep (2013), and Mordor (2017).

In addition to this new MMO, Daedelic Entertainment is making a Lord of the Rings game that focuses on Gollum.