The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood Preview
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We started the tour on the banks of the Anduin River, from which you could catch a glimpse of the lovely woods of Lorien across the water. Up a path from the riverbank is an elven encampment where players would need to complete some quests in order to gain the Silvan elves' trust and be able to advance further into the area. Visually, the artists have done a great job in re-creating Mirkwood, a world that's dark and full of danger and yet retains the beauty of the lush forest that it once was. All throughout the zone, the pervading atmosphere is one of gloom, with a fine mist filtering out the sunlight even during the day so it's hard to imagine that something like this could actually look beautiful, and yet it does, as you will see from the screenshots.
The background story here is that Sauron has commanded three of his ringwraiths to take up residence in Dol Guldur and to use it as a base from which his army can attack Lothlorien. Having learned of this plan, the elves are now asking you, as the player, to help them get rid of the menace. So as you can imagine, the biggest battle in there will be fought in Dol Guldur, but before you can get there, you will need to traverse the zone from west to east, presumably doing quests and leveling up as you go along, as the level cap has been raised to 65. From what I've seen of the ingame map, there are at least five stables in the zone, which should make it easier to get around once you've discovered the different areas. Outside these little quest hubs, there are no friendly creatures. The monsters range from wild animals to giant spiders to ghostly apparitions.
