Getting back to the tour, as the team brought us further and further into the depths of Mirkwood LOTRO Gold (towards Dol Guldur), it was really cool to see how the landscape became more and more barren as we moved through it. Starting from the gorgeous banks of Lothlorien, players will immediately see how the forest withers and dies as they move further away. Thematically speaking, the team noted that the Siege of Mirkwood is really about challenge, loss and the dangers of overreaching. This goes back into the overarching theme of Moria, relating to the penalties of greed and what reaching too far can do to you (and has done to the Dwarves!). This is really about Middle Earth going to war, and players will definitely feel this as they journey through Mirkwood and experience the new skirmish system.

With the skirmish system, players can instantly revisit older locations to defend their homelands LOTRO Gold from invading forces. For example, we decided to take up the defence of Bree skirmish, and we were instantly transported to defend the idyllic town of Bree from invading raiders and demonic beings. What was great about the skirmish system was that the encounters were entirely random, and there are many random 'mini-objectives' that can be completed within the skirmish to gain more rewards. This makes skirmishes a fantastic choice for players 'on the go' who want to experience something new each time they just want to smash some monster's face in. Skirmishes can be engaged by a single player, a three-person team, a six-person team and even a 12-player raid.

Another welcome addition to skirmishes is the new ally NPCs that can be summoned by players as they enter the skirmishes. Each player will be able to get a single NPC to aid them in combat, and these NPCs can be upgraded in a wide variety of ways, to meet the individual players' needs. While I only got to see the LOTRO Gold herbalist NPC (a healer ally) and the archer NPC, there are a fair number of other archetypical NPCs that can be brought along, and each of these NPCs can be customized even more. The whole concept behind the skirmishes was to really hammer in the point that Middle Earth was at war, and I can only imagine just how awesome it would be to have a six-person team transformed into a 12-player army as each player summons his or her respective NPC. It really will feel like your own personal army!