What also comes with this skirmish system is their new reward system, which goes under the concept of skirmish marks. As they complete any of these skirmishes, players will be rewarded with a set amount of marks, depending on what objectives they meet, and these marks can then be used to purchase items and LOTRO Gold equipment from a huge array of choices. In addition to purchasing equipment, players can also buy abilities and upgrades for their NPC buddies, to help them as they fight more skirmishes. You can engage in these skirmishes from pretty much anywhere in the game, and these can be accessed as early as level 30.

Finally, no content update would really be complete without a nice addition of new classic dungeon crawling content, and Siege of Mirkwood comes replete with three 3-person instances, one 6-person instance and one 12-person raid. While we didn't have the time to check out the new raid, many of the new instances were incredibly impressive in their scope and décor. We checked out the Sword-halls, a gladiator style instance where we faced off against three very difficult bosses, one at a time (and there's a challenge o LOTRO Gold ption to fight all three at the same time!), as well as exploring one of the towers of Dol Guldur. It's quite easy to see how much the team learned about high spaces and expansive landscapes, as Dol Guldur really shows this off as players battle along castle ramparts and peer out across the landscape.

Ultimately, Siege of Mirkwood is one of Turbine's most action-packed expansions so far, as they really do a great job of stressing the concept of Middle Earth going to War while also opening up even more content for players to explore. With the entertaining prospect of skirmishes and the freedom to explore the daunting dungeons of Dol Guldur, it's hard not to take up arms and join the Lothlorien army as they smash their way through Mirkwood.