For this weeks topic on Community forum the main discussion was the upcoming new region for Book 13, Forochel. Here are some new info:

• Players will be able to fish in the bay area in Forochel
• Most of book 13 takes place in Forochel; we have also added a public level 50 hunting dungeon, deeds and monster camps for level 50 players.
• The devs cannot say when we will be seeing Book 13 yet
• Forochel is mostly a solo area for levels 44-50
• Player manned boats are not being added in Book 13.
• There will not be a new raid in Book 13, though the Lossoth reputation does have three unique armor sets.
• We will encounter a famous lore character in Forochel.
• There will be lots to do from the low 40s on up.
• There will be a new mount variant in Forochel, you will have to wait and see what color it is
• For a region as big as Forochel, it was important that we have a full travel network in place. Travel in Forochel consists of normal "slow" travel routes and Reputation-gated Swift Travel Routes. Want to get into or across Forochel fast? You have to be in good standing with the Lossoth.
• There are also several new swift travel routes being added to existing Stable-masters, most of which also have a Reputation-gate to them.
• As for Crafting, it is very tied into the Lossoth Reputation Line and focused mostly on Metal smithing and Leather working. And the available facilities (two different superior facilities) will require a certain standing to use as well. Resources are similar to those you find in Eastern Angmar.
• Questing will get you a decent way into the Lossoth reputation tiers, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with how far questing will bring you. Keep an eye out for more information on this in the future.
• Reputation rewards will be given out at all tiers
• The Lossoth do not have a crafting reputation associated with them.
• The only connection to Forochel will be through Evendim.
• A few high level zones will connect to Forochel
• You will be able to see the sea. We have a way of limiting how far into it you will be able to travel.
• I don't believe any new traits are in the works; but I do know that more ranks in existing virtues will be available.
• Players will not get wearable snow-shoes
• Players will be getting cold weather armor sets as has been previously stated.
• No new pets, but a new lore-master pet variant will be available through the Lossoth reputation rewards.
• will it give some quests for the story about the ship which drop down in icebay of Forochel ? YES
• The Lossoth capitol village is a little bit bigger than Aughaire. There are a number of smaller Lossoth villages scattered across the entirety of Forochel but their main village is the one with the most interesting look and best set of town services.
• There are quests that will send you into it, but its intent isn't the same as Sarnur, Haudh Iarchith or Goblin-town. So - no rares, no unique deeds - just some simple dungeon crawling.
• Sarnur and Haudh Iarchith were experiments with dynamic spawning and creating a public dungeon space that could support multiple fellowships. This dungeon for Book 13 is not intended to fill the same kind of roe that the Rep dungeons do.
• players will be vectored into Forochel from other content areas around level 44.
• You will be able to AFK without being killed by the cold; just watch out for whatever lives in it!
• Forochel will have its own unique music
• How many Chapters for Book 13? Eleven, but some chapters have multiple parts. The epic quest line has sixteen quests in it.
• Currently players do not leave tracks in the snow.
• The men that inhabit Forochel are called the Lossoth, and they are a bit like hillmen, but dressed a bit warmer
• The Mustering Horn is a new component to the various Campsites found on landscape. Anywhere with a bindable campfire will have a Mustering Horn as well. It isn't a player inventory item.
• the weather and creatures of Forochel are capable of doing long-lasting bad things to you and you will be able to counter those bad things by huddling up to the various scattered sources of warmth in the region.
• Forochel will have a large number of solo quests for players levels 44-50, but it is also a very large region, close to the size of the North Downs. Both questers and explorers should be very happy with Forochel!
• Turbine will not be adding any underwater gameplay in Forochel and doesn't have any plans to for the foreseeable future.
• Lossoth NPcs will be able to skate and push sleds along, but players will not.
• Turbine FX team has created a very cool new blizzard effect for use in Forochel (and other wintry locations).
• YES We will see quests related to those who helped/fought Arvedui in Forochel

When the Great Angmar Revamp came out in Book 12, a number of armour sets were added to quests in the region. As sometimes happens, though, we were a little overzealous with the plan for new armour sets, and they ended up on many quests that were already in-game in some form prior to Book 12.

This meant that it was possible to complete these quests before Book 12 came out, and if you did, you would never be able to finish some of these new armour sets. Few things can frustrate so well as uncompleteable armour sets, judging from my PM inbox (love ya, everybody!), so we started looking for a solution.

The one we've settled on, and which will be coming in Book 13, are a number of vendors who will carry each of the pieces of these armour sets. You'll be able to purchase individual pieces of these sets, and if you've completed the quest that rewarded them, you'll be able to equip them as usual. These won't be cheap, as in many cases these would be a double-dip on quest rewards, but if you've been carrying two pieces out of a three piece set, this should let you complete your collection with a minimum of hassle.

Vendors for these armour sets will be in the Buth Sankhas and Buth Luikh in Aughaire, and in Gabilshathur.

Made Of Lions
The Lord of the Rings Online Team
Turbine, Inc.

Dear Lotro Adventurers, here is a new secret place, that we have to explore in a "HOBBIT AND SQUIRRELS" sort of way 🙂 We have really enjoyed our last adventure, so if you are ready for a new one, here it is:

A screenshot is taken in Ered Luin, lower west corner of the map, and from the map it likely is not an area you would normally be able to get to.
It's somewere south under the words "to grey havens".

So the question is: Can we get there?

Source

If you are planning to buy a Kinship house just for yourself  here is the main idea: 

• Make your own kinship
• Fill it with alts so it stays open
• Wait until you get to rank 7

But you need to have at least 6 active players to form a Kinship in order to buy a Kin House. So with your 5 alts you would still be at least 1short.
You also have to be rich enough to pay upkeep.

The other way is to buy this Kin house

For Sale Kinship House. (Eldar Server)

Due to falling numbers of players we wish to sell are Kinship inclusive of House with 3 chests. This is a level 7 kinship. It is sited in the Bree Homesteads in Napgrove neighbourhood. Open to reasonable offers. Please note it would take around 20gp for purchase of house and chests.

Leave reply here.

You can't sell houses to other players, but you can hand over kin leadership to another player so then they become owner/leader and have full access rights to the Kin as long as the 6 chrs can be kept within the kin!

Below is a brief chat log of the LOTRO Roundtable chat with Jeffrey Steefel which took place at Connect. Our LOTRO Brand / Product Manager kindly took some notes.

FRIDAY

Q. Is there a way of seeing which part of the PC the game is using and how effectively it is using it?
A. We would like to know this and are looking into ways of understanding this. This would be a fantastic resource tool in helping us manage what the game is using effectively and what it isn’t.

Q. Why can’t we access US LOTRO Lorebook or their website from Europe?
A. This is something Codemasters Online and Turbine are looking into and updates will come periodically.
*Codemasters comment: Lorebook access is still on the priority list and is looking to be released in three individual phases, beginning with standard access to the American version.

Q. Would it be possible to introduce more community / neighborhood interaction and / or events i.e. grow the biggest vegetable competition etc
A. Yes, this will happen in future developments

Q. Can we have more cinematic content and drama?
A. Yes this is coming with Moria.

Q. Are there plans to modify the kinship management system?
A. Yes, this is one of many plans that make up a very long list. It’s not currently the highest priority but Turbine regards it as something which needs to be revisited over a long period.

Q. Can you develop the facility to export a list of people in a kinship?
A. Yes, discussions are in progress about this. It was commented upon at this point that something which appears to be such a simple task, usually ends up being massively complex.

Q. We would like you to develop the auction facility i.e. ABILITY fix items before selling
A. Yes, this is on the radar for development.

Q. Talking to the games master when just starting a battle is frustrating - can you do something about this?
A. We appreciate the annoyance it causes and we could definitely explore this issue further.

Q. Could you develop a mentor system such as in EQ2?
A. This has been discussed extensively but is currently weighed down by the pros and cons on both sides of the coin. In order to successfully pull off a mentoring system you need to make sure you have every constraint considered and covered.

SATURDAY

Q. Why don’t you get any kind of equity with housing system?
A. It is currently set up as a renting system as any other way would be too complex to manage.

Q. There has been no events on server since last year- can we have more?
A. There will be more and more happening in the future but GM events rely upon Codemasters Online.
*Codemasters comment: Now that we’re becoming more and more stable with our new GameMasters we can begin to look into hosting in-game events again. Things will start out small but we should be able to get things back up to a position where all the servers frequently have events running.

Q. We would like to see more choice of furniture.
A. This will change but is not a priority. The current amount of hooks and furniture was agreed on as to not swamp the user and to reduce the load it causes on the server. Now that the foundation has been placed, expansion can occur.

Q. What content is in book 13?
A. There are development diaries coming within the next few months to look out for. These will show the new content in its various different lights.

Q. What do you see as the future of the game? Will you not run out of content?
A. There is never going to be an issue with lack of content as LOTR is a massive and deep world. There is lots of content to explore before we even reach places like Mordor.

Q. How do you keep level 50 significant / important when you introduce level 60?
A. We are aware of the issues which will occur with the level cap raise and we’re putting measures in place to keep this fair for existing players and content.

Q. How do you deal with Tolkien family for approval of areas that are perhaps not in the book?
A. We work closely with them at every stage of the design process and show them exactly what we’re thinking and doing. We then follow a formal process of submission and approval.

Q. Can you give us any information on the new mount?
A. It's not a new player mount, it's a mount for monsters. Once you kill a monster its rider will fall off and continue to attack you – this is just one of the many new AI enhancements coming LOTRO’s way.

Q. The monster play system needs improving.
A. We recognise this is needed and will be giving this attention at some point in the future. The first stage of these improvements comes as the new Monster Player class in Book 13.

Q. How will you ensure the new classes don’t affect the other classes?
A. We have paid attention to this to ensure the new classes compliment rather than rival the existing classes.

If you are a hunter and have problems with stealthed mobs, these tricks could help you:

• Loremasters have a skill to increase your stealth detection (+2) - Sign of Power: Vigilance, Level: 32, 40m Range. This sign provides you with a heightened vigilance against those who would hide from your gaze.
• Hunters also have Deed: Heightened Senses, Trait: Heightened Senses. Your exceptional senses allow you to track creatures over a greater distance, even if they are using Stealth, and to more easily detect creatures using Stealth. Tooltip: Increased Tracking range, Track stealthed monsters, Increased overall stealth detection

Source

With the increased brigand activity around Bree-land, Chief Watcher Grimbriar has established a more rigid watch-schedule on the gates of Bree-town. Guarding the West-gate stands old Harry Goatleaf, an ill-favored and sour-tempered man with a penchant for prying into other people’s business.

There are rumors around Bree that Harry has been consorting with strangers out of the South; he is also often seen drinking with Bill Ferny, who is alleged to have connections with at least one brigand band. Harry has done his job well, however, and as no one has been able to prove any criminal intent on his part, Grimbriar has left him on his post.

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Harry Goatleaf is the watcher who let Frodo and his companions into Bree-town after they escaped from the Barrow-downs with the aid of Tom Bombadil. In The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™, it remains to be seen if any of the rumors about him are true...

Detailed information about

* New Lotro Hobby System -Fishing
* Major updates to the Looking for Fellowship system
* War Mammoth -  a mounted creature
* Monster Play -The Defiler
* Book 14
* The Mines of Moria

can be read at
Lord of the Rings Announcement by Stuart-Renton
LOTROVAULT.IGN.COM

The header image has been changed again. Do remember to force refresh the lotrolife.com home page. We'll be posting a new pic every day from now on so keep doing this every day. For those of you that do not know what am I talking about check http://www.lotrolife.com/news_full/change_of_season/211 .

Lotro Moria Concept Art

Ice Giant	Moria Bridge
Moria Entrance	Burden Mammoth
Balins Tomb Door	Moria