By: Martuk

Now that Book 10 has launched it is time to start looking ahead to Book 11. With developers from all over gathered at Leipzig GC '07 Tentonhammer staff Cody "Micajah" Bye and Phil "Ralphedelominius" Comeau went fishing for information and boy did they find it. Cody and Phil met with Jeffrey Steefel, the executive producer for Lord of the Rings Online and got a ton of juicy information on the coming Book 11 update for Lord of the Rings Online. Everything from player housing to the arrival of Balrogs sugar coated this conversation of gaming goodness.

Player housing is something that has had every player drooling at the keyboard for the next juicy detail. The information coming out of Leipzig GC '07 should appease even the most rabid of fans. Steefel stated that there will be four unique neighborhoods based on each of the four races and each will have their own unique look. Hobbit homes will be smaller with porthole like windows while Elven homes will have that epic look and glow to them. On top of that there will not only be individual player homes, but Kinship homes as well. Pack the bags ma, the Kinship is moving.

What would a home be without items to put in it? Well the developers are not lost on that concept as they have hundreds of items made to make your house unique and customized. They have everything from standard furniture to a welcome mat written in the Sindarin language. This wide variety of choice will appease any role-player and even normal players who just want a place for their avatar to live.

If you thought housing was the only big deal with Book 11 you are very wrong. There are several new areas in the works with some interesting and mysterious twist that Steefel couldn’t go into a lot of detail on, but we managed to squeeze a bit of information out of him still.

• Ettendeep: The Ettendeep is an expanse of caves and catacombs located beneath the Ettenmoor. While not much information was available Steefle did say that Ettendeep is being worked with as part of a controlled area. Look for more information on this later.
• The Extreme Misty Mountains: This is another area that was talked about during the discussion and it will take the player deep into the Misty Mountains. This area will be visiting some content talked about in the Hobbit, but in the Lord of the Rings time line. It was even hinted that we might be able to even speak with the elusive creature known as Gollum.

If all this content wasn’t enough to have you foaming at the mouth what came next surely will. Steefel announced the first Balrog to make an appearance in LOTRO. That’s right folks in Book 11 the Balrogs are coming. Yes you read right, Balrogs, plural. There will be more than one. While you are wiping the drool off your keyboard read on.

These ancient demons will be rare epic creatures not confined to a given instance. Some people might be thinking this is the Balrog of Moria and far be it from me to smash any hopes and dreams, but this particular announcement wasn’t for the Balrog of Kazad-dum. He is as I understand it still lying in wait though. In fact, as big and evil as these Balrogs are said to be, Steefel stated that the Moria Balrog will be a lot bigger, a lot meaner, and a lot scarier.

Book 11 is looking to have tons of content to follow what Books 9 and 10 have already given us. The information is getting sweeter and the content is getting better. With all this juicy content and no screenshots to go with it I am left feeling somewhat like Captain Kirk after his battle with Khan so I might as well say it. “STEEFEL!!!”

You can read the original Tentonhammer interview for more juicy information Here.

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