• Warden Action Video
  
• Rune-Keeper Action Video
  

The river Nimrodel was named after an Elf-maiden of old who once dwelt by a waterfall there, and fell in love with Amroth, the Lord of Lorien. Long ago, they left Lothlorien together for the haven of Edhellond, but Nimrodel disappeared in the White Mountains and her fate remains unknown. In later years, the River Nimrodel served as the site of a watchpost of the Galadhrim, kept by the brothers Haldir, Rumil, and Orophin.

Some Legendary Class items were damaged during reforging at Thorin�s Hall and Rivendell. The offending Forge-masters have been reprimanded, and as compensation have passed along new unidentified class items along with appropriate Heritage Runes to characters who were affected. Any relics placed in the damaged items have also been unslotted. All legendary points have been refunded for the damaged item.


We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

All worlds except Brandywine are open! Brandywine's downtime has been extended to 1:00 PM Eastern (-5 GMT). Thank you for your patience!

Gamespy has nominated us for their Gamers� Choice PC Game of the Year 2008 for the Mines of Moria! We�re up against all PC titles this time around. So we really need your support! Go vote and spread the word!

We�re happy to announce that the Beta Preview period for my.lotro.com has been extended through the end of the year! We�re continuing to collect your feedback and look forward to seeing what you do with the site in the coming weeks.

The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, December 15 from 6:00AM - 12:00PM Eastern (-5 GMT) for an update to the game. You can read the patch notes here.

There are no greater craftsmen than the dwarves, and no greater forges than those found in the depths of Khazad-dum. For ages, the dwarves of Khazad-dum mined and wrought mithril in their great craft-halls, shaping great works until Durin VI delved too deep and awoke his bane, a Balrog of Morgoth.

Greetings, festival fashionistas! Feeling the Yule spirit? Think your festive fashion sense (or lack of it) has what it takes to win the LOTRO Yule Festival Fashion Contest? Send us screenshots of your best or worst festive outfit in LOTRO, and you could win a custom forums title and avatar for the LOTRO forums! Entries will be accepted in the following categories:

• Most Festive Individual
  
• Unfashionably Festive Individual
  
• Most Festive Couple
  
• Unfashionably Festive Couple
  
• Most Festive Kinship
  

The contest will run from December 11th until January 16th. Entries must be received by Turbine by January 14th. Three winners will be announced on the LOTRO forums on December 19th, January 2nd, January 9th, and January 16th (for a total of 12 winners overall). Eligible winners will receive a special forum title ("Fashion Hero" or "Fashion Victim") and a custom forums avatar created from their winning entries.

Screenshots must be original and unedited (cropping is allowed) and should have a resolution of at least 1024x768. Here are some tips for taking screenshots:

• You can zoom in to a first-person view with the mouse-wheel
  
• The number pad or right mouse button can be used to adjust the camera angle
  
• F11 or CTRL-P takes your screenshot
  
• Screenshots are stored in My Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online
  
• The F12 button will remove the UI
  

To enter the LOTRO Yule Festival Fashion Contest, send your entry to [email protected] with the subject line "Festival Fashion Contest".

Click here for official rules and tips on sending in your entry!

The LOTRO Forums and Lorebook will be brought down for maintenance on Thursday, December 11th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM Easterm (-5 GMT). Thanks for your patience!

Skumfil
We have identified an issue with the dungeon Skumfil where players may be unable to loot the chest at the end of Hard Mode. The issue stems from players releasing during the fight, then re-entering the fight by re-opening the door to Hwandrin.

If the door is re-opened it can cause the fight to finish incorrectly and not allow the loot to be opened. The best way to prevent this from happening is to either have your entire party release, which causes the fight to reset, or to be resurrected within Hwandrin�s chamber. This will be addressed in an upcoming patch.

Yule Festival

Quest: Dwarf - Ice
Players cannot target the ice to complete the quest.To resolve the issue, press delete to select the ice and then press the �u� button. You should now be able to grab ice.

Snow Globes
When placed in a house, the Yule Festival Snow globes cannot be selected or unhooked. This will be resolved in an upcoming patch.

IGN has opened up voting for their Best of 2008: PC Readers' Choice Awards, and Mines of Moria has been nominated! While voting, feel free to pay special attention to these three categories:

• Best Artistic Design
  
• Best Original Score
  
• Best Expansion
  

Now, go and make your voice heard!

Ever glimpsed a passing character and wondered what they�re wearing or how to get it? Have you been looking for a guild that�s active on your server and supports your favorite playstyle? When you have that awesome experience in LOTRO do you ever want to share it with your friends?

Now you can.

A free benefit for subscribers, the all-new my.lotro.com features a searchable database of players, characters, monster characters, kinships, and tribes. Subscribers may sign in now to start your own blog, create a custom profile, or start making your new web friends list. Search for new friends and reconnect with old ones while you explore the millions of characters available on the site. Just log in using your forum username and password.

This beta preview starts today, 12/9/2008 and runs through Friday 12/12/2008. During the preview all beta functionality will be live and available to subscribers however characters will not be linked to players by default.

To learn more visit the FAQ, the my.lotro.com discussion forums, Known Issues or http://my.lotro.com.

The Yule festival is coming with all new quests, races, and items!

Yulemath is celebrated by all the free peoples during the last month of the year. With traditional decorations, warm cider, rich feasts and other, more mischievous, pursuits; Yule is a time of hope across Middle-earth even as the shadow of the Enemy continues to grow.

Visit all the homelands of the free peoples to enjoy all the festival has to offer. You might even earn a new four footed friend for your efforts!

The Yule festival starts December 11! Dress warm!

The Elendilmir, and Landroval servers will be brought down from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Eastern (-5 GMT) for a restart. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon!

We�ve been nominated for Favorite MMO Studio! We�re up against some stiff competition, but we know our community is second to none when it comes to getting out the vote. So fire up your friends, your kinship, and your neighbor�s pet iguana and get them all voting!

Ars Technica's gamer blog, Opposable Thumbs has taken a romp through the Mines of Moria�, or to use their word, 'wonderland'.

"The game's use of narrative and of interactive "cut-scenes" that showcase the story of the books from the perspectives of Middle-Earth's inhabitants is worth experiencing. This is about as close as any MMORPG has come so far to having a fully fleshed-out story. " - Opposable Thumbs, Ars Technica

We have been nominated again! Mines of Moria has been nominated for Best Expansion in 2008. It has been a year full of excellent expansions, but we know that our awesome community will once again rally the troops (including the pet iguanas) and show their support for Mines of Moria!

IGN has given Mines of Moria their Editor's Choice Award and an 8.7 Score!

�The Mines of Moria builds on the strengths of the existing game by presenting loads of atmosphere, engaging quests and a meaningful story." - IGN

Check out their review!

"World of Warcraft may have the clicks, but Lord of the Rings Online can claim one of the most popular pieces of fantasy fiction in history. That, and it has something the other guys don't: a progressive story." - PC World Magazine

Not only did PC World pick us as a best bet, MSN.com is currently highlighting the article on their front page!

We are happy to announce that premium services have been turned back on! Please keep in mind that there is a one to two business day turnaround for all premium services, and this delay may be slightly longer with the initial rush of the service being reinstated. Thank you for your patience!

The Lord of the Rings Online Game Servers will be brought down on Wednesday, December 3rd, from 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM Eastern (-5 GMT) for a hotfix. This hotfix will fix a client crash that could occur in areas of Moria when running with GeForce 4-series video card, and a client crash involving the Exquisite Black Ash Bow. Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon!

Deep in the belly of the great Misty Mountain peak called Celebdil by the Elves, Zirak-zigil by the Dwarves, and Silvertine by Men, one of the great quarries of Khazad-dum lays in shadow and dust, waiting for its restoration, waiting for the echoes of pick-axes and miners� songs to fill its empty caverns and tunnels once more. This deep place, known as the Silvertine Lodes, once glittered with ore and shone with the light of crystal lamps glinting off raw mithril. Now it gapes like a hole not just in the earth but in the image of Khazad-dum.

Gamespy has posted their Mines of Moria review. In addition to earning an impressive 4.5/5.0 star rating, we�ve picked up their editor�s choice award!

"Mines of Moria, an absolutely brilliant expansion pack that takes everything the development team has learned and crafts it into a sublime MMO experience." � Gamespy 12/1/08 � Read the full review.

UPDATE 12:15PM: The window has been extended until 2:00PM Eastern (-5GMT). We apologize for the inconvenience, and will have the servers back online as quickly as possible!