The leaks were true: Standing Stone Games has just officially announced its next mini-expansion for Lord of the Rings Online called Before the Shadow, which does indeed introduce two new zones to the low-level portions of the game.
The two new regions in question are Swanfleet and Cardolan, both of which feature four new Books and new questing for characters level 1-32, which tell the story of Boromir’s trek to Rivendell while the Nazgul search for the One Ring and the Baggins who holds it. The update will also bring content for higher level characters in the form of a new skirmish and a difficulty system for delves that will grant additional rewards for players who ramp up the challenge.
Before the Shadow is set to land sometime in late September, with more information about content and subscriber incentives promised along the way. And yes, this does look like paid content, as the blog post teases pre-purchase details too. Readers will recall that SSG’s last LOTRO mini-expansion in 2020 went over rather poorly with the community, which viewed the release as an end-run around VIP and lifer benefits. Last year, SSG told DDO players that it had learned a lot from that incident.
For the time being, there’s a new trailer to ogle below.
