LOTRO's Next Expansion, Minas Morgul, Now For Sale, Offers Seven New Instances And Shelob Raid

The great adventure beyond Mordor awaits! Minus Morgul, the next expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online, is now up for pre-sale on the LOTRO site. Crafty Lord of the Rings lore-hounds will notice "minasithil" in the URL as the original name of the Dark Tower when it was under Gondor's control before it was taken over by Sauron's forces.

There are three packages available, for $39.99, $79.99, and $129.99, each coming with the full expansion content, which includes over 250 new quests, two new zones -- The Morgul Vale and Mordor Besieged -- seven new instances, a new raid against Shelob, a new level cap (130), a new race (Stout-axe Dwarves), an extra character slot, and more. More expensive packs offer the usual slate of extra goodies, including a character boost (to 120), additional titles, cosmetics, and so forth.

The expansion is planned for release on Oct. 29, though Standing Stone Games acknowledges that delays could happen, guaranteeing that items will be delivered no later than Nov. 30. As a wizard once said (paraphrased), "An expansion is never late, nor is it early. It launches precisely when it intends to." That said, I predicted a Shelob-themed expansion to drop all the way back in 2015, which is why I'm clearly not a wizard. Yet.