LotRO Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel revealed that following the upcoming Book 8, the game would be heading to The Hobbit's Mirkwood and Dol Guldur, and raising the level cap before the end of the year.

Speaking to a group of journalists via teleconference about the LotRO second anniversary celebration, Steefel and other Turbine staff including Art Director Harry Teasley and Director of Communications Adam Mersky discussed not just the history of the game, but its future:

Something might be rotten in the state of Khazad-dûm, but Steefel says that there's something worse in Dol Guldur - Tolkien fans may recognize this as the one-time stronghold of Sauron referred to in The Hobbit. After completing the storyline in Moria, LotRO players will be headed to the twisted forest of Mirkwood sometime this year. Art Director Teasley described what he and his team were doing with Mirkwood and Dol Guldur as "showing off what [they] can do." They've been developing techniques to improve on what they'd done in the past - even with the cavernous depths of Moria - for Dol Guldur, and Teasley says that so far, what they've created is showing that off "beyond my wildest expectations."

Read more about Mirkwood, the raising of the level cap, and the new "skirmishes" over at The Escapist, or enter our one-day contest!