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We could write reams of text that describe in loving detail all the features that await you in Lord of the Rings Online's Book 13 content patch. We could lay out screenshot after screenshot that could perfectly capture the chilly northlands that are being introduced, the eerie agent of Angmar who is tearing apart the land or the monstrous beasts that roam the wintry tundra.

Or you can just click after the jump and watch a video that sums it up in less than 5 minutes. Plus, glimpses of Fishing, new trophies and new environmental effects.

Don't worry you lovers of words and pictures, a write up is coming your way in the next day or two complete with a gallery of shiny shots to accompany the purple prose.

A new preview for the Lord of the Rings Online Fishing hobby has been posted to the official site. When Book 13 goes live, players will be able to begin their angling education by visiting one of the four new Hobby Masters. After you've received a fishing pole, simply head to any body of water and cast your line -- there won't be skill requirements stopping you from fishing anywhere, but there will be fish that can only be found in certain locations. You'll be able to purchase bait from fishing suppliers to entice fish on to your waiting hook as well.

Undoubtedly, this will be a fun little endeavor, but there are some tangible incentives to cast the line too. Some fish will be used in Cooking recipes, and others will be able to be brought to the Fishing Taxidermist and turned into house trophies to show off your angling prowess. There will also be fishing quests and deeds, and even titles to earn. To find out a wee bit more about LotRO's first Hobby, check out the most recent dev chat, in which fishing and other Book 13 features are discussed in detail.

We're halfway through April, and Lord of the Rings Online's next content patch, Book 13, will be released before the end of the month. To tantalize players just a bit more before the free update is out, a new preview page devoted to Book 13 is now available at the official site.

The preview looks at some of the previously discussed big features of the patch, including the Forochel area, the Orc Defiler PvMP monster class, the Fishing hobby, and the enhanced fellowing features. As well as this, the bottom of the page leads through to a gallery that has some new screens, and a large selection of avatars for use with forums, messenger programs and the like -- a nice touch! We've updated our own Book 13 gallery with the new pictures for you to take a look at.

Recently we sat down with Lord of the Rings Online's Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel to shake him down for every last bit of Mines of Moria expansion info he was holding back from us. We were confident his resolve to deny us exclusive information would crumble under our steely gaze and he would gush forth with exhaustive overviews of the new classes as well as divulge the closely held secrets of the Middle-earth adventures that would await us this Fall.

Ok, it didn't quite go like we planned, but at least we learned more about what they had planned for their upcoming Book 13 free content update. And that's just as good as leet beta infoz, right? Right?

German Lord of the RIngs Online site Lotro-welten hosted its monthly dev chat with LotRO devs and community managers. Many of the questions for this dev chat focused on the new public PvMP dungeon, the Delving of Frór and the changes to the Creeps system. But most were requests for features that the devs didn't have any immediate plans to implement (translation: you no get!)

One participant complained that many questions were asked covering information that has already been announced. The devs explained that not all players read patch notes, etc. and the dev chats are another way to get information out to the public. So be prepared for a certain amount of repetition.

That being said, there was little new information to be gleaned. The few nuggets we found are:

• The Hobbies system will be introduced in Book 13 with the long requested Fishing ability. More Hobbies are planned in the future.
• A Shaman PvMP class is in the works for Book 13. That may not be the final name of the class, but the basic skills and abilities are in place.
• Monster play Infamy/Reknown costs will be lowered considerably in Book 12 to allow players to level faster in PvMP.

A full transcript of the chat can be found on Lotro-welten's site.

In an article titled 'Second Life Deathwatch: Star Trek Reenactments', a quote is pulled from a Technology Review story about the Ginko Financial debacle, the point of which seems merely to be to imply that enjoying Star Trek reenactments somehow confers loser status to the subject.

First of all, your hobbies, the activities you enjoy, are entirely your own. It's not for anyone to stand at a distance and point a finger and laugh -- believe me, everyone does something someone else will find worth of ridicule, but so what? The things that make us happy, make us wise. Believe me, there's much more than just Star Trek in Second Life, too -- I was able to find Star Wars roleplay, Silent Hill roleplay, Final Fantasy 7 roleplay ... there aren't links for those, you just have to find them in-world by searching. But instead of celebrating 'IDIC', the writer goes for the obvious gag.

Second, is this really what Forbes considers a substantial article these days? The article linked to is a much more important document, bearing import for more than just virtual worlds. The writer missed an opportunity to say something a bit more than 'Ha ha, look at the geeks!'

Third, how is this an indicator of the 'eventual decline of Second Life'? There's one comment at the end of this post that sums it up well: 'Here's a hint, if you don't like SL then stay in RL, and leave those of us who enjoy it alone. There is nothing worse that critics who sit on the sidelines ridiculing everyone else who is having a good time.' Oh, and by the way, nothing says 'professional' better than a photo of yourself wearing a t-shirt, really. This article, if you can call it that, is nothing short of insulting, both to its subject and to its audience. You need to do better than this, Forbes.

Two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats within one week? It's like Christmas came early for LotRO players. But it looks like some players are getting presents and others are getting coal.

German website, Lotro-Welten, held its monthly LotRO dev chat for European players last week. And last night US players got their own dev chat at MMORPG. Strangely, the EU dev chat held a wealth of new information while the US chat had very little new or interesting. Here are the highlights from Lotro-Welten's chat, mostly applying to the upcoming Book 12 content patch:

• Fishing is being introduced as a new profession category called Hobbies
• Hobbies are professions that anyone can level up in regardless of their other tradeskill choices
• The barber in Book 12 will offer new hairstyles
• The new cosmetic system allowing you to display different clothing will not extend to hand held items and will be entirely disabled in PvMP zones
• More solo content is a big priority for the dev team and Angmar is getting a pass in Book 12 to become more solo friendly