Massively^™

Making it into the Lord of the Rings Online lorebook this week are the supremely evil Gaunt-lords. Beginning their lives -- err, their "undeath" -- as Gaunt-men, they moved throughout Middle-earth in service to Morgoth, raising wights as they went. It was only later on, when serving the Witch-king, that five of these Gaunt-men became Gaunt-lords, to match the power of the Wizards aiding the Free Peoples.

Donning their sinister crowned helms and peering with hollow eyes, the five Gaunt-lords stand for death, famine, pestilence, war, and evil. Approaching these powerful foes will strike fear into any adventurer's heart, and great courage will be required from those attempting to dispatch them. Find out more about the Gaunt-lords history at their new lore page.

Well, only peripherally. Badennas is an elf who helps players work on their first home in Eriador. She gives players quests when they feel it's time to put down roots and become valued members of the community. Why does she do it? According to the lorebook, "Badennas has delayed her departure from Middle-earth twice out of love for the lands she calls home. She has taken on many responsibilities for the good of her neighbors, including the procurement of materials needed to build more housing." In other words, she's just a hell of a woman.

The Lord of the Rings Online lorebook grows in content with each addition, and as you can see, there is no one personage who is any less worthy of inclusion than any other. We salute you, Badennas! May your eventual journey to the West be an uneventful one!

The Lord of the Rings Online lorebook has had another two worthy additions over the last few days, with updates being added for Flosi the prospector and Dori, formerly one of Thorin Oakenshield's thirteen companions. Although not particularly famous in the Lord of the Rings lore, the name Flosi should ring a bell for many players, as he is located near the frequently visited Thorin's Hall. He is involved in some low level quests, and those wanting to find out a bit more about a familiar face can visit his new lorebook page.

Dori will likely need less of an introduction for LotR fans, as he and his brothers Ori and Nori were involved in the adventures of one Bilbo Baggins -- often reluctantly, as the inexperienced Hobbit caused a fair bit of extra trouble for the party. In LotRO, he can be found at the Othrikar outpost in the North Downs, and players exploring this area may end up assisting him with his mission there. You can check out his newly added page at the lorebook.

Ahh, the Old Forest. Lord of the Rings Online players have mixed emotions about this area: fear, respect, probably a very healthy portion of loathing as they stumble around in circles for far too long trying to get through it. It is here that you may stumble upon Goldberry, who has just been given her own page in the Lorebook.

Goldberry is a River-maiden, but no one really knows what a River-maiden is. Appearance-wise, they resemble the races of Man and Elf, but much about them remains a mystery. Goldberry is married to Tom Bombadil, but only after failing to capture him once and having him come back to her later on -- if at first you don't succeed, hey? Bombadil is all kinds of crazy, so a visit to these two in the Old Forest is sure to yield some fun quests. You can view Goldberry's new lorebook page to find out a bit about the tasks she has for you, and also see the map of her location, if it's any help at all in the unforgiving forest.

Book 11: Defenders of Eriador , the third free content update for Lord of the Rings Online, is arriving Wednesday morning. In advance of the patch going live, Turbine has released the patch notes two days early on the LotRO Lorebook, their official Wiki site.

There are no surprises since we saw these patch notes on the Preview server earlier this month. Still on track are all the major changes:

• The introduction of player and guild housing in the Man, Elf, Hobbit and Dwarf cities
  
• Four new level 40+ outdoor zones in and around The Misty Mountains to smooth out high level questing
• The Rift, the game's second raid zone, a 12-man level 50 instance that pits your group against a Balrog and introduces new class armor sets
• Class revamps for Lore-masters (new Lynx pet, new high level skills) and Minstrels (Warspeech, a new dps stance for faster soloing, new high level skills.)

Also, the introduction of Gollum to the game through a flashback instance. And the epic quest series that allows the players to help the Fellowship in its journey to Mordor has a new 13-quest arc. We're not sure yet how the new Epic Quest series plays out yet, but the title of patch could mean all the playable lands are in jeopardy.

The patch is currently available by Torrent and direct download. It will also be available through the patcher on Wednesday, October 22, 2007.