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In the realm of Tolkien's Middle-earth, the ideals of general PvP get a bit complicated. For instance, you would never see bands of Hobbits battling with Elves, or vice versa. It's just not something Tolkien ever envisioned. This is a sticky situation for the developers of an MMO based on Tolkien lore, as PvP is a staple in the massively multiplayer genre. The solution, of course, is to allow players to play as the evil creatures that inhabit these lands. Of course, it is still possible to do a one-on-one duel with another player at any time during the game. This is seen as more of a private skirmish deal, which would happen in any land between any two people for any reason. Perhaps a drunken binge at The Prancing Pony enabled the loosening of your tongue a bit too much? Perhaps that ruffian bloke in the alley over there was eye-balling you a bit too long? Whatever the reason, dueling is a perfectly viable option in Lord of the Rings Online. For the sake of this guide though, we will focus on PvP on a much larger scale.

PvP in LotRO is referred more accurately as PvMP (player versus monster player) and it takes place in one specific area known as the Ettenmoors. It is really unlike most other types of PvP found in more traditional MMOs, as it could almost be considered PvP for PvEers. There are quests to pursue, areas to explore and skills to unlock, yet they're done in a way that is essentially separate from the rest of the game.

Continue through to our PvMP gallery for a complete visual tour of the basics of Monster Play.

Upon opening the Lord of the Rings Online launcher, you should be offered the chance to fill out a survey for Turbine. It is the first in what we're told will be a series over the coming weeks and months, and focuses on Monster Play, or PvMP. They're hoping to find out what players think of monster play as it is right now, and get a feel for where they should take it in the future.

Taking about 5 minutes to fill out, the survey goes over many aspects of the PvMP experience, asking very specific things like in the picture above, as well as more general questions to gauge player enjoyment and the amount of time spent in the 'Moors. Turbine has always seemed very interested in what players have to say, so hopefully the results of this survey will help steer PvMP in the right direction.

So maybe you weren't able to make it to the dev chat last Monday, or maybe you just didn't know about it. Well, whatever the reason might have been, fear not -- for there is a chat log bursting at the seams with information. A lot gets touched on, but the thing that has us the most excited would have to be the upcoming social upgrades focused on quests -- hopefully making the completion of them a bit more streamlined. We're really happy to hear it, because that would be one of our main complaints with the game currently -- which is saying a lot since we don't have too many complaints about Lord of the Rings Online.

A new lorebook entry has graced the official Lord of the Rings Online website, this one focusing on Rhunendin. Long ago when the hosts of Angmar were driven from the North-kingdom, the they were scattered to the wind. Even though the Angmarim numbers were few, time was on their side. The many years that would pass gave these scattered remnants time to re-multiply into a strong force.

Wee! The PvMP session play see-saw has flipped once more, and Lord of the Rings Online players can assume the form of the mighty Trolls and Rangers out in the 'Moors again. Community specialist Saffron made the announcement in the forums, but also included a warning that may just cause our fun little see-saw to rust over:

Please remember that running more than two Ranger or Troll sessions within 12 hours is considered an exploit and may be subject to disciplinary measures. Enjoy!

That's a fairly clear message for anyone who wants to mess around with session play in the future, but does that mean that people won't still try? Of course not.

A note in Lord of the Rings Online's patcher hints that Troll and Ranger session play has been disabled, yet again. Sure enough, a post in the forums confirms the situation, so these giants of PvMP are unavailable once more. There isn't any explanation readily given, but looking at the Monster Play forums, a thread can be found with a response from a Turbine official in the first page: "An exploit was discovered that enabled sessions to be nearly limitless. It was decided that the sessions should be shut down."

Troll and Ranger session play has been taken out before, and another time after that. The second time they were disabled was actually due the exact same reason that they are now, which leaves you to wonder whether people had managed to continue the old exploit somehow, or whether there's an all new way to rip off the system. The best thing about the see-sawing status of PvMP session play is that I get to keep using my troll doll picture.

The Lord of the Rings Online's PvP system is unique. In the main PvE game, you can't play as an evil soldier who serves Sauron, the Witch-king, or Saruman; you can only play as a member of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. Obviously, when every one's on the same side, coming up with a good PvP scenario becomes problematic.

Turbine solved the problem by letting players log into pre-made but customizable evil characters whose functions are limited to PvP. Other players take their normal good-guy characters into the battlefield to fight the "Monster Players." It works pretty well. The PvP in LotRO is surprisingly deep for something that at present occurs in only one zone.

Deep means complex, though; there's a lot to learn. That's why fans at the official LotRO forums decided to put together a comprehensive strategy guide to playing a Monster Character. It's a great resource, and the community is still updating it with new strategies.

Session Play in Lord of the Rings Online is a feature that allows you to take the form of a different character, and experience Middle Earth from a new perspective. From the official website, "You could play as a Ranger, a Troll, or... a chicken." Well, it looks as though your only option for now may be of the feathered farmyard variety, according to this post on Turbine's official LotRO forums.

The announcement from Turbine Community Specialist Saffron tells us little other than that there have been unspecified issues with Trolls and Rangers in Session Play, and that they will not be available until further notice. These two character types were formerly playable in the Ettenmoors Monster Play (PvP) zone, with Rangers for the Free Peoples and Trolls for the Monsters. A quick visit to the Monster Play forums shows that Trolls and Rangers have already been a topic of hot debate, with many feeling they were overpowered. Perhaps they will be tweaked along with other PvMP updates due with Book 12 -- we will have to wait and see what changes have been made when they are made available for play once more.

Stratics hosted another developer chat, this time with the Lord of the Rings Online staffers. The topic was Book 12, but unfortunately not much was revealed that we didn't already learn in the LotRO German dev chat earlier this month.

Without the class developer on hand, all Guardian and Burglar revamp questions were deflected. As were most other inquiries. It seems that the developers couldn't answer many questions at all. But here is the little that I was able to glean from them.

Housing improvements in Book 12 include being able to use Bound items for decoration and house items will be able to be rotated on their hooks. There is also a "high likelihood" that alts will be able to use the recall to home feature of other characters on the same account.