The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood

We're adding tools to our tool-bag. The goal isn't about having one way of delivering content and replacing it with a new way. We want to have some flexibility. This doesn't mean we'll never do a retail expansion again, and it doesn't mean we won't do this kind of smaller expansion again. We are experimenting with different frequencies, sizes and methods of distribution. We want customers to have as much choice and flexibility as possible for getting our new content. Also it's a timing thing; we're here, 10 months after the launch of Mines of Moria, launching our next expansion. If we wanted to launch something significantly larger then players would have to wait.

Not at all. Our plan to keep developing and releasing updates is the same as it has been. In fact, we are already in development on Volume 3: Book 1, which is out early next year.

Er, I can't! Ha.

We will consistently be trying to find ways to make our worlds more accessible. Whether that boils down to how we distribute the product, either at retail or via digital distribution? And if we pick digital, do we stream the download and what platform will we pick - because we'll be talking about consoles next year? Then there's paying for the product.

I wouldn't say that you're going to see DDO's unique model applied to all our other games because we're having success with it. But if there's a way for us to improve the experience for players and make it easier for them to get into these types of games then that's what we're going to focus on. And that may come in several forms.

No comment. We clearly are excited about the growth we've had in the game in about six weeks, and we have every intention of rolling it out if it continues to be this successful. But no specific time-frame right now.

In this expansion we're raising the level for Monsters and doing some small things - nothing as substantial as we did in Moria with the Artefact system. For Monsters in the future, one of the things we're looking at is what Skirmishes turns into; it's something that's filled with opportunity. No announcements about anything yet, we're still working out what makes sense and what doesn't, but we definitely have some hopes for the future to leverage Skirmishes. This is just the beginning of Skirmishes.

Everything from, "Wow, wouldn't it be interesting to have skirmishes for Monsters?" Still PvE, but Skirmishes for monsters. And then even to the natural extension: how can we turn a Skirmish into a battle zone, where you've got people coming in from both sides of the equation - Monster players coming in as well as Free players and giving them the mechanics to fight PvP against each other. That is definitely somewhere on the horizon, but again, no idea where, because it all depends on how it is competing with other features.

When you talk about turning them into full PvP battle areas and also bringing in Soldiers - I don't know. Would that be cool? Absolutely. It depends on how manageable that is in terms of technology - how much stuff can you have going on and still perform well? - and in terms of balance, player-focus.

At some point we'll give you so many things to fool around with that it's not fun any more.

It's always time and we're always looking. We're fortunate that the success we've had with our titles means a lot of people that hold big IP approach us, so we've got lots of discussions going on. Certainly nothing that we're announcing yet.