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Today is the day that Turbine officially turns the page on Lord of the Rings Online, turning the subscriber exclusive fantasy MMO into a free-to-play game with subscription options. Turbine and publisher Warner Bros. Interactive clearly know that the J.R.R. Tolkien-themed game has a large mainstream audience. That's maybe why they decided to make a TV commercial for the game for the first time.

The TV ad, which you can see above, is meant to be funny, perhaps lifting some inspiration from Blizzard's World of Warcraft TV ads. The commercial will first be shown on Fox's Family Guy on Sunday although we wonder why Turbine didn't buy ads during this weekend's showing of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy on TNT.

Download the Lord of the Rings Online TV ad at Big Download

After successfully relaunching Dungeons and Dragons Online as a free-to-play MMO in 2009, developer Turbine announced earlier this year it would do the same for Lord of the Rings Online. This morning Turbine announced that the game would officially switch over to the new free-to-play business model on September 10.

The change will happen on the same day in both in the US, where Turbine and its new owner Warner Brothers Interactive publish the game, and in Europe where Codemasters still handles the title. As with D&D Online the new Lord of the Rings Online will allow players to play the game for free with options to either buy new expansion packs and other content or continue to pay a monthly subscription with immediate access to most expansion content.

[Via email press release]

The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood expansion goes live today, giving players a chance to adventure into the dark and foreboding woods of Mirkwood and launch an all-out assault on a Ring Wraith fortress. The digital expansion also includes some other nice benefits like an increased level cap, a conclusion to the Mines of Moria story, and other gameplay enhancements.

Download HD LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Launch Trailer (90 MB)
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In Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion for The Lord of Rings Online, players will have a chance to gather forces together and lay an assault on a Nazgul's fortress. The only question is: Are they ready to face such a powerful evil? Heroes will get a chance to find out if they have what it takes when the expansion releases on December 1st.

Download HD LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Trailer #2 (102 MB)
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The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion pack to LOTRO, will end 2009 with a huge bang. Some of the expansion's major features include an increased level cap to 65, the epic conclusion to the Mines of Moria story, and a brand new Skirmishes feature. Skirmishes are random, repeatable, instances where players can create and lead customized soldiers into battle. Of course, you'll need to rally your friends together because the Mirkwood adventure builds up to a 12-player raid on the Dol Guldur, the fortress of the Ringwraiths.

The Siege of Mirkwood expansion will be available on December 1st, and will be sold digitally for $19.99. Players can also purchase an Adventurer's Pack (which also goes live on 12/1), which has 2 character slots, a shared character storage, a Harbinger's Cloak, and the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat mount for $19.99. The expansion and Adventurer's Pack can be purchased together as a bundle for $39.99.

LOTRO's $199 lifetime membership is available again, and players that upgrade their account to any multi-month plan by October 31st will get Siege of Mirkwood for free.

Download HD LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Trailer (109 MB)
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Turbine's fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online has already announced plans to release a new digital download expansion named Siege of Mirkwood. Today the developer announced that the expansion would be released on December 1 for $19.99. However that's not all Turbine is offering for both new and current players.

It's also offering what they are calling the Adventurers Pack. For an additional $19.99 you can buy two more character slots for the game as well as a new storage slot that you can use to share loot with all of your LOTRO characters on the same server. If you pre-order the Adventurer's Pack you also get a new in-game item (the Harbinger's Cloak) and a new mount (the Dusky Nimblefoot Goat) for free.

Turbine is also restating their Lifetime Subscription offer which, for $199, gives players a way to play the game with no more monthly charges. Current players can get the Siege of Mirkwod expansion for free if they switch their subscription plan to any multi-month plan by October 31. If you already are a Lifetime Subscriber you can get the expansion for free if you pre-order the Adventure's Pack. You can check out a chat with Turbine reps about the expansion on our sister site Massively.

This trailer marks the release of Book 8: The Scourge of Khazad-dum, a free content expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. The content went live today in North America and will start on European servers starting June 25th. Continue reading after the jump for the list of features.

Download HD LOTRO - Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-dum Trailer (70 MB)
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Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, explains the Legendary Items system in this developer's diary. In the books, items like swords gained special properties with use. This concept is put to use in MInes of Moria so that their gear can, in a sense, level up alongside players as they progress through the game.

Download HD LOTRO: Mines of Moria Legendary Items Developer Diary (123 MB)
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New gameplay videos have come to light featuring the new The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria classes. The first demonstrates the abilities of the Rune-keeper (shown above) and the other is the Warden. Both will lend their considerable abilities to the fight against Sauron. The expansion is available now in stores.

Download HD LOTRO: Mines of Moria Rune-keeper in Action Trailer (43 MB)
Download HD LOTRO: Mines of Moria Warden in Action Trailer (44 MB)
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This video features a high level raid level boss monster called The Watcher, which can be found in The Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria expansion. It's a generally well-known creature in Tolkien lore and one of the toughest monsters in the game.

Download HD LOTRO: Mines of Moria The Watcher Raid Video (34 MB)
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