With a new expansion on the way in 2011, we sat down with Turbine to talk about the November Update, LOTRO's Isengard expansion and just how far Turbine will go to make a great F2P MMO experience.

The November Update

The November Update is scheduled to launch on Nov. 29, and with it comes a lot of features set to enhance the free-to-play portion of the LOTRO experience, as opposed to simply introducing new items in the Turbine Store. If you think about it, it's amazing just how fast Turbine has adapted to their player feedback, and just how much of their player feedback they've listened to.

Here, Mersky and Campbell note that while players did have a good amount of access to LOTRO, there were still a few barriers in the form of LOTRO's expansion packs that F2P players needed to purchase to continue their adventures. With this update, however, Turbine has decided to scrap that concept, and now players will be able to explore all of the current content in LOTRO without needing to unlock a specific expansion pack. Additionally, the epic storyline and level cap will be available to all players, regardless of what they've purchased in the game. According to  Mersky and Campbell, this is like a promise to the player base that Turbine is always trying to make sure that the free-to-play experience in LOTRO can be exactly that: free.

In line with this promise comes the introduction of new "tasks" for players, which are essentially new quests that make use of those trash items you would have normally vendored. Now you can turn them in for these tasks to gain reputation (always difficult to achieve for F2P players, seeing as they do not have access to a lot of quests that give reputation), cosmetic items, titles, experience and more.

Over-the-top Winter Festivities

Also coming a little while after the November Update will be LOTRO's customary Yule festivities, but ultra-enhanced for this year. Both Mersky and Campbell admit that they've probably gone over-the-top with this seasonal festival, but they're both excited about what the development team has done. With the Yule festival comes a new mini-region, called Winter-home, a festive area that has its own politics and factions for players to explore. There is also a theatre available to experiment with, and events will take place on the landscape, including snowball fights and competitions. So if you're in the festive mood next month, be sure to check out Winter-home to see just how much fun Turbine can pack into its seasonal events.

All in all, it seems as though Turbine will really have its hands full this year and next as it continues to push the envelope with what it means to be a F2P MMO developer. This is one ambitious team, and they wouldn't have it any other way.