Imagine for a moment if Frodo was unable to find a group to help him get to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. What if the little Hobbit was more of a solo player and wanted to complete the quest by himself? Well, it looks like that's what the Lord of the Rings Online team is working toward in Siege of Mirkwood.

According to a blog entry by Orion, too many players are abandoning the MMO's epic storyline since it requires players to form a group. Once Dec. 1 hits, Turbine will be introducing the Inspired Greatness system to entice players to try out these quests by themselves.

Starting with Volume 1, Book 2, you'll be able to inspire your characters, which "increases morale and power significantly, increases in-combat and out-of-combat morale and power regeneration, increases damage output from melee, ranged and tactical sources, increases healing output for all healing skills." You can read the full blog entry below. [via MMORPG.com]

Turbine just made a couple of interesting announcements regarding the upcoming Siege of Mirkwood expansion. First of all, the second Siege of Mirkwood trailer is now available on YouTube. It features the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur explaining why he's going to lead his armies to war against the elves of Lothlórien: "I was a king once. Now I am Nazgûl!" In case you missed it, you can also watch the first trailer on YouTube.

In addition, Turbine has extended its Siege of Mirkwood pre-launch offers to Nov. 18 to give players more time to get the expansion for free. All you need to do is become a multi-month subscriber or maintain your multi-month subscription plan to get Siege of Mirkwood for free. Since lifetime members can't change their subscription plans, they need to buy the Adventurer's Pack by Nov. 18 to take advantage of the free offer.

You may remember reading about the new Lord of the Rings Online digital expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, in our recent feature of an in-game tour with Turbine. The upcoming expansion is scheduled for release on December 1, 2009, which serves as a bookend to Volume II: Mines of Moria. Since then, Turbine has released a bit of juicy new media: a couple wallpapers, and better yet, five new screenshots from the Siege of Mirkwood expansion.

To view all five of the new screenshots, check out these direct links:

1. LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 1
2. LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 2
3. LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 3
4. LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 4
5. LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Screen 5

You can also view these and more Lord of the Rings Online pics in the screenshots section of our LOTRO portal site.

There are very few development teams in the MMO world that can boast of being able to release new content on a consistent basis, but it seems as though Turbine and their Lord of the Rings team has gotten that down pat, as December 1st will see the launch of their next digital expansion: The Siege of Mirkwood. The Siege of Mirkwood is also quite special for LOTRO fans, as this will act as the conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria, thereby suggesting that we may see a new expansion coming in the not so distant future.

Either way, just as constant as the dev team is with their content updates, their PR guys work equally hard, making sure that with every coming book release also comes… an in-game tour! So today, Turbine invited ZAM.com to sit down with Adam Mersky, Director of Communications, and Aaron Campbell, LOTRO's Live Producer, to check out what makes Book9: Siege of Mirkwood one of the most action-packed expansions to come along in quite some time.

UPDATE: The LOTRO Lottery has been expanded to add a Welcome Wagon Lotto for character between level 5 and level 15.

Do you feel lucky? If you do, then you should try your luck in the new LOTRO Lottery on my.lotro.com. Turbine has added a Lottery Widget to the community page that lets you enter eligible characters in a drawing for in-game items. The team decided to implement the lottery to give users something to do when they can't play. Also, it's fun to win stuff.

The lottery feature is launching in beta and the initial drawing is a daily event that will run through the end of the month for some silver and two bundles of fireworks. The team's looking for feedback on the lottery, so be sure to let Turbine know what you think while you try to win some prizes. More information can be found after the jump.

Turbine has released a trailer for the Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion on the Lord of the Rings Online YouTube channel, and it certainly is epic. Watch it in HD to see what Turbine has in store for the conclusion to Volume II: Mines of Moria.

More Siege of Mirkwood information can be found on the official site, which also contains the new trailer. The expansion is scheduled to launch on Dec. 1, and you can actually get it for free by renewing or upgrading your subscription to any multi-month plan by Oct. 31. Welcome Back Week also starts today, so returning players are welcome to explore Middle-earth and see what they've missed.

Starting tomorrow, Oct. 15, Turbine is welcoming back players who left Lord of the Rings Online with a free week of play in Middle-earth. You have until Oct. 21 to log back in and give the game another try with your old characters during the Fall Festival.

Turbine is also offering some special deals for players who take advantage of the Welcome Back Week. You'll get a 25% experience bonus on mob kills during the event, which stacks with rest experience. If you decide to renew your subscription with any three-, six- or 12-month $9.99/month subscription plan by Oct. 31, you'll receive the upcoming Siege of Mirkwood digital expansion for free.

So will you be returning to Lord of the Rings Online? If you need to download the client, Turbine has made standard and high-resolution versions available on the announcement page.

Halloween's less than three weeks away, which means it's a good time to pick up some pumpkins and carve them. If you're looking for some design ideas, Blizzard and Turbine just announced their pumpkin carving contests! The Blizzard one kicks off today and runs through Oct. 28. Simply submit your best Blizzard-related pumpkin for the chance to win a 32GB iPod touch. Check out last year's winners if you need some inspiration.

Turbine is looking for pumpkins with a Lord of the Rings Online theme, and winners will earn the "Master Carver" title on the official forums. One grand prize winner will receive 1,000,000 copper (also known as 10 gold). Be sure to check out the official rules before you pick up your carving kit. The contest ends on Oct. 30.

Also, don't forget about our very own Final Fantasy XI pumpkin carving contest for your chance to win exclusive in-game items! The first 500 approved entries will receive a small in-game pumpkin and the top 25 finalists will also receive a large in-game pumpkin, both available only through our contest. Check out last year's amazing winner and enter your own design!

Siege of Mirkwood, the new digital expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, will introduce an updated Legendary Item system when it launches on Dec. 1. According to a new dev diary entry, the update will change the identification and reforge process to give players a hint as to whether a Legendary Item is worth the time to level it. Also, changes to the amount of item experience needed to level the items wil give "more moments of advancement and reduces the feel that you’re 'grinding' at the current high level XP values."

In addition, each class' set of legacies has been updated and a new set of legendary item scrolls will be introduced. You can check out all of the upcoming changes to the system after the jump.

Turbine has unveiled new YouTube channels for Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online, and each page contains videos that were made by the official teams and community members. For example, you can watch the DDO Unlimited launch video or various LotRO dev diaries.

As a "special treat," Turbine has uploaded six videos from the "Beyond the Shadows: Making of the Game" DVD that was only included with the LotRO special edition in 2007. Check them out to see how the intro cinematic was created and gain some insight into the monsters, people and land of Middle-earth.