Mounted combat tramples into Lord of the Rings Online this fall with Riders of Rohan expansion

Remember that scene in Lord of the Rings? The one where one of the guys with a beard gives a speech to a bunch of guys on horses and then they run into a ton of orcs and save Middle Earth? That part was awesome. But it wasn't just awesome because it was a huge, epic battle - it was awesome because of the mounts. Seeing the Riders of Rohan storm down the hills and clash with the enemies was a delight, and come November, it's something you'll be able to take part in with the new Lord of the Rings: Online expansion.

Today, Turbine revealed that the next chapter in the Lord of the Rings: Online story is The Riders of Rohan, which is due out this Fall. The expansion will add a large new chunk of land to explore, ten new levels to grind through, and, of course, a new mounted combat system, because it wouldn't really make sense for the "Riders of Rohan" expansion to cut out the Rohirrim.

The new land, obviously, is Rohan, though not all of it is going to be added to the game right away. This expansion will only add the East Plains of Rohan, which is still twice the size of the Mines of Moria - the location of the game's first expansion. This new area will not only contain quests for players level 75-85, but it will also introduce them to mounted combat, which will be a major component of the new area. Turbine says that the mounted combat will be much more in-depth than it is in other MMOs, with skills associated with it allowing players to improve their prowess when atop a steed. Players won't be the only ones taking advantage of the mounted combat, either. Enemies, too, will mount up and travel around the planes in Warbands. These Warbands of Orcs will charge groups of players, adding in some dynamic content that reminds us, in a way, of the rifts in Trion's Rift.

Above: That's... not actually from the game, but man was that scene cool

Just as was the case with the last expansions to come out since Lord of the Rings: Online went free-to-play, the digital expansion will be broken into chunks for digestion and micro-transactions.