The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan is the fourth expansion for the Massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Lord of the Rings Online. It was released on October 15, 2012 as a web-based download and on Steam. New game enhancements include a level cap increase to 85, level 85 legendary weapons (as well as a new legendary item), and six new areas in Eastern Rohan.
The expansion's major new feature is Mounted Combat, which enables the players to perform skills on horsebacks. Mounted combat was initially only available in Rohan, but was also present in all subsequent regions, provided that the player is not within a settlement.
Mounted Combat
War-Steeds
A new major gameplay feature added in the expansion is Mounted Combat. Early on, players have the opportunity to acquire a Rohirric War-steed. This mount is unique from all others in that it allows players to engage in combat while on horseback. To that end, the war-steeds have been given their own stats such as morale and power and their own skills. Players will also acquire new class-specific skills exclusive to mounted combat, as normal "on-foot" skills are not usable. Riders of Rohan also features mounted enemies, and players are encouraged to take advantage of the benefits of being on a war-steed when fighting these enemies.
Movement on war-steeds is not like movement on the travel mounts that have previously been featured in The Lord of the Rings Online. War-steeds accelerate slower, decelerate slower, and have a much wider turning radius than the smaller, northern horse breeds. In this manner, war-steeds behave more realistically than travel mounts. As a war-steed accelerates to its top speed, it accumulates a new feature called Fury. Fury amplifies the damage done to enemies as well as the healing done to allies. Because of this new feature, mounted combat is intended to be primarily similar to jousting, in which players ride a distance, gaining speed and Fury, and unleash a single, massive hit on the enemy. The player then rides off, gathers more speed and Fury, turns about, and rides at the enemy again until the victory or defeat.
All players will acquire the "Medium" War-steed, with a good balance of survivability, maneuverability, and damage potential. Players who have purchased the expansion are free to choose 2 alternatives, the Light and the Heavy War-steeds, while players who have not purchased the expansion can purchase these alternatives with Lotro Points. The Light War-steed is more maneuverable than its Medium and Heavy counterparts, but sacrifices survivability in exchange. The Heavy War-steed sacrifices some damage potential and some maneuverability for survivability.
War-steed traits and skills
In addition to the 3 War-Steed types, each type has 3 different trait-trees: Red Dawn, Riddermark, and Rohirrim. As the war-steed levels up, player receives points which can be spend in each trait-tree. As players spends points in one of the 3 trees, they will unlock passive bonuses and more mounted combat skills. In addition, more potent traits are unlocked as players spends points in a given tree. Each tree is different for every class, resulting in multiple configurations for players to choose from. Despite the class differences, Red Dawn focuses more on offense; Riddermark focuses on a balance of offense, maneuverability, and survival; and the Rohirrim trait-tree focuses on maneuverability and survival.
As traits-trees are filled out, Mount Skills become available. These skills directly affect how war-steeds behave (e.g., one skill causes a war-steed to automatically follow an enemy). In this manner, Mount Skills can be thought of as skills that the war-steeds themselves possess (although they are still found in the character Skills Panel). In addition to Mount Skills, each class will be granted separate Mounted Class Skills. The first 3 skills granted are stances that reflect what role the player is filling: Red Dawn, Riddermark, and Rohirrim. War-steed types, traits, and skills/stances are independent of each other, and each set of combinations will differ by class. This provides great variety of playstyles, allowing each player to find their own mix of damage and survivability.
Other gameplay enhancements
The introduction of Mounted Combat also required significant changes to major aspects of the game, which can be grouped into Automatic Quest bestowal, Open Tapping and Remote Looting. At launch, all of these features have only been implemented in Rohan, but due to positive player feedback were expanded to the rest of the game world in an update later that year.