Turbine is set to release the first expansion pack to Lord of the Rings Online, "Mines of Moria". Fans have been eagerly waiting for the time that they can set foot inside the once glorious Dwarven city. That time, is tomorrow morning! We couldn't be more excited here at Allakhazam. So much so, we decided to call Jeffrey Steefel, Executive Producer for LotRO on Friday to talk about it! During our interview with Jeff, we had the opportunity to talk about some of the changes that Mines of Moria will bring, in addition to some of the concerns that players have about the game in its current state.

Tamat : So Jeffrey, thank you so much for joining us today. I know the expansion launches right around the corner, so things must be going crazy over there.

Jeffrey : Yup, very, very busy in preparation. Good crazy, though.

Tamat : So Mines of Moria launches on Tuesday. Are you excited? Are there some additions you just can't wait for players to try out?

Jeffrey : Oh yeah, absolutely. And some of the stuff we've been talking about publicly for a little while now. First of all, we're just really excited to get people to be able to visit Moria. Just for people to actually see Moria and see what we've built and see their reaction to it. I know even in alpha and beta, just seeing people go in there the first time has been extremely gratifying. I think the place we've created in Moria is quite astounding and unusual in sort of its depth and the way it looks, the way it feels, and how big it is. I don't think people will feel they've had the same kind of experience in a game like this before, so I'm excited about that.

I’ve had the opportunity to conduct some fun interviews over the years but sitting down with Jeffrey “Tigole”  Kaplan felt like I was hanging out with an extremely knowledgeable gamer, not a big wig at a major studio. From the moment I met him he had this pleasant aura about him which made it extremely easy to talk about our previous lives as hardcore ‘EverQuesters’. Once upon a time Jeff was the GM of a guild that many of you reading have likely heard of, “Legacy of Steel”. He’s used his love and knowledge of gaming and the end result is World of Warcraft.

The following is from my talk with Jeff Kaplan on Wednesday night at the official Blizzard Wrath of the Lich King Launch event in Anaheim, California. Special thanks go out to Humphrey Cheung from TGdaily.com for the pictures and to Blizzard PR for sneaking me inside Fry’s.

Allakhazam : Hey Jeff, thank you so much for agreeing to talk with us tonight. We know there is a lot going on so we appreciate your time.

Jeff : Well I really appreciate being here and I'm a huge fan of Allakhazam so it's my pleasure.

Allakhazam : Thank you! So what were some of the major challenges you had developing Wrath of the Lich King?

Allakhazam Editor-in-Chief Andrew "Tamat" Beegle had the opportunity at BlizzCon to speak exclusively with the cast of the hit webisode sitcom “The Guild,” which follows the lives of the group’s members both online and off.

Before you read any further, head on over to www.watchtheguild.com and watch an episode or two (or go crazy and watch all 10) of season one. That way, you’ll truly understand the cast’s excitement for season two, which, according to creator Felicia Day, is scheduled to launch in mid-November.

Are you all caught up? Good. Andrew spoke with Felicia Day (Codex, healer), Vincent Caso (Bladezz, rogue/thief), Robin Thorsen (Clara, mage), and Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo, warlock) about the upcoming season, their impressions of BlizzCon and their other projects, all while discovering that the cast has a great sense of humor.

The video of the interview can be found after the jump.

The EQII Allakhazam Developer Chat Logs are up!

CLICK HERE!

Addendum:  Several developers hung around and braved the FFA channel after the official chat.  I dug out some QA that happened there, and it's been added to the chat logs.  Enjoy!!