Middle-earth: Shadow of War January Events

The folks at Monolith Productions are busy putting the final touches on The Blade of Galadriel, the first story DLC for their action-RPG Middle-earth: Shadow of War slated for a February 2018 release. And in the meantime they offer regular developer livestreams (the VODs can be found on the game’s YouTube channel), as well as Community and Elite Challenges for their players. This Steam announcement outlines the upcoming challenges and community events:

The Blade of Galadriel

The Nemesis System is all about creating your own personal stories. Last year, we added even more possibilities with the release of the Slaughter and Outlaw tribes. With them came all manner of new enemies to fight, kill, and recruit – creating a countless number of new characters for you as the Bright Lord to encounter.

Now it’s time for a new tale to begin as you step into the role of the legendary Elven assassin, Eltariel.

This year we’ll be releasing our first story DLC, The Blade of Galadriel, to further tell Eltariel’s story. It’s set to release in early February, so we’ve got new some looks at live gameplay and interviews with the developers, all month long. (Read below for more details!)

The Return of Elite Challenges!

We see you, Shadow of War Community. We see how good you’ve gotten at our game. We see your desire for an extra challenge. And, we see you conquering Gravewalker difficulty without batting an eye. That’s why in 2018 – Elite Challenges are coming back.

For those of you just joining us, Elite Challenges are issued to the entire community by us here at Monolith, and they require a firm mastery of Shadow of War and the Nemesis System to complete.

And, like last time, we won’t be giving you any time to prepare!

We’ll be issuing them as they arrive, right on our forums. You’re going to want to keep an eye out, because we’ve got some cool prizes to hand out – like the statue of Carnan/Tar-Goroth from our Mithril Editions, exclusive Shadow of War concept art lithographs signed by the development team, and signed game soundtracks – among other things.

Community Challenges

Building an army is an essential duty for any Bright Lord. That’s why, this month, we’ve got a bevy of rewards that’ll be ready and waiting for you – as you complete the month’s Community Challenges.

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Monolith, Live!

In 2017, our live streams let us have a direct conversation with you, the community. Plus, it was a great home for our developers to go up in front of you and share their latest and greatest ideas. 2018 will be no different.

This month we’re kicking off our first batch of streams in the New Year, with a look at what you’ve been up to – as we marvel at how powerful your Fortresses have become, along with some Online Fight Pits on a variety of platforms, and even some new (and unusual) strategies to help build up your hierarchy.

But, we’re also going to take a first look at The Blade of Galadriel story DLC! On January 18th we’ll talk through the opening moments of Eltariel’s story, along with some of the motivations behind the new tale we’ve weaved into Mordor with special guests from the development team.

For all the latest be sure to keep an eye on our Official Announcements section! And, as always, you can follow us on Twitch, YouTube Gaming, and Mixer for notifications of when we’re going live.

And this one describes the ongoing Elite Challenge that gives you an opportunity to win a signed copy of Shadow of War’s soundtrack:

Mordor is home to the ambitious. No matter the rank of any of your foot soldiers, there’s a good chance they’re hungry to grow in power any way they can. And in our newest Elite Challenge, you’re going to have to take a lowly Common Trickster of any tribe or elemental, all the way up to Legendary – for a shot at an official Shadow of War OST, signed by the development team at Monolith Productions.

Think you can build a Trickster up through the Online Fight Pits? Here’s how to get involved:

• Take a Common Trickster in your army of any tribe or elemental and send them into the Online Fight Pits!
• If they’re able to win five Pit Fights in a row, they’ll be upgraded from a Common Trickster all the way up to a Legendary!
• Send screenshots of the before and after, along with the Online Fight Pit screen to social[at]lith.com, along with your age, address, and platform of choice.

Good luck in the Pits. You’ll need it.