Mas­sively stum­bled upon an arti­cle in the “Game Info” sec­tion of the LotRO Web site that dis­cusses the upcom­ing Leg­endary Items mechanic. Some of this has been cov­ered before, but it’s still good infor­ma­tion for even those who have been pay­ing attention.

Leg­endary Items are found in chests, as rewards from instances or off of spe­cific ene­mies. As pre­vi­ously dis­cussed, they must be iden­ti­fied by a new Forge Mas­ter NPC in order to be equipped. At this point, their unique lega­cies and bonuses will also be iden­ti­fied. Prior to this you will only see basic infor­ma­tion about the item, such as the name, DPS (if any), gen­eral bonuses, level require­ments and class requirements.

Up to six Leg­endary Items can be slot­ted at any given time, upon which point they will gain expe­ri­ence and level up. Every ten lev­els, a Leg­endary Item will cease to gain lev­els and must be reforged and renamed. This will improve the item. Despite this lim­i­ta­tion, any expe­ri­ence you gain while the item is level-locked will be applied once you reforge it. You will not sim­ply lose this expe­ri­ence. I was very happy to read that.

If you don’t want or need a Leg­endary Item you’ve found, you can also decon­struct it. Decon­struc­tion results in relics and even XP bonuses, both of which can be applied to other Leg­endary Items in your col­lec­tion. Even bound items can be decon­structed, much to my excitement.

Along the way, play­ers will also find spe­cial scrolls that apply a title to their Leg­endary Item and give it some addi­tional stat mod­i­fiers. Only one title can be applied to any leg­endary item at a time and the scrolls are con­sumed upon use. It’s a pretty inter­est­ing idea and really dri­ves home the point that this is yours. You’ve named it, you’ve lev­eled it, you’ve cus­tomized it and you’ve even given it a spe­cial title. I really think this is a great addi­tion to the game, par­tic­u­larly as it essen­tially gives you an unend­ing rea­son to keep playing.

Be sure to check out the full arti­cle for more infor­ma­tion and images. I can’t wait to try this out for myself.