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Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War Has Ranked Online Mode Where You Assault Other Players' Fortresses

It's sort of like Metal Gear Solid V's FOB missions.

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Although you won't be roaming around Mordor with friends in Middle-earth: Shadow of War, the game nonetheless has a new multiplayer component that sounds pretty cool: you'll be able to invade other players' captured fortresses and defend your own from similar assaults.

As reported by Eurogamer, the mode is called Social Conquest and seems similar to the Forward Operating Base missions in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. After defeating all the Orcs controlling a fortress, you can take control and customize it. You'll be able to install commanders and captains from your own Orc army, and you can buy upgrades to make it more difficult to capture.

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Now Playing: Middle-earth: Shadow of War - Open World Gameplay Trailer

After customizing it to your satisfaction, you can then share your fortress online. This allows other players to then attack it, attempting to kill your followers and capture the base. The mode has two variations: friendly conquests, which allow the attacker to retain all of their followers after combat, and ranked conquests, which let you rise a leaderboard with each successful conquest but at the risk of permanently losing followers.

If a player succeeds in Social Conquest, they'll get a loot chest and spoils of war, which can be redeemed for spoils of war chests. They'll contain followers and other items. It's unclear at the moment what the outcome is for a defender that loses a battle.

Shadow of War also features Vendettas, missions that originally appeared in Shadow of Mordor. These are essentially revenge missions: you can challenge an Orc that killed a friend to battle. The new Vendettas, however, are more complicated; players must complete objectives first to attract the Orc that killed their friend.

Shadow of War launches on October 10 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Warner Bros. recently released another trailer that shows the spider Shelob as a human; you can see that video here. In addition, you can read more about Shadow of War's loot box and microtransaction systems here.

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