I think it's almost been proven that there will be a Scouring of the Shire quest because:

1) all of the quests are named after chapters in the books

2) the only reason Scouring would be left out is to make Mount Doom the climactic endinh

3) Mount Doom is the third chapter in book 6, so

4) If Mount Doom was the end, the 3 quests would be The Tower of Cirith Ungol, The Land of Shadow, and Mount Doom

5) we just got a saga box announced called The Land of Shadow, and

6) the designers probably wouldn't make a quest in one box that has the same title as a completely different box, which means

7) they could not stop at Mount Doom if they wanted 3 quests in the box

8) the quests are The Tower of Cirith Ungol, Mount Doom, and The Scouring of the Shire

My hopes for the final quest are a bit different.

I hope the fifth box is paths of the dead, siege of Minas Tirith, battle of the Pelenor Fields. Ending on the cliffhanger at the Black Gate, but not featuring the actual battle.

Then the last box would be Cirith Ungol, Gorgoroth and then ...

The final battle would be a split staging area quest like The Breaking of the Fellowship. On the one side Fellowship Aragorn would be defending against impossible odds, trying to hold out until Fellowship Frodo reaches mount doom. The two sides could influence each other (eg, Aragorn being able to engage Frodo's enemies to help him quest - like the breaking of the fellowship quest.) I realise this approach would work best in multiplayer but I'm sure the designers could make this work in solo.

I do hope we see The Scouring of the Shire too, but maybe as a POD quest. I think this approach would be the most epic climax to the long saga.

My hopes for the final quest are a bit different.

I hope the fifth box is paths of the dead, siege of Minas Tirith, battle of the Pelenor Fields. Ending on the cliffhanger at the Black Gate, but not featuring the actual battle.

Then the last box would be Cirith Ungol, Gorgoroth and then ...

The final battle would be a split staging area quest like The Breaking of the Fellowship. On the one side Fellowship Aragorn would be defending against impossible odds, trying to hold out until Fellowship Frodo reaches mount doom. The two sides could influence each other (eg, Aragorn being able to engage Frodo's enemies to help him quest - like the breaking of the fellowship quest.) I realise this approach would work best in multiplayer but I'm sure the designers could make this work in solo.

I do hope we see The Scouring of the Shire too, but maybe as a POD quest. I think this approach would be the most epic climax to the long saga.

I rather like this idea for the final quest. It would be similar to some of the Hobbit box quests where Bilbo gets split off. As long as they don't include riddles, I'm okay with this as a "final quest" with Scouring the Shire as POD.

My hopes for the final quest are a bit different.

I hope the fifth box is paths of the dead, siege of Minas Tirith, battle of the Pelenor Fields. Ending on the cliffhanger at the Black Gate, but not featuring the actual battle.

Then the last box would be Cirith Ungol, Gorgoroth and then ...

The final battle would be a split staging area quest like The Breaking of the Fellowship. On the one side Fellowship Aragorn would be defending against impossible odds, trying to hold out until Fellowship Frodo reaches mount doom. The two sides could influence each other (eg, Aragorn being able to engage Frodo's enemies to help him quest - like the breaking of the fellowship quest.) I realise this approach would work best in multiplayer but I'm sure the designers could make this work in solo.

I do hope we see The Scouring of the Shire too, but maybe as a POD quest. I think this approach would be the most epic climax to the long saga.

That does sound pretty sweet. I really do wonder if the designers will go the story-route or the epic-climactic-ending route.