The Lord of the Rings Online

Video game
The Lord of the Rings Online
Details
Developer	Turbine, Inc. (2007-2016) Standing Stone Games (2016-Present)
Publisher	Midway Games (2007-2010) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (2010-2016) Daybreak Game Company (2016-Present)
Platform	Microsoft Windows, OS X (Beta)
Release Date	April 24, 2007
Genre	MMORPG

The Lord of the Rings Online (commonly abbreviated to LOTRO or LotRO) is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) for PC and OS X that takes place in the world of Arda during the time of The Lord of the Rings. It was originally branded as The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, but with later updates, that subtitle was dropped.

The players take on the role of adventurers of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. The events of the game are concurrent with the events of The Lord of the Rings but most of the game revolves around events that occurred elsewhere or in the wake of events in the books. The game draws inspiration from people, places and events only mentioned in the books, combining these with original concepts to expand on parts of Middle-earth Tolkien did not. The main quest series of the game, known as Epic Quests, are divided into volumes, books and chapters, emulating the structure of The Lord of the Rings.

There have been at least twelve expansions (some large, some small) to the game since its original release in 2007, and at least fifty-five major updates.

Development

Development of The Lord of the Rings Online began in 1998, when Sierra started work on a game called Middle-earth Online. Following Vivendi Universal Games' takeover of Sierra in 1999, the game's production was shared with Turbine. Turbine secured the rights of the entire game in March 2004, and it was renamed to The Lord of the Rings Online. It was originally subscription-based, but later became free-to-play with optional paid subscription and microtransactions.

A closed beta was announced on 8 September, 2006. An open beta began on 30 March, 2007, and was open to all who pre-ordered the game's Founders Club edition. In April 2007, the beta opened to the public. In 2010, the monetization model of the game changed to allow a free-to-play experience. Subscribers were given benefits for their patronage, while all players could access the game for free, but with certain limitations. In 2016, development of the game was handed off to a new spin-off company formed specifically to maintain LOTRO and 'Dungeons & Dragons Online'.This company is named Standing Stone Games.

As an online game, development continues with regular enhancements, additions, and changes to mechanics and game systems.

Gameplay

Player characters

Like many RPGs, The Lord of the Rings Online has a system of character classes and levels. Each character chooses a race and a class on character creation, this cannot be changed. Players are able to play as any of the Free Peoples - Elves, Men, Dwarves, Hobbits, Beornings, Stout-axe Dwarves, or High Elves. Male or female characters can be created, except in the case of Dwarves. As per Tolkien, Dwarf-women are very rare and seldom leave their mountain halls, though the addition of Stout-axe dwarves as a playable race in 2019 allowed players to create dwarf-women. There is no difference in appearance male and female Stout-axes. There are eleven classes: Beorning, Brawler, Burglar, Captain, Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Lore-master, Minstrel, Rune-keeper, and Warden.

Customization of the character's abilities can be done by changing equipment and traits. As of the Helm's Deep expansion, class traits work on a tree system, with each class having three "trait trees" where traits can be selected with earned points and unlocking enough traits in a particular tree allows higher-level traits to be selected and applies additional bonus. In addition to class traits are racial traits, such as Men being able to slot a trait to do additional damage with swords or Hobbits being able to slot a trait that allows them to throw a stone, and virtue traits which boost the character's stats.

Levels are significant, with much lower level enemies being extremely easy to defeat and much higher level enemies being nearly impossible to defeat. Each region has enemies and quests with a range of levels usually consecutive to those of an adjacent region. Quests over five levels above the character's level are inaccessible. In addition to being able to complete quest and defeat enemies in more locations, characters gain access to additional equipment, skills, traits and instances as they level up. Levels are increased by gaining experience, which is earned by completing quests and instances, defeating enemies of an appropriate level, and crafting.

World

The Lord of the Rings Online is an "open-world" game in which most locations that have been released can be freely accessed on an open landscape (although some places, such as Moria, require certain quests to be completed first.) The game world is split into "lands", large areas of Middle-Earth. As of Update 42, the explorable lands in the game are Eriador, Rhovanion, Gondor, Mordor, and Haradwaith. Each land is in turn divided into regions, e.g. Bree-land in Eriador, and each region contains areas, e.g. Andrath within Bree-land.

Although most of the land is available to all for exploration, most regions require non-VIPs to purchase a quest pack to access quests, deeds and instances associated with that region. A few regions, such as East and West Rohan, require expansion packs to be purchased to unlock content, even for VIPs. However, as more expansions are released, the developers have been unlocking older expansions (and their regions) to be accessible to all players. Each region is generally seen as it was in a certain time in the War of the Ring, for example Lothlórien is visited by the player at the same time as the Fellowship of the Ring rested there, and Pelargir just after Aragorn liberated the city from the Corsairs of Umbar.

Reddit users /u/lallapalalable and /u/exploderator estimated the total size of the map at no more than 250 square km (97 square miles) in 2017, making it one of the largest game maps ever made.

Quests

Much of the game's completable content is in the form of quests. Quests consist of a series of objectives, often including speaking with NPCs, defeating certain enemies, and recovering certain items from the ground or from defeated enemies. Most quests have a small number of objectives but may unlock additional quests upon completion to form a quest chain. Quests are usually started by started by speaking with a particular Non-Player Character (NPC), indicated with a ring icon above the NPC's head. The forms of ring icons and what they indicate are as follows:

• Gold ring with blue aura: the NPC has a quest that is approximately appropriate for the character's level.
• Gold ring with blue aura and fiery inscription: the NPC must be spoken with to advance the quest.
• Bright gold ring: the NPC has an Epic quest available.
• Gold ring with orange flames: the NPC must be spoken to advance the Epic quest.
• Blue ring and quill: the NPC has a comment about an active quest, speaking to the NPC will not advance the quest but may give additional information.
• Gold ring with hourglass: the NPC has a quest with a cooldown, the player must wait for the cooldown to expire before accepting the quest.
• Silver ring: the NPC has a quest that is too high level for the player to accept at that level.
• Transparent grey ring: the NPC has a "trivial" quest, one far below the player's level.
• Gold ring with anvil: the NPC has a crafting quest, and involves the crafting system in some way.
• Gold ring with sword: The NPC has an allegiance quest; quests that are unique to the Mordor Expansion.*Gold ring with map: The NPC has a missions quest; quests that are unique to Missions-related quests.

Some quests are started by obtaining unique items dropped from specific enemies. The Riders of Rohan expansion introduced auto-bestowed quests, which bring up a quest prompt when the player defeats a specific type of enemy or finds a certain location. Such enemies are marked with ring icons similarly to how NPC quest givers are. Players have the option of accepting these quests automatically or choosing to manually accept or decline each prompt. Most landscape quests can only be completed once, some special landscape quests and most instance quests can be completed once a day any number of times, and a few landscape quests can be repeated at any time up to a certain number of times.

Quests are categorized according to what area, instance or other section they are associated with. Of note are the Epic Quests, a series that tells the main storyline of the game. In imitation of the Lord of the Rings book, the epic quests are divided into Volumes, which are divided into Books which in turn are divided into Chapters. Each Chapter is usually an individual quest. Epic Quests bring the player through the landscape but are considered apart from it, therefore most Epic Quests are available to all players regardless of whether or not any quest packs are unlocked. A notable exception is the end of Volume III: Allies of the King, which requires purchase of the Helm's Deep expansion to complete. The Black Book of Mordor, the new main storyline for quests after the Epic Books, has eight chapters, all spanning various areas in Middle Earth including Mordor, the Strongholds of the North, the Iron Hills, and the Ered Mithrin.

Deeds

Deeds are non-repeatable achievements recorded on an interface window called the Deed Log. Common deed objectives include completing a certain number of quests in a particular area or region (Quest Deeds), defeating a certain number of enemies of a specific type in a particular region (Slayer Deeds), discovering specified locations (Explorer Deeds), and reaching the next tier of reputation with a faction. Most Deeds award Turbine points. Deeds in a particular region usually award reputation in that region's faction. Deeds also commonly reward marks, virtues, and titles.

Instances

Instances are locations in the game separated from the open landscape, not accessible through normal travel. Instances can take place in either separate versions of the locations available on the landscape (for example, Pelargir while Aragorn's host retakes it from the corsairs) or in locations not accessible anywhere else (such as Dale). Most instances are private instances, that is, only one player or group of players can enter it and it closes when they complete it, while public instances can be joined at any time by any number of separate players. They are often repeatable, with ones associated with landscape quests being replayable through a Reflecting Pool in the associated region and others accessible through the Instance Finder window. Most private instances have associated quests automatically bestowed upon entering the instance and cancelled upon exiting.

Fellowships and Kinships

Most open landscape content and associated instances are designed to be completable by a solo player, while some locations in the game and Instance Finder instances are meant for a team of players. A group of players with a maximum size of six is known as a fellowship. For larger groups, a raid of up to four fellowships can be formed, for a maximum group size of 24 players. Players are free to group on the open landscape and in public instances, but private instances have a limit on how many players may enter.

Players can found and join lasting organizations known as Kinships in the game. Players in a kinship can communicate in their own kinship chat channel to socialize and plan events with their fellow members.

Monster Play

The game is primarily Player vs. Environment (PvE), with most combat being player characters against computer controlled enemies found throughout the landscape and instances. However in the Ettenmoors region, players can participate in Player vs. Monster Player battles (PvMP). Players can create Monster characters that only have access to PvMP areas where they battle standard characters, who fight on the side of the Free Peoples. Each monster player class is limited to a specific race. The monster classes are the Blackarrow (Uruk), Defiler (Orc), Reaver (Orc), Stalker (Warg), Warleader (Uruk), and Weaver (Spider) As of Update 16.2 a new PvMP area, set in Osgiliath before Boromir's journey to Rivendell and accessed via a banner in the Ettenmoors, was released.

Towns and settlements provide Vendors where players can purchase or repair their armour, weapons, and supplies. Towns also often include Mailboxes, Auction Halls, Class Trainers, Forge-masters, Relic-masters, and Stable-masters who allow swift travel between regions.

The player interface allows other aspects of gameplay such as Character screens, Quest and Deed Logs, a Social Panel where players can interact, and a Crafting panel where players use skills to craft new items.

Releases, updates, and expansions

Name	Release Date	Description
Shadows of Angmar	24 April 2007	It initially included books I through VIII of Epic Volume I: Shadows of Angmar. Approximately once every two months a major free update was added to The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Each update added a new book to the volume, up until the conclusion of the story arc with Book XV: The Ring-forges of Eregion, released on 22 July, 2008.
Mines of Moria	18 November 2008	Like Shadows of Angmar, Mines of Moria continued to regularly release updates. Updates were less frequent than Shadows of Angmar. The expansion's story continued through to Book VIII - Scourge of Khazad-dûm, released on 23 June, 2009, the conclusion of which would not appear until the next expansion.
Siege of Mirkwood	1 December 2009	Unlike the second expansion this edition was only available via a web-based download. It initially included Book IX and the epilogue of Volume II: Mines of Moria. Kate Paiz, Executive Producer for The Lord of the Rings Online, released a letter on 22 October 2010 stating that updates will be more frequent but will not always be accompanied with a new book continuing the epic story. On 10 September, 2010, Update 1: Journey to Winter-Home was released, which also marked the transition of the game to a "free-to-play" business model, no longer requiring a regular subscription. It also marked the new reckoning of regular Updates being numbered instead of being marked by the epic story updates they contained. The last Epic Story update of the expansion was Book III - Echoes of the Dead, released on 21 March, 2011.
Rise of Isengard	27 September 2011	The expansion was made available as a digital download.. It initially included Volume III Book IV - Rise of Isengard, and through updates would reach Book Book VI - Mists of Anduin and have its last update on 14 May, 2012.
Riders of Rohan	15 October 2012	The fourth expansion, it would see the Epic Story continue with Books VI- Mists of the Anduin, Book VII - A Fellowship Endangered, Book VIII - Into the Riddermark, Book IX - The Third Marshal and Book X - Snows of Wildermore.
Helm's Deep	20 November 2013	The fifth expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online. After the Helm's Deep expansion, Turbine discontinued releasing annual paid expansions for three years in favor of quarterly updates with content free to VIPs. During this three year period, eight major updates introduced many new areas as well as concluding Volume III of the Epic Story with Book XIV - The Waters of Isengard. A new Volume, Volume IV - The Strength of Sauron was introduced, and received content all the way through Book VIII - Battle of the Black Gate.
Mordor	2 August 2017	Mordor was the sixth expansion, and the twenty-first update. It marked the return to regular paid expansions after three years of quarterly updates. It included the conclusion of the Epic Story arc with Volume IV, Book IX - The Ring of Power. This seemingly marked the end of the Epic Story arc that first started with the initial release of the game ten years previous in 2007, as well as the (general) conclusion of the adaptation of the story from The Lord of the Rings. The expansion also introduced a brand new Epic Story Arc: The Black Book of Mordor, which broke from tradition of the first Epic Story Arc and stopped segmenting Epic Stories into "Volumes" and "Books" and simply broke each story segment into "Chapters". The expansion initially included four chapters, and would see six more added with additional updates. It's last update was Update 24, released on 4 June, 2019.
Minas Morgul	5 November 2019	Minas Morgul was the seventh expansion, and the twenty-fifth update. It would conclude the Epic Story arc The Black Book of Mordor and begin a new epic arc: The Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves. It would also add a new Volume to the original Epic Story: Volume V - The Peace of Middle-earth, which allows players to be present during the wedding between Aragorn and Arwen, which was included in the last update of the expansion, Update 27, released on 30 June, 2020.
War of Three Peaks	20 October 2020	War of Three Peaks was the eighth expansion, (though referred to by developers as a "mini-expansion"). Among other features, it included additions to The Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves epic story. The last update of the expansion, Update 30.3 was released on 13 October, 2021.
Fate of Gundabad	10 November 2021	Fate of Gundabad, the ninth expansion and thirty-first update. It concluded the "The Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves" Epic Story arc with the remaining seven Chapters. The last update, Update 33 (The Yondershire) was released. 20 April, 2022
Before the Shadow	15 November 2022	Before the Shadow, the thirty-fourth update, was the tenth expansion, and was another "mini-expansion". It opened a new Epic Story arc: "The Song of Waves and Wind". Update 37 (The Humble Homes of The Holbytlan) would be it's last, released on 29 August, 2023.
Corsairs of Umbar	8 November 2023	Corsairs of Umbar, the thirty-eighth update, was the eleventh expansion. It continued the Epic Story arc "The Song of Waves and Wind". It's last update was Update 41 (On the Wing), which released 31 July, 2024.
Legacy of Morgoth	6 November 2024	Legacy of Morgoth, the forty-second update, was the twelfth expansion. It added Chapters 10-13 of the Epic Story arc: "The Song of Waves and Wind".
Kingdoms of Harad	3 December 2025	Kingdoms of Harad, the forty-sixth update, was the thirteenth expansion. It concludes the Epic Story arc: "The Song of Waves and Wind", and serves as the conclusion to the trilogy of expansions focusing on the Southern regions of Middle-Earth.

Added elements and deviations from the book

The Lord of the Rings Online does not only follow the story as told in The Lord of the Rings, but also tells original stories about events happening during the same time period as the War of the Ring. These chiefly involve player characters following the trail of the members of the Fellowship and other main characters from the text. As such, there are a number of elements that do not appear in any of the published works. This includes characters, lineages, objects and locations. A selection of these are described below.

Major original characters

• Amarthiel served the Witch-king of Angmar during his first reign over Angmar and wore the lesser ring Narchuil. She was slain by Narmeleth at the Battle of Fornost and her soul wandered Middle-earth for over a thousand years. She managed to possess Narmeleth and disguised herself as Sara Oakheart. She eventually revealed herself after the defeat of Mordirith by Golodir and becomes the Regent of Angmar.

• Andraste was a female Man who served the Witch-king.
• Jon Brackenbrook was a Man who was captain of Archet.
• Ronald Dwale was a Hobbit from Dwalling. He was an author and a member of the Inklings, that meets in the Bird and Baby Inn. He was based on J.R.R. Tolkien himself.
• Éogan was the second in command of the Blackwolds and took over leadership of the group after William Skunkwood's death.
• Gorgar the Ruthless was another descendant of Azog who led the Orcs of Gundabad against the Gabil'akka during the War of Three Peaks.
• Gorothul was a Black Numenorean sorcerer high in the ranks of Dol Guldur.
• The Huntsman was a spirit found in Enedwaith who took the shape of a large man with horns of a stag. Many players thought this was Oromë. The developers confirmed that it wasn't Oromë but a Maia of Oromë.
• Ivar the Bloodhand was a Gaunt-lord from the First Age.
• Karazgar was one of the Gúrzyul seeking to claim power in Mordor after Sauron's defeat.
• Mazog was a descendant of Azog and leader of the Orcs of Moria.
• Mordirith was the Steward of Angmar.
• Narmeleth was an elf maiden of Rivendell and daughter of Laerdan. She slew Amarthiel during the Battle of Fornost and became possessed by her soul over a thousand years later.
• Mundo Sackville-Baggins was a Hobbit who was mistakenly identified as having the ring.
• William Skunkwood was the leader of the Blackwolds.
• Skorgrím Dourhand was a dwarf and leader of the Dourhands. He was slain during the Battle of Edhelion. His corpse was used as a vehicle by Ivar the Bloodhand who possessed it with a fell spirit to trick the Dourhands to ally themselves with the forces of Angmar.
• Sambrog was the Wight-lord of the Barrow-downs.

Original Groups

• The Blackwolds were a group of Mannish brigands from Bree-land.
• The Dourhands was a clan of dwarves aligned with the forces of Angmar. They were the dwarves that stayed behind to rebuild the Dwarven Halls in the Blue Mountains which were destroyed during the War of Wrath.
• The Gúrzyul were powerful Black Númenoreans who served near the top of the chain of command in Mordor.
• The Inklings are a group of Hobbit-authors who discuss literature. They meet each other in the Bird and Baby Inn. Prominent members are Ronald Dwale, Owen Farfield, Carlo Williams, and Jack Lewisdown. The group and members are based on the real Inklings.
• The Iron Garrison was a group of Longbeard Dwarves that sought to find Balin and retake the Mines of Moria.
• The Stout-axes were a House of Dwarves lost to slavery in Mordor. They were eventually freed after the demise of Sauron.
• The Warriors Three were a trio of Rohirrim adventure seekers.
• The Zhelruka were an eastern House of Dwarves who migrated westward after the War of the Ring.

Original Objects

• Narchuil was one of the lesser rings forged by the elven-smiths during the Second Age.
• Zigilburk was a legendary mithril axe discovered in Moria by the Iron Garrison.
• The Vandassari were a set of stones brought from Númenor to Middle-earth. These are the Oath-stones with the power to hold those who swear upon them to their promises, such as the Stone of Erech.
• The Black Book of Mordor was a mysterious text discovered in the Iron Hills.

Original Locations

• Agamaur was a vast swamp of the Lone-lands. It was a site of a major battle between Arthedain, Cardolan and Rhudaur. To the west were the ruins of Ost Guruth, a fortress of Arnor claimed by the nomadic Eglain. To the east lay the ruins of Garth Agarwen, a fortress of Rhudaur ruled by Hill-men loyal to the mysterious Red Maid.
• Bird and Baby Inn was an inn in Michel Delving.
• Esteldin was a ruin of Arnor in the North Downs. At the time of the War of the Ring, it was used as a base of operations by the Rangers of the North.
• Falathlorn was a green and beautiful region of the Ered Luin favored by the Elves. It contained the Elvish havens of Duillond and Celondim. Not far from this region were the chilly Low-lands, site of the Dwarvish cities Gondamon and Kheledûl.
• Galtrev was one of the largest towns of Dunland, the nominal capitol of the country.
• Lhanuch was a chief village among the Dunlendings of Enedwaith.
• Luntil's Ferry was a secret crossing of the River Anduin in Lossarnach.
• Maur Tulhau was a Stoorish Hobbit village in Enedwaith located in the forbidding Gloomgens. It was an remnant of the time when the Stoors lived in this region before most of their number moved north to The Shire.
• Nar's Peak was a cleft along one of the spurs of the Misty Mountains. Thorin and some other exiles of Erebor dwelt for a time.
• Othrongroth was the oldest and largest Edain mound in the Barrow-downs.
• Stangard was a Rohirrim settlement near the Great River Anduin. Its inhabitants were mostly exiles sent to protect Rohan's outer borders.
• Tinnudir was an island in Lake Evendim. It was used as a headquarters by a group of Rangers called the Wardens of Annúminas, protectors of the ancient capitol of Arnor.
• Wildermore was a small plateau in the northern portion of Eastemnet. It suffered an unnatural winter due to the machinations of Saruman.
• Woodsedge was one of the main towns of the Woodmen living in the Vales of Anduin at the edge of Mirkwood.

Servers

In Lord of the Rings: Online, there are distinct servers that your character must be created on and can only interact with other characters on that server. They are normally separated by region (to reduce latency) and sometimes will be given an additional categorization, or in the case of Legendaries, a server-wide modifier.

Over time, due to shifting player populations, worlds have been consolidated. Players transfer their characters to a new world and the old server is then eventually closed.

Servers are named after specific characters, regions or items within the Lord of the Rings legendarium.

64-bit Migration

In March 2025, 64-bit servers were announced, which, per the developer:

Offer many technological advances compared to our prior 32-bit servers, including the ability to better manage resources and offer the smoothest possible gameplay experience to our community. These servers operate on modern technological standards and position the game for success and growth long into the future.

Three were opened for the US region, and three for European with no language-specific assignments given.

Characters on active 32-bit servers were given a five-month long window for free transfers to these new servers. In addition there was a limited window for characters on servers who were closed previously to revive them and transfer for free to one of the new 64-bit servers.

On 25 August 2025 all 32-bit servers were then shuttered , leaving only eight active servers for the game.

European servers

The European servers were originally created and hosted by Codemasters, but on 1 June 2011 LOTRO Europe was taken over by Turbine, who are based in the Easter U.S. This arrangement continued with Standing Stone Games who currently host the European servers.

European servers are further distinguished by other languages, French and German in particular.

Legendary Servers

Legendary servers are special worlds with a progressive level cap and require a VIP subscription to access. The first legendary server, Anor, was launched in 2018, while Ithil was opened shortly thereafter to accommodate congestion. Due to inactivity, Ithil was eventually closed in 2021.

In fall of 2021, two new Legendary servers were announced. Both would follow the previous legendary model, by starting at the original level cap of 50 and slowly expanding from there, but each had its own take on progression. The Shadowfax server gave players 50% more experience points than the standard servers, while Treebeard slowed experience point gain by 70%. Each server would also receive expansions at a different pace, with Shadowfax gaining expansions more quickly than Treebeard. Shadowfax concluded in 2023 and Treebeard was sunset in 2025 along with the other 32-bit servers.

On 1 August, 2024, two new Legendary servers were opened: Angmar (NA) and Mordor (EU), they were initially capped at level 50, and introduced a unique "Veil of the Nine challenge" where wraiths would randomly appear in battle, and the Nazgul would appear rarely in the world. They also were the first 64-bit servers to be introduced.

Roleplay Servers

To encourage players who wish to enjoy the game as their characters, some servers have been designated as roleplaying servers. In these worlds, it is expected that most players will interact together as the characters they have made, imagining themselves as actually being in Middle-earth. In the past, a special case was Landroval which was designated RE, roleplay encouraged.

Active Servers

Region	Name	Notes	Opened
[US]	Glamdring		2025
[US]	Peregrin	Roleplaying	2025
[US]	Sting		2025
[EU]	Grond		2025
[EU]	Meriadoc	Roleplaying	2025
[EU]	Orcrist		2025
[US]	Angmar	Legendary (Veil of the Nine)	2025
[EU]	Mordor	Legendary (Veil of the Nine)	2025

Closed Servers

Region Name Notes Closed [US] Arkenstone Oceanic (Unofficial) 2025 [EU] Belegaer Roleplaying, German 2025 [US] Brandywine 2025 [US] Crickhollow 2025 [EU] Evernight English 2025 [US] Gladden 2025 [EU] Gwaihir German 2025 [US] Landroval Roleplay Encouraged 2025 [EU] Laurelin Roleplay, English 2025 [EU] Sirannon French 2025 [EU] Gwaihir German 2025 [US] Landroval Roleplay Encouraged 2025 [EU] Laurelin Roleplay, English 2025 [EU] Sirannon French 2025 [US] Treebeard Legendary (Slow XP) 2025 [US] Shadowfax Legendary (Fast XP) 2023 [US] Anor Legendary (Slow XP) 2022 [US] Ithil Legendary (Slow XP) 2021

Region Name Notes Closed [EU] Anduin German 2016 [US] Dwarrowdelf 2016 [EU] Eldar 2016 [US] Elendilmir Oceanic 2016 [EU] Estel Roleplaying, French 2016 [US] Firefoot 2016 [EU] Gilrain English 2016 [US] Imladris 2016 [EU] Maiar German 2016 [US] Meneldor 2016 [EU] Morthond German 2016 [US] Nimrodel 2016 [US] Riddermark 2016 [US] Silverlode 2016 [EU] Snowbourn English 2016 [EU] Vanyar German 2016 [US] Vilya 2016 [US] Windfola 2016 [EU] Withywindle English 2016 [RU] Aglarond 2015 [RU] Fornost 2015 [RU] Mirkwood 2015

License

For The Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine (and subsequently Standing Stone Games) has licensed the rights to the content and lore of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. As a result neither Turbine, nor Standing Stone Games, does not have license rights to the New Line Cinema film series by Peter Jackson, nor The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth books, or other posthumous works that were published recently, such us The Children of Húrin.

Reception

The Lord of the Rings Online has been received very positively thus far, as reviews continue to appear since the game's initial release.

GameDaily awarded the game 9/10, praising its rich, fantasy-themed universe, well-integrated trait and title system, and a story that remains true to the works of Tolkien. Yahoo! Video Games wrote a review with few negative mentions, awarding the game a score of 4/5, while Computer and Video Games called the game an essential purchase for Lord of the Rings fans, scoring the game a 9.2/10. Eurogamer scored the game a 9.0/10, calling it tough to resist. Gamespy gave it 4.5/5 stars, claiming the game "opened up Middle-Earth to the masses" but commented negatively on its weak PvP content, while GameTrailers awarded it 8.5/10, citing its interesting tweaks to the MMO genre. IGN.com ranked it a similar 8.6/10, praising it for its solid experience, though criticizing it for its lack of major improvements to the genre. GamerNode.com awarded the game an 8.8/10, calling it the best MMO launch experience since Ultima Online. The New York Times called the game "a major achievement of interactive storytelling, the first game truly worthy of the ‘Lord of the Rings' franchise and a must-play for just about anyone with an interest in Tolkien or the future of online entertainment." In a GameSpot review, the product was awarded an 8.3/10, praising its appealing polish and intriguing Monster Play feature. Gamepro.com's review gave it an overall 4.25/5, pointing out how engaging the epic quests are, as well as how faithful to the novels the game managed to stay. GameSpy declared The Lord of the Rings Online 'Game of the Month' for May 2007.

Awards

In August 2007, Codemasters announced that The Lord of the Rings Online had received five Golden Joystick Awards nominations for the five applicable categories for the game, and in October 2007 that it had won the "PC Game of the Year" at these awards. and again won the same award on October 2008. In December 2007, GameSpy awarded The Lord of the Rings Online 6th place in the top 10 PC games of 2007. On December 18, Turbine announced it had also won the GameSpy MMO of the Year award. In January 2009, mmorpg.com awarded Turbine both MMORPG studio of the year 2008, and MMO Expansion of the Year for Mines of Moria.

Business model

In North America, players who pre-ordered the game were offered a special founder's offer, a lifetime subscription for $199 or reduced cost of $9.99 per month. Standard monthly fee is $14.99 with three, six, twelve month, and lifetime discounts available. European players had a similar program from Codemasters.

A Holiday subscription was available in December 2007 and January 2008 for $9.99/month for a 3 month commitment. A one year anniversary addition includes a $9.99/month subscription or a $199.99 Lifetime subscription, which was again offered during the lead up to the release of Mines of Moria.

Warner Bros. announced on June 4, 2010 that Lord of the Rings Online will offer a free-to-play model starting in the fall of 2010. On August 18, 2010, Warner Bros. announced that the free-to-play model would go live on September 10, 2010. On October 21, 2010, Codemasters announced that a preview of Free-to-Play would be available in Europe on October 25, 2010.

The F2P (free-to-play) model introduced the LOTRO Store and the currency (formerly Turbine Points, now LOTRO Points) used to purchase things from it. Items available include Experience & Deed progress boosts as well as a significant selection of cosmetics such as armor, weapons, mounts, but no equipment with meanginful gameplay statistics is available for purchase. Content packs, entire expansions and account benefits (such as increased inventory slots) can also be purchased with LOTRO points. In addition to being able to be purchased with real currency, LOTRO points can also be earned in-game by completing Achievements, Deeds and limited time events.

A VIP subscription is available for players, which grants access to a large amount of content, some older expansions, a monthly allowance of LOTRO ponits, access to Legendary servers and many other benefits.

See also

• Images from The Lord of the Rings Online

External links

• Official website
  • LOTRO Community Forums: The official Lord of the Rings Online forums
• LoTRO-Wiki: The most complete source of information for the game
• LoTRO Players: Long-running news site and podcast
• Dadi's LOTRO Guides: Useful guides for various game systems.