Not ever is a loss at the end of it all. As announced in SSG's recent letter to players, LOTRO will launch new 64-bit servers soon, sometime during the first quarter of 2025. During the weekly Lotrostream yesterday, we got the details.
What are SSG's plans?
We'll get four new servers:
- Two in the EU, run from Amsterdan: Meriadoc (RP) and Orcrist
- Two in the US, run from Las Vegas: Peregrin (RP) and Glamdring
Note that the only thing separating RP and regular servers is the tag. The RP server tag is simply a signpost saying that roleplayers and those enjoying gameplay with RP communities should go here.
The current 32-bit servers like Laurelin will continue to operate, but SSG encourages players to move over to the new servers, and they will evaluate the status of the old servers later this autumn. So if you plan to play LOTRO for a considerable time, your best bet is to transfer to or create new accounts on the new servers.
There is much to be said about this all. Here are some initial thoughts
Frustration
Good grief, the frustration I have felt over the last weeks. I still shake my head over the fact that SSG sort of casually shared vague and at times contradictory information about such a significant development of the game a couple of days before the Yuletide, before going on vacation and leaving their players to speculate themselves into hysterics and drama. That could easily have been avoided.
Speaking of drama, the wider player community on Laurelin has certainly seen its fair share of it, not least due to different approaches to make as many players as possible move to the same place. This was unnecessary, since the choice in the end turns out to be pretty simple for many players. Although, freed from this source of drama, some have happily turned their hysterics towards the chosen names of the RP servers instead. This may be the topic of a separate blog in the near future...
Relief
Now that we finally have information, at first glance the results seem good to me and my game interests. I am pleasantly surprised that LOTRO will have roleplaying servers moving forward, given that RP is a niche activity. At best, I had hoped for one of the four new servers to be RP, but it seems SSG hasn't been able to fix the old database incompatibility between accounts from the old EU and US servers. So we get two. Both regions will likely get imbalanced servers numbers-wise: Larger regular servers with more traditional end-game activity, and somewhat smaller RP servers with a focus on story, character development and lots of social events. Works for me.
So, this could have been much worse. I am somewhat relieved. We could have gotten less details about the plans, but now things are clear enough to start making decisions. There could have been no RP servers, but now I have a better chance to keep playing the game the way I have ever since LOTRO's launch in 2007.
Loss
Even though things seem to turn out well overall, the overall feeling yesterday was one of gentle sadness. The choice of what to do may seem easy for many roleplayers, but players in communities which cater for a range of interests will have a harder time. The more competitive end-game raid/pvp players likely want to move to the regular server, leading to a possible fragmentation of existing kinships and communities. There will be hard choices for many in the time ahead.
If I transfer to Meriadoc, I also have to say farewell to Laurelin. This has been my LOTRO home ever since the spring of 2007. It has been a special place, one of the very few RP servers in MMO gaming history that has actually catered for roleplayers. Of course, many will say that the players make the community, and that's true, but the players had to come here in the first place. That's why the Codemasters years from 2007-2011 were so important. They established a simple RP ruleset related to naming and behaviour, they actually enforced the rules, and they had lots of fun gamemaster-driven events in the game. The ruleset was also kept for a good time after we transferred to Turbine in 2011. It helped bring people here, it helped shaped the RP player community, and we still benefit to this day. A new server without the ruleset stands a harder chance of creating the same atmosphere, even if most of the current Laurelin community moves over.
Leaving Laurelin also means leaving old friends behind. A few may not want to move at all, seeing this as a good time to say farewell to the game. We also have players who have been away for a long time. Sometimes, they return after years of absence, to say hello and update us on how they are doing. The chances of seeing that are lower if we move from Laurelin.
Sadder still are the memories of those who have passed away. Over the years, many have. Players like Rubysue, Pipes, Qamellia, and more. We've never fully said goodbye to them. We still pay upkeep on their properties. We still have objects they placed in the furniture hooks of our houses. This will be lost if we transfer. At the very least, I expect many will host farewell events, in order to bring memories of their fallen friends to a new place.
The end is also a new beginning
So, what happens now? The most important thing for me is to look at ways to keep the hobbit community on Laurelin together, at least those who wish to stay with each other. Kinships like the Grand Order and The Hobbitry have to decide, but the community also consists of more players, both kinned and unkinned. We all have decisions to make in the days and weeks ahead.
If you enjoy playing with the hobbit community and have questions or opinions on what to do, if you want to be involved, or if you simply want information of what many of us decide to do, then please be in touch. Always happy to hear from you, now more than ever. And I am sure that we hobbits will find good ways forward this time too. We have in the past, we will again. And we can start a new chapter in the tale of LOTRO together.