The fantasy MMO Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) outlines plans for 2015 in a letter from the producer, with apparent inspiration from Guild Wars 2. An episodic storyline is set to arrive. Some smaller servers are likely to be closed.
Lord of the Rings Online has been around for several years now and has recently been impacted by cost-cutting measures at Warner Brothers. The outlook for 2015 is not very bright. Nevertheless, Turbine has big plans for 2015. In the producer letter, they speak of 2014 as a great year, aiming to build on that success and set even more ambitious goals. They are also responsive to the challenges at hand.
New content leads to Osgiliath, brings inspired items and smaller PvP map
On the way over Minas Tirith to Osgiliath, in the heart of the War of the Ring, new instances for fellowship groups are to be introduced; legendary items of level 100 are considered “inspired” and gain experience even without needing to be disassembled, and work is currently underway in PvE (the PvP part of the game) on a map for relatively small skirmishes. This way, monsters and humans can reenact the battle for Osgiliath, which only plays a minor role in the film trilogy but is much more present in the book series.
It sounds like server closures
Two major changes are still planned. On one hand, it seems that they will follow the path of many aging MMOs and close some servers or merge smaller ones with larger ones to ensure all players can find companions. The “European” servers are expected to move back to Europe in this context.
On the other hand, Lord of the Rings Online plans to tell a sort of “episodic story” similar to a TV series. This sounds like Guild Wars 2 – ArenaNet has come up with something similar with the Living Story. In LotRO, players will be able to follow a “new friend” on a journey through familiar locations.
The entire letter from the producer can be read here.
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