The Lord of the Rings Online was released in 2007. Now the developers talked about the future and promise improvements in some areas.
What kind of game is this? The Lord of the Rings Online takes place in the world of Middle-earth and is one of the best-rated MMORPGs on Steam 2022.
For its 15th anniversary, the game took a remarkable turn by offering numerous content all at once for Free2Play players. This also led to a jump in player numbers.
What’s next? On this topic, Executive Producer Rob “Severlin” Ciccollini spoke in a Q&A about the future of “Lord of the Rings Online”.
In a video lasting about an hour, “Severlin” answered various questions from the community. The discussion mainly focused on the big planned autumn update, in which the game is expected to receive some additional content.
Improved graphics, more endgame – What HdRO plans
HdRO on the graphics: In terms of visuals, the game aims to improve, but there are difficulties. “We are currently looking into something that will refresh our graphics code and some artwork,” explains Severlin.
“Our goal is to tackle and update some outdated art so that it becomes one of the best.” However, one should not expect results too quickly: “I can tell you that it is incredibly slow to arrange a large project like this, and I apologize for that,” Severlin said. Legal and organizational issues would slow down the process.
There is also ongoing work on character creation, specifically on human races: “We are working on a large number of customization options for characters,” said Severlin. Part of the art update will also concern avatars, “making them look better without changing them too much,” said the producer. They should look “very good,” but not completely different. However, everything is still a work in progress, just like improvements to the user interface.
What about the endgame? Here Severlin was a bit more specific. The Executive Producer admits that there has been too little to do for endgame players lately. But that is set to change: “We are in a transition phase because we have hired many new people who are now stepping up and whom we are training, which is very exciting. The result is that we are in a different situation than with a small core group like we had in the past,” Severlin explains.
This now enables us to deliver more for the endgame: “In the next updates, we will try to get a handle on that. We like to have mid-game content, but we can’t have so much that your main character feels like there is nothing to do. So we definitely need content for the endgame.”
The update in autumn is expected to be roughly the size of the “War of the Three Peaks” expansion. Plans include a new 6-player dungeon, a new skirmish, and the so-called “Delving System”. The latter involves the ability to adjust difficulties and obtain better rewards for missions.
Additionally, a new leveling experience for levels 1 to 30 is planned, along with server improvements. However, more information is expected soon: A major announcement about The Lord of the Rings Online is planned for the end of August, with DevCom on August 22.
Are you looking for a Free2Play alternative in MMORPGs, but The Lord of the Rings is not for you? Then you can find the 12 best free-to-play MMORPGs compared here.
