Life, friends, and other games have always conspired to keep me from permanently subscribing to LOTRO. However I have adored Middle Earth and the lore surrounding LOTR since I was a teenager.

I would just like to say, contractual obligations notwithstanding I have always respected the great lengths Turbine has gone to in order to stay faithful to their source material. Examples of this that I have seen include the aforementioned morale and power conventions, "Man" instead of "Human", no female Dwarven characters, etc. What in other games I would probably view cynically as developer cheese for the sake of being different (*cough* FFXIV *cough*) in LOTRO I admire and appreciate.

I certainly understand how the official explanation for magical effects in game would seem contrived to some folks. But for me it actually adds to the immersion of being in Middle Earth. Bravo Turbine.