Ithil Closure

[Storm_]

Transfers of Ithil to Anor have always been free, even when Ithil - wasn't closing, that's what I mean by this being a cop out. I missed nothing, I have never transferred a character between legendary worlds. So you see, it is terrible treatment.

Sorry but I really dont get the connection between Anor(being an [now] active Server, having the customary fee) and Ithil(being an inactive and now closing server, thus having free transfers to any other world[they could've just let you transfer to Anor only] and the terrible treatment you claim it to be.
Maybe you can show me why they should offer you free transfers off of Anor too and I might be inclined to agree with you.

[Arnenna]

Sorry but I really dont get the connection between Anor(being an [now] active Server, having the customary fee) and Ithil(being an inactive and now closing server, thus having free transfers to any other world[they could've just let you transfer to Anor only] and the terrible treatment you claim it to be.
Maybe you can show me why they should offer you free transfers off of Anor too and I might be inclined to agree with you.

You don't have to agree with me.

[SniperCT]

Sorry but I really dont get the connection between Anor(being an [now] active Server, having the customary fee) and Ithil(being an inactive and now closing server, thus having free transfers to any other world[they could've just let you transfer to Anor only] and the terrible treatment you claim it to be.
Maybe you can show me why they should offer you free transfers off of Anor too and I might be inclined to agree with you.

They offered free transfers between the legendary servers for months.

People transfer to Anor thinking Ithil is dying and the only option is now Anor. Reasonable assumption is that eventually the servers will merge anyway.

They close transfers from Anor to Ithil, open Ithil transfers to non-legendary servers. This is not the server merge we were expecting.

People who've recently transferred (FOR FREE) from Ithil to Anor, back when the server wasn't confirmed to be closed, are upset because we would like to have been given the option to transfer to a non-legendary.

SSG says 'okay you can transfer off of Anor, but you have to pay for it'

[gildhur]

IDEA: Once Ithil is closed and wiped, reopen it next year as a VIP-only permanent max-50 server with no LIs.

[Evodius]

People who've recently transferred (FOR FREE) from Ithil to Anor, back when the server wasn't confirmed to be closed, are upset because we would like to have been given the option to transfer to a non-legendary.

This is a situation with no resolution because someone will always be upset at some point for some reason. There's no reason to keep Ithil open, at primetime it had a few dozen people playing. I understand people that previously went to Anor from Ithil would have stayed to move to somewhere like Arkenstone, but there was no way of warning or telling people. At some point, there was a cutoff and people were going to get upset. If they gave people 4 weeks of warning, the people who transferred 5 weeks ago would be mad.

[whisper.earendil]

Ithil is being closed, which is why transfers from Ithil are free. Anor will remain an active server indefinitely, so like the other game worlds, transferring characters or shared items from them comes at a premium.

No, you know what you did, so don't pretend.

You knew we'd clamour to get off not one but two nearly dead servers - Anor AND Ithil both being failed experiments on your part which would have thrived had you only opened them up to everyone instead of grabbing for cash. You knew we'd transfer back to Ithil to get off and go to anywhere else that was better. You knew you were screwing over the people who'd come back recently for events like the Anniversary, realised how dead Ithil was, and finally made the leap to Anor.

You know how I know you knew? You closed transfers before you made your announcement.

You can't go back and make that right without giving us the exact same thing you gave us before. I reckon 30% of Anor's current population are recent or past transfers off of Ithil, people who were desperate to try and stick it out here in these communities we'd built, "knowing" that they could never go back to Brandywine, or Landroval, or anywhere else they'd have preferred. We all thought that when you closed - and yes when, not if - Ithil, you would just merge us onto Anor. We all figured we had nothing else to lose.

But you opened this can of worms, and you knew it. Then you sat here and watched as tickets flooded in and went 'oh, well, if they want it that badly they're gonna have to pay for it'.

Actually? I don't. I don't have to pay for it. You see, my two accounts are founders. Eventually you're either going to realise Anor was also a mistake and close that too, or you're going to let Anor soldier on for all the years this game has left. If it's true that in your benevolence you've decided to keep these transfers open forever, I need only wait until all of my free lotro points roll back in to get what it is I could have had today. And in that time? You won't be receiving another cent from me. Maybe you don't need my cents, and that's fine. But I can't be the only person that feels this way about this.

So fix it. Make it right.

[whisper.earendil]

This is a situation with no resolution because someone will always be upset at some point for some reason. There's no reason to keep Ithil open, at primetime it had a few dozen people playing. I understand people that previously went to Anor from Ithil would have stayed to move to somewhere like Arkenstone, but there was no way of warning or telling people. At some point, there was a cutoff and people were going to get upset. If they gave people 4 weeks of warning, the people who transferred 5 weeks ago would be mad.

And the way to make it right is to give us free transfers off of Anor too, for the same limited number of days. It's not rocket science. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

[Arnenna]

They offered free transfers between the legendary servers for months.

Only from Ithil to Anor though iirc, not the other way around, and all whilst no mention if Ithil dying, or closing.

People transfer to Anor thinking Ithil is dying and the only option is now Anor. Reasonable assumption is that eventually the servers will merge anyway.

They close transfers from Anor to Ithil, open Ithil transfers to non-legendary servers. This is not the server merge we were expecting.

People who've recently transferred (FOR FREE) from Ithil to Anor, back when the server wasn't confirmed to be closed, are upset because we would like to have been given the option to transfer to a non-legendary.

SSG says 'okay you can transfer off of Anor, but you have to pay for it'

Have to wonder if that was the plan all along.

[SniperCT]

This is a situation with no resolution because someone will always be upset at some point for some reason. There's no reason to keep Ithil open, at primetime it had a few dozen people playing. I understand people that previously went to Anor from Ithil would have stayed to move to somewhere like Arkenstone, but there was no way of warning or telling people. At some point, there was a cutoff and people were going to get upset. If they gave people 4 weeks of warning, the people who transferred 5 weeks ago would be mad.

I didn't want ithil to be stay open.

TBF Anor feels pretty dead too, but is more like a shambling corpse as opposed to Ithil being in the ground.

Honestly I expected it to be Ithil>Anor only for transfers when they closed. If that was what it was, I think most people including myself wouldn't have batted an eye. We were led to believe transfers off of legendary servers to regular servers would never be an option. That's why I transferred, because I wanted to play during the anniversary but I wanted a server that wasn't wholly dead, and I expected a server merge eventually anyway so I thought I'd save time.

Frankly, I think anyone who transferred from Ithil to Anor in 2021 should be allowed to leave Anor.

[Storm_]

They offered free transfers between the legendary servers for months.

People transfer to Anor thinking Ithil is dying and the only option is now Anor. Reasonable assumption is that eventually the servers will merge anyway.

They close transfers from Anor to Ithil, open Ithil transfers to non-legendary servers. This is not the server merge we were expecting.

People who've recently transferred (FOR FREE) from Ithil to Anor, back when the server wasn't confirmed to be closed, are upset because we would like to have been given the option to transfer to a non-legendary.

SSG says 'okay you can transfer off of Anor, but you have to pay for it'

I can understand that argumentation, to me it sounds like its just too hard for SSG/too much work, to figure out every player that has recently transfered from Ithil to Anor and offer them a free transfer. If they'd do that, it would be a nice gesture tho.
Maybe in that case you could write a ticket and hope for lenience on the side of SSG.

[Arnenna]

This is a situation with no resolution because someone will always be upset at some point for some reason. There's no reason to keep Ithil open, at primetime it had a few dozen people playing. I understand people that previously went to Anor from Ithil would have stayed to move to somewhere like Arkenstone, but there was no way of warning or telling people. At some point, there was a cutoff and people were going to get upset. If they gave people 4 weeks of warning, the people who transferred 5 weeks ago would be mad.

They could still have given fair warning, or . . . treat all the same and let them freely transfer off either legendary server until Ithil turns the lights off. These are special servers, and they are not subject to the same regulations as the live servers, as has been demonstrated over the last 6 months. Free transfer from a working to server to another working server has been possible. Neither were closing.

[SniperCT]

I can understand that argumentation, to me it sounds like its just too hard for SSG/too much work, to figure out every player that has recently transfered from Ithil to Anor and offer them a free transfer. If they'd do that, it would be a nice gesture tho.
Maybe in that case you could write a ticket and hope for lenience on the side of SSG.

My wife and I are definitely putting in tickets but... I just feel there should be like a week to let people t/f off of Anor at no cost like Ithil. It would be a lot easier than trying to navigate customer service for them and us.

[Arnenna]

My wife and I are definitely putting in tickets but... I just feel there should be like a week to let people t/f off of Anor at no cost like Ithil. It would be a lot easier than trying to navigate customer service for them and us.

Seriously, I don't think it will happen. They see this as a revenue maker, so it will stay (they never ever foresee the revenue they will lose over such things, even if they do see it much later. Three Peaks anyone). They haven't even mentioned the charge on the announcement, so some poor unsuspecting folk will maybe sub up to log in for clean up, buy slots and then find out about the cost after the fact. It's all been too cloak and dagger, which means it's here to stay.

But Anor is on it's way out. It won't last "indefinitely" unless they change how it originally was meant to work, meaning that they ensure content on there, even after it has caught up, to make it stay somehow "active". That'll go down like a lead balloon though.

Just ride it out. That's what I'm going to do. Patience is a virtue, and we have 74 ranks of it

[SniperCT]

Seriously, I don't think it will happen. They see this as a revenue maker, so it will stay. They haven't even mentioned the charge on the announcement, so some poor unsuspecting folk will maybe sub up, buy slots and then find out about the cost after the fact. It's all been too cloak and dagger, which means it's here to stay.

But Anor is on it's way out. It won't last "indefinitely" unless they change how it originally was meant to work, meaning that they ensure content on there, even after it has caught up, to make it stay somehow "active". That'll o down like a lead balloon though.

Just ride it out.

If they're afraid of a mass exodus by opening free transfers will kill Anor, that's not a healthy state of affairs on that server lol

[whisper.earendil]

Seriously, I don't think it will happen. They see this as a revenue maker, so it will stay (they never ever pre-empt the revenue they will lose over such things, even i they do see it much later. Three Peaks anyone). They haven't even mentioned the charge on the announcement, so some poor unsuspecting folk will maybe sub up tp log in for clean up, buy slots and then find out about the cost after the fact. It's all been too cloak and dagger, which means it's here to stay.

But Anor is on it's way out. It won't last "indefinitely" unless they change how it originally was meant to work, meaning that they ensure content on there, even after it has caught up, to make it stay somehow "active". That'll go down like a lead balloon though.

Just ride it out. That's what I'm going to do. Patience is a virtue, and we have 74 ranks of it

Yup. Like I said, they know what they did.

Annoyingly I had thought to finally drop the 130 dollars on that ultimate edition in the store if I could get back into playing again on a server that actually had any energy. I had hoped that would be Anor - back when I thought I had no other choices. But it wasn't. My wife woke me UP with the news we could finally transfer back to Landroval. I made my coffee with a happy dance that quickly turned into fury.

This cash grab may well work for some of us, but I know shady as #### behaviour when I see it and I know not to effing reward it.

[Arnenna]

If they're afraid of a mass exodus by opening free transfers will kill Anor, that's not a healthy state of affairs on that server lol

What's keeping Anor up mostly is OC titles that people wish to take over to Live servers when they eventually transfer. Those don't exist after Abyss iirc. The grind is now hitting the point where it gets extremely hefty with paid bypass. The server was doomed to start a downhill journey as soon as it reached level 100 with it's imbued LI's and essences. Around about the same time as completely free transfers from Ithil (an active, working server) over to Anor (a different active, working server) arrived.

What's ironic about it is, most people wouldn't transfer off all their characters. They would keep some on Anor to collect frames and whatnot. They would log in periodically, as they probably do now, when new content hits. But they may not anymore.

[SniperCT]

What's keeping Anor up mostly is OC titles that people wish to take over to Live servers when they eventually transfer. Those don't exist after Abyss iirc. The grind is now hitting the point where it gets extremely hefty with paid bypass. The server was doomed to start a downhill journey as soon as it reached level 100 with it's imbued LI's and essences. Around about the same time as completely free transfers from Ithil (an active, working server) over to Anor (a different active, working server) arrived.

What's ironic about it is, most people wouldn't transfer off all their characters. They would keep some on Anor to collect frames and whatnot. They would log in periodically, as they probably do now, when new content hits. But they may not anymore.

I still feel like the pace of upping the level cap was too fast. I originally joined it hoping to have an opportunity to kind of keep up with it. Get to 50, play around before Moria hits, etc. Except Moira came around right as I hit 50, then Mirkwood landed when I was still halfway through Moria and after that I kind of decided to take another break.

Even on landroval, been playing 14 years and have never actually been level cap. Was also around 48 when Moria hit the first time lol. I'm just a very slow leveler in this game.

But I like these Ithil/Anor Characters and wanted to keep playing them, just ... not on Anor.

[istvana]

I agree the announcement should say it is for a fee.

With the level cap nearing that of the old servers I also agree with the suggestion that it is time to eliminate the 40% xp reduction on Anor. A reduction I vigorously supported when the server started and afterwards but I think its time has passed.

If the haircut is eliminated below level 100 that will reduce the grind of catching up so that we get more players to offset those that may pay to leave.

[Pontin_Finnberry]

Transfers of Ithil to Anor have always been free, even when Ithil - wasn't closing, that's what I mean by this being a cop out. There has never been a charge to transfer off Ithil, even when it was still an active server.

As far as i know Transfers off of Ithil were only free cause SSG wanted to leave it upto the players to decide Ithil's fate cause it was a low populated server and they didn't want to close it cause they purely left up to the players, Ithil transfers became free back in may 2020 so before that date it wasn't free so saying there was never a charge well you can see here https://www.lotro.com/en/worldtransfer and https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...18-May-21-2020

[Aurora7]

By Sauron's sordid ensorcellements: it's deja vu all over again!

May 2007 Windfola opened to new players as the "older" servers were "full".
October 2015 Windfola closed.

November 2018 Ithil opened to players as Anor had very lengthy wait times.
June 2021 Ithil is closed.

Decisions, decisions!

Move to Anor (and risk that I will "jinx" that server?) [Ooops. Spoke too soon. Transfers are now allowed to regular servers.]
Move to a less populated regular server (and risk that I will "jinx" that server?)
Or
Just go for broke and transfer to Arkenstone / Evernight and finally make their lag so bad that they, too, are closed? Or maybe break my "jinx"?


This "refugee status" is not conducive to engagement.

[Frisco]

What's keeping Anor up mostly is OC titles that people wish to take over to Live servers when they eventually transfer. Those don't exist after Abyss iirc. The grind is now hitting the point where it gets extremely hefty with paid bypass. The server was doomed to start a downhill journey as soon as it reached level 100 with it's imbued LI's and essences. Around about the same time as completely free transfers from Ithil (an active, working server) over to Anor (a different active, working server) arrived.

What's ironic about it is, most people wouldn't transfer off all their characters. They would keep some on Anor to collect frames and whatnot. They would log in periodically, as they probably do now, when new content hits. But they may not anymore.

Anor's population is low, but has been steady since the end of Moria, even through L95 and 100 when endgame content was more sparse, and has gone up since they announced that Ithil was likely on the chopping block back at L85. There are like 10 people here caring about OC titles, and hundreds here because they enjoy the server. There's so much activity at 105 that I'm having to force myself to turn down stuff for my own sanity. There may only be a couple hundred people on at peak, but all you really need are 12 unless World Chat pvp is your thing. All the activity is in kins.

Population will probably drop off a little after Mordor, but part of that will be due to the fact that it'll get harder and harder to feel nostalgic about content that we ground away at just a couple years ago. I barely have a desire to do Mordor again, personally. Feels like I just did it. L120 is going to be a hard pass. It's what drove me to the LS in the first place.

[Arnenna]

As far as i know Transfers off of Ithil were only free cause SSG wanted to leave it upto the players to decide Ithil's fate cause it was a low populated server and they didn't want to close it cause they purely left up to the players, Ithil transfers became free back in may 2020 so before that date it wasn't free so saying there was never a charge well you can see here https://www.lotro.com/en/worldtransfer and https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...18-May-21-2020

A comment on a forum post, does not an announcement make, especially when said comment states specifically that they are making "no announcement".

Regardless, A whole year of free transfers off a working server, to another working server still qualifies.

[Arnenna]

Anor's population is low, but has been steady since the end of Moria, even through L95 and 100 when endgame content was more sparse, and has gone up since they announced that Ithil was likely on the chopping block back at L85. There are like 10 people here caring about OC titles, and hundreds here because they enjoy the server. There's so much activity at 105 that I'm having to force myself to turn down stuff for my own sanity. There may only be a couple hundred people on at peak, but all you really need are 12 unless World Chat pvp is your thing. All the activity is in kins.

Population will probably drop off a little after Mordor, but part of that will be due to the fact that it'll get harder and harder to feel nostalgic about content that we ground away at just a couple years ago. I barely have a desire to do Mordor again, personally. Feels like I just did it. L120 is going to be a hard pass. It's what drove me to the LS in the first place.

Yes, it will survive Mordor I think, and maybe even after that, but at most it has 35 levels left to catch up to where we will likely be after Gundabad hits. They may string it out for a long time after that, but by that point, it will be dead.

Players can and will ride that out. Easily. Some have been riding it out since Moria and will just continue to do so. Some may transfer at the cost involved. Some may grind LP to get off.

There are still a couple of hundred players playing it, but you will see those numbers peak when a new title is involved, then drop back off when the title is gone.

I wasn't even all that concerned about transferring off Anor, until all this stuff hit. Now, I want off there for sure, because I won't support this kind of stuff. But that's not coming out of my pocket.

[SniperCT]

Yes, it will survive Mordor I think, and maybe even after that, but at most it has 35 levels left to catch up to where we will likely be after Gundabad hits. They may string it out for a long time after that, but by that point, it will be dead.

Players can and will ride that out. Easily. Some have been riding it out since Moria and will just continue to do so. Some may transfer at the cost involved. Some may grind LP to get off.

There are still a couple of hundred players playing it, but you will see those numbers peak when a new title is involved, then drop back off when the title is gone.

I wasn't even all that concerned about transferring off Anor, until all this stuff hit. Now, I want off there for sure, because I won't support this kind of stuff. But that's not coming out of my pocket.

It'll probably catch up to live late next year or maybe early 2023, it also depends on what comes after Gundabad and when that one hits, too. IDK if they plan on trying to do 1 expansion per year, I don't think that's a wise idea in general.

[Arnenna]

It'll probably catch up to live late next year or maybe early 2023, it also depends on what comes after Gundabad and when that one hits, too. IDK if they plan on trying to do 1 expansion per year, I don't think that's a wise idea in general.

True, but they are going more with small in between regular updates now, so the can string this out that way. Not that it matters, when the LS is the same level as the Live Worlds, people won't bother with it so much as it will be no different to playing on a live world.

I've come to the decision to leave, but I'm not paying for it. I'll grind my way off it, for no cost, and then leave the rest behind and abandon the server completely. Will take about 8 days, so I'll pick a month to do it, and get out that way. I have more than enough LP to leave instantly, but I'm not using those. I'll grind specifically on Anor at my chosen month - to get off Anor.