The Lord of the Rings Online: An Abridged History

[myfreezr2]

Ten years.

Ten. Years. A decade.

Lots of MMOs don't make it to their fifth anniversary, let alone their tenth. This is a signficant milestone, and one worthy of recognition.

In honour of lotro reaching its tenth birthday, I am going to take a trip down memory lane so that my fellow players may learn about the history behind this wonderful game. (Thanks to Wikipedia and lotro-wiki.com for supplementing my research.)

In 1998, Sierra On-Line first announced the development of an MMO based on Tolkien's writings. This was during the time Peter Jackson's film trilogy was also being produced; you can imagine how excited fans were. Unfortunately, in 1999, Sierra encountered financial difficulty.

In 2001, Vivendi Universal (Sierra's parent company) obtained an eight-year license to create games based on Tolkien's books (at the same time, EA obtained the rights to make games based on Jackson's films). Vivendi continued to work on the game (then called “Middle-earth Online”), which was expected to see release in 2004.

In 2003, Vivendi partnered with Turbine to work on the game. Amazingly, in 2005, Vivendi passed all rights pertaining to MEO, meaning that Vivendi would no longer have any influence on the game's production. Turbine renamed the game “The Lord of the Rings Online,” and laid the foundation for the world we know today.

On September 8, 2006, beta began with a closed beta test. An open beta began on March 30, 2007; then a public beta began on April 6 that year.

Finally, on April 24, 2007, the floodgates were opened, and the game was officially launched. There were nine areas available at the time: Ered Luin, the Shire, Bree-land, the Lone-lands, the North Downs, the Trollshaws, the Misty Mountains, Angmar, and the Ettenmoors. The game launched with the following classes: Freeps had Burglars, Captains, Champions, Guardians, Hunters, Lore-masters, and Minstrels; Creeps had Orc Reavers, Spider Weavers, Uruk Blackarrows, Uruk Warleaders, and Warg Stalkers.

Players did not have to wait long for content updates. Updates were released roughly two months apart. By mid-2008, no less than six updates had been released. And, just in case that wasn't enough, the game's first expansion, Mines of Moria, was released on Nov. 18, 2008.

MOM, as the name implies, took players to the underground realm of the Dwarrowdelf. It also introduced the Rune-keeper and Warden classes for freeps (creeps had received the Orc Defiler back in April). It also introduced the Legendary Item system – an extremely controversial system at the time. Back then, the system relied entirely upon random choices, meaning players could easily end up with an item that was of little use to them (in fact, that was the case more often than not). Another controversy arose regarding the inclusion of Lothlorien – it had been announced that the region would ship with the expansion itself. And...it kinda did. Nanduhirion and Nimrodel were there at launch, but if players wanted to access the Golden Wood proper and Caras Galadhon, they'd have to wait until the next content update. So...it counts, I guess...?

After Moria launch, content updates began to slow. In between Moria launch and Mirkwood launch, there were only two updates, each several months apart. This is not unique to lotro; many MMOs push content out the door at a breakneck pace soon after launch, but slow their releases as the years roll by. The economic meltdown of 2008 probably didn't help matters.

On Dec. 20, 2009, Siege of Mirkwood was released. Instead of a full-blown expansion, Mirkwood was considered a min-expansion; there was only one major region, and the level cap was raised by 5 instead of 10. Mirkwood introduced Skirmishes – a feature which was helpful in leveling characters but to this day has limited effect on endgame content. It also shook up the Legendary Item system by streamlining the attack speeds of weaponry, and giving us a new type of item XP. (Players were not amused; they had to re-think the types of weapons they would use, and all that item XP they had been saving was rendered next to useless.)

Not a whole lot happened between Dec. 2009 and June 2010. Sometime that year, Turbine had been bought out by Warner Brothers, who seemed intent on grabbing everything related to The Lord of the Rings that they could get their hands on. (For the record, New Line Cinema, the ones behind Peter Jackson's films, were already owned by Time Warner, parent company of WB, so this is nothing new.) In June 2010, Turbine announced that it was making all its games free-to-play. A few months later, F2P officially launched, with the release of the Enedwaith region as its highlight. Players were quick to note that the release had little or no endgame content (read: dungeons and raids), something unheard of at the time – each expansion had been accompanied by its own instance cluster.

It didn't take long for controversies to arise. Raise your hand if you remember the infamous quote, “The lotro store will offer convenience, not advantage.” (To wit, the store launched with the morale and power pots which stack with those obtained in-game. This STILL hasn't changed, although most players are indifferent about such things at this point.) Lag, which had been a constant companion in the game, only seemed to increase. Downtime, which up until now had been minimal, became a weekly occurrence.

It should be noted that the game was under new management at this point. Between launch and Mirkwood, the game's Executive Producer had been one Jeffery Steefel. In spite of the controversy surrounding the Legendary Item and Skirmish systems, there is little doubt that Steefel was well-liked by the game's fanbase. When WB took over, Steefel was moved to another one of Turbine's projects (Infinite Crisis, I think), and was replaced by a woman whose name I can't be bothered to look up. She was that bad. (The good news is that she hasn't been in charge for a few years now.)

In late 2011, the Rise of Isengard expansion was released. This was the game's low point. The story made little sense; players could run out of quests before hitting level cap if they weren't careful; invisible holes plagued the Pit of Iron. The next update, The Prince of Rohan, only made things worse, at least for raiders. Despite being part of a free content update, players had to pay to experience the dungeons and raids. The fact that the Draigoch raid had been intended to release with Enedwaith, but had been delayed until Rise of Isengard (and STILL had to be paid for), made this feel like a kick in the teeth, especially since it had literally been years since the last instance cluster.

Thankfully, things started to get a little better. The Riders of Rohan expansion, released in late 2012, introduced the Eastemnet and the Mounted Combat system. It also marked the first time Chance Thomas had written the game's music since the Mines of Moria days. (Compare, if you will, the music for Rohan, Eriador, Moria, and Lothlorien with the music in Enedwaith, Dunland, and Gondor, and you'll see – or rather hear – why this was a big deal. Chance Thomas is to the game what Howard Shore was to the movies.) Although Mounted Combat was considered So Okay, It's Average at best, the Eastement was praised for the amount of exploration it provided.

In late 2013, the Helm's Deep expansion launched. With it came the Westemnet region...and the dreaded Epic Battle System. If you thought that Legendary Items and Mounted Combat were hated...you ain't seen nothing yet, sonny! Epic Battles are, to this day, easily the game's least enjoyed system. Many of them remain broken, and can be beaten with little or no input from the player (there are exceptions, of course, but these have their own drawbacks).

But the worst was over. The clouds broke, and Turbine was given a new Executive Producer. When Gondor launched in 2014, things slowly but surely began to turn around for the game. There were no new expansions launching with half-baked gimmicks, and more emphasis was placed on fixing bugs.

Gondor continued to expand throughout 2014 through 2016. In November 2014, the game's latest class (and race), the Beorning, was revealed. Players had wanted to play as Beornings for quite a while. By late 2016, the game had advanced to North Ithilien, not far from the Black Gate. Only a month later, the game's developers parted ways with Turbine, taking both lotro and ddo with them. They formed indie developer Standing Stone Games, who are in charge of development today. (Best. Management. Change. Ever.)

Finally, in April 2017, the game advanced to the Morannon, allowing players to experience the Battle of the Black Gate. We've come so far. After a full decade, a whole six months have passed in the game. (By my calculations that means real-time is twenty times faster than time in the game.)

What I've listed here is only scratching the surface of what's happened to the game. I didn't mention housing, hobbies, kinships, unique enemies, crafting, mylotro....

Ugh, anyone else remember mylotro – the blogs we had between 2008 and 2010? Remember how we got featured contributors? Remember the stories we shared? Remember the friends we made? Remember how it was almost better than the actual GAME?? That was a community. And Turbine – or maybe WB – squashed it when F2P came. Le sigh.

This game doesn't let you go. I've spent the past nine years (I joined May 27, 2008 – technically the 26 but I didn't log in until midnight) on-and-off traversing the lands of Middle-earth. I've experienced wonder and awe at the sights I've seen, joy sharing time with the friends I've made, depression when people I thought were friends betrayed me, and anger at some of Turbine's stupid decisions. No matter how indifferent or angry the game makes me feel, I always find myself coming back at some point. I left the game for two years (2012 to 2014) thanks to getting sick of the way management was destroying it, yet I came back eventually.

Lotro, you've been nothing short of a paradigm shift in my life. When I first got into you, you swept me away to the gorgeous lands of Middle-earth and became my #1 game. When you went free-to-play I slowly but surely got crushed by the mistakes you made, until I couldn't even look at you. I wanted you to die – can you believe it? And yet with the changes you've made since those dark times you've managed to work your way back to your original glory. Sure, you'll never be quite the way I remember you, but you don't have to be. You should just be you – the best version of yourself that you can possibly be. Don't be anything else. Just be there whenever I need to go back to Middle-earth.

[Nymphonic]

Raise your hand if you remember the infamous quote, “The lotro store will offer convenience, not advantage.”

The quote I remember most was Sapience saying that pvmp players represented less that 10% of the playerbase. Man, the forums lit up like a Christmas tree when he said that.

And poor Patience getting called a liar and having her quote of "LOTRO will never go to free to play" posted all over the forums.

One thing that makes me chuckle to this day was Sapience posting "Sapience is not a girl" under his avatar. I remember him and Patience getting confused with each other.

I would have to say that one big thing that sticks out in my mind are people in /OCC talking about how nice the night time sky looked, and how nice it was to see birds flying across the sky.

The early days on LOTRO had one quest that I hated so much I still think about it from time to time. Back then, the Old Forest had no map. In the forest was a quest where you had to kill 25 wolves in the Northern half of the forest. There weren't that many wolves, the spawn rate was low, and there were a ton of players there. It took me three real world days to kill those 25 wolves lol.

[JeauxLOTR]

You should have listed the debacle that is Trait Trees. That drove a lot of players away.

[tuor66]

I loved the map-less Old Forest! I still wish it would periodically change so that the landmarks are still in the same places but the paths move! Maybe everytime there's a patch or a Festival starts.

[Joetzim]

Pretty loaded stuff, but an interesting read for those who weren't around for all of it. I just wish I could see the day when people finally realize you can't just blame everything on one person.

[Macdui]

Some things that stuck in my mind:

Katie Piaz who brought the F2P model into the game. Sometimes I wish the game had died rather than get the STORE.
Trait Trees - rushed through, Big Battles - rushed through and Threat mechanics thrown out in favour of a travesty of a threat mechanic with no regard to prior content.
Athena Peters who came in promising an EU datacentre and seemed to think it reasonable to hide it's demise from us for months. There's a lot more I can't say...

Our current EP, who knows what they are up to? DDO? Months after Vyvyanne left as EP we get to know we had a new EP.
And our CM also from DDO has a fraction of the game knowledge he'd have of DDO. Doesn't seem to know the Barrage Hunter concept and has a creep on twitch incessantly referring to the fix needed for the OP hunter.

I don't doubt there's a lot of very knowledgeable devs and QA still here but our conduit is a bottleneck.

Mac

[siipperi]

Yeah there are 3 major bleeding times. Mirkwood with attempt to make skirmish system for everyone followed with no real content till OD 1.5 after. Half fof my kin quited at that point when there was literally just skirmishes to do after BG that got fast ran to death. RoI was decent and some came back. But then in RoR againt big part of players quited because terrible cluster and resources that could have used on something decent got used to MC... And final nail to the coffin was yet another attempt to please whole spectrum with BBs and trait trees which both were totally buggy on launch and terrible overall.

So what did we learn? Gimmicks like skirmishes and BBs dont suit us. Just do normal instances.

Some things that stuck in my mind:

Katie Piaz who brought the F2P model into the game. Sometimes I wish the game had died rather than get the STORE.
Trait Trees - rushed through, Big Battles - rushed through and Threat mechanics thrown out in favour of a travesty of a threat mechanic with no regard to prior content.
Athena Peters who came in promising an EU datacentre and seemed to think it reasonable to hide it's demise from us for months. There's a lot more I can't say...

Our current EP, who knows what they are up to? DDO? Months after Vyvyanne left as EP we get to know we had a new EP.
And our CM also from DDO has a fraction of the game knowledge he'd have of DDO. Doesn't seem to know the Barrage Hunter concept and has a creep on twitch incessantly referring to the fix needed for the OP hunter.

I don't doubt there's a lot of very knowledgeable devs and QA still here but our conduit is a bottleneck.

Mac

I dont mind that profucer is from DDO. DDO is very much instance focused game and I hope he brings that mentality back to the lotro. Instead of toodling around doing landscape pick a poop quests for best armor in the game.

[Cordovan]

What a neat write up, thanks for it.

[Bel-Astarte]

Sometimes I wish the game had died rather than get the STORE.

I only started playing at F2P because I didn't have to spend money to try it out-though I've been a subscriber since a few months in.

and you wish the game had DIED? That seems an extraodinary statement-particularly if you are still playing the game.

[Oelle]

I dont agree on all points that were made, but in general, its a nice write-up well done.

for example: I like epic battles. most critics i hear for them by casuals is just that they are unintuitive / dont tell you directly what to do. besides that, there is no problem (besides bugs).
And I would not have started playing lotro years ago if it hadnt been f2p. So obviously, I prefer it having gone f2p^^

[Findun]

Actually, if you were reasonable, all EU players should have left after the EU datacentre fiasco, because it was nothing less then a lie.

but, there is something unique about lotro what makes people come back, whatever happens.

[Joetzim]

Actually, if you were reasonable, all EU players should have left after the EU datacentre fiasco, because it was nothing less then a lie.

but, there is something unique about lotro what makes people come back, whatever happens.

I'm glad there is at least one more person in LOTRO who thinks like this. The EU datacenter lie (or rather the way they handled it afterwards) is something I will never get over. It was a highly praised EP that left without a word that we didn't even learn about it until months later. And people wonder why I can't help getting into fights with other forum users, when people are like that.

[bastiat1]

For raiders, the low point wasn't Isengard. The absolute low was the Erebor cluster and the announcement not long after that future raids wouldn't be a priority. I think the game went 3 years without a new raid. That was three years that I and 95% of my kinship didn't log in. We kept in touch though through our website and finally decided to give it another try after the new raid was well reviewed.

The absolute high point was during Ost Dunhoth. Since the level cap raise between The Watcher and Ost Dunhoth was only 5 levels we had the maximum level of relevant raid content the game has ever seen. For various reasons, you could justify running: Turtle, Vile Maw, Dar Narbugud, Barad Guldur, and Ost Dunhoth. All that content gets wiped out with big level cap increases, which is why there shouldn't be big level cap increases.

[LagunaD2]

Thankfully, things started to get a little better. The Riders of Rohan expansion, ...

I LOL'ed.

Mounted combat (as implemented, featuring constant client AND server lag spikes) is still hot garbage, five years later.

And Hytbold. Hytbold was the worst endgame content in the history of MMOs.

Well, until Epic Battles, which were REALLY the worst endgame content in the history of MMOs.

Until Ithilien flower-picking.

When Gondor launched in 2014 ... more emphasis was placed on fixing bugs.

I LOL'ed again. I think I'll port to Minas Tirith and crash to desktop for the 573'rd time as a gesture of gratitude for all the bug-fixing...

[Macdui]

I dont mind that profucer is from DDO. DDO is very much instance focused game and I hope he brings that mentality back to the lotro. Instead of toodling around doing landscape pick a poop quests for best armor in the game.

I was heartened last night hearing what our EP had to say. More of a JS Ep than the AP Office Manager style. Oh how I wish I could vent my rage on these forums
We've still having to cope with the solo friendly direction the game was taken this week with the thousands of tickets raised.

I don't mind a quiet EP if the result is a great game. Hearing that release will be dependent on beta feedback and not proceed until ready is fine by me. It was great to hear that landscape will once again be dangerous if you venture into Mordor.

Mac

[Macdui]

I only started playing at F2P because I didn't have to spend money to try it out-though I've been a subscriber since a few months in.

and you wish the game had DIED? That seems an extraodinary statement-particularly if you are still playing the game.

I'm addicted and stubborn and bought a lifetime account. When the game was released I ask several isps to provide ping tests to the game servers in Amsterdam to get a ball park of the best latency, and chose the isp on that feedback.

I want my game server returned. I want the game to run at least as good on my upgraded gear now as it did on my old PC at release.

I've played AC and AC2 and then Lotro and I will be a thorn in their side and moan and complain when their implementation doesn't match their and our high standards.

Mac

[Macdui]

On the stream last night there was talk of how long people had been connected with Turbine and Lotro in particular, so I'm reminded of my 17 years history. Starting on dial up, google it!

Mac

[peachykins]

We've still having to cope with the solo friendly direction the game was taken this week with the thousands of tickets raised.

Say what???

I don't mind a quiet EP if the result is a great game. Hearing that release will be dependent on beta feedback and not proceed until ready is fine by me. It was great to hear that landscape will once again be dangerous if you venture into Mordor.

So you want all of Mordor to be grouping?

[wispsong]

I was heartened last night hearing what our EP had to say. More of a JS Ep than the AP Office Manager style. Oh how I wish I could vent my rage on these forums
We've still having to cope with the solo friendly direction the game was taken this week with the thousands of tickets raised.

I don't mind a quiet EP if the result is a great game. Hearing that release will be dependent on beta feedback and not proceed until ready is fine by me. It was great to hear that landscape will once again be dangerous if you venture into Mordor.

Mac

Dangerous for who?

Good to know that because it tells me to take a wait and see approach to this xpac. No reason to buy something I might not have fun playing.

[Oelle]

dangerous mordor... i really wonder, how landscape can be dangerous.
usually, if enemies are stronger, people just start to group up. that doesnt make enemies dangerous. just makes enemies require groups.
so, if they actually implement dangerous enemies, in a way that they are the same way dangerous for groups and soloers... this would be an interesting addition.

[yawumpus]

I LOL'ed.

Mounted combat (as implemented, featuring constant client AND server lag spikes) is still hot garbage, five years later.

And Hytbold. Hytbold was the worst endgame content in the history of MMOs.

Well, until Epic Battles, which were REALLY the worst endgame content in the history of MMOs.

Until Ithilien flower-picking.



I LOL'ed again. I think I'll port to Minas Tirith and crash to desktop for the 573'rd time as a gesture of gratitude for all the bug-fixing...

You should see some of Turbine's work on DDO. For the longest time endgame was "true reincarnation". Your character started back at level 1 (with a tiny bonus or two) and got to level all over again. Of course, it is still in the game (although there often has been other end-game content available), so MMOs being what they are going through the whole deal multiple times is essentially required for elite characters (i.e. expect three cleric and three wizard lifetimes if you want your spells to stick).

I suspect "if it isn't a second job (possibly the main job for the leader), it isn't a *real* MMO endgame" has a certain truth to it. One of the reasons I have no intention of playing Eve.