Lord of the Rings Online has been celebrating its 15th anniversary with a massive event, an all-new zone, and tons of content has been made free. A new Festivity Instance, event quest, and lots of giveaways are also part of Lord of the Rings Online's festivities.
For fifteen years, Lord of the Rings Online has been a persistent presence in the MMORPG market thanks to the massively popular Lord of the Rings license. Despite showing its age over the years, the game still hosts a dedicated population of players that call Middle Earth home. With a vast number of expansions, additional quests, and the introduction of new classes, the game continues to see meaningful content updates at a pace that rivals its younger competitors. Entire new zones and quests are still being added, showing that Lord of the Rings Online plans to stick around for years to come.
Its latest update, Update 33, has made a number of major changes that will impact veteran players as well as those just beginning their adventures. All quests, areas, instances, and expansions released since Lord of the Rings Online's launch in 2007 -- including Helm's Deep, the High-elf race, and the Warden and Boerning classes -- have been made free to all players. An extensive balance pass was made, with dozens of changes made to several classes. The new Brawler class, as well as Minstrels and Lore-masters, should notice a significant positive change to their damage output and the overall feel of their gameplay. Some gear set bonuses were adjusted along with dozens of other minor balance changes.
Also included in Update 33 is a brand-new zone, Yondershire. Yondershire is a northern region of the Shire home to the more reclusive and troublemaking Hobbits. The Yondershire is a level 20 to 23 zone immediately accessible to VIP players and available in the LOTRO Store. Update 33 also brings news that the 32-bit client of the game will cease being supported after January 1st, 2023. Players using older 32-bit machines may need to plan for an upgrade if they want to continue having a smooth gameplay experience. On the bright side, this change may pave the way for future visual updates to Lord of the Rings Online.
The celebratory events included with the update will continue to run until May 11th, so there's plenty of time to hop in, claim the anniversary rewards, and participate in the festivities. Since Lord of the Rings Online is free-to-play, relying on its in-game store for revenue, it's a huge deal for so much content to be made freely available. Players can adventure their way up to level 95 without spending a dime. Despite so much competition in the market, such as World of Warcraft announcing another expansion, Lord of the Rings Online is still fairly active and is worth checking out for fans of either traditional MMORPGs or the Lord of the Rings franchise in general.
Lord of the Rings Online is available on PC.
Source: Lord of the Rings Online