LOTRO: 64-Bit Server Migration Part 2

March 05, 2025 / Roger Edwards

Standing Stone Games were scheduled to open their new 64-bit servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, today. However, when the free transfer service went live yesterday, it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of players trying to migrate their alts from the older 32-bit servers to the new ones. Eventually SSG had to disable the transfer facility so that they could process the backlog. Hence today’s launch of the new servers has been postponed till tomorrow. In the meantime, the official LOTRO forum’s have gone into meltdown with irate players berating the developers for handling the migration poorly. True to form, SSG have been somewhat defensive and prickly in response to what they see as unjust criticism. Let it suffice to say that neither party has covered themselves in glory and there is a good chance that the technical problems will persist a while longer.

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categories / LOTRO, Gaming, MMORPG, Server Migration, Part 2, Delays, Standing Stone Games

LOTRO: 64-Bit Server Migration Part 1

March 03, 2025 / Roger Edwards

What Massively Overpowered calls LOTRO’s “Great Server Migration” began today. The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has opened 4 new 64-bit servers in conjunction with the 2 existing 64-bit legendary servers and the long term plan is to migrate all current players over to them. Eventually, the 32-bit legacy servers will be shut down, however that is a long way off at present. As of today, VIP players can select a new server, log into it and create new characters with their desired names. These placeholder characters cannot be played at present but can be used to reserve names. Tomorrow, if all goes well, the new servers formally open and free transfers begin. Players can then delete placeholder characters and rename alts that they have migrated, thus restoring desired names. It should be noted that none of this is mandatory and players can remain on the old servers for the present.

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categories / LOTRO, Gaming, MMORPG, Server Migration, Part 1, Placeholder Character, Name Reservation

LOTRO: Will Your Kinship Survive the Server Migration?

February 02, 2025 / Roger Edwards

I have many pleasant memories associated with playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online during its first decade. A lot of them are due to the kinship (guild) that I have been a member of since 2009. I started playing LOTRO in December 2008 and it took me a while to find a suitable kinship but once I did, it made logging into the game a real pleasure. I was at a point in my life where I had sufficient time to play the game regularly and take part in kinship organised raids. It was also an added bonus to be able to spend some time and chat with some like minded people. I’m sure such an experience is not unique to me and that many LOTRO players have enjoyed similar periods of time. The lucky ones may still be enjoying a comparable kinship experience today.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Kinships, Guilds, Server Migration

Playing MMOs on a Second Monitor

January 24, 2025 / Roger Edwards

I have two monitors on my desk. The first (which is the primary monitor as far as my PC is concerned), is on the left and the second is on the right. The primary monitor is a 24 Dell U2412M, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200. It therefore has an aspect ratio of 16:10 which adds a little extra desktop real estate, which I prefer when writing. The second monitor is a 24 inch Dell S2421H with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 which is standard FHD. My chair is adjacent to the middle of my desk and I can turn according to each monitor I’m using. I tend to use the primary, larger monitor on the left for tasks such as writing via Google Docs and emails. The second monitor on the right is used for YouTube and gaming. This is because of its FHD format. I also have a Nintendo Switch connected to the second monitor for the same reason.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, Second Monitor, Star Trek Online, SWTOR, LOTRO, Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls Online

LOTRO: Server Migration Concerns

January 14, 2025 / Roger Edwards

I always remember the sage wisdom of the great children’s TV character Huxley Pig. “If in panic, if in doubt. Run in circles, scream and shout”. Such was the initial reaction of players of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, when it was announced recently that there is to be a new 64-bit server rollout in Q1 of 2025. At first glance, new servers are surely a good thing? The 64-bit legendary servers, which were tested in 2024, have proven to be a success and do much to address the lag issues that plague the existing 32-bit servers. Surely this is what players want? Well, yes it is, in principle but new infrastructure ultimately raises the issue of server migrations. Developer’s Standing Stone Games intend to consolidate the player population in the long term with the addition of 4 new 64-bit servers. The 2 legendary servers will remain but the 32-bit legacy servers will eventually close.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, 64-Bit Servers, Server Migration

Are MMORPGs Expensive to Play?

January 03, 2025 / Roger Edwards

Bree Royce, editor-in chief at Massively Overpowered, recently asked the question “what is the most expensive MMORPG right now”. My first thought was to search through my old draft blog posts and track down an MMO cost analysis I wrote circa 2019. It includes data such as subscription rates and the price of current expansions. There was also information on what were the most popular cash shop items at the time. However, I then read some of the comments that had been left on Bree’s post and I quickly realised that this wasn’t just a matter of financial expenditure. Whether or not an MMO is expensive is also determined by one’s disposable income, respective wealth and personal relationship with money. The latter is perhaps the most important, irrespective whether you consider yourself rich or poor.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, SWTOR, Star Trek Online, Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls Online

A Year in Gaming

December 23, 2024 / Roger Edwards

It is customary for me to write an end of year summary of my gaming activities but I suspect that on this occasion it will be somewhat short. For me, 2024 has really hammered home the notion of the ephemeral nature of video games as well as their commercial ubiquity. The moment a game fails to satisfy for whatever reason, rather than complain or worry about it, I just move on to something else. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of games out there. I have a substantial back catalogue of games that Epic and Amazon prime regularly giveaway. I have bought numerous discounted bundles in the past, in the pious hope that I’ll play one of the games included, at some point in the future. Games may well be enjoyable and engaging but many are also disposable. That’s not to say they’re bad. While playing them you are indeed “entertained”. However, when you’re “done”, it’s amazing how you quickly find another and forget what you were previously playing.

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categories / A Year in, Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, SWTOR, Star Trek Online, Dragon's Dogma 2, 2024, A Year in Gaming

MMO Tropes: Name Unavailable

December 13, 2024 / Roger Edwards

If you’ve ever played an MMORPG, then you have more than likely encountered this problem. Especially if you start playing a game that has been long established. You diligently create your character and spend time and effort customising them to suit your needs. All you’ve got to do next is choose a name, so you type in a pithy and droll title only to find that it has already been taken. So you quickly come up with another and that too is rejected. Next you try the same name but with some “alternative” spelling but the game resolutely tells you that even that permutation is already in use. I have found that even with a list of names that I’ve drawn up prior to playing the game, it can still take anything from 5 to 30 minutes to find one that is available. Naturally, this process is very frustrating, which is hardly the ideal user experience for a new player.

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categories / MMO Tropes, Name Unavailable, Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, SWTOR, Star Trek Online

LOTRO: Staying Busy

December 08, 2024 / Roger Edwards

Exactly what do you do when you reach level cap in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online? Raiding is the obvious answer and arguably the one the developers would suggest. But only a small percentage of players regularly raid. The last raid I participated in was early 2012 when twelve of our kinship attempted the “Tower of Orthanc”. If memory serves, we failed miserably after investing about 4 hours of our time. Many of us found that we simply didn’t have sufficient time available to pursue raiding in any meaningful way. Those members of the kinship that were focused on this aspect of gameplay ended up leaving and moving to other guilds. I have used the group finder on occasions since then but it has seldom yielded good results. Hence, for me most multiplayer content in LOTRO is “off the table”.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Staying Busy

MMO Tropes: The Time Sink

December 04, 2024 / Roger Edwards

It would appear that one of the reasons potential new players avoid the MMORPG genre is due to the perception that they are all time sinks. I wouldn’t argue against this assumption because the reality is that it’s true. However any game that you enjoy, irrespective of genre, can become a time sink. That being said, the main difference between other genres and MMOs is as follows. A new player can jump straight into a FPS game and within minutes enjoy some multiplayer action, whereas in an MMO, a new player has to play through a tutorial and several hours of a starter zone before they start making headway in the game. This distinction does not have to be a deal breaker. An FPS can provide a quick fix of gaming and as such fulfils a need. MMORPGs can provide long term entertainment which scratches an ongoing gaming itch. Both are valid ways to enjoy gaming.

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categories / MMO Tropes, Time Sink, Gaming, MMORPG, Star Trek Online, LOTRO

LOTRO: Voice Acting

November 03, 2024 / Roger Edwards

One of the most noticeable things that ages the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, is the lack of comprehensive voice acting throughout the game. If a player interacts with an NPC, they will provide generic greetings or ambient dialogue. Phrases such as “hello there” of “our mission is dire” occur regularly. However, the majority of quest text is not spoken, unless it is part of the Epic Story line. If it is, the first sentence is usually voice acted but no more than that. Cutscenes within instances have dialogue, as are those that occur at key parts of the Epic Story. Overall, LOTRO does not have the extensive voice acting that a similar MMO such as Star Trek Online has. This is a shame, considering how much time and effort has been taken with other aspects of the game.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Voice Acting

LOTRO: Beneath the Surface

November 01, 2024 / Roger Edwards

Last week I finally completed the Epic Story content for Corsairs of Umbar, the 2023 expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Although I am still undecided about Umbar as a zone, I found the main story engaging and as ever, well conceived within Middle-earth lore. The writers at Standing Stone Games have been very creative with their Fourth Age content and never make the mistake of over blowing it or trying to up the stakes as high as the threat of Sauron. So far, it feels like the free people are credibly mopping up residual forces of evil, as one would after a major regime collapse. Therefore, I was broadly satisfied with the Corsairs of Umbar expansion and was ready to move onto the next major story content update which was released in May this year.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Update 40, Beneath the Surface

LOTRO: Bullroarer Update 42 - Legacy of Morgoth Beta #1

October 09, 2024 / Roger Edwards

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve spent some time taking part in the first beta test for Legacy of Morgoth on this Bullroarer test server. This will be the 12th expansion for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, when it is released on November 6th. According to the developers, Standing Stone Games, “Legacy of Morgoth is homed in the Valley of Ikorbân, located east of Umbar Baharbel. This is a challenge level 150 region, with 4 new zones packed with new quests, Deeds, Missions and Delvings for you to explore”. The Valley of Ikorbân is located to the east of Umbar Barharbel and is part of Near Harad. The aesthetics of the region are a continuation of those featured in the previous expansion, Corsairs of Umbar. Something, I personally still have mixed feelings about, as I find it somewhat incongruous to be questing in a tropical zone, after years of playing in a world that is predominantly based upon a European, temperate climate.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Bullroarer, Legacy of Morgoth Beta #1

LOTRO: The Benefits of Plugins

October 03, 2024 / Roger Edwards

After my recent experiment involving tweaking the graphics settings in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, I decided to see if I could improve my gaming experience with the use of mods. These are known within the LOTRO community as “Plugins”. They are created using the Lua programming language and are managed via an option on the character selection screen, after logging into the game. They are mainly used to augment the existing GUI, often presenting existing game data in a more convenient manner. Plugins can also be used to track information such as deed progress and to mark where specific items, resources and locations are on the in-game map. They cannot be used to issue commands or create macros. The most reliable source for Lua Plugins for LOTRO is via the website LOTRO Interface which maintains a comprehensive repository along with guides and FAQs.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Lua Plugins

LOTRO: Virtue Traits

October 01, 2024 / Roger Edwards

I returned to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, in April this year and caught up with 18 months worth of content. Upon reaching the latest level cap of 150, I built two entirely new Legendary Items and acquired new gear via the game’s lootbox system. As I am not the sort of player who is especially knowledgeable about the “stats” associated with my class and the overall theorycraft of the game, I did some research and found several guides to follow. As I play primarily solo PVE content, I favour a DPS build for my main character in LOTRO, which is a Lore-master. So I copied a specific build and considered my work done. However, along came Update 41 on the 1st of August, which made serious changes to this class. As a result I recently decided to look at every option for the Lore-master and see what I could do to find a new optimal build. The two areas that offer the most scope for improvement are Class Traits and Virtue Traits. This post deals with the latter.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Virtue Traits, Lore-master

LOTRO: Fine Tuning Your Graphics

September 27, 2024 / Roger Edwards

One of the things that I find fascinating about the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, are other peoples screenshots. Being a 17 year old game, the required hardware specifications are not especially high. Hence it will effectively run on a “potato”; IE an older PC. This is often reflected in the variety of screen captures you will find for the game. No two images ever look quite alike, due to the variety of PCs and laptops that people use to play the game. Hence you’ll sometimes come across screenshots with lower resolutions, or less graphical detail. I have screenshots from when I started playing LOTRO in 2008 and they look demonstrably different to those I’ve taken more recently. The game itself has changed a lot over the last 17 years and this has included graphical updates. Hence, unlike a lot of modern games, LOTRO screenshots do not have such a homogenous look.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Graphics, ReShade

Has LOTRO Lost its Way?

September 11, 2024 / Roger Edwards

After the initial shock of Update 41 and the radical revisions it made to the Lore-master class, I recently returned to The Lord of the Rings Online to experiment with new Master of Nature’s Fury (red line) and Keeper of Animals (blue line) builds. It is odd to find that skills I’ve been using for years are now gated behind specific trait lines. Furthermore, the consolidation of skills has left the entire class somewhat overpowered. Some players may argue that this is a good thing. However, for me it has rendered what was a subtle class requiring skill and intelligence to use effectively, into what is just a blunt instrument. Since playing tactically is now redundant, instances and skirmishes no longer poses any significant challenge. PVE content has been easy in LOTRO for a long time. Post update 41 it is now trivial and nothing more than a minor diversion.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Standing Stone Games, Update 41, Has LOTRO Lost Its Way

LOTRO: The Lore-master is Broken

August 11, 2024 / Roger Edwards

I started playing The Lord of the Rings Online on On Monday 22nd December 2008. I still have the receipt in the box set that I bought, which included the base game Shadows of Angmar and the newly released expansion, Mines of Moria (it had been out about a month). This was my first MMORPG and unlike many other gamers, I had not previously played World of Warcraft. Hence, this was very much a new experience for me. I spent a lot of time pondering what race and class I would play and after reading the game manual thoroughly, (remember them?) I decided upon a human Lore-master. This proved to be a wise decision because I immediately took to the class with its mixture of ranged fire attacks and combat pets. As I am not an “altoholic” this has been my primary character in LOTRO for the last 15 plus years. I have played through every update and expansion with this Lore-master. A total time investment of 7 months, 1 week, 3 days and 5 hours.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Standing Stone Games, Lore-master

MMO Tropes: Loot

August 02, 2024 / Roger Edwards

“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. One of the integral game mechanics of the MMORPG genre is the acquisition of loot. As you travel your virtual world of choice, committing random murder against all forms of flora and fauna, you acquire miscellaneous items by looting the corpses of the slain or stealing from houses and NPCs. Oh it’s a glamorous genre, the MMORPG. These random items can be crafting resources such as hides or ore. They may be food items or healing potions that provide some kind of statistical buff. If you’re fortunate, they may be gear that corresponds with your class or specific build, providing a much needed upgrade. Loot may also be the in-game currency, thus boosting your respective wealth. As you can see, loot comes in all shapes and sizes but how important is it?

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categories / MMO Tropes, Loot, Gaming, MMORPG, Star Trek Online, LOTRO, SWTOR

LOTRO: What You See Is What You Get

September 21, 2023 / Roger Edwards

As many of us suspected, the proposed “remaster” of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has been formally cancelled. Daybreak boss Ji Ham touched upon this project in EG7’s latest investors pitch video and stated that the proposal was a poor return on investment. The estimated cost of $30 million could well be spent more effectively elsewhere, possibly the development of new games. As a console release of LOTRO would be dependent upon a remaster, I think it is safe to say that idea is similarly no longer an ongoing concern. Sadly, it would appear that all the ideas regarding LOTRO that were floated during Robin Flodin’s tenure as EG7 CEO, have now all been quashed. It will be interesting to see if developers Standing Stone Games push ahead with support for 4K gaming and revisions to the game’s GUI or whether that also will be abandoned.

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categories / Gaming, MMORPG, LOTRO, Daybreak Game Company, Standing Stone Games, What You See, Is What You Get

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