Some interesting news came out of Gen Con 2019, where Standing Stone Games recently held their Dungeons & Dragons Online/The Lord of the Rings Online “meet up”. According to Draculetta who attended the social event, Severlin AKA Rob Ciccolini, Lead Producer for LOTRO stated that Stout-Axe Dwarves were to be added to the game as a new playable race. Furthermore, the ability to change the race of existing characters was also coming to the game. It was later clarified that the race change ability was subject to the existing class restrictions. Hence an existing Hobbit Guardian could become an Elf if the player so desires. But races such as Hobbits and Dwarves are still excluded from certain classes such as Captain or Lore-master. Although this was a very informal setting, the statement has been seen as a formal announcement and SSG have not said anything to the contrary so far.