A Letter from Orion – December 2024

Hello and Happy Holidays from The Lord of the Rings Online team. It has been an eventful year. We released the Corsairs of Umbar instance cluster and the Mâkhda Khorbo raid, celebrated the 17th Anniversary of the game's release, opened the Catacombs of Umbar, introduced a new hobby with Birding, a fourth profession slot, added the new "Dragon" instance, updated the look of the Elves, and released the latest expansion: The Legacy of Morgoth. In addition, we released the first 64-bit servers with the Legendary Worlds of Mordor and Angmar using the special ruleset: The Veil of the Nine. We think it is fair to say 2024 was a very full year!

While we take a breath to reinvigorate ourselves for the next year and the many years beyond, we want to provide insight into the future of The Lord of the Rings Online. The first order of business is to provide you with information on efforts we have made in 2024 coming to fruition.

In the early part of the first quarter of 2025, we plan to open new 64-bit servers in Europe and the United States. The new servers will be open to all players and will not require VIP status to access. We will have more information about servers and transfers to these new worlds in early 2025. This has been a long effort, and we appreciate your patience and support while we get all the details right.

You can expect Severlin to sit with Cordovan sometime after the start of the new year to discuss the decisions behind the 64-bit servers, their placement in Europe and the United States, and details on what to expect. We hope this news is welcomed and that you are as excited as we are at the opportunity the 64-bit servers and opening transfers will afford.

Let's address the roadmap next.

In recent years we have provided a high-level roadmap with the aspirational goals for the upcoming year. This has proven beneficial in providing transparency and insight into the game's direction and setting expectations. Due to the nature of game design, aspirational goals often meet with reality, demands, and difficulties impacting or outright blocking development from coming to fruition. Looking back on the previous two roadmaps, there is a marked improvement this year. While we did not reach all the aspirational goals we set forward, we came far closer and delivered some unexpected improvements. As we look forward to 2025 and beyond, modifications to the roadmap will provide better clarity and communication.

First, we are reducing the number of details on the roadmap to provide more concise and accurate information. Details explained beyond six months often shift due to priorities or resource demands and become irrelevant or wrong. To avoid this, we plan to provide an overview of the year ahead and then modify the roadmap quarterly with insight into development six months at a time. This should allow us to communicate the current state of implementation and potential shifts in goals and priorities.

Let us take a look at the plan for 2025, with details outlined for the first two major releases.

Quarter 1

  • Raid
  • Quality of Life Update
  • Deed Log
  • Bug Fixes
  • Update to Birding

Quarter 2

  • 18th Anniversary
  • Content Pack
  • Uniting Shâgana
  • New Instance
  • New Raid

Quarter 3

  • Summer Update
  • Free Updates
  • System enhancements
  • And more

Quarter 4

  • Expansion Pack
  • Level Cap Increase
  • New Landscape
  • And more

The first quarter of 2025 includes a six-boss raid in three wings to challenge players at level 150, a refresh of the Deed Panel modernizing the interface and data management, myriad bug fixes, more class adjustments, and new areas to go Birding. Additional alterations necessary for the Legendary servers and Angmar will also continue. Our current plan is to release the update before the end of February.

By the time February arrives, we should be positioned to extend the details of the roadmap into the Quarter 3 release of 2025 and provide greater detail on the Quarter 2 release.

We want to take this time to thank you for your continued support and love of the game. We look forward to 2025 and beyond with great anticipation and expectation. We hope you will join us as the road goes on.

For now, we will release more details as we get closer to the first release of 2025.

As always, I remain Orion.