For fourteen years, Standing Stone Game's MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, has been drawing fans into their free-to-play game with intriguing adventures set in J.R.R. Tolkien's massive fantasy world, Middle-earth. Hot on the heels of news that Amazon Game Studios' plans for a different Lord of the Rings MMORPG have been canceled, Standing Stone's long history with LOTRO only proves that the world doesn't actually need another game set in Middle-earth.
LOTRO debuted in 2007 as a subscription service but switched over to the FTP model in 2010. Over the years, they have evolved with new content, both free and paid, and so has the fanbase, which includes a hefty number of paid VIP members.
To celebrate nearly a decade and a half of adventuring with fans, Standing Stone released patch 29.5 on April 19, which added a brand new string of "Further Adventures" tales featuring one of everybody's favorite hobbits: Bilbo Baggins. The patch also added legendary server wastes and increased the level cap to 105 for exclusive VIP members, taking them through the Battle of Minas Tirith and straight up to the Black Gates of Mordor.
"The Further Adventures of Bilbo Baggins" will be free to play for VIP members, though not entirely exclusive. Non-VIP members can also explore the new Bilbo Baggins content for 495 LOTRO points, or they can enter the code SAVEBILBO through May 9th to enjoy the content for free for a limited time.
Along with the new adventure content and level cap increase, in-game festivities will start on April 21 and run through May 11. There will be festival activities and milestone-based rewards that celebrate how long members have been playing the game and other in-game rewards. Offering rewards to long-standing members as a way to say thank for their loyal history in the game is sure to keep them coming back, while potential rewards for brand new players will only continue to help the ever-expanding player base grow.
In an effort to promote further growth with the promised release of Amazon's Lord of the Rings television show, which is set to release sometime in 2022, the game's publisher, Daybreak Games, has plans to piggyback on the show's popularity and fanbase. Not only will fans of the game see new in-game content and expansions, but there are also plans to expand beyond their current PC exclusivity to PS5 and Xbox Series X, meaning the game will reach a whole new base of players in the future.
With solid plans to continue expanding and growing, one can only daydream about what offerings the game might make next year on their fifteen-year anniversary.