Lord of the Rings Online licence renewed to 2017
Breelliant.
The Lord of the Rings Online licence has been renewed and will last until 2017, developer Turbine has assured fans.
"We plan to support LOTRO for many years to come," wrote community manager Rick Heaton in the game's forum. "I really want to be as clear as possible on this subject to avoid any further confusion or misunderstanding. The license was renewed.
"We have an agreement that runs through 2017," he later added.
There had been concern about the game's future when Turbine appeared to announce that no new dungeons or raids would be developed for the game - only existing areas would possibly be revamped.
This information came during an event organised by Heaton on the game's Gilrain server, which would literally take the Hobbits to Isengard - the realisation of a great internet meme. Gilrain managed the feat in one hour 23 minutes with zero deaths.
During a live Twitch stream of the event (not yet available on LOTRO's Twitch page), Heaton answered questions from the community. I can't find a transcript, nor the video, but website Contains Moderate Peril summarised Heaton's responses.
"No new traditional instances and raids are being planned at this time," CMP wrote.
In the article's comments thread the author clarified: "That statement was made in a conversation about things we should be looking forward to in 2014. It doesn't mean Turbine isn't planning other types of group content, and it doesn't mean there will never be a new traditional instance or raid again."
Another answer given during the livestream that raised eyebrows was there being no plans to merge servers. Rick Heaton picked this point up in the game's forum.
"No," he restated. "There are no plans to merge servers.
"Will players from EU servers ever be able to transfer to NA servers? Unlikely, there are significant technical issues preventing it.
"If I'm being perfectly honest, there was really nothing new mentioned in the livestream that we haven't said before. Many of the questions were the same questions we're often asked with the same answers given."
