Category: Lord of the Rings Online News

Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons Online developer Turbine Studios is rumored to have undergone a round of layoffs. The information was posted to the personal Facebook account of former LOTRO Community Manager Rick Heaton. We have reached out to Turbine to confirm or deny the rumors and will report back when we know more.

For the first time a long, long while, Lord of the Rings Online players will be able to experience a brand new raid with the arrival of Update 18.2 and the Throne of the Dread Terror. The 12-player raid is available to level 105 capped players with two difficulties, Tier 1 and Tier 2.

After three years, Lord of the Rings Online players had given up hope of ever getting another epic raid. But you know what they say, “Never say never.”

From now through June 21st players can take part in the final days of the Spring Festival. Several activities, including horse racing and maze games to name a few, are included.

The latest Lord of the Rings Online update notes have been published on the official forums. Among a very long list of quest, combat, class and other miscellaneous fixes is the very cool note that players obtaining an unwanted Featured Instance class gear can trade it in for another item from the same instance by using Long-Lost Coins.

Turbine is inviting players to log into Lord of the Rings Online from now through May 8th to take part in the ninth anniversary celebration. Players will have tons to do including fighting for a pint at the ale hall, participate in special horse races, acquire tokens to trade in for a special anniversary gift box and be able to take advantage of an increased loot box drop rates.

Turbine’s Kevin “EdgeCase” Nolan has penned a new developer diary on the Lord of the Rings Online site that goes into a deep dive about the combat changes in Update 18. It’s a very comprehensive look that includes a lot of numbers and minute details that those who love the nitty gritty will find interesting.

The Lord of the Rings Online forum has been updated with the latest patch notes. Players will be able to travel through epic story books five and six, The Ride of the Rohirrim and The Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Update 18 also features an increased level cap, a new instance cluster called Battle of the Pelennor Fields and new featured instances.

Turbine has announced that the plan to place a data center in Amsterdam to service EU Lord of the Rings Online customers has been put on indefinite hold. According to a post on the LOTRO forum, the new NA data center in New Jersey has already shown marked improvement in latency for both NA and EU players. As a result, Turbine will continue to make improvements to the New Jersey data center over placing another one in the EU.

A pretty decent-sized patch has been released for Lord of the Rings Online. Several new quests have been added in Minas Tirith as well as new stable travel options. In addition, players can now keep track of their emotes with a new collection panel that shows all available and whether or not they have yet been acquired.