Star Trek Online in 2026
This year is the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. The original TV show was first broadcast in the US on September 8th 1966. If you search online you’ll find details of lots of related events. There are documentaries, conventions, new TV shows and even some video games in development. However, what you won’t find are any details regarding what will be happening with the MMORPG Star Trek Online. So far no road map for 2026 has been posted online by the developers but it is still quite early in the New Year. That being the case, I am not especially optimistic about there being any major plans waiting to be revealed. It is not as if DECA Games have demonstrated or stated any major ambitions for STO beyond keeping the endless events treadmill going and regularly adding content to the in-game store, during their development tenure. The ongoing story arc drags on inexorably and is as dull as ditchwater.
This year is the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. The original TV show was first broadcast in the US on September 8th 1966. If you search online you’ll find details of lots of related events. There are documentaries, conventions, new TV shows and even some video games in development. However, what you won’t find are any details regarding what will be happening with the MMORPG Star Trek Online. So far no road map for 2026 has been posted online by the developers but it is still quite early in the New Year. That being the case, I am not especially optimistic about there being any major plans waiting to be revealed. It is not as if DECA Games have demonstrated or stated any major ambitions for STO beyond keeping the endless events treadmill going and regularly adding content to the in-game store, during their development tenure. The ongoing story arc drags on inexorably and is as dull as ditchwater.
In recent years Star Trek as a franchise has seen a resurgence in public interest, due to some good TV shows. Sadly, absolutely nothing has been done by DECA Games to capitalise upon this, apart from adding themed, purchasable items from the new shows, into the in-game store. It all seems a somewhat wasted opportunity and a little sad, as this MMORPG has always had a great deal of potential. The change of developers from Cryptic to DECA Games in 2024 was a good opportunity to start improving the quality of story content and to address the huge amount of bugs and “jank” that have been inherent in STO since its launch in 2010. Sadly, the recent transition away from DECA Games back to the residual Cryptic Studios and wider ownership and publishing issues in late 2025 have stalled any major changes. The game has ticked over with a minimal amount of new content, which tends to be just more of the same. I wouldn’t say that STO is in maintenance mode but it’s not far from it.
I did some searching online to see what things had been discussed over the course of 2025 as potential projects, or areas of improvement. I only found two. The first being a feasibility study to see if the game engine could be upgraded or replaced. At present the game runs on the proprietary Cryptic engine, made by the original developers. This dates back to 2000 and although it has been updated over the years, it is still essentially running on two decade old code. Naturally, I would love to see STO running on something more robust and contemporary, such as Unreal Engine but I suspect the cost of porting the game to this would be unfeasible. Especially in light of the fact that the current publishers, Project Golden Arc, were formed after a management buyout from the Embracer Group. It will take a while for these business changes to take effect and no doubt finances may be scarce.
Another proposal that has been discussed in forums is a continued focus on character customisation, specifically race and gender changes, along with improvements to core gameplay systems. All of which sounds broadly positive but is also vague with respect to detail. Hence this doesn’t really sound like anything more than bug fixing. Which when added to the vague and let us be realistic, unlikely change of game engine, means that there isn’t much that we know about what is coming to STO this year. At this point in such a post, I’d usually say something conciliatory. Especially in light of the game effectively returning into the hands of some of the original developers. But frankly I am beyond that. There are other enjoyable franchise based MMORPGs that already have regular content updates and a coherent road map for the immediate future. I’ll be focusing on those games for the foreseeable future. Which is something I shouldn’t be saying in the year Star Trek celebrates its 60th anniversary.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Creating alts is an integral aspect of the MMORPG genre. Many players will create a character of a specific class or faction, play it for a while, lose interest in it or they may decide that it is just not for them. Fortunately it is no effort at all to simply re-roll a new alt and set off once again. Furthermore, lots of players never reach level cap of the MMORPG that there playing. When the going get’s tough, so to speak, you can either soldier on for another 50 levels or simply create a new alt and return to the comfort of tried and tested content. Alts also give you the chance to secure an accolade or achievement that you previously missed. They are also of great benefit to the genres social aspects. Creating a new alt so you can play along with a friend who is just starting is great fun. Developer’s love them too as it means you’re still playing the game.
I recently took a break from Crimson Desert choosing instead to to play something familiar and easy going. As I’ve been logging into Star Trek Online daily to participate in the anniversary event, I decided to look through my various alts and see how far they had progressed through the game and what resources they had. At present I have twelve alts. My primary Captain was created in 2015 during the original Delta Recruit Event. I had previously played STO intermittently since its release in January 2010 but I never kept any of those characters. Hence this decade old Tactical Federation Captain has been my main focus when playing. The other eleven alts are the result of other recruitment events or whenever I wanted to try something different, such as playing a specific class or faction. I obviously played a lot of STO during the lockdown as several alts date from that period. Several had maximum reputation across all factions.
This year is the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. The original TV show was first broadcast in the US on September 8th 1966. If you search online you’ll find details of lots of related events. There are documentaries, conventions, new TV shows and even some video games in development. However, what you won’t find are any details regarding what will be happening with the MMORPG Star Trek Online. So far no road map for 2026 has been posted online by the developers but it is still quite early in the New Year. That being the case, I am not especially optimistic about there being any major plans waiting to be revealed. It is not as if DECA Games have demonstrated or stated any major ambitions for STO beyond keeping the endless events treadmill going and regularly adding content to the in-game store, during their development tenure. The ongoing story arc drags on inexorably and is as dull as ditchwater.
I recently read a post on Massively Overpowered about skills rotation in the MMORPG genre. I found the subsequent discussion in the comments fascinating. Mainly because I have never used a fixed rotation of skills in any of the MMORPGs that I play. I understand the reasoning behind such things and why some players want to optimise their combat performance. Using one’s skills in a specific order to maximise damage and manage their subsequent cooldown has a logical appeal. In Star Trek Online, some players go so far as to create keybinds for their rotations and assign it to a specific hotkey, which is then continuously pressed throughout combat. However, rotations are a blunt tool that lack flexibility, often being geared towards dealing with a single target or using an area of effect skill against a larger group. They may not be the optimal approach to combat when things do not go to plan.
If you check the Star Trek Online Wiki, you’ll find that there has been a steady stream of new content added to the MMORPG over the last 15 years. However, it doesn’t quite feel that way, mainly because more recent material seems weaker and less memorable. The last two major story arcs in STO have been somewhat lacklustre and demonstrably inferior to those that went before. Both Terran Gambit and Kings & Queens suffer from uninspired, repetitive ideas as well as an infrequent release schedule. Effectively weak stories have been dragged out over too much time. No doubt changes among the STO writing team have had an impact on content but it also seems that some of the newer stories have been tailored around whatever former Star Trek cast members that are available. As a result there has been a somewhat “square pegs in a round holes” aspect to both story arcs, where the pieces just don’t seem to fit together well.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.
Star Trek Online is currently running its yearly Klingon Recruitment Event for PC players. Characters created from January 21st to February 11th gain additional rewards and account wide unlocks while levelling. It is a particularly useful way to orientate new and returning players. I created a Klingon Engineer during the 2021 Klingon Recruitment Event which I previously levelled to the current cap. However, I hadn’t taken this character through all the episodic missions, so I thought the current event would be a good time to resume their progress. Therefore today I resumed playing through the Romulan Mystery story arc. It was during the course of the final part of the episode, “Mine Enemy”, that I encountered a curious bug. It amused me sufficiently to prompt this blog post and make a lazy pop culture reference.
I have two monitors on my desk. The first (which is the primary monitor as far as my PC is concerned), is on the left and the second is on the right. The primary monitor is a 24 Dell U2412M, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200. It therefore has an aspect ratio of 16:10 which adds a little extra desktop real estate, which I prefer when writing. The second monitor is a 24 inch Dell S2421H with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 which is standard FHD. My chair is adjacent to the middle of my desk and I can turn according to each monitor I’m using. I tend to use the primary, larger monitor on the left for tasks such as writing via Google Docs and emails. The second monitor on the right is used for YouTube and gaming. This is because of its FHD format. I also have a Nintendo Switch connected to the second monitor for the same reason.
Yesterday the MMORPG Star Trek Online updated Earth Spacedock for the PC version of the game. The console version will be released a little later on. This replacement impacts upon Sol system space, the entire exterior model of ESD and elements of the interior. The outgoing model was somewhat old with several anomalies that linked to aspects of the game that have changed over the years. Perhaps the biggest reason for the change is a canon update to ESD as seen in the third season of Star Trek: Picard. The TV show features a new Earth Spacedock, also known as Probert Station, which boasts a larger superstructure designed to meet the demand of Starfleet in 2401. It would appear that this update is the first substantial release from the developers at DECA Games and may potentially indicate the quality of future content.
Bree Royce, editor-in chief at Massively Overpowered, recently asked the question “what is the most expensive MMORPG right now”. My first thought was to search through my old draft blog posts and track down an MMO cost analysis I wrote circa 2019. It includes data such as subscription rates and the price of current expansions. There was also information on what were the most popular cash shop items at the time. However, I then read some of the comments that had been left on Bree’s post and I quickly realised that this wasn’t just a matter of financial expenditure. Whether or not an MMO is expensive is also determined by one’s disposable income, respective wealth and personal relationship with money. The latter is perhaps the most important, irrespective whether you consider yourself rich or poor.
It is customary for me to write an end of year summary of my gaming activities but I suspect that on this occasion it will be somewhat short. For me, 2024 has really hammered home the notion of the ephemeral nature of video games as well as their commercial ubiquity. The moment a game fails to satisfy for whatever reason, rather than complain or worry about it, I just move on to something else. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of games out there. I have a substantial back catalogue of games that Epic and Amazon prime regularly giveaway. I have bought numerous discounted bundles in the past, in the pious hope that I’ll play one of the games included, at some point in the future. Games may well be enjoyable and engaging but many are also disposable. That’s not to say they’re bad. While playing them you are indeed “entertained”. However, when you’re “done”, it’s amazing how you quickly find another and forget what you were previously playing.
If you’ve ever played an MMORPG, then you have more than likely encountered this problem. Especially if you start playing a game that has been long established. You diligently create your character and spend time and effort customising them to suit your needs. All you’ve got to do next is choose a name, so you type in a pithy and droll title only to find that it has already been taken. So you quickly come up with another and that too is rejected. Next you try the same name but with some “alternative” spelling but the game resolutely tells you that even that permutation is already in use. I have found that even with a list of names that I’ve drawn up prior to playing the game, it can still take anything from 5 to 30 minutes to find one that is available. Naturally, this process is very frustrating, which is hardly the ideal user experience for a new player.
It would appear that one of the reasons potential new players avoid the MMORPG genre is due to the perception that they are all time sinks. I wouldn’t argue against this assumption because the reality is that it’s true. However any game that you enjoy, irrespective of genre, can become a time sink. That being said, the main difference between other genres and MMOs is as follows. A new player can jump straight into a FPS game and within minutes enjoy some multiplayer action, whereas in an MMO, a new player has to play through a tutorial and several hours of a starter zone before they start making headway in the game. This distinction does not have to be a deal breaker. An FPS can provide a quick fix of gaming and as such fulfils a need. MMORPGs can provide long term entertainment which scratches an ongoing gaming itch. Both are valid ways to enjoy gaming.
Cryptic Studios appear to have started a new round of layoffs, following those made last November. Although the developers of Star Trek Online and Neverwinter have not formally commented on the situation, it is more than likely that this is a continuation of their owners, the Embracer Group, ongoing restructuring program. So far, the Swedish company has laid off over 1,500 employees since June 2023, in an attempt to address its ill considered over expansion in recent years. At present development of Star Trek Online and other titles are being transitioned from Cryptic to DECA. The German developers are mainly known for mobile games and have recently positioned themselves as “breathing life into old games”. Their intent is to keep developing content for STO and to maintain a working relationship with the owners of the intellectual property.
If you are a new player, then Star Trek Online has 14 years of content to play through. It is all story driven and is frequently couched in existing lore from the various Star Trek TV shows. It also benefits from many of the original actors reprising their respective roles within the game. This provides an additional air of authenticity to the proceedings as well as being a spectacular fan service. Furthermore, much of that content is faction specific, hence there is a great deal of replay value to be had from this MMO. Apart from The Lord of the Rings Online, I cannot think of another game that manages to successfully tap into the style and idiom of its source intellectual property. Simply put, Star Trek Online looks and feels “very “Star Trek”. Which is why it has a robust and loyal player base and still proves to be a viable financial asset to its owners, DECA Games.
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. One of the integral game mechanics of the MMORPG genre is the acquisition of loot. As you travel your virtual world of choice, committing random murder against all forms of flora and fauna, you acquire miscellaneous items by looting the corpses of the slain or stealing from houses and NPCs. Oh it’s a glamorous genre, the MMORPG. These random items can be crafting resources such as hides or ore. They may be food items or healing potions that provide some kind of statistical buff. If you’re fortunate, they may be gear that corresponds with your class or specific build, providing a much needed upgrade. Loot may also be the in-game currency, thus boosting your respective wealth. As you can see, loot comes in all shapes and sizes but how important is it?
Ever since the Borg have been part of the MMORPG Star Trek Online, players have had to equip a Frequency Remodulator. The Borg adapt to damage from beam weapons after a few minutes and so players have to recalibrate their rifles or pistols, accordingly, using a Frequency Remodulator. This takes 5 seconds to perform and so has to be timed carefully to ensure that the player is not vulnerable to attack during this period. An upgraded version called a Fractal Remodulator, has been available from Federation and Klingon vendors in the Base Camp of the Defera Invasion Zone. It can be crafted for 50 Nanopower Capacitors, 50 Fibro-Neural Interface Cabling and 50 Cybernetic Armatures. It is quicker than the standard model, taking 3 seconds to apply new frequencies. Kinetic weapons do not require remodulation and the Borg cannot adapt to them.
Cryptic used the same statement on their recent news release. Except they ended it with an exclamation mark whereas I’ve chosen a question mark instead. Because I really do question the wisdom of expanding the Experimental Ship Upgrade path and the benefits of applying additional tokens to your ships, unlocking further device, console and trait slots. This is a classic example of doing something because you can, as opposed because you should. Do players at level cap who have already upgraded their ship(s) from Tier 6 to Tier 6-X really need to augment it further? Beyond the immediate stats boost, does it offer any significant benefit to the player or the game in the long run? Or does this situation simply boil down to the fact that it’s another cynically contrived excuse for Star Trek Online developers, Cryptic, to sell you something. For the record, Experimental Ship Upgrade tokens are available for sale in the Zen Store (for money) or can be purchased via Phoenix Prize Pack (for dilithium).
All MMORPGs have bugs. It is a certainty in life, just like death and taxes. However, some have more than others. I’m sure we could argue for hours as to which particular game has the most but I’ll leave that discussion to others. Star Trek Online has its share, many of which have persisted for years. But there is one that stands out, due to its longevity and sheer annoyance. To be specific, the “trait bug”. Like many MMO’s STO has a trait system that offers a range of passive or active buffs, skill boosts and statistical tweaks. STO is very much a number game, especially if you are chasing a high DPS output, which lots of players do. The trait bug is the random “unslotting” of some of your characters traits. It can affect any of the seven categories of traits but tends to most often happen to Personal Space Traits and Starship Traits. Unless you regularly check, most players will not immediately know this has happened.
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. Dying in an Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game is a clear and unambiguous fail state. A means by which to teach the player that they’re doing something wrong and that they need to rethink their strategy. IE Don’t mess with the foul Marmydons unless you have back up and are wielding the Sword of Kagnazax. Dying is a reminder to not get overconfident and maintain situational awareness. It teaches us to ensure you have the right gear and consumables, to be au fait with the mechanics of any fight you’re about to get into and that winning is not a given. Any enterprise that offers a tangible reward will come with potential risks and consequences. If you’re playing in a group then death provides a timely reminder not to rely on Colin.
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. I was in London recently, idly walking to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, when a group of tourists started running for no discernable reason. Someone I was with asked “ I wonder why they’re running” and I replied “perhaps they think they’re in an MMO”. The quips fell on deaf ears but that is a cross I often have to bear. This anecdote highlights one of the points of this post. Namely, why do our avatars in the MMORPG genre run by default? I would also like to discuss the manner in which MMOs address the issue of travel around an ever expanding virtual world. Is fast travel lazy? Our mounts a boon or a bane?
Here we are again with another summary of my gaming activities in recent months. Or in this case since last September. It’s been a while but I’ve been on a blogging hiatus until recently. However, I’ve kept myself busy gaming wise and often I find the hunt for news video games, just as entertaining as I do playing them. Perhaps that could be a future blog post. Back to the matter in hand. Gaming wise, pretty much all things related to the MMORPG genre are currently on the back burner. I’ll give specifics later but I am taking a break from these for the present. I am currently looking at trying games outside my usual comfort zone and also trying to test whether you can or cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Fortunately, the answer appears to be yes you can. Enough summation, on to the specifics.
This afternoon Cryptic launched the latest season update, Ascension, for the MMORPG Star Trek Online. Furthermore, I’m sure it will not come as a shock to long term players that it was broken and an emergency patch had to be applied. Oh how we all laughed. Even after being “fixed” players are still experiencing bugs with the new content, especially the ground mission part of the update, but this sadly is just par for the course. Personally speaking, it is not the bugs that I have a problem with as they are just part of the overall gaming experience when playing STO. What I am saddened about is the actual gameplay found in Ascension. The space combat section of the game is simply “more of the same”. Destroy some specific vessels and once the goal has been met, watch the cutscene. But the ground combat is especially uninspired and repetitive, despite its interesting setting.
The Lord of the Rings Online was my first major MMORPG. I started playing in late 2008 and quickly discovered that there was a necessity to become familiar with the game world. Although the game provides quick travel options they were not ubiquitous at that point and often a player would simply travel on foot to travel costs down and to take the most direct route. Back in 2008 you could not own a mount until level 30. Hence I began “learning the maps” in the game and to this day still remember how to travel from one side of Moria, to another. The maps in the base game remain clear in my mind as they were so well trodden. Not so those in the regions. There are far more stables with fast mounts present in the game now and so convenience trumps any requirement to become so familiar with newly added zones. Nowadays Standing Stone Games designs new zones that tend to funnel players through them from quest hub to quest hub.
I’ve been playing Star Trek Online on and off for about 8 years. During that time I read a lot of Wikis and watched a lot of videos on YouTube that explore the game’s various systems and mechanics. I find a lot of the recommendations made by “expert” players to be impractical. The commonest being builds that include traits and consoles that you can only obtain from buying specific ships. Or using resources in quantities that take months of grinding to build up. This is hardly what I’d call handy advice for a new player. So I thought I’d give five tips of my own in no particular order, that I feel are useful. Some are glaringly obvious. Others not so. But hopefully they will prove useful to both new and returning players.
Cryptic are once again running the Temporal Agent Recruitment event in Star Trek Online from Tuesday 6th September 2022. Players who create a TOS (The original series) era character during this time are eligible for bonus dilithium, equipment and special traits as they play through the game. Progression also unlocks rewards for existing alts which can prove very useful. There are also unique tasks associated with Temporal Agents such as finding and unlocking Temporal Probes, which are hidden throughout the game’s story content. Once a player has created a 23rd century Starfleet character, completed the tutorial and received their special Temporal Agent transceiver device, they will gain the title Temporal Agent. The goals and bonus content associated with the event can be completed anytime, even after it ends on October 4th.
I have confined my gaming to three MMORPGs in recent months and have not strayed into anything new. Time has been an issue due to a great deal of change in my domestic life. Hence The Lord of the Rings Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Trek Online have proven suitable for my needs. Being able to log into a game and commence an activity without any complicated preamble is convenient and currently suits my schedule down to the ground. I will be buying Sniper Elite 5 at the end of the month as this is a franchise that has always proven entertaining and engaging. While recently perusing the various game launchers I have installed, I took the opportunity to remove several games that I’m no longer playing or that have proven to be a “five minute wonder”. Hence I said goodbye to GreedFall, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and Days Gone. Their removal is no reflection upon their quality.
There was a perennial question being discussed over at Massively Overpowered recently. Justin Olivetti asked “why do you play MMOs solo” and as you would expect, there was a wide variety of answers. I have written about this myself in the past, as when I first started playing MMOs, I was very enamoured by the social element and therefore very disposed towards group content. However, that experience between 2008 and 2011, when I played The Lord of the Rings Online most days and dedicated Friday and Saturday nights to raiding, was very much down to circumstances. I had the time and inclination to spend hours online. That is something that I don’t have now. Plus the novelty of the social element has worn a little thin over the years. Nowadays, I do not have the luxury of waiting for a raid group to assemble, nor do I have the tolerance for the inevitable delays that always stem from any kind of human interaction.
LOTRO: The State of the Game in Late 2025
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
This is the third expansion for the game that is set in the South of Middle-earth. Although many aspects of the MMO remain consistently good, such as the story telling and character development, I personally haven’t warmed to this area. Umbar, Harad and Khand are not especially detailed regions within Tolkien’s writing. I feel that the game developers have drawn too much from a stereotypical depiction of Middle-eastern culture. The sort you see in Western pop culture depictions of Sinbad and Ali Baba. For me it is an incongruous contrast to the established regions of Middle-earth. I’d rather these areas had just remained alluded to within the game, the same way they are in the Legendarium. However, what I am describing is a matter of taste. I’m sure there are LOTRO players who feel the opposite.
The latest expansion sees an increase in the level cap from 150 to 160. Thus there will be a need to replace all your existing jewellery, weapons and armour equipped on your alts. It may feel somewhat arbitrary but levelling remains an important element to many players, as does the gear treadmill. No doubt there will be an increase in the virtue traits level cap, so there is plenty to work towards over the month ahead. The expansion will at some point include new raids and instances but these really are a niche requirement and only a nominal amount of players playthrough such content. There are no new classes or races and Kingdoms of Harad does not include any new systems or mechanics. However, this should come as no surprise as SSG tends to work within established confines.
The most significant event for LOTRO this year was the migration to 64-bit servers and the regional consolidation. The lag issue that has plagued this MMO for years has definitely improved but has not been totally eliminated. The main issue that SSG faces is a knowledge gap, as the majority of staff that built the game have gone. It’s not a case of SSG not wanting to fix issues but the fact that they can’t. Hence the game still cannot adequately support 2K and 4K gaming. It is the main reason why LOTRO always gets “more of the same”. Quests, instances and missions are known quantities. More ambitious projects such as overhauling the deed log have proven far harder. There is also a long list of issues that SSG have said that they will “look into” that remain outstanding. Standardising event or faction based barter currency is one example. Removing outdated systems from the HUD being another.
If you pay attention to the press releases from the business side of the Daybreak Game Company, it is clear that LOTRO is financially sustainable within its existing parameters. It has a stable playerbase and yields a sufficient ROI to keep moving forward. However, it was made clear by CEO Ji Ham that the much touted graphics upgrade and console version of the game would not go ahead because of the cost. He stated that they could get a new game for the price. LOTRO players have conjectured whether the cancellation of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings based MMO, will have an impact upon LOTRO. Could it mean further investment? I think not. The video game industry is contracting at present and is extremely risk averse. LOTRO continues because it generates sufficient revenue within its operational parameters. It is not seen, in business terms, as anything more than the sum of its parts.
LOTRO players have a strong emotional attachment to the game. I also believe that the developers SSG do the best with the budgets and resources they have to work with. However, I think that it is unrealistic to expect anything more from this vintage MMO other than what it currently offers. I believe I said exactly the same thing 3 or 4 years ago in a similar post. Hence, for me the most sensible thing to do going into 2026 is be content that LOTRO still endures. At some point in the New Year a roadmap for the next twelve months will be published, although I don’t expect any surprises. A year-long content schedule will be sufficient to keep me happy. Anything else is a bonus. Due to the tumultuous nature of the video game industry at present, perhaps it isn’t wise to look any further ahead. The road may not go “ever on and on” forever.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
According to the recent “letter to the players”, Standing Stone Games will be adding a new zone to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online in the second quarter of this year. Possibly around May or June. Having spent the last three expansions in the South of Middle-earth exploring the tropical Umbar and the deserts of Harad, I would certainly welcome a change of location. I have gradually warmed to these zones over the last eighteen months but I do find them so incongruous. They are so radically different to the European style content that has been the mainstay of the game for so long. Tolkien’s source text has plenty of detail regarding Eriador and Rhovanion. Information regarding Harad is scarce, hence it has afforded the developers a great deal of artistic freedom. Although exceedingly well realised these tropical zones have taken a while for me to get used to.
I’m not sure exactly when it started but I’ve recently noticed a graphical bug within the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. This problem often occurs within caves or in areas where there are a lot of rocky surfaces. Hence it has become very apparent in the latest two expansions, set in Umbar and Harad. This graphical glitch causes some surface textures to appear to flash from light to dark intermittently. The resulting strobe effect is hard to ignore and very distracting. Fortunately, a quick online search showed that this is not a problem unique to my installation of LOTRO and is a known problem. Furthermore, there is a very simple workaround, which is to go into the Advanced Graphics setting and uncheck “Per Pixel Lighting”, which immediately remedies the problem. I have no idea why this has recently started to happen but at least it can be resolved.
The latest expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, Kingdoms of Harad, launched on December 3rd. With this release the level cap was raised from 150 to 160. It should also be noted that the cap for virtue traits was also raised from 96 to 100. Naturally these changes meant that there is a requirement to replace all armour and jewellery once the new cap is reached. Similarly Legendary Items have to be reforged and any traceries upgraded or replaced. If you follow the Epic Story it will lead you from quest hub to quest hub. The main quest rewards, along with those from side quests will provide adequate gear as you slowly progress towards the new level cap. The new raids, instances and missions/delvings then provide a means to acquire higher quality level 160 gear. LOTRO and indeed, many other MMOs are consistent in this methodology.
It is customary in a post such as this to list the various games that I’ve played over the last twelve months and share my thoughts on them. Wider analysis of the video game industry is also de rigeur. Unfortunately, I don’t really feel disposed to do either of those two things. My thoughts on the games I’ve played have already been published and can easily be accessed via the links at the bottom of this post. As for the video game industry, it suffers the same flaws as music, TV and cinema. There is creativity and innovation out there but it is often drowned out by mainstream products which are demonstrably inferior due to their inherent mediocrity. As for the business side of things, we once again clearly see the failings of the corporate management class. Sadly, they do not face the consequences of the mistakes that they make.
Today Standing Stone Games began beta testing Update 46.1 for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. The current preview on the Bullroarer test server is mainly for the new instance cluster that comes with the Kingdoms of Harad expansion which launched a few weeks ago. However, it would appear that this latest preview has another feature or note. One that should please LOTRO players. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, myself included, SSG have been working on a scaling UI for 2K and 4K monitors and the results are now available for testing from today Monday 15th through to Friday 19th December. Until now the main workaround to the lack of UI scaling has been to use either Nvidia or AMD graphics software to upscale the game from 1920 x 1080, or a third party app such as LosslessScaling. Having an official solution is a far better option.
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online runs on a broad spectrum of PCs. From archaic laptops to high end gaming rigs, although it may require a bit of tweaking. At present, the optimal way to play the MMO is at a resolution of 1920x1080 (FHD) with the graphics setting maxed out. The graphics are sharp and the UI is readable. However, a growing number of gamers are now using 2K and 4K monitors. You can play LOTRO at higher resolutions such as 2560×1440 (QHD) and 3840x2160 (UHD) and the game looks great. However, the UI does not scale and so is very small on 2K and 4K monitors. The skill icons on the quickslots (shortcut bars) and the in-game text become difficult to see at these resolutions, which deters some players from using them. It is a known issue that Standing Stone Games are attempting to address but it is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
I recently read a post on Massively Overpowered about skills rotation in the MMORPG genre. I found the subsequent discussion in the comments fascinating. Mainly because I have never used a fixed rotation of skills in any of the MMORPGs that I play. I understand the reasoning behind such things and why some players want to optimise their combat performance. Using one’s skills in a specific order to maximise damage and manage their subsequent cooldown has a logical appeal. In Star Trek Online, some players go so far as to create keybinds for their rotations and assign it to a specific hotkey, which is then continuously pressed throughout combat. However, rotations are a blunt tool that lack flexibility, often being geared towards dealing with a single target or using an area of effect skill against a larger group. They may not be the optimal approach to combat when things do not go to plan.
Tolkien enthusiasts may recollect Athlon Games, a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies, announcing that it was developing a new MMORPG, based upon The Lord of the Rings, back in September 2018. The following summer, it was revealed that Amazon Game Studios was the partner developer for the project. In late 2020, Leyou Technologies (a Hong Kong-based company), was acquired by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. This triggered a contract clause with the license holder, Middle-earth Enterprises, allowing them to terminate the existing arrangement if a new deal could not be met. Amazon and Tencent were unable to agree upon how to proceed with the project, leading Amazon to withdraw from negotiations. The project was subsequently scrapped. No details or images of the MMO have been released.
After a six month migration period, Standing Stone Games formally closed all their legacy 32-bit game servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on the 31st August 2025. Despite this planned closure being widely discussed via the game’s official forums, professional video game websites and fan blogs, many LOTRO players were unaware of this deadline. Hence many were unable to migrate their respective alts to the new 64-bit servers. Naturally those affected by these closures were upset, especially those with longstanding characters who didn’t relish the prospect of starting from scratch with a new alt. Thankfully, SSG have been true to their word and as of today, have re-opened these “dark worlds” to character transfers. If you have an alt trapped on one of the older game worlds, then now is the time to use the transfer wizard and move them to a new active game world.
MMORPG announced earlier today and it was subsequently confirmed by Standing Stone games, that the new expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online will be Kingdoms of Harad and that it will launch later in the year. The expansion will see the conclusion of the epic Song of Waves and Wind storyline and the level cap raised from 150 to 160. There will be a new region to explore, Mûr Ghala, comprising four zones. Adagîm, Idagâl, An Shêru and Kighân. The latter contains the main trading hub of Zajâna. Players will travel into the region with Gandalf the White, along with allies of the Kindred of Coins and Mizadi as they seek to counter the regional power struggle brought about by the fall of Sauron. Canonically, this takes place three months after the destruction of the ring, hence King Elessar and Eomer are busy with domestic affairs in their respective kingdoms.
Skirmishes were added to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, in 2009 with the release of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. Skirmishes are a repeatable and scalable combat system that allows players to access various instances for solo or group play from anywhere in the in-game world. Players can choose a Skirmish Soldier from a variety of classes to accompany them and provide healing, tank or additional DPS. On paper it’s a great system which is why many other MMOs offer something similar. I recently decided to tinker with my Skirmish Soldier build on my main character to see if I could optimise their performance. As my primary alt is a Lore-master, for the last few years I have had a Warrior as their Skirmish Soldier, to take some of the aggro from attacking mobs. I used the excellent guide by FibroJedi and swapped over a few Training and Personal Traits.
On 2nd August 2025, I was playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, on my primary character, a level cap Lore-master. I decided to continue with one of the Allegiance Quest lines, specifically Durin’s Folk. I played through several quests and earned the appropriate tokens that advance the Allegiance system. I then handed these in to the NPC in the Hall Under the Mountain, expecting the next quest in the series “Chapter 3: Gimli’s Request” to be unlocked. An item appeared in my inventory that I then clicked on, which should have bestowed the quest. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Furthermore, the item vanished from my bag and therefore I could not attempt to click it again. I checked the LOTRO Wiki and then looked around the Hall Under the Mountain to see if any NPC had a ring icon above their head. As they did not, I surmised that this was a software glitch and logged a support ticket with Standing Stone Games.
Let’s start with a quote from a classic Walter Hill film, The Warriors. “Can you count, suckers?” says Sirus. The gang leader was referring to the number of Police in New York City at the time. Whereas, for the purpose of this post, I am referencing how many Delving Writs a player needs to acquire 6 pieces of level cap armour in LOTRO. Because, next to the gear you get from endgame instances and raids, Delving gear is a good alternative.. It is marginally better than the items you can get from lootboxes. Hence, Delving armour is a good source of high end gear for the solo player. Through the miracle of mathematics, the number of Delving writs required to acquire a full set of this armour is 9,000. At first glance, that seems like a lot. If you then do some further research to put the number in context, you realise it is indeed a lot and a substantial undertaking.
I am currently enjoying a renewed interest in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online since I migrated all my characters from the old 32-bit servers to the new 64-bit replacements. I’ve created a new High Elf Lore-master on Peregrin server and am currently levelling them in a targeted play through of the Epic Story, supplemented by curated side quests. While playing recently, I realised the game UI on this alt wasn’t as I usually have it laid out. So I checked through the various documents on my PC and found a text file I had created many years ago that had a few hints and tips written down. I’ve added a few more and decided to share them as a blog post. I’m sure veteran players will be familiar with many of them but a lot of them are worth repeating. They may prove useful to those new to LOTRO or returning to the game after a long hiatus.
In mid-March, while the server migration debacle raged, I created a new alt for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on Peregrin server. The idea was to play casually through content focusing on enjoyment, rather than worrying about progression. I was to level at a pace that suited me and had no specific plans to develop my alt in any particular way. I have been playing LOTRO since 2008 and have a primary level-cap character that has been my main focus over the years. Hence I have previously experienced all story content from all the expansions and am therefore very familiar with what the game has to offer. Which is why I thought I’d do things differently this time. So I started my new Lore-master in Mossward in Swanfleet, the new starting area added to the game in 2022.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
It has not been a good week for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online and its developer Standing Stone Games. The migration from legacy 32-bit servers to 64-bit servers has not gone smoothly. The transfer queue was overwhelmed by the sheer number of accounts and it has taken far longer than expected to process the backlog of requests. Today has been the fifth day of waiting to see if my 3 main characters from Laurelin server have successfully migrated to their new home on Meriadoc. When I checked this morning, the transfer wizard indicated that my characters were back where they originally came from. I therefore considered repeating the entire process. However, around midday, Community Manager Cordovan indicated that SSG had caught up with transfer requests made around 8:00 AM EST on Sunday 9th March. So I decided to be patient and wait a little longer.
I’ve been busy this weekend, so it wasn’t until late afternoon today that I found time to sit down and attempt to migrate my characters from the old 32-bit server Laurelin, to the new 64-bit server Meriadoc. The “Great Server Migration” has not gone smoothly and the week has been a litany of changing deadlines and unfulfilled expectations. However, developer’s Standing Stone Games, have been “firefighting” issues on a daily basis and communicating regularly with the player base of the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Sadly, a lot of players have not responded well to the ongoing technical difficulties and there is subsequently a lot of ill feeling on the official forums. I have chosen to adopt a more pragmatic outlook and to let events run their course.
Standing Stone Games were scheduled to open their new 64-bit servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, today. However, when the free transfer service went live yesterday, it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of players trying to migrate their alts from the older 32-bit servers to the new ones. Eventually SSG had to disable the transfer facility so that they could process the backlog. Hence today’s launch of the new servers has been postponed till tomorrow. In the meantime, the official LOTRO forum’s have gone into meltdown with irate players berating the developers for handling the migration poorly. True to form, SSG have been somewhat defensive and prickly in response to what they see as unjust criticism. Let it suffice to say that neither party has covered themselves in glory and there is a good chance that the technical problems will persist a while longer.
What Massively Overpowered calls LOTRO’s “Great Server Migration” began today. The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has opened 4 new 64-bit servers in conjunction with the 2 existing 64-bit legendary servers and the long term plan is to migrate all current players over to them. Eventually, the 32-bit legacy servers will be shut down, however that is a long way off at present. As of today, VIP players can select a new server, log into it and create new characters with their desired names. These placeholder characters cannot be played at present but can be used to reserve names. Tomorrow, if all goes well, the new servers formally open and free transfers begin. Players can then delete placeholder characters and rename alts that they have migrated, thus restoring desired names. It should be noted that none of this is mandatory and players can remain on the old servers for the present.
I have many pleasant memories associated with playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online during its first decade. A lot of them are due to the kinship (guild) that I have been a member of since 2009. I started playing LOTRO in December 2008 and it took me a while to find a suitable kinship but once I did, it made logging into the game a real pleasure. I was at a point in my life where I had sufficient time to play the game regularly and take part in kinship organised raids. It was also an added bonus to be able to spend some time and chat with some like minded people. I’m sure such an experience is not unique to me and that many LOTRO players have enjoyed similar periods of time. The lucky ones may still be enjoying a comparable kinship experience today.
I have two monitors on my desk. The first (which is the primary monitor as far as my PC is concerned), is on the left and the second is on the right. The primary monitor is a 24 Dell U2412M, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200. It therefore has an aspect ratio of 16:10 which adds a little extra desktop real estate, which I prefer when writing. The second monitor is a 24 inch Dell S2421H with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 which is standard FHD. My chair is adjacent to the middle of my desk and I can turn according to each monitor I’m using. I tend to use the primary, larger monitor on the left for tasks such as writing via Google Docs and emails. The second monitor on the right is used for YouTube and gaming. This is because of its FHD format. I also have a Nintendo Switch connected to the second monitor for the same reason.
I always remember the sage wisdom of the great children’s TV character Huxley Pig. “If in panic, if in doubt. Run in circles, scream and shout”. Such was the initial reaction of players of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, when it was announced recently that there is to be a new 64-bit server rollout in Q1 of 2025. At first glance, new servers are surely a good thing? The 64-bit legendary servers, which were tested in 2024, have proven to be a success and do much to address the lag issues that plague the existing 32-bit servers. Surely this is what players want? Well, yes it is, in principle but new infrastructure ultimately raises the issue of server migrations. Developer’s Standing Stone Games intend to consolidate the player population in the long term with the addition of 4 new 64-bit servers. The 2 legendary servers will remain but the 32-bit legacy servers will eventually close.
Bree Royce, editor-in chief at Massively Overpowered, recently asked the question “what is the most expensive MMORPG right now”. My first thought was to search through my old draft blog posts and track down an MMO cost analysis I wrote circa 2019. It includes data such as subscription rates and the price of current expansions. There was also information on what were the most popular cash shop items at the time. However, I then read some of the comments that had been left on Bree’s post and I quickly realised that this wasn’t just a matter of financial expenditure. Whether or not an MMO is expensive is also determined by one’s disposable income, respective wealth and personal relationship with money. The latter is perhaps the most important, irrespective whether you consider yourself rich or poor.
LOTRO: The State of the Game
I am fast approaching my ten-year anniversary of playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. So, I thought I write a few thoughts about how I find the current state of the game. I returned to LOTRO this August and finally decided to tackle all the outstanding content that I had allowed to build up. Because I initially had issues with the Mordor expansion when it first was released, I had started to level up elsewhere in the game. Thus, when I resumed playing I was two levels or so above the designated rank of most quests. The final region of Mordor, Talath Úrui, I completed last night at level 118. I have always preferred to play this way and like to ensure that I am adequately equipped for a zone. If you are underpowered combat becomes a chore. I am currently finishing off the final stages of Update 22: Legacy of the Necromancer, having worked my way through Northern Mirkwood, Lake-town, Dale on to Erebor. I always attempt content in a linear fashion, so I can stay conversant with the various storylines. By the time I finish the Erebor quests and start the new content in Update 23: Where Dragons Dwell, I shall probably be at the new level cap of 125.
I am fast approaching my ten-year anniversary of playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. So, I thought I write a few thoughts about how I find the current state of the game. I returned to LOTRO this August and finally decided to tackle all the outstanding content that I had allowed to build up. Because I initially had issues with the Mordor expansion when it first was released, I had started to level up elsewhere in the game. Thus, when I resumed playing I was two levels or so above the designated rank of most quests. The final region of Mordor, Talath Úrui, I completed last night at level 118. I have always preferred to play this way and like to ensure that I am adequately equipped for a zone. If you are underpowered combat becomes a chore. I am currently finishing off the final stages of Update 22: Legacy of the Necromancer, having worked my way through Northern Mirkwood, Lake-town, Dale on to Erebor. I always attempt content in a linear fashion, so I can stay conversant with the various storylines. By the time I finish the Erebor quests and start the new content in Update 23: Where Dragons Dwell, I shall probably be at the new level cap of 125.
The Story. A year on after the release of Mordor and LOTRO has begun to forge ahead into quasi non-canonical territory, effectively fictionalising the events that are referenced in the appendix of The Lord of the Rings. There have been times in the past when I have found the underlying narrative of LOTRO too convoluted and frankly uninteresting. I remember little of Enedwaith and Dunland and felt that the stories based around the inter-tribal Dunlending feuds were a distraction. Beyond their function of giving further insight into the treason of Isengard they were not the most gripping of tales. I also lost track of many of the Thanes of Rohan and their respective stories during the Riders of Rohan expansion. Yet broadly, the Epic Story that runs through the entire game has been gripping and from time to time, memorable characters do stand out.
I felt that the Mordor storyline was very good, offering a plausible depiction of a ruined but not necessarily beaten realm. The notion of former acolytes of Sauron vying for dominance in a power vacuum was explored well. I also felt the plight of the Stout-axes was an interesting tale. Recent updates have also seen a more honed style of narrative, where wider issues are seen through the experience of a handful of relevant characters. The refugee quests in Dale was well handled and struck a contemporary chord. Although I usually tend to be ambivalent towards Elven focused narratives, I enjoyed the cleansing of Mirkwood and the way Thranduil’s story tied into the High Elf starter storyline. From what I’ve seen so far SSG are doing well with their post downfall of Sauron adaptations. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next in Ered Mithrin.
Gear, statistics and combat. I’ve recently started using the Raven as my regular Lore-master pet. I’m currently using the Red Line Trait Build with a Legendary Weapon tweaked towards optimal fire-based damage, so using a combat pet that enhances this is common sense. At present I have mainly Teal and Purple armour purchased via the High Elf Enchanter along with all Teal Jewellery. Hence PVE outside of Ered Mithrin is not proving problematic. I have also adjusted my skill rotation, as Ring of Fire was nerfed in the latest update and now has become invaluable. I find there’s a fine line in any MMO between challenging combat and fights simply taking too long. At present I feel the balance is just right in LOTRO. I’m not a serious number cruncher when it comes to my characters statistics. I noticed that my moral levels have dropped since the last patch, but other adjustments to enemy stats mean that combat is not quite so grindy.
Abandoned systems and obsolete content. I briefly wanted to mention one of the inevitable consequences of a decade old MMO. LOTRO has several game systems that have either fallen by the wayside, or that remain as “work in progress”. I recently revisited Epic Battles and feel that the main flaw they have is the intial lack of agency you have as a player, on what is going on around you. You need to put a lot of points into the various “promotions” before you actually start impacting upon the flow of battle. Too me that’s simply bad design. I don’t expect to slog away for a month before something finally becomes compelling. It needs to be so right from the start. Then there are skirmishes, which are thoroughly entertaining and a great way to level outside of traditional quests. Sadly, we haven’t seen any new skirmishes in the game since 2010 or so. Hobbies and housing are other aspects of the game that have much potential but remain underdeveloped.
Due to LOTRO’s ever growing level cap, there are several gear related systems at various points in the game that are now obsolete. If you create a new alt, many of these systems can now be bypassed with alternative gear provided elsewhere. The Hytbold quest line was an involving diversion upon its initial release but it is highly unlikely that you’d ever revisited it with another character. More recently, the Allegiance system was introduced to the game. In the space of two updates it has become obsolete. I am currently level 22 with The Kingdom of Gondor, but as my primary character in now 118, none of the gear it can offer is of any use. I bought three items recently which had lower stats to what I was using, so I simply destroyed the items for Motes of Enchantment. LOTRO more than other MMOs that I play seems to have an excess of game systems that have to be experienced on level or else they end up redundant (except to the completionist player).
Lore, ambience and music. After ten years Standing Stone Games realisation of Middle-earth still captures the essential essence of Tolkien’s work. The game engine is some what old now and the graphic are very much of the era that created the game, but the world reflects the source text and the stories regularly tap into the lore in both obvious and subtle ways. I often find myself intrigued by a minor aside in the narrative or a reference to a character or place. When I subsequently research these on the internet or via my various Tolkien reference books, I always find that the writers have drawn upon genuine lore. Bar practical changes, adaptations and embellishments that are designed to facilitate the MMO genre, I have never found the stories in LOTRO objectional or taking excessive liberties with accepted canon.
Finally, I would like to reference the soundtrack of LOTRO which has grown prodigiously over the years. It remains an integral facet of the games appeal, and a means of giving an older MMO with minimal dialogue, the emotional impetus the narrative needs. There are some wonderful new (relatively speaking) themes that play around Lake-town, Dale and Erebor that suit the environment perfectly. The game also has several motifs associated with the different races, although I must say those pertaining to Dwarves are by far the best. They simply nail the cultural and philosophical idiom of the race. I know SSG have made music from the game available, but I feel they should release more. Hopefully that is something they can address in the future.
LOTRO remains for me my go to MMO and despite its flaws, it still offers me an interesting diversion in my leisure time and a rich narrative experience based upon one of my favourite intellectual properties. As long as it continues to operate within these parameters, I shall continue to support the game. I do not think I am alone in this philosophy and believe that many players have made their peace with the games foibles and embraced it for what is actually is and the needs it fulfils. Certainly, the game have provided me with a great deal of enjoyment and entertainment over the last decade and has been great value for money. Therefore, I wholeheartedly hope that it continues to grow and move the story forward in the years to come.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
According to the recent “letter to the players”, Standing Stone Games will be adding a new zone to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online in the second quarter of this year. Possibly around May or June. Having spent the last three expansions in the South of Middle-earth exploring the tropical Umbar and the deserts of Harad, I would certainly welcome a change of location. I have gradually warmed to these zones over the last eighteen months but I do find them so incongruous. They are so radically different to the European style content that has been the mainstay of the game for so long. Tolkien’s source text has plenty of detail regarding Eriador and Rhovanion. Information regarding Harad is scarce, hence it has afforded the developers a great deal of artistic freedom. Although exceedingly well realised these tropical zones have taken a while for me to get used to.
I’m not sure exactly when it started but I’ve recently noticed a graphical bug within the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. This problem often occurs within caves or in areas where there are a lot of rocky surfaces. Hence it has become very apparent in the latest two expansions, set in Umbar and Harad. This graphical glitch causes some surface textures to appear to flash from light to dark intermittently. The resulting strobe effect is hard to ignore and very distracting. Fortunately, a quick online search showed that this is not a problem unique to my installation of LOTRO and is a known problem. Furthermore, there is a very simple workaround, which is to go into the Advanced Graphics setting and uncheck “Per Pixel Lighting”, which immediately remedies the problem. I have no idea why this has recently started to happen but at least it can be resolved.
The latest expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, Kingdoms of Harad, launched on December 3rd. With this release the level cap was raised from 150 to 160. It should also be noted that the cap for virtue traits was also raised from 96 to 100. Naturally these changes meant that there is a requirement to replace all armour and jewellery once the new cap is reached. Similarly Legendary Items have to be reforged and any traceries upgraded or replaced. If you follow the Epic Story it will lead you from quest hub to quest hub. The main quest rewards, along with those from side quests will provide adequate gear as you slowly progress towards the new level cap. The new raids, instances and missions/delvings then provide a means to acquire higher quality level 160 gear. LOTRO and indeed, many other MMOs are consistent in this methodology.
It is customary in a post such as this to list the various games that I’ve played over the last twelve months and share my thoughts on them. Wider analysis of the video game industry is also de rigeur. Unfortunately, I don’t really feel disposed to do either of those two things. My thoughts on the games I’ve played have already been published and can easily be accessed via the links at the bottom of this post. As for the video game industry, it suffers the same flaws as music, TV and cinema. There is creativity and innovation out there but it is often drowned out by mainstream products which are demonstrably inferior due to their inherent mediocrity. As for the business side of things, we once again clearly see the failings of the corporate management class. Sadly, they do not face the consequences of the mistakes that they make.
Today Standing Stone Games began beta testing Update 46.1 for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. The current preview on the Bullroarer test server is mainly for the new instance cluster that comes with the Kingdoms of Harad expansion which launched a few weeks ago. However, it would appear that this latest preview has another feature or note. One that should please LOTRO players. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, myself included, SSG have been working on a scaling UI for 2K and 4K monitors and the results are now available for testing from today Monday 15th through to Friday 19th December. Until now the main workaround to the lack of UI scaling has been to use either Nvidia or AMD graphics software to upscale the game from 1920 x 1080, or a third party app such as LosslessScaling. Having an official solution is a far better option.
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online runs on a broad spectrum of PCs. From archaic laptops to high end gaming rigs, although it may require a bit of tweaking. At present, the optimal way to play the MMO is at a resolution of 1920x1080 (FHD) with the graphics setting maxed out. The graphics are sharp and the UI is readable. However, a growing number of gamers are now using 2K and 4K monitors. You can play LOTRO at higher resolutions such as 2560×1440 (QHD) and 3840x2160 (UHD) and the game looks great. However, the UI does not scale and so is very small on 2K and 4K monitors. The skill icons on the quickslots (shortcut bars) and the in-game text become difficult to see at these resolutions, which deters some players from using them. It is a known issue that Standing Stone Games are attempting to address but it is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
I recently read a post on Massively Overpowered about skills rotation in the MMORPG genre. I found the subsequent discussion in the comments fascinating. Mainly because I have never used a fixed rotation of skills in any of the MMORPGs that I play. I understand the reasoning behind such things and why some players want to optimise their combat performance. Using one’s skills in a specific order to maximise damage and manage their subsequent cooldown has a logical appeal. In Star Trek Online, some players go so far as to create keybinds for their rotations and assign it to a specific hotkey, which is then continuously pressed throughout combat. However, rotations are a blunt tool that lack flexibility, often being geared towards dealing with a single target or using an area of effect skill against a larger group. They may not be the optimal approach to combat when things do not go to plan.
Tolkien enthusiasts may recollect Athlon Games, a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies, announcing that it was developing a new MMORPG, based upon The Lord of the Rings, back in September 2018. The following summer, it was revealed that Amazon Game Studios was the partner developer for the project. In late 2020, Leyou Technologies (a Hong Kong-based company), was acquired by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. This triggered a contract clause with the license holder, Middle-earth Enterprises, allowing them to terminate the existing arrangement if a new deal could not be met. Amazon and Tencent were unable to agree upon how to proceed with the project, leading Amazon to withdraw from negotiations. The project was subsequently scrapped. No details or images of the MMO have been released.
After a six month migration period, Standing Stone Games formally closed all their legacy 32-bit game servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on the 31st August 2025. Despite this planned closure being widely discussed via the game’s official forums, professional video game websites and fan blogs, many LOTRO players were unaware of this deadline. Hence many were unable to migrate their respective alts to the new 64-bit servers. Naturally those affected by these closures were upset, especially those with longstanding characters who didn’t relish the prospect of starting from scratch with a new alt. Thankfully, SSG have been true to their word and as of today, have re-opened these “dark worlds” to character transfers. If you have an alt trapped on one of the older game worlds, then now is the time to use the transfer wizard and move them to a new active game world.
MMORPG announced earlier today and it was subsequently confirmed by Standing Stone games, that the new expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online will be Kingdoms of Harad and that it will launch later in the year. The expansion will see the conclusion of the epic Song of Waves and Wind storyline and the level cap raised from 150 to 160. There will be a new region to explore, Mûr Ghala, comprising four zones. Adagîm, Idagâl, An Shêru and Kighân. The latter contains the main trading hub of Zajâna. Players will travel into the region with Gandalf the White, along with allies of the Kindred of Coins and Mizadi as they seek to counter the regional power struggle brought about by the fall of Sauron. Canonically, this takes place three months after the destruction of the ring, hence King Elessar and Eomer are busy with domestic affairs in their respective kingdoms.
Skirmishes were added to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, in 2009 with the release of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. Skirmishes are a repeatable and scalable combat system that allows players to access various instances for solo or group play from anywhere in the in-game world. Players can choose a Skirmish Soldier from a variety of classes to accompany them and provide healing, tank or additional DPS. On paper it’s a great system which is why many other MMOs offer something similar. I recently decided to tinker with my Skirmish Soldier build on my main character to see if I could optimise their performance. As my primary alt is a Lore-master, for the last few years I have had a Warrior as their Skirmish Soldier, to take some of the aggro from attacking mobs. I used the excellent guide by FibroJedi and swapped over a few Training and Personal Traits.
On 2nd August 2025, I was playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, on my primary character, a level cap Lore-master. I decided to continue with one of the Allegiance Quest lines, specifically Durin’s Folk. I played through several quests and earned the appropriate tokens that advance the Allegiance system. I then handed these in to the NPC in the Hall Under the Mountain, expecting the next quest in the series “Chapter 3: Gimli’s Request” to be unlocked. An item appeared in my inventory that I then clicked on, which should have bestowed the quest. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Furthermore, the item vanished from my bag and therefore I could not attempt to click it again. I checked the LOTRO Wiki and then looked around the Hall Under the Mountain to see if any NPC had a ring icon above their head. As they did not, I surmised that this was a software glitch and logged a support ticket with Standing Stone Games.
Let’s start with a quote from a classic Walter Hill film, The Warriors. “Can you count, suckers?” says Sirus. The gang leader was referring to the number of Police in New York City at the time. Whereas, for the purpose of this post, I am referencing how many Delving Writs a player needs to acquire 6 pieces of level cap armour in LOTRO. Because, next to the gear you get from endgame instances and raids, Delving gear is a good alternative.. It is marginally better than the items you can get from lootboxes. Hence, Delving armour is a good source of high end gear for the solo player. Through the miracle of mathematics, the number of Delving writs required to acquire a full set of this armour is 9,000. At first glance, that seems like a lot. If you then do some further research to put the number in context, you realise it is indeed a lot and a substantial undertaking.
I am currently enjoying a renewed interest in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online since I migrated all my characters from the old 32-bit servers to the new 64-bit replacements. I’ve created a new High Elf Lore-master on Peregrin server and am currently levelling them in a targeted play through of the Epic Story, supplemented by curated side quests. While playing recently, I realised the game UI on this alt wasn’t as I usually have it laid out. So I checked through the various documents on my PC and found a text file I had created many years ago that had a few hints and tips written down. I’ve added a few more and decided to share them as a blog post. I’m sure veteran players will be familiar with many of them but a lot of them are worth repeating. They may prove useful to those new to LOTRO or returning to the game after a long hiatus.
In mid-March, while the server migration debacle raged, I created a new alt for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on Peregrin server. The idea was to play casually through content focusing on enjoyment, rather than worrying about progression. I was to level at a pace that suited me and had no specific plans to develop my alt in any particular way. I have been playing LOTRO since 2008 and have a primary level-cap character that has been my main focus over the years. Hence I have previously experienced all story content from all the expansions and am therefore very familiar with what the game has to offer. Which is why I thought I’d do things differently this time. So I started my new Lore-master in Mossward in Swanfleet, the new starting area added to the game in 2022.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
It has not been a good week for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online and its developer Standing Stone Games. The migration from legacy 32-bit servers to 64-bit servers has not gone smoothly. The transfer queue was overwhelmed by the sheer number of accounts and it has taken far longer than expected to process the backlog of requests. Today has been the fifth day of waiting to see if my 3 main characters from Laurelin server have successfully migrated to their new home on Meriadoc. When I checked this morning, the transfer wizard indicated that my characters were back where they originally came from. I therefore considered repeating the entire process. However, around midday, Community Manager Cordovan indicated that SSG had caught up with transfer requests made around 8:00 AM EST on Sunday 9th March. So I decided to be patient and wait a little longer.
I’ve been busy this weekend, so it wasn’t until late afternoon today that I found time to sit down and attempt to migrate my characters from the old 32-bit server Laurelin, to the new 64-bit server Meriadoc. The “Great Server Migration” has not gone smoothly and the week has been a litany of changing deadlines and unfulfilled expectations. However, developer’s Standing Stone Games, have been “firefighting” issues on a daily basis and communicating regularly with the player base of the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Sadly, a lot of players have not responded well to the ongoing technical difficulties and there is subsequently a lot of ill feeling on the official forums. I have chosen to adopt a more pragmatic outlook and to let events run their course.
Standing Stone Games were scheduled to open their new 64-bit servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, today. However, when the free transfer service went live yesterday, it was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of players trying to migrate their alts from the older 32-bit servers to the new ones. Eventually SSG had to disable the transfer facility so that they could process the backlog. Hence today’s launch of the new servers has been postponed till tomorrow. In the meantime, the official LOTRO forum’s have gone into meltdown with irate players berating the developers for handling the migration poorly. True to form, SSG have been somewhat defensive and prickly in response to what they see as unjust criticism. Let it suffice to say that neither party has covered themselves in glory and there is a good chance that the technical problems will persist a while longer.
What Massively Overpowered calls LOTRO’s “Great Server Migration” began today. The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online has opened 4 new 64-bit servers in conjunction with the 2 existing 64-bit legendary servers and the long term plan is to migrate all current players over to them. Eventually, the 32-bit legacy servers will be shut down, however that is a long way off at present. As of today, VIP players can select a new server, log into it and create new characters with their desired names. These placeholder characters cannot be played at present but can be used to reserve names. Tomorrow, if all goes well, the new servers formally open and free transfers begin. Players can then delete placeholder characters and rename alts that they have migrated, thus restoring desired names. It should be noted that none of this is mandatory and players can remain on the old servers for the present.
I have many pleasant memories associated with playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online during its first decade. A lot of them are due to the kinship (guild) that I have been a member of since 2009. I started playing LOTRO in December 2008 and it took me a while to find a suitable kinship but once I did, it made logging into the game a real pleasure. I was at a point in my life where I had sufficient time to play the game regularly and take part in kinship organised raids. It was also an added bonus to be able to spend some time and chat with some like minded people. I’m sure such an experience is not unique to me and that many LOTRO players have enjoyed similar periods of time. The lucky ones may still be enjoying a comparable kinship experience today.
I have two monitors on my desk. The first (which is the primary monitor as far as my PC is concerned), is on the left and the second is on the right. The primary monitor is a 24 Dell U2412M, which has a resolution of 1920 x 1200. It therefore has an aspect ratio of 16:10 which adds a little extra desktop real estate, which I prefer when writing. The second monitor is a 24 inch Dell S2421H with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9 which is standard FHD. My chair is adjacent to the middle of my desk and I can turn according to each monitor I’m using. I tend to use the primary, larger monitor on the left for tasks such as writing via Google Docs and emails. The second monitor on the right is used for YouTube and gaming. This is because of its FHD format. I also have a Nintendo Switch connected to the second monitor for the same reason.
Star Trek Online has many in-game systems that are common to the MMORPG genre. The reputation system is one such example. In STO there are 13 reputation factions. Once a player has reached level 50 they may start progressing through the 6 reputation tiers of each one. Players gain progression through daily projects (20 hours in duration). Hourly projects are also available though they yield less reputation advancement and are limited to three times a day. Hence 20 hour projects are consider by default the most efficient way to gain rep. Projects require 30 Faction Specific Marks (earned via various activities in-game), 15,000 Energy Credits (standard in-game currency) and 2000 Expertise points. The most efficient way to tackle the reputation grind is to build up the necessary resources in advance and then at a designated time each day, start all 13 respective projects. Upon completion projects yield a player bound lockbox containing a random space or ground weapon, a console or Elite Marks which can be used to acquire faction gear.