Believe it or not, the last time that The Lord of the Rings Online released new legendary servers, the Treebeard and Shadowfax pair in June 2021. Before that, there was only one other time we got to experience these special progression shards, and that was when the original duo Anor and Ithil opened in November 2018. Today, three of those four are closed, while Treebeard is still languishing. hmmm hmmm.
Suffice it to say, new Lord of the rings Legendary servers don’t come along every day. We’ve known for over a year that SSG had a new idea in the works for the next batch, but the studio has been very tight-lipped about it – until this week. In last night’s livestream, Executive Producer Rob Ciccolini finally revealed the next batch of servers. And this time, there are a few surprises.
Welcome, Angmar and Mordor!
Ciccolini confirmed that the next two servers will be called Angmar and Mordor.
The first surprise is that the studio has set up a server in Europe to host Mordor, making it the first Lord of the rings Shard will be physically based in that region since the days of Codemasters (Angmar will be based in the US). “That’s super exciting for us,” Ciccolini said. However, he expressed concern that a single EU server could be “flooded” by too many players rushing to it.
Players should also expect a different kind of leveling experience on these two servers, as if their namesakes weren’t warning enough. SSG refers to both shards as “Veil of the Nine servers,” a reference to a greater challenge. As players adventure in the world past level 15, they will occasionally be attacked by one of the lesser spirits hunting them, which can be a mild annoyance on normal difficulty or a nerve-wracking experience on increased difficulty.
Additionally, one of the nine Ringwraiths can appear to players at the current level cap. Ciccolini said these cannot be defeated alone; he expects groups of up to 50 players will be needed to fend them off, so it will become an occasional server event to bring the community together.
To fight the Ringwraiths, it is very helpful for players to find one of the 12 tradeable special rings hidden in the game world. Anyone who finds a ring can wear it for 10 days before it gets lost and hidden again. But as long as you have that ring, you are in high demand for the Ringwraith battles. Successful battles are rewarded with special rewards.
Stress testing on these servers should begin within a week, launching sometime in July. As with the other legendary servers, Angmar and Mordor should be reserved for VIP experiences. The level cap will start at 50 and increase normally from there. Also, the leveling speed will be more or less the standard you find on any server (though there may be some level boosting to help people reach the cap a little faster).
These servers will also see the debut of LOTRO’s new 64-bit server technology that should significantly reduce lag and allow the game to preload all instances. This, combined with the fact that all characters will be brand new, should mean that these shards offer some of the most lag-free experiences in the MMO to date.
Reactions to the Veil of the Nine servers
There’s certainly a lot to look forward to here, if only because it’s the first fresh start servers since 2021. Ideally, this should be a big draw for players who want to be there from the start and have a community to level up with them. I absolutely loved my “fresh starts” with Anor and Treebeard back in the day and am already planning what character I’ll create for Angmar when the time comes.
This is definitely great news for European players who struggle with higher latency when connecting to the normal worlds overseas. Having a shard in their backyard, so to speak, will be a huge boon and provide an unparalleled Middle Earth gaming experience. I personally don’t benefit from this, but I’m very happy for my EU friends.
Back when I was thinking about what I would like to see on a legendary server, my big theme was “higher challenge.” It doesn’t go as far as I would have liked, but it still has the potential to be exciting. There is the individual threat of a lesser spirit that will pop up and attack you at any time, which should keep us on our toes (and maybe provide a few scares!).
But these larger Ringwraith battles have the potential to bring the entire server community together for spontaneous battles. I certainly hope the rewards are good enough (and distributed to everyone involved) to make this enticing beyond the novelty.
So we have about a month left until these servers open. That’s enough time to start planning, organizing relatives and building excitement. I think it’s the perfect time for Lord of the rings to get this out, especially when it arrives with Update 41’s quality of life improvements. We don’t have a lot of meaty content until the fall expansion – which Ciccolini declined to talk about – so a new server or two will definitely give us something to do in the meantime.
What do you think about the Veil of the Nine servers? Will you introduce a new toon or ignore it completely? Let’s start the discussion in the comments!
Every two weeks, the LOTRO Legendarium embarks on a (horrific) adventure through the wondrous, terrifying, inspiring, and, well, legendary online world of Middle Earth. Justin has been playing LOTRO since its launch in 2007! If you have a topic for the column, send it to him at justin@massivelyop.com.Advertising