Fate of Gundabad, The Lord of the Rings Online's first real expansion since the release of Minas Morgul a few years back hits next month. The early areas of the expansion are going to be a flurry of activity as players descend upon Middle-earth to help Durin retake the ancestral home of the Dwarves. It's got a lot going for it as well, with the long-awaited Legendary Item revamp as well as the new Brawler class.
Yet that initial rush will inevitably die down. It's inevitable, especially with so many games on the market demanding our attention. New World just dropped, Elyon (the MMORPG formerly known as Ascent: Infinite Realm) hits digital shelves in October, and players will likely return there and to other games once they are done.
I know for myself personally, while LotRO might be my personal favorite MMO, I'm not sure how long I'll stick around in-game once I'm done with the story content. Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker will be releasing later that month and that is going to dominate my time, but aside from that I find I'm only really all that energized right around when new content releases. Otherwise I want to play something a bit more modern.
I know too that new content can draw players long gone back into the game world. Content drip feeds are the lifeblood of any game, especially an MMO that has to fight for mind-share among other huge games in the genre, especially this year. Just yesterday one of the older MMOs on the block, Old School RuneScape, got one of its first new game mode in five years with the Group Iron Man. It's a big deal for OSRS and likely brought some players back to experience a favorite game in a new way.
It got me thinking: how often do you return to an older or forgotten MMO (and definitely not saying LotRO is "forgotten" here, but it's definitely not as popular as it used to be) when new content releases? Is it something you care about hitting on day one, or do you prefer to saunter back to an old game world or character in your own time, content be damned? Let us know in the comments.
