During a stream last Friday ahead of all the E3 hub-bub, The Lord of the Rings Online hosted another Chat with Severlin stream, seeing the Rob Ciccolini, Executive Producer of the MMO answer community questions live. During the stream (in fact, almost at the outset) the executive producer let it be known that there are two new legendary servers coming to LOTRO.
The two new servers, named Treebeard and Shadowfax, are aptly named for reasons we'll get into in a moment. However, the idea that LotRO is opening two more legendary servers is interesting, especially given that one of the current ones, Ithil, is slated for closure tomorrow.
However, it seems these two servers are aiming not simply for the "classic" experience that the current Legendary servers tried to emulate, but rather two very specific playstyles.
Treebeard will see XP and progression slowed down to a pace to help facilitate those players who love to just explore. Players who want to take their time and soak in Middle-earth will have progression reduced, though "not ridiculously so" according to Rob. It takes a very long time to progress in Old Entish, I guess.
Shadowfax, however, will see XP ramped up, as well as be graced with a faster cadence of updated acccording to Severlin. How fast XP will be gained, as well as how frequent we'll see updates isn't stated here in the tease, but it does fit the nature of the "Lord of all Horses."
As for why, Ciccolini talked about how the community on the current servers is split as to what they want.
"[W]ith our current legendary servers, it's like - [there are] half of the people are like, 'Oh my god when's the next update?' And half of the people are like, 'Oh, no. Not yet.'"
So it seems this is being implemented to try to appease those two groups of players on the current Legendary Servers to give them more choice.
You can check out the full Chat with Severlin in the embed below. It's nearly an hour long, so grab your favorite beverage, nibble on some Lembas and enjoy.
