Lotro is planning a busy few weeks, with its next major update, Update 41, tentatively slated to launch next week. Additionally, the Hard Tack crafting event is set to kick off a week later on August 1st, with the Forester event starting today.
In last week's Cord of the Rings live stream, community manager Cordovan announced that Update 41, which brings some PvMP revamps, as well as the second hobby to grace the shores of Middle-earth, Bird Watching, should be live on July 23rd. I write "should" because it doesn't seem like the 23rd is set in stone, as Cordovan makes it clear the team is "currently planning" on the 23rd to release but leaves some wiggle room in case they need to push it back.
Starting today, though, the Forester crafting event has kicked off and runs through July 25th. The Forester event has been in the MMO before, though not without its own host of issues, as the team had to cancel the event a few times last year ahead of its eventual launch. The Forester event will be followed shortly after, assuming the timeline holds, with the Hard Tack crafting event on August 1st and running through August 12th.
Also announced on the stream was a new Instance, surprising viewers with the news. The Instance is separate from Update 41 and looks to be coming in August, with the team planning alongside Daybreak's larger "Year of the Dragon" celebration. It's unsure yet just how large the instance will be, but we should learn more as we get closer.
The stream also spends a bit of time discussing the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online Discord server in the works, which should be online sometime after Standing Stone Games spins up Dungeons and Dragons Online's server. The Discord server will have some restrictions, such as the inability for users to use their cameras while in a voice chat room with other users, as well as a requirement to submit your phone number and email to limit spam and alt accounts.
Volunteer moderators will be used on the server, which will require signing an NDA. The team is planning on having quite a few to ensure the server is always watched over.
Cordovan goes into some great detail during the stream about what to expect on the Discord server, which you can check out in the embed below (starting around the 4:30 mark).
