In a letter to fans this week, the LotRO team showcased its tentative plans for 2024, including its 17th-anniversary celebrations, a new hobby, and an expansion in Q4. Also coming is a much-needed Kinship refresh, though details on what that will entail were light.
In the letter, Standing Stone Games' Lead Systems Designer, Allan "Orion" Maki, detailed the studio's upcoming plans for this new year. And this one looks to address some long-standing wishes from the ardent community that calls Middle-earth home.
To start, we should see the 6-player instance and 12-player raid that are technically part of the Corsairs of Umbar expansion in Q1 of 2024. Additionally, we'll see new delvings added to the Elderslade mission system and more. Q2 sees the Spring Festival make its return, as well as the 17th Anniversary celebration. Q2 also has a new content pack, Catacombs of Umbar listed, so we'll likely learn more about that as we near.
This summer, a fourth profession, and an additional hobby should be added - something the MMO has needed ever since fishing was first introduced years ago. The timeline also includes the vague note of VIP updates, so hopefully, players hear about this change well in advance to decide whether these updates are worth maintaining the subscription.
Autumn of 2024 has listed a new expansion, with four new regions, an instance cluster, and a new raid. As Orion describes it, the expansion will take players "east of Umbar Baharbêl visiting four new zones, encountering a new culture, exploring the waste and a vast complex that serves as the staging ground for the instances and raid included with the expansion pack."
