The Lord of the Rings Online is saying goodbye to its first Legendary Server. Anor, which launched as a way for players to re-experience the progression of LotRO throughout the years, is shutting down today, and players with characters on the server can transfer to a different server through the end of the year.
Anor originally opened back in 2018 and has progressed with each expansion and major update since then in order. Players have been able to essentially relive the original progression of LotRO, even if it's not a 1 to 1 classic experience like other MMOs offer. Anor, when it launched, was so popular it spawned the creation of a second server, Ithil, which shut down in 2021.
Since the Anor and Ithil servers launched, LotRO has seen two more progression servers hit the MMO: Treebeard and Shadowfax, each with progression matching their namesake: slower and quicker progression, respectively.
Anor is shutting down today, and with it the era of the original legendary worlds go with it into the night. Players have the ability to transfer their characters for free off the world from now through December 31st of this year, which will then see a full wipe of the character data. The Lord of the Rings Online website has a handy FAQ for those still looking for information regarding the shutdown, namely the transfer info, as well as how character and kinship names will operate when moving to a new server.
The Lord of the Rings Online also recently announced its next mini-expansion, Before The Shadow, which aims to bring a new player experience to the MMO with a revamped leveling experience from 1 through 32. While the new leveling track doesn't replace the stories and quests in the original Epic Books, Before the Shadow adds four new Books to quest in, as well as a new six-player instance and Skirmishes for high level characters.
