Thread: Will LOTRO ever shut down?

I hope it is always available.

If it does shut down, would it be soon?

Not soon enough if you ask me...






















For it to keep on going.

Seriously, what else would I do at 3 am but have fun on the forums?

All MMOs will shut down at some time.

Bad weeds grow tall

No game last forever. Hopefully an unnamed troll will go away sooner then the game though.

Well forever is a long time, even for the Ents.....

so at some point, it will shut down obviously......but it'll be a VERY long time till then....

A few reasons for that I guess affect this....this is the only MMO in the market atm which is based on Middle Earth and Tolkien's works....and Turbine/WB would be crazy not to use up every ounce of such a major work with a huge fanbase.....plus since Turbine is now a part of WB which is in no way a company that would go bankrupt and/or shut down, that game shutting down because of those reasons is close to impossible as well.....

So dont worry....it'll be around here for quite a long time...

Right now I believe the contract for the LOTR IP only goes to 2014, with an option until 2017, but presumably they could extend the contract past 2017...

It will most definitely shut down..........in about 40 minutes from this post.

The good news is it will be back in about 6 hours

Oh knoes... What am I going to do now


Suppose I could lurk on the forums

Originally Posted by Grieyls

Oh knoes... What am I going to do now


Suppose I could lurk on the forums

Forums are gonna go down too. Guess they are gonna try and break them and the log on servers for the day again. Like they say, practice makes perfect, maybe they might manage to totally kill em this time.........

There's some great things about LOTRO (PvE wise, not PvP) and I think it's enough to keep it alive for a while longer. So I don't think LOTRO will be going anywhere anytime soon... could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

Enough MMOs have been around long enough for us to actually give us data that suggests LOTRO will be around a good while yet.

While not the first, Ultima Online was the first mass market MMO, and it's still around. EverQuest followed, and it's still around. Both of those are now pushing over a decade (UO is over 15 years old at this point). World of Warcraft is the largest, of course, and it's still around.

MMOs that aren't still around? The first mass market failure was Shadowbane. It never attracted enough subscribers to remain viable long term and lasted about 6 years (some time in 2003 to 2009). Star Wars Galaxies is probably the most notable MMO to shut down, it lasted from 2000-2011. Those are probably the two most hyped MMOs that have closed down.

There are a host of other MMOs as well of course, but of those most shut down soon after launch (Tabula Rasa comes to mind), or are still ongoing but haven't had time to flesh out in terms of growth or decline.

Based on this, I'd say LOTRO has a LONG run ahead of it. Based on its pre F2P numbers, Lord of the Rings probably would have had a UO style future...few updates or expansions but enough ongoing content and enough players to remain viable. F2P amped up the subscriber numbers and the new content released since then has probably given it a lot more survivability as well.

As long as Turbine doesn't kill the franchise the way SWG did, alienating a huge core of players without attracting new ones, it's probably got at least another 10 years ahead of it.

LOTRO won't shut down anytime soon. In fact, I can see it continuing for 50 years at least. Even after Mordor, there's still the Battle of Bywater, Grey Havens not to mention the journeys of Legolas and Gimli that we can experience.
The areas of Rhun, Iron Hills and Harad are also zones with enormous potential that can be the foundation for many expansions to come.
And after the events of the 4th age that Tolkien have already written has happened I'm sure Turbine can start making up new stuff and expand on Tolkien's universe. Like dragons and more wizards! The possibilities are endless.

Originally Posted by Zephyriat

LOTRO won't shut down anytime soon. In fact, I can see it continuing for 50 years at least. Even after Mordor, there's still the Battle of Bywater, Grey Havens not to mention the journeys of Legolas and Gimli that we can experience.
The areas of Rhun, Iron Hills and Harad are also zones with enormous potential that can be the foundation for many expansions to come.
And after the events of the 4th age that Tolkien have already written has happened I'm sure Turbine can start making up new stuff and expand on Tolkien's universe. Like dragons and more wizards! The possibilities are endless.

MMOs dont shut down because they run out of ideas, they shut down because they run out of profits.

Originally Posted by Nymphonic

All MMOs will shut down at some time.

I'll bet you don't believe in Santa Claus either.
I for one hope that LOTRO keeps going for a long time, although reality can sometimes be disappointing.

Lotro will shut down when it's no longer profitable, or when the profit is so small that resources can be better utilized elsewhere. WB isn't going to shovel cash into a money losing proposition, so a deep pocketed parent is no guarantee either.

There's also the license issue, there's always the possibility that MEE won't renew for some reason, but if they are enjoying their royalties it's a good assumption that it will continue to do so.

If the sun goes down on Middle Earth I'll still be there tearing the last hair out of my beard as the world ends.

I may vacation now and again in Tamriel when a certain other world opens next year but I intend to be in Middle Earth for a long time yet.

LOTRO will keep going until the corporate parent decides there are better ways to make money. That's how it works.

This is my first and only MMO and I can't even begin to imagine it shutting down.

I hope it shuts down as soon as viable VR technology allows me to plug in and eliminate this computer screen/keyboard/mouse interface and see the world in true three dimensions within my head, interact with others as if moving my body, and fire off skills just by doing them.

I hope Turbine employees are able to continue feeding their kids and buy them complete copies of the LOTR trilogy.

I hope said VR environment doesn't include hours of crafting.



"Sometimes survival comes down to not being hit. Actually, most times." -the chicken skill, Bob and Weave

Originally Posted by RJFerret

I hope it shuts down as soon as viable VR technology allows me to plug in and eliminate this computer screen/keyboard/mouse interface and see the world in true three dimensions within my head, interact with others as if moving my body, and fire off skills just by doing them.

I hope Turbine employees are able to continue feeding their kids and buy them complete copies of the LOTR trilogy.

I hope said VR environment doesn't include hours of crafting.

Or deeding. The idea of slashing my way through thousands of grey mobs in VR isn't appealing.

All things end eventually, the time to start being even concerned about Lotro is if they start combining servers . server sonsoladation is a sure sine of at the very least lowered player levels and lowered income. so until i see that happen i shall have no concernes.

If you have something you love, love it while you have it. All things pass and fade away.

I'm willing to bet that it lasts the rest of this decade at least. If EQ can survive 13 years then so can LOTRO.

It will shut down as soon as the ring is destroyed, i mean its been five years already what the hell are Frodo and Sam doing? Oh yeah..hobbit love...

Originally Posted by Alex53

MMOs dont shut down because they run out of ideas, they shut down because they run out of profits.

So if they stop making profits from the game before Gondor they will shut it down? That is never going to happen, LOTRO will go on indefinitely.

It depends on what you consider ‘soon’. If soon means five minutes from now, probably not. However, if you mean on December 21st of this year, yes. Well, maybe.

LOTRO may not shut down, but I expect it to go into maintenance mode in a few years. I really can't see how they can drag the story out much more than another five years, if that. Once the ring is destroyed, there is very little left to do. I seriously doubt they can continue the game on the Fourth Age alone.

We're already in Rohan this year and they said they expect to make a major expansion once every year, so that's what? Another year for the western side of Rohan, and 2-3 years if they carve up Gondor and then one more year for the push to Mordor's Black Gate? That's maybe five more years of content and then I expect them to leave the game open as-is for F2P with no new content added shortly after the end of the final book of the trilogy.

I always figured I'd play all the way to the end of the story, but I really can't stomach even five more years of constant grinding, bugs, and store ads.

"Only the rocks live forever."



(extra donuts for whoever can identify that reference)

Rip

Originally Posted by Canticle

Star Wars Galaxies is probably the most notable MMO to shut down, it lasted from 2000-2011.

And to be pedantic, it was closed down for political reasons, nothing to do with viability, thy didn't want SW:TOR having to compete with an established SW game; unsurprising really, considering they must have known SW:TOR was going to be a dud and they were simply limiting the damage by only providing one SW-related game for players who were really wanting to to play a game on that 'franchise'.

Originally Posted by Celebria

LOTRO may not shut down, but I expect it to go into maintenance mode in a few years. I really can't see how they can drag the story out much more than another five years, if that. Once the ring is destroyed, there is very little left to do. I seriously doubt they can continue the game on the Fourth Age alone.

We're already in Rohan this year and they said they expect to make a major expansion once every year, so that's what? Another year for the western side of Rohan, and 2-3 years if they carve up Gondor and then one more year for the push to Mordor's Black Gate? That's maybe five more years of content and then I expect them to leave the game open as-is for F2P with no new content added shortly after the end of the final book of the trilogy.

I always figured I'd play all the way to the end of the story, but I really can't stomach even five more years of constant grinding, bugs, and store ads.

Exactly what I was thinking. Since they don't seem to be in an immediate cash crunch, it seems more likely that they will run out of meaningful content before running out of money. And yes, they could send you to the four corners of the globe to do miscellaneous tasks, but once the Ring is destroyed I can't imagine that there will be that much left to do of note. It would kind of seem rather pointless and anti-climactic to me.

But then again, it seems like it would be actually cool to have an MMO that had an actual conclusion.

Originally Posted by Kerin_Eldar

And to be pedantic, it was closed down for political reasons, nothing to do with viability, thy didn't want SW:TOR having to compete with an established SW game; unsurprising really, considering they must have known SW:TOR was going to be a dud and they were simply limiting the damage by only providing one SW-related game for players who were really wanting to to play a game on that 'franchise'.

Actually, I think the reason SWG shut down is exactly why LOTRO will shut down eventually. Turbine will lose the license to another company who will develop a new and improved LOTR MMO. There will not be two competing LOTR MMOs in the marketplace. So we've probably got another 5 good years out of this game, enjoy it while you can!

Unlikely, but I would hope that when they shut it down that they offer a patch so that you can at least still explore the landscape. You already have all the data locally, don't need to login to a server to just wander around.

It would be nice for a pseudo-sandbox type experience of middle earth.

Originally Posted by BigLotroFan

Unlikely, but I would hope that when they shut it down that they offer a patch so that you can at least still explore the landscape. You already have all the data locally, don't need to login to a server to just wander around.

It would be nice for a pseudo-sandbox type experience of middle earth.

It'd be cool if they open-sourced the server code so that you could setup your own server sandbox to play in, with a final patch to the client to remove the store, and offer all store items in-game from barter NPCs.

Originally Posted by Silanands

I hope it is always available.

If it does shut down, would it be soon?

I hope not. I'd love if it were still around when my daughter gets old enough to roll a Hobbit and do a little button-mashing.

Originally Posted by Catisa

Hopefully an unnamed troll will go away sooner then the game though.

Wouldn't that be nice? But I'm not holding my breath.

Originally Posted by Rothmarte

Exactly what I was thinking. Since they don't seem to be in an immediate cash crunch, it seems more likely that they will run out of meaningful content before running out of money. And yes, they could send you to the four corners of the globe to do miscellaneous tasks, but once the Ring is destroyed I can't imagine that there will be that much left to do of note. It would kind of seem rather pointless and anti-climactic to me.

But then again, it seems like it would be actually cool to have an MMO that had an actual conclusion.

I think they could drag out the "conclusion" for quite a long time, by releasing new areas outside the actual movement toward Mordor, like they did with Evendim and Forochel. I quite enjoy these "side journies" and would love to see more of them added, whilst still progressing forward toward the inevitable conclusion. But even when the ring is destroyed there is story to tell, should the player base prove interested in it.

Old MMOs never die...they just smell that way

Mmm...

Frankly LOTRO should stay here for the long haul, while it is in a very competitive niche: "Fantasy" It does have the corner in that it is based on a real work, that essentially gave birth to fantasy as we know today. We do owe Gary Gigax for the common architecture of fighter, cleric, mage, thief that just about every game in the industry follows to some form or manner. Yet the world that the Gigax architecture is applied to is all Tolkien, and Turbine has done an excellent job, in the most part, to actually give us a feel of that world when we play the game.

Of course like everything, LOTRO is a fad to many a player, and as a result we will see players come, go, return, and go once more. How often the tide of players coming and going depends on new fantasy game genre offerings mostly, but some of us are a bit more open to other genres and could go to try them (Star Wars). I see myself leaving in a few months, for the LOTRO fad would have ran its course, and I would be looking for something new (thus exciting to play and pay for). Once the fad within me is already satisfied (and as a result I am more likely to focus on bugs, and poor customer support than the greatness that the game does have), there really is little that turbine can do in the form of expansions, and game content to get me to stay, on the other hand the danger with change in content and expansions is that they may change something to not to my liking and then instead of retaining me a little longer, I instead leave to not return.

So I don't expect for LOTRO not to be around for another decade, unless technology changes so much that the whole concept goes archaic and dies out. What we should see in a few years from now, as more players leave, than the new sign-ups and returns is that populations at the various servers will gradually decrease to a point where some of the large group content can no longer be done as frequent as they once were done, when that happens, we will see server consolidation occur. Nothing wrong with it, consolidation at that time is a good thing, for the company does care to ensure you are having fun.

An interesting observation over games where server population begins to noticeably decrease is that more solo/casual content material is developed, and often the large group content is "dummied down" for more casual players to enjoy, after all the lion's share of the customers by that time are the casual/solo players for the majority of the power gamers, that demand raid material will be long gone...

It is a sad situation where players are so engrossed on themselves, that they openly disdain other play styles, and use forums to vent their contempt on others in an effort of persuading the developers to bend to their will. Ironically, these players are very good at expressing themselves, and do gain the developers attention at one time or the other, and the original nature of the game is slowly departed from. The first wave of "good-byes" are not from the "winning" power gamers, demanding tougher material, but the very casual player, who finds the game essentially annoying and is also fed up with the treatment from the boisterous players. The first of the dominoes has fallen... The company will realize, that a good chunk of their customers, just left them, and will undoubtly react with trying to undo the damage and correct the unbalance, but the second dominoe now falls, the power gamer suddenly lost the ground they had won at the expense of the other players, and now "they" are very unhappy and they leave the game. Now the company is at the ropes, they have lost two portions of their gamer base, fortunately they are the 2 extremes and are not the larger populations (if they were, the game would go under) so the developers finally regains the balance the game originally had, but sadly the damage has already been done and all one could hope for is for the bleeding of gamers leaving to slow down as much as possible.

My advise to many players here, is to stop forcing your play style and petty demands, instead do your most to give gratification to all play styles, after all it takes us all to make this game possible.

Sue

Nothing is eternal - not even the universe.

Originally Posted by Canticle

Star Wars Galaxies is probably the most notable MMO to shut down, it lasted from 2000-2011.

SWG lasted from 2003-2011.


Rip