Plans to shut down Anor

[Ariwen55]

So is it rumor or truth?

The moment Anor reaches max level, less then a year. You are planning to shut down Anor??

“ I have a question nobody seems to be able to answer.
When you shut Anor down, in less then a year, why do I have to pay LP to transfer my toons??
Also why can’t we keep Anor as a VIP server without having to share our space with gold spammers??

I’m so angry right now after finding this news out I could cry. All the real life money I have invested while on Anor, to have the server closed! Why am I even playing the game???”

Is this true?? To reduce number of servers. Fewer to maintain?? Cheaper for the company yet no concern about the paying customer?
It is a VIP server not a free to play server, we pay to play on his server!

[WeirdJedi]

I don't know where you got that impression since there has been no news or word about it shutting down... well until you mentioned it just now.

The only news that we have comes from Cord of the Rings 12/3 (to which I included the timestamp) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-0iSkMmty8&t=1230s

"No plans to offer free transfers off Anor."

I can see maybe you think "oh, they said no free transfers which means that everyone has to pay to get off." Well, yeah. That still holds true for normal servers. But nowhere did they say it was going away. They've always planned for it to continue running like every other server.

[Arnenna]

I don't know where you got that impression since there has been no news or word about it shutting down... well until you mentioned it just now.

The only news that we have comes from Cord of the Rings 12/3 (to which I included the timestamp) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-0iSkMmty8&t=1230s

"No plans to offer free transfers off Anor."

I can see maybe you think "oh, they said no free transfers which means that everyone has to pay to get off." Well, yeah. That still holds true for normal servers. But nowhere did they say it was going away. They've always planned for it to continue running like every other server.

Not quite. The plan included "until it catches up with the Live servers."

As that is quite a way off, I can't see it closing any time soon, but as soon as it does catch up with the Live servers, then they should keep their original word and allow free transfer off to Live. They could keep it open above and beyond that for those that wish to stay there of course.

@ OP. If they close the server, transfers off will be free of charge. They are not free now, because the server isn't closing, that we know of.

[Karnaon]

@ OP. If they close the server, transfers off will be free of charge. They are not free now, because the server isn't closing, that we know of.

You mean like the transfers from currently closed servers? I guess transfers are free if you just don't allow them.

[Frisco]

Not quite. The plan included "until it catches up with the Live servers."

As that is quite a way off, I can't see it closing any time soon, but as soon as it does catch up with the Live servers, then they should keep their original word and allow free transfer off to Live. They could keep it open above and beyond that for those that wish to stay there of course.

@ OP. If they close the server, transfers off will be free of charge. They are not free now, because the server isn't closing, that we know of.

Gundabad is scheduled to launch on Anor in August 2022. Not that far off.

But it's clear that they aren't concerned with providing players on Anor or Shadowfax with an actual MMO experience in the meantime. The worse they let the servers get, the more people pay to have their characters transferred to a server with people. What do they get for offering free transfers? A reputation as an honest company? Happy customers? I'm sorry, but you can't pay the power bill for a server room with gratitude and decency.

Though this might make people wary of falling for another Legendary Server in the future, knowing that after years of receiving little support or attention the only light at the end of the tunnel for your long-played characters will be to fork over even more money to go somewhere with other players on it, until the server population reaches I guess 5. Maybe ability to fill a fellowship will be the criteria to keeping it open, because there are 11 people on Shadowfax right now. Can't even fill a raid. 34 on Anor. Chat channels barren. Auction Houses all but empty. No kin with more than 4 people online.

And they call this place an MMO. An MMO!

[Cordovan]

We have no plans to close Anor.

[maartena]

Though this might make people wary of falling for another Legendary Server in the future, knowing that after years of receiving little support or attention the only light at the end of the tunnel for your long-played characters will be to fork over even more money to go somewhere with other players on it, until the server population reaches I guess 5. Maybe ability to fill a fellowship will be the criteria to keeping it open, because there are 11 people on Shadowfax right now. Can't even fill a raid. 34 on Anor. Chat channels barren. Auction Houses all but empty. No kin with more than 4 people online.

This is not really the fault of SSG, but the fault of players leaving the server. The server itself is just like any other server, just locked into a certain level cap. I myself am to blame as well, as I stopped playing on Anor after the level 75 level cap. The older content was the most interesting to me. I would agree that perhaps the loot tables for current Anor end-game needs attention.

Anor will become a regular server at some point in time, and that was always the plan from the beginning. I do not think we will see an increase to level 150 in 2022, so by the end of 2022 Anor will have become a regular server. I actually hope that by then they may have made transfers TO Anor free, so it can get a healthier population, but until then.... if you want off of Anor, you will need to use the capitalist method to transfer. I just left most of my toons alone and transferred ONE with most of my crafting mats and such.... I may go back to Anor one day but today is not that day.

I do have a feeling though that once Shadowfax catches up with Anor, they might decide to merge the two, or allow free transfers from Shadowfax to Anor to boost the population of Anor. But who knows, we're a year or two away from that.

[Arnenna]

Gundabad is scheduled to launch on Anor in August 2022. Not that far off.

But it's clear that they aren't concerned with providing players on Anor or Shadowfax with an actual MMO experience in the meantime. The worse they let the servers get, the more people pay to have their characters transferred to a server with people. What do they get for offering free transfers? A reputation as an honest company? Happy customers? I'm sorry, but you can't pay the power bill for a server room with gratitude and decency.

Though this might make people wary of falling for another Legendary Server in the future, knowing that after years of receiving little support or attention the only light at the end of the tunnel for your long-played characters will be to fork over even more money to go somewhere with other players on it, until the server population reaches I guess 5. Maybe ability to fill a fellowship will be the criteria to keeping it open, because there are 11 people on Shadowfax right now. Can't even fill a raid. 34 on Anor. Chat channels barren. Auction Houses all but empty. No kin with more than 4 people online.

And they call this place an MMO. An MMO!

Yes, but by the time Gundabad hits Anor, Live will have more recent updates so Anor will still be on catch up.

As for paying to transfer off Anor, nobody should do that. If people really want off then do it the way I'm doing it. Roll a throw away on your Live server, and run it through the starter zone deeds for short periods of time. Nothing gruelling or grindy, just half an hour here and there. By the time you reach Angmar, you've earned enough to pay - earned, non real money costing - points enough to transfer,. Job done. Alternatively, don't run as far as Angmar, just reroll and do the starter areas, and its even faster.

I earn a lot of points just playing my mains at level cap, but I'm not using their points to transfer off Anor. Call it pushing back, or digging heals in or whatever, but I'll grind points - specifically and on characters I do not want or need - for the purpose of circumventing their methods.

I haven't been on the server in a long time, but the last time I was there it was dead, and it had been dead for ages. It doesn't have a healthy enough population for any form of progressive play.

[Frisco]

This is not really the fault of SSG, but the fault of players leaving the server. The server itself is just like any other server, just locked into a certain level cap. I myself am to blame as well, as I stopped playing on Anor after the level 75 level cap. The older content was the most interesting to me. I would agree that perhaps the loot tables for current Anor end-game needs attention.

Anor will become a regular server at some point in time, and that was always the plan from the beginning. I do not think we will see an increase to level 150 in 2022, so by the end of 2022 Anor will have become a regular server. I actually hope that by then they may have made transfers TO Anor free, so it can get a healthier population, but until then.... if you want off of Anor, you will need to use the capitalist method to transfer. I just left most of my toons alone and transferred ONE with most of my crafting mats and such.... I may go back to Anor one day but today is not that day.

I do have a feeling though that once Shadowfax catches up with Anor, they might decide to merge the two, or allow free transfers from Shadowfax to Anor to boost the population of Anor. But who knows, we're a year or two away from that.

It's nobody's "fault" that Anor and Shadowfax are dead. Servers die all the time. It's part of the game. The part that's SSG's fault is not giving players a proper alternative to playing on a dead server. They're double dipping--happily taking our money when the server was alive to give our characters permanent upgrades, and then again when we want to play those same characters on a server with people on it.

Yes, but by the time Gundabad hits Anor, Live will have more recent updates so Anor will still be on catch up.

That's not how Anor works. Anor will most likely get all L140 content at the same time, so not only Gundabad, but all the other little additions we've gotten to-date. Not that it matters. Anor population is only shrinking. Even if they leave it after it reaches live servers, who would willingly transfer *to* a dead server even if they made it possible?

[Nonde]

. . . As for paying to transfer off Anor, nobody should do that. . . . I earn a lot of points just playing my mains at level cap, but I'm not using their points to transfer off Anor. Call it pushing back, or digging heals in or whatever, but I'll grind points - specifically and on characters I do not want or need - for the purpose of circumventing their methods. . . .

I call it having principles and I share them and have recently been doing the same - and with goal of earning more than transfers cost for good measure and fight back satisfaction . Adding it to my ongoing money strike which to date has cost them $400-500. Only option left imo.

[Nonde]

It's nobody's "fault" that Anor and Shadowfax are dead. . . .

It's Cordovan/devs fauilt imo. The calls from the majority to slow the pace were responded to with hastening it to a month less than the anticipated 4 month intervals on top of which only those on live stream were given notice of the impending cap rise. In response to further requests to slow the pace and can't-believe-players-needed-to-request calls to give notice of impending cap rises this was repeated - another early cap increase and again notice only to those on live stream. Just how hard is it to type a sentence in Announcements??? Those who went expecting a Treebeard were driven off imo and with a dose of stunning rudeness in not even being given the courtesy of a sentence in Announcements to advise of cap increases. They may have thought cater to the fast goers wouldn't affect the game of those going slowly but it does in many ways and so we left in droves. I feel driven off, treated rudely and having to pay to transfer off on top of that really p'sses me off and I'm enjoying not giving them money anymore in protest!

[Frisco]

It's Cordovan/devs fauilt imo. The calls from the majority to slow the pace were responded to with hastening it to a month less than the anticipated 4 month intervals on top of which only those on live stream were given notice of the impending cap rise. In response to further requests to slow the pace and can't-believe-players-needed-to-request calls to give notice of impending cap rises this was repeated - another early cap increase and again notice only to those on live stream. Just how hard is it to type a sentence in Announcements??? Those who went expecting a Treebeard were driven off imo and with a dose of stunning rudeness in not even being given the courtesy of a sentence in Announcements to advise of cap increases. They may have thought cater to the fast goers wouldn't affect the game of those going slowly but it does in many ways and so we left in droves. I feel driven off, treated rudely and having to pay to transfer off on top of that really p'sses me off and I'm enjoying not giving them money anymore in protest!

I don't think the majority wanted slower releases. They announced 4 months off the bat and only cut Moria shorter than that by a week or so. The rest were 4+ months.

It wasn't timing that's the issue on Legendary Servers (which is why Shadowfax and Treebeard are bleeding players faster than Anor did). It was the bad content balance at 50 and 60 and the poor rewards. And later on it was leaving us at the expansions that had the least content for the longest.

In the end, I think Anor did better than I expected, personally. I thought the nostalgia would wear out way faster for folks than it did, and it was a good community for the most part--I met lots of cool people. There was potential for it to be much better, but whether or not that made financial sense to make big changes to old zones is something only SSG can know. If not, it is what it is. But right now with the state of at least Anor and Shadowfax there is an issue that they're just not handling in a good way. It may make financial sense for them to keep making money off of transfers off those servers, but that really doesn't seem like a recipe for long-term customer satisfaction. They don't seem to even think about the Legandary Servers. More than once I've seen them describe the population on Anor and Shadowfax as "comparable to the smaller regular servers", when it wouldn't take but 10 minutes to log in to each one and see that Anor population is maybe 20% of the smallest server, and Shadowfax is less than 10%.

[gardavil]

I don't think the majority wanted slower releases. They announced 4 months off the bat and only cut Moria shorter than that by a week or so. The rest were 4+ months.

It wasn't timing that's the issue on Legendary Servers (which is why Shadowfax and Treebeard are bleeding players faster than Anor did). It was the bad content balance at 50 and 60 and the poor rewards. And later on it was leaving us at the expansions that had the least content for the longest.

In the end, I think Anor did better than I expected, personally. I thought the nostalgia would wear out way faster for folks than it did, and it was a good community for the most part--I met lots of cool people. There was potential for it to be much better, but whether or not that made financial sense to make big changes to old zones is something only SSG can know. If not, it is what it is. But right now with the state of at least Anor and Shadowfax there is an issue that they're just not handling in a good way. It may make financial sense for them to keep making money off of transfers off those servers, but that really doesn't seem like a recipe for long-term customer satisfaction. They don't seem to even think about the Legandary Servers. More than once I've seen them describe the population on Anor and Shadowfax as "comparable to the smaller regular servers", when it wouldn't take but 10 minutes to log in to each one and see that Anor population is maybe 20% of the smallest server, and Shadowfax is less than 10%.

My reply is especially focused on the population numbers you present... I concur with your numbers. 15-30 average players on Shadowfax and maybe... maybe... double that on Anor are not healthy population numbers for a MMO server. My friends and I play these servers. We watch the population numbers almost daily.

My question is just how many Players on Anor are running "Anonymous" ? The answer to that question may explain a few statements of late.

[maartena]

My question is just how many Players on Anor are running "Anonymous" ? The answer to that question may explain a few statements of late.

Nobody knows the answer to that except SSG itself. And they are not releasing that information.

Based on random checks of me checking players chatting in world chat (I like to check outfits and get inspiration), I would say it lies somewhere around 30 to 40% anonymous, let's say one-third for easy math. So if there are 30 non anon players on a server, think a maximum of 45 if you include the anonymous ones.

But it will remain guesswork.

[maartena]

Yes, but by the time Gundabad hits Anor, Live will have more recent updates so Anor will still be on catch up.

Anor, like all legendary servers, gets all content for a level cap at once....

So currently the level cap on Anor is 115, which included Mordor and the Dale Lands/Ered Mithrin. When it goes to level 120, it will contain ALL level 120 zones at once.

The same will happen with 130 and 140, so when it reaches 140 it will get Gundabad AND all other level 140 zones that have been released. If the current 4-month schedule holds, that means Anor will have caught up to live servers by Q4 2022, UNLESS they decide to release a level cap increase in 2022 that would take us to 145 or 150.

I do not think it likely they will increase the level cap in 2022 (but anything could happen) so by the end of next year.... Anor will be a regular server as planned, and may be released from "Legendary" status. At that point they might decide to close it..... or because it is now a regular server, open it up for free-to-play and make it the "preferred" server for new players like Gladden is now.

[Arnenna]

I'm aware that Anor gets all content of any given level cap at once, but the game doesn't always work that way. We usually get ten levels with a new expansion, but 5 levels sometimes in regular content updates. Not always of course, but sometimes.

Could happen folks.

[Ariwen55]

We have no plans to close Anor.

So twas not the truth you shared? Im so disappointed, I thought maybe at least SSG would at least allow us on Anor to get to level 140.

I have toons on other servers I would gladly pay to transfer to Anor if allowed.

[Pontin_Finnberry]

So twas not the truth you shared? Im so disappointed, I thought maybe at least SSG would at least allow us on Anor to get to level 140.

I have toons on other servers I would gladly pay to transfer to Anor if allowed.

As others pointed out in another thread plans change, and of course they had no plans at the time, now they do have plans, just cause someone says there no plans for something doesn't mean it will never happen, and it was truth at the time of his posting, just like many things over the last 15 years there has been no plans to do something, but then it came years later.

[SniperCT]

So twas not the truth you shared? Im so disappointed, I thought maybe at least SSG would at least allow us on Anor to get to level 140.

I have toons on other servers I would gladly pay to transfer to Anor if allowed.

Sometime between dec and june plans changed, it happens. Easy enough to look at dwindling player numbers and decide there's no point in keeping it open.

[Melank]

And they call this place an MMO. An MMO!

I believe that the point you're addressing it is older than Anor itself.

The more devs are focused on piling up levels, virtues, trait points, LI levels and traceries on top of each other, the more players have to grind through tons of solo content to get there because realistically there are no players at any given range of levels to go through some specific content (deeds for virtues, quests chains and EBs for trait points, tons of questing areas for main levels, solo skirimishes for gear, solo dungeons for traceries/enhancement runes).

Thus, the more the game becomes a single player RPG experience rather than an MMO.

I've saw on Reddit a picture of a guy that shared that he had been playing 2 years for 700 hours total to get to level 100.


That's the current state of Lotro and everything is pointing towards keep moving foreward in that direction (more main levels, more virtue levels, more LI traceries and levels, more character trait points).

In fact, now there are players that are asking for toggles to turn off seeing other players (although I dunno to which extent this is sarcasm or not).


I believe this is also what it's making a Shadows of Angmar private server to emerge (something that never ever happened before).

Because many players want an MMO and cooperative group experience that it is more visible at Shadows of Angmar compared to the live version of Lotro. In which realistic group MMO content is gated behind 140 levels, 1680 Virtue levels, grind 40 character trait points, 24 traceries hunt, and 500 enhancement runes grind while collecting gear through instances.

IMO all this grind ruins the overall MMO experience because it focuses on a single player RPG experience in which solo is the normative gameplay and cooperative group content is something very rare and hard to articulate with gameplay expectations.

Right now, the majority of players use internet connection in Lotro to see each other at festivals to share cosmetics or chat on WC/kinship chat or use Auction House, beyond that the use of internet it is almost futile.

[maartena]

So twas not the truth you shared?

I have no plans to buy a car. That is 100% the truth right now. I have two running vehicles, and I don't need to replace either.

But.... in 6 months from now.... my plans may have changed! I do not know this NOW, so when I tell you "I have no plans to buy a new car", that is 100% the truth. If in 6 months something changes, I may make new plans.

See how that works?

[whisper.earendil]

No, it was likely a lie when they said it then, too. And the only reason they rode the 'you must pay to get off' horse as long as they did is because they screwed up when they closed Ithil the first time.

As I've said before, mostly in-game. Trust the pattern of this company's actions, not their words.

[Arnenna]

No, it was likely a lie when they said it then, too. And the only reason they rode the 'you must pay to get off' horse as long as they did is because they screwed up when they closed Ithil the first time.

As I've said before, mostly in-game. Trust the pattern of this company's actions, not their words.

They weren't lying. Trust me, nobody wanted off Anor more than I did when they said that. I'd have really liked it to be a lie, but it wasn't. It was a year ago, and I've been patiently waiting for those plans to change. Now they have. They told us for a lot longer that they had no plans to update mounted combat, despite many requests to do so. Those plans didn't change, for a very long time, and then - they did with a recent update.

[Frisco]

No, it was likely a lie when they said it then, too. And the only reason they rode the 'you must pay to get off' horse as long as they did is because they screwed up when they closed Ithil the first time.

As I've said before, mostly in-game. Trust the pattern of this company's actions, not their words.

Not a lie--that's why they worded it like they did. They no doubt knew that Anor was going to close. It hasn't had the population to justify staying open for years now. But they had no PLANS to do so yet.

There's a kind of art in being able to say a lot of words that ultimately mean nothing. It's an important skill in business.

[Flaxie]

You mean like the transfers from currently closed servers? I guess transfers are free if you just don't allow them.

It has absolutely nothing to do with "allowing" transfers. The transfers from the old, closed servers got messed up after the servers had been updated
several times, and they haven't been able to create a fix yet. It's too bad for those who left and didn't keep track of what was going on back then.
Those of us who were paying attention had plenty of time to transfer, a couple years, I think.