Preview LOTRO Europe, Finally! Next Week!

Starting next Monday, the 25th, Codemasters will open up the test realms for Lord of the Rings Online’s transition to free to play, which you can sign up for here. Codemasters is saying that the more people who sign up, the faster the testing can take place (meaning the testing is likely for stability and population capacity under high stress) and the faster that the service can transition on the live servers.


Here's your dice, Europe

It’s almost Friday, which means we’re about a day early on the weekly Lord of the Rings Online: Europegate update, but who cares about keeping up to nonexistent traditions? We have good news finally! Starting next Monday, the 25th, Codemasters will open up the test realms for Lord of the Rings Online’s transition to free to play, which you can sign up for here. Codemasters is saying that the more people who sign up, the faster the testing can take place (meaning the testing is likely for stability and population capacity under high stress) and the faster that the service can transition on the live servers.

Is anyone still reading this? Good. Those of you who sign up and participate in the trial will receive 500 Turbine points (or would they be Codemaster Points?) towards the store once the game goes live. The only information we have on timing is “shortly thereafter,” which can mean anything coming from the company that told us over a month ago that the European service would go free to play in “just a couple weeks,” granted their issues were contractual and thus irrelevant to this new update.

Will this be enough to bring back European players who are on the North American servers, likely some of whom have invested both cash and time into their new characters? Only time will tell.