LotRO Closes One Server Tomorrow, Opens Up Two With Different Progression Speeds Soon

We already knew about The Lord of the Rings Online's legendary server, Ithil, closing down tomorrow (though you'll have until the end of the year to transfer characters off it). What we didn't know was that there would be two new progression servers popping up in its absence -- until late last week, that is.

In the most recent Cord of the Rings devstream (spotted by MassivelyOP), Executive Producer Rob "Severlin" Ciccolini informed everyone of a pair of new progression servers that would be opening in the near future. One will be named Shadowfax, and offer faster progression, while another will be named Treebeard, and offer slower progression. Lord of the Rings fans will appreciate the clever naming conventions.

Ciccolini talked about a number of other improvements and initiatives that the dev team is working on for the game, but, if we're being honest, it's hard to take him at his word. In March, he promised "a big year for our Legendary Worlds of Anor and Ithil" -- and, well, I suppose something big happened with Ithil. The long-rumored legendary item revamp is also nowhere to be found (following a much-maligned tweak earlier in the year).

Most comedically, Ciccolini said that "Outside of delivering you awesome story, lag is our number one priority." Back when I was a regular player in 2012 -- 2012! -- lag and rubber-banding were still an issue, and when I tried to get someone new into the game circa 2016, they said that it was so bad that they didn't want to play. If that's the team's number one priority, then I'm Gandalf. And I definitely don't have a beard that long.