Lottery
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Delete Article This article is recommended for deletion. Reason: The Lottery system is no longer in use by LotRO. They are using Hobbit Presents. |
Description
LOTRO Lottery is exactly what is says, a lottery within the LOTRO community where characters may win prizes of varied value or usefulness, determined by the players preferences.
- The PC used to support the Lottery system was destroyed in a power surge during a major electrical storm in Boston in 2013. Turbine's entire data center was knocked off-line, UPS systems and all! It was all recovered except for the PC running the Lottery system. Subsequent discussions within Turbine have never allocated resources (Developer time) to re-codding the Lottery system, the original programmer having previously departed.
Prizes
Typical prizes are cash, healing potions, armaments, special pipe-weed and fireworks, new LOTRO store items, etc. The more valuable and rare wins include special mounts, rare armaments, relics, unique class quest items, etc. Some prizes are bound to character or account, but many prizes are unbound.
Currency Prizes
When a lottery awards a currency prizes, the size and type of the prizes are level dependent. Not every lottery has a currency prize, and the types of currency prizes vary. The following table shows the typical sizes of the prizes awarded to characters in different level ranges.
| Level Range | Cash Prize | Marks | Mediallions | Seals | Shards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 - 20 | 75 
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| 21 - 26 | 100
|
125 Mark
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| 27 - 29 | 200
|
125 Mark
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45 Medallion
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||
| 30 - 35 | 250
|
125 Mark
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45 Medallion
|
||
| 42 - 47 | 300
|
125 Mark
|
|||
| 48 - 50 | 350
|
125 Mark
|
45 Medallion
|
125 Shard
| |
| 53 - 54 | 400
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45 Medallion
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3 Seal
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||
| 58 | 500
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||||
| 63 | 600
|
125 Mark
|
45 Medallion
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| 63 | 600
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10 Medallion
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2 Seal
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| 75 | 1 
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125 Mark
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45 Medallion
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3 Seal
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125 Shard
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Playing the Lottery
Lotteries are free to enter for all players in good standing. Players can be entered in the drawing at this page, where you can select which characters should enter each lottery. (You need to be logged in to the Forums to participate.)
Some lotteries are restricted to characters of certain levels, classes or servers. You will not be able to enter a lottery for which your character is not eligible. Players who have not completed the introduction can enter lotteries. Players who level up after entering a drawing should check to see if they are now eligible for a new drawing.
Each lottery has a stated draw date and time and is usually open for a few days. "Flash lotteries" are announce on Twitter and have a short duration between announcement and the draw. Some unannounced special event lotteries also have a short duration.
The lotteries you have entered are listed on the lottery page.
If your characters gain levels after entering the lottery, so they are now eligible for a new lottery draw, you must enter them again. They cannot win a lottery for which they are no longer eligible. There will be a short delay after levelling a character in-game, before the lottery site is notified of the level change.
Prizes
Winners are notified with an in-game mail containing the prizes. (As usual, this mail must be collected within two weeks of the draw, or the prize is lost.) Your winning characters are listed at the lottery page itself. The lottery page will list winners soon after the drawing. The delivery of prizes by mail may be delayed by a few hours.
Prizes are generally useful for characters in the eligible level range or class, although a character may win unusable items. As most prizes are bind on equip, you may share them with other characters and players. Mount skills are bind on acquire, so duplicates must be discarded.
Winning players who have not completed the introduction will not be able to collect their prizes until they complete the introduction, and can visit a mailbox.
Prizes often have different stats than current in-game items, possibly due to item versioning. Sometimes the name of the prize listed for the lottery is incorrect, or out of date, or is a store name instead of the game name.
Scheduled lotteries
These lotteries occur twice every week, with drawings on Wednesday and Sunday.
- Welcome Wagon Lottery (level 10-19)
- Lottery of the Free Peoples (level 20-29)
- Lottery of Arnor (level 30-39)
- Lottery of the Northlands (level 40-49)
- Lottery of the Depths (level 50-59)
- Lottery of Rhovanion (level 60-69)
- Lottery of Angrenost (level 70-79)
- Lottery of The Mark (level 80-85)
Other lotteries
Other lotteries often appear during festivals and other special events, including both game and real life events. The prizes often relate to the event in question. When a new LOTRO store steed is released, there have sometimes been a few lotteries where you could win the steed.
Player Comments
These are personal questions and only you can answer.
Should you bother? Or not?
- A personal comment: No prizes are useless or utter jokes, but the usefulness and value depends on the player, not on the prizes as such. A player who is not interested in RP is probably less interested in pipe-weed, and a player who already has one of the best mounts naturally cares less about yet another steed, etc. Anybody can play Lotro and having a blast without ever entering the lottery, but those that do perhaps add a silver line to the fun. — User:Zimoon
Enter every lottery
- You will win cash and more potions than you can use, but the rare items for legendary weapon crafting and class quests have great value — User:RingTailCat
Consider not entering every character blindly
- To quote Sapience: "The lottery system is closer to a raffle or sweepstakes than a true lottery. As a result there is no provision for first, second, or other places. Lotteries are created with a set number of winners per world and those winners are chosen from all of the characters entered into that lottery." [1]
- This means that every character entered reduces the chances for others to win. If you have alts you never play, or characters who have no use for a special prize (they already own the mount, for example), consider unchecking them from the entry list, so you don't take a prize away from someone else who will really use it. — User:Elinnea
Why not?
- There is really no point in not entering, as it only takes a few clicks. It doesn't cost anything more than a few moments of your time, and can give you excllent rewards. — User:Candlelight
It's the Big Things...
- "Lately, LotRO has been making good use of their Lottery system by giving away BIG prizes like Helm's Deep Premium Keys (one lottery for each server)! By entering, you have a small chace to win for each Lottery, and they have been doing more than one Lottery for these keys!" --User:Super3588