Social:List of Worlds
Overview
In order to play the game, a player must choose a server on which to play after logging in. Created characters are stored per server.
Current worlds
As of August 2024, the worlds that are available for play are:
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| [US]Arkenstone (Unofficial Oceanic) | [EU]Evernight [EU] | [EU]Laurelin [EU-EN-RP] | [US]Brandywine | [US]Crickhollow |
| [US]Gladden | [EU]Belegaer [DE-RP] | [EU]Sirannon [FR] | [US]Landroval [EN-RE] | [EU]Gwaihir [DE] |
| Treebeard [Legendary] | Angmar [Legendary] | Mordor [EU] [Legendary] |
US Servers European Servers Legendary Servers Arkenstone Belegaer [DE-RP] Treebeard Brandywine Evernight Angmar Crickhollow Gwaihir Mordor [EU] Gladden Laurelin [RP] Landroval [RE] Sirannon [FR]
There is also one server occasionally opened for testing new content and fixes: Bullroarer. More information on it can be found by clicking here. You can find out if it is currently open or if it will be open anytime soon by going to LOTRO's Bullroarer Forum and looking for any beta release notes.
Weekly World Restarts
Effective 5-24-18, SSG will be conducting weekly world restarts to support the health of the game environment once per week during weeks where they do not have other downtime planned. These weekly restarts typically last for about an hour, and take place starting at 8:00 AM Eastern (-5 GMT) on Wednesdays.
Information about the Worlds
Below are the different worlds available for all to create characters and start playing LOTRO.
"Worlds" are more commonly known as "Servers."
- For the event server Bombadil, see Tournament of the Twins
- For Legendary servers, see Legendary Server Announcement
- Today, all servers are physically located in North America (NA).
- Prior to 1 June 2011, the "European Worlds" (servers) were operated by Codemasters and were physically located in Europe (EU).
- Since that move, those "European Worlds" were moved to Turbine's data center and all worlds became accessible to all players.
- Those worlds specializing in Role Playing ([RP]) or the specific languages, German [DE] or French [FR], are marked in the list below. These specializations also tend to relate to the time-zones where the majority of the players on those servers are located.
- Note also that certain servers are listed as "[RE]" - that means Role Playing is encouraged. (This is a designation more in-line with Turbine's historical NA Policy. The European RP designations were enforced by Codemasters.)
- "Roleplaying rule violations will only be enforced on the official Roleplay-supported worlds of Laurelin, and Belegaer. Any roleplaying rule violations reported on other worlds will not be enforced, and the ticket closed without response."
- For detailed RP and RE rules, See: Turbine Official Roleplaying Rules and Policy
- Arkenstone is unofficially the Australasian server
- The launcher and game client can be switched between the three primary languages via pulldown at the top of the screen, prior to login. (To change your language selection, you must log out and back in again. Changing the launcher and client to a certain language for the first time will require language-specific files to download, and, each time you change the language after a game update, the language files may update.)
- The LOTRO Launcher provides a player the opportunity to access any server at Login. (To change your world selection, you must log out and back in again.) Depending upon your account type, you are permitted to create at least one character on every server. The list of worlds presented at login is in seemingly random order. This is to compensate for the human tendency to pick "the first one" on the list. A "load balancing" mechanism rotates the "first on the list" periodically. However, the last world you logged into will always be at the top.
- There are two additional servers not listed here, "Bullroarer," the "Public" Test Server, and "Palantir," the private preview server. -- Access to either of these servers requires a separate client, and in the case of Palantir a highly vetted application and invitation. (See the "sticky on the Forums for information The Palantir Private Preview Program)
- Bullroarer is "up" on an "as needed" basis, i.e. when there is a new release in need of testing.
- Information on the current status of Bullroarer and obtaining the test client, can be found in the Bullroarer Forum. Test client download info can be found on the forums."
- Participation in the Palantir Private Preview Program requires agreeing to Turbine's Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), so little to nothing is known about what goes into testing there, and those that do know are not allowed, under any circumstances, to even say that they participate in the Program. (This is why there is no page for Palantir on this wiki.) Some Bullroarer tests also require agreement to this. A good example of this was Riders of Rohan's closed beta.
- Note that each world has its own "thread" at Forums: Game Worlds
Differentiation of Servers
- Back in the pre 2007 time when LOTRO was created, there was no trans-atlantic HIGH-SPEED (i.e. broadband) communications. In fact the concept of High-speed digital communication was in its infancy here in the United States. Communications speeds were primarily maxing out around 56K BPS.
- Therefore Turbine originally licensed CodeMasters to implement LOTRO in Europe. Then in June of 2011, those European servers were physically moved to Boston.
- However, there are issues between the two groups of servers -- namely "Character Transfers." This is due, at least in part, to the way that Codemasters set up the system on those servers. The two different systems are incompatible with each other.
- Currently (April 2016) it is still not possible to transfer a character between the two groups of servers.
Historical Information
Lord of the Rings Online originally launched with 32 servers.
On September 30, 2009, the two Japanese servers were closed.
Public testing of Chinese servers began in July 2007, on January 21, 2012, the ten Chinese servers were closed.
On May 31, 2010, the six Korean servers closed.
On June 1, 2015, the three Russian servers were closed. In April 2016, 19 other servers followed. For a set period of time, players of all servers were offered to move their characters over to other servers for free. Characters that remain on closed servers can no longer be moved over to running servers at this time.
In November of 2018, Standing Stone Games announced the creation of two Legendary Servers (Anor and Ithil).
- Details can be found here: Legendary Server Announcement Both of these servers have since closed.
In 2021, two new Legendary Servers were opened, Shadowfax and Treebeard. They differ in their progression speed (150% experience speed vs 40% experience speed), and also introduce the new Landscape Difficulty option, where you can set the landscape difficulty between Normal and Deadly +6.
- An overview can be found here: https://lotro.com/en/legendary Shadowfax has now closed.
In August 2024, two new Legendary Servers were opened, Mordor and Angmar. Mordor is located in Europe, and Angmar in North America. These two servers are the first to feature 64-bit technoloby.
Closed Worlds
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Historical list of worlds
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| [US]Arkenstone(Unofficial Oceanic) | [EU]Evernight [EU] | [EU]Laurelin [EU-EN-RP] | [US]Vilya(Closed) | [EU]Maiar(Closed) [DE] |
| [US]Brandywine | [US]Firefoot(Closed) | [US]Meneldor(Closed) | [US]Windfola(Closed) | [EU]Morthond(Closed) [DE] |
| [US]Crickhollow | [EU]Gilrain(Closed) [UK] | [US]Nimrodel(Closed) | [EU]Withywindle(Closed) [UK] | [EU]Vanyar(Closing) [DE] |
| [US]Dwarrowdelf(Closed) | [US]Gladden | [US]Riddermark(Closed) | [EU]Anduin(Closed) [DE] | [EU]Estel(Closed) [FR-RP] |
| [EU]Eldar(Closed) | [US]Imladris(Closed) | [US]Silverlode(Closed) | [EU]Belegaer [DE-RP] | [EU]Sirannon [FR] |
| [US]Elendilmir(Closed) (Oceanic) | [US]Landroval [EN-RE] | [EU]Snowbourn(Closed) [UK] | [EU]Gwaihir [DE] | Anor(Closed) [Legendary] |
| Ithil(Closed) [Legendary] | Bombadil [Events] | Shadowfax(Closed) [Legendary] | Treebeard [Legendary] | |
| Angmar [Legendary][Veil of the Nine] | Mordor [Legendary][Veil of the Nine]
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Russian Worlds
| As of June 1, 2015 these servers are now closed. |
| Fornost |
| Mirkwood |
| Aglarond |
Chinese Worlds
| As January 21, 2012 these servers are now closed. |
| 伊锡利恩 (Ithilien) |
| [杜林之门 (Durin's Gate) |
| 安都瑞尔 (Anduril) |
| 清晨之门 (Land of the Sun) |
| 跃马客栈 (Prancing Pony) |
| 灰袍巫师 (Grey Wizard) |
| 黑暗土地 (Dark Land) |
| 埃雷德鲁因 (Ered Luin) |
| 色萝林 (Golden Lorien) |
| 卡扎德杜姆 (Kazad-Dum) |
Japanese Worlds
| As of September 30, 2009 these servers are now closed. |
| エーグロス (Aeglos) |
| ナリヤ (Narya) |
Korean Worlds
| As of May 31, 2010 these servers are now closed. |
| 스카사 (Scatha) |
| 미나스 티리스 (Minas Tirith) |
| 에도라스 (Edoras) |
| 펠레노르 (Pelennor) |
| 아르고나스 (Argonath) |
| 베오른 (Beorn) |
| 앙칼라곤 (Ancalagon) |
European Servers North American Servers Legendary Servers Event Servers Anduin [DE] Arkenstone Anor Bombadil Belegaer [DE-RP] Brandywine Ithil Eldar Crickhollow Shadowfax Estel [FR-RP] Dwarrowdelf Treebeard Evernight Elendilmir Angmar Gilrain Firefoot Mordor Gwaihir [DE] Gladden Laurelin [EU-EN-RP] Imladris Maiar [DE] Landroval Morthond [DE] Meneldor Sirannon Nimrodel Snowbourn Riddermark Vanyar [DE] Silverlode Withywindle Vilya Windfola