So I'm completely out of the loop and the article wasn't clear on why there's apparently a mad rush to transfer servers. New update? New servers? Anyone in the know?

They opened 64bits servers instead of the older 32bits (that’ll stay open). I don’t think I’ll transfer my account this time and just let it disappear and die one day.

Hopefully someone with better info than me will chime in (my algorithm occasionally coughs up LOTRO vids, but I haven't played seriously in some time). I believe that there are two stated reasons for the situation, both relating to the age of the game. The first is that the remaining player base is not big enough to support the number of servers currently offered, and so consolidation will help the game feel more alive at any given moment. The second reason is that the legacy servers are 32 bit, and they want to modernize to a 64 bit architecture. So, two birds, one (standing) stone.

Haven't been playing this game for a bit but its my fav mmo. Def gonna give the 64 bit servers a try when this mess ends. Speaking of which is there a lotro community on lemmy?

I tried to play this but I'm not a fan of MMOs. I couldn't do the fetch quests and just clicking on boxes for combat. I kept ending up wandering into these really remote areas and getting lost too. I would hope someone takes this world and updates the graphics and maybe even provide an updated RPG experience because it is truly amazing. There are so few good Tolkien based games out there which is nuts because there is so much lore to pull from.

> I couldn’t do the fetch quests and just clicking on boxes for combat. That's literally all MMO's. > I would hope someone takes this world and updates the graphics They did at one point years ago. It looks a lot better than it used to. But they've pretty much maxed out what that engine can do. It's not going to get better looking. It's the only MMO I play largely for the lore and because it's the largest non-procedural game world ever created and I love getting "lost" in it. But they've already completed the LoTR storyline and while the new areas they're adding still look great, the stories and quests are getting pretty boring. Gameplay is getting boring too. I haven't purchased the newest expansion and I'm not sure I'm going to. Been playing for years, so feels a little weird to just quit. They pissed me off when they completely re-worked the Loremaster class. So annoying to play now.