Lord of the Rings Online celebrates its 15th anniversary with five free expansions

Lord of the Rings Online debuted in April 2007, and the team has made a lovely announcement as the MMO approaches its 15th birthday. The birthday presents are for the players, it seems.

Producer Raninia details what’s coming in a new blog post. LOTR Online is already a free-to-play title, but the free content will soon include the game’s first five (normally paid-for) expansions: Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood, Rise of Isengard, Riders of Rohan, and Helm’s Deep. Furthermore, all players will be able to utilize Rune-keepers, Wardens, and Beornings, even if they don’t own the content in which they were first introduced.

The MMO’s 33rd update is coming in April, and it will be the proper kickoff to the anniversary celebration. A new region called the Yondershire, a remote area with only a few Hobbit inhabitants, is being added, along with changes to the MMO’s VIP program and in-game store. The Anniversary Festival is also returning, and it’ll include a new instance called A Flurry of Fireworks. Raninia promises details on all the anniversary content next month.

In other Lord of the Rings news, the Gollum game was recently delayed into 2022, and fans are waiting to hear about a final release date. Gollum’s developer Daedelic Entertainment was acquired by publisher Nacon about a month ago.