A bunch of free content with a coupon in LoTRO. Very worth downloading the game and redeeming if you ever had or ever think you might even want to try the game.
I think it’s still the best LoTR game out there. And it’s free-to-play model doesn’t even suck too badly. Old as hell of course, from the webpage to the game itself, it’s like traveling back in time by 15 years.
Edit: Also if you had an account with chars ages ago, the server they were on may have been closed. But you should be able to transfer your toons from the Launcher with the Transfer button.
If you actually look at the MMO/MMO-adjacent landscape… most of the ones that are still alive are over a decade old with some legally allowed to drink.
And a lot of that has to do with people increasingly using MMOs as “comfort games” which… work best for the oldies. And most of the money going into game dev focused more on annual games and then live service games where you still spend about the same amount of money per year but feel better because it isn’t a monthly subscription. Instead of spending 10-15 bucks a month you spend 30-50 bucks every other month for the battle pass or the new expansion or the Officer D.Va skin and so forth. TOTALLY different.
So most of the newer MMO-ass MMOs are either doomed from the start for being overly niche or take a more Korean or Gacha oriented balance and monetization scheme where… they are competing against the juggernauts that are also closer to a decade old than not.
its because the “oldies” are well designed and aren’t overtly obvious cash grabs.
well I mean some are cash types. but quite a few old MMOs have a great life due to private servers and whatnot. And some “dead” MMOs are still alive solely on private servers (Star Wars Galaxies for example)
and ones like ESO are great for not needing a subscription to play. you have the option to just buy the content outright if you’d like.
but yeah I would love to see a new MMO come along to bring that feeling back. the good old days of competition between MMOs. it does feel like cash shop gacha trash is everywhere these days.