Lord Of The Rings Online Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Free Fireworks, Quests, And More

The Lord of the Rings Online, the MMO based on the epic fantasy series, launched this week in 2007, meaning the game is now 10 years old. Standing Stone Games, which recently took over for Turbine as the developer of the game, is celebrating the milestone with in-game events and items.

The Anniversary Festival, as it's called, is going on now. Everyone gets a free assortment of in-game fireworks, along with gifts that are associated with their account status (free vs. paid, etc). Players will also find new quests and other events to take part in to mark the occasion.

Depending on when you registered your LOTRO account, you will receive a different reward. For example, people who registered on April 30, 2016 or earlier (1 Year), get a one-year character portrait frame and the fireworks. The most veteran players, those who created accounts on June 30, 2007 or earlier (10 Year) a ten-year character portrait frame and Dragon Fireworks, which are available permanently. Additionally, 10 Year players get a portrait frame and Dragon Fireworks for their Monster Play character, along with a 10-year token that can be turned in for a cosmetic trait.

Even if you have not played LOTRO in years you can still claim your gifts, giving lapsed players a nice reason to come back. You don't even have to log in to get the gifts, however, as they are automatically applied to your account and will show up the next time you log in, even if that's after the Anniversary Festival ends on May 8.

All gifts will appear in your inventory, though if it's full, you will need to make space.

As for the new Anniversary Festival quests, there will be three new ones every week through July 13. These quests will bring players back to the "places we have been, and gets us some cool stuff in the process." Quests begin at the party tree in Hobbiton, delivered by Mr. Waldo Rumble.

For lots more on the Anniversary Festival, check out this landing page on the LOTRO website.

LOTRO has been continually updated since launch in 2007. Most recently, a patch called Battle of the Black Gate added new content set at steps of Sauron's holdout.

The game launched as a traditional paid MMO but adopted a free-to-play model in 2010.