The Lord of the Rings Online has a long history before World of Warcraft. Starting in 1997, this video explores what could have been with the classic MMO Middle-earth Online, and how a lack of focus lead to years of delays, reboots, and publishers. Finally LOTRO would release in 2007, three years after World of Warcraft changed the world.
A huge thanks to the Massively and IGN articles, which where a big help when researching this video.