Logging into the Lord of the Rings Online

So you have a Turbine Account, downloaded the game and have successfully started to launch the game.  The first screen is easy to navigate, put in your username and then your password.  There is a box to tick if you want to go to the server you were last on, but as a new player, you won’t have been to any Server previously, so don’t worry about that for now.

The next part is the tricky part.  How do you choose your server?

The list of English based Servers is:

Arkenstone: Named for the white jewel that was the greatest treasure of the Kings of Erebor that for, over 150 years, Smaug kept until Bilbo Baggins found it.  Now it is found entombed within the Lonely Mountain with the body of Thorin Oakenshield.

Brandywine: Well there are two things that this server is named for: 1. The Brandywine Bridge and also the Brandywine River which acts as a border on the east of the Shire, excluding Buckland.

Crickhollow: Named after the home of Frodo Baggins in Buckland.

Dwarrowdelf: This server was named after the Northern name for Moria when it was held by the dwarfs.

Eldar: This Server is named after the Elven people whose name means “People of the Stars”.

Elendilmir: This server was named as the Star of Elendil also known as Elendilmir. It was the name given to two white precious jewels; the first being attached to a jacket of Mithril and the second worn by Elendil instead of a crown.

Evernight: This Server was named after a dark, shadow filled area in the Great Sea.  It appears in one of Bilbo’s songs, “Song of Earendil”.

Firefoot: This Server is named after Eomer’s Steed.  Eomer was the third Marshall of the Riddermark.  Firefoot bore both Eomer and Gimli to Helm’s Deep and also led the charge at the Pelanor Fields.

Gilrain: Gilrain is the river which flows south out of the White Mountains.  It is a tributary of the river Serni and is the river which this server is named after.

Gladden: The Gladden server was named after two important places in Middle Earth.  The first being the Gladden River where Isildur was ambushed by orcs, while the second, Gladden Fields was once a place where hobbits lived.  This is also the place where Smeagol, also known as Gollum came from.

Imladris: this server uses the proper Elvish name for Rivendell and is the realm of Elrond Halfelven.

Landroval: This server was named with Landroval, the brother of Gwaihir, the Lord of the Great Eagles during the War of the Ring.  It was Landroval who was one of the Great Eagles that flew in to rescue Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom and it was claimed by Gandalf that he was the fastest of the Misty Mountain Eagles.

Laurelin: this server was named after one of the two trees planted by the Valar on top of a high hill and cast golden light over the lands.

Meneldor:  This server name was also the name of one of the Great Eagles during the War of the Ring.  He was one of the Eagles that helped at the fight at the Black Gate and another who aided in the rescue of Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom.

Nimrodel: This server name came from the a cold, shallow stream that flows from the Misty Mountains down into the Silverlode River on the western borders of Lorien.  It also, as it happens, is the name of the Elf-maid who love for the Elf-king Amroth ended tragically.

Riddermark: The name basically means Land of the Riders and this server is named after the name the Rohirrim use for Rohan.

Silverlode: This name is what Men call the River Celebrant and doesn’t have much to do with Dwarves, which tends to go against popular belief.  The river that this server is named for runs from Mirrormere in the Dimrill Dale, through Lorien and into the Anduin River.

Snowbourn: Once again, this server is named after a river in Middle Earth.  Snowbourn is a river of Rohan that flows from the foot of Starkhorn in the northern White Mountains, down Harrowdale and past the courts of Edoras.  It continues through the plains of Rohan to meet finally with the River Entwash.

Vilya:  This server is named after one of the Three Rings of the Elves which was owned by Gil-galad: the Ring of Air.  The ring, made of gold and set with a sapphire, was later given to Elrond and helped him preserve the beauty of Rivendell.

Windfola: Another server named after a horse, but this time it is Eowyn’s grey horse.  Windfola was the horse who carried Eowyn and Merry into the Battle of Pelennor Fields, but ran away when scared by a Fell Beast.

Withywindle:  Another river helped name this server.  Withywindle flows through the Old Forest and joins the Brandywine River and this river was home to Old Man Willow.

That ends the list of English speaking or US servers.  There are also servers dedicated to French and German which joined Turbine at the closure of Codemasters.  But since my French is very rusty and I know only a few German words, I won’t go into those servers here.  If anyone does play on those servers, please feel free to post a comment about the server, and why you enjoy playing there.

What do the letters mean?

When you are looking at the list of servers, you will see letters after some of the names.  These letters are:

EN-RP:  This means that it is an English speaking server that has Role Play enforced on it.  This means that you “have to” role play and be lore appropriate or you could be booted from the server.

EN-RE: This means that it is an English speaking server that has Role Play encouraged on it.  You don’t have to role play, but it is encouraged that you do so and also be lore appropriate.

So now you know the servers, how to choose.

Some people will play on Servers that they have friends already playing on.  So that is an easy decision for them.

What about you?  If you have no friends already playing Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) then how do you choose.

Method One:

You can research the Servers/Worlds online.  There are many sites that list the numbers of players on a server but, please check out when this was last updated.  I did go to a link that was being circulated around the Steam Discussions and found it hadn’t been updated since 2012.

Method Two:

Pick a server based on your Race.  What this means if I liked playing a dwarf (cough, cough), I would choose a server based on something Dwarven, for example, Dwarrowdelf.

Method Three:

Pick a server based on your game play style.  What this would mean is if I liked to role play, I would choose either Landroval or Laurelin as they are the main Role Playing servers.

Method Four:

Pick a name you like.  This is an easy method of choosing a server.  If you like the name Elendilmir because it has a nice flow off the tongue, choose it.

There are more methods of choosing a server including, just going with the first name on the list.  People can over complicate the whole process, so really what works best for you is the way  to go.