The time is drawing nigh to one of the biggest events in Lord of the Rings Online’s server history. And whether the thought of migrating to the new 64-bit servers on March 5th generates excitement, dread, or a mixture of both, it’s important to be prepared as possible.
If you are going to make the jump to one of the four new servers in early March, there are some things you can be doing right now to make that migration as smooth as possible from your end (how SSG is going to handle its side is another question entirely!). So here’s a checklist of six tasks to get your account in order for the transition.
Figure out where you’re going
When the servers arrive, we’ll have four from which to choose — but actually fewer than that, as players currently on the North American servers can only transfer to the two new NA shards, and likewise with the European worlds. And the only difference between these worlds is that one will be normal while the other one will encourage (but not enforce) roleplay communities.
So it’s good to ping your friends and kinship to see where everyone is heading before you make your own call to head to Glamdring (NA), Peregrin (NA-RP), Orcrist (EU), or Meriadoc (EU-RP). The good news here is that you won’t be locked into those servers; you can freely transfer between them until August or so, although you won’t be guaranteed your character’s name at a later date.
Familiarize yourself with the official 64-bit server FAQ
Standing Stone Games put a lot of effort and information into a FAQ that covers the new servers and transfer process. Everyone involved should read this because it really does answer a ton of questions about the order, scope, and details of the upcoming migration. There’s also some very important information about kinship transfers that is of relevance to leaders of those guilds.
Decide on your three saved names
The migration will involve a number of stress points for players, so SSG is looking to take a bit of that away by allowing people to reserve names for these mega-shards. VIPs will be given an initial 24-hour period to lock in three names for future use on these worlds, so assuming that you are or are going to be a subscriber, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of this (even if you’re not transferring right away!).
Which three names you want to protect is up to you, but I’d advise you to consider how you’d feel if certain names weren’t available. Maybe you’d be cool losing the name “Poppinfresh” but have always been associated with “Trixbunny” and don’t want to leave that behind. Maybe you even want to try out new names instead? This is the perfect time for it.
Because this is a first-come, first-reserved situation, you’ll want to be prompt and even have backups in case one or more of your names gets snagged.
Figure out which characters are making the jump
Just because you’re transferring onto these servers doesn’t mean you have to bring every character you have along. You’ll certainly have a lot of character slots — not infinite, but SSG is giving most people five more on top of any purchased in the past — and you can bring together characters from dead servers, current live servers, and Treebeard.
So making a list in advance of these characters and their current servers is going to help you on the second day when the transfers start to happen. You’ll also want to log into each of these to make sure that they have a cleaned-out mailbox and auction hall queue.
Slot all of your housing decor now
When the transfers happen, all current houses that you own will be packed up automatically into escrow, and any premium houses will be refunded to you 100% in full with writs. Because escrow is basically free temporary inventory, use this opportunity to get housing items out of your vault, inventory, and shared storage and slot them somewhere on your property. This should free up some of your space and get all of your housing into storage for future use when you get your new home set up.
Oh, another tip? If you want the best shot at getting a certain home lot or neighborhood, log out your main character right next to the housing escrow broker. Then when you log in on the 5th, grab your writs and see if you can get your preferred house ASAP.
Have a plan for excessive downtime
Best-case scenario with the transfers is that any of your characters flagged for this will be unavailable at least for a day or two, as they’ll be moved to a server that’s not open yet. Worst-case is that the new servers encounter hiccups or can’t get going on time or are taken offline for days as SSG tries to get on top of any potential issues.
What I’m saying is that you could be left without access to your regular characters from one to who-knows-how-many days. Therefore, it’s a good idea not to be caught off-guard with downtime. Have a plan in place — another game, another project, or something to be your Plan B if and when LOTRO isn’t available.
Good luck with your transfers, and I’ll see you on the other side (I’ll be on Peregrin)!
Every two weeks, the LOTRO Legendarium goes on an adventure (horrid things, those) through the wondrous, terrifying, inspiring, and, well, legendary online world of Middle-earth. Justin has been playing LOTRO since its launch in 2007! If you have a topic for the column, send it to him at justin@massivelyop.com.
