Over the years as a Lord of the Rings Online fan and columnist, I’ve noticed that whenever the discussion of the game’s zones comes around to the Shire, it proves to be incredibly divisive. It seems that either you really, really like the Shire or you think it’s a headache of a region to be avoided at all costs.
For the latter crowd that looks at the sheer mountain of pie-running, honey-getting, mail-sorting quests and goes, “This could be tidied up and modernized,” SSG has a word for you — it’s not going to happen.
In a post on the forums, lead writer Jeff Libby explains that the Shire’s special nature needs protection: “I have to ask: is a very efficient and streamlined Shire actually the Shire at all? I might argue not really. I understand that meandering about isn’t really something MMOs encourage these days, but (in my opinion) the Shire is also one of the more unique zones in any MMO out there, and I suspect that changing it (even with the best of intentions) might be unpopular.”
