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Euro LOTRO free-to-play relaunch dated

Next week Samwise to you?

The European free-to-play relaunch of The Lord of the Rings Online will happen on Tuesday, 2nd November, Eurogamer can exclusively reveal.

Mandatory monthly subscriptions will be dropped and replaced by three tiers of membership - VIP (has a monthly fee), Premium and Free - and a LOTRO Store. There you can buy expansion packs, premium add-ons, thousands of convenience items, additional character slots, potions and character customisation options. The LOTRO Store works within the game.

The free-to-play overhaul introduces other new features, too: a new Wardrobe storage system for cosmetic items, an updated character creation system, a revamped new player experience and redesign for the vintage dungeons of the world, which will become not only repeatable, but feature scalable content to keep the challenge fresh.

Eurogamer logged in to explore a free-to-play Lord of the Rings Online in August.

Coinciding with all this will be the arrival of meaty update Volume III, Book 2: Ride of the Grey Company. Join the elves of Rivendell as they form the Grey Company and venture into new region Enedwaith. And join alone, as Book 2 contains 15 solo chapters to work through.

On top of all that, The Harvest Festival is back in town. Gather near Bree where those fat hobbitses reside and bob for apples, pick pumpkins and explore a haunted hobbit house.

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