Turbine announced today some changes in their preview program for Lord of the Rings Online, mainly that it's moving from a 24/7 server to a truly preview server:
Greetings!
Starting today we've changed the way the LOTRO preview server program operates. In the past our preview worlds have been available to players around the clock.
Unfortunately, the active populations tended to be very small between updates. Activity picked up when a Book or Module became available, then quickly died back down.
After careful analysis of play patterns, the decision was made to change the preview program to only open the servers when new content is available. We will also open them for special events. To support this change we have already begun the process of converting Roheryn to support the new program. Following the launch of Mines of Moria the preview program will resume. Unfortunately we will not be able to carry over preview characters from Book 14 to Moria.
We know you'll have some questions about the change, so we've tried to answer a few of them in advance. Thanks for your participation in the preview program. Please stay tuned for announcements of upcoming previews and special events!
Q: What do I do with my Roheryn installation?
A: Go ahead and uninstall the Roheryn client and delete any installation files. New preview server installations will be incompatible with the current Roheryn installation.
Q: I installed Roheryn using the Turbine Download Manager beta. Is there anything else I need to do?
A: If you installed, or updated, your Roheryn client using the Turbine Download Manager beta, please follow these instructions to uninstall.
First, run this command (substitute your Roheryn directory as needed):
Next:
Go to Add or Remove Programs (Vista users, choose Programs and Features)
Uninstall the Turbine Download Manager
Uninstall the Roheryn client. If you receive the message that the files cannot be found, choose to remove the program from the list.
Q: Roheryn has already been closed for a while. What happened?
A: As you probably know, we recently closed Roheryn as we worked on issues surrounding Book 14. Rather than bring the server back up in a temporary state we have started the transition to support Moria sooner.
Q: Can I transfer my characters from Roheryn to the live servers?
A: Unfortunately, preview characters are not able to be transferred. Roheryn offered several features, including the Eyes and Guard Tavern, which makes these characters incompatible with the live game.
WOW(US)
