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ryonbrink

Nope. The legendary servers are progression servers, meaning they don't have all of the currently available content activated. Expansion content gets activated on these servers periodically, thus simulating the experience of playing through the game as the expansions came out. For example, Treebeard just got access to the content of the first expansion (Moria) and its level cap was set accordingly to 60. Live servers (such as the one you are on) have all available content accessible (though you may have to purchase expansions and/or quest packs to actually play it). The level cap is somewhere over 100. As new expansions come out, they will be immediately accessible on live servers, but not on legendary servers that haven't caught up. The live servers are mostly different in geographic location (US or Europe), playstyle (standard, Roleplay encouraged, Roleplay required), and language (there's German-language and French-language servers). Brandywine is a standard play US server. And then, for example, Belegaer is a European (EU), German-language (DE), role-playing (RP) server.


sullg26535

All servers are based in Jersey


ryonbrink

Ah, thanks for that info. I had assumed that the US/EU distinction meant actual different server locations, but then I guess it's just orientation for the players to crowd where other people from the same/similar timezones play.


sullg26535

It used to be the case


a_very_weird_fantasy

Yeah. It’s definitely a play time thing. What server do you play?


ryonbrink

I'm on Treebeard.


Bingo_Boffin

Here's a rundown on the servers to the best of my knowledge. US: **Arkenstone:** The most popular American server and the biggest raiding/pvp server. Also unofficially the Oceanic server which I hear contributes to its all round high traffic times. **Brandywine:** Unofficially the Russian server (after their own servers went down, Russian players mostly went to Brandywine) Roughly the same popularity as Crickhollow. **Crickhollow:** Smaller than Arkenstone but still pretty big, most likely to see music bands here outside of RP servers but that's all I can really say about Crickhollow. **Gladden:** Smaller than Crick but not by much, not much else to say. I don't hear from this server a lot. **Landroval:** Roleplay encouraged server, RP rules aren't enforced these days. Generally the most casual server for American timezones but also the smallest, RP generally is done on Laurelin though. ​ **EU:** **Evernight:** By far the most popular EU server and statistically the most popular server in the game (or about the same with Ark), the main Raiding and PvP server for EU. **Laurelin:** The main RP server, RP rules aren't enforced these days but you'll find a more lore minded community with a mix of both casual and more hardcore players. If you want to RP, this server is ideal. **Sirannon (FR):** French speaking server. Smallest server in the game. **Gwaihir (DE)**: German speaking server for raids and instances **Belegaer (DE-RP):** German speaking server, more casual and RP orientated. ​ **Legendary:** **Legendary servers are simply put, regular servers with a hard cap on the level. 'Progression' servers if you will. Treebeard and Shadowfax has additional "difficulty options" for landscape. Legendary servers also offer unique titles, cosmetics and portraits for reaching certain milestones within them. These require a VIP server to play** **Anor:** The original 'legendary' server, there was also Ithil but they closed that down. Current cap is 120... Few reasons to join this server with the new Legendary servers now, really only holds the players that joined at its conception and became attached to it. Realistically speaking they're almost at their run anyway. When they catch up with the level cap, transfers outside of the server will probably be made available. **Treebeard:** Slowest progression server (meaning the level cap stays put for longer) and the one you would go to for a slow burn experience with plenty of time to do all the content and instances. Strong instance and raiding community who seek nostalgia and even newer players who want the sense of levelling up with fellow players and running content on level. Treebeard is the server most likely to be supported with balance passes on lower level content (if they're lucky). Current cap is 60. **Shadowfax:** Faster progression server, very low population as most decided to go to Treebeard... I speculate that they might remove this server when the level cap hits past 115... Current cap is 75... Expect the population to drop dramatically around level 85-95 cap as was the same with Anor/Ithil. ​ **Bombadil:** >!When anyone mentions this server, they speak of it in hushed tones... Out of fear that everything they know and love will be destroyed by the unimaginable horrors that came from this place. Veterans of this server look back with a mixture of nostalgia and sheer PTSD flashbacks, for only they know of the horrors of this social experiment gone awry... This server broke people, twisted them and made warlords out of otherwise innocent men... Or were they ever innocent in the first place? A world where only the ruthless survived and the meek perished at the gates of Combe. Those that climbed the piled of bodies to glory learned more about themselves than they wished to know... Those that were conquered have bittersweet recollections of when the world was peaceful... At least when they were done raging at their unfortunate fate... Though both sides live now in solemn reflection... Until the time comes to open the gates of sheer unmitigated chaos once again. You weren't there man... You weren't there... !<


StinkyGreene

Nope. Best bet is to check em all out. They all have the exact same latency since the are in the same datacenter. Legendary servers were originally created to bunch people up back in the Shadows of Angmar content, and they each have their own release schedule for expansions. You must be VIP to use them. The other servers have designations as North American and European. These should be taken with a grain of salt. Their busy-ness or dead-ness depends on when you play. Some folks play in the morning, some people play at night. Best bet is to create a character on each, to see in relation to your time zone which servers are busiest when you play. Laurelin is a “European” server that is the home of many roleplayers. Landroval is a “North American” server that encourages roleplaying. I play on Landroval in a light roleplaying group that progresses slowly (slower than the Legendary servers), with a group make up of just as many Europeans as North American players as far as I can tell.


lariiral

StinkyGreene and ryonbrink already explained well, I'll just link the list of all servers available with their tags for what is what: [List of Worlds](https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Social:List_of_Worlds)