Free access to Lord of the Rings Online is LIVE

Ever been curious about Turbine's excellent Lord of the Rings Online? Well, now it's totally free to play!

The hamster wheels have spun up today on Turbine's new Free-to-Play service on Lord of the Rings Online. The MMO, once requiring a standard monthly subscription fee, now casts nada to access. As it's long been one of our favourite MMOs, this is super tops news for the curious, the lapsed, and the downright fanatic Tolkien fans out there.

Here's what you get at the most basic, and free, level of access:

• New! Free access to Middle-earth and the epic storyline*
• New! LOTRO Store - Enhance your game with hundreds of items including premium classes, fast travel maps and regional quest packs!*
• New! Skirmishes Level Requirement - Jump into instant action now starting at level 20!
• New! Mounts Available at Level 5 - Get the basic riding trait in the LOTRO Store as early as level 5.
• New! Shared Storage up to 50 slots - A space capable of storing 50 items accessible by all your characters on the same LOTRO server/world - available in the LOTRO Store.
• Secure your spot on the new servers!

Those you used to be subscribers, or who are current subscribers, get the following:

• More character slots per server
• Priority server access over standard free players
• More storage than free players
• Unlimited Community features

And, if you're really keen, you can still choose to pay for a subscription, which nets you this:

• Unlimited access to all adventures in the game
• A 20-Slot wardrobe for cosmetic clothing
• Top-tier customer support and more!
• 500 Turbine Points each month to spend any way you like.

We've not been playing much of the game lately at all, our gaming commitments being what they are, but free access is certainly going to lure us back to Middle Earth. Faendir Greenmantle, I've missed you so much...

Check out www.lotro.com for more info.