The wait is over for those players wanting to run LOTRO natively on their Mac machine!
Today Sapience has posted a link to the official Mac Client for LOTRO to download and he warns it may be a long download.
This is the MAC Client ONLY. It is a big, and I do mean big, download. It is a direct download, no Pando, no happy cloud, etc. It’s going to take a significant amount of time to DL it all. If I recall correctly it’s 16GB give or take.
This is the official full client according to Celestrata It will patch and upload LOTRO like the windows client does.Some bugs are expected as with anything new. They have opened a new MAC Technical Support forum to help those experiencing any issues.
No details if there will be other download options in the future at this time. For example, if Turbine plans to allow a Mac download from Steam. I would think they would but we have no official information at this time.
You can start your download here. If you don’t trust our links just had to the forums and see Sapience’s post for the link.
November 1, 2012 at 12:49 pm
I’m not sure why Turbine insists on calling it MAC in all capitals. They don’t seem to have the same issue with WINDOWS.
November 1, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Maybe MAC isn’t filtered by the profanity filter, though? Like Windows?
November 1, 2012 at 12:57 pm
The 5 people that wanted this are going to be so excited
November 1, 2012 at 1:12 pm
The Mac platform has been experiencing tremendous growth. I think it is very wise of Turbine to expand platforms. Yes, Windows is the more critical and larger market. But, I assure you that there is enough Mac users out there to warrant attention.
November 2, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Count me as one of the 5! : > I would have played LotRo from its inception, but it took me years to break down and set up a bootcamp/Dark Force (aka Windows) partition. I am excited!
November 10, 2012 at 2:10 am
I’ve been playing since open Beta…and I am so exited! 5 years later and now I don’t have to dual boot my computer just to play LOTRO, I never have to look at windows on my mac again
November 1, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Good timing. I’d guess not few people will look for a mac now when Windows 8 is forced on all new PCs…
…that said, how about a native Linux client?
November 1, 2012 at 10:11 pm
yeah… isn’t it a bit old to be ignoring linux? You know… the original Free to Play operating system?? Not to rain on the parade…
November 2, 2012 at 1:59 am
Yes, it seems that many developers are making a transition onto the linux systems as a bit of a “boycot” for windows 8
DO NOT GET WINDOWS 8!!!
worse than Vista
March 6, 2013 at 7:47 am
‘Don’t get Windows 8′?
Oh my, you are SO bleeding edge….way more than the devs.
If you go to the Lotro web site today (March 6th 2013), and go to the download page, there is a FAQ.The FAQ leads off to a System Requirements page, which says…
“Recommended System Requirements: Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)”.
Yup. Vista! And the current Quickstart PDF for new players says much the same thing.
Windows 7 not officialy supported, never mind Windows 8.
Certainly, if you look at the forums lots of people (like me) having trouble with Lotro on 8. But I think this is down to WB/Turbine, not Microsoft.
November 1, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Reading the tuaw article with quotes from Kate Paiz and Craig Alexander it is in fact an fully functional ‘open beta’ client which works on the live servers. I’m guessing they term it beta as it still has some issues and gives them a bit more wriggle room on these. The pertinent part is;
“The current launch of the game will be as a beta client, downloadable directly from Turbine that will simply sign into the game’s live servers. A closed beta has been active for a few months, so this is essentially an open beta period starting now. Turbine expects to maintain and update that client over time, fixing any problems that users have.
Alexander said that as the client moves out of beta, the company will consider making it available on Steam or other downloadable platforms.”
source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/10/31/lord-of-the-rings-online-gets-a-mac-client/
The intention seems to be to fix things and patch it along with the normal PC version via the launcher. Then, at some point when it’s felt ready, they will take in out of the ‘beta’ and then look to perhaps distribute it via Steam etc.
November 1, 2012 at 2:21 pm
It’s a “beta” in the same way that the community site has been in “beta” for many years now. It’s just a convenient label that’s intended to excuse a general lack of polish in some areas. (For example, I don’t know if the Mac launcher portion is localized in French and German, yet.)
For some players, the native Mac client will crash less on a Mac than the Windows client will crash on Windows. I’d say they’re both of a similar quality in terms of actually playing the game.
November 1, 2012 at 2:41 pm
It’s good they are planning to open it up to steam. I don’t follow Apple news so thanks for sharing that article.
It sounds to me though this is the final client (as in the only one you need to download). It may be an open beta type setting but it’s the production client. You won’t be needing to download another client in the future that is the non-beta for example. They’re going to update and polish this version until it’s solid enough for a larger market like Steam.
November 1, 2012 at 3:23 pm
So I play on a PC, but my wife is a big Apple fan. She has a Mac Book Pro an IMac, an I Phone, you get the picture. Things is, this is a new server, so I am assuming she can’t play with me on her I Mac, because it is a different server? Dang. Not to mentioned everyone on that server will be at a low level starting out. NOOBS everywhere!
November 1, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Nope, this client lets people with a Mac use the same accounts and connect to exactly the same servers as PC players. If your wife downloads this on her iMac, you’ll be able to play together
November 1, 2012 at 4:55 pm
I have a similar situation. I have a gaming PC but my wife and brother both have Macs and never had any interest in setting up a windows emulator just to try LotRO. For a long time this is why I kept going back to WoW as I could group with them when they wanted to play an online game.
November 1, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Won’t work on any of my (5) Macs since all are relatively old and won’t run 10.8 (Mountain Lion). Not that I blame Turbine for that, of course. The existence of a LOTRO Mac client may cause me to buy a new Mac.
Note that I usually run LOTRO on my gaming PC, but I like to option to run it on a Mac too so I can dabble with dual-boxing and that option went kerflewie with the ROR patch.
Anyone want to buy me a new Mac Pro? Anyone?
November 1, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Wonder if the Mac client will run super hot like the MoP WoW client does. Since high end Macs are expensive, I hope not for your sakes. I built my PC gaming rig for about $1200 and run everything at max graphics. Hottest I ever saw my PC get on the vid card was 155 F, and that was in a upstairs apartment without A/C last summer.
November 2, 2012 at 7:06 am
Any uniqe armour for mac users?
No? Very sad…
November 2, 2012 at 9:40 am
I have to admit I am torn on this. I LOVE that developers are finally supporting Apple. But having bootcamped my Mac already I have been playing Lotro through Steam. I will most likely continue playing it through my Windows partition until Steam has a Mac client release, at which point I will 100% cross over. I do more in my OSX partition than my Windows 7 one, so I find myself constantly rebooting my Mac just to play Lotro!
*sigh
November 2, 2012 at 11:39 am
Woohoo! That means I can play on my laptop now? This will be so convenient, lol
November 3, 2012 at 6:01 am
ok so i downloaded it in like 10h, installed it which took another 2h and then it gave me an error message saying i dont have the required OS X version
looks like you need at least 10.7, so no snow leopard (10.6.8)
so anyone who wants to play LOTRO on their Mac has to buy mountain lion in order to do so
SUUUUUUUCKS big time
November 3, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Oh seriously? I’ve been putting off the upgrade because I have some software that won’t work with 10.7. Boo.
December 25, 2012 at 12:46 am
definitely true, figured that out tonight. I have 10.6.8 and get an error code:(
February 3, 2013 at 6:45 am
i have the same problem, then after a while i can load everything, but when the lotro screen comes up, it times out trying to find the login server (20/20 attempts)
any news, have you managed to make it work?
November 3, 2012 at 12:34 pm
I’m so excited to give this a try! I’ve been a Mac user for years. Is anyone else having install problems? I finally had a successful download but after trying to open the program after moving it into the Applications folder, my computer says the download was corrupted. I’m running OSX 10.8.
November 3, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Try allowing your mac to use ALL sources of applications instead of just trusted. Goto Preferences -> Security and select “Anywhere” in the “Allow downloaded applications from:” area.
November 5, 2012 at 9:22 am
Thank you! That did the trick. Logged in last night with the Mac client and it worked wonderfully!
November 3, 2012 at 2:10 pm
Yes! Thank you so much for posting this. I was just going on a rant last night.
Hooray!
November 3, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Downloaded it 3 times (3 hours each time). Each time after moving to applications folder and attempting to open, got the alert that the file was damaged/corrupted and “Move to Trash”
I’ll stick with mu windows partition till they sort this out. Am running the latest update to Mountain Lion
November 4, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Same here Tim, downloaded twice with the same error as you. Will probably give it another try and since the video card on my pc is toast I’m anxious to get the Mac client running.
November 5, 2012 at 7:44 am
This error is caused by it being a self-altering application. Change your Gatekeeper settings (in System Preferences – Security & Provacy) to allow applications from “Anywhere”. Nothing wrong with your download, happened to me too.
November 7, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Thank you, that worked like a charm! Can’t believe in all my years of using Mac’s I’d never noticed/come across that setting before, guess you learn something new every day!
November 4, 2012 at 1:37 pm
It took a long time to download but I got it up and running with minimal fuss.
My computer is pretty old (mid 07 imac) and not on the list of recommended computers, but it runs the program fairly quick. I have my settings to medium.
November 11, 2012 at 7:17 pm
what else do you need on your mac to play this ? do you need to download anything else or just the download that is given here
November 15, 2012 at 11:01 am
Just the LotroLauncher.dmg file from Turbine.
They now have a page for installing on the Mac here;
support.turbine.com/link/portal/24001/24001/Article/3840/How-do-I-install-the-LOTRO-Mac-beta-client-on-my-computer
If you have any issues check out the LOTRO Community forum Mac Tech Support forum;
forums.lotro.com/forumdisplay.php?710-MAC-Technical-Support
and let Turbine know and get help via their Tech Support ticket system;
support.turbine.com/ics/support/ticketnewwizard.asp?style=classic&deptID=24001
Overall for a beta product it is working very well. Some have issues installing which mostly can be worked around by following some threads on the forum. Update 8.1 updated fine.
So, a few restrictions in options and install issue for a few, the Mac LOTRO client is a great option!
November 12, 2012 at 10:17 am
still… downloading…
November 16, 2012 at 12:26 am
Downloaded it and it works great! There was a serious bug a week ago…unable to type text in chat or mail…big yipes!
But that has been fixed, it is a beta so i’m happy to test. Glad to have this mac client. I’m running a newer 2.6Ghz i7 with 8GB Macbook Pro with the latest OS so I can’t speak for older models.
December 1, 2012 at 8:09 pm
I have been waiting for the Mac client for ages! I’m downloading it now, and I am so thrilled I’ll finally be able to play.
December 4, 2012 at 5:21 pm
I like it!
December 15, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Finally! I had to transfer from pc to mac, and missed playing lotro
Glad they’ve expanded.