Turbine currently does not plan to release any expansion in which evil races are fully playable.

There are seven crafting professions and three gathering professions bundled in pre-made groups of three professions called vocations. However, Turbine does not have rights to The Silmarillion. The game is based on, but is not limited to, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The Minstrel and Loremaster class skills behave much like magic in other games, for example healing a friend, or throwing magical fire at an enemy. The power system is much like magic in other MMOs, in that you have a power bar, and power is used by all classes to perform their special attacks. In addition to physical or magical item effects, there is also the 'Power' system. This has instead been replaced with 'Lore' system where objects and artifacts are used to create effects seen in other fantasy games. There are only five wizards in the fictional world and the player cannot play as one of them. Unlike most fantasy settings, there is no widespread magic use in the Lord of The Rings books and that has been carried over into this game.

These monster characters may be enhanced by the use of Destiny Points, which are awarded while leveling and completing quests as your monster character as well as your normal character. Players temporarily control playable monster characters which can complete quests and attack other non-monster player characters within the area designated for Monster Play. Monster Play is unlocked at level 10, when players can automatically become level 50 monsters that are restricted to one area of the game. In fact there is a form of PvP combat included called 'Player versus Monster-Player (PvMP)'. This refers to the type of play in which the player character interacts within the game by defeating monsters or collecting items and returning them to computer characters, as opposed to a player versus player (PvP) type of interaction. The method of increasing character level in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is commonly referred to as player versus environment (PvE) combat and storyline adventures. The main emphasis of the game is to improve your character by increasing in level, which simultaneously increases character skills and other abilities.

When the player exits the game, the game world continues to exist and other players around the globe continue to interact, making it a persistent world.

Common to other games in this genre, in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar the player controls a character avatar which can move around anywhere in the game world and interact with other player characters.

Lord of rings online player races