You can't have Lotr and DDO account at the same time

[Bombardiro Crocodilo]

if you try to use the same email on one account the other will get the message that you are not eligible to play.
Why this impediment?

[Running-Target]

Nobody knows Why the devs did it like that. It has been like that since LOTRO and DDO went Free to play. Why ask Why?

[Doug]

I've heard it's because LOTRO once had a lifetime subscription (pay once, play free forever). And they don't want anyone who has it to believe it applies to DDO, so they made it so that to have both associated with the same account requires the intervention of customer service.

But I don't honestly know.

[Soap]

Idk either. My first guess would be the same as Doug’s, that it had something to do with the LotRO sub.

Though several other things cross my mind that have happened that might be related. There could be multiple reasons. I haven’t looked up the dates for these.

But it could be related to switching forums at one point. There was an older, different official forum for DDO. When they switched over, it more directly tied game accounts to forum accounts on their back-end.

They’ve also moved the location of the servers...at least twice I think, the first move might have involved a change with security, or even just upgrading to new server hardware at some point may have also involved an alteration to the game accounts being tied together.

I don’t know what there server hardware setup is.

But it seems plausible that at one point they had all the accounts for both games on the same hardware, and at some point along the way, decided to physically separate them by game. It might be something that would reduce login time for example, because it would go from having the server/s that handles the logins communicating with both games, to two less congested routes communicating only with their respective game.

[Palor0]

As a lifetime Subber for LOTRO, it was probably because they didn't want the accounts sharing Turbine coins or some nonsense.

[Kitsune Aoi]

The primary reason behind it I believe stems from when they required a CD-key to create the accounts for both games when you had to actually purchase the games plus pay a sub on them. If you had a key code to enter you were able to put both games on the same account even tho LOTRO had the Lifetime sub option and DDO didn't at that time. When they went F2P they never reworked the system and never did a key code system for the free account setup.

When Turbine still had the games under them you could request a key to add either game to the account for the other game via a support ticket. Not sure if SSG/Daybreak will do that now as well but can give it a try. I had key codes from a Retail copy of DDO and a PC Gamer Open Beta code that allowed me to have both games on the 1 account when they went F2P. Had a second DDO account that I started after the F2P changes and had support provide a LOTRO code to add to the F2P account.

The Turbine Points were always tied to the respective game and not shared between games anyways.

[NavFamG]

Originally posted by Churraskolnikov:

if you try to use the same email on one account the other will get the message that you are not eligible to play.

I have the same email on both my LotRO and DDO accounts and don't have any problems.

I started LotRO right after Moria came out and had a sub to it and didn't start DDO until it went F2p.