"The bubble is just starting to get bigger. It's not about to burst. I think it's just that you saw a lot of people see WoW open up the market - be hugely successful - and a lot of people threw money at some very interesting concepts. But the people, they were just saying 'Well we've just got to throw an online game up and charge a monthly fee and we're just going to be rich.' ... We're not in a bubble. I think the sky's the limit in where it can go, and Lord of the Rings Online is but one type of form of online entertainment," continued Mersky.

Above: Greed? WoW's massively profitable success may be one reason why some MMOs seem to be struggling now

So where does LOTRO and its new update fit in this larger bubble? The latest content update, Book 11 will go live on Oct 24, and the game will have grown over 20 percent in size since it first released six months ago.

The usual suspects such as new dungeons, monsters, quests, and class balancing are all present and accounted for. But it's the grand scope of these updates, and the way they're all incredibly focused on catering to a wide variety of players' interests, that separates Book 11 from previous snooze-a-thon bullet point lists we've seen for other MMO updates in the past. Or is it?