As Lord of the Rings Online heads into an extra-long period of extended downtime Wednesday, it may be a good time to check out what’s going on in this MMO’s community. And in fact, there’s a community event scheduled for this Friday on the Crickhollow server to support a LOTRO player who was attacked by a roommate and severely injured last weekend.

The “Walk to Rivendell” event will take place at 8:00 pm eastern and aims to raise financial support for Brennan Hamilton, who was assaulted on June 13th. A GoFundMe page has been set up with the goal of $4500 to help him through what sounds like a horrific event with extensive post-hospital recovery.

In other LOTRO news, the fourth beta for Update 41 concluded this morning. And while testers couldn’t check out the new Birding hobby yet, SSG did post a full description of how it works on the forums. Basically, you’ll get a birding kit from a hobby trainer and then attempt to log them in the wild. This is accomplished by calling for them in various places, using a spyglass to look for them, and hitting an action button when you spot one.