I tried switching multiple times as well over the years. Often kept an older computer running linux but wine was a major pain to get working with everything. Steam and Proton has been amazing. I’m running Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.04LTS with a GTX1080ti and outside of it being an older gpu it all runs really well.

I was a DOS kid and understand how to move around and do a few other things but feel more comfortable with a GUI for most stuff. FreeBSD feels better to me for command line stuff for some reason but I have been using only open source operating systems for over a year.

My stepson’s computer is running ChimeraOS (an immutable distro) and outside of a networking issue I had to fix by removing the profile and adding it in again it had worked perfectly. He has a RX 7600 GPU however.

It’s worth making the effort and a lot easier now than it used to be. I started trying around 2005.

Sounds like it’s more of a problem with the software in general vs running it on Linux.

Could see if someone else was successful installing and get a copy of their files but that comes with is own risk.

There was something I read about the process stalling on windows and being told to hit resume but never seen windows like that on any version of windows I ever used. https://forums.lotro.com/index.php?threads/stuck-at-88-dat-patch-in-launcher.10223/

Maybe try spinning up a windows vm. Install lotro and patch it. Then copy the game files over into the lotro linux install directory. Basically bypass the update process and see what happens.

Maybe give this a try.

https://github.com/Faugus/faugus-launcher

It’s more personal preference and use case than anything.

Gaming dedicated versions are nice if you really only plan to game. Bazzite, ChimeraOS, Garuda, along others are available. ChimeraOS is what I installed on my stepson’s pc and outside of a network issue it has worked pretty well. He is happy and since he mainly uses his android tablet for web browsing and whatnot, it’s perfect for me to not need to do a bunch of troubleshooting issues. I’ve tinkered with Garuda but I’m not convinced it’s for me and I dislike anything with a Mac feel.

I use an Ubuntu based system (Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.04LTS) with a 5800X and GTX1080TI because I want stability and the ability to edit video, game, manage websites, manage our home services, along other things.

Instead of asking which one you should use go out and try some demos and look at your intended use case.

Made the switch myself about a year ago. Installed 24.04 LTS and it has done very well.

My main issues have been dealing with a few things I run not playing the nicest with ubuntu or when trying to flash ESP8266 or ESP32 boards through the web browser.

Gaming wise everything I have installed via Steam works fine though sometimes needs a reboot.

Overall been happy with it and glad to get off the forced upgrade with bloatware train.