User blog comment:LOTRMod/Why hasn't the mod updated to 1.8 yet?/@comment-24.5.196.200-20160923075339

As much as I respect your opinion on not updating. From a progressional standpoint,  you can't stay in 1.7.10 forever.

Minecraft is one of those games that keeps updating. Unlike Skyrim there's no sign of these updates coming to an end. And many of these new features cause a majority of people to want them in the mods they love to play with since they never truly play minecraft without the mods. And when some of the popular mods update, it causes more mods to update to the newer version or have newer mods be made that become popular. Sometimes even new modpacks are made because of it. And many will want this mod to be updated so they can play it on the newer version with the new features and with the other newer mods.

Of course there's the mods that don't update, sometimes due to the developer's personal life or loss of interest, and of course there's this problem, the herculean task of updating a huge mod to a newer version. But the problem with not updating is that people will demand the update and if thats refused even after 3 versions have passed eventually people will lose interest leading to a substantial loss of fans and supporters. Even if some will stay to the bitter end, that's all you'll be left with, some. And I doubt it'll be enough to keep a mod this big alive while the rest of the community leaves you behind and plays the other mods that did update. (Lycanites Mobs, Pixelmon, Biomes o Plenty, etc)

So I think it's more logical to consider the payoff of going through the hassle of updating this mod, as it'll keep a large amount of supporters in being interested, heck it'll very likely bring in even more fans which will in turn keep the mod alive and give a reason to keep working on it. It certainly sounds better than the alternative which is happening now, which could potentially lead to an eventual downfall. Which I don't want to happen...

Who knows I may be wrong. in fact I'd be amazed if this mod manages to stay alive in 1.7.10 even when all the other popular mods are in 1.10.2 or 1.16 or so on. I'm just asking you consider the choices you have (which I see only 2) and what those choices will very likely lead to. And it's only a matter of time until you are forced to make your decision. Either way, I hope it goes well!