Tell The Community Team - Outreach & Information - 3/4/2010

[crushemall]

1. i find it simpler to google 'lotro xxx' and grab a variety of responses to ensure i get exactly what i am looking for

2. any resource that allows me access ingame without having to leave full screen

[jpthomp137]

1) What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.

I use all equally. For class builds I like to read previously written forum posts or the Lorebook. For special quest, instance, skirmish help, I ask my kin. For general goings on in LOTRO, I just read the home page at LOTRO.com. For interesting LOTRO experiences, I love listening to A Casual Stroll to Mordor and the LOTRO Reporter on my iPhone while at work or doing chores at home. For locating specific quest locations, I use lotro.mmodb.com, mehq.net, and Google.

2) We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

Podcasts. I just started listening to A Casual Stroll to Mordor and the LOTRO Reporter, but I could always listen to more.

3) Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com

I don't know; I don't use it much. I guess it would be nice to check my in-game mail there.

[frigoli]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.
I get information from all over the place, though the main is the forums. Whenever I'm bored I usually browse the forums, or browse YouTube videos about LOTRO. If I am looking for specific information, I usually go to the Lorebook or even just Google it.

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
1-iPod Touch app with forums and news and such on it(possible Lorebook also)
2-Podcasts would be great

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1-I'd like it if you could access My LOTRO from in game(like you can with Lorebook)
2-Same as question 2, iPod Touch app for this

[LOTRO_Fanatik]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.
Up until recently, my primary source has been the Official LOTRO websites, but within the last couple of weeks, I have found the online community outside of the official pages to be the biggest source of information about Turbine and LOTRO. This would include podcasts, blogs, and other websites (e.g. CasualStrolltoMordor.com, lotroreporter.wordpress.com, docholidayj.wordpress.com)

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
1 - I think a dev diary in the form of a podcast would be great!
2 - Continue your involvement in and interviews for the unofficial LOTRO blogs and podcasts.

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.

1-Ability to check my inventory bags
2-Ability to see my full deed log, not just accomplished deeds.

Thanks for asking!

[Herellomar]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.

Answer: #2

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

1- Facebook
2- Podcasts/YouTube

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.

1- Unsure... I never quite understood the purpose of my.lotro.com, although I appreciate being able to see my characters' information in a Web browser on rare occasion and I read a developer's blog post once.
2-

[Waicodin]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?

The Tell the Community team OWNS!!!

0- First and foremost, The Loot system should be the number 1, or in this case, number 0 question on any/all/every interaction we have with you guys. Its the major issue right now with the game, and it would be nice to see a response from you guys after we do these things.

You guys Rock and we Love you for it!

0.5-We have had numerous Tell the Community events in the past weeks. Which is awesome. But seriously, we really dont even know if these are just to shut us up, or you guys are listening, or whatever. It would be nice to know someone has read through it all, conglomerated the major issues, and then gives a short synopsis on the situation.
For instance.

Per the Tell the Community Event on 1/2/2010(Date changed to protect the innocent). We asked the question "What do you think about itemization in Lotro. And the majority of the peoples responded "We dont like radiance gating. But more importantly, people responded "The loot system is dry, devoid of life, and severely lacking". The devs agree and have some plans for fixing this. Some of the plans include...
Looking into ways of implementing Massive Multiplayer Amounts of loot into the Massively Multiplayer Game. Further, in previous titles we have had systems that allow the players to simply hunt and go on loot scavenging trips. They kill mass mobs, take all their loot, and then Break that loot down into its raw elements. The players then use those raw elements to craft weapon and armour enhancements, et al. By doing this we actually change our design strategy from "Every mob shoudl be a nuisance and parallel speed bumps on the Highway" to "We acknowledge killing mobs as a fundamental aspect of the game, it would be stupid for us NOT to take advantage of it and turn it into a very nejoyable REWARDING experience, instead of people trying to avoid fights with mobs like the plague, we want to make the game such that people are looking for mobs to kill, WANT to fight mobs, WANT to play our game..."
We acknowledge what you guys are syaing, the Loot system is tantamount a single player game devoid of life. And we acknowledge the Loot system as one of the most fundamental aspects of an online mmorpg type game. We acknowledge our loot system is seriously lacking and devoid of life, and these are the ideas we are looking into...

How i gets the Info into my head...
1- Friends/Kinship/OOC/GLFF/et chat
When a game is Themeparked, there is no real "lore". Theres no mystery, theres no secret parts of the game, theres no need for any of that when the game is themeparked. I look for gold rings, i right click the nub standing under the gold ring. I get quest arrow directing my character, i run that way. I kill, interact, do, whatever it is im suppose to do at that location, then i turn around and go back to the ring. This works for approximately 100% of the quests in game. Henceforth, there is no need for information. There is no one talking about the game in that manner.
Its not like Asherons Call where people had to try and figure out quests. Talk to people. Gather in game hints and lore. Think. Care.
The game is more like a Themepark ride. I buy my ticket, then i strap myself in. I mash down on the Go buttons until i get the flashy's to come up. This works approximately 100% of the time. At my job i have to think, that gets boring. With lotro, theres no thinking, and that is great.
I strap myself in, and i know, no matter how much i press the go button, or whatever i do in game, my character will NEVER fall behind any other character in game. And that is great, someone could be all smart, and like play the game and be thinking while they do so, and i know, without any doubt, my character will never fall behind theres. And we love you for it guys, we really do....

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

1- This. This, by far has been the best interaction with Turbine yet. However, i would like to see a bit more thought going into the questioning. For instance, when you ask "Is the rate of leveling fast, slow, just right?" When someone answers "Its too fast". I think they are saying "My 6th alt can level up way too fast". And so then Turbine takes this as "They are leveling too fast" And then implements a fix. That fix being "Now instead of gaining x amount of xp from doing quest A B and C, you only get half that xp, thus, it will take longer for you to level. But this, then, wouldnt be what the original person wanted either. They dont want the current content to give less reward, they dont want it to take longer to get through the content. They want more content. They dont want the current content to be less rewarding and take longer to get through. But if you simply ask "Are you leveling too fast, too slow,,," Then the answer is one or the other.

The same problem really emerges when the answer is "I dont want to grind...."
So many questions have been asked by the developers that always get the "I dont want to grind answer..." And then we see changes. But those changes are almopst ALWAYS not the changes we wanted to see.
For instance, killing mobs. The people cried "We dont want to grind mobs..." And so now there is no reward for doing so, they dont drop loot, they dont give any reward. They are a nuisance now. Yet, we still need to kill 240 wargs for deed X. So now, instead of "Grinding" wargs and getting loot and rewards, we now grind them with no loot no rewards.

2- LOTRO msnbc type News Channel. I noticed there is no news station between channels 108 and 110. Its the perfect place for Turbine to capitalize on the situation. Turbine News All the Time! 24/7 Turbine news station! It could run reruns of Lotro movies, previes of the new Hobbit movie. A little ticker tape thing at the bottom giving shout outs to Kins completing BG, et al..


Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1- my.lotro.com option box i can check that gives me an in game way of playing the lotto. For instance, i log in, and at character selection screen, i can pull up some doohickey that lets me play the lotto.(Yes i realize the whole point of the lotto was to get people to come to the my.lotro's.com, and thus giving us a way to then circumvent that would be like spitting into your own mouth. think about it)
2- Full character interaction at the lotro's.com. For instance, being able to check my bags, check my equiptment, check my deeds, et al. Everything i can do in game, except, now i can do it through the lotro's.com. Including checking my quests, deed log, craft log, et al. There are a lot of times when i dont want to log in or cant log in to play the game, but i have time to kill and would like to just look through my characters. I know there are already some ways to check some things, but i want all access all the time.

[ericlewis]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
Answer is number 22- Official LOTRO websites.


Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

Let me put it to you like this. I don't do facebook, I don't do twitter. those sites are social engeniring sites, I have nothing to do with them what soever. In fact the company I work for scans these sites and uses the information they find about you to give you a job. Not only that but I can meet folks in game or in real life. SO STOP with that kind of social networking crud. We don't need it we don't want it that is what the game is for.


Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1- The ability to sort you kin list
2- The ability to see what level the toons are in your kin
3- Fix the kin list half the kins you cant even display because your bunch of noob dba programers have the " ' " set as a delimiter, and this has been reported time and time again.

[Arnwalden]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- nope
2- sometimes.
3- MMORPG.COM
4- none.


Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
1- On a vonluntary basis email me the patch notes, even if I'm not subscribed anymore, might bring me back...
2-

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1- None, I don't use it at all
2-

[txmom26]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?

2- Always Google my questions, then choose Official LOTRO websites. Lorebook is useless. Love Lotrolife.com.

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

I like Dev notes and Podcasts - not interested in FB, Twitter, etc. as lotro communication sources.

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1- Faster loading time
2- Play with my character's appearance, check inventory, even quest status, deeds, epics Checked out player log. Doesn't show Sword Halls runs, etc.

[TheREALify]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.

I get my information from a mix of sources. I start here on the official LOTRO sites (forums and lorebook) but when I need specifics I find I have to go to mmodb.com. The Lorebook is a great feature but it simply duplicates the same information found in game. If I'm searching for something specific like "where do I find this NPC" I often find it's much quicker and easier to abandon the Lorebook for other sources. If are looking for an answer you couldn't find in-game you probably won't find it in the Lorebook either.

This being said I have to also say that players do not utilize the Lorebook frequently enough. I cannot begin to count the number of times I've seen a player ask a question in OOC, found the answer in the Lorebook and then answered that players question within seconds of it being asked. If they had checked the Lorebook they could have found the same answer themselves. However, it's when one seeks to go beyond the scope of the game that the Lorebook fails.

Short Answer: The Lorebook is a good source but there are other sources that are better. I typically start on Google, type the name of the quest, search and arrive at mmodb.com.

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
1-
2-

I feel that social engineering sites such as the ones listed above are a waste of time and energy (both for Turbine and all the individuals who are so wholly consumed with them). I further feel they are fads that will pass with time (like children wearing their pants below their behinds) and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

I believe a LOTRO presence on these sites may well serve an advertising need. Such a presence may help attract new players to the game.

However, as a method of disseminating specific, game-related information I am opposed to the use of such social networking sites. I believe Turbine would be better served by focusing on the communication channels that are already available to it instead of diluting its message across so many potentially temporary and far-flung channels.

Short Answer: We don't need more channels through which to communicate ... we simply need more communication through the existing channels.

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1-
2-

I have very little interest in the my.lotro.com site. For me, it serves no purpose. If I want to examine my characters I will simply log into the game. If I cannot wait to inspect my characters till I am in a position where I can log into the game to check them, then I will seek addiction counseling.

The lotteries were a great way to bring people to the site but if the lotteries are the only reason people log into the site then why bother? Seriously, what content on my.lotro.com is compelling enough to attract players? Blogs? I actually made a blog post to try it out but the fact of the matter is that I'm simply not interested. I'm here for a game ... not a website about a game.

Short Answer: Less web development - More game development. In fact, were it up to me, I'd scrap the whole web-side except for the forums and fold those resources back into the actual game.

[Alfrodul]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
2- Official LOTRO websites.

This website, the Official Forums.

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

Facebook, I suppose. Overall though I am content.

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.

1- I would like to be able to add friends via a character page. Many of my in-game friends are both "anonymous" and airheads. I've been reminding them for ages to add me and so far, I think five have remembered to do it.

2- Other LOTRO Wordpress themes. The basic one is good, but I would love to see some more styles. (Not a huge priority obviously, that'd totally be fluff)

[TrekkerEF]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.

Official LOTRO websites nowadays; I'm a Dev Tracker addict. I used to go to other websites to read interviews or developer chats, but I don't seem to find as many of those any more as I used to.

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
Quite honestly, I find the whole Facebook/Myspace/Twitter trend to be ridiculous. What I really liked to read was the transcripts from developer chats on Warcry. Even when they didn't give much solid information, you could generally get a feel for what the developers were thinking about from those and get a sense of where their development priorities were.

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1 - Is it possible, for the player picture thumbnail, for an option to simply scale down the uploaded photo instead of cropping out a tiny piece of it?
2 - Actually, I don't know.

[wbhz]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Kinship
2- Lotro-wiki/lorebook
3- Googling some piece of information that I want and using one of a few sites I trust like MMODB, Lorebook, lotro-wiki, and a few others.



Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
1- Ways to allow non lotro website's/applications to pull up information about items and maybe inven quests. Example: I had a spreadsheet that contained many of the rewards/crafted items like armour/jewelry in it with all their stats. However everytime the game changes like with Volume III Book 1. My spreadsheet is out of date and makes it very hard to keep upto date. I would use this spreadsheet to see what would be the best upgrades for my characters from what they are currently using to the next level / rewarded items they have. So some sort of API or mechanism that allows us to access these stats directly from your system would be great.


Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1- A mechanism to try on new armour/jewelry so we can see how it would effect out character's stats so we can properly craft new stuff for them.
2- When looking at a character I can only see the many stats for that character. Since the changes have been made in-game to have 3 tabs on the character page it would be nice to be able to see those items as well. In addiiton it would be nice to be able to see your In-combat morale regen and your in-combat power regen. Just like you would in-game when you mouse over your morale/power.

[Khafar]

What is your primary source of LOTRO information?

Official site. Rarely I'll pick something up about LOTRO from somewhere else, but I don't spend much time cruising other gaming news sites or forums anymore.

Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).

LOTROSystems or other subtantive developer posts, here. I don't care about social networking sites at all, and I've found the signal/noise ratio of Twitter to be too small to bother with.

Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.

Sorry, I don't use that either (except to read any developer blogs -- those are generally terrific, so I'd love to see more of that).

Khafar

[Carysta]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1- Friends/Kinship
2- Official LOTRO websites.
3- Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4- Other. Please explain.

I'll have to say #2- the LOTRO lorebook and forums to be exact. I prefer to look here first and then go elsewhere - and as for friends/kinmates, often enough it's "Cary, do you know..." Going on 3 years now does that I guess


Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).


1- I think the way things are communicated now is mostly fine except... be more timely in the email newsletters that go out. Sometimes something's advertised as 'coming soon' when it's been out already for a while by the time the newsletter comes in.


Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.

I can't think of any on my own because my brain is just not being creative but I saw these above me and I think they're super so I'm quoting them to second them:

1- A mechanism to try on new armour/jewelry so we can see how it would affect our character's stats so we can properly craft new stuff for them.
2- When looking at a character I can only see the main stats for that character. Since the changes have been made in-game to have 3 tabs on the character page it would be nice to be able to see those items as well. In addition it would be nice to be able to see your in-combat morale regen and your in-combat power regen. Just like you would in-game when you mouse over your morale/power.

[SassyBrat]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?
1-Friends/Kinship
2-Official LOTRO websites.
3-Unofficial LOTRO sites, blogs, podcasts.
4-Other. Please explain.
*Mostly the official forums and friends/kinship

Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).
*Dev Diaries
*Facebook

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
*Integration between in-game friends list and my.Lotro friends list along with the ability to see if (and who) friends/kin are logged into game.
*Character mail notification (would actually like to see this on the in-game character selection screen so I know which ones I need to log in to check mail, but would settle for seeing it on my.lotro)

[Amethrayne]

Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.
1-
2-

I did already answer this post in full, but I thought of something I wanted to add in regards to my.lotro.com. I'd really like it if the listing of previous lottos won was listed with the newest entries at the top rather than at the bottom. I often login on the website to see if my alts have won anything, and it seems like it would make more sense for it to show at the top of the list rather than having to scroll down past last year's winnings to find out if I won something yesterday. I know I've seen this requested in the Lotto section of the forums, but I don't remember reading it here prior to when I wrote my previous answer. I admit I haven't read all the input since then to see if anyone else has suggested it though. Please. This would be a simple change that would be helpful to many of us!

[hucklebarry]

Question 1
What is your primary source of LOTRO information?


2- Official LOTRO websites.


Question 2
We’re always looking for new ways to communicate with the community. Name two ways you wish we’d use more, or start using (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Podcasts, Semaphore, etc).



1 - Email.
2 - More specifics in current communications and more frequently. Often changes are completely undocumented or they are communicated with little time to contemplate them before they are introduced. Give us time to finish up something if it will be affected by a major system change in the future.


Question 3
Name two features you’d like to see added to my.lotro.com.



1 - More in game stats - like deeds, inventory, traits, quest log, etc.
2 - LFF coordination. Would be nice to set up certain quests I am stuck on or instances I want to try and let others coordinate schedules outside of the game so game-time is spent playing and not sorting through all the garbage in GLFF