No news is good news...?

[Mar-Evayave]

LOTR is a world started in WWI... (or perhaps prior) and it will continue, regardless.

It started as a language (Elvish) while Tolkien was studying under men like Joseph Wrighty and William Craigie. He had a very serious interest in llinguistics, which is how he ended up transferring battalions to be a signal officer. When he went away to WWI he ended up surviving one of the most horrific battles of the time (the Battle of the Somme), only to be sent home due to trench fever.

Originally, Middle-Earth was to be the lost continent of Atlantis. That part of the original mythology of Middle-Earth survived in the form of Numenor. While recovering in a hospital, he returned to his work and The Silmarillion began to take shape, years before The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. It is remarkable that the origin of Middle-Earth wasn't published until 1977, four years after his death and roughly 60 years after it had been begun.

Contrary to popular belief, Tolkien did not write LOTR or the others while in the trenches. He is quoted as having said that at most one might scribble something onto a scrap of paper and tuck it into a pocket (paraphrased).

I just finished writing a research paper two weeks ago on Tolkien, so these things were still fresh in my mind.

[Hallandil]

They have some similarities, large amounts of information and data being processed by the client all at once, but the solutions we are working on are specific to the areas (some options changed for PvMP) and looking at the client loading and unloading in MT / Pelennor

I dont see us doing a full upgrade of the back end code for LOTRO, that would be along the lines of effort of creating an entirely new game.

Meanwhile at Turbine:

Work continues on the new server upgrades and consolidation



And work continues on the upcoming Update 18

[Snowlock]

Actually, no, it wouldn't. All of your 2D artwork assets, music/VO assets, and most 3D animations can be reused. I'm not trying to undervalue the amount of time it would take for a game engine revamp, but it definitely would not take as much time as creating a new game. The problem YOU have is that there are precious few (if any) people left working at Turbine who were there when it was written. This means that someone (or a group of someone's) would have to review the game engine code, which would be a LOT of project time that produces nothing tangible. After that, a brainstorming session would need to take place to see where the engine NEEDS improvement and where the engine CAN BE improved. That's, ballpark, 2 - 3 solid weeks of just reading code. The whole project would take between 9 months and a year. It could be done in less time if everyone was at 100% of their game. Regardless, the shareholders wouldn't approve. "No new gameplay features? No new consumables for which Turbine Points or Mithril Coins can be spent? No new grind that is designed to keep players in the game as long as possible, generating as much revenue as possible? All we get out of this is the same game we had before?" Nevermind the playability perspective; shareholders would say "It's playable enough as it is". And, admittedly, players would get bored of playing the same old content for that long of a stretch.

TLDR: Turbine/WB can't afford to make the game great when all they really have to do is make it good enough.

Well, who knows how it all shakes out financially but if (big 'if') they updated the engine, maybe they could charge for xpacs again.

[Benegon]

Well, who knows how it all shakes out financially but if (big 'if') they updated the engine, maybe they could charge for xpacs again.

I love this game, I really do. Not as much as I used to but it is still one of my favorite games. But I would much rather have a completely new game with a new engine. They could update the combat and landscapes. Not sure if Turbine would be the ones to do it though. I know that sequels often don't do as well as the originals but I'm pretty sure that any Lord of the Rings games are going to do just fine. It definitely gives it a leg up on its competition. But I would rather play this game out the way it is until it ends and then Turbine or another company make a new LOTRO as opposed to halting development of new content for an extended period of time to update the engine. Considering it is so old I wonder how much could be updated anyways. As you said, it is a big 'if' and I'm not sure it is worthwhile for either side.

[BangoTwinkletoes]

There's more chance of me winning the next Euromillions without buying a ticket than there is of Turbine developing a new engine for LOTRO. It just does not make economic sense given the age of the game. If Turbine had delivered another MMO on a new engine and there was a viable upgrade path - in the same way that Funcom have ported AoC & AO to their new MMO platform - then it could be feasible but given the age of the game and where it is in the overall story, the performance of the company and the absence of any other new MMOs, then everyone would be better served by adjusting their expectations accordingly.

However, where there is a good example of an aging MMO that has kept its game engine current allowing for graphics improvements, supporting virtual server merges and ensuring playability has kept pace is WoW - Blizzard have gone with the evolutionary approach where all changes have been delivered behind the scenes. Their MMO platform is probably the best out there - downtimes are limited to 15 mins a week, new releases patch in the background and new expacs go live at the flick of a switch without any downtime at all. That's the benchmark that WB & Turbine should be aspiring to but that takes a ton of money which they either haven't got or won't invest. Still such is life.

[Snowlock]

There's more chance of me winning the next Euromillions without buying a ticket than there is of Turbine developing a new engine for LOTRO.

There's always a chance. A new person in a position of power in Turbine or WB could be hired. A new movie could be announced that they would like dovetail into LOTRO. Or just new funds are available. Or priorities change.

Turbine hasn't said it couldn't be done. So therefore, it's possible.

I thought you were the positive one?

[Snowlock]

But I would rather play this game out the way it is until it ends and then Turbine or another company make a new LOTRO as opposed to halting development of new content for an extended period of time to update the engine.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand I agree with you. On the other, I don't want to start over and do the same thing again that I've done for 9 years. I'd like to move on to Rhun and Harad, Northern Mirk, Erebor, and all the other places we can visit that we haven't.

Would a reboot attract more new players than a refurbish would? Which would bring back more lapsed players? Interesting questions for sure.

[BangoTwinkletoes]

There's always a chance. A new person in a position of power in Turbine or WB could be hired. A new movie could be announced that they would like dovetail into LOTRO. Or just new funds are available. Or priorities change.

Turbine hasn't said it couldn't be done. So therefore, it's possible.

I thought you were the positive one?

Yeah, but a new lotro engine is stretching being positive to beyond breaking point. If I win the Euromillions I'll chuck Turbine a score or two to make a start

[siipperi]

Meanwhile at Turbine:

Work continues on the new server upgrades and consolidation

That is brilliant Picture.

[Vilan]

There's always a chance. A new person in a position of power in Turbine or WB could be hired. A new movie could be announced that they would like dovetail into LOTRO. Or just new funds are available. Or priorities change.

Turbine hasn't said it couldn't be done. So therefore, it's possible.

I thought you were the positive one?

Um, The Hobbit? That dovetailed pretty well with LOTRO, and we got... a few Erebor instances. No new game engine or even an ad for LOTRO before the movie. I'm sure the LOTRO crew made a push to the higher-ups to get some kind of tie-in, but the result was zilch. Yes there's always a chance, but...

[Snowlock]

Um, The Hobbit? That dovetailed pretty well with LOTRO, and we got... a few Erebor instances.

Yeah I know.

No new game engine or even an ad for LOTRO before the movie. I'm sure the LOTRO crew made a push to the higher-ups to get some kind of tie-in, but the result was zilch. Yes there's always a chance, but...

I wouldn't be so sure. I mean, they could've made a push to some imaginary higher ups. But who knows really? I remember Sap saying that they never got any kind of bumps out of promotion (if you were to believe anything at all he ever said). So maybe they didn't try. Or maybe they didn't care to try. All I know, in my direct interactions with them and reading accounts from people like Alynwen is that Turbine doesn't often think about things the same way its players do.

[whitering]

Well, I haven't tried any raids in Lotro, in a very, very long time (I did one or two when Moria launched), but haven't suffered over much lag personally running around solo, even in South Bree where, for some reason people tend to gather on Brandy.

DDO on the other hand, I raid quite a bit, and it's been truly horrific. I hope the Lotro raiders are not suffering the same issue.

[whitering]

We have LotRO raiders?

Most of those jumped ship at HD, as they saw the endgame being "do BB's and call it a day" - and that was following the debacle of RoR where they pulled the locks from raids, and all the raiding kins burnt through the content in a couple of weekends for the Erebor Cluster cluster.

Recycling BG (Mirkwood) helped, but the problem with BG is only the first part of it's really fun, but even that loses it's fun factor when it's the only other raid option on level.

The entire situation just fu(k3d over the raiding community, to the point that it basically stopped existing.

I don't know, on World Chat in Brandywine there are constantly people calling for more in 12x instances, Thorog 24 mans, zone clearing the Epic mobs. This weekend I was shocked more people weren't leveling an alt or something, but yes, every few minutes there were people calling for more people to do something, and those spots get filled quick.

[bucko39]

Yeah I know.

If you know, then why are you still clinging to some...delusion (to be blunt) that there is a snowball's chance in hell that Turbine and/or WB are going to snap out of it?
C'mon man, just let it go and move on. It's time.

[NickSlaughter]

I don't know, on World Chat in Brandywine there are constantly people calling for more in 12x instances, Thorog 24 mans, zone clearing the Epic mobs. This weekend I was shocked more people weren't leveling an alt or something, but yes, every few minutes there were people calling for more people to do something, and those spots get filled quick.

dude, are u trolling? calling for thorog? ######## t1 raid just to farm marks/meds in silly contest and 24random pug wannabes? its doable in 10ppl, but those pug attempts are about 6-8ppl dying reguraly here

thats not action, its just another mess and another messed up raid (its similar nightmare as Sambrog, jut not for 6) - and its just boring +/-10mins run, only for highest marks/meds income

and no idea what u mean with zone epic mobs (RTs? WBs?) - both those things are probably more boring than BBs and i am sure that many ppl left game cuz just ... its masturbation without any real income, need... its faceroll contest, to make u stronger, but u dont need to be stronger for anything else, this is ENDGAME! and real and sick

plus indeed, ppl already arent leveling alts, its boring, the endgame grind is insane (trait pts around HD/CG, trolls around OA etc.) - its taking ages to maxout some char and maxing out many alts... most ppl feel like its waste of time, limiting themselves with just 2mains and taking other alts very lightly (indeed there are exceptions and nerds...)