a few changes and suggestions

[popcorn3]

1) Lore masters Bears shouldn't appear on top of them when conjured up, with us sticking through the animal
2) Unmounted horses shouldn't disappear so quickly (more realism)
3) A way to block someone from slapping you silly (a punch that knocks them across the floor in response maybe?)
4) Blankets for your horses available in the store.
5) Smaller looking weapons, my elf can't get his hands around the thick handles on some of these things.
6) A bear that fights on its hind legs with both paws (I'm just a young level so don't know if that happens later)
7) A way to slow people from running by so fast that you can't click on them to tell or ask them something. I find my self standing still and they tear past me and are out of site before I can get my mouse to hover over their character
8) Free horse rides to the festivals in lands that your character can't survive the journey into. I was fortunate to have a incredible dwarf come to my rescue and kill everything on the way in the Troll Shawls while I followed and shared in the experience points. He even got me to my next level and I didn't do anything but be in his glorious (I mean he hardly broke stride shooting the bow or with the sword in the direction to Rivendell) but quick exploits and brief talking(4 partial lines). I had no way to repay this level 65 and I still feel the obligation even now to him.
9) Titles of nobility as done with the Surname (maybe way more expensive to keep it down in numbers), the lead name would then be Sir. Archbane of whatever (and whatever other men titles) or, Lord whatever of whatever (for elves and I have no idea about hobbits or dwarfs, but I think hobbits are already covered very well with such things? )(Or is this something done when one creates a character name to begin with?
10)Area clothes for males in the store (does the store keep track of what to show by race?)

to be continued-----(I'm sure I'll come up with more)

[Riamus]

1) All pets (LM pets, Captain heralds, and skirmish soldiers) appear on top of you. It would be better to have them appear off to the side, but I imagine they don't because then they'd have to figure out if there is a place for it to appear or if it's a cliff or a wall or whatever.

2) I agree that disappearing horses looks a little strange, but you get used to it. I suppose they could have the horse wander off or whatever, but what happens when you dismount accidentally and then immediately mount again? You'd either have your horse wandering away while you're mounted on it or else they'd have to either make the old one disappear quickly in that case or else put in even more animations to get it to turn around and come back to you. Not really sure it's worth the effort required.

3) Yes, it would be nice to have an option to prevent any kind of emote being done to your character. Of course, some emotes done to your character will eventually unlock things for you once done enough times. Or you can just spend points to buy those in the Store instead.

4) Don't much care about blankets. I think that's what makes some of the festival mounts more unique, so you'd lose some of that if you have blankets for any mount.

5) I think the weapon sizes are pretty realistic for the most part. Sure, they may not look quite right with certain races, but that has more to do with those races probably choosing a different weapon in the first place and only a few of them using the larger weapon than with the weapon being the wrong size.

6) Bears in real life rarely fight on two legs. They'll threaten on two legs, but otherwise they fight on all four. On two legs, they don't have the balance to provide much in the way of real strength to any attacks. Another bear coming in all all four legs would have a distinct advantage. On all four legs, they can use their entire many hundreds of pounds (weight depending on the kind of bear) in their attacks. Bears will typically try to knock over an opponent and then maul it while on top. To knock the opponent over, they'll swipe with one paw while on the other 3 legs and sometimes will take the front two off the ground a little (no more than a couple feet... definitely not to where they are fully standing on two legs) during the attack as they try to muscle their way toward defeating their opponent. In other words, no, bears shouldn't attack while on 2 legs.

7) LOTRO does need to improve the ability to click on players as it can be difficult to click on someone moving or when you're moving. But that doesn't mean anyone needs to be slowed down.

8) Rides to higher level areas shouldn't be added even for festivals or other events. If you want to go there, there are many players who will help you get there and Hunters can usually portal you there or close depending where it is. Either way, you should have to make an actual effort to get there and not be given it.

9) I don't think we need "sir" titles. Sir in midieval times is typically a knight designation and none of us are knights. It's been a really long time since I've read the books (I really need to read them again), so I'm not even sure if "sir" titles were used in Middle Earth.

10) Like what? Only the dresses are gender specific. The other clothing can be worn by either.

[popcorn3]

1) All pets (LM pets, Captain heralds, and skirmish soldiers) appear on top of you. It would be better to have them appear off to the side, but I imagine they don't because then they'd have to figure out if there is a place for it to appear or if it's a cliff or a wall or whatever.

2) I agree that disappearing horses looks a little strange, but you get used to it. I suppose they could have the horse wander off or whatever, but what happens when you dismount accidentally and then immediately mount again? You'd either have your horse wandering away while you're mounted on it or else they'd have to either make the old one disappear quickly in that case or else put in even more animations to get it to turn around and come back to you. Not really sure it's worth the effort required.

3) Yes, it would be nice to have an option to prevent any kind of emote being done to your character. Of course, some emotes done to your character will eventually unlock things for you once done enough times. Or you can just spend points to buy those in the Store instead.

4) Don't much care about blankets. I think that's what makes some of the festival mounts more unique, so you'd lose some of that if you have blankets for any mount.

5) I think the weapon sizes are pretty realistic for the most part. Sure, they may not look quite right with certain races, but that has more to do with those races probably choosing a different weapon in the first place and only a few of them using the larger weapon than with the weapon being the wrong size.

6) Bears in real life rarely fight on two legs. They'll threaten on two legs, but otherwise they fight on all four. On two legs, they don't have the balance to provide much in the way of real strength to any attacks. Another bear coming in all all four legs would have a distinct advantage. On all four legs, they can use their entire many hundreds of pounds (weight depending on the kind of bear) in their attacks. Bears will typically try to knock over an opponent and then maul it while on top. To knock the opponent over, they'll swipe with one paw while on the other 3 legs and sometimes will take the front two off the ground a little (no more than a couple feet... definitely not to where they are fully standing on two legs) during the attack as they try to muscle their way toward defeating their opponent. In other words, no, bears shouldn't attack while on 2 legs.

7) LOTRO does need to improve the ability to click on players as it can be difficult to click on someone moving or when you're moving. But that doesn't mean anyone needs to be slowed down.

8) Rides to higher level areas shouldn't be added even for festivals or other events. If you want to go there, there are many players who will help you get there and Hunters can usually portal you there or close depending where it is. Either way, you should have to make an actual effort to get there and not be given it.

9) I don't think we need "sir" titles. Sir in midieval times is typically a knight designation and none of us are knights. It's been a really long time since I've read the books (I really need to read them again), so I'm not even sure if "sir" titles were used in Middle Earth.

10) Like what? Only the dresses are gender specific. The other clothing can be worn by either.

YOUR opinions have been noted.

[jwbarry]

1) Lore masters Bears shouldn't appear on top of them when conjured up, with us sticking through the animal

The reason they do this is because if we don't have them show up at your location they have a tendency to appear in walls, beneath floors if you're not on a flat surface, off the edge of cliffs, on the other side of closed doors (which creates plenty of it's own gameplay issues), etc. A lot of code could be written to have them be offset and ensure they're in an appropriate position, but there's a lot of unique edge-cases to check for and considering it's purely a cosmetic issue, and a fairly minor one all in all, there are a whole slew of things which need that engineering time first.

[LagunaD]

The reason they do this is because if we don't have them show up at your location they have a tendency to appear in walls, beneath floors if you're not on a flat surface, off the edge of cliffs, on the other side of closed doors (which creates plenty of it's own gameplay issues), etc. A lot of code could be written to have them be offset and ensure they're in an appropriate position, but there's a lot of unique edge-cases to check for and considering it's purely a cosmetic issue, and a fairly minor one all in all, there are a whole slew of things which need that engineering time first.

Great explanation. I am actually glad it works like this, because you can be sure that the pet will appear *exactly* where you're standing. In addition to the reasons jwbarry gave, that means summoning the pet will never pull nearby stuff, if it hasn't aggroed on you already.

[Deusdictum]

7) A way to slow people from running by so fast that you can't click on them to tell or ask them something. I find my self standing still and they tear past me and are out of site before I can get my mouse to hover over their character

Ew... no thank you. Unless I'm horribly misunderstanding you, you want to give players the ability to put a speed debuff on other players. This is a bad idea because a) it could be used for griefing and b) even when used "legitimately", it would be very annoying to be running through a zone and suddenly be slowed down just because someone wanted to select you.

8) Free horse rides to the festivals in lands that your character can't survive the journey into. I was fortunate to have a incredible dwarf come to my rescue and kill everything on the way in the Troll Shawls while I followed...

What festivals are you talking about? What festival takes place outside of Ered Luin, the Shire, and Bree-land? Any character can easily access those and there is no need to go to Rivendell...

9) Titles of nobility as done with the Surname (maybe way more expensive to keep it down in numbers), the lead name would then be Sir. Archbane of whatever (and whatever other men titles) or, Lord whatever of whatever (for elves and I have no idea about hobbits or dwarfs, but I think hobbits are already covered very well with such things? )(Or is this something done when one creates a character name to begin with?

There are two types of titles. Pre-titles and post-titles. You're used to seeing post-titles in the game, e.g. Deusdictum, the Wary. Post-titles are typically earned through deeds and quests. Pre-titles also exist in the game but are reserved for PvMP (the Ettenmoors). So, someone who is highly ranked in PvMP might have a title in front of their name. This would conflict with any titles of Sir or Lord or whatever that you might want. Plus, they would then have to worry about potential Lore issues.

[gildhur]

What festivals are you talking about? What festival takes place outside of Ered Luin, the Shire, and Bree-land? Any character can easily access those and there is no need to go to Rivendell...

Bilbo & Frodo's birthday quest that is only available in Rivendell one day a year. We definitely do not need a free swift travel there for that. Getting to Rivendell at low levels is part of the fun. It's one of the most memorable adventures you'll have in the game. I took a group of six people there for that day this year and we had a blast. Add an unlocked swift travel and it just turns into another fun-less teleport.

[Yula_the_Mighty]

Bilbo & Frodo's birthday quest that is only available in Rivendell one day a year.

True. This birthday party is not part of the season festivals.

The only festival activity that I can think of that requires leaving the starter zones is some of the Inn League quests. Unless Turbine changed these quests, they are level gated. If you can get these quests, you are high enough level to quest, travel and survive in these regions.

[VPQRDE]

Great explanation.

A *lot* of code to find a legal space on the landscape to drop something that isn't exactly at the character's coordinates? How come every other game can do this and LotRO can't? This should be a basic routine that has been in the game forever. Apparently it's inconvenient, so it can't be done. All of the mentioned issues with this would be fixed anyway if your summon *teleported* to you like should happen anyway (see WoW--and no your summon doesn't teleport on top of you--it finds a space behind you, or used to). Call it a great explanation--I'm calling it a double fail.

[gildhur]

A *lot* of code to find a legal space on the landscape to drop something that isn't exactly at the character's coordinates? How come every other game can do this and LotRO can't? This should be a basic routine that has been in the game forever. Apparently it's inconvenient, so it can't be done. All of the mentioned issues with this would be fixed anyway if your summon *teleported* to you like should happen anyway (see WoW--and no your summon doesn't teleport on top of you--it finds a space behind you, or used to). Call it a great explanation--I'm calling it a double fail.

You can call it whatever you want, but MMO development is a game of priorities. If they took the time to code this change (which would cause the previously stated unintended consequences, which would cause headaches, support issues, requested changes, forum whining, etc), then they would have less time to code other things, regardless of if the code would be a "lot" or a "little", it would still have to be done, thus delaying other things. It would also have to be tested vigorously in a large number of potential scenarios (cliffs, instances, doors, etc etc). Fortunately amateur forum jockeys aren't making these decisions and professional game developers are.

[Majesto]

A *lot* of code to find a legal space on the landscape to drop something that isn't exactly at the character's coordinates? How come every other game can do this and LotRO can't? This should be a basic routine that has been in the game forever. Apparently it's inconvenient, so it can't be done. All of the mentioned issues with this would be fixed anyway if your summon *teleported* to you like should happen anyway (see WoW--and no your summon doesn't teleport on top of you--it finds a space behind you, or used to). Call it a great explanation--I'm calling it a double fail.

Pets used to do this. They didn't start spawning on top of us until sometime after Moria came out. (At least, I think it was prior to the Mirkwood release, but after Moria.) The issue was pets ending up in places they shouldn't have, since it would have to find a safe place anytime you summoned one, walked through a door, dismounted, etc. At the time there were enough other "real" issues that needed to be addressed (like server stability) that they took the easy way out. I hope they'll revisit it someday.

[Eliel]

Don't skirmish soldiers spawn on top of you and then move to a space in front of of behind you? Seems like LM and Captain pets could do the same. I wouldn't want them to, necessarily, since I don't want them to suddenly aggro something (which seems like a bigger concern out in the open world than in a skirmish). But it seems like skirmish soldiers already solve the problem.

As for the festival travel, I agree that granting swift travel to Rivendell isn't the right thing to do. Sorry to the low-level players who missed Bilbo and Frodo's birthday, but it will happen again next year. And really, it's kind of an underwhelming quest. Kind of fun as a lore tidbit if you can get there, but totally not worth going out of your way for.

However, I do remember being level 10 when the first summer festival came along, and trying to make the trek to the Bree-land festival grounds was actually a pretty dangerous undertaking. Perhaps auto-granting a horse route from Bree to the festival grounds would not be a bad idea.

[Mandella]

Pets used to do this. They didn't start spawning on top of us until sometime after Moria came out. (At least, I think it was prior to the Mirkwood release, but after Moria.) The issue was pets ending up in places they shouldn't have, since it would have to find a safe place anytime you summoned one, walked through a door, dismounted, etc. At the time there were enough other "real" issues that needed to be addressed (like server stability) that they took the easy way out. I hope they'll revisit it someday.

And if I recall correctly, the reason it was changed was because of mob behavior in some of the new areas. Basically, when a mob summoned an add it would sometimes appear locked in terrain, which had the doubly irritating problem of also locking any PCs nearby in combat, with no way to clear the trapped mob. Unfortunately, it turned out that it wasn't possible to change summoning behavior just for mobs, but everybody had to suffer.

It is a mostly cosmetic issue, true, but one of the reasons I play this game instead of, say, a MUD, is because of the cosmetics. I like things to look good, and getting off my mount on top of my herald doesn't look good.

Also, the orc defilers pooping out their totem posts directly underneath themselves doesn't look too good either, and also makes it hard to notice/target in a heated combat environment.

[Killien]

A *lot* of code to find a legal space on the landscape to drop something that isn't exactly at the character's coordinates?

I'm not sure when they fixed it so they do spawn on top of you but it doesn't bother me at all. I tried summoning my Lynx whilst standing on the Bridge of Khazad-dum. My pets stats would appear, then dissapear. Summon again, same thing. A bug? Nope... the poor thing would summon off the edge of the bridge and fall to its doom... was damned funny when I realised what was happening but still, I prefer pets summoning at my location.

[geoboy]

The reason they do this is because if we don't have them show up at your location they have a tendency to appear in walls, beneath floors if you're not on a flat surface, off the edge of cliffs, on the other side of closed doors (which creates plenty of it's own gameplay issues), etc. A lot of code could be written to have them be offset and ensure they're in an appropriate position, but there's a lot of unique edge-cases to check for and considering it's purely a cosmetic issue, and a fairly minor one all in all, there are a whole slew of things which need that engineering time first.

What about just showing it as coming in at a different location. For example, I can stand on the Milestone in the 21st hall and do the elf dance. I walk all over the place in midair, even though my actual location is still on the milestone. Much like how I can lie down and hide myself in the side of a hill. That being said, it doesn't really bother me.

[VPQRDE]

A bug? Nope... the poor thing would summon off the edge of the bridge and fall to its doom... was damned funny when I realised what was happening but still, I prefer pets summoning at my location.

Funny. When I try to summon my Rune of Restoration on the floor of the Rift rescue skirmish final boss room, it keeps falling through to its doom anyway.

[Killien]

Funny. When I try to summon my Rune of Restoration on the floor of the Rift rescue skirmish final boss room, it keeps falling through to its doom anyway.

Well I definitely hope you've bugged that.