Twenty Questions with the LOTRO Dev Team - July 2013

[Sapience]

Q1: Are there ever going to be plans to do single server dev fun nights, for instance like the end of beta's where you guys release Balrogs in bree or Thorog in Rivendell? How about Sauraman in the Shire?

A1: We’ve recently (just yesterday) discussed the possibility of creating some live events with developer participation. We’re continuing to investigate what it would take to make this happen, but for now we’re focusing on the expansion pack.- Derek

Q2: Are there any plans to change the RNG? I know a lot of people are beyond frustrated at it, as it doesn’t seem as random for some as it does for others.

A2: We have no plans to update the random number generator (RNG). It’s normal for individuals to receive runs of luck (good or bad) in the short term. The random element of the game, may appear to be broken, but the RNG is running for the entire server instance, not for one player at a time. - Nathan

Q3: When Sapience brings candy for his candy jar, how many people steal it?

A3: Honestly I think the community is better acquainted with my candy jar than the devs are. Those who sit closest to me usually get things thrown at them (usually York peppermint patties if you care) more than they have to raid it. Still.. it does seem to empty more quickly than it should. - Sapience

Q4: Do the developers find the player council helpful or just another annoyance?

A4: The council has been very helpful. It gives us the opportunity to have very focused conversations. The threads don’t go on in to 40+ pages and the topics are very pertinent to current development. So far it has been a great and responsive sounding board. - Zimmitti

Q5: Can you describe the process by which you digitize horses and animate the models? Do you use a real horse as a model? What kind of software does it take to complete the process? When you add new movements (rear, kick) how do you go about getting that captured in the game?

A5: After some discussion about direction and reference gathering, our horses were initially sculpted by a production artist using zbrush, a high resolution sculpting program. They were then re-topologized in Maya which is the process of building a lower res game model on top of the high res sculpt. From there they were brought into photoshop for the texturing or colorizing of the model.
Once the horse reached that state a tech artist “rigged” the character using joints (think of bones) in Maya. The rigged model was passed to the animation team who manually moved joints in Maya to create the poses that make up the horses animations. Of course, before animating they collected a lot of reference to help understand how horses move. When the animations were completed, the joint data was exported to our proprietary game engine where animators, tech artists and content designers worked together to script up the new movement so it works in the game system.

Q6: How do you get the "horse and rider" to sync (or not)? Why do some horses sync better than others?

A6: The horse and rider animate independently. The horse gets directions from the rider of course, but it’s still possible for the animations to get out of sync. The player characters use their own set of animations too, so it may be possible that one race may sync better than another. - Elliot

Q7: It has been said before that adding a new Freep class isn't on the cards, but why is that so? Is there simply no feasible placement for a new class given the roles of current classes or is it more a case of prioritizing time, resources, etc?

A7: Creating a class from scratch is a big endeavor. Our current class revamps should, in theory, have several beneficial byproducts. First, we are cleaning them up, top-to-bottom. They will be more rewarding and builds will be more defined. They will also be easier for us to maintain. While I can’t say that a new class is in the works (there isn’t) the revamp will make it a lot easier to consider one in the future. - Zimmitti

Q8: What is the future looking like for pvp? Is it basically a done deal for Turbine with no future? Is it considered a burden that they just want removed from the game? Or is it something they would like to revive and try to make better? Are the couple PVP only council members basically wasting their time with trying to work on pvp stuff?

A8: We don't have any serious big features planned for PvMP in the near term. We've got time booked to rebalance things to accommodate the Freep class changes and we've got a few ideas that might be interesting... or really may not happen.
The systems changes we are putting big effort into right now on the freep side are focused and challenging. If I were to shake up PvP while trying to get everything else balanced, I assure you everything would suffer. – HoarseDev.

Q9: What about small PvMP features? fixes? little mechanic changes? Did you know that the bridge from TR rez to the outpost has 2 bridges rendered?

A9: In the short term, we're going to be focused on the effects of the class changes to PvMP balance. These changes have the potential to change a ton of dynamics, even though they are not changes directly to Creeps. Time and feedback will be best spent there. I've got the threads in the suggestion forum to chew on and there is good stuff in there. For now, I'm not going to open those worm cans just yet. - HoarseDev

Q10: Do you have plans to extend the music system with a (or more than one) new instrument?

A10: Revisiting the music system or adding on to the number of instruments isn’t in our upcoming plans. - Derek

Q11: How (and who!) decides what outfits go into Lalia's Market? Do you just kind of select a bunch at random from Cosmetic LOTRO or is there a process?

A11: Our team, headed up by Aubergine, has several resources at their disposal. We accept suggestions from people internal to the company and any of you! Also, the cosmetic bloggers of the world have been really helpful in sharing their designs with us so that everyone can see their amazing work. Finally, we do come up with some designs ourselves. - JHD

Q12: I understand that the global LLF channel is sometimes used to determine how many people questing in groups on each server. Is that true? Do you have other methods of determining how many are logged on and playing?

A12: It’s true that game masters and individuals in Mission Control will often monitor GLFF, and it may be used to give some informal feedback about grouping. But we rely more on our back-end server monitoring tools to observe player behavior. - Nathan

Q13: I wish I knew the real reason for the lags and if and when you are going to eliminate them. I suppose it is a problem in the server code/engine and/or client/server protocol which is not easy to fix?

A13: There is more than one cause for lag today, and as time goes on and the game (and the internet) change, new causes of lag are introduced. We have folks who work on this all the time, and if you are not satisfied with the results, well, know that we aren’t either. We have some brand-new performance monitoring technologies that we have recently put on the live servers, which have started to provide important clues. We are hoping for some significant improvements with the expansion pack, especially for some of the Mounted Combat cases. - Nathan

Q14: Will Chicken Session play ever be extended into new areas, as the game expands .. Possibly with a new skill or 2 to enable better survivability ?

A14: I had actually forgotten all about chicken play! I still have the Trollshaws quest in my log...waiting. Waiting. Someday I'll finish the journey. This question is a good reminder; we can't promise new chicken play content, but I promise to look into it! I would actually love to make some new sessions to explore the newer content from the eyes of a chicken. - Lauren

Q15: What is Turbine's process for tuning landscape/quests/instances/raids to an appropriate level of difficulty. Especially considering the huge gulf in the level of equipment within the player base. On group content do you have an ideal class composition in mind when you tune the content?

A15: For landscape, there’s actually an old rule for soloable gameplay of how many monsters an average player should be asked to fight for a quest. 1 signature, 2 normals, 3 swarms. This has needed tweaking as the game changes, especially with the introduction of Mounted Combat, Warbands, and open tapping most of all.
Landscape quest challenge is difficult to put into words because I think a lot of it comes from playing our game and feeling what was too easy, too hard, too grindy, too quick. The balance comes from what we learn while playing, and it becomes something that’s not completely conscious in our design decisions, but instead very ingrained in everything we do.

We do always look for ways to insert challenge into the content, but challenging combat usually takes the form of side quests, since many soloers won’t be able to get through it. In Wildermore, we added a bunch of skills to the new Warbands because we learned that the Rohan Warbands were widely considered too easy. – Lauren

A15: For instance or skirmish content:
Lots and lots of playtests and iterations.
Difficulty is intended to increase as both tier and group size increase.

We attempt to tune tier 1 to be beatable by our Palantir players, tier 2 by bullroarer, and then challenge for live. The reason for this isn’t because players on live are better than Palantir or Bullroarer players, it comes down to the groups being better because they’ve been playing together as the same group for years. There’s a familiarity with each other and a gelling over time as kinships that allow for different levels of coordination and collectively overcoming presented problems and situations, that more randomly put together groups of players simply do not have. If we beat tier 2 in house, then it’s not hard enough and gets balanced as such. Many challenges haven’t been beaten by anyone when they launch. We know they’re functioning and the numbers are where we project is doable, but we don’t have the coordination to pull it off ourselves.
Small Fellowship we tune to need a tank or a healer, but try to avoid requiring a trinity, even within challenge level difficulty.

Fellowships we aim for a trinity plus 3 others. We avoid trying to build 6-man content that requires multiple tanks.

Raids we attempt to design and tune to encourage 2 tanks, 2 main healers, 2 captains, and at least one of each class.

One of the biggest tricks is to be aware of the numbers when it comes to equipment and gear but to not be overly bound by it. Introducing chaos, and requiring communication and coordination by increasing the number of dynamic elements involved creates a far more challenging and satisfying fight than simply raising the health and damage. - JWB

Q16: Given player concerns about the license and Turbine's relationship with Saul Zaentz/Middle-earth Enterprises, can you say anything about LOTRO ending in 2014 as some have predicted?

A16: We plan to support LOTRO for many more years to come. We are very fortunate in that we enjoy a great relationship with Middle-earth Enterprises. They visit our offices several times a year to check out our upcoming plans for LOTRO and continue to be very supportive. - Sapience

Q17: To satisfy curiosity would it be possible to find out what the new PvMP region that was going to ship with RoI was going to be?
A:17 I can't go into crazy detail but some of the things kicked around were smaller, more focused spaces with specific objectives. Think skirmishes, but bigger and with both Freeps and Creeps competing for conflicting objectives. Several were on the table. They never really quite worked out. In terms of locales, Redhorn Lodes, Amon Lhaw and a spot in the Blue Mountains were in the works. - HoarseDev

Q18: I wish I knew if there were plans to add alterable secondary or tertiary dyes to the LOTRO dye system.
A18: Currently there are no plans to handle this. We have been looking into new types of dyes, but that technology is a little ways off. - JHD

Q19: If reverting the loot system to the way it was is off the table, how about some adjustments and tweaks. Anything like that coming our way?
A19: We are looking at several tweaks to the loot system at the present time. Some may come to light for Helm’s Deep and others will be bigger improvements going into next year. I can’t really give a ton of detail on these changes as they are really in flux right now. - Zimmitti

Q20: Why can't we mail more than one item at a time? How hard is it to change this?
A20: This has come up for discussion several times. It’s difficult to concretely answer a question like “how hard is it to…”, but suffice to say this is more than a few days of work – “bigger than a breadbox”, as we like to say. - Nathan

[Sapience]

On Facebook someone suggested the wording for Q16 should be 'developing' not 'supporting'. So, ok. Developing, supporting, making, cavorting in the shire, whichever works better for you.

[MarkoftheRealm]

Q3: When Sapience brings candy for his candy jar, how many people steal it?

A3: Honestly I think the community is better acquainted with my candy jar than the devs are. Those who sit closest to me usually get things thrown at them (usually York peppermint patties if you care) more than they have to raid it. Still.. it does seem to empty more quickly than it should. - Sapience

Taking the subtle hint given by Sapience.

You heard it here first:
Sapience announces HD's end-game content will consist of Candy Jar Raid with AoE Patty Damage.

[Darmokk]

So there is no signature under an agreement to extend the license. If there was Turbine would say so. This is very disappointing.

ETA: of course this doesn't mean it won't get signed before it runs out and if it runs out that doesn't mean that the game has to go away instantly. But there's no contract signed.

[xDementedx]

Q2: Are there any plans to change the RNG? I know a lot of people are beyond frustrated at it, as it doesn’t seem as random for some as it does for others.

A2: We have no plans to update the random number generator (RNG). It’s normal for individuals to receive runs of luck (good or bad) in the short term. The random element of the game, may appear to be broken, but the RNG is running for the entire server instance, not for one player at a time. - Nathan

The RNG is fine how it is and doesn't need to be changed, I agree, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be a system ADDED to help those of us that are unlucky but very dedicated towards optimizing our gear slots.

I'm sure many people have suggested things like barter items or high seal values. Possibly a barter instance so it generates based on your level. Doing nothing about it is really going to drive people away. It's not going to be the only factor but it is one factor that can be alleviated. I am hoping the "tweaks" is related to the suggestions I mentioned.

[Cazthelm]

I have to say I expected these later on the week.

[cossieuk]

The answer to question 16 is very ambiguous and open to interpretation.

Can we have a straight yes or know answer, has Turbine extended the licence to 2017?

[kickman77]

So there is no signature under an agreement to extend the license. If there was Turbine would say so. This is very disappointing.

ETA: of course this doesn't mean it won't get signed before it runs out and if it runs out that doesn't mean that the game has to go away instantly. But there's no contract signed.

Why would they say so? He answered that they will be supporting it for years to come which makes me think that the extension went through. I mean in all seriousness look at how bad the trolls have been this year with the LOTRO is ending post. if they were to announce a date for the liscence I can imagine how much worse the trolls here would get. On the other hand, do you hear about McDonalds and Coke negotiating? Does McDonalds and or Coke tell you how long that contract last? Do you go to McDonalds and ask them on a considerably daily basis if they will still be serving coke next year? I doubt anyone here worried about the contract does that.

Enjoy the game, as that question was answered it tells me right off the bat LOTRO is not going anywhere for quite some time. Please dont be disappointed, enjoy Middle Earth.

[Guiwinner]

A1: We’ve recently (just yesterday) discussed the possibility of creating some live events with developer participation. We’re continuing to investigate what it would take to make this happen, but for now we’re focusing on the expansion pack.- Derek



I'm glad to see you don't wanna make more work on this bad expanzion called "rohan" well done ! Look forward to see next work !!
We will have one raid from 1 to 12 man ?

Shame -.-

[Darmokk]

Why would they say so? He answered that they will be supporting it for years to come which makes me think that the extension went through.

Sapience said they are planning to. That means Turbine and their bosses higher up in WB got together and asked "do we plan to develop this LOTRO thing any firther" and those who matter said "yes". Presumably that means money has been released to actually do so, although that's probably subject to further haggling.

That does not say that the license extension has been signed with an external party. If it was they would say so. There is no reason to withhold that information.

ETA: [can as well put this under all postings so that people don't misquote me] of course this doesn't mean it won't get signed before it runs out and if it runs out that doesn't mean that the game has to go away instantly. But there's no contract signed.

[Sapience]

The answer to question 16 is very ambiguous and open to interpretation.

Can we have a straight yes or know answer, has Turbine extended the licence to 2017?

It a very straight foward answer. We can neither support nor develop the game without a license. We will be doing so for many more years. Not a single bit of vagueness there.

[cossieuk]

Why would they say so? He answered that they will be supporting it for years to come which makes me think that the extension went through. I mean in all seriousness look at how bad the trolls have been this year with the LOTRO is ending post. if they were to announce a date for the liscence I can imagine how much worse the trolls here would get. On the other hand, do you hear about McDonalds and Coke negotiating? Does McDonalds and or Coke tell you how long that contract last? Do you go to McDonalds and ask them on a considerably daily basis if they will still be serving coke next year? I doubt anyone here worried about the contract does that.

Enjoy the game, as that question was answered it tells me right off the bat LOTRO is not going anywhere for quite some time. Please dont be disappointed, enjoy Middle Earth.

No one goes into McDonalds with the intention of paying now for the meals for the next 12 months, people here do pay now for 12 month subs. So is in unreasonable for then to ask for a clear unambiguous answer, to questions regarding the licence.

[VincentAC]

Why so many questions about PvMP (which I have no interest in) and nothing at all about Plugins? I spend a lot of time working on Lua in my plugins and have been disappointed with how neglected the API is! When will we be able to do things like check played deeds and look at vendor items from Lua?

[MarkoftheRealm]

So there is no signature under an agreement to extend the license. If there was Turbine would say so. This is very disappointing.

ETA: of course this doesn't mean it won't get signed before it runs out and if it runs out that doesn't mean that the game has to go away instantly. But there's no contract signed.

That's one interpretation. For all we know there may be legal reasons for the vague wording. What wasn't vague was that the in-office plans are for development to continue past 2014 and that Middle-Earth Enterprises is supportive of these plans.

[heavenhell72]

A2: We have no plans to update the random number generator (RNG). It’s normal for individuals to receive runs of luck (good or bad) in the short term.

no its not normal playing month´s ago and didnt get nothing, start to be boring and painfull, keep like this and soon people start retiring.. im almost, you get loot off from dailies (hytbold/wildemore), because people was farming instances ( and i dont remember people get something so special from ther.. task items maybee), but you dont mind people farm boring instances to get nothing month´s in row .... almost 1000 seals farmed and got one gold drop not even for my main trait ...

[Elrantiri]

It a very straight foward answer. We can neither support nor develop the game without a license. We will be doing so for many more years. Not a single bit of vagueness there.

You do realize you used the word "plan" in A16? It's easily possible to plan to do something and then later find out the plan won't be carried out, e.g. because of a missing renewal of the license.

Your answer here is different and (hopefully) a lot more precise.

[Sapience]

Why so many questions about PvMP (which I have no interest in) and nothing at all about Plugins? I spend a lot of time working on Lua in my plugins and have been disappointed with how neglected the API is! When will we be able to do things like check played deeds and look at vendor items from Lua?

Lua is a developer 'pet project'. It has never been an officially supported aspect of the game. Those devs involved work on it in their own free time.

[Crell_1]

A11/18: Who's JHD?, what is their job title & team? =)

A2 (and others): Do we know Nathan by any other character/developer/forum handle? If so, what is it? What their job title and team?


I must agree with Cossie that Q16 was not answered satisfactorily. I would like the kind of unabigious statement of the sort we had previously here, with new dates. http://archive.lotro.com/news/pressr...d-relationship

A17:Is some of the minimal work done for this concept part of the area pictured in : http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...stant-location ?

Q3 - While I'm sure your candy bowl is of intrest to your co-workers, perhaps we could hear about your, (or some other team members) involvement in the game in your off-time next time. (Goals, Some memorable live experiences, etc) =)

[MarkoftheRealm]

Q1: Are there ever going to be plans to do single server dev fun nights, for instance like the end of beta's where you guys release Balrogs in bree or Thorog in Rivendell? How about Sauraman in the Shire?

A1: We’ve recently (just yesterday) discussed the possibility of creating some live events with developer participation. We’re continuing to investigate what it would take to make this happen, but for now we’re focusing on the expansion pack.- Derek

Those kinds of events can create quite the excitement and be a nice diversion from the routine. I remember one day when Trestlebridge was overrun by Orcs and all the townspeople gone and we had fun trying to liberate Trestlebridge from the enemy. Another fun time was when Amarthiel for a couple of weeks randomly appeared in various places without notice. Since these things caused so much excitement in the player base and were talked about for weeks and months afterwards as one of the highlights of the game, I have always remained baffled as to why these things don't take place at least once or twice a year. But outside of Beta, I can't think of anything similar to the Amarthiel event since the Amarthiel event and that was about 5 years ago now.

[Nimelriana]

Sapience just answered my question of Twitter if LotRO will continue after 2014 (or, if they basically have the go from MEE):

Need a bit of clarification. In the Q&A it says "We plan to support", in one of your posts you say "we will be doing so".. Does this mean that LotRO will exist after 2014 for sure?

Yes. Its very clear.

[Mosag]

Are paid services in the run to return before helms deep... (i have a rk and warden stuck on ridder that need to make it to landroval)

[Sariela]

Q19: If reverting the loot system to the way it was is off the table, how about some adjustments and tweaks. Anything like that coming our way?
A19: We are looking at several tweaks to the loot system at the present time. Some may come to light for Helm’s Deep and others will be bigger improvements going into next year. I can’t really give a ton of detail on these changes as they are really in flux right now. - Zimmitti

~~~~~~
The only change I would really like to see to the loot tables is the ability to trade BOA items with people that were in the raid for a set period of time after the raid finishes (say 10 or 15 minutes). If that were possible, I think it would alleviate most people's issues with the system.
~~~~~~

Q14: Will Chicken Session play ever be extended into new areas, as the game expands .. Possibly with a new skill or 2 to enable better survivability ?

A14: I had actually forgotten all about chicken play! I still have the Trollshaws quest in my log...waiting. Waiting. Someday I'll finish the journey. This question is a good reminder; we can't promise new chicken play content, but I promise to look into it! I would actually love to make some new sessions to explore the newer content from the eyes of a chicken. - Lauren

~~~~~
OMG! <3 Chicken play! More please!! Also...can we get chickenball back?? Even just for a festival

[Elkhunter76]

So i love all game aspects first of all ...but i really wish that PVP would get more love even adding 2 new creep classes would be a huge change to pvp I know so many people that would come back to game if they would put more effort into it why wouldn't they want to generate more $money$ making pvp even better then it is now when content gets old people leave game for other games typically ...or they got to moors I just dont understand why they dont put more effort into this area? what do u guys think ?

[Granlif]

As to Question 16, and people wondering if the License will be extended,
I bet lots of folks at SZC play LOTRO regularly! After all Middle Earth is their business. They would probably howl the loudest if this game closed.

[Whart]

My questions remain the same as ever: is there an existing plan to develop a new multi-boss-plus-trash raid in the next 12 months, and when will server transfers be open?