Turbine Announced New Instance Cluster: Release Early 2016

[Shane412]

It has already been confirmed that there won't be a raid in the upcoming instance cluster, so you're looking at (some) 3/6 mans. The key, in my mind, will be the itemization: If the new instances continue the trend of not dropping more than an offhand weapon here and a cloak there, they will be dead on arrival. Hopefully, Turbine have learned their lesson from the last cluster.

I can understand a raid not being develop because honestly I haven't seen a kinship now a days that would even consider trying a challenging raid. Matter fact most of the kins on landy couldn't even fill a 12 man raid.

[Frisco]

I can understand a raid not being develop because honestly I haven't seen a kinship now a days that would even consider trying a challenging raid. Matter fact most of the kins on landy couldn't even fill a 12 man raid.

If you build it, they will come.

Raiders left because they stopped regularly making quality raids. A big chunk left during SoM while they took a break from releasing content to instead develop F2P. Another chunk left after the Erebor raids, because they were 20-minute infinitely repeatable lair raids.

Granted, the introduction of Remote Looting and the resulting negative changes to rewards should take a lot of the blame for Erebor. But if they build a quality raid with locks and appropriate and exciting rewards, I predict that people will play it even if they have to pay money for it. Despite having to build the raiding community practically from scratch, and despite the myriad issues with Draigoch and ToO, they had a lot of good momentum going after RoI. The Erebor snafu should not discourage them from trying again.

[Shrewd1]

If you build it, they will come

I generally agree with you, but I also think that Turbine was very genuine when they said that only a fraction of their players actually raided, quality raids or not. The raid base just isn't as big as it might seem - in any MMO.

What they rather failed to realize, in my opinion, was the fact that raids are also very important to people who will never actually play them. An MMO with an active raid base will inevitably lead to the perception of an active game, even if it's just the same 50 or 100 people running things. As a new or mid-level player, I'd much rather stick with an MMO that appears to have an active "let's do things" base than one that seems half-dead - especially in today's FTP world.

[Almagnus1]

I agree. Why is it so hard to make those players happy and just make that system go away for the traditional type of instances.

I actually didn't mind the Bells instance that much. It's just that I had no desire to go back into it as most of the loot (at that time) just wasn't that appealing as landscape/crafting was "good enough".

It's one of the reasons why I am a strong advocate for things like grouping and PvMP having loot that is of superior quality to what is found in landscape/crafting , especially since crafting creates the LIs, certain relics, and essences.

It's time to tell these epic soloers to go stuff it, because the solo-fication trend has been what's taken the MM [Massively Multiplayer] out of MMORPG for LotRO.

The ones that want a Middle-earth simulator are in a far niche minority than the general market, as seen by the need to merge servers, and catering to them is only further driving the game into the ground.

I generally agree with you, but I also think that Turbine was very genuine when they said that only a fraction of their players actually raided, quality raids or not. The raid base just isn't as big as it might seem - in any MMO.

What they rather failed to realize, in my opinion, was the fact that raids are also very important to people who will never actually play them. An MMO with an active raid base will inevitably lead to the perception of an active game, even if it's just the same 50 or 100 people running things. As a new or mid-level player, I'd much rather stick with an MMO that appears to have an active "let's do things" base than one that seems half-dead - especially in today's FTP world.

Yep, cause the raiders tend to put stuff up on YouTube, and that stuff generally creates a better perception of the game than what the soloers do, as most people see solo content and think "Skyrim".

Perception is everything in this day and age.

[Frisco]

I generally agree with you, but I also think that Turbine was very genuine when they said that only a fraction of their players actually raided, quality raids or not. The raid base just isn't as big as it might seem - in any MMO.

What they rather failed to realize, in my opinion, was the fact that raids are also very important to people who will never actually play them. An MMO with an active raid base will inevitably lead to the perception of an active game, even if it's just the same 50 or 100 people running things. As a new or mid-level player, I'd much rather stick with an MMO that appears to have an active "let's do things" base than one that seems half-dead - especially in today's FTP world.

I'm not arguing that the raid base is huge, only that it is beneficial for the game. Not just because of the increase in subs, but also making the game more active (not just a perception), creating a need for all the store-bought character improvement shortcuts available, and heavily contributing to the in-game economy.

[Akia]

Not to move off topic but dag, that sig. Have you been listening to Keller williams?

-bix