Dev Diary Feedback: The Ettenmoors
The Ettenmoors is a unique place within the world of LOTRO; a corner of Middle-earth that allows players the ability to take up the banner of Sauron and openly battle against the forces of good. Over the course of LOTRO’s lifetime, the Ettenmoors has been updated several times.
This is not one of those times. This is a new beginning; this is a reincarnation.
Read more in the latest Developer Diary from Joe "JBarry" Barry and post your comments here!
So... more changes... yet it stays the same... thanks for rewarding cheaters!
So Turbine,
You're making all kinds of skill, tower and area changes.... what about the obvious glaring imbalance that has still not been addressed:
The fact that some freep players flip to their creeps almost immediately and retake everything you've just worked for, for 45 minutes or more? It's become the joke of every server when people start leaving your raid, and you better not get stuck there without a port or a map out.
How about a timer delay between flipping from freep to creep (or vice versa).. a moors lockout as it were. You play in the moors on a freep and you have to wait X amount of time before being allowed back in on the other side - at least then you have the ability to REALLY hold a keep, instead of just having this BS occur every single time.
The main thing that has pushed "real" players out has been this ridiculous nonsense where a raid that captures a tower/area suddenly has 3/4 of it's members bail because they "have to go", then 5 minutes later a massive wave of creeps comes storming in on a reduced-number raid (same people playing the other side). In my opinion, this is effectively cheating, since the incoming creeps have full knowledge of where and what the freep force contains (and doesn't contain). THIS is the true imbalance of the moors. The players that don't participate in this behaviour end up being destroyed by the fore-knowledged creeps while their freeps are safely tucked away.
Of course, we can also mention the fact that GLFF and other world-wide channels are used to encourage this ridiculous behaviour.
If you create a timed lockout, then at least the people that participate in this behaviour will either have to (a) stop informing their buddies of everyone else's location and party strength size and risk their own hides, or (b) at least not be able to immediately benefit on the other side.
How can you hope to "turn the tide" in a realistic/RP way, and achieve a real sense of accomplishment, only to have it destroyed immediately by people who just play this bouncing game back and forth.
If you aren't going to address this issue, expect the SAME people, and the SAME population and the SAME tactics as before. (and I'll still be playing game content, and ignore the moors).