Transcript: LOTRO Developer Twitter Chat - Thursday March 21, 2013

[twittfounder]

Call me nervous about class changing to trait "trees". I am all for reviewing and updating classes...but after six years...not sure trees are needed. Traits..as currently exist allow for flexibility and cusomization and individual play styles. I am nervous. Mounted trait trees did not entirely lead to any of these...

I can understand the desire to simplify for newer players. But why not have a "suggested" build as a template to work for. Each trait line could have a build. Not mandated or required...but a suggestion that could highlight skills and deeds as folks are leveling up .

[ChromiteSwiftpaw]

Q46: @pieeatingchamp will you be making tweaks to fate/power use because since U10 my warden barely uses any power fighting 10+ mobs #LOTRO #DEVCHAT

A46: Evan "Verizal" Graziano
10.1 will bring adjustments to fate and power to bring the stat down to a more managable level. Fate's contribution will be reduced. Skill costs will also be reduced. All classes underwent a round of balance.

Look, I know you guys wanted to make fate more desirable but the problem is this: You went too far in one direction with the ICPR and crit components of it and nerfed Agility's crit too much. Or, in my case, purposefully overwrote a 4th major legacy on my First Age Bow with a Minor because Focus Power Cost wasn't needed as much anymore.

Now you're talking about reducing fate's contributions but what about people that have made sacrifices/crafted ULTRA RARE recipes or changes to RARE/hard to get items to compensate for the bungled mess that was made? When you adjust things back to a more realistic level you at least should give players some option to change items that were crafted or modified.

You guys broke it. You guys are now going to fix it... but now you also should compensate players for the gear choices/crafted outputs during the broken period.

[karmyn]

I completely agree with what others said. Pleasepleaseplease give us an 'apply all' for LI runes and rep items! It's insane clicking on 300 items for 9000 rep or 100 items for 60,000IXP.... if nothing else let us barter a stack for an item with similar stats.

[Rowan]

One nitpick/follow-up:



The question was about Slayer Deeds that give Virtues, while the answer was about Skill Deeds that give Class Traits. Slightly different things.

I believe Nyrion wanted to know about all the "kill 3000 boars in Evendim for +1 Enthusiam" deeds in the game. Most of them are pretty ludicrous now that leveling goes so much faster than it used to, especially around mid-game.

Yes, Hoarsedev didn't confuse that. He means that Slayer Deeds may give Class Traits.

[xDementedx]

Q38: @Honvik Any idea if you will bring in a PvP tournament system I.e 12v12 or smaller PvP warzone #devchat#lotro

A38: Derek Flippo
We have no plans to add additional PvMP content


Wow... This was one of the most disapointing statement I've read from a blue name in quite some time...

Please recognize the pvp community of this lovely game, this will both increase your $$ and players will be happy. I Just fail to se how thats bad. Me among with many other would love to have cross-server pvp "warzones".

It was just as disappointing as the last time it was asked.

[Rasdun]

Call me nervous about class changing to trait "trees". I am all for reviewing and updating classes...but after six years...not sure trees are needed. Traits..as currently exist allow for flexibility and cusomization and individual play styles. I am nervous. Mounted trait trees did not entirely lead to any of these....

I'm particularly fond of our current "buffet" method of selecting class traits. It has me a little worried that the design and development teams are set on implementing class traits as trees, presumably similar to how mounted combat traits are currently chosen.

I am nervous too and I don't understand what is prompting this major change. Doesn't seem to be a player request. All we can do is offer feedback on the class feedback threads and hope to be pleasantly surprised by the implementation.

Wow, it's like the suggestions forum has been on ./ignore since moria

Yeah, based on player feedback, it seems the LI system should be a much more likely candidate for an overhaul rather than the class traits system.

[Nyrion]

Yes, Hoarsedev didn't confuse that. He means that Slayer Deeds may give Class Traits.

Really? That's.... weird.

Not saying it's bad, although I do think it would turn out that way unless the 300+ kill counts get reduced at the same time.

[furtim]

Yes, Hoarsedev didn't confuse that. He means that Slayer Deeds may give Class Traits.

Oh, that's quite interesting then.

(Although I still do think that many Slayer Deeds in older zones need to be rescaled a little, to be more in line with Isengard/Rohan standards.)

[Thunidir]

Q3: Cris - May we expect a more realistic series of emotes or an update of those that we already have?

A3: Matt “Scarycrow” Fahey
I would love to add a few new player emotes to the game. Which kinds of emotes do you have in mind?

A "hopefully" simple one to update that would make it more interesting is making the /kneel be like sitting where you hold the pose until moved.

[JeauxLOTR]

Q23: Hurant - Can healers expect items with proc on heal in the near future? Especially the golden Rohan final ring upgrades or mooncandle necklaces?

A23: Evan "Verizal" Graziano
There are two new healer rings being released with Update 10.1 – one that is might-based and another that is will-based, both with on-heal procs

Will people who already have upgraded rings be able to swap for a healer one if they would like to? I mean a sun-for-sun, moon-for-moon etc... not something entirely different.

[GingerAj]

I'm excited for more mounted traits and such and these "specs" and trait trees....perhaps their will now be more uniquity between people of the same class.

I didnt like the fact that classes are going to not be able to do everything....as well not every class can do everything.

However if you mean, following the standards LM has, where if they trait dps....their cc gets nerfed, so to trait one aspect dimishes another....then I'm all for it

[Luder85]

Reading the transcript, I was wondering if they were proposing to decouple the links between specific deeds (class, slayer, exploration etc.) - specific virtues/class traits and instead let us invest the 'points completing them gives us instead?

There may be groups of these, in that Slayer Deed points could be used for say 5 virtues (e.g. Zeal) explorer for different ones and so on.

This is pure speculation but I think I'd go for, in that I get to pick where my killing deed virtue point goes rather than have to go to location X to kill Y beast to get that 16th point in Zeal.

Class skill trees less sure about, and hoping for more like mounted combat than Diablo 2.

[MrWarg]

Q38: @Honvik Any idea if you will bring in a PvP tournament system I.e 12v12 or smaller PvP warzone #devchat#lotro

A38: Derek Flippo
We have no plans to add additional PvMP content


Wow... This was one of the most disapointing statement I've read from a blue name in quite some time...

Agreed. I can only hope that the new expansion brings us new PvMP content. It is rather sad to think that there is nothing new coming for our preferred play style.

[Esteiel]

Q3: Cris - May we expect a more realistic series of emotes or an update of those that we already have?

A3: Matt “Scarycrow” Fahey
I would love to add a few new player emotes to the game. Which kinds of emotes do you have in mind?

A /sit2 and /sit3 would be amazing - just differents ways to sit on the ground. Also, a /sleep would be wonderful. /liedown makes you look like a corpse, so as an RPer, if I'm playing my character as lying down/sleeping, I usually use /faint. To have an actual /sleep that doesn't come with the swoony action and sound would be awesome.

Also, I would love another /kneel emote that would keep you kneeling. My character is an RK, so there are quite a few times where in RP, I will have him kneeling on the ground next to an injured person to act as a healer, but I actually have to use /sit to portray this while everyone involved in the RP will just have to imagine that I'm kneeling instead.

Also, a /hug emote that actually comes with an animation would possibly be the best thing ever! Just have the arms come up and forward, so that if there's a person in front of you, you hug them - if no one is there, you just look silly.

And I don't know if this is possible at all, but maybe the idle stance could be changed, like you can change your mood with /mood_sad for example, there could be /stance_tired, /stance_exuberant, /stance_shy, /stancy_angry, /stance_flirty, and you could shift back to the normal idle stance by /stance_normal. Star Wars Galaxies had this with the moods you could set for your character which in turn influenced their animations, and it really was a great tool for immersion and for making your character feel more unique and your own while in a crowd of other players.

[Sapience]

Agreed. I can only hope that the new expansion brings us new PvMP content. It is rather sad to think that there is nothing new coming for our preferred play style.

I don't mean to rain on any parades, but I don't think the comment was vague. I think it was pretty clear. Sorry, but we feel it's more important to put the facts out there on some of this stuff than try to tip toe around it.

[Yula_the_Mighty]

Wow, it's like the suggestions forum has been on ./ignore since moria

Legendary Items have not been on ignore since Moria. Kate Paiz over saw a big revamp of the Legendary Item system after the launch of F2P. We got a lot of changes like - level 10, 20, 30 for the added legacies. Empowerment scrolls. Legacy Replacement scrolls. Once all of those changes went into effect, Kate blessed the system stated that Legendary Items are in a good place. Obviously Turbine is still happy with the current system.

Turbine does listen to us. When we make suggestions Turbine may decide:

1) It is not doable like Cosmetic Weapons. Perhaps it is too expensive.
2) We do not want make the changes you are suggesting.

Legendary Items seem to fall into category 2.

Final Thought - I doubt Turbine has any where near enough resources to do all the suggestions that are both "can do" and "want to do".

Fun Fact - I worked at a very large multinational. Our CEO came to our facility to visit and talk to us. One of the questions "Are you going to visit every facility?" He responded "I would love to visit every office. It is not possible. We have too many offices currently. Plus we are always opening and closing facilities. It is task that would never get done. I suspect that visiting all the larger facilities maybe 500+ people would be doable.

[xDementedx]

I don't mean to rain on any parades, but I don't think the comment was vague. I think it was pretty clear. Sorry, but we feel it's more important to put the facts out there on some of this stuff than try to tip toe around it.

I think the discrepancy is around not now vs not yet vs never. People are trying to discern the three.

[Pabo]

A41: Evan "Verizal" Graziano
Although captains aren't getting mounted helpers, all classes will be seeing new mounted traits and skills with U11.

IF the captains got any mounted helpers in the future, I would plead for a mounted helper for the loremaster aswell!
A bear on a unicycle would suffice... ^^

[Sapience]

I think the discrepancy is around not now vs not yet vs never. People are trying to discern the three.

I think what's happening is people are trying to find some way to make it mean something other than what it does. It's a simple statement. There is not an 'at this time' in that statement. It's clear.

[t-town-colt]

I don't mean to rain on any parades, but I don't think the comment was vague. I think it was pretty clear. Sorry, but we feel it's more important to put the facts out there on some of this stuff than try to tip toe around it.

The problem I have with the devs response is that I remember the Isengard expansion mentioning something new coming for PvMP. Now I may be wrong about this considering it was awhile ago, but I think it is stuff like this that really frustrates players.

People have wanted new PvMP updates for a very long time, and (if I'm correct about the Isengard xpac containing something new for PvMP) they were told something was coming, it never did, and now they are told there are no plans whatsoever about anything new for PvMP.

Please correct me if Im wrong but it just seems downright deceitful by the devs. It was the same thing when the lag first started affecting everyone and players were told that our computers that were the problem. Then a couple of months later they announced they had fixed the lag.

[Mynex]

I can understand the desire to simplify for newer players. But why not have a "suggested" build as a template to work for. Each trait line could have a build. Not mandated or required...but a suggestion that could highlight skills and deeds as folks are leveling up .

Simplifying game mechanics for new players is fine. I don't see how trees would do that. The real problem is that new players have trouble understanding the game mechanics jargon: "-10% all skill inductions" isn't intuitive language for most new players, and some LI legacy language is especially confusing. Also, the fact that some minuses are good, and some pluses are bad is confusing. "-15% attack duration" is a benefit; it should be "+15% attack speed." The same goes for skill inductions. Add to this a lack of players being able to easily see what they would lose/gain when equipping a new item, and it's no wonder that new players feel that LOTRO is "difficult." I don't see how trees will make the game friendlier if the confusing mechanics language stays the same. I'm not opposed to it otherwise, so long as it's fun.

[Khorgrim]

Q42: @PArriola Will we be able to have crafting in houses?

A42: Matt “Scarycrow” Fahey
Yes we will be adding crafting facilities to housing.


Been through it before. It kills the town community feeling. You think "No it won't" or "Good, no more chat in towns" But it does lead to the feeling of abandoned towns.

It's coming obviously, but I think it's a mistake to go this route. There are so many ports to crafting areas. there's no need to put them in the housing. Everyone can get the Bree and Thorin's Hall ports fairly easily. (Although, after reading it a bit more carefully and with a critical eye to the answer, I'm willing to bet that while the question was meant for individual houses, the answer meant in an area near the store/vault/Skirmish trainers in each housing area.)

[MrWarg]

I don't mean to rain on any parades, but I don't think the comment was vague. I think it was pretty clear. Sorry, but we feel it's more important to put the facts out there on some of this stuff than try to tip toe around it.

That is fair enough. I prefer an honest answer even if it is not the news I was hoping for, but of course it is still disappointing for those of us who enjoy PvMP. Thanks for the clarification.

[Elemiire]

I think the only encouraging thing I saw there was the reply to my suggestion about 'combine / refine all'.

Rest of it is frankly worrying. I don't like where this game is going.

[Southpa]

I wish I could say there was a single thing in this chat that made me excited about the near future here, but that would be a lie. The game was far more challenging and the content was far more engaging before everything started getting dumbed and watered down. Anyone's who's been around for the long haul would have a hard time making a case otherwise.

I can't help but think that class revamps are going to be the kiss of death for a lot of people. Had recent changes inspired more confidence in the ability of our new dev crop, perhaps I'd be more optimistic. It hasn't, though. I'm not sure where the data came from pointing to players desiring character progression to live and die by the RNG, but for every person who will play more in hopes of getting those items, there are players who won't even bother and will rather play less. Progression in this game has become naught more than Diablo-esque and that's not something I find appealing in an MMO. The clinch point is that even when you get those items, what are you supposed to do with them??? Run Stoneheight for the 300th time for that 0.5% chance that the wrong Horse-Lord bracelet recipe will drop? Your new system is demotivating at best.

It boils down to the fact that gamers such as myself are now largely forced to find our own challenges in this game rather than have them provided for us - the way they used to be. That's not entertainment to me. The cherry on top is that there is no real reward for challenging yourself anymore, because there is no increase in desirable rewards the way there used to be. Rewards, bragging rights - whatever - don't depend on you and your partners' playing ability anymore - they depend on the RNG. Once that becomes a firm realization among those who take a measure of pride in doing what they do well, there will be no reason for those types of players to hang around anymore. Being that this was obviously a conscious decision by the developers, how should a "real" gamer feel other than ostracized? Cast out? It's quite obvious that this game is not capable of being anything more than a casual distraction for that type of gamer.

If the answer to these questions is that there are still raid challenges to conquer, then the point has been missed completely. There is no longer any reason to complete a challenge more than once. There is no longer a reason to fashion yourself a "good" or "hardcore" player in this game because that dude who's been at level cap for 3 days already has better gear than you do - and no matter how badly you want it or try to get it means you will ever get it.

The great equalizer, indeed.
Meh. The magic this game once had has definitely sailed into the West...