Ask The LOTRO Team – Answers to your questions – February 6, 2014

[Jillymala]

From the link you gave...



It very well may be your PC. We strongly discourage the use of Intel graphic chip sets as they can, and frequently do, cause performance issues. Integrated graphics chips like these in general are not recommended. If you are using this graphics processor I'd recommend not trying to run past medium settings and you may find tuning down from there is needed.

If your PC can support a dedicated, discrete, card I would suggest something like the NVIDIA 6XX series or higher.

Its possible I have the wrong PC link, I will need to check it when I get home. and can relink what I have

[I_Bandar_I]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavil...&skuId=3558093

Its not my pc. The only thing loaded on this is Lotro, chrome, teamspeak, skype and TESO. Most of which are not runing when lotro is.
Lag is everpresent in Evernight (if you watched the live stream hobbit event you'd have seen some)

Its your computer bro. You need a nividia gtx then you won't lag anymore or it will be very minimal during big raids.

Sapience....when are we going to be able to mitigate orc and fell damage in the moors? Also when will the champ red line be fixed?

[Namesse]

Lots of quality of life changes on the horizon, nothing planned for end game experience.

I've been in Lotro since the beginning and I've never had any interest in other games, but I'll be checking out the highly anticipated one that is coming up since game development seems to have stopped here with no new raids or instances planned in the coming year. Maybe I'll like it, maybe I won't, but it's time to see what else is out there.

[Reximus]

While I get that there are a boatload of icons in this game and I honestly don't care if a lvl 95 offhand happens to have the same icon as a lvl 10 weapon, I do get miffed when all of the new crafting mat icons are the EXACT same icons as the previous tier crafting mats. It makes managing you crafting mats much bigger pain than it needs to be. Using cherry icons for pears and red agate icons for emeralds is just sloppy, even if it was intended to be placeholders.

Yeah, I'd rather have crafting items have new icons right away and have gear items recycle icons more often. It's very annoying to have the two most recent tiers of crafting items share icons.

[Sylleecat]

Am I missing something here? I thought the intent was to have new content every quarter? Or is that info not released yet? Revamp is not new content no matter how it is spun. Also I saw more "no" "not planning on it" and "we talked about it" then yes. Very disappointing. I can't believe that the majority of people would rather have some sort of BB then actually have instances and raids. Well to be honest the future of 2014 looks boring. I do have some alts that will enjoy the revamp providing that they don't ruin the classic feel of those areas (such as Dol Dinen, Giants Hall). Overall very disappointing.

This was my thought too. I read the Q&A then reread it. I don't really see much but "possible" "maybe" and "not priority." I love LOTRO, I LotR, and I love this community. I've held faith in the team for all these years and am still clinging to that faith. That being said, there is nothing there to be excited about. It is all a bunch of maybe, nothing to tease excitement. There is a bit of a lower level revamp (great for alts!) and some quality of life issues... but I want to play my main and play with my friend's mains. I don't want to just play alts. I was so excited about taking a year off from expansions, thinking we'd get so many cool things only to see we won't get most of them. Instances? Skirmishes? Raids? Heck I'd even be thrilled if ALL the Big Battles could run in each number of people instead of hit or miss. I'd really like to see all the big battles allow 3 people teams.

Where is our excitement? Where is our teasers or awesomeness for the year to come? Please please give us some tidbits so we have things to look forward to instead wondering which friends we're going to lose for at least a year.

[DanteIL]

After reading through these 42 questions again, here is a follow-up question that I hope can be answered in the near future: Now that it has been made very clear that there will be no new raid content in the coming year, what about new 3- or 6-man instances? I am by no means a raider or even a frequent group player, but I do enjoy the opportunity to do small-group instances when I can. It would be a real shame if there were no new instances in addition to no new raids. Note: I would not count Epic Battles as new instances, although the developers might.

[Celebrawn]

These region revamps always give me some incentive to level my low level alts. Looking forward to them.

[sakisman]

sapience, you chose the multi boss raid question for JWB to answer and I imagine that this means no new instances too. Is that correct?
And are there any very forward plans for 2015 to start with some? or is this A just too far ahead or B not likely anyway.

Just think a little. Roi had a raid because the majority of the player base was at lvl cap and after Roi that changed so less endgame. A year with out an expac may cause the numbers to tip again which may result in more endgame.
this is just speculation but it makes sense.

[SkyWarpPro]

Yeah, I'd rather have crafting items have new icons right away and have gear items recycle icons more often. It's very annoying to have the two most recent tiers of crafting items share icons.

AMEN!

As far as I am concerned, I have no problem having ALL gear items look the same for the same type of item. For instance, all shoe icons look exactly the same with only a color background to differentiate the level/rarity. I think this could be done with cosmetic clothes too.

From a crafting perspective though, I think we need things to look different.

[Mar-Evayave]

My thoughts, as they come to me, and wiithout reading anyone else's comments.

Super awesome that Update 13 will not only have a ND revamp, but also Trollshaws and the Misties!

Super NOT happy about an "Ettenmoors Pass". Turbine, if this goes live, I'm likely going to drop my sub. Freepside PvMP is the only reason I sub. Hey, if the Passes are cheap enough and not going away, then I might use them, but there is zero point in me keeping my sub if the Moors can be so easily accessed without it. -.- I'd rather it stay a VIP perk. Sure, I like the imaginary "bragging rights" that my mind conjures up about being VIP, but I have over 20k TPs and I don't often spend those TPs on much in the store, so the 500 a month isn't a big deal for me. And I can totally easily buy the VIP-free zones (Wildermore is the only one I do not "own"). Right now PvMP is broken, Riddermark's Moors is more or less a wasteland as far as I'm concerned (most of my friends transferred to other servers), but the prospect of freeping once I get my baby Landroval character to max level is one of the few things that are keeping my sub running. I thought the idea was to give more reason to be VIP. Not less reason.

On Moors catapults. What, like in the Epic Battles? O.o

Cool that ToO may be scaled. I wonder -- will Draigoch be scaled with it? Perhaps bring back the Dragoch-scale cloaks for end-game?

More than 3 crafts per profession... *sigh* Yeah, I see the reasoning... wanna make it easier for players who don't feel like switching toons or who don't want to buy extra char slots... Gonna be worthless for me, though. I'm not going to grind all that stuff all over again just so I can have all the crafts on a single toon. If I was a new player? Sure, I'd love this ability (providing the cost is reasonable). But now? I know I probably shouldn't, but it makes me feel like the older sibling watching the younger sibling get something at a younger age than I did. I feel like I've sorta been short-changed. I feel the same way about the possibility of having any class with any race. I have way more humans than I wanted. My captain is a human, but in RP she's actually an elf -- but of course elves can't be captains...

And WOOPIE! Multi-attachment mailing system is in the works! /hamster_dance (<--- btw, that should totally be an in-game emote ^_^)

Also excited to see what kinds of U13 changes are in store for inventory customization. I'd really like to have all the bags squashed together, like a mobile vault. Sure, give us 6 (or more) available tabs on the side to represent those original 6 bags, but still...

-------
*reads everyone else's comments*

At a recent meeting one of the things the art team did was show off a scrolling screen of icons from each game. Far and away the largest set was LOTRO. I had never seen the sheer number of icons in the game displayed in one place at one time. I think players often hyper-focus on the thing they're looking at and miss the big picture. I know, as far as Icons are concerned, I had until I saw that. I would never want to be the person responsible for keeping track of all that.

I know first-hand how that can be. After a few dozen different icons of paper, it gets dull. Leaves the creator thinking to him/herself, "Well, what sort of paper should I draw this time?"

There is a VIP only feature currently in testing for Update 13. Something players have requested often. Once we get through some of the testing we'll be able to talk more about it.

It had better be a wowzer. :/ Don't get me wrong, I love the game (yes, even with it's many bugs and imbalances, etc), but my wallet can live better without going VIP. So if you take the things that make VIP attractive away from VIP, then I'll have zero reason to maintain my sub. And most VIPers probably agree with that statement. Whatever makes VIP attractive to them -- take it away, and you'll likely lose their sub.

It very well may be your PC. We strongly discourage the use of Intel graphic chip sets as they can, and frequently do, cause performance issues. Integrated graphics chips like these in general are not recommended. If you are using this graphics processor I'd recommend not trying to run past medium settings and you may find tuning down from there is needed.

If your PC can support a dedicated, discrete, card I would suggest something like the NVIDIA 6XX series or higher.

Processor or graphics card? I thought Intel processors were pretty commonplace, even on gaming machines.

[Lijane-IC]

Sapience, a little question....is the Lotro Team so blind, to see that the only thing a lot of Players want is a Challenging Multi-Boss Raid like ToO....this is my opinion!!!!

That what you are doing now is neck breaking for this Game, i swear to you, in 2,3,4 months there are no more enough Players on the Servers to keep them Up!

I play now for over 6 years and there is a lot of things that are only disgusting, but HD is from the beginning to the End like Trash....

The BB's are in one way to easy and in the other to hard because there are much bugs, i don´t like them!!!

Sry Sapience, but The Lotro Team is going to Kill this Game, pls think about a new Raid, really a new Raid and not this scaled trash and things like Erebor...

This is my free Opinion!!!!

[Nimrama]

On PvMP:

I like the idea of being able to "buy in" to the freepside of the moors.

This wasn't mentioned here, but this thread: http://www.lotro.com/en/forums/showt...orgul-Sorcerer is something I would love to see happen - whether it's a new class, or even a set of "Angmarim skins" for existing classes. It might seem silly, but I have trouble getting into creep classes when I hate the orc avatar (even though I love the combat). No idea how huge of a task this might be. I think I'm probably not alone, and it might be a means of attracting more people to make creeps that are turned off by having to limp around as an orc, while still maintaining the lore. Gate it behind TP if you like - people who care will get it. (Read: I'll pay money for an Angmarim Sorceress Defiler! )

I too have no interest in catapults - just interested in fighting people directly. Never had problems with lag, but if I did, I'm sure that would be on the top of my list too.

[UnoMuyLoco77]

These responses seem all well and good on the surface, however there is no question answered over the incomplete product called Helm's Deep, in my opinion this expansion should have been delayed until the little epic movie videos and t9 crafting art was included in the release, therefore as it stands the question remains 'How much longer do the players of LOTRO have to endure this season of Open Beta before we see the results we paid for?' I hate to think that this is the NGE that breaks this game for which I care deeply for, how many more changes can Turbine do that will cause mass exodus of players, or does Turbine care anymore? Also with the changes to gear to streamline classes going forward the old gear missed being retuned, I suggest your Zynga Borrowing tactics could be used in borrowing from Diablo having naming conventions in place for all gear using prefixes and suffixes as a means to streamline gear across the whole game, And rather than adding a 4th, paid for, talent to professions this also needs streamlined, update crafting by having gather talents incorporated into the making talents, ie tailors would get hide recipes and woodworkers get wood forming recipes from the forestry talent doing away with that talent altogether, Jewelers only get the prospecting recipes for advancement in jewel craft, etc.

This train of disappointment needs to be derailed now!

[the.vissi0n]

Why even bother with this Q&A when a majority of your answers are so vague it's pointless. That's not why I'm replying though, my gripes:

1.) No New Raids?

Seriously? This is a joke right? Like another person said, what's the point of continuing on with the character I've spent countless hours on, not to mention the monthly subscription I've been paying since the game launched. I believe a majority of MMORPG players (including lotro players) expect endgame content, generally in the form of a raid with bosses. So you want to do the "big battle" system, that's fine but excluding (I imagine) significant playerbase by not adding any additional raids is in my opinion, a mistake and why people have left. It's not even, no new raids planned for the first quarter, it's the entire year! That's just really depressing and maddening at the same time. I'm honestly not even sure why I should continue paying/playing.

2.) I read a mention of revamping old raids which I'm sure the entire server I play on have been in agreement that revamping old raids would be great. Upscale the difficulty and make the rewards accordingly. I'd love to play some old content that's been scaled up. At least it's something to do. The Rift for one but Carn Dum would be fantastic to be able to play again also. These are things you could do more easily and satisfy people to a degree, especially if you're not willing to put in the time and effort to add new raids. I think (opinion) a majority of people would have preferred you didn't go the route of the mounted combat system and instead have continued on the same path and added more group/endgame content rather than warbands. The mounted combat system (to me at least) was kind of a waste. I mostly use my warsteed to kill a mob faster and to get from one place to another faster versus fighting on foot or my normal mount. I'm not saying it's terrible, it's eh, OK.

I'm not trying to come off as super pissed off, etc with this reply but I love this game and it's just saddening to read some of the answers.

[Leixy]

Am I missing something here? I thought the intent was to have new content every quarter? Or is that info not released yet? Revamp is not new content no matter how it is spun. Also I saw more "no" "not planning on it" and "we talked about it" then yes. Very disappointing. I can't believe that the majority of people would rather have some sort of BB then actually have instances and raids. Well to be honest the future of 2014 looks boring. I do have some alts that will enjoy the revamp providing that they don't ruin the classic feel of those areas (such as Dol Dinen, Giants Hall). Overall very disappointing.

The questions state some additional 95 content is coming in U13.

As far as old region revamps, in moria, they added dozens of new quests when they revamped it, some re-made, others completely new to replace pointless quests that were there before, or to give areas of moria meaning where they previously had none.

[Laire]

Hmm...

While I think quality of life changes are excellent, I sorta think this has to take place alongside *group* end-game content. It's a shame that there is no raid planned for 2014, but I would hope that there is then a 6-man planned, at the least.

Or maybe scale the 6-mans terribly neglected in Angmar and Lothlorien? (I mean the battles for Angmar and Lothlorien, the ones at Gath Forthnir and Caras Galadhon). Almost no one ever runs those, so scaling those would be something new for a lot of the player base.

Like many other things, though. Just don't neglect group content

Also- surely I am not the only one interested in more user channel slots per toon? *looks at the rest of everyone*

[x72]

Q10: When can we expect new content in the form of a new multi-boss raid?
A: [JWbarry] – A new raid is not in the plans for 2014.

I'm deeply disappointed, i hope that maybe this thread will bring some hope for raiders, but i was wrong.

Dont get me wrong i would love to see new regions/house/kinship revamp, but when people leaving cause lack of challenging content, and i know that after this thread more people will leave, and more of my friend will leave.
I wish i could understand turbine ,why we dont see any new raids while people (customers) are asking for it over and over again.

At the last few months the only reason i keep logging is to talk with my friends (in game), i dont run stuff anymore casue what the point to gear our toons when we cant put a use to it.
I really hope something will change but right now it doesn't not look good for lotro, let me remind you that not only hard core players enjoy raids but many other people enjoy it.

[frickinmuck]

Pvp is another form of end game. You guys can pvp until 2015 when the new raid comes out. Pvping requires knowing your class and being skillful just as much as challenging raids. I think it requires even more skill because movement is so important and lack of knowing what your opponents will do.

Whats wrong with the keep and op wars? It adds a whole other strategic factor to game. Might as well just fight in a non realistic arena.

I agree. PvP is the most challenging action in the game right now, or has the potential to be. It would be great if all the end-gamers found their way to the moors, and with some of the upcoming fixes, the area was revitalized and found new popularity. And because of the popularity, got a lot more dev love in the future. Think about it, guys!!

Also, I was actually pretty excited about the catapults. I think adding an element of siege battle to the moors could be a lot of fun. If it's something they feel they have the resources to add, why would people complain? It's like, people complain when nothing new is done, and the second one new thing is hinted at, everyone freaks out. I will never understand... The dev made it clear that the other issues people are complaining about will also be addressed, so this is a bonus that could add something new and fun to the dynamic of PvP.

As far as I am concerned, I have no problem having ALL gear items look the same for the same type of item. For instance, all shoe icons look exactly the same with only a color background to differentiate the level/rarity. I think this could be done with cosmetic clothes too.

NOOOOO! This is already a problem in wardrobes. Gear icons need to be at least somewhat different or it's a pain differentiating things. There has to be a better way.

Also- surely I am not the only one interested in more user channel slots per toon? *looks at the rest of everyone*

No, you're not the only one. I am greedy for more channel slots, and ESPECIALLY for a new global chat channel.

[Amondios]

Let me sum up:

Revamping old regions...for what? New players? (Maybe the old ones are too discriminating? :P). Sounds like you´re not interested in your old followers

Most answers sound like: We will do something, sometime, somewhere...maybe...but it will be gorgeous!!

PvmP: A quiet honest answer in my opinion: PvP is dead, there will be no new map or any other "real" feature; just some cosmetics and new ideas for shop-addicts

Respective raids etc.: Two words: No Challenge.


I know you guys got to earn money und conditions (of development) have changed since 2007 but THIS sounds like you take us for fools, sorry

[Gottapee]

Q13: Will Carn Dum et al (not the Rift I know about that), ToO be scaled in near future (2014/15)?
A: [JWbarry] – Carn Dum is not likely. It’s old, crufty, and huge, so it presents a lot of challenges that will take significant time to sort through and implement. ToO is more likely as it was built with scaling in mind. That said, there’s a bunch of work we like to put into instances when we scale them, and we’d like to do that cluster as a whole. There’s some reworking to be done in Dargnákh Unleashed and difficulty swings to be made in The Foundy, in addition to bugfix and polish passes through all the instances. While it is less time than making new ones, it is also generally less satisfying to the community as well. Having all instances available and relevant at cap is still something on the wishlist, but it’s not something we can commit to doing more of this year at this point.

Do it and let the raiders enjoy one last little burst of flame and nostalgia before the "Winter Is Coming"-esque wait for a possible raid in 2015.

[Beaniemooch]

Pvp is another form of end game. You guys can pvp until 2015 when the new raid comes out. Pvping requires knowing your class and being skillful just as much as challenging raids. I think it requires even more skill because movement is so important and lack of knowing what your opponents will do.

Whats wrong with the keep and op wars? It adds a whole other strategic factor to game. Might as well just fight in a non realistic arena.

I'm a R8 minstrel, but I don't PvP very often (only once since HD came out) and I have no interest in that as end game. I do support those that love it however.

You're assuming a raid will be out in 2015. Unless they start working on one NOW, it won't happen. Turbine has already said they are not working on a raid at this time. They've also said raids take 12-18 months iirc, so if they don't even start one until late this year or early 2015 we won't see one until 2016. Too little too late at that point.

They've also said they're not scaling Rift and not scaling Carn Dum or Uru, so to those who mentioned these specific instances, sorry but no dice.

[LethalLethality]

What are user channels?

[Sapience]

What are user channels?

Glff for one. User created chat channels. You are currently limited to 4 active channels.

[Crell_1]

What are user channels?

Anything where you /joinchannel <channel name> and then use /1 (or 2,3,4) to speak depending on how many you have.

Glff would be an example.

[LethalLethality]

Anything where you /joinchannel <channel name> and then use /1 (or 2,3,4) to speak depending on how many you have.

Glff would be an example.

Oh. I've never used them so I was confused.