Roadmap Changes?

[Gedachtnis]

Sapience,

The Producers Letter Discussion Thread has been closed for a while or I would have asked there.

Can we get a statement on if, and if so to what degree is expected, the recent layoffs will impact the near term road map?

U13 was expected in late March, is that still a realistic time? What about U14 which would be expected around June?

If the names we are seeing are correct, it seems that layoffs have gone across Depts. What will this do to the continued Class/Mob adjustments, Housing Update, Area Revamps, the Secret, Mail Upgrade etc. near and long term?

We are often reminded that resources are a large factor in time-frames and priority, with this loss in Developer resources it's hard to imagine plans are not being altered. Can we look forward to an updated Producers Letter?

[Yula_the_Mighty]

The large companies that I've worked for do not do layoffs on the spur of the moment. It take 2-3 months after the layoff decision before the actual cuts take place. Turbine is part of Warner Brothers which is part of Time Warner. Kate Paiz would have known the layoff was in the works when she issued the Producer's letter. The work that will not be done is stuff that was not discussed with us. Or it is work that was already specified as not occurring such as a paid expansion in 2014.

What we may see is quiet loss in support in areas that have not talked about. For example, it appears that Turbine has ended German language telephone support for Lotro. I went to the German support for something. The Contact Us link says submit an email ticket via the support site. I am pretty sure Turbine used to have German speaking account management employees at one point. Or contracted with someone to provide this functionality.

I do not believe Kate Paiz issued updates to the 2013 Producer's letter as the situation changed.

IIRC - The 2013 letter talked about a Housing Update, the majority of which did not occur. Instead the Housing Update is mentioned as being rescheduled for 2014 in the 2014 Producer's letter.

I am thinking any changes in the Producer's Letter for 2014 will be discussed in a round up of 2014 late in the year. Or more likely covered in the 2015 Producer's Letter.

IMHO - The Producer's Letter is more a public relation document than a firm commitment to do stuff. The firm commitment is the internal planning documents that covered by a NDA and not shared to the general public. I believe most American companies due PR documents unless they are small start ups. Or private single owner companies.

As a note. This particular question can up in this thread:
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...re-of-the-game
that was closed by Sapience.

[Gedachtnis]

I understand large companies do not do layoffs on the spur of the moment. They also however often do not share those plans with the management of subsidiary companies, until it's time.

Maybe Kate Paiz was in the loop and maybe she wasn't, maybe she knew the full impact or maybe she didn't, none of us know, nor do I really care.

Whether or not the layoffs will effect the time-lines and priorities is something only Turbine can answer without guessing.

EDIT:

It's well known that every post in every thread isn't read by the Mods. Overlooked or unanswered has nothing to do with the thread devolving to closed status.

[ChampionSword]

Ms. Paiz probably would not want to admit to knowing about the layoffs before they happened, so, if she factored them into the roadmap, we won't be told so. If she didn't, we still won't be told so because it looks very bad for future.



So, this is a question that will not be answered, I think.

[Angadan]

So, this is a question that will not be answered, I think.

Except by Father Time. He will, before 2014 ends, answer it.

[scoughlin]

This is one of the first things I thought about after the feelings of sadness for the people that lost their jobs. It would be in Turbine's best interest to put out a statement reassuring the playerbase that the plans haven't changed since Kate's letter, if that's in fact the case. News of these layoffs has spread like wildfire and people are assuming the worst for their favorite game.

[Gedachtnis]

Except by Father Time. He will, before 2014 ends, answer it.

Sapience likes the Blues Brothers, maybe we can bait him....


"It's three hundred and twenty days to 2015, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."

"Answer it"

[Stniuk]

Sigh, looks like the end of the line tbh.