Frelorn Q&A from Livestreams

[Mar-Evayave]

6. Frelorn is going to try and slot more time in the future for the streams maybe 2 hrs so he can accomplish more but he has a meeting to go to today. He will see if he can fit 2 days maybe in a week like Tuesday or Thursday.

If someone gets the opportunity (or if Frelorn reads this), could we have some streams on other days of the week as well? I'd really like to view some of these, but (naturally) I am in class for the entire afternoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays until the middle of December.

[Eldalleth]

FRELORN LIVESTREAM 9/25/2014

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Announcements

Frelorn gives a shout out to Monolith Studios they are part of the Warner Bros family, they will be launching Shadow of Mordor the following week. It will be available on PC and Console and they are one big happy family so he wanted to give them a shout out.

Frelorn reminds everyone to watch The Tolkien Professor Special Livestream Wednesday October 1st 1PM EDT (-4 GMT) The Tolkien professor, Corey Olsen (http://www.mythgard.org) will be joining our very own Chris Pierson to discuss Tolkien lore and LOTRO and everything in-between on Wednesday October 1st at 1pm Eastern (-4GMT) on http://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream in to see what the professor thinks of LOTRO, his thoughts on the in-game recreation of Tolkien lore and ask your questions. Frickinmuck will be transcribing the chat and it will be added to the Lotro Livestreams thread.

Q&A

1. Frelorn had a new background as the opening for today's stream and music as well. Lots in chat are debating what the background and music are from.
   He mentions that he is going to try and do that more often as a lead in to let others know the stream will be starting soon. The image is from Rohan-Eaves of Fangorn and the music is part of Update 14. He is working on getting screenshots and graphics that can be added to live streams from players.
2. Someone in chat mentions that Shadow of Mordor had an Orc Takeover over their twitter stream and that it was really fun to watch.
   Frelorn adds on that it was really fun to watch and that the orcs were doing movie and product reviews and even trolling some companies like Burger King. You can see that here.
3. Frelorn mentions that he plans to bring back Throwback Thursday and also having a day of the week where he will give prizes for user submitted screenshots, more information to come.
4. Question in chat Why can't my launcher connect to the patch server?
   Have you tried running the launcher in admin, by right clicking on it and run as admin? Also make sure antivirus and everything are good, you can also submit a ticket to support.turbine.com
5. Someone in chat mentions they have considered rolling a character on Gilrain and catching up to him.
   Frelorn answers that would not be difficult at all as he is a very slow leveler he likes to enjoy the story.
6. Frelorn asks if anyone did anything cool or fun in game in celebration of Hobbit Day?
   Couple of people mention kins getting together and doing things, Dwarrowdelf had a celebration in Hall of Fire with Bilbo.
7. Someone in chat mentions that they are having trouble getting twitch followers watching their livestreaming.
   If you are streaming, go ahead and tweet out to the @Lotro account that you are streaming Lotro and he will retweet to the Lotro followers and get you more followers. It is one of the things he is working on.
8. A question is asked about what level he is currently as the stream is not very clear.
   They are still working on reaching out to Twitch about the quality, Twitch has been very busy with them being recently acquisitioned, Turbine is a Twitch partner so it shouldn't be that difficult getting it done for the Lotro stream. If you have ever watched one of the Infinite Crisis streams you have seen the quality selector so it is possible.
9. Someone in chat mentions that Lotro should have chocolate how could you possibly live without chocolate.
   Frelorn says he could live without it as he's not a huge fan of chocolate but will definitely check with the team and see if it fits in the lore, he isn't sure
10. Frelorn mentions that he wants to respond to something he saw on Twitter the other day, someone mentioned that they don't think he reads his forum private messages.
    He says as anyone who runs a kinship or a community can attest to you get a supreme amount of pm's every day. Along with everything else he does he does read them, if it's something that requires his immediate attention he does respond. If it's something that can wait it does get put on his list of things to get done. Also, he doesn't do read receipts and some people do put them on there, they bug him, he does however read all the pm's he gets it just takes a bit playing catch up at times.
11. Has MadeofLions seen the way you skip through reading the quest dialog he works so hard on?
    Nope, otherwise he probably would throw things at him.
12. Do you know if the Paths of the Dead respawn rate is based on the amount of people in the area?
    If he remembers correctly its based on the amount of things getting killed in the area so if a lot of mobs are getting killed in an area it would make sense that they are respawning faster. So yes in a way it does have to do with the amount of people in the area if they are all killing things.
13. When will Update 15 come out?
    He knows but he can't say right now, they will have info on the update in a few more weeks as the information becomes available. He will say Update 15 looks pretty good.
14. Is Update 15 out on Palantir yet?
    He thinks it might be, if not it will be there very soon.
15. It was once talked about making additional character slots available before the release of the Beorning is that still possible?
    He is going to check on that and find out.
16. Frelorn mentions that he isn't sure if he will be able to be around on Thursday the 2nd as he believes he has jury duty, he will let us know for sure.

[OldMadeOfLions]

[*]Has MadeofLions seen the way you skip through reading the quest dialog he works so hard on?

Well I have now! >_<

MoL

[Eldalleth]

Well I have now! >_<

MoL

*looks at Frelorn* can't shoot the transcriber/messenger

[Frelorn]

It was once talked about making additional character slots available before the release of the Beorning is that still possible?
He is going to check on that and find out

So without giving out all the infos, the answer to this one is a big ole' yes.

[Sullo]

so without giving out all the infos, the answer to this one is a big ole' yes.

woooooooo!

[Moochi]

So without giving out all the infos, the answer to this one is a big ole' yes.

woooooooo!

The guy who asked the question during the stream, Scoed(t), adds his woot! Thanks for checking on this and posting the findings

[Cartman76]

So without giving out all the infos, the answer to this one is a big ole' yes.

Good stuff

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 10/9/2014

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Announcements
Be sure and check out the new Executive Producers Letter on the forums. Found here As Frelorn mentioned on that thread to answer some questions it is not a complete listing of everything being released in Update 15 or it would need to be renamed Update 15 release notes and they aren't giving us those yet.
Bullroarer will be up and open on Friday please test out Update 15 but keep in mind that it is not the finished product there will be bugs and fine tuning please report bugs.
Frelorn mentions that he was indeed gone for jury duty last week and was sorry he missed the stream. He apologizes that he is not himself today as there were server login issues last night so he was up until 3am.

Q&A
Video stream #1- http://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream/b/576414740 Video stream #2 http://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream/b/576417201 Video stream #3 http://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream/b/576423976

1. Someone in chat asks about the music that was used in the beginning of the stream.
   Frelorn answers that is music from Update 14 he is hoping to make that available to us soon.
2. He does now have the quality adjustor for the twitch stream and mentions to let him know how it looks.
   Some in chat mention that it does need adjusting. Frelorn ends the video stream for a few moments while he adjusts the quality.
3. Frelorn mentions that he is thinking of pausing the leveling up on his minstrel and streaming from Bullroarer for a bit next week.
   [Stream is ended temporarily for another fine tuning of the settings on the stream see Video stream 3 listed above for the majority of the feed. ]-Eldalleth
4. There is conversation in chat about the Executive Producers Letter one of the things that is mentioned is the Legendary Item Update being moved to further out.
   Frelorn mentions that they were disappointed with not being able to get the legendary item changes in for this update. As Rowan states they would rather wait and put in a good system than put it in early and have it not be good. It is one of those things where they are always going to choose quality over speed. He would rather have it be really good and complete and work well and all that stuff than have it be incomplete and unfinished and rush it out the door. Doing something like that can and would come back to bite them.
5. Someone asks are the Beorning coming out in Update 15?
   Yes they are and he is pretty stoked about it.
6. Will you reach level 100 before Beornings come out?
   No, not unless he abandoned everything else he does at his job but thats okay. He will likely run a stream as a Beorning as well though. He does want to get more of these streams going.
7. Someone asks when Bullrorarer will be updated and open for playing tomorrow.
   Frelorn answers that he doesn't have an exact time for the downtime yet but will give that information when he has it available.
8. How are Beornings in the Moors will they have a purpose or be OP?
   That is a good question he doesn't have the answer to right now.
9. In the Moors the Beornings will camouflage themselves as mild mannered bears and then sneak attack creeps?
   While entertaining, no he doesn't believe that will be the case. Once you get your hands on them you will find out their capabilities.
10. Its going to be amusing after people roll Beornings that name their class Pooh Bear, Yogi etc.
    Frelorn says already done those names are his
11. Can we get goat cosmetic pets, they are adorable and I would love to have one to follow me around?
    He agrees and says they are kinda cute and he would totally love that too.
12. Will Beornings have bear mounts?
    That would be a little weird. We heard you like bears so we put a bear on your bear. Um yeah I dont think thats going to happen.
13. Well the Beornings dont have to be in bear form while on a bear.
    He still doesn't see that happening.
14. Do we call you Andy or Frelorn?
    You can call me either one or anything he has been called Frelorn since he started with Turbine in 2004, he doesn't mind either. Within reason he doesn't mind being called anything call him Joe Bob for that matter.
15. Do the developers refer to each other by real names or forum names while in the office?
    Real names they have name tags on their desks.
16. Could Beornings have pet rabbits which hop on their backs?
    I suppose they could that would be amazing but not gonna happen sorry they dont.
17. How much will Central Gondor cost and will the Beorning come with it like the wardens did with Moria?
    He doesn't know the answer to that yet and the person who might is not standing behind him. As with everything he will let us know when he knows.
18. Will Beornings need fishing poles or will they just dive in?
    That would be amazing that would be beyond epic but he doesn't think thats going to happen.
19. Is this stream for beginners as I am seeing a lot of seasoned players in chat?
    It is for anyone that wants to watch . He has been getting some help from some of the more seasoned players in chat since this is a class he doesnt know.
20. Is there any chance you can have Jinjah give me a call I have some champion complaints for him?
    More than likely no.
21. Indistinguishable question regarding asking other players for help.
    Never be afraid to ask for assistance. He has never been afraid to ask others for help in the game and hopefully others feel the same. Everyone has a different experience, his goal and hope is that everyone has a good experience in the game.
22. What is your absolute favorite class?
    Ive had a guardian Ive played forever I like more tanky characters, I did enjoy my captain a little bit too.
23. Will you aim to make leveling more exciting ? I have a hunter that seems to always be doing the same type of things.
    I am not a developer but I would like to say we hopefully try to make things more exciting. If you have suggestions about how to make things better please feel free to post them on the forums they are read.
24. What level should I level a character up to on Gilrain if I wanted to join you for group content?
    He will let everyone decide what would be the best one to join together with him for.
25. What region is your favorite and has the most emotional attachment for you as a Lord of the Rings fan?
    He enjoys Moria, its really well done and he likes the Rift way back in the day he loved doing Rift runs.

[giantvageto]

Just a quick question when is the new beorning class coming out on lotro and will it just be for one race or all i heard it was just for man

[Star-Man_1976]

Just a quick question when is the new beorning class coming out on lotro and will it just be for one race or all i heard it was just for man

It will come out with Update 15 that is in testing on Bullroarer right now, and it's for the new race Beorning that only have one class, Beorning.

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 10/16/2014

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.
If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Announcements
-A few new things on Bullroarer for Friday (10/17/2014). Level up NPC's will be available but Racial and Class trait npc's will still be unavailable.
-He may take a deviation next week from his usual minstrel leveling and adventure on to Bullroarer as a Beorning if its up and available.
-Quality adjustment on the twitch video should seem higher quality now.

Q&A
Video can be found here.

1. When do recommended servers change?
   Whenever they change them, he is actually not sure on the tech on that, he believes its something they go and refresh how that works. He will check on that for us.
2. Will there be Beorning Houses?
   He does not believe so, don't hold him to that he doesn't know for sure never thought to ask that question directly.
3. Have they removed the ability to use an xbox controller in Lotro as mine is not functioning with it?
   He is not sure, he doesn't think they would intentionally remove it but he doesn't know.
4. Is it still plans to have the new music instruments in Update 15?
   He knows the musical updates are still in Update 15, musical instruments may be in 15.1 he is not sure.
5. Do we know anything new about the update for Housing, the waiting would be easier with some kind of housing contests?
   He doesn't know anything in particular but that doesn't mean much right now, so let him look into that one for us.
6. Will we hear anything about the 2015 road map soon? Or will Rowan wait until the beginning of next year?
   Yes you will hear more about that after Update 15 is out that is his plan, once everyone has had a chance to play. Post Update 15 there will be an update to the plans that are going to happen moving forward.
7. Will the current races have classes open to them dwarf captain etc?
   He knows of nothing like that but it doesn't mean that its not going to happen just have to wait and see.
8. Question in chat regarding the Turbine layoffs on Wednesday the 15th and who specifically from Lotro may be gone.
   He knew this was going to come up, he is only going to address this one time, its the proverbial elephant in the room. There was a layoff on Wednesday, a number of employees were laid off across the board. He will not get into specifics of who was let go and who wasn't that is personal and not up to him to say who was let go. They (Turbine) ask that the players please respect that as far as that goes, its just what it is. As far as Lotro, it doesn't affect the plans moving forward, the road map is set and they are going to forge forward on it. That's all he is going to say on it.
9. Have you ever played DDO?
   Yes he actually played it for a while when it launched.
10. Are there any plans within the pipeline to sort lag issues in the Ettenmoors as it has been a problem for quite a while now?
    Frelorn says they are always looking for ways to improve the server performance, the Ettenmoors is no difference than that. It is definitely in the road map to improve performance, they are constantly balancing everything out. He will reassure us that it is something they are looking into and not just for the Ettenmoors.
11. Are you considering adding a new Creep Race when you do the PvP update?
    You say the PVP update like we are doing a PvP update, they may do some stuff with PvMP, they may not its not for him to say. Thats down the road stuff, if they do something like that he will let our illustrious producer speak to the players about that.
12. You used to do calendar wallpapers and backgrounds but haven't done any in the last 6 months are they not being done anymore?
    Thats a bandwidth thing, they used to have more staff on the community team that has moved on to other projects or what not, so a matter of can it be fit into the schedule. He can look into adding them back in, but he has to look and see where things stand.
13. Frelorn do you still visit Asheron's Call from time to time?
    Yes, Asheron's Call was his first love, his first MMO and he absolutely revisits.
14. Frelorn please make sure the Lottery gets repaired.
    He can ask but, that system did not like them very much. [Note from Eldalleth-the Lottery system suffered a major crash and became unusuable following a large server database issue following a power outage at one of their locations last year. ]
15. Do you employ people from around the world or do you only employ in the America's?
    The office is in Boston, so everyone that works for them that lives in the area, they do have people from around the world that work for them but you have to be able to physically be there in their office.
16. Are there any plans to move away from repatterned robes and "tablecloth" caprisions for mounts?
    He doesn't know but can certainly ask about them, he hasn't seen what some of the rewards look like for Update 15. He knows of rewards but hasn't seen what they look like. He is not a developer, they don't let him near the developer tools. That would be a bad thing. He can pass on our input but beyond that we don't want him designing he has the fashion sense of a very unfashionable person.
17. Will you ever make another raid like the Rift of Nurz Ghashu and Tower of Orthanc?
    Maybe, he doesn't know for sure what the future holds, anything is possible.
18. Indistinguishable question about live events like were done during the Shadows of Angmar days?
    Frelorn answers they are looking into doing more live stuff in the not so distant future should be lots of fun.
19. Have you considered removing class trainers or giving them another function they are pretty useless right now?
    He doesn't know if there are any plans for them. [Note from Eldalleth-class trainers still give the legendary book page quests for class trait points.]
20. Player in chat says, I have a fear of no one watching my streams when I stream.
    Don'thave a fear of no one watching, he has a personal channel he occasionally streams on at home when he is playing non lotro stuff. If they watch they do, if they don't they don't. If you enjoy what your doing and streaming and occasionally commenting you may pick up some followers along the way. You have the option of not putting yourself on camera or even not talking if you choose to. Its good practice for Frelorn since he is a native Massachusetts person it has helped him to get rid of the Boston accent. Now he is working on verbal crutches like um and doubling up on words. It is helping him to be a better speaker and talking in a clear and concise manner.
21. What is your streaming channel name?
    Its just Frelorn search in the twitch channels for the address. He doesn't stream as often on it as he used to he hasn't been on there as much as he should be to be honest. http://www.twitch.tv/frelorn
22. Have you chosen a crafting profession?
    Nope.
23. What streaming software are you using?
    Xsplit, At home he uses OBS and Xsplit depends on which computer he is on.
24. Is there any plans for a character revamp graphically?
    They are always trying to improve things in the game but he doesn't know of that in the plans at the moment that would be a good question for a stream with Rowan.
25. Will the legendary item imbuing start at level 100 even though it has been delayed until post Update 15?
    He doesn't know but he can ask. [Eldalleth note- Rowan has answered this question in the Executive Producers thread here and here ]

[Apologies for the delay in getting the transcript up, had a good reason though husband came home from a military deployment last week so was a bit distracted lol-Eldalleth]

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 10/23/2014

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.
If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Announcements

• Bullroarer will be up on Friday the 24th of October. Be sure and download Bullroarer on the forums and give feedback they do listen is is valuable and Frelorn is asking them to be more active on there.
  
• A number of people have asked about the streaming stuff previously and he does have that stuff he is waiting on the dust to settle post Update 15, there is a lot of moving parts to go with the streaming stuff that he wants to get done that he just doesn't have the time for right now with Update 15 coming.
  
• They will be going back to some of the Community Update Streams that used to be done with special info type stuff etc. If there is something you want mentioned on any of his streams announcement/event wise please send Frelorn a pm on the forums and he will put it on the list and call it out.

Player Event this weekend over on Landroval WindyAcres Ranch - Mystery contest and charity auction. Saturday October 25 4pm EST/server time
Solve-a-Mystery: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?555104-LANDROVAL-Solve-A-Mystery-Roleplay-Contest-Sat-Oct-25-at-4pm-EST-server
Charity Auction:https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?556626-LANDROVAL-Charity-Auction-Sat-Oct-25-at-4-00pm-EST-server-in-Raglan-Bree
Thanks so much for your support!

Q&A

1. Can you change the details/markings on the Beorning's face?
   Yes it is details option 1 and with Detail Colour you can change the color of the markings.
   Keep in mind that everything you see on this stream is still a Beta Build some things may change between now and live.
2. Why are there no Lotro streamers?
   There are several people that stream Lotro, if you follow him on Twitter you will have seen at least one community member that streams every night that he has been sharing. There are more they just aren't getting as much publicity yet, but when he starts the streaming program, there will be more. He plans for there to be incentives and stuff like that.
3. Has the lore been figured out about how having Beorning's killing other animals fits with the lore it seems very against their nature?
   Thats a good question for Chris Pierson who we will have on stream again and is something that can certainly be brought up. He doesn't have an actual date for a stream like that yet. However, he will be able to ask questions like that a little more freely after next week when they get moved around again and he will be closer in proximity to the other team members.
4. Question about having trouble opening the store while on a Mac OS.
   They are investigating an issue where if you have updated to the newest Mac OS that its not opening, once they have verified or confirmed if there is a workaround for it they will let us know.
5. Do you know when the release date is for Update 15?
   He knows but can't say yet they are getting the last week or so of testing in, hopefully in the near future he will be able to give us a date. Early November is all he can say for now.
6. What determines the color of the bear fur on a Beorning?
   The color of hair you choose for your character.
7. Will there be at least one more update to Bullroarer?
   Yes it will go up on Friday the 24th.
8. Will there be a way to adjust the look of the bear in the future same way as you would a captain pet?
   Possibly, he doesn't know for sure yet in a perfect world sure, but he won't know anymore on that for a while yet.
9. Comments in chat about the Pelagir Epic Battle some had lots of trouble with it some had little to no problems.
   Frelorn mentions with it being beta there will still be changes and feedback helps with that and even once Update 15 is up they welcome continued feedback to make things better.
10. Are Beornings going to be set like elves to be unable to kill the little mini grey forest animals?
    That is a good question he doesn't know but he will definitely ask. *Frelorn*
11. Someone from Anduin Radio in chat mentions having sent Frelorn multiple pm's with no response and asks him to check them.
    If you have sent him pm's in the past earlier on its no secret the forums private messaging had some issues for him since his account was in a dormant state for a while they had to do some things to get it working. It should be working now, send the message again he will get back to you as soon as he can.
12. Has a price been set for the Beorning pack and Gift of Valar?
    He is assuming it has been normally he would turn around and ask QuarterMasterU, but he is off filming some wicked cool stuff. *Frelorn*
13. Players Council will be in the office next week he is going to try and convince them to come on stream and say hi to everyone.

[YamydeAragon]

... Has the lore been figured out about how having Beorning's killing other animals fits with the lore it seems very against their nature? ...

When Gandalf & company were staying overnight at Beorn lodge, he warned them to don't wander outside at night if they hear noises, because will be dangerous. Bilbo wondered if Beorn could kill them while on bear form. Gandalf also told them before, that Beorn bear form was not as rational as Beorn man form & he took great care to don't enrage Beorn, when Gandalf asked him for hostage. Beorn was sensible about discussion of animal pelts, but he killed a lot of goblins & wargs, & hung their heads & hides at his yard. He certainly was no pacifist. Still on bear form he was not a unleashed beast without bearings. He followed the company on bear form, all the way to Mirkwood but never hurt them. Yet Gandalf warned Bilbo about not looking the bear in the eyes (beasts understand direct eye contact as a sign of challenge).

There seems to be a few contradictions about Beorn, but those are contradictions also found in true bears. Bears are powerful beast very territorial & with terrible bad temper, yet they dont attack without provocation & (excluding polar bear that is completely carnivorous) they are mainly vegetarian but they do kill other animals & eat meat when they are in need.

[Thurallor]

Come now, we never kill our foes in this game, we merely defeat them.

For animals, after we defeat them we take their hides. But after that, they are free to go about their business.

[Pherenn]

It's good you're giving feedback on this. No need to suffer through when you can speak up and get some revisions made to help with any problems you are having.

Frick: Are you still doing the transcriptions? I am looking for the Dec 2014 one. Thanks!

Pherenn
Player council member 2014

[StarLightning]

Frick: Are you still doing the transcriptions? I am looking for the Dec 2014 one. Thanks!

Pherenn
Player council member 2014

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...91#post7288691

[Eldalleth]

Apologies I just realized that I had added the last few Frelorn Q&A streams into the main Livestreams thread that we usually use for Update Posts. I'm going to delete from there and move them over here to keep continuity. Should be done by tomorrow

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 11/13/2014

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.
If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Video can be found here

Announcements

• Frelorn comments on new desk location due to construction this makes his 3rd desk change lol. He is glad to be back streaming they took a break due to Update 15 preview stream and Frelorn being sick.
• Frelorn says the team has been enjoying watching and gauging reactions on the Beornings since U15 and the 15.1 hotfix, how they are being played, its been pretty cool.
• Frelorn apologizes he is still trying to get over the epic flu and as such will be drinking a lot. He mentions its also been crazy busy lately with updates and the move. He knows that there are pm's he is still catching up on, even on emails he has been way behind.

Q&A

1. Question: You mentioned a while ago about possibly making a twitch streaming group for streamers and providing overlays and music things.
   Still in the works he has some of the assets and music together, with everything else that was going on with the update and the move it was put to the side so he could make sure with it being his first time doing Lotro release notes making sure that was ready took a bit longer. He thinks he has the hang of it, so short answer yes it is still something they are going to do he hasn't forgotten about it.
2. Question: Can you overlay the twitch chat into the stream?
   Someone mentioned that recently actually Leo, there are third party programs that can do it, that is on his list of things to do. Joke is made by Greymaster in chat referring to Frelorn kinda being like Santa Claus with a jingle- Greymaster: He's making a list, he's checking it twice, he's going to do his best to make the stream lookin' nice...Frelorn-Claus is coming to town...
3. Question: Why are you not playing a Beorning?
   This is the one he started before Beornings went live so he will continue with leveling this character for now.
   Frelorn shares a comment from Bludborn in chat- If any of you have not had a chance to check out my stream, it's simply twitch.tv/bludborn @lotro has been retweeting it quite a bit, Thanks Frelorn! I love having people in the chat. Frelorn adds in that anyone who wants to stream and have theirs retweeted when they are running lotro just tweet @lotro and/or @Frelorn if you have a general schedule he can keep an eye out for even better.
4. Question: Still no word on any raids *pops hope token*?
   He has no new information at this time.
   Frelorn points out the shiny new following buttons that QuartermasterU and a few others put on the twitch page in their spare time and thanks them.
5. Question/Comment: Aratheart mentions Frelorn should do the Old Forest flower deed while he is in there.
   Frelorn says he is on a mission to Bamfurlong but will definitely do that at some point when he has time.
6. Question: Any word on when the music system will be fixed?
   It is not in a place where we are completely happy with it and are exploring our options for making it better, we know that many of our players are unhappy with it and are investigating it further. (Eldalleth note: it is mentioned on the forums that Update 15.1 will reverse the music system changes).
7. Question: Will the Lotro Store have Gift of the Valar be back on sale in the store again?
   Yes it will be at some point he does not have a date as to when but the answer is yes for sure it will be.
8. Question: Any thoughts or ideas about a new creep class?
   He has tons of thoughts and ideas but they don't trust him with developing that kind of stuff.

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 11/20/2014

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Announcements

Thoughts go out to those in New York dealing with all of the snow hang in there.
Frelorn mentions he wants to show everyone something a little different, they have set up in their offices a live version of Pac Man because well it was something neat and several of them had come in early and helped to set it up. That space used to be more cubes and is now being used as a social area, its an after hours hang out.

Note that sometime in the next few days they will be turning on the Lotro Crash Handler, it doesn't handle crashes but in turn when it crashes will send them data, so if you notice your having performance issues after a crash, you shouldn't notice it since they have tested it but you may notice after a crash the Lotro Crash Handler showing in your programs. The file size is equivalent of a small notepad size document.

Bullroarer build went up on Friday the 21st for 15.1, they did initial testing of the 6 man Pelargir. They need feedback on it so they can determine if its ready for prime time.

Q&A

Question: Can you speak to the downtimes recently other than to say there has been a rash of downtimes?
It's been kind of a perfect storm, as they released earlier this week (last week) they had to do critical updates for Windows issues, some of those computers probably hadn't seen updates in a long time. These window updates on server machines can do some weird things sometimes, they don't always do the updates because it takes time away from the Developers doing their job and on top of that there is too many variables as to what can effect the stability. The rest of it was perfect storm of bad timing, authentication servers can get funky, just additional stuff happening. There are so many different systems that effect different things and they have been working unbelievably long hours to get it fixed. Even though you see similar messages for each downtime it has been for different reasons.
Question: Are you going to try and solve lag?
Lag is a very general term, there is client lag, server lag, video lag, so just saying lag is a very broad term. When are you lagging? Where are you located? What machine are you running? The lag we see now is isolated to individuals or regions. Moors and the lag is a constant ongoing investigation, stay tuned to the Producers Letter its coming soon and he will hopefully have stuff in there on that.
Question: Can you speak to solo/duo Pelargir not seeming to earn Platinum?
There will be more info on that on the Bullroarer Notes stay tuned. [Eldalleth Note: these notes can be found here -
Question: Will the Beorning be nerfed in 15.1?
As far as he can see looking at the notes there is nothing he would classify as a nerf more just things that needed to be fixed.
Question: Any changes to the Music System?
For now in Update 15.1 they are going to roll back to the previous music system, then they are going to try looking at the system again in a future update what can or can't be done, for now though they don't want to hurt things that the players have already got set up for festivals etc.
Reminder about the thread Your Top 10 bugs, little quality of life fixes. Thread can be found here.
Question: Possibility of Osgiliath Pvp?
Anything is possible.
Question: What is the Beornings defined fellowship role?
He is not the person that can answer that but please ask that on the forums so a developer can chime in. *Frelorn*
Bad bear puns take over in the background courtesy of QuartermasterU and in chat as well.
Question: When will U15.1 happen as there are many events that would like the music system back?
After thanksgiving but before Christmas is all he can say.
Question: Do you get much positive feedback on your streaming on Twitch?
He hasn't had any negative feedback as of yet other than from his friends.
Question: How many people will a server hold logged in at one time?
We will never tell that number, not even going to put a P.R. answer on that one, there are certain things we won't share, it can hold a lot of people that's all he will say.
Question: Will we ever get an appearance overhaul?
Frelorn: I still think with graphics turned up we have one of the most beautiful landscapes, that being said anything is possible.
Question: Any chance of the quest limit cap being removed or increased significantly?
That's a good question to ask he will look into that. *Frelorn*
Question: Any chance of the mouse zoom being fixed?
He did see that mentioned in the Top 10 bugs and it is being looked into.
Question: Any word on Song of Aid for minstrels being worked on?
He will look into that and see if he can find an answer. *Frelorn*

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 12/4/2014
Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.
If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post. Unless otherwise noted all answers to questions posted are Frelorn's answers. If there is a special guest I will note them answering the questions.

Announcements
New build of Bullroarer on 12/5/2014. Update 15.1 will be coming pending a successful launch of Bullroarer, we will announce next week a date for 15.1 for everyone.

Q&A

1. Question: You have gray hairs in your beard is Lotro doing that to you?
   Nope lotro made my hair go away thats why I wear a hat.
2. Question: Can we make Warsteed Cosmetics account wide and reduce warsteed dye costs?
3. That is something he can certainly bring up to the team but he is not the one to make that call.
4. Question: Ive heard speculation that the Beornings will be getting nerfed?
5. The notes I have right now for Bullroarer I do not see anything that is reflective of a nerf, as always things are subject to change and adjustment.
6. Question: As music team is all in house now, what is the music directors plans going forward, do they have any exciting surprises?
7. We have a meeting with our music director next week to talk about that stuff. So more to come, I suspect we won't hear much until after the new year. I know one of the things we do want to focus on as a whole is taking a look at the music system as obviously for Update 15.1 we have to roll back the music system, so planning to see what we can do to make it better.
   Thanks for sharing your bugs and Quality of life fixes on the forums, I have handed off an extensive list to the dev team for them to look at and see what they can tackle, a lot of people did do bug reports which was helpful, and they are going to see what they can tackle and what they cannot.
8. Question: Will there be a 2nd beta build for 15.1?
   Yes as mentioned at the beginning of the stream in case it was missed there will be (was) another beta build.
9. Question: What kind of holiday specials will Turbine be offering this year?
   QuarterMaster U is not behind me so I can not specifically answer for holiday, he is in an important meeting that I'm not allowed to tell you what it is about, normally I would be in that meeting but since I did not stream last week I didn't want to miss another week.
10. Question: When is the Yule Festival?
    I believe it is on December 16th I don't believe anything has changed there. {Eldalleth note: Forums lists it as December 16th.}
11. Question: Is there an ETA on Producers Letter?
    Stay tuned for details, they are being worked out as we speak. So as soon as I have information on the Producers Letter I will definitely share it.
12. Question: Can you tell us where the bat cave is?
    Underneath the streets of Gotham City, laughs.
13. Question: Is there any progress on giving us easy ways to swap builds during Epic Battles? Like adding tabs to our skills or something?
    Nothing that I am aware of, I know they have seen the request but I don't have information on if its something that can or will make it into the game.
14. Question: Do we have an answer for the questions highlighted in the previous transcript?
    He will look at them again.
15. Question: What would be Beornings defined role?
    They don't have a specific defined role, its how you play them, we got away from pigenholing classes into specific roles, when I began playing minstrels were all about healing and now look at me just wiping stuff out. Its whose playing the Beorning, what do you need them to do in a group or what is their play style.
16. Question: Are we getting new instances in 2015? Im not talking about Big Battles.
    I would say anything is possible, I don't have an answer for you but I won't say no.
17. Question: Streaming stuff[Eldalleth Note: Missed full question in chat and it wasn't repeated]
    I have a document on my desktop, we will be inviting some of you guys to become official streamers, I'm just waiting on one thing in particular and that thing has come to be, so as soon as I get that thing in my hands, which is dependent on one person. As most things in my life are. What that official streamers what that is, if any of you follow us on Infinite Crisis even DDO to a lesser extent now. We do official streamers, you all agree to this light fluffy terms and conditions type thing, we will give you access to become part of the official streamers and we would put together this stream page, which would be a separate page Lotro stream team.
    
    For some people who reach certain milestones or whatever the criteria we set up are, we would give them access to stream on the Offical Lotro Stream. We would promote your page and give you goodies for giveaways, turbine points to giveaway things to incentivize people to come and watch. If he can get that stuff back before holiday break we will start it up if not after the 1st of the year. Its just a matter if he can get everything set up the right way in time after he gets the document finished. In the meantime make sure and follow us on twitter, when he is awake at night and sees someone streaming and he is tagged he retweets it. Help them promote the game we all love to play, stop into their chat say hi.
    
    Special Guest Jinjaah enters the Lotro Twitch chat room
    
18. Question refresh about Beorning roles for Jinjaah as Frelorn believes he is better geared to answer that question.
    Jinjaah: Beorning roles: I think Frelorn in the past has done a good job of explaining the idea that we don't really like to put classes into specific roles anymore. We like the idea that classes can sort of branch out and fulfill multiple roles if they want however if you were to say what roles are the beorning I would say its safe to say red is dps, simple blue is probably best served as an off tank rather than a primary and yellow being a great instance or offhealer.
19. Question: Are there any plans to expand the Beorning intro instance, or return to that area later? I kept expecting to visit that mountain... Or have I just not got to that yet?
    Jinjaah: Thats certainly something we can discuss with Madeoflions in the future, but currently no plan
20. Question: Armour will the agi stuff be made into might for beornings or do we have to barter for them again once available, if at all?
    Jinjaah: In most cases, it is acquiring the new piece.
21. Question: Any idea on when are we getting the producer's letter? If cant answer it its all right. keep the amazing job!
    Jinjaah: I just work the mines, you have to talk to the foreman about that
22. Question: Are there any plans to allow Beornings to be in bear form for roleplay purposes? and to allow them to play instruments or do emotes in bear form?
    Jinjaah: This is something we continue to discuss but I don't really have a good idea on an update at this time.
23. Question: Jinjaah are there any plans to add an interrupt in man form
    Jinjaah: maaaaaybbeeee.. yes
24. Question: Jinjaah any thought on the design of Shelob yet, gotta make her hairy, scary, and MASSIVE I am thinking
    Jinjaah: I can't look at spiders, it's my kryptonite
25. Question:Jinjaah -- are the racial weapons of clubs set for beornings? as stated in many forum post axes would be better and closer to what many see as more true to Lore
    Jinjaah: For now yes they are. We can look at this later, but we also have more clubs in the oven for the future so maybe this won't be that bad down the road?
26. Question: Frelorn is there any possibility of having additional Live Streams? Seeing as we are coming up on significant areas... would be lovely to hear from the lore experts and other people as to what they are tapping into for Osgiliath or Minas Tirith? Maybe hearing from MadeofLions on our part(s) in those stories?
    Frelorn - yes absolutely is the short answer because we know that it is important to you.
27. Question:Jinjaah All the races get an e-mail after the first instance. They get the tokens of commendations with the quest that get's along with the mail. Beornings don't get that (So they miss on some morale potions/pocket item). Is there a chance of getting that quest/mail/thing??
    Jinjaah: Throw a bug in on that.

Many thanks to GreyMaster for assisting with retrieving the questions and answers during Jinjaah's time in chat.

[Eldalleth]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 12/18/2014
Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.
If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post. Unless otherwise noted all Announcements and answers to questions posted are Frelorn's answers. If there is a special guest I will note them answering the questions.

Announcements
Update 15.1 Hotfix was on Friday a few things that brought it on some crashes were happening for some people. As well as as a hotfix was done due to the boxes in Pelargir 6 man only being able to be opened by lvl 100 players. Fixed the hole in the Ettenmoors that was weird because they hadn't touched anything there.
Turbine Holidays start around Monday or Tuesday.
Note: Mac users we are aware you are having trouble with loading characters we are having issues in house with the issue we will let you know as soon as we come up with a fix.

Executive Producer Letter- due to us nailing down a few more details we are going to postpone the producers letter until the first week of January. There are a couple of things that are in the works that need final details before we put them out we don't want to do any maybes or not have something on there because we don't know. We want to make sure the information is correct and available.
Looking at probably Jan. 6th or 7th but may even be the 4th somewhere in that week though. We did want to put it out sooner but I would rather not give false information or only give parts of it. I will say from the early drafts that I have and I may get in trouble for this, I think we are going to hit a lot of things that have been contested topics of discussion, everyone is going to want to pay attention when it does come out. From those who like the traditional content, to those that like more group based content, and for us to continue to improve the game, including those who enjoy PvMP, should be happy, this should be a great year for the team.

Forums- I have been noticing some testiness recently on the forums and I just wanted to say we are addressing it. I was trying to give everyone a bit of freedom to gauge and test the boundaries of where they could go. Ive seen where its going and I'm going to tighten up a bit I'm not going to be ban hammer of doom. I will be a little tighter on closing threads and giving infractions, if you get enough infractions, that could lead to a ban. If you get an infraction that means my eyes are on you slow your roll. Thanks that all the seriousness. Some people may say well I have free speech, but I know I'm going to get slack when I say this but on the forums free speech law does not apply. You are under the rules of the community.
Note: If he gets his new laptop he may try to do a stream from home during the break, this may or may not be the last stream for this year.

Streaming Stuff: The page is not ready yet he is waiting on artwork and some other things but this is the page that streaming stuff will be on. http://www.twitch.tv/team/lotrostreams now being worked on for streamers. That will start in early January and he will get the official stuff set up.

Q&A

1. Question: Frelorn, can you tell us why maintenance works take a few hours in total? Does the patch take long to apply to the servers, or do you have a team testing if the patch works? What's kind of going behind the scenes there?
   Alright so, there is a whole process we bring the worlds down, all the worlds come down, we then run a backup of all the data thats on the worlds, even though the game already saves it anyway whenever we are making changes to the way things are we always do a backup. Then we apply the patch to all the servers as you know we do have a lot of servers which does take some time its not just push a button, they manually apply and launch them to make sure that data isn't corrupted something bad doesn't happen. Then the patch servers are updated with the data to go out to the clients. Then we bring up the worlds make sure everything looks good, operations side of things that all the data is there nothings crashing. Then the QA (quality assurance)teams and EQA (commerce and store stuff) and make sure everything is doing what its supposed to do. Then they say okay its doing good and we open up to the public. Obviously for a smaller thing like Friday it isn't as much to upload but bigger patches obviously take longer. We do realize that it effects our European customers play times but we are on a regular work day here and even having our people here 12 hr days at times coming in at 4am to try and get stuff done. We can't make everyone happy but we do the best we can.
2. Question: Can you pass on thanks to the art team for the wonderful Yule Festival cosmetics this year and pass on a note about maybe bringing dresses back next year?
   He will certainly pass on the note of thanks and mention the dresses to the team.
3. Question: Frelorn, could you expand on any changes to PvMP?
   No, everything will come in time other than saying good stuff is coming he can't answer today.
4. Question: Frelorn, how often is the Suggestions Board on the forums looked at?
   All the time, forums are my home page I can't speak for everyone but I know most days I have at least 2-3 tabs open.
5. Question: Seeing how the sales increased the activity on lotro subreddit and probably the game itself, do you guys think that those sales being permanent would be healthy for the game?
   That would be something he would access the brand person who is not in.
6. Question: Will there ever be a way to gift stuff that you buy in the LOTRO store to another player/character?
   Never say never he doesn't think there are plans for it right now.
7. Question: Is there a technical reason for having the "too many requests, please slow down" while forging relics?
   Yep your going too fast it can't handle it all, thats the basic answer.
8. Question: Frelorn: What would you say the odds are of the Housing Revamp being looked at again? Slim to none? Average?
   For this year, I haven't seen anything mentioned about housing. That being said it does not mean it is not something that won't be looked at again.
9. Question: Frelorn - has there been any talk about increasing the number of quests that can be displayed on the screen from only 5 to maybe 10? or more?
   Im certain it has been discussed, its just a matter of where something like that might be on the priority list.
10. Question:Out of curiosity, what kind of graphics card do you have in your computer, Frelorn?
    This one I have Dual Nvidia GForce Gtx 760's.
11. Question: do you have any plans help players who stream LOTRO get more exposure to the players? The retweets are great, so keep those up for sure.
    Yes he shared earlier the site that will be used for that. There are lots of plans to help streamers do more.
12. Question: Will the new music system be coming back?
    Maybe, the music team is checking it out and seeing if they can fix what needed to be fixed. We will let folks know when we know more.
13. Question: In terms of player exposure though, the vast majority of players that I've talked to have no idea streaming exists, or they have the opinion of "why on earth would I want to watch someone else play when I can just play instead?"
    That is true of any stream though, you can learn things from others, I do that when I'm sitting in the office sometimes. Exposure is one of those things where if your streaming and you announce it on twitter we can share and people will come and watch. Sometimes you may not be able to play but are somewhere you can watch on phone or tablet. As part of the incentives for streaming we will give you specific turbine codes and prizes to incentivize people to come to your stream.
14. Question: what is your thoughts about the early game (lvl 5-25) having become to easy? I've tried getting my friends into the game, but they have found the early content boring because of how easy it is. I do remember it being a lot harder back in the day.
    I don't know Im at level 18 and you just saw me get lost in the Old Forest. Some people may find it easier than others. I still find it quite fun to play but then I am biased.
15. Question: Does the timer on the Epic Foes start from when the quest starts or when you actually see the Epic Foe and hes attackable?
    Frelorn will check into this * (Aratheart in chat mentions they believe it is from when the quest starts.

[KitsuneGirl]

I only have two questions:

Can we have the option to use the character models for "Man" on the Beornings, and can we *please* use the "Man" hairstyles on Beornings as well? I don't mean to be rude, but it looks like you borrowed workers from Perfect World to do the Beornings and it's subpar compared to the other races.

I love the idea behind Beornings as a shapeshifter class, but their character models leave a lot to be desired.

Thanks. ^_^;

[YamydeAragon]

I only have two questions:

Can we have the option to use the character models for "Man" on the Beornings, and can we *please* use the "Man" hairstyles on Beornings as well? I don't mean to be rude, but it looks like you borrowed workers from Perfect World to do the Beornings and it's subpar compared to the other races.

I love the idea behind Beornings as a shapeshifter class, but their character models leave a lot to be desired.

Thanks. ^_^;

When the class was on beta, the players recommended & supported the idea of wild looking hairstyles for beornings. Hence the creations of those beorning only haircuts. The traditional overdone elven hairstyles that where already in game, looks akward on those big fellas that are using tribal clothing & face paint (exept for some dwarven haircuts & braids). On my part i will like to use those hairstyles on my none beorning alts but never the other way around.

Also beorning models are exactly as should be by the description of Beorn in the books. He is just a tall hairy man that happen to transform in a bear sometimes. The only thing i will add them is more human like body hair when exposed arms & legs (not in some hybrid bear form) similar to dwarven arms hair.

[KitsuneGirl]

When the class was on beta, the players recommended & supported the idea of wild looking hairstyles for beornings. Hence the creations of those beorning only haircuts. The traditional overdone elven hairstyles that where already in game, looks akward on those big fellas that are using tribal clothing & face paint (exept for some dwarven haircuts & braids). On my part i will like to use those hairstyles on my none beorning alts but never the other way around.

Also beorning models are exactly as should be by the description of Beorn in the books. He is just a tall hairy man that happen to transform in a bear sometimes. The only thing i will add them is more human like body hair when exposed arms & legs (not in some hybrid bear form) similar to dwarven arms hair.

I don't know what the males look like, the hairstyles probably look better on them. I wasn't however, talking about wanting the elf hairstyles (and I clearly stated that), but the race of man hairstyles. The models themselves look ok I suppose, but the textures they used for the skin of the Beornings is what looks like it was made by PWI (the human-form not the bear to be ridiculously clear).

And just as a side-note, not everyone plays a male character, so it's wrong to assume that.

And... that's also why I asked for an option to use the other models/textures, because I know some people like them. I however don't and I am sure there are others as well that would like to see more options.