Frelorn Q&A from Livestreams

[Ranatuor_Erutron]

Got two questions for our community manager - maybe to be asked at the next Thursday fun with Frelorn? Thanks.

1) Are you intending to do the Thursday fun on the server you picked completely solo? I only ask since last Thursday two people tried to get in touch with you in-world to see if you needed any assistance and they got no reply whatsoever. I'm asking so people don't waste their time trying. I was intending to get in-game too when you were on (off work this week) and if it's not something you do, I won't be disturbing you.

2) What is the protocol with PMs/emails to you? I have been slowly building up player social events on the server you do your Thursday fun on and I have sent you a few PMs (via these forums) regarding player social events and I have had no reply. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you can and can't do as community manager.

Just trying to understand whether any communication is worth it. Thanks!

Edit: And keep these great transcripts rolling, without them it seems many of my fellow Gilrain players would be oblivious!

[Frelorn]

1) Are you intending to do the Thursday fun on the server you picked completely solo? I only ask since last Thursday two people tried to get in touch with you in-world to see if you needed any assistance and they got no reply whatsoever. I'm asking so people don't waste their time trying. I was intending to get in-game too when you were on (off work this week) and if it's not something you do, I won't be disturbing you. A: Yes, due to the hectic nature of what I am doing, most of my Thursday streams will be solo unless otherwise noted. We will do some special things, and I will do my best to let folks know as ahead of time as possible.

2) What is the protocol with PMs/emails to you? I have been slowly building up player social events on the server you do your Thursday fun on and I have sent you a few PMs (via these forums) regarding player social events and I have had no reply. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you can and can't do as community manager. A: Not at all, PM's are the best way but please keep in mind that I may not get to answer all PM's as I literally get dozens upon dozens of these each day. I am doing my best to get to them, but with everything else that is part of the job these may sometimes fall behind. I will attempt to be more vigilant on the PM's so these do not get missed or fall behind.

[Anurin_The_Wise]

Thursday Fun with Frelorn 02/5/2015
Question: Did you do anything to performance client side for 15.2? I am getting better frames per second since the patch, but I didn't see anything noted in the patch notes.
Vyvyanne: We did a major improvement to a memory leak that we had prior to 15.2, we are watching to see how well we fixed that, so far it's looking positive, but we will keep an eye on it. If players notice any issues please be sure to let us know.

Thank you for looking into the memory leak and attempting to make improvements. I hope that you are able to continue to investigate and make further enhancements to client stability. Unfortunately for myself (and some others that have posted in the forums), my client seems much less stable after 15.2, with frequent hangups/crashes and trouble logging in on some characters.

Seems hit or miss which characters are affected (many different levels, many different regions). Also doesn't seem to matter whether I am using a laptop with a hard drive and wireless router or a desktop with an SSD and Ethernet connection. I don't believe that any changes have been made to the system with the SSD pre-Update 15.2 (when I seldom had any issues with client stability) and post-Update 15.2 (when I am frequently seeing hangups and crashes).

No other games or Internet services seem to be affected. I'm sure it will sort itself out in time, but just wanted to weigh in to mention that my experience has been less stable post-Update 15.2.

[Ranatuor_Erutron]

1) Are you intending to do the Thursday fun on the server you picked completely solo? I only ask since last Thursday two people tried to get in touch with you in-world to see if you needed any assistance and they got no reply whatsoever. I'm asking so people don't waste their time trying. I was intending to get in-game too when you were on (off work this week) and if it's not something you do, I won't be disturbing you. A: Yes, due to the hectic nature of what I am doing, most of my Thursday streams will be solo unless otherwise noted. We will do some special things, and I will do my best to let folks know as ahead of time as possible.

2) What is the protocol with PMs/emails to you? I have been slowly building up player social events on the server you do your Thursday fun on and I have sent you a few PMs (via these forums) regarding player social events and I have had no reply. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you can and can't do as community manager. A: Not at all, PM's are the best way but please keep in mind that I may not get to answer all PM's as I literally get dozens upon dozens of these each day. I am doing my best to get to them, but with everything else that is part of the job these may sometimes fall behind. I will attempt to be more vigilant on the PM's so these do not get missed or fall behind.

Thanks for the answers Andy, I appreciate it. I had a feeling both would be the case, I was feeling quite embarrassed at the reception you have thus far received on our usually great server, so many people did not know you were broadcasting from there with your Thursday fun. We do something similar to you in our kin but with a group of 6, levelling up from the beginning (nicknamed 'Moosing' after the kin player who suggested it first), I am in a new moose group started in Jan 2015, having a lot of fun with that so far If you need assistance and I am online, please don't hesitate - Ranatuor is my main.

If it is ok to mail about player-run events, then I'll continue to send thank you. It's usually just a head's up or seeking advice.

-- Tim

[Letter142]

[hobbit1968]

Question: What is the status on Beorning gear? I just completed all of Riders of Rohan and didn't find a single piece of Beorning gear in the entire zone of quests, nor are there any guild patterns that are Beorning-focused. Is it going to get a fix?
Jinjaah: The medium might gear is taking a lot longer than we would like, there is definitely a bunch of crafting recipes in terms of upper echelon stuff you can find that in the forums. We still need to iron out a couple of missing places, we have been going through and filling in quests, and raids and skirmish kind of drops but hopefully over the next couple of updates and continue to add stuff in and fill in the places we missed before. The good news is all the new stuff we are working on we already have the Beorning specific gear in the hopper so its just simply a revision problem rather than a problem we are going to take forward.

I'm glad this is still getting looked at. Please don't forget the Lower level (7 - 40) recipes. Every class has lower level recipes, So should Beorings.

[Eldalleth]

As I'm sure many of you have noticed the transcripts haven't been updated for almost a month. Due to lots of health stuff and real life stuff becoming to overwhelming I have decided to ask for help with the transcripts. I am happy to help with them on maybe a every other week basis when possible, as well as pass knowledge tips and tricks on formatting. I've been providing transcripts since August of last year and before that helped Frick with the SHIELD runs but in order to continue I need help. Please send me a message on the forums if this is something your interested in helping continue to provide a way for those who don't have the ability or time to watch the videos with gaining useful information. Thanks Eldalleth

[DiogoVP]

As I'm sure many of you have noticed the transcripts haven't been updated for almost a month. Due to lots of health stuff and real life stuff becoming to overwhelming I have decided to ask for help with the transcripts. I am happy to help with them on maybe a every other week basis when possible, as well as pass knowledge tips and tricks on formatting. I've been providing transcripts since August of last year and before that helped Frick with the SHIELD runs but in order to continue I need help. Please send me a message on the forums if this is something your interested in helping continue to provide a way for those who don't have the ability or time to watch the videos with gaining useful information. Thanks Eldalleth

Thank you Eldalleth! I am from Brazil, so I have a lot of trouble understanding what Frelorn says on his streams, so I usually rely on the transcripts to gain useful information. I hope you can find someone to help you soon.

[Dadislotroguides]

For those that are interested this was a great Q&A on Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream/v/4010618

Devs would like to re-iterate that this is Beta. Nothing with the system is finalized. They wanted to get the release on Bullroarer as soon as possible to get it in our hands so we could play around with it and give them feedback. There is much tweaking that still needs to go in to the design before a final release.

The below transcript is a summary of my notes, if there are any discrepencies between what was said on Twitch by Frelorn or Jinjaah and what I typed ... Theirs is accurate !

1) Can you post all the legacy changes?

- Yes. This will be posted on the forums soon.

2) Will the new system be available for LIs level 45-99?

- This is a possibility. All efforts are currently focused on this being released for level 100.

3) Cost of the new system, will it be adjusted?

- Feedback has been recieved about the "costs" of the various items; Scrolls of Empowerment, Star-lit Crystals, IXP, Mithril Coins, etc. All of these things are being discussed and there may be changes coming; nothing is set in stone.

4) Tiers - starting levels, soft cap, hard cap.

- This is all up for discussion. We are receiving feedback and nothing is set in stone.

5) What will the future look like for Imbued Items?

- They will be with you for as long as you want. The idea is that with new content (updates) the soft cap and/or hard cap will increase.

6) Guardian AoE Targets, will there be a change?

- Likely there will be an increase.

7) Hunter Targets, will there be a change?

- Likely there will be.

8) Legacies, any chance of re-looking at the ones that changed?

- Yes, we want your feedback. Be specific and constructive.

9) Will cosmetics be released for our new LIs?

- This is possible for a future update. We like the idea, but are not sure how it will prioritize.

10) LMs - Issues with passives and DPS.

- Give us specific feedback and we will look at it.

11) Lag issues with some skill effects (i.e. LM fire), will this be fixed?

- This is a known issue and they are working on it. Likely not a U16 fix.

12) We are VERY skeptical of the Devs listening to our feedback and making changes ...

- Let our actions speak for themselves. Jinjaah has been pouring over every post in the Bullroarer forum. Please keep in mind that any experiences with previous LOTRO teams are not reflective of the current team, give us a chance

13) Will Crystals of Remembrance, Anfalas Star-lit Crystals, etc. have a drop rate increase?

- Yes !!! You will see these dropping in the next build in places like the Epic, New Instances, etc. So the ways to achieve them will increase but we are still debating the drop frequency.

14) How big of a difference will there be between 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Age with the new system?

- Essentially a 3rd and 2nd Age will be able to be equal to a FA but it will cost more time an effort.

15) Will there be tutorials or tool tips for the new system?

- Yes, we are working that. Also, Jinjaah is working on a Dev Diary.

16) Will everything you do to a pre-imbued FA be equal to doing it to a post imbued FA? Example, applying Star-lits?

- Yes.

17) If a level cap increase happens will the new LI scale?

- Yes.

18) Will itemization be fixed for instances?

- Yes. We are working on differentiating T1, T2, and T2C with the new instance cluster. These changes will happen slowly ... We do not want to accidentally drastically alter the system.

19) Guardian Force Taunt duration, will it change?

- We are looking at increasing the duration of all Force Taunts passively for all classes that use it. It is on our radar.

20) Scaled Freeps will not have access to LIs (like BB jewellery), will adjustments be made to make it equivalent?

- Yes, this is being worked on. PvP in general is being worked on.

21) Will there ever be a level cap increase again?

- No idea. We will see how things progress.

22) Can you imbue more than one LI?

- Yes, as many as you want.

23) How will passive stats be adjusted on LIs?

- It is in discussion. There is a bug with how this changes and we are looking in to it.

24) Could a yellow-line Mini get an in combat rez?

- Not this update, but it is a possibility for a future update.

25) Bridles, can they be imbued?

- Not with U16.

26) Is there a point to setting loot quality in a level 20 instance to Epic?

- Not sure, would need to check data.

27) Any word on adding more Beorning crafted gear?

- Yes, it was planned for 16 but did not make it in. It is coming. Also improvements to essence gear etc.

28) Any plans to do trait trees for Creeps?

- No. But there will be an audit done all Creep traits and changes be made to better reflect the current state of the game. In fact, Creep love is coming ...

29) Could legacy tiers be retroactively adjusted?

- Possibly.

30) Any plans for Creep scaling to balance the new Freep stuff?

- Yes. This is in the plans and we want feedback during the various Beta builds. Be as specific as possible, comparable data is useful. Go on live servers and fight it out, then go to Bullroarer and do the same with the changes. Give us comparisons. Give us data !!! Might even set up a PvP night with the Devs ...

31) Non-imbued gear can be swapped in and out with imbued gear and get passive bonuses. Will this be fixed?

- Yes, we are working on it. But we do not want to restrict people from weapon swapping.

32) When will the Inspired Greatness exploit be fixed?

- It is being worked on.

33) Level 100 craft recipes ... Any news?

- Yes, but not with U16.

34) After imbuing will we be able to change legacies without using MC?

- Yes. There will be Imbued Legacy Replacement Scrolls. You will see this in a future build. Likely in loot tables and/or given out via quest arcs.

35) Is the Burgs new Purge Corruption Damage legacy staying?

- Give us feedback on this legacy.

36) Mini's Rally CD?

- It is a bug and it has been fixed. It will be in the build tomorrow.

37) PvP Lag

- We know it exists. We are working on it. This is one of the reasons why we are looking at the new area. New servers, new data centre, etc. will all improve this.

38) What level range will the new instances be?

- Scaleable from 50+

39) What are your thoughts on Fellowship Maneuveurs?

- They need love. It is on the list.

40) Something about an LM bug.

- Send in a bug report.

41) Guardian Light Damage legacy seems useless ...

- Possibly. Give us feedback.

42) Will there be an Intro Stream for U16?

- Yes, working on it.

43) There are a lot of legacies that did not fall in the category of ones like CDs, why did they get replaced?

- We want feedback. Give us specifics.

44) Can the one-shotters bug in the Moors be fixed for U16?

- We think we have a solution. It is being worked on.

45) New PvMP map, will you be using the same set of building sets?

- To be determined.

46) Any updates on the Player's Council?

- WOW, lots of applicants !!! More news nearing the end of the month.

47) Any chance of a specific class set of feedback threads?

- Yes. But then please stick to them

48) Why have Guards become more DPS oriented (seems since trait trees)?

- Still feel that Guards are one of the best tanks in the game but we wanted to give options.

49) Do you know about the Creeps being able to get in to Grams?

Yes. We are working on it.

50) Are there any changes to the Mac client to fix stability?

- Yes, but keep giving us specific examples/data.

51) Will there be a character base wipe with Beta 2?

- Maybe.


The next build (Build 2) for Bullroarer will be tomorrow (Friday). There will be some minor changes, but major changes based on feedback will be in a future build. It is too soon to get them out. We are weeks away from Live ... we did this on purpose to get your feedback and work it in before launch.

Frelorn / Jinjaah: If I missed anything, or have anything above incorrect please let me know and I will correct it. Thank you for this, I know it has set me at ease with a number of issues with the new LIs

[mobrien09]

How often do these happen? I would love to get on and ask about the Warden. I really want to see the damage get nerfed on it and it would at least give me some hope if Frelorn acknowledged that the devs are aware of it and working on it.

[infinitewhimsy]

Really appreciate your transcribing this stuff.

[Thurallor]

How often do these happen? I would love to get on and ask about the Warden. I really want to see the damage get nerfed on it and it would at least give me some hope if Frelorn acknowledged that the devs are aware of it and working on it.

Frelorn does livestreams most Thursdays. Sometimes he invites a dev to participate in the stream, but there usually isn't advance notice. See past broadcasts. Random players do streams on the channel when Frelorn isn't on.

[voalkrynn2]

I recall making a suggestion to transition from the level up decon and grind new LIs scheme to one where these level with the player. It was done on the Bullroarer forum when level 85 was the next level cap (I think this is the East Rohan release time frame - Hytbold was definitely part of the release). One of the devs/mods responded to the thread indicating the idea was a good one. Apparently it has been twisted into a Mithril Coin money grab by the micro-transaction guru.........

Lesson learned I'll never make a suggestion to improve the player experience again as it will simply become another opportunity to make a dime.

[Gedachtnis]

I recall making a suggestion to transition from the level up decon and grind new LIs scheme to one where these level with the player. It was done on the Bullroarer forum when level 85 was the next level cap (I think this is the East Rohan release time frame - Hytbold was definitely part of the release). One of the devs/mods responded to the thread indicating the idea was a good one. Apparently it has been twisted into a Mithril Coin money grab by the micro-transaction guru.........

Lesson learned I'll never make a suggestion to improve the player experience again as it will simply become another opportunity to make a dime.

You honestly didn't just try to take credit for the idea of LI's leveling with the player did you?! No, you couldn't have, anyone who's played this game for more than a day knows that idea has been floated since LI's were introduced....

[voalkrynn2]

You honestly didn't just try to take credit for the idea of LI's leveling with the player did you?! No, you couldn't have, anyone who's played this game for more than a day knows that idea has been floated since LI's were introduced....

"I recall making a suggestion.." = / = "I take full credit for Turbine creating.."......
The former I did the later I did not but hey it is your fantasy immerse away!

[Konko]

Russian servers. They still are not extinct. You have to work on them.

[FutyokeH]

"I recall making a suggestion.." = / = "I take full credit for Turbine creating.."......
The former I did the later I did not but hey it is your fantasy immerse away!

Oh yes you did.

<<<One of the devs/mods responded to the thread indicating the idea was a good one. Apparently it has been twisted into a Mithril Coin money grab by the micro-transaction guru.........

Lesson learned I'll never make a suggestion to improve the player experience again as it will simply become another opportunity to make a dime.>>>

Suggestion made >>> dev/mod said good idea >>> idea twisted into a money grab >>> me smart person will not make improvement suggestion again

at least don't act like you didn't try to make it look like it was your awesome idea, but then someone, I quote; "twisted it" XD

[kittythumper]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7kwSz9GaOY Please fix this.

[Grka]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rlnmYdDA6o

[FlareAsh]

Classic. You gotta watch that video, so funny and true.

[TearMaker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rlnmYdDA6o

Not much makes me laugh out loud on the these boards nowadays but this had me howling at 7am this morning....

thanks and +10 to you

[Pipo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rlnmYdDA6o

Thanks for this as I was literally crying from laughing so much and loud.

To the one who made that video and the text with it: YOU ARE THE REAL MVP!

This game is a joke, so let's just treat it that way! :P


Edit:
49) Do you know about the Creeps being able to get in to Grams?

Yes. We are working on it.

??????

Why? What's wrong with Creeps being able to get in to their own camp? Did you possibly mean Creeps could get in to Glan Vraig?

LOL I wish I was there to witness it

[ThoraggMafia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rlnmYdDA6o

tyvm awesome ..

[Yaralav]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rlnmYdDA6o

that could be so cheerily if that wasn't be so sadly

[Nyérëe]

1. @Frelorn

Why do you have extremely high tolerance level for people that abuse this forum? I noticed severe trolling and insults which are not even removed or they are removed after very long time.

I have an impression that you simply don't care.

Forums have fallen low, especially the PVMP section. I understand the freedom of speech but you should really be more strict.