Official: 2015 Producer's Letter

[Castorix]

// blablabla...
Nothing soloable - confirmed officialy.

Return of the Troll...

[Spitefulirony]

nvm.........

[Gedachtnis]

On the issue of Server Mergers or Transfers or w/e it ends up being:

Will Mithril Coins, Destiny Points and other server bound things be put as account items so we don't lose them? If I were to need to move servers because mine was closing losing things like that is going to make me very unhappy and I can just imagine how it will make those that bought MC's feel.

[Thorgrum]

This is something that needs to be repeated. In the event we do get a new map it had better not be a reskinned 'Moors. Turbine have had nearly 8 years of observing PvMP and failing to make it function. Hopefully they realize the folly of Audacity, the need to properly incentive people (PvP gear has been terribad the majority of Lotro's life...I will never forget how utterly dismal the r10 cloaks were/are...should have advertised them as cosmetic), and have some notion of the pitfalls to avoid (farming, action concentrating in spots, PvE etc...). And absolutely above all, address the playability of PvP, lag is a very real problem that is staggering on servers like Brandy or around "map lines".

they have announced new pvp maps before, even used it as a seller for an expansion

New Digital Expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online™ Launching Fall 2011

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled today The Lord of the Rings Online™: Rise of Isengard™, the latest expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine. Rise of Isengard will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the legendary region of Isengard. Rise of Isengard will be available for purchase in the LOTRO Store in the Fall of 2011 with an increased level cap, the new region of Isengard including the legendary tower of Orthanc, enhancements to monster play and much more!

“2010 has been a year of unprecedented growth for The Lord of the Rings Online with our successful introduction of a free-to-play option for our players,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “This is going to be another outstanding year for the game as we progress on our journey toward Mordor and it all begins with our upcoming November update. The journey will carry through 2011 ending with our arrival in the epic region of Isengard where players will confront the raging war and shadow that has spread across Middle-earth.”

NEW FEATURES:

Experience the Rise of Isengard – The Epic Story continues as the Grey Company makes its way south into Dunland, but troubles arise as their road takes them into lands where Dunlending forces, marshaled by the Wizard Saruman, prepare for war. The Rangers must seek new allies and face dangerous new foes, chief among them the traitor Saruman, whose web of intrigue threatens to endanger your quest, your friends, and your life.
Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 70, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.
Expanded Monster Play – LOTRO’s monster play system will get a major revamp including opening up the feature to all players, changes to monster player skills and advancement and a brand new region for players to battle for or against the forces of evil.

dont believe everything you read in the producers letter as absolute, just ask the housing people. I want the lag fixed so the hardware upgrades are most welcome, if they do nothing else for the moors i'll be happy.

[jevvy]

Being a player of this game from the beginning.. 7.5 years now! and multiple end game chars, as well as an avid PVMP player.. I welcome all this news! FINALLY I am excited by a producer letter. I am disappointed there is no raid planned, since I have always belonged to raiding kins and even run the old raids tiered up still.

Move of EU servers to Amsterdam and US servers to a better location in the US should improve performance and reduce lag *fingers crossed*
Hoping the server Im on doesnt get shut down tho..
Confirmation the First Age weapons ive made havent been made in vain


More group content.. YAY (but could you please consider changing the multiples of 3 ? Id really like to see a 4man instance.. specially since many ppl have levelling partners.. would be great to have a 4 man)

THANKYOU! we just need raids now and all's sweet

[donxavier]

Is it just me or does this Producer's Letter seem extremely light on details about Lotro's future plans for 2015? If memory serves, haven't other PL's talked about the next update and its projected release date?

[maartena]

On the issue of Server Mergers or Transfers or w/e it ends up being:

Will Mithril Coins, Destiny Points and other server bound things be put as account items so we don't lose them? If I were to need to move servers because mine was closing losing things like that is going to make me very unhappy and I can just imagine how it will make those that bought MC's feel.

They may be able to set a one-time transfer of server bound items, e.g. they will move with a character to the destination server if you checkmark "move server bound items" or something along those lines. You would obviously only be able to do that once, and not COPY them to 2 or 3 different servers if you move your toons to multiple servers. This, of course, is highly speculative. But I can see them doing something along those lines with the new transfer system.... if a server closes down after all, you will want all your marks and medallions and shards and whatnot to move to wherever most of your characters will go.

[NaktiesKarys]

Expect new instances in Osgiliath, along with additional Roving Threats
Also, the title itself about "fellowship challenges" means extremely hard content. The word "challenge" in Lotro language means from very to extremely hard.

So you think "explore in PvE mode" doesn't mean it will be a regular solo quest region exactly like Central Gondor was?
Correct me if I am wrong, but phrase "PvE" in my understanding mean "Player versus Enviroment", not "solo player". Example: Rift is PvE content, killing big spider near burned Archet is PvE content. So, it does not mean exploration would be possible for solo player.

There will be solo content there, possibly even a level cap increase.
A pity it is fantasy, never confirmed by developers. Facts state the opposite - only forced fellowship content announced, not a single word about solo.

[Maxwise]

Congratulations, Turbine, you have shocked me.

Ever since entering Gondor, I've been observing things and thinking to myself 'hmm, there could be -something- over there'. I had thought Tolfalas would be a good idea for a new PvMP area but it's just a island and doesn't really offer much. Glad to hear you are *considering* Osgiliath for a new PvMP. Also very happy to hear about this focus on 'instances'. I would have been happy with a Jack-of-All-Trades (Skirmish(es), Big Battle(s), Instance(s)) in the year to come but time is money so I'll accept whatever 'instances' you throw at us in U16
My only concern, of course, is solo content. Central Gondor has been a thorn in my... picket fence for a few of my [light armor] alts so I'm curious to see if the content will be as hard or harder. And, sadly, no love for hobbies oh well.

Overall, a nice little tease! Keep up the hard work, hamsters!

~Maxwise

[Vyvyanne]

On the issue of Server Mergers or Transfers or w/e it ends up being:

Will Mithril Coins, Destiny Points and other server bound things be put as account items so we don't lose them? If I were to need to move servers because mine was closing losing things like that is going to make me very unhappy and I can just imagine how it will make those that bought MC's feel.

Yes, one of the top priorities in improving the transfer system is making sure that account level purchases like Mithril coins could transfer from server to server with you.

I know that many are worries about Server transfers. It is a scary thing to have to change a much settled in environment. This is why there will be many articles., announcements, communication and requests for feedback before anything actually happens. The goal is to be able to give you the ability to move to a more populous and stable environment of your choosing (EU or NA), with your friends and kinships, and the things you have acquired over the years with as little loss, downtime or hassle as possible.

[Dmira]

Merge server are probably the second most intelligent thing to do.

I completely disagree. If I wanted to play on an overpopulated server I would have created my characters on one. Some of us like low population servers. Being forced to play in an enviornment I do not enjoy would make me leave the game.

[GalateaOrea]

Is it just me or does this Producer's Letter seem extremely light on details about Lotro's future plans for 2015? If memory serves, haven't other PL's talked about the next update and its projected release date?

Pretty much. But then, I can't remember any Producer's letter actually coming to pass, so maybe she is just being realistic. You might call it a the Producer's Wish List.

And, ugh. Forced server mergers. Only WoW has ever done them without a disaster for players. Lost guilds. Forced character renaming. Lost inventories. I really hoped this would never happen in LOTRO because it is so disruptive and makes for a very unhappy experience.

[Vyvyanne]

Level Cap increases: Not in the cards for this year

Group & Solo content: Both of these styles of play are very important to the development team, so there is never an intention to only do one for the foreseeable future. In fact, just the opposite. We are constantly trying to balance the availability of play for all styles of adventure. Just because one update has group content in it, does not mean that it will not also have content that is solo-able or that the next update wont fit that bill. I personally, due to the random times I have to jump in and out of game, tend to be a solo player, so I would hate to see that option go away.

Minas Tirith: will not be an expansion. It will be another large regional update slated for the second half of the year.

[Mar-Evayave]

Hello all! I’m Athena “Vyvyanne” Peters, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. Thank you for welcoming me. I am really excited to be exploring Tolkien’s world and all the adventures that have and will take place here!

Oy, and people think my name is hard to remember. That's a lot of VY's! xD Welcome aboard, though!

2014 was a great year for LOTRO, and we hope you agree! Our focus for the year was expanding our story into Gondor, improving Epic Battles with Pelargir, and introducing a new class – the Beorning. Our progress in these areas sets us up for ambitious goals in 2015.

Our story continues in 2015 with both Osgiliath and Minas Tirith! Although there will be multiple updates throughout the year, these major locations will be the focus of our largest releases. Each expands the world of Middle-earth even further, and puts us in view of the Ephel Dúath and Mordor itself.

Any idea of how many updates we will be having and when they are likely to fall in the calendar year?

Major 2015 Initiatives:


Legendary Items: With the Osgiliath update, you will be able to Imbue Level 100 Legendary Items. An Imbued item continues to gain experience and will no longer need to be deconstructed to advance. These items are already in internal testing! There are many details still to work out, but you should expect a developer diary on the topic early this year.

Any idea whether this system will work on pre-existing level 100 LIs, or whether it will only apply to those made after the update arrives?

[quote=Athena]New Fellowship Challenges: As we push into the heart of the War of the Ring, this is the perfect time for us to renew our focus on group content and instances. Expect new instances in Osgiliath, along with additional Roving Threats and group content on the landscape.[/quoet

Same to assume the roving threats include the ones accidentally leaked into the live servers a few weeks ago?

Quality of Life: We have been working to identify your most persistent bugs. You can expect a renewed focus on resolving issues that may be small but troublesome, to improve overall gameplay experience.

Does this include lag and the chaotic crashing (possibly due to a memory leak the size of the Niagara Falls)?

Episodic Content: We are currently in development on a new type of quest content that will roll out like an episodic TV show, a little at a time, as you follow a new friend across Middle-earth seeing familiar places in a new light.

Is this the updates mentioned earlier, or is it something different?

Also, are we talking about soloable content here? Is this intertwined with the Epic Quests? I see a lot about PvMP and group content (both excellent if they come true), but I don't want to see solo content fall to the side the way PvMP and group content has in the past 1-2 years.

Server Populations: Based on your feedback, we’re taking measures to get everyone onto the more populous servers, so that finding parties is easier and festivals and live events are more fun. We are working on both improved server transfer tools and upgrades to our environments to improve playability. Also we will be moving our European servers back to the EU! More details on this coming soon!

Like how Codemasters used to maintain the EU servers back in the day? Will EU servers and NA servers still be restricted from xfers between them, and are the same typical issues regarding this still going to play a role on Bullroarer copies? How will this effect players on those servers? Will the servers be off for an extended duration? Will players have to do something to their accounts to ensure that they are not lost in the transfer (kinda like when Turbine took the servers from Codemasters)?

What kind of improvements to the transfers themselves? Does this involve a reduction in price, or perhaps a certain number of transfers per month for VIPs? Anything that makes the VIP model more appealing would be a good thing I think.

Some people are reading this as a merger. Is it? Despite your best intentions, unless you make a forced merger, there will still be players on the low population servers. How do you anticipate keeping a bad situation from becoming worse as low pop. servers get even lower, but don't go away entirely? Are you planning on allowing as many people as possible some amount of times (a few months, perhaps) to transfer of their own free will (perhaps for free?) and then force all those who remained (either by choice or by inactivity) to get merged anyway?

I know if the transfer option is sweetened enough (free for VIP?) I will move all of my Riddermark characters to Landroval, but I have many friends who have characters on Riddermark. Some may not be able to afford the transfer. I do not want to lose my friends to other servers.

Opening up transfers 100% free for a few weeks or months and then forcing a merge for everyone who remains (maybe merge all those servers together into a single server) would be the only reasonable solution, in my opinion.

PvMP: The team is also seriously investigating a new PvMP map in Osgiliath. This landscape would tell the story of the Battle of Osgiliath, and the layout of the city (split by the Anduin) is perfect for smaller and more tightly focused conflicts than the Ettenmoors. This would make the perfect platform for gradual improvements to the PvMP experience, overall. We’ll provide additional updates on this initiative as we get deeper into 2015.

I must admit that I am gonna have to remain hesitantly encouraged on this. "Seriously investigating" sounds sorta like a shakey way of saying this might turn out the same way the housing revamp did. :/

What happens to the Moors if this happens?

And that is just for the first half of the year! Stay tuned for more detail on all of the above and more on what will come along with Minas Tirith as we get deeper into the year. As always we look forward to your feedback and suggestions as we take this journey together.

We look forward to seeing you in Middle-earth as LOTRO enters its 8th year!
Happy New Year!
Vyvyanne

I'm anxious to hear more! Don't keep us in suspense too long, though!

Bucko, you reference to Startrek is useless for me, as I stated, I do not play other MMO's.

It's basically their version of epic quests, in layman's terms. Star Trek, unlike Lord of the Rings, was originally in episode format, starting with the Original Series and moving forward (including a number of movies as well). The Episodic content in Star Trek Online is essentially just lengthy quest chains that deal with the primary story that players can progress through in that game.

I think for Star Trek Online, they called it "episodes" to mirror the way the TV shows worked. For LOTRO, I am unsure exactly what they mean. LOTRO is not based on PJ's movies, and even if it were it still wouldn't be "episodes" because the movies weren't in episodic form.

Hi all!

I am so glad to hear the mostly positive reception to the things we have outlined for the year so far. I wanted to hop on here and address a couple of points of confusion/ requests for clarity on a few items.

Vagueness: Yes, we dont give a lot of detail in the Producer's letter for the year. This is because many of these things are still in design and thus subject to change or are simply ideas that will not be fleshed out for months to come. We will be putting feedback posts and more detailed threads on the specific features as they solidify and can be focused on for feedback individually. This letter is intended as an overview.

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid. We evaluate the type of content we build with each region for what is appropriate and feasible. So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

Osgiliath PvMP map: This will be a different "layer" to the map. This way players will be able to explore Osgiliath in PvE mode in Update 16 and the goal is to then also provide a PvMP version shortly thereafter (not on the same release date).

Music: We currently have our sound engineers looking into the issues with the newer version of the music system that we pulled out late last year. Our hopes is that we can have it fixed with or next update, but I am still awaiting implementation and testing of the fixes to see if they are affective. Once we have it in we will of course be placing it on Bullroarer so we can get feedback before it is released. More info once I have it.

EU Servers: This will simply be a move of the physical servers to Amsterdam. The service will still remain in the hands of Turbine, so we will all still have the same downtime, updates, etc in sync with one another. Better location and newer hardware should result in better performance all around.

Server Populations: We are still working through the details, but part of our efforts here are to make the transition as seamless as possible for Kinship leaders to keep the players together. The idea is to bring you together, not spread further apart. This effort also includes upgraded hardware and a move to a better location for internet traffic for the US servers. This is a large and complicated process which I am fully focused on. More details on this in the coming weeks as more of the timelines and tech solidify.

-Vyvyanne

Group Instances in Osgiliath: While Minas Tirith was mentioned, it definitely seems as though Osgiliath is the primary focus this year. Would you anticipate Minas Tirith to be a stage for raids? Or, perhaps, Shelob's Lair, as some have suggested? I know the Battle of Pelennor Fields would be a prime opportunity for some sort of Mounted Combat raid.

Music: Awesome to hear that the Music revamp isn't going the way of the dinosaur!

EU Servers: In addition to my previous questions, will the NA servers be getting newer hardware as well?

Server Populations: Referring to my previous questions, I still worry about what it means for kinship leaders. Will Kinship leaders be able to collect a full list of characters and request all those characters get transferred to a different server (at no cost)? That would be wonderful news if true. It would make it possible for me, as a kin leader on Riddermark, to bring all of my kinmates with me, regardless of our individual inability to pay for the current transfer option.

Not so nice for us EU players who now have alts on bot EU and US servers. How is that going to work?

I don't see why anything would change in that regard. You will still have alts on both EU and NA servers.

Is Aaron Campbell not working on the game anymore? The new Developers Letter is from somebody else as it seems!

Staffchange again? Without *edit* [previous] notice? Could explain the [censored] that happens at the moment with the new hotfix *edit* [and Turbine having problems again!]

*edited by the author of this post*

Rowan posted his farewell letter a full hour before the new Producer's Letter was posted.

[Linet]

Yes, one of the top priorities in improving the transfer system is making sure that account level purchases like Mithril coins could transfer from server to server with you.

I know that many are worries about Server transfers. It is a scary thing to have to change a much settled in environment. This is why there will be many articles., announcements, communication and requests for feedback before anything actually happens. The goal is to be able to give you the ability to move to a more populous and stable environment of your choosing (EU or NA), with your friends and kinships, and the things you have acquired over the years with as little loss, downtime or hassle as possible.

I'm not interested in transferring and I just want to be on my server (love the server name too) with the stuff I have collected over time and I'm happy there. Due to the wording (get everyone to more populated servers) and the already started speculation I'm worried that something will happen to servers. And to my names and to my (23!) houses. :/

[Castorix]

New group content and instances - Yes. Thank you. More please!
//...
Will the loot tables be fixed?

Why do we never get an answer about itemization ?!
A new IC with the actual broken U12.1 loot tables will be a failure.

[teppic74]

Are merges/forced transfers confirmed? It seems that way reading between the lines. It's still a bit vague though, other than we'll be able to transfer for free to a populated server in an easier way.

[Ruflus]

I hope that we get all the landscape between Pelargir and Minas Tirith and that it is largely solo-explorable. I also hope that Minas Tirith is very impressive and that the ash cloud is reduced in density.

[pittcrew1]

Incredible. The letter is full of nothing. Vague acknowledgement of all the game's problems that have existed forever with a reassuring, resounding, yeah, maybe sorta.

I agree to a fair extent. Almost nothing is promised in this letter, most stuff is just saying that stuff is being tested or in serious consideration. We've seen that over and over, and often things get tossed out, even after extensive planning; planning to extensive planning is what this letter shows. Maybe that's just because of the new Executive Producer not knowing the situation with the past, but it's tough to see.

Everything in the letter sounds great, but only if it's followed through with. We're sick of broken promises and teases. I'd rather not see things in a letter that are not 100% guaranteed to be coming, or at least put 100%'s, and 50/50%'s in different sections of letter so ambiguity isn't present in at least part of it.

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid. We evaluate the type of content we build with each region for what is appropriate and feasible. So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

In my opinion, there is so much less replayability in just 3- or 6-man instances than raids. Sure a lot of that is based on loot, considering those instances did well in the Moria time, but what will be special about these instances that make them worth making, fun, and most importantly, rewarding. We need an itemization update for all instances in general. If that doesn't happen, Osgiliath instances (which honestly, I'd almost prefer as BB's if there isn't a good reward system - since BB's have recently gotten a pretty great loot revamp) will be run once or twice for the story, and unless they earn marks/meds faster than anything else (which may not even drop), they will cease to be run forever. I haven't seen any instances from Erebor run in months, the same will happen here, especially if we can see Osgiliath in other ways, such as Epic Story or PvMP, which have more longevity.

It sounds fine, but please make them worth while. You can have a great instance, but if there isn't reason to run it other than for seeing it once or nostalgia, then people won't run it. Make it fun, hard, and rewarding.

[Schinderhannes]

EU Servers: This will simply be a move of the physical servers to Amsterdam. The service will still remain in the hands of Turbine, so we will all still have the same downtime, updates, etc in sync with one another. Better location and newer hardware should result in better performance all around.

Server Populations: We are still working through the details, but part of our efforts here are to make the transition as seamless as possible for Kinship leaders to keep the players together. The idea is to bring you together, not spread further apart. This effort also includes upgraded hardware and a move to a better location for internet traffic for the US servers. This is a large and complicated process which I am fully focused on. More details on this in the coming weeks as more of the timelines and tech solidify.

-Vyvyanne

Super excited about this. New PVMP Zone, 3 and 6 Man Dungeons and popular Bugfixes are also great to hear about. Can't wait...

[Mar-Evayave]

Yes, one of the top priorities in improving the transfer system is making sure that account level purchases like Mithril coins could transfer from server to server with you.

I know that many are worries about Server transfers. It is a scary thing to have to change a much settled in environment. This is why there will be many articles., announcements, communication and requests for feedback before anything actually happens. The goal is to be able to give you the ability to move to a more populous and stable environment of your choosing (EU or NA), with your friends and kinships, and the things you have acquired over the years with as little loss, downtime or hassle as possible.

Ah, this answers one of my previous questions (about EU vs NA; whether it will be possible to finally xfer between them).

I would love the ability to transfer my entire kinship from Riddermark to Landroval. But please, free! Some kinships have a lot of players in them, some have very few players in them. Even if players could rally together to pay the bill, some kinships couldn't.

Level Cap increases: Not in the cards for this year

Group & Solo content: Both of these styles of play are very important to the development team, so there is never an intention to only do one for the foreseeable future. In fact, just the opposite. We are constantly trying to balance the availability of play for all styles of adventure. Just because one update has group content in it, does not mean that it will not also have content that is solo-able or that the next update wont fit that bill. I personally, due to the random times I have to jump in and out of game, tend to be a solo player, so I would hate to see that option go away.

Minas Tirith: will not be an expansion. It will be another large regional update slated for the second half of the year.

Level Cap increases: This makes me happy. I'm really not ready for another increase, especially considering the LI revamp. If it comes, I want to make sure the level 100 LIs are still on the table, and that it isn't going to be restricted to 105+ or something like that.

Which raises another question for me: Will new LIs be possible for above level 100? How would an imbued Level 100 1st ager compare to an Imbued Level 200 1st ager? Would there be any difference? Or will there simply no longer be new LIs? 100 seems a good stopping place, and then just imbue from there.

Group & Solo content: Very, very glad to hear this.

Minas Tirith: Will it be in all one go? And PLEEEEEEASE... can we freely explore Minas Tirith, on all levels of the city? ^_^ This is the biggest city in Middle-Earth at this point in time (to my knowledge, anyway). Please let us explore it!

[TearMaker]

Well, it looks like developers are hanging a sign: "Solo casual players, get the ##### out of Lotro". Of course, some will go to find other, more solo-friendly games.
Forced fellowship content with zero solo option - confirmed officialy
Extremely hard (in Esopus language - "challenging") content - confirmed officially
Nothing soloable - confirmed officialy.

Solo players are no more needed, they are almost pointed to the door. Nice move...

There is no mentioning of any solo content. In case you missed:New Fellowship Challenges: As we push into the heart of the War of the Ring, this is the perfect time for us to renew our focus on group content and instances. Expect new instances in Osgiliath, along with additional Roving Threats and group content on the landscape. Am I the only one who did not see any word like "solo", "single player" there?

Episodic content in an extremely hard ("challenge" is just an Esopus language) means nothing. Since it is -officially announced- extremely hard, it won't be soloable.

I am not mad because of raiding/instances/whatever. I am left without content. I did not purchase last quest pack, because I could not play it, according to feedback. I will not purchase all future quest packs/expansions if they are going to be 100% fellowship.

For those who want to oppose about "wait, there would be solo..." - please be so kind to read producers letter and find words "solo", "single player" anywhere in the text.

I really can't believe your first post !! It must be the single most pathetic and selfish post I ever read on these pages.... (and that takes a lot)
You must be really silly if you think that there won't be any solo content. There will be the usual landscape quests including an epic line continuing whether that be as we have known it or in the form of these episodic roll outs. Then there is the obvious new grind for imbued weapons, which will undoubtedly will have a grind of daily content along with it. It will be no different than it is now.

Complaining that the limited resource isn't all geared to your individual playstyle is moronic and childish.

Players who like to group and pvp are long overdue some love.
I just hope that this is enough to bring back just a few of the old faces...

[bucko39]

I read this "An Imbued item continues to gain experience and will no longer need to be deconstructed to advance."

And then I read this: "Level Cap increases: Not in the cards for this year"


/shrug.

[Castorix]

I really can't believe your first post !! It must be the single most pathetic and selfish post I ever read on these pages...

It's a troll.
The same who told he was killed by landscape mobs with his lvl 100 Champ, mobs that I was doing AFK with my undergeared Champ (with 95 gear)...

[Zoraine]

I'm seriously concerned with that part too, to the point of distress. In addition to kinships we have a way of life in our current servers with friends, familiar faces etc.

I want to know at once, is a server merger planned, which Frelorn previously stated wasn't the case? If so, will the smaller servers' populations be dispersed or kept intact? What happens to kinship names and even more importantly characters? I'm telling you, and this kind of tone is a first for me in three years: if you touch my characters, rename them, add -1 to their names, or transfer them without my consent, I am going to cancel my subscription, uninstall the game and walk away for good.
...

Like this person says -if you do anything to my characters,their names or my kinhouse, or my personal housing
without my consent, I will unsub as well. I LIKE being on a low pop server - loathe the idea of server mergers - they did that to me in WoW and I still hate them for it.