Developer's Diary: Stable-master

[Cordovan_]

Click here for our new dev diary on the Stable-master Collection!

[Celembar]

When will we get class balancing?

[Ogmios]

My new wallpaper!

[siipperi]

Other collections I understood and are somewhat OK, some titles on pets/mounts that's nice and actually some thought put into it, but this one is just shameless attempt to generate MC usage... No titles, no feel of achiement, no nothing. Just screams "use money on me please". Such pointless waste of dev resources. who did this could probably have done emp/xp rune stack usage script in that time and actually do something that players use and actually been asking for months/years.

This gets no love from me.

When will we get class balancing?

When you discover all 160+ stablemasters with MC.

[Wanderv]

Thanks for diary!

MAp of Moria is placed on top of Mirkwood and Anduin Vales. Does it mean that we won't go that way? (( I'd like to visit Carrock and woodsmen and beorning settlements... Then would go to Erebor...

[Ogmios]

. . . .

When you discover all 160+ stablemasters with MC.

This gives me a suggestion idea: We need a new title reward for those that discover all existing stable masters the old fashioned way (not by fast MC travel.)

[Marancil]

Well Siipperi, I am on the opposite side, worthless pets. I do, however, happen to like maps. So this gets an ok from me.

And regardless of what I think of shrews, turtles and swans, the collection does actually help you know what you have in an easy way.

This gives me a suggestion idea: We need a new title reward for those that discover all existing stable masters the old fashioned way (not by fast MC travel.)

Done that a lot in periods. Sometimes I am greedy, not wanting to buy Mithril.

[Ogmios]

. . . .
Sometimes I am greedy, not wanting to buy Mithril.

I'll admit I've bought quite a bit of MC, mostly to spend on kinship storage expansion and other permanent fixtures that cannot be obtained any other way. Not so much for travel convenience (well . . . okay, perhaps once in a while for those Epic quests that involve slow riding between opposite corners of the world.)

Seeing this map makes me want to go fill some gaps on some of my characters, a welcome feeling that I missed for a while.

[West-northwestook]

Anyone else looking at that map and getting slightly overwhelmed at how many unexplored places there still are? Like that huge empty landscape between Enedwaith and Breeland or that conveniently () update-sized bit between the Shire and Ered Luin?

I feel a bit like Bingo looking at Bilbo's map for the first time...

[gildhur]

Such a simple concept, but such a stunning execution. Having the full world map in a single view in such proportional detail is worth the development time alone. I'd suggest making a PNG or PDF version without the stable dots for wallpaper or other hackable uses.

[Oelle]

the german version is still full of typos. Although 'Düsterwal' is a quite funny one.

I see no reason why we needed this when there are serious problems in the game like bugs, exploits and unbalanced classes.

[roooooster]

I think the map is one of the coolest new additions to LOTRO! For me who loves reading books, seeing similiar such maps at the front is one of my highlights. You've brought that same functionality to the LOTRO universe! Not only that, but I hated having to use a 3rd party plugin, or searching the internet for how to get from one place to the next. This is an incredible addition to the LOTRO universe and there should be strong praise to whoever worked on this part of the project!

[Taldeen]

Click here for our new dev diary on how to spend your money for a game without classbalance. #DevTeamPriorities

[Shadowhunter78]

It is a pretty map. Just missing the Ettenmoors, or I am missing it.

[Pontin_Finnberry]

This gives me a suggestion idea: We need a new title reward for those that discover all existing stable masters the old fashioned way (not by fast MC travel.)

I already posted in the suggestion forums awhile back to add titles for finding stable masters a few said it be to easy but i still like the idea

[LeRaginAsian]

Sad to say, I have to agree with the unimpressed crew here. It's a pretty map but the real usefulness of it is dubious at best. Then again I also much preferred the days when Fog of War existed and we had to fill in the map ourselves, so this doesn't help the matter.

But since it already exists, why not implement a copy that tracks deeds? Would be way more intuitive than trying to remember which tab correlates to which landmass and clicking back and forth between completed and not completed to see rewards.

I would like to see the other collections built out with new titles, pets and horses haven't been touched since they were implemented and a ton have been added.

[Laerien]

MC only and cost 5 MC to travel with the map (checked Minas Tirith).

Nice design but I won't use it, sorry.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

MC only and cost 5 MC to travel with the map (checked Minas Tirith).

Nice design but I won't use it, sorry.

The majority of the map is 2 MC. The new areas are 5 MC.

[Herwegur]

I think the map is one of the coolest new additions to LOTRO! For me who loves reading books, seeing similiar such maps at the front is one of my highlights. You've brought that same functionality to the LOTRO universe! Not only that, but I hated having to use a 3rd party plugin, or searching the internet for how to get from one place to the next. This is an incredible addition to the LOTRO universe and there should be strong praise to whoever worked on this part of the project!

The shills come marching in.

As for the map, I can see how it provided something to put on the quarterly reports. And of course, mithril coins is the entire reason it exists. One step closer to becoming a tablet game: click to insta-port.

From stable master dev diary:

You may have noticed the Collections system quietly growing in its corner of our UI over the last several updates. With the recent Emotes Collection we felt like we were starting to hit our stride. As we began looking around for other information that would be cool and interesting to show, we hit on the idea of Stable-masters, and we immediately knew we were on to something different.

Instead of a sales pitch to justify existence of a buy-to-travel gadget, how about updating the already existing mounts and pets collections so they don't look like half-abandoned busywork. Pets collection has never been touched since Yule 2014, and mounts collection is not only neglected and incomplete but also inconsistent, with the 2015 festival steed set granting no title unlike previous years.

[Aedfrith]

The shills come marching in.
Instead of a sales pitch to justify existence of a buy-to-travel gadget, how about updating the already existing mounts and pets collections so they don't look like half-abandoned busywork. Pets collection has never been touched since Yule 2014, and mounts collection is not only neglected and incomplete but also inconsistent, with the 2015 festival steed set granting no title unlike previous years.

Or how about, like, fixing some of the basic class balance problems?

[Marancil]

Seeing this map makes me want to go fill some gaps on some of my characters, a welcome feeling that I missed for a while.

Yes, the half dozen I am missing on my 100+ characters....

As for the Moors, well, sure. It should be added, it is a travel location and we all know where the Moors are on the map.

GASP so much outside our maps where I want to go!!

[siipperi]

Yes, the half dozen I am missing on my 100+ characters....

As for the Moors, well, sure. It should be added, it is a travel location and we all know where the Moors are on the map.

GASP so much outside our maps where I want to go!!

Watch there. Add anything pvp related into this kind of stuff and casuals rip off their pants. I remember speaking to some "competitionist" on the world who claimed to have done all deeds in the game and when I asked about pvp deeds those apparently doesnt count. Go figure.

[Marancil]

Watch there. Add anything pvp related into this kind of stuff and casuals rip off their pants. I remember speaking to some "competitionist" on the world who claimed to have done all deeds in the game and when I asked about pvp deeds those apparently doesnt count. Go figure.

What PVP deeds?

Na, I see your point, but the game is the game and PVP is part of it. So you are right, but don't expect me in the Moors just yet.

[TharbadThief]

You may have noticed the Collections system quietly growing in its corner of our UI over the last several updates.

While this addition is quite nice, what I really would like to see added in the Collections (and what I have suggested before) is a trait point tracker. I have several high-level alts who haven't done the content by following one dot to another*, so they lack a bunch of trait points and I have no memory of the quests, NPCs or areas where I wandered off the beaten path to explore the world. Backtracking via quest log is clumsy and requires a 3rd party involvement (lotro-wiki). I'd find it handy to be able to easily see in-game, using in-game tools only, where I dropped off the linear questing and which areas and quest lines grant trait points so that I can at least start browsing the correct quest log section.


*And I dislike linearity in general. I love LotRO's open world, and the multitude of area choices especially in lower levels.

[kedarid]

"When selected, stable-master locations highlight connected stable-masters"

It's pity that it was not done directly on the map.

When do you update pets/mounts collection?