Changes to Motes/Ember/Figments

[Kaeneth]

So new figment cosmetics are now going to cost more on release, and we can no longer convert our motes we don't need into figments? Aaaaand the other method to get figments is....lootboxes?

Raising the cap of these and embers are useless if we don't actually have ways to obtain them you know.

[Thorebane]

This is just insulting and laughable.

[Harvain]

Bad idea, bad direction and too much leaning towards Lootboxes which is a guaranteed way to get LOTRO thrown under the bus.

It's a good thing LOTRO is such a niche and under the radar game.

Youtubers for Gaming News would be having a field day today, tomorrow and the rest of the week reporting on this.

I think it's fair to say the early feedback on this idea is fully Negative.

[Crell_1]

You will continue to get Embers from weeklies. We can also take a look at sources of Figments as needed.

Will we still be able to craft for embers?

Will we still be able to craft for motes?

Personally. I bought shards with LP with the understanding I would be able to craft for embers long term.

[Nicname]

Youtubers for Gaming News would be having a field day today, tomorrow and the rest of the week reporting on this.

And I somehow hope they'll do!

[Piff]

This is terrible. The store is the only way to get figments year round if the conversion is removed.

That's what I saw as well.

It rankles me especially, because figments are only used to buy cosmetics, furniture, and mounts (not even op mounts, just normal reputation-grade mounts). There is no reliable way to get Figments without converting, other than the store, they don't come from regional weeklies, they don't come from missions. They are ONLY used for fancy cosmetics, and now Figments going to become rarer and harder to get than the currency used to barter for cap level gear boxes?

Absolutely disgusting.
Shame on you, SSG.

[Bulgroz]

[jevvy]

So you can only get embers from gear if it's got from a lootbox whcih you have to buy a store bought key for
Missions are pathetic because they only give motes.. whats the use of them other than for housing items?

You clearly have never played any sort of end game in this game you created !

Well done SSG.. Win win for you!
and welcome to a hopeless grind for the rest of us!

[onor]

Ive been saying they are nothing but parasites on this game. They are thirsty and the host is dying. Hopefully they will move on when the host is almost dead and we can get some actual decent people running this. People who really actually are into the game like Dadi. Even if just in maintenance mode.

[scifispirit]

I'm seriously beside myself with all this. Unbelievable. Seriously, if Gandalf were here he'd be waving his staff and shaking his fist angrily at the sky asking SSG when they chose to abandon reason for madness!! I mean, really???!! Wth SSG???!!!!!

[Harvain]

Ive been saying they are nothing but parasites on this game. They are thirsty and the host is dying. Hopefully they will move on when the host is almost dead and we can get some actual decent people running this. People who really actually are into the game like Dadi. Even if just in maintenance mode.

That's not going to happen.

The most likely scenario would LOTRO getting no Content, skeleton crew for X amount of time before a "Shutdown Date" is declared and then whoever holding onto the Rights to LOTRO at that time will do nothing with it.

There will never be some form of "savior or saviors" to come along and resurrect LOTRO.

If SSG can't improve things here in 2022/2023, there won't be anyone else attempting such.

[ElanorFb]

It's a little worse than I think some realize:

"In Update 32 and other large ITEM LEVEL jumps we will version all existing Embers of Enchantment in your wallet into Motes of Enchantment."

So they will nuke the wallet embers in February and then also every time they raise the level of the adventurers gear.


Spend all your motes and embers now kids.

[Winzhi]

I want to know if anyone can explain to me how these changes in any way can be good to the playerbase. Ill wait. There is usually some LOTRO players that defend the game and devs no matter what, but ill like to see it attempted this time.

[Bloemer]

Well, let's see from my side and that of other countrymen. I'm Brazilian, I love to play LotRO, but it's financially complicated to keep up with endgame content even in the current molds. The direct conversion rate takes the value of the basic package of the last expansion to 215 BRL, which is approximately 20% of the minimum wage in the country.
Now what was my surprise, when I think about investing such an amount and buying the expansion, when I read this naughty news that clearly is a slap in the face of every player, and leaving a bitter taste that what was already difficult for us, if makes it almost impossible.
I love making the game's instances, but the endgame content is very demanding in terms of equipment, and I believe that if this is not reversed, I may give up on one day being able to tank with my Guardian 140 the instances that I can be summoned.

[Morgahad]

instead of giving us nice cosmetics for lotro points they force us to buy figments, or to buy keys and hope to find something that will we be able to turn into figments...

hope they add button - burn all motes into not exsisting nothing, as a not alt lvling character it will only anger me when capp reachet button will pop up again and again...

[Piff]

I had a chat with a friend, and they pointed out something that might be relevant.

In the past, we've always said, it's fine if you want to fill up the store with cosmetics, just don't put essential stuff in there, and I still have that opinion.

It seems like someone up in marketing wants you to monetise the cosmetic system, and I understand that.

So just put them in the store.

Don't bother restricting figments like this. If what you want is for people to buy things from the store, then just put the cosmetics in the store. It's easier and more honest for all of us.

[Once_of_Bree]

People have been moaning for ages that the embers/motes/fignments caps are too low, SSG increase them and you still moan, what?

And of course everyone immediately bangs on about their pay2win obsession, which derails every thread, and again for no reason.

Where does it say the end game weeklies will stop providing embers? No where. So ember craft, silver coins, weekly quests, weekly instances, missions will still provide embers.

However that doesn't fit your money grab/pay2win paranoia, so yet another thread of tin foil conspiracies

[Winzhi]

People have been moaning for ages that the embers/motes/fignments caps are too low, SSG increase them and you still moan, what?

And of course everyone immediately bangs on about their pay2win obsession, which derails every thread, and again for no reason.

Where does it say the end game weeklies will stop providing embers? No where. So ember craft, silver coins, weekly quests, weekly instances, missions will still provide embers.

However that doesn't fit your money grab/pay2win paranoia, so yet another thread of tin foil conspiracies

Thanks took way too long before the whiteknights arrived. Hope restored.

[Harvain]

People have been moaning for ages that the embers/motes/fignments caps are too low, SSG increase them and you still moan, what?

And of course everyone immediately bangs on about their pay2win obsession, which derails every thread, and again for no reason.

Where does it say the end game weeklies will stop providing embers? No where. So ember craft, silver coins, weekly quests, weekly instances, missions will still provide embers.

However that doesn't fit your money grab/pay2win paranoia, so yet another thread of tin foil conspiracies

Granted I think some folks think they are removing Embers outside of Lootboxes but that is only a handful of folks.

Pretty much every other post I've seen on this and other threads are pointing out that the only viable ways is mostly Weeklies now and then Lootboxes.

Which is the biggest issue people are voicing.



So I think your comment is too hyper focused on some folks who have their info wrong and throwing everyone else under the bus like we're all just looking for conspiracies and ways to complain.

[hunter4215]

You will continue to get Embers from weeklies. We can also take a look at sources of Figments as needed.

Will there be any changes to the current loot systems? Having 1 lock on t4/t5 is really limiting to obtaining gear. You can go weeks without seeing pieces that drop from 1 encounter.

[WeirdJedi]

I want to know if anyone can explain to me how these changes in any way can be good to the playerbase. Ill wait. There is usually some LOTRO players that defend the game and devs no matter what, but ill like to see it attempted this time.

Alright, I'll bite. I'll preface this that I don't think this is a good change, but there is a chance they could turn this around by attempting something new. What if suddenly there were 20 different weeklies we could do to earn currency? A person stated that they won't be getting any Ember of Enchantment from doing instances, and yet they somehow overlooked the one daily that gives them 500 Ember for doing 6 instances a week. But what if we could turn in... say... 50 Quartz a week for 500 ember? Turn in 4 crafted items that only use basic ore resource nodes? Will we receive Ember from the Reward Track? What if they are trying to change the primary way of earning Ember outside from just doing instances?

From the outlook of a casual, Embers of Enchantment wasn't a big deal. They didn't allow you to get them from the first four chapters of the Epic. The gear you get from the doable tiers are breaking down to simple crafting material. There are plenty of options to get equivalent gear from different sources in Gundabad that aren't just through the Ember Box or Instances. I've heard a few admit that there were barely a reason to earn Embers of Enchantment because the gear all around was better from other avenues.

But the one thing I haven't heard anyone ask was: Where do you earn Enhancement Runes? If the item level is going up to 499, then how do people earn teal and gold Enhancement Runes? Do we get them from the chests in the raid? Will we... get Ember from looting the chests? Is there going to be some sort of weekly quest like that in Blood of Azog where you can earn runes by completing the raid once a week? This sort of missing data has me wonder if there is more to this change than meets the eye.

[CloudCastle]

It's a little worse than I think some realize:

"In Update 32 and other large ITEM LEVEL jumps we will version all existing Embers of Enchantment in your wallet into Motes of Enchantment."

So they will nuke the wallet embers in February and then also every time they raise the level of the adventurers gear.


Spend all your motes and embers now kids.

Why are so few people commenting on this? This is an impactful change and a negative one. For some of us, earning enough embers for 1 or 2 pieces can take MONTHS. Sometimes it takes me so long that the item levels have already gone up before I've had a chance to buy anything. The way things are now I can just hold onto my embers and buy whatever item level is currently max. Under the new system, I better be paying real close attention, because when an update patch comes through, ALL my embers will be converted and all that work thrown out the window, making me start all over again. Even if I do follow the announcements carefully, I will be forced to spend my embers on gear that will literally be outdated the VERY NEXT DAY. What a waste of embers.

Again, this is not a conversion when a new level cap goes up....this is a embers to motes conversion that will happen multiple times within the same level cap. It's happening in February, and will happen again a few months after that, and so on. Making us start over with earning embers, every single time. And if the ember prices go up as well? Some of us will be lucky if we ever get a single piece of gear before continuously losing our embers to motes.

[Gandolf_TheOld]

From the Announcement we can't tell what are your intentions, for something that sounds rly stupid at first read.

Of course what shines through is Pay2Win.
How do you get Embers now? Are the weeklies still working?

Give us your full intentions and final design behind it instead of giving us an announcement, which makes for us players no sense at all.

Also why increase the caps if you can't get it anyway ?!


Technically this will also make people run less instances, so a decrease in motivation and endgame... Perfect!

So far this is: Increase prices for everything, but takeaway normal ways to get ressources.

By reading the post, one could be excused for thinking, you do not understand what Pay2Win means.

Embers, Figments and Motes are not available in the LOTRO Store for real life cash. That these items, are only available as rewards for some in game action that any player can undertake does not make any of them pay2win. So how are these changes "Pay2Win?"

[Braer]

Thanks took way too long before the whiteknights arrived. Hope restored.

Well for those who didn't engage in ILIs the new LI systems seems fine and those who never discovered the Ember game likely aren't so concerned. And those already using LP to buy keys to make up for their deficiencies aren't fussed either. The people buying the best Expansions sight unseen with loads of disposable income and ignoring the game systems fallings will continue, oblivious to how they reward SSG for the game's woes. They'll have to spend a bit more each time to continue their fantasy though, it's how it is now.

[Winzhi]

This change could potentially make sense if we still had ~10 dungeons to farm like the last time the embers cap from disenchanting was reduced because we had a lot of dungeons to run, unlike now where we got a measly 3. That change made sense because we had a bit too much content for most players to keep up. This is not the case now though as we hardly have any content to do.

This cant be seen as anything more than a blatant attempt to boost lootbox sales to progress you characters at endgame with what has been announced so far.