There and Back Again with Orion Sept 9th, 2022 Noon EST

[SSG_Orion]

UPDATED:



https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1586340448

Good afternoon or evening or morning, depending on where you are in the world.

Wanted to give everyone the head's up that I will be doing another stream on 9/9/2022 at noon EST to discuss upcoming changes to the game and answering questions posted here and in the chat when I am live.

Topic that will definitely be discussed:

Delvings - a new way to enjoy the mission system coming with Before the Shadow

Monster Play

Class Changes

Potential Discussion Points

Throw some ideas in this thread and I'll see what I can answer.

This will be an AMA style discussion - or so I hope!

[Dinara]

First and foremost:

LAG - What is causing it and what are you doing to fix it?

I want this game to continue for another 15 years, I love it! But this LAG has me scared.

Thank you!

[Uroc]

1. What about lag? Are we ever going to see lag fixed or at least get game in better state than it is now?

2. Do you plan to redesign virtue grind? Or add some more sources for vexp? Atm it is nightmare to have alts. Specially around lvl 130-140.

[FrasierWCrane]

Will Wardens be viable tanks again after the upcoming class changes? Or have you abandoned the tank roll for Wardens after all?

[Eloriena]

How much of the Minstrel Changes are set in stone and how much impact has our feedback during the current BR betas?
Can we have an official statement or estimation whether 2 main and 1 support skilltree will be implemented for all classes in the future?

[TesalionLortus]

Ah, so this is the right thread. Not really sure which questions are best directed to whom so here come all of them for you Orion :

1) Have you guys considered something like traversable "boat mounts" and sailable rivers/seas in the future? Talked a bit about it here, about how very thematic in certain future zones this idea might be and the game will need some semblance of freshness anyway

2) Bringing back mounted combat (in relevant future zones, so like Rhun/Harad I would imagine?) and rebalancing it in the process... is that viable? It's NOT like you guys said a very hard "no" to any potential come back of mounted, right?

3) So you introduce options for instance difficulty with the delving system and eventually landscape difficulty options on regular servers, introduced some lower level zones and missions as instanced activities available to lower lvl players, you actively try to make the world feel more open on landscape between zones, it's all great, all the pieces are coming together providing us with more options, however... what about options for less constrained lvl progression on landscape for free-roamers and explorers? Can we expect something someday in the future? Is that something you would consider? (Basically, it's about the lack of suitable activities and inability to gain exp points on landscape if someone wants to roam more freely between spots on the map/regions and just explore Middle-earth, without fully dedicating themselves in sequential order to all the quest chains and hubs, for reference this issue/idea is better laid out here with some proposed examples.. because this might be confusing if explained in one sentence!)


I don't mean any specifics of course. But something like "yeah that's a cool prospect for the future that we are aware of and would like to explore" or "as of now hard no on something like this." Everyone talking about lags and classes, or just new areas (they're amazing but still, they are bare minimum you would expect : ) Would be nice to know what to expect in longer term and that there are some new/innovative/enriching additions to expect from the game in the future as well

To perfectly sum up these three questions it would be a wonder to be able to imagine... a prospect of myself hoping on a warsteed in the deserts of Harad, getting chased by some desert bandits and then coming across a river and hoping on my boat and rowing it toward the sea and back to Gondor, all the while there are *some* landscape activities around me that allow me to gain substantial exp points, even if that's an alt on which I'm a bit of off the laid out questline narrative and its linear pathway, now that would be amazing - a full-fledged open world experience at last

[Neinda]

With the major class changes to the mini and likely more to come for other classes this will require major reworking of legendary weapons. Will people be given any assistance in bringing their weapons to a comparable level or will they have to rely on random drops and the reward track to rebuild the weapons? Will that obsolete gold or teal tracery on my current weapon just go away or will I be given a new equivalent tracery with the revised skills? I expect this will be a concern for many as it appears you are changing many classes and the mini is just first on the list.

[DoRonRon]

Delving System: Only applied to a subset of new missions coming in the mini-expansion or existing missions? Backed up with resources on Lotro.com or to be "discovered" only in game?

Class Changes: Minstrels have been able to pre-buff and be first responders for raid healing as other healing classes build up in power. Is this set building of anthems over minutes now so wise? On solo landscape nothing should last long enough. Hopefully rolled back before this Q&A. Numbers can be tweaked as a cop out but not a radical change to a playstyle! Will "support" trees be rolled out to classes with a poor tree to radically effect main trees (so detrimentally) too along with poor tree advocates?

Lag: Make do or Daybreak pulls the plug? Not your job though. Would they not listen to all of you or just sack you all?

Reminder: You don't need to have the CM join you to make you look more knowledgeable as other seem to do, please.

Mounted Combat: Have none of your colleagues mastered riding them to be so forgotten as a game system? Please thank the dev for the undocumented changes of late, just not the bridle replacements with no accounting for "stance".



P.S. Rephrase/omit questions as you see fit...

[Ethirielll]

Is the new 6 man and delving system locked behind the mini expansion?

Remove creep maps, put a 2 second induction on march and set it to +68% speed.

Will the purple freep gear be getting a stat bump?

Are you still working on freep & creep keep NPC's? how many will it require to take a keep? a raid? fellowship?

Delving of Fror plans?

Can you give anymore detail on your guardian plans besides making it a viable dps? e.g plans for certain skills, warriors heart, hammer down, the dots etc.

I want to echo what someone has said about virtues, the grind is terrible, make these account wide, no one wants to do those multiple times.

EU server merges when? some are ghost towns.

[Eeshen]

Just more feedback on the lag.....biggest issue for me right now and for me getting any friends to come.

[martin93]

I'd like more info on the Warden class changes. I've been waiting for someone to look at the class for a long time. The player base seems to be taking the class into two different directions - most like playing yellow line because that's where we're currently effective and want yellow to shine even more, while older players want to return to the days of the invincible avoidance tank.

Is SSG willing to make the class viable in both scenarios, or is the plan to lean into one of these directions?

[Strider5548]

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer our questions. A few things I'll throw in the mix:

1) The new Delving system sounds like it will be a level agnostic way for players to participate in more challenging content and earn more significant rewards for it. Can you confirm this is true? Specifically, whether or not lower level players will actually experience a challenge and if the rewards will be meaningful (i.e. gold traceries)?

2) Any plans to help increase the population on Treebeard? (i.e. making the server F2P, adding PvMP, targeting new players and incentivizing them to start there, etc.)?

3) Can we expect a meaningful UI update any time in the near future? Is SSG happy with the reward track UI and is this expected to be the standard going forward?

4) With a new skirmish coming can we expect the broader skirmish system to receive an update?

5) Are there plans to simplify the revamped LI system and make it easier to progress (reduce the # of potential traceries/enhancement rune tiers/tracery tiers, increase options for acquiring gold traceries, etc.)?

[Arnenna]

Delvings - will this apply to all missions in the game. Is this likely to roll out into skirmishes and world dungeons in the future, particularly the older instances?
New Skirmish - will all skirmishes in the game be getting some attention?
Missions - can we expect missions through all level ranges in the game in the future. Example, Moria missions for level 50 - 60, would be awesome set up in the Moria dungeons?
Level cap - as we are not expecting any new level 140 landscape content and Gundabad has been here a very long time. Can we please have some new dailies to run?

[istvana]

1. Is there any hope for a significant decrease in lag? If so, what timeframe.

2. Is the current plan with respect to trait trees to have two for every class, eventually?

3, Can we expect any more major announcements over the next quarter or is what we see and what we have already been told more or less it?

[Bio-Flame]

1) The lag, any plays to tackle and solve this issue?

2) The mini changes to gameplay - are they set in stone? Is this what we can expect moving foward, removing trait lines from classes and thus diminishing player's agency and choices?

3) What is the reasoning to changing the core of older classes instead of focusing on the newer classes' problems: aka- Bear, Brawler, Warden to some extent. What made you guys think that so far in the game's life cycle, it would be a good idea to change classes fundamental gameplay and flow?


Ty.

[egarthur]

Is the Delving system intended to replace Landscape Difficulty, or are both things continuing in parallel?

[Forodir]

1) The lag. Something has to happen in this area. Is the root cause known? What is the current status of the work and planned next steps?

2) Lore Master roles. Any plans to improve LM DPS and healing capabilities so that LM could be a viable choice to take a DPS or healer role in 3 or 6 man instances? Only guaranteed spot for a LM currently is a support role in 12 main raids, otherwise your are pretty much ruled out for any PUG's.

3) LM blue line. What's the plan with that line and pets in general? After all the skill removals and pet nerfs, there is not much left in that line.

[squirle]

Is there a cohesive system design or blueprint active atm? A lot of changes and updates were answered with "first we need to finish the LI update". With (part of) that done. Yet there is the new delving system. A lot of other systems are being touched upon a bit, but no overhanging idea currently visible to the players. So a lot of the below questions are seperate and/or related to the above comment.
1 - New skirmish, any accompanying update to the underlying systems such as Skirmish soldier capped of 65? Barter gear for beyond level 105?
2 - Delving system, anything really.
3 - Trait trees, any other classes slated beyond the minstrel trait shake-up?
4 - Landscape difficulty system or a variation without saurons pillar of ganking for normal server?
5 - Vastins deep-dive through game systems was mentioned in a different stream. Any more details about what he's working on or generic trying to get a better handle on lost-systems?
6 - Beyond current and/or classic core-game systems. Would there be room for different or new game systems in lotro. Delving enhances the mission system, zions but it has been awhile since lotro got a different way to play the game. Bombadil was a nice shake-up, but required players moving of their normal characters and servers.
6.2 - Update-agnostic content that can provide an activity to players. A seasonal or X-time featured twist or delving to an instance, skirmish or mission. All mobs in a skirmish get +4 levels or zions in a lower tier or solo version.
7 - Upgrading current gear through a proces (taking longer then running content itself) such as with Remorchant set tokens of resolution. On a difficulty or timescale that the players themselves desires (for various reasons) Beyond the 140 content quantity, there is distinct lack to go back in content. A lack of overlap available to entice this grouping in the mid-tier/difficulty. A large gap between "decent 140 gear" and Tier 3 Hiddenhoard where it's hard to find a way to upgrade your character.

[CasualActual]

I'd like to know more about SSGs progress on fixing the lag. I would also like to learn what drives decisions like the mini revamp as from the player perspective it seems to have come out of left field. Third I'd like the 1 year plan for lotro, when new instances will be released, when and which classes are being revamped. I am curious what are the motivating factors behind trying to drive players into missions instead of for instance skirmishes or other past instances. In the future I'd love to see devs play testing instances/classes being streamed.

[lef713]

Game performance/lag: What is making things this bad, any solutions, creative or structural? This needs immediate attention (pvmp warden here).

UI/Client/servers: What is happening on these fronts? New UI? Client/server upgrades? Any plans?

Character customization front? New animations? New loading screens?

Landscape: After Gundabad, what plans are there for the progression of the story? Things are left unfinished right? Another northern area? Ties to Angmar? Forodwaith? Northern Ered Luin?

Epic Story: Time to get moving from MT towards Edoras-Isengard-Dunland-Old South Road- Shire?

Class changes: Is the utility line a new thing that is gonna happen with most/all classes? And if so, any details? Warden: Any plans at all? Mit buffs are fine but HoTs/conviction? Athelas pots are thrice better. Maybe scale through %%%?? DPSwise, seize the moment is everything we 've got. Is it acceptable? Also can't get a 2nd capstone with warden unlike other classes. And how about careful step toggle? (which takes me to..)

PvMP: Incentives for small fights? Map changes? DoF rework plans? Any details? What is goin on with SoO? Rapid decrease of npcs in general? Not just in keeps but in GV/Grams, too. New creep class? New pvp map(eventually)???

Cosmetics: New javelins please!!! More variety in general. I have it all already. Bring back old gear and cosmetics (remember that Stoneheight t2c shield drop?)

Any surprises in general?

There's more but for next time, already asked a ton.

[oldsneakers]

Q1: Lag should be the main priority. Can it be fixed?

Q2: When will the new race/class combos be released?

We don't need a Delving System or any other system. Systems end up being bugged and/or poorly implemented...and eventually abandoned... while the lag just keeps getting worse...

I recently returned after being gone for over a year. The new LI system is still just too complicated and grindy. Remember the KISS rule...keep it simple...

[Christuilos]

Will Beorning bears ever be able to have basic emotes like sit or lie down that even wild bears can do?
Thanks for the Q&A sessions!

[Sarkarxe]

Hi,
As for game play
1/ lag : any solutions ? Long term?
2/ ménestrel : Will thé clash keep its fight ability in red line ? It is right now correct but with the change…
3/ scenarios : when will we mourn Theoden king in Rohan and see the breaking of the fellowship in Isengard?

A lot more questions of course but I prefer du synthetise

[squirle]

Some lighter questions

What determines if a something becomes a quest or deed? Crystal journal in elderslade vs other pages.
Why are some discovery quests such as treasure caches, Udun Forges and dwarf markers not uniquely marked but X/X?

Could the default quest cooldown after cancelling quests be reduced down from 5 minutes as some more recent quests are down to a few seconds?

Could a reset instance options be added to the game? A timer to prevent server stress and abuse, but people already do it by changing tiers and levels. A nice QoL that would make it easier incase you want or need to reset it due a bug or loot.

A graphic option for longer object draw distance? Trees locations, building and mountain are stored client side and wouldn't impact any server connections?

Load or invisilbe plugins based on location or instance type? One of the best parts of the prime plugin is the option to have (parts of) it automatically load on traitspec, location etc.
What other part of plugins or skins would you like to integrate into default lotro and/or settings?

What cursed option would you like to burden players with? A first person playstyle challenge or server perhaps?

An option to track various progresses on the xp bar? A few other games will show a different coloured bar above or below the xp bar to track progress. Thinking of the normal reputation bar or various class/slayer deed that now take up one of the rare quest track slots.
An option to keybind or set it to default track nearby quests?

[Degelhil]

Hey Orion,

1. are there any plans for an "epic quest mode"? When you activate this mode, the epic quests alone can bring you to the particular level. (Maybe as a VIP function)

2. Will there be a update of the old starter areas? I think they could need a little love...

3. Is it possible to introduce dyable horses? (not the fur)

4. Will there be more time travels in the future? (Rings of Power)

5. What do you think about a dynamic map size of the moors? (depending on the number of players)

6. Will we evantually get a smaller, alternative PvMP map for more dynamic fights? I hate to walk 10 minutes to get killed in 30 seconds..repeat xD (Osgiliath or a new dungeon in gundabad or so)

7. Will events in PvMP with GM's return some day?