Join us this Friday at Noon Eastern on Twitch for a Q&A with Severlin!

[Cordovan]

Executive Producer Severlin will join me this Friday starting at Noon Eastern (-4 GMT) on Twitch.tv/LOTROstream for a general Q&A! As in previous Q&A sessions we will take some questions from the forums here and also focus on live questions from participants in chat. See you Friday!

Archive video on YouTube (HD version still processing):



Archive video on Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1592604020

[Degelhil]

Hey Sev, Hey Cord!

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. 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 (Osgiliath or a new dungeon in gundabad or so)

[squirle]

I'll be blunt. Would there be room for more factual information compared to last severlins QA? Very floaty, informational,non-commital answers last time around. While they might be valid answers, soon, we'd like to sometime in the future, never say no. Especiallycompared to Orions QA the last time it was very flufy.

[SingularityNow]

Sev, hoping for more substance this time:


1) Lag - Not "we're working on it, we're always looking at things". What do you think is making it happen, what resources do you wish you had to address it that you don't? Why do higher servers lag more than lower ones?

2) Endgame - Delving and missions ARE NOT ENDGAME. Don't want to hear about them. Don't care. Want to know about new level cap areas, new raids (not skirmishes), new things that will keep the endgame community around and engaged.

3) QOL improvements, ours, not yours -
- Will you be working on making the LI system more professional? When can we link our LI's, when will the LI's scale appropriately to the screen, when will the drag and drop functionality be improved? When will there be an LI panel?
- Further improvements on the reward track panel? It's still clunky.
- Items added to skirm barter to make them more useful? You took away one of the two remaining reasons to do a skirmish (rep accelerators) then gave us another skirmish. How does that make sense?

4) PVP - You're doing all this stuff to pvp but not giving us an actual reason to pvp. What enticements are you going to put in that will make players want to partake?

Also a request - Please don't say "If we told you guys we when we were going to do something and didn't do it, you'll kill us." That's an excuse and also patently untrue for the majority of players. We understand plans change, we just want to know what direction the actual plan is heading.

[Maedol]

Good evening.

Please return all Carry Alls to the store! They have been gone for a very long time, but we need them.
If you cannot return them, please tell us what is the reason for their absence?

And will it be possible to pay for the new expansion by any alternative payment method? Because I can't use the current store due to an error

[istvana]

1. Are there any plans to shut Shadowfax down before it reaches level 140? Is it currently intended that Shadowfax will be left until it reaches level 140? These are not the same question since a no to the first could just imply that things are in limbo rather than a specific intent to leave the server alive.

2. Is it possible/likely/certain that a new server will be introduced with the hope that people from Rings of Power may prefer a fresh start server? Or perhaps just because you might feel that a brand new server could be much better optimized to reduce lag.

[Laurelinarien]

• What are the pricing options for Before the Shadow?
  
• Which are the VIP incentives hinted on the Before the Shadow announcement page?
  
• Is there an ETA on when the Delving system, new raid, new skirmish will come to Bullroarer?
  
• Are the Single-use recipes you've added to the Reward Track going to be added to other sources in-game? If yes, any details on that?

[Strider5548]

Executive Producer Severlin will join me this Friday starting at Noon Eastern (-4 GMT) on Twitch.tv/LOTROstream for a general Q&A! As in previous Q&A sessions we will take some questions from the forums here and also focus on live questions from participants in chat. See you Friday!

Thanks for doing another one of these, some questions for Sev:

1) It feels like a lot of work is being put towards PvMP right now, can we expect an improvement to the level scaling feature for Freeps? Suggestions: auto-scale virtues by taking % of max earned for each virtue and applying it to current cap, have PvMP specific builds in the UI (trait set up that auto grants all trait points, gear set up similar to cosmetics where you can click a button to swap to PvMP gear). This will make PvMP much more accessible to new players and enable you to turn PvMP on for legendary servers.

2) How is the team doing with regards to headcount. Have you been able to fill most of the positions you wanted, are new hires up to speed already? Do you see hiring headwinds given the current economic conditions?

3) When can we expect the Delvings system to be usable by non level cap players? (Subtle reminder that lack of challenging content and itemization are still two of the major issues legendary servers face, we were hoping this new system would address both).

4) Can you give us some transparency into your roadmap for the next 12 months? Not looking for content spoilers, but rather what existing game systems are you planning to spend resources on?

5) How is LOTRO's financial situation currently? As of June 2022 EG7 does not seem to be doing so well (large write offs, negative LTM cash flows, more short term debt obligations than cash on hand). Can you share your perspective on how LOTRO is contributing to those overall results?

[RiverBirch]

I understand that SSG has consolidated all of its help functions into one place, and that is why we lost the Report Harassment function in world chat.

But filling out a ticket on the website is VERY TEDIOUS - so many fields to fill in! As a result, I expect many people are not taking the time to report incidents of harassment/foul language/griefing etc.

Please provide us a mechanism to report such behaviour quickly. Auto-filling fields in the ticket would be a step in the right direction. I don't know what other possible solutions there are, but I would very much appreciate a faster and less painful means of reporting harassment.

Thanks!

[wispsong]

Currency caps
Why do we have them for not only embers, motes, figments but more frustrating for region-, mission- and even festival currencies? it is especially frustrating having to reach a certain reputation level for items we want but capping way before that.


Reward track
Why do we get legendary traceries instead of the tokens? It is so discouraging to get a gold tracery that none of your characters will ever use.
Why do we have all these different level and color enhancement runes that just clutter our storage?

[Neinda]

What is the schedule for all the class reworks that appear to be in progress? It would be nice to know how these are being planned and which classes will be next. I am sure there is a project list somewhere that has the class redo list prioritized. Would you share it with us so next time there is less of a surprise? It is nice to know what is projected to change even if we don't know the change. Also, maybe consider having a feedback and comments thread for all classes before the changes are made and mostly finalized next time. It might not change the end result but communicating couldn't make it worse. Is there an anticipated timeframe for completing all the class revisions?

Will minis or other classes undergoing these major changes be given any assistance in revising their legendary weapons or are we on our own with whatever we get as drops or from the reward track? In my case I have three sets of legendary weapons from my mini which will require different traceries. Getting the tokens and the correct tracery equivalent to my teal traceries is not automatic. I don't know how much is going to need to be changed until it is released but the weapons will require new traceries. Will we get a few equivalent tracery tokens and script to make the changes a little bit easier? Will we retain our trait tree points as skills deeds will obviously need to be changed or do we have to complete any new ones to earn the points again?

The system of chest locks and raid locks and instance locks is very inconsistent across the game. Have you ever considered standardizing the locks and limits to be the same for all instances of the same difficulty level? I messed up a PUG the other day because I forgot I had raid locks on Orthanc and when I entered the instance everyone got stuck with my locks and could not run the raid. I am sure this has happened more than once in game. If anything, maybe consider dropping the locks when the content is out of date.

[Whohaz_Duhrang]

-As Most Players That Return Seem To Be Within Kinships Or Are In Kinships While They Play.., When Will Un Update To Kinships Be Implemented., Oreo Said It Wasn’t A Big Deal But If Anyone Has Played LOtRO Will Know That Most Are In A Kinship So Like Uhhhh Yea., Big Deal No? More Ranks, Titles, Kinship Rewards For Individuals As Well As The Kin As A Whole (encourages activity)

-PvP Rank Is Glitched Into Personal Portrait / Healthbar., Fix That Please

-While Within The Raid Tab., Persay You Must Arrange Your Fellowships Within The Raid As To Ensure Efficient Fellowship Bonuses And Easier Targeting For Healers., Selecting The Player Not Only For Some Reason Is Hard To Do (within raid tab) But Also Selecting And Dragging Above Or Beneath Other Players Doesn’t Seem To Work, Though Obviously It Can Be Seen, That It’s Been Implemented

-Persay You Started A Raid On The Correct Tier., Though The Level Was Incorrect., Why Must Raid Leader Start New Instance To Reset Old One., My Meaning Is., You Cannot Restart / Renew An Instance Thats The Same Instance., Even If The Level Is Different., To Reset You Must Change Tier Or Instance, Then Launch., And Then Quickly Again (before others join the incorrect instance) Redo The Exact Same Method But With Correct Tier And Level., Super Irritating This Hasn’t Been Fixed Yet., Please Do So

-Ettenmoors Carry All Yet?

-New Skirmish Camp Rewards?

-Removal Of Old Legendary Item Vendor Icons On The Map? (Bree for example)

-New Horse Race / Obstacle Course / Activities / Hobbies

-A Long Lasting Talk Emote? (like the smoking one) ((great for RP Immersion))

-Boats?

-Loot Box Key Drops Via Hobbit Gift, Epic Battle, RAID Content (low drop chance)

-Mount Emotes Useable By Exotic Mounts (boar , elk , what may come)

-More Wall Hook Items, Or Items Also Available As Wall Hook Primary’s (toooooo many furniture hooks) ((no not maps and paintings, but stuff like them random stacks of crates / shelves., adds realism to the home)

-Reworking All Chairs / Benches To Actually Be Able To Sit Amongst Them (how tacky it looks when you can’t)

-More Pose Emotes, More Expression Emotes?

-More Mechanics Thatd Encourage Neighborhood Roam Activity (place gift boxes outside homes, neighborhood events, place temporary notes)

-Ingame Kinship Calendar (editable of course)

-Useable Off Hand Cosmetics Within Outfit Tab, *That Dont Need To Be Slotted In Actual Primary Weapon Slot* (example., dwarves can all use one handed axes., but as a dwarf runekeeper., the off hand must actually be equipped in primary weapon slot to even view / use as cosmetic., same with gourds, flowers, sparklers etc)

-More Face Paints?

-Character Effects (like for instance there could be a stinky effect you can earn somehow., so when you run, a green odor / gas is about you) ((Kinda like them helmet effects they had in halo))

-Instance Finder Update., So That Those Who Dont Post LFF Chat And Still Use The Finder (new players still)., Can Still Accumulate A Group., Have A Notification System That Says When Someone Joins Your Instance Group So That They May Then Be Invited To Actual Fellowship / Raid, And Maybe The Ability To Add A Note Viewable By Any Who Open Instance Finder And Are Considering Joining Said Group., So That They May Know Some Preliminaries

-New Drunk Affects From Alcohol Consumables (many beverages you have, do something with it please., super jolly, super sad, gassy, Etc Etc)

-Ability To Change Cursor Color., So Easy It Is To Lose During Crucial Moments., Especially With All The Eye Candy Going On In Battles

-Diving? Being Able To Swim Down… Treasure Itd Be Indeed

-Ability To Convert Currency (copper, silver, gold) Into Tangible Bags Of Currency., But Non Account Bound., Also Having Said Bags Open Like A Giftbox., Where Normally If You Hover Over Items It Says The Value., Rather To Know What’s Within The Bag Of Currency, It Must Be Opened., Though Players May Be Able To Get A Jist With What’s Inside, Simply By Reading If Its A Small, Medium, Large Bag Of Coins., But Again Showing Value Below, Upon Hovering., Kills That Immersion

-Set Custom Notes For Friends / Nicknames Thatd Appear Only To The Player When Accessing Friend Or Fellowship Tab

-More Weather Affects? (quite rare it seems though maybe this is just me)

-More / New Enemy Spawns At Night Certain Areas / Night Mobs That Hunt You., *Hunt You*

-Rivendell / Lorien Homesteads?

-A Way To Trade / Gift Many People At The Same Time Instead Of Individual Trade Requests That Waste Time And Immersion

-Property Guards / Visitors That Hail Upon Nearing / Have Dialogue / Not Spammy Dialogue Though., Be Great If It Was Somehow Reactive Dialogue

-Wagon Type Mount That Allows Access For Multiple To Travel Along, And At Same Speed., Instead Of Individually Mounting And Selecting ‘follow,’ Option Where Those Without Riding Traits From Store., Fall Behind And Immersion Again Feels Sacrificed

-And Finally Of Course More Options For Character Customization (hair style, beards, features in general to add more diversity you may see in the game., for many characters look the exact same, without of course the armor / outfits they’re wearing) ((canonical please))

Anyways Just A Bit To Kickstart That Stream., Though All Are Things I’d Love To See., But Mainly So The Kinship Updates., Anyways., Thanks To All For Their Presence Here., And I Look Forward To What LOTRO Will Bring Us In The Near And Far Future! Again Thank You. Fare Yee Well

[Cordovan]

I'll be blunt. Would there be room for more factual information compared to last severlins QA? Very floaty, informational,non-commital answers last time around. While they might be valid answers, soon, we'd like to sometime in the future, never say no. Especiallycompared to Orions QA the last time it was very flufy.

Some of this will be accomplished by answering fewer "wish list/suggestion" questions, which tend to always be possible but hard to commit to since it isn't currently something we are considering. It's always a balancing act between wanting to acknowledge questions that have been asked and making sure we pick questions we have solid answers for. So, while typing your questions here, maybe ditch the "can we ever get X feature/thing" style questions. I would also mention when crafting questions to consider that it'll be the executive producer answering, so more specific systems questions about future class mechanics plans, for example, are better asked when talking to someone like Orion, and PvMP specific questions are probably better addressed elsewhere as well. We always try our best on these Q&A sessions, and we'll do our best on Friday!

[Neinda]

Some of this will be accomplished by answering fewer "wish list/suggestion" questions, which tend to always be possible but hard to commit to since it isn't currently something we are considering. It's always a balancing act between wanting to acknowledge questions that have been asked and making sure we pick questions we have solid answers for. So, while typing your questions here, maybe ditch the "can we ever get X feature/thing" style questions. I would also mention when crafting questions to consider that it'll be the executive producer answering, so more specific systems questions about future class mechanics plans, for example, are better asked when talking to someone like Orion, and PvMP specific questions are probably better addressed elsewhere as well. We always try our best on these Q&A sessions, and we'll do our best on Friday!

Maybe consider picking a few questions from here that are pertinent to many people for the discussion but have each question addressed separately by a subject matter expert and posted here in the forums?

[Whohaz_Duhrang]

I Stand Stout By All That I’ve Typed., Shame To Thee That Curate Their Own Questions To Answer

[Cordovan]

• What are the pricing options for Before the Shadow?
• Which are the VIP incentives hinted on the Before the Shadow announcement page?
• Is there an ETA on when the Delving system, new raid, new skirmish will come to Bullroarer?
• Are the Single-use recipes you've added to the Reward Track going to be added to other sources in-game? If yes, any details on that?

The first two are information about Before the Shadow's pre-purchase, which will be revealed when the pre-purchase effort launches, so we will not be able to speak to that on Friday.

The third I can say we will have more info on Bullroarer soon, will be in the coming weeks.

On the fourth: That's a suggestion we can definitely consider in the future!

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

In the previous stream, Sev said he’d look into the problems with reputation, following the removal of reputation accelerators from the skirmish camp. Please can we have an update?

For clarity, the problem is that at non-cap content, it takes an insane amount of time to max out rep, and for some areas, story content is hidden behind max rep. Factions that need a particular revamp are:
- Ents of Fangorn
- Survivors of Wildermore
- The many factions of Dol Amroth
- Central Gondor factions (Ringlo Vale, Dor en Ernil, Lebennin)
- Minas Tirith
(I’m sure there are more, these are just the ones that spring to mind!)

Can either:
A) Rep accelerators in the skirmish camp return or:

B) Reputation systems rationalised (as was done with Hytbold) to minimise the grind for non cap content/factions?

[Laurelinarien]

The first two are information about Before the Shadow's pre-purchase, which will be revealed when the pre-purchase effort launches, so we will not be able to speak to that on Friday.

The third I can say we will have more info on Bullroarer soon, will be in the coming weeks.

On the fourth: That's a suggestion we can definitely consider in the future!

Thanks for the replies, Cord!

[Eeshen]

Since most of the big picture questions have been asked, I will throw in a personal request.

Could you please look at the sound effects of brawler. Compared to other questions, the brawler is very quiet overall in combat. Some classes have screaming and good interaction between hitting the mob and getting hit. Brawler sounds like Im hitting a pillow.

It may be as simple as upping the volume on the grunts and punches relative to the other combat sounds

[Lillipia]

Hi Cord/ Sev,

I would love to find out about how the work is coming along from those working on fixing the lag and when is progress expected to go live?

Also wondering if Capped currencies could be increased (maybe like doubled... no made unlimited)

Thank you!

[Aurora7]

Sev:
Has the "game" plan for 2023 been finalised?
Is Orion's possible kinship revamp a real component of the plan for 2023?
Is it possible to plan (now) to implement a crafting overhaul in 2024?

Given the current dearth of end game group content, is this just for 2022 or will this continue into 2023?

Has the search, purchase and installation of 64 bit servers been successful?

Thank you

Regards
Aurora7

[LagunaD2]

Okay, here's a two-part Executive Producer question.

1) By what flat percentage would you need to raise end-user prices to afford adequate server resources to run the game properly?

2) Why haven't you done so yet?

[squirle]

The first two are information about Before the Shadow's pre-purchase, which will be revealed when the pre-purchase effort launches, so we will not be able to speak to that on Friday.

Better look at Bullroarer versioning then. It's sort of all in there already besides prices.

[soddyhouse]

When can we have twitch drops?

I'm a streamer and notice that LOTRO is behind on the potential advertisement game that other MMOs have on twitch.

[Baritone]

Can you cut out all questions about lag also? Yes its the worst issue in the game but if "engineers are on it and we are doing back-end work constantly" is the only answer why spend 20 minutes of every stream talking about it unless there is some groundbreaking news?