Feedback: Producer's Letter December – 2010

[jmez]

As someone who has spent COUNTLESS hours in the ettenmoors over the last 3+ years (basically since launch) I can def. say things are about to boil over in a frustration level. You know its bad when creeps and freeps alike spend more time arguing and complaining at the game rather then each other

But in all seriousness. The PvMP here is a novel concept and one unlike any other pvp game out there. I know it was created as a side game and a way to get DP for freeps to use. It was never really intended to be end-game content. But it has become that. And it many's case the only real reason they log in more then 2x a week. Its the one part of the game where when you go out there it will always be something different. No night is the same, some good, some bad. It really sucks you in. And thats a good thing.

Lately however its just getting tougher and tougher to stomach being out there. IF you do accomplish anything there's a 50/50 chance you'll loose it due to a roll back.



Here is a SS of one of my raids tonight. This was taken no more then 30 seconds into a fight. I got exactly 1 skill off. My char froze up and I knew a rollback was coming due to my pots being greyed out and you can see. I was booted from the game and into the loading screen. During my re-entry I could here ppl in the raid talking and even when I came back online and I was no longer in raid I could still here them. I was transported back in real time about 15 mins. So the 500+ renown 6+ kbs n whatever else I got during that time was totally erased and removed. I was not the only player effected by this.



This was taken after I was re-invited back into the raid. We had a full 24 man raid before this. Thats how many ppl got booted or had to re-log due to skills not working.

Now what happened after that is what Im afraid is going to happen if these issues arent addressed asap. About half those ppl never came back. They got frustrated and just gave up for the night (wasnt the first time it's happened to us all). This same thing is happening on a nightly basis on both sides. It makes people just not want to play the game anymore.

Not long after this game launched we would have raid v raid battles of 50+ on each side with min. lag. You would lag if you got into keeps b/c of the npcs but the open areas were fine. People loved these fights and want them back. Then the lag got worse and we were told it was our computers not Turbines fault at all (not true) then we were fed that turning off our capes would help. The lag got progressively worse and worse. Player movement lag, skill lag, zone line lag, bugs such as the warleader frozen in mid animation and undead bug. NPCs bugged onto everything on either side. Now since F2P its been rollbacks galore.

We all want to love this game. Alot do, and they love the PvP here. Its all well and good that we're getting a new map (in fact ITS LONG OVERDUE) and i'd still like to see it. But if these keeps up and the current problems arent fixed soon I dunno who all is going to be left to see it. Its not going to be very many.

[hallasan]

Pets - so the ROI analysis has been completed and a positive revenue trajectory has determined that cosmetic pets with buffs will be appearing in the game.

So given it is now a given:

1. What are the pets?

2. What type of combat buffs?

3. Are the combat buffs unique to each pet?

4. If combat buffs are unique to each pet will people be able to have multiple pets?

5. If not unique, and innate to species, will crafting provide the pet buffs?

6. What about out-of-combat skills? A beaver that increases the amount of wood harvested? A mole that increases the amount of ore? A gazelle that increases your run speed? A kingfisher that improves your fishing hobby catch?

7. Will pets also include Grims? Dragons? Trolls? Insects?

8. Will pets become drops? Part of a task or quest?

May as well ask as its already been factored into the game revenue projection.

[auximenes]

This however isn't fun or cool. Fluffy isn't even cool. Middle-Earth is serious. It's a war. This is Lord of the Rings Online, not Fluffy Bunnies Online.

Tell that to all of the people RP'ing in The Shire. You're point is clear, but I think most players will appreciate having the 'fluffy pet' options.

Oh, buffs on cosmetic pets... no thanks.

[Jahandra]

Let me be one of those voices advocating NO BUFFS to cosmetic pets. Just make them cosmetic. If you make acquiring each one an adventure in and of itself, you can even have a deed for people who acquire certain numbers of cosmetic pets. Plus people will pull cosmetic pets out anyway, just for fun. Other games demonstrate that. There is zero need to load a combat buff on a pet. Only true pet classes should have pets that bring combat buffs. And I say that as someone who doesn't even have a Loremaster.

Please, no combat buffs on cosmetic pets.

Thanks!

[jeffm]

If non-lore-master fluffy pets have some kind of a combat buff, will LM cosmetic pets be upgraded to have buffs, too?

I guess my request would be: treat all fluffy pets the same - all get buffs or none do.

[alexeyk]

Yay, pets for everyone! Hopefully we'll be able to name them too (so I could, for example, have my own bear pet named "PedoBear"!). Hopefully there will be a mini-gollum! And some drakes! Perhaps some mini walking trees. Maybe license some characters from other companies to use as pets (ClapTrap from Borderlands!)...
Sure it has little to do with lore/storyline, but I think Turbine wouldn't mind at all, as long as people will be willing to pay for them at LotRO store :-P

[Darmokk]

I think the overall tone has much improved since the last letter, the IRC etc. The strict marketing droid speech was driving me insane. It also makes it pretty clear, without saying so, that radiance was a bad idea and LIs were implemented in a way that isn't promoting game fun.

The objection I have is the pets, but I wonder whether you'd have to kill the idea or whether Turbine could maybe make the step of allowing people to turn off rendering of certain objects in their 3D clients. If you would allow us to turn off pets (obviously those that are not in combat) locally that would be the best of both worlds and it would also help people with wimpy graphics options.

[gimli4480]

Nothing else matter until server lines are fixed. I don't want half a raid to crash again. I pay $15 a month to play in the moors yet it doesn't work. Turbine: You have a great PVP system it just needs to work properly.

[gimli4480]

Disappear Glitch : I distinctively remember the November patch notes stating it was fixed. This is not true - NPCs on STAB will still follow you and attack you, as do Lore Master and Captain pets. Turbine took two years to acknowledge that this bug exists and now they can't even fix it ? Now that's pathetic.

Rollbacks : Sapience stated that the bug was confined to Brandywine. In that case apparently he hasn't been looking at the other PvMP forums then. Those who were affected by rollbacks should receive reinbursement.

WL Bug : Nothing said about it either, it looks like Turbine's more interested in creating new potatoes for the Shire.

Turbine just needs to excercise more commitment towards PvP related things. Stuff from Archet require a hotfix but PvP stuff can wait a few years without even being fixed ?

Turbine thinks that people who have always played will always played and it is more important to attract new players. They don't seem to understand that there will be an eventual boiling that already started ensuing and soon more and more vets will quit the game and Turbine can't attract players with a game that has been out 3+ years without having a good player base other wise they will not be taken seriously and if it keeps up I predict Turbine will be bankrupt off of LOTRO before the next year is out.

[auximenes]

Nothing else matter until server lines are fixed. I don't want half a raid to crash again. I pay $15 a month to play in the moors yet it doesn't work. Turbine: You have a great PVP system it just needs to work properly.

Has it broken again? The last I knew, it was fixed. Unless, you play on Brandywine? That server had it bad.

[Beastnas]

The rollback issue over server lines (and sometimes random spots) currently seems to be affecting all servers.

[Zelxyb]

For what they're worth, here are my thoughts:

F2P Now Goes to 65: I like it. Thanks for continuing to make this a viable game without paying money. Lots of my friends are starting to try it out.

Tasks: I look forward to trying them out on my max-level character!

Radiance: Personally, what I minded was being tied to specific armour. I look forward to allowing more variety in gear back into the game. However, I don't think that the Helegrod-style gating is a great idea either, since it's been a lot harder to do Thorog than it ever was to do anything that was radiance gated (because too many people are blocked).

Legendary Items: I know it's a tough balance. I've really appreciated having something to work on at max level, but it's been too difficult to find something that I'm happy with. I'm too picky, so thanks for helping out with that!

Cosmetic System Upgrade: As a completionist, I'm starting to get a little unhappy about how much of the "cosmetic" parts of the game are not being made available in-game. I'm not sure if I'll get over that or not, but I hope this update will help with that balance.

Cosmetic Pets: I think people are way overreacting to the phrasing of this announcement. I'd love to have a little squirrel around that gives me a slight boost to out-of-combat-regens or run speed or whatever. However, I'd like to see these available somehow other than just in the store. Like completing the chicken quests gets you a chicken pet or other "silly" things.

New Raid and Instance Content: I haven't seen anyone else say this explicitly, but I'm itching for some new skirmishes. I hope at least some of these will be scalable from solo to fellowship/raid. Not that I'm against regular raids, I just haven't seen a new skirmish in a long time!

First Ages: How I feel about this will really depend on how the legendary system is updated. I remember getting first ages at level 60 and it was cool, but also not cool because they would often turn out to have bad legacies and passives.

Expanded Monster Play: It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I have high hopes, especially since my server isn't particularly huge in terms of PvMP.

[Forgotten_Legend]

First Ages: How I feel about this will really depend on how the legendary system is updated. I remember getting first ages at level 60 and it was cool, but also not cool because they would often turn out to have bad legacies and passives.

i was always disapointed that hunters and wardens never got any extra passives on their second and first ages. i think 2 handers should have static passives like regular non LI crafted 2 handers, instead of random ones at ID. (IE vit, will, might, ICPR, etc... depending on class)

i'm frustrated enough as it is that after 2 years of legendaries in the game... i have NEVER even gotten ONE "perfect" LI... on a level capped hunter, or a level capped champion.

[Graythandor]

Thank you, Turbine. This is the announcement you should have made PRIOR TO announcing RoI at the end of next year. Bygones. Anyway, the new content sounds promising, I would just caution against any delays in releasing either raid or cluster -- we don't want the material to be "obsolete" (i.e. outleveled) in a matter of months when RoI hits. The sooner you get the new raids/content to us the better off we'll all be for the next year.

Finally, THANK YOU for the announcement (however vague) about LI redesign. LIs are my single biggest gripe with the game and I'll welcome the opportunity to revisit LOTRO when the system has been changed/fixed/tweaked to be a better return on my invested time. Also, please don't forget about the settings/gems/runes system. at the very least there really needs to be more control over combining high tiers -- it's really not cute when a Lore-Master combines five tier 7's and ends up with a +ranged crit tier 8 setting. That tier 8 represents WAAAAY too much time/effort to be absolutely useless.

Thanks for the update, I'm happy to hear you're moving in the right direction and I look forward to the update(s).

[JTollers]

Thank you Turbine. I will continue to test and help in beta when invited.

Here are thing I hope to see in the new Raid Content, Radiance Dispel, and the reshaped LI system.

Raids: Better Loot please. Bring back Epic Loot (other than LI). We want orange loot again (none since Balrog). We hope to see more destiny points for Challenge Mode clears in Raids. 2k for Grand Stair and 2k for Durchest HM seems unblanaced. Finally, we'd like to see barter items that drop in Raids only (like Moors and Rift) with vendors for them in the Raid for things that help in the Raid (like the potions in the rift, perhaps immunity potions, or other creative ways to help with the cost of raiding).

Radiance: Keep gear worthwhile to get even if you lose the Radiance. Helegrod Deed gating seems nice.

LI System: Your traits system is one of a kind. Your skimish system is rewarding and worth the investment. Please change LI system to these where you earn barter rewards that you can cash for LIs, Rank gates, DPS gates, Cosmetics, # of legacies, tiers, and relic slots.

Kinships need love!

[alexeyk]

whether Turbine could maybe make the step of allowing people to turn off rendering of certain objects in their 3D clients. If you would allow us to turn off pets (obviously those that are not in combat) locally that would be the best of both worlds and it would also help people with wimpy graphics options.

Will never happen. Think about it this way: why buy a (cosmetic) pet (as well as some other potential cosmetic items or texture changes for it) at LotRO store if many (or even some) people won't see it (because they chose to)? Many people who buy such things do it to impress someone else, and if they can't do that - they won't spend $$$ on such things in the store = greedy Turbine gets less income.

[Patr1x]

Cosmetic Pets: I think people are way overreacting to the phrasing of this announcement. I'd love to have a little squirrel around that gives me a slight boost to out-of-combat-regens or run speed or whatever. However, I'd like to see these available somehow other than just in the store. Like completing the chicken quests gets you a chicken pet or other "silly" things.

As soon as the pet gives you a buff, it is not "cosmetic".

Will never happen. Think about it this way: why buy a (cosmetic) pet (as well as some other potential cosmetic items or texture changes for it) at LotRO store if many (or even some) people won't see it (because they chose to)? Many people who buy such things do it to impress someone else, and if they can't do that - they won't spend $$$ on such things in the store = greedy Turbine gets less income.

And that is precisely(!) why pets should not have buffs, as well as a good argument against cosmetic pets for all to boot.

[hucklebarry]

Will never happen. Think about it this way: why buy a (cosmetic) pet (as well as some other potential cosmetic items or texture changes for it) at LotRO store if many (or even some) people won't see it (because they chose to)? Many people who buy such things do it to impress someone else, and if they can't do that - they won't spend $$$ on such things in the store = greedy Turbine gets less income.

Just from browsing the threads about store content that provides 'advantage' (stat tomes, horse with faster speed, etc.) It seems a large majority of individuals feel that we shouldn't care what others have or don't have in PVE. It was the single most consistent answer given to every complaint raised over issues people had with items being in the store. Granted, they don't speak on behalf of Turbine, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

If they want to introduce cosmo pets, I'd much prefer them to be a housing only item. Let people replace their door mouse with a pet of their choice. Maybe they could even learn emotes that respond to the owners' emotes, etc.

[gimli4480]

Has it broken again? The last I knew, it was fixed. Unless, you play on Brandywine? That server had it bad.

This does affect all servers however it has affected Brandywhine and Elendilmir the most as they are the two biggest PVP servers.... but less and less people are coming to the moors. They don't want to join a full raid just to crash on a server line and get the renown + kbs rolled back. Leon is refusing to lead raids until they are fixed.

[azurelady]

This does affect all servers however it has affected Brandywhine and Elendilmir the most as they are the two biggest PVP servers.... but less and less people are coming to the moors. They don't want to join a full raid just to crash on a server line and get the renown + kbs rolled back. Leon is refusing to lead raids until they are fixed.

Absolutely not fixed. The lag at the zone lines not allowing you to target or attack in that minute area seems to be fixed, though if a raid vs raid scenario comes down in that line, viola, half the raid on either side is likely going to be bugged to hell. As near as last night, literally lost half a raid on BOTH sides of PvMP near lug res, NOT on the line. Perhaps this is better on smaller servers, but I an tell you with absolute certainty, on Brandy, it is NOT.

While it's all well and good that Turbine/Warner is adding content, it would be nice if they could fix what they already have and get it back into working order before adding more content that is simply unplayable which is nearly what we're facing now. Especially after making raid renown/infamy gains lucrative again, this problem isn't going to fix itself.

[Lathius]

Radiance & its removal in Q1 - I really hope this also means that they are going to buff some of the radiance gear. The BG gear in particular could use some attention to make it worth the grind and effort to acquire the pieces in comparison to the other raids. Especially since most of the random drops are not much more than vendor trash.

Next Steps with Legendary Items - I love the idea of less randomness, but I hope there is a way to make them fully customizable. I do not mind a grind that has a set way of getting there, but pure luck drives me insane. Will reserve my opinion of this until we see the upcoming dev diary on the LI revamp.

New Raid & Instance Content - Can we please have good loot in this raid?!?! I loved rift because of the feel of the raid and all the random drops I wanted. Can we please get back to the newest raid having really good loot?

First Age Legendary Weapons - Rare drops? Again? Please I do not want to have to take a champion dagger because it dropped and I cannot trade it for something that I want. Please set up some type of barter item that is a rare drop rather than random FA.

Expanded Monster Play - I am less worried about all players being able to participate in monster play as I am providing freeps a reward for their time. SOA struck a very good balance with book 12 release and people for both pve and pvp reasons wanted gear from raids, crafted, and pvp areas. It is well past time for the freeps to have a reason to be out in the moors.

Also, if we are going to play capture the flag then doesn't that normally require a reward for winning the flag? Give rewards for holding keeps a certain amount of time or for taking them. Something. Heck even providing good chunks of ixp for quests may make it worth the time spent in the moors. Freeps need rewards as well as creeps. We cannot advance our toons in pvp without rewards.

[Elderban]

So, have Producer's Letters gone the way of the do-do bird already? No letter for January, and it's February now.