Answers NOT in the FAQ (just yet)

[Celestrata]

So, as just a heads up for everyone here in the community, we're putting together a Q&A with LOTRO Producer Aaron "Rowan" Campbell right now, where we've asked him a few more of your unanswered questions and shed some more light into what we're doing for Riders of Rohan. We'll be putting up that Q&A shortly, so please keep an eye out for it!

[Crell_1]

So, as just a heads up for everyone here in the community, we're putting together a Q&A with LOTRO Producer Aaron "Rowan" Campbell right now, where we've asked him a few more of your unanswered questions and shed some more light into what we're doing for Riders of Rohan. We'll be putting up that Q&A shortly, so please keep an eye out for it!

Shortly needs to be sooner than IncrediSoon. There are community regulars who have expressed some very concerning things over the way this has been handled. I do not wish to write off this game and community I loved being a part of, but with some of the recent handling that is the direction that I am being pushed toward, and the strain of pressing back will eventually become too much.

[Podraig]

So, as just a heads up for everyone here in the community, we're putting together a Q&A with LOTRO Producer Aaron "Rowan" Campbell right now, where we've asked him a few more of your unanswered questions and shed some more light into what we're doing for Riders of Rohan. We'll be putting up that Q&A shortly, so please keep an eye out for it!

I'm gonna say, Damage control incoming. Want a proper Q&A? let the players ask the questions, when I mean players I mean the more vocal ones on this forum last few days. Turbine are clearly into the realms of gouging the playerbase at this point.

[Louvre]

Are they up yet ?

[quetzalcoatl]

This is painful to watch. I was looking forward to the announcement, and assumed I would be first in line to pre-order.

I hoped/trusted that this would be a turning point, and the value of the expansion pack pre-order would be obvious to (almost) everyone.

I'm not a raider, but I do like instances, both 3 and 6 man, when I get the chance. I can't believe that they won't be included for those who pre-order, regardless of whether they're included for VIPs.

I don't see the value here, and I so wanted to.

This Q&A will have to be truly amazing...

[Celestrata]

Shortly needs to be sooner than IncrediSoon.

We agree! You can find the Q&A with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell here: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/featur...owanq-campbell

[Podraig]

We agree! You can find the Q&A with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell here: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/featur...owanq-campbell

Thats it? your kidding right?

endgame fishing quests..I think I have seen it all now.

At the end of the day nothing but a questpack been sold as a expansion.

[Celestrata]

endgame fishing quests..I think I have seen it all now.

As Aaron put it, it's one of the aspects of what you can choose to do at endgame. The other options are various quests in Mounted Combat, group encounters, and building a Rohirric outpost. If you don't want to do the fishing, you certainly won't have to, but it is an option.

Obviously, we're not getting into detail on these things yet, but we certainly will be talking about those things more as we get closer.

[cossieuk]

Still no answer to the question regarding the instance cluster coming in a future update, will buying RoR get you these instances, or will the be free to all VIPs, or will everyone have to buy them?

[Gylve]

Man, Turbine are a bit nuts. You may laugh at the fishing thing but people have been asking for hobby updates for years now. It sounds like the new repeatable content will be interesting and will please the solo crowd as well. Even bigger, though, is the PvMP update. It doesn't sound like new content exactly but anything to make PvMP more PvP and less PvE is sure to please that crowd.

So what I'm getting at is there are some bits of info here that could've been mentioned before offering pre-orders and would've helped alleviate some of these serious concerns about the instance cluster that are still unanswered.

[Crell_1]

We agree! You can find the Q&A with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell here: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/featur...owanq-campbell

While I appreciate the prompt post, there are some major glaring things still missing. I've addressed them in the Q/A thread once more.

[Celestrus]

Now answers about the quests, yet. YET

[Fredelas]

As Aaron put it, it's one of the aspects of what you can choose to do at endgame. The other options are various quests in Mounted Combat, group encounters, and building a Rohirric outpost. If you don't want to do the fishing, you certainly won't have to, but it is an option.

Obviously, we're not getting into detail on these things yet, but we certainly will be talking about those things more as we get closer.

Obviously? What exactly is obvious about it? Turbine is selling this stuff right now.

I'd like to offer you the opportunity to pre-purchase a car. I won't tell you what make or model it is, or even what color it is. You can check that out later this summer after you've paid me now. In the meantime, here is a nice pair of fuzzy dice to hang from the rear-view mirror of your current vehicle.

Edit: Here is some more information about your car:

1. It can take you places if you choose.
2. You may be able to take some friends with you on some sightseeing trips.
3. Your car can take you to a lake where you can fish every day.

Ready to pre-purchase?

[Crell_1]

Thats it? your kidding right?

endgame fishing quests..I think I have seen it all now.

Dunland has an endgame fishing quest now.. I'd expect something similiar.

[Astegorn]

This new FAQ was one of the funniest and saddest writing I've read in a while...

Options for grouping and hard soloquesting, doing fishing quests for endgame content, hahaha.

Not having any special, new features and content in expansion (beside mounted combat of course, oh - and possibly a shot at trying to bring in dynamic events to the game-) and then writing it down in a FAQ again basically admitting it, and with that proving they got nothing worth paying for and that sticking to the game would worth it is just disappointment on a whole new scale... we should call that Turbine Scale I guess.

It's Isengard all over again, except with 100% more TP-leeching and failing at PR/Marketing/Development.

[Runesi_EU]

Obviously, we're not getting into detail on these things yet, but we certainly will be talking about those things more as we get closer.

Obviously the product is on sale right now so obviously you should be talking about what the product contains right now, obviously.

[Podraig]

Obviously the product is on sale right now so obviously you should be talking about what the product contains right now, obviously.

They really don't get that do they? its like talking to a brickwall or for my fellow europeans Jedward...

[AaylaKheledlire]

I'm just laughing..hehe. again.. Money Money Money, for Nothing. How can I live in Middle Earth, when there's so little new content (oh yes, sry endgame rep+gear grinding, and repetable quests with 1-2 new features). Need More content and features (features =/= more quests and new areas) . On a sidenote, of course there are always some good ideas among the rest of nothingness, but they are not enough at all by a long shot.
(lvl60-85 only improved skills? ok its good, but all players have more than 20-30 new skills idea for every class)
So many players have really good ideas about the game, if you can't think of anything or has the ability to make it, why can't you use them (for example: visionoftherings website)?

I'm a VIP player since the beginning, but after F2P, wait.. FREE to play??? We need to pay for everything, every year for the expansions, for store-only items (despite the fact you keep saying they are all available in the game - yeah, you can get them for sacrificing many many boring hours to repeat the same monote things over and over again with only the background graphics changed to pretend we are doing exciting things in different zones and areas), for THINGS that are though pitiful and small quite important and common, which are also can be found in other high/low-quality MMOs for completely free (bag,ui, items,WALLET, etcetc).

Hmm I'll probably stay with lotro because of Tolkien and of my Kinship mates, but I'm sad and disappointing of what the game became and for changing the real Middle-Earth into the most Expensive Pay-to-Win MMO with the fastest declining quality ever offered.

Thats my personal opinion. Sorry for being harsh, but it's my truth and it's how I see this whole thing since F2P.
But again, I'll probably stay with lotro because of Tolkien and of my Kinship mates.

[cossieuk]

They really don't get that do they? its like talking to a brickwall or for my fellow europeans Jedward...

As much as I cant stand Jedward, at least you know where you stand with them

[Nilsric]

We agree! You can find the Q&A with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell here: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/featur...owanq-campbell

Not good enough - this is ROI all over again. All fluff, no answers. Endgame content? I can see us organizing a fishing raid

Guess I am another customer not preordering until you guys start delivering.

[Podraig]

Not good enough - this is ROI all over again. All fluff, no answers. Endgame content? I can see us organizing a fishing raid

Guess I am another customer not preordering until you guys start delivering.

I'll get my legendary Keep-net, we need 2 landings nets and a bait thrower with some dps, o and because its a fishing raid we will forgo the minstral and bring a priest..its more humane that way.

[PoeticNightmare]

I'm just laughing..hehe. again.. Money Money Money, for Nothing. How can I live in Middle Earth, when there's so little new content (oh yes, sry endgame rep+gear grinding, and repetable quests with 1-2 new features). Need More content and features (features =/= more quests and new areas) . On a sidenote, of course there are always some good ideas among the rest of nothingness, but they are not enough at all by a long shot.
(lvl60-85 only improved skills? ok its good, but all players have more than 20-30 new skills idea for every class)
So many players have really good ideas about the game, if you can't think of anything or has the ability to make it, why can't you use them (for example: visionoftherings website)?

I'm a VIP player since the beginning, but after F2P, wait.. FREE to play??? We need to pay for everything, every year for the expansions, for store-only items (despite the fact you keep saying they are all available in the game - yeah, you can get them for sacrificing many many boring hours to repeat the same monote things over and over again with only the background graphics changed to pretend we are doing exciting things in different zones and areas), for THINGS that are though pitiful and small quite important and common, which are also can be found in other high/low-quality MMOs for completely free (bag,ui, items,WALLET, etcetc).

Hmm I'll probably stay with lotro because of Tolkien and of my Kinship mates, but I'm sad and disappointing of what the game became and for changing the real Middle-Earth into the most Expensive Pay-to-Win MMO with the fastest declining quality ever offered.

Thats my personal opinion. Sorry for being harsh, but it's my truth and it's how I see this whole thing since F2P.
But again, I'll probably stay with lotro because of Tolkien and of my Kinship mates.

The last line of your post says it all. It also negates everything else you said. The ONLY thing that matters is whether players will keep on playing, and paying, and continue to allow themselves to be taken advantage of. This game has the Tolkien armor on, so to speak. There are fans of Tolkien who are here, or started simply because of their love for the books. They stay because of that. Turbine knows that people will stay despite their discontent. So, they'll just keep pushing the envelope further seeing bow much more they can keep squeezing out of us.

I've always been so positive and pro Turbine. It actually angers me that I am posting things like this. I never thought I'd be so disappointed with this game that I love so much. The future of LOTRO truly scares me.

[Astegorn]

The last line of your post says it all. It also negates everything else you said.

I guess thoe paragraphs were meant to those who acidentally stumble upon this thread and still unfamiliar with how things are around here, but yeah

[DarkSparkle]

Obviously the product is on sale right now so obviously you should be talking about what the product contains right now, obviously.

I was contemplating and I'm not sure it's as obvious as it might appear at first glance. I say this because when I preorder any other game, I don't really know what exactly is in the game itself (such as Assassin's Creed 3), but I sure as heck have a pretty darn good idea of the types of bonus items I get for preordering, and in most cases that's because they are physical items. But even if they are in-game items, they are usally pretty well described so you know what you are getting.

I think with the LOTRO expansions, the bonus items are also pretty well defined, so I'm not sure there's too much confusion there (though there's plenty of dissatisfaction regarding the cost/contents of the bundles, especially compared to previous expansions).

The main uncertainty (at least for me) is in the following areas:
1) Which items from the pre-order bundles won't be available from the LOTRO store?

- Maybe the cosmetic items...anything else?

2) For the items that will be in the LOTRO store, how much will they cost and in what ways will buying them from the store differ from getting them in the pre-order bundles?

- For example, with the Crystal of Remembrance, if you buy from the LOTRO store, you pay 995 TP per character, but if you buy the pre-order bundle you get one for each character you have (and I assume you create in the future). So, if you have lots of characters and would normally buy this for each one with TP, you would save quite a bit buy buying the pre-order bundle.

3) Which parts of the "core" expansion (purchased pre or post release via the Digital River store with $$$) will be included in the LOTRO store "Rohan Expansion Content" and which will be separate purchases?

- The Instance Cluster, which will supposedly come out after the initial release of RoR?

So the real questions I'm asking myself are:
1) Is the base expansion worth $40

2) If the answer to the first question is "yes", are the extra items in the Heroic (+$10) and Legendary (+$30) packages worth their prices bumps beyond the base expansion, or am I better off just buying the base expansion for $40 and adding anything else by paying TP later?

3) If the answer to the first question is "don't know yet" (as it is for me), then we really just have to wait and see what new information gets released to see if Turbine can convince us to preorder now (which gets us two cosmetic and one semi-worthwhile pre-order bonus items) or just keep waiting until post release to buy parts with TP or the bundle when it inevitably gets discounted at some point in the future.

Clearly if Turbine wants people to preorder so they can get cash to fund their development they need to do a MUCH better job in describing exactly what will be in the base expansion, or in making the Heroic or Legendary bundles so attractive (both in pricing and in content) that we're willing to take a risk and buy it now without that level of information with the hope that the base expansion will justify the price down the road.

[Fredelas]

I was contemplating and I'm not sure it's as obvious as it might appear at first glance. I say this because when I preorder any other game, I don't really know what exactly is in the game itself (such as Assassin's Creed 3), but I sure as heck have a pretty darn good idea of the types of bonus items I get for preordering, and in most cases that's because they are physical items. But even if they are in-game items, they are usally pretty well described so you know what you are getting.

There are very important differences between a pre-order and a pre-purchase.

A pre-order can usually be cancelled if details come out prior to delivery that make the service no longer appealing to the customer. In many cases, a customer is not even charged for a pre-order until the product is shipped or the service is made available.

With a pre-purchase, you are buying something with no guarantees, no refunds, and in this case, not even a good description of the features included in the service Turbine is selling.

By bundling additional goodies that benefit your characters right now, Turbine is enticing customers to purchase a future service its employees aren't willing to even fully describe. I think it's irresponsible of Turbine to be selling Riders of Rohan before customers can even take a look at it.

Turbine isn't alone in using this tactic, but I wish they had worded their offer differently. They should have said, "Buy these goodies now, and get Riders of Rohan free when it's released!" Since no one would actually be purchasing the Riders of Rohan service, this would absolve Turbine of any responsibility to accurately describe the features of that service.