Question

[Bel-Astarte]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

Coincidentally, I was just on that page to see if I could find the (in)famous raids forum. Usually I just the pulldowns to navigate as I have a general idea where I want to look for stuff.

In candor, that page is WAY to busy to be useful. I realize there are a lot of different forum listings to track, and in multiple languages no less. But if folks consistently don't realize, for example they can find abundant info on the music system in Lotro on its very own forum (something I probably knew but had forgotten till I was just now looking for what ALL is listed under forums), then it might be time to reorganize the links.

Simplest thing would be to use that page as a category page, which would make it shorter to scroll down, and then us that to link up to relevant forums. (I hope that made sense like it does in my head.)

[Dwarendele]

I can't speak for anyone but myself as to the use of http://forums.lotro.com/index.php - but this is my landing page for my LOTRO bookmark in my browser.

Its a great way to browse the different sub-forums "at-a-glance" to see whats currently being discussed and if I'm waiting on a response to a discussion to see when someone else but me has posted...

Also - I often just click on the "New Post" that parses the entirety of the forums and post all the discussions that have been added to since my last visit...

I never did get why people claim that post in sub-forums go unnoticed - but if they are not using these tools - I guess i get it now.

[Ferthcott]

I don't discount the proportionality piece of the statement, but what you are saying strongly suggests we as pvp'ers and raiders need to realign our expectations.

Be careful with realigning too much though. There is also that self-fulfilling prophecy issue around (exhibit #12: issues with various clusters). Besides, unless anyone is prepared to pay personally whatever eg. chicken-exclusive players are paying...

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

Some of us are using this page far too often in recent moths, I think you know how :P

Moving General is not a bad thing. Though I guess those who are primarily seeking to vent would be then more efficiently spread around non-general sections to a great joy of everyone else

[Jane66]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

In a word, no. Very occasionally to use it to navigate to the general discussion forum which is nicely placed front and center there...

I think the reason is because it is so long (as in physically on the screen, you have to scroll down for miles and it becomes overwhelming.) I use the drop down menu's at the top but even though the raid type of threads are interesting to me I very rarely venture further than 'discussion forums' and 'classes.'

I'd use the page you linked if it were severly pruned so that it is only double the depth of my screen or thereabout.

Maybe in trying to make it totally 'clear' you have put in too much information?

[mjk47]

I wish you guys would persuade Turbine to budget to hold PAX in the UK some time, it's so unfair that only the US and those with huge bank balances are able to party with the devs

Regrettably, my boss, who is in Boston, came to the UK last week for a meeting. I tried suggesting that the meeting would be better held in Boston this week, but alas ......

Ah well, maybe next year.

[monteeburns]

numerous threads..

I think you've missed WHY there are often numerous threads on the same subject. There is a lack of information on an ongoing basis about issues which seriously affect the game for many, and if there is information, is that on Twitter, Facebook, the forum? Other MMO companies who I won't mention by name give an ongoing account of major issues, and what is being done, in a set location so people know where to find it. You won't find many duplicate threads on their forums, because people can easily find the answers, each time they come to the forum. Not just a response from several months back which no-one knows if it's still relevant, or has just been forgotten about. I'm not saying you don't answer all questions, you do answer many questions. My main gripe is that as a company you don't give *ongoing* information on what seem to be the most important issues.
But it's good that you are willing to say no when that is the case now, I think that was one major gripe which made some people cynical of Turbine's motives.

And finally there is the question of wording. How you choose to word your comments and suggestions will almost always play a role in how and if your question or comment is answered. If it's combative, insulting, or abusive... good luck. Odds are it will be
closed (which should be obvious) or if you're lucky merely ignored.

This I thoroughly agree with. But I'll give you the other side of the coin If Turbine choose to use misleading marketing and sell things they know there is a good chance they can't deliver in an acceptable state, good luck. Odds are it will result in a backlash and people being combative. That doesn't excuse being rude personally to you, however if you think that Turbine can oversell a product, which is still partially bugged many months later, and expect some people not to have the hump with Turbine then I don't know what to say. You appear to be blaming the player for starting the cycle. I say it started at Turbine's door.

As you mentioned earlier about the actual policy not to answer real questions, that's not the hallmark of a company who respected their customers. But the honesty is appreciated. My own cynical view is that the ethos of not being fully helpful was probably the tip of the iceberg, and that recently things haven't been going quite so well at Turbine, so there's been a few cages rattled as regards customer care, brought about by the realization that players have other places to go now the F2P market has widened a little, and not as good as expected sales figures.

Then of course there is the forum login issue ( not the being logged out issue ), which gives the impression that Turbine don't give a monkeys about people's accounts. On one hand, it sounds like you are trying, then on the other it looks like it's business as usual. Has there been any official response about this? Is it WAI?

But let's not pretend Turbine hasn't played a big part in turning the player / business relationship sour with not exactly upfront information shall we say, to be kind. You say that's changed, and if the next expansion delivers what it promises, something like on time, it'll show that you can back up your words, and that Turbine has changed direction.

[ajc196]

There's another list for all of us, LOTRO themed drinks!

But if I'm ever served something called the Kramp, I'm outta there....

Yup...I agree, any drink named after Kramp will kill you...

Or make you so sick you have to stay home from school/work and play LOTRO all day.

[Armitas]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

I can't speak for everyone, so I'll tell you my point of view and you can decide if it's typical.

If I could play lotro I wouldn't be on the forums. I go to the forums to still stay all lotrie when I can't otherwise be in lotro. After I check the captain forums for updates I go straight to the general forums because that's where everyone is. To me it's like a big chat channel, kind of like being on my own servers GLFF. I don't really wander the forums much unless general is dead.

I think a lot of people get mad when you close benign threads because it's like you just X'd out their IM session.

[Runesi_EU]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

My bookmark takes me to General and I use the menu at the top to navigate. I don't think this is going to be too uncommon.

Edit: In fact probably not having the menu at the top and just having the breadcrumb bit would encourage more use of the main page.

[Wilksie]

The trouble is, you force us to post in popular forums to grind these forum rep pips. I'm only a casual forumer, don't I deserve a route to get a nice title without being forced to group up or fight-club with new fake accounts?

By the way has anyone else noticed the +rep drop has been nerfed significantly since the last update? I guess we'll all end up having to buy the forum rep accelerators from the store if we ever want to hit the level cap :-(

[Sapience]

The trouble is, you force us to post in popular forums to grind these forum rep pips. I'm only a casual forumer, don't I deserve a route to get a nice title without being forced to group up or fight-club with new fake accounts?

By the way has anyone else noticed the +rep drop has been nerfed significantly since the last update? I guess we'll all end up having to buy the forum rep accelerators from the store if we ever want to hit the level cap :-(

You're going to be very upset to hear that we're discussing taking your stars away then. The next version of the community sites may not use the reputation system.

[Armitas]

The trouble is, you force us to post in popular forums to grind these forum rep pips. I'm only a casual forumer, don't I deserve a route to get a nice title without being forced to group up or fight-club with new fake accounts?

10/10 epic!

Ohhh nice, next version of the community sites... any time line Sapience? er I mean which version of soon?

And since this is ask Sapience day,,,

Will there be any office pools/bets on how many "where are the patch notes" threads will pop up for the next patch/update. The first thing I do on patch notes day is check the forums to see how many patch notes threads there are. I actually get excited with anticipation the day before, as i'm sure you do too. It's like watching a sunrise, or some other miracle of nature.

[Fredelas]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

I only use the forum list when I'm searching for a specific forum to make a brand new post in. I can never remember where they all are in the hierarchy, so once I hit that page, it's usually just Ctrl + F.

For reading the forums, the first thing I do is check the Dev Tracker (which happens to be full of posts that are really confusing out of context today). Then I click on New Posts to get an idea of what people are talking about right now, and read through as many pages as I have time to. While doing this, I usually open interesting sounding topics in a new browser tab.

I have never gone to a specific forum to actually read through all the posts there. (Not even the General Discussion forum.) But that might be because I don't have an overwhelming interest in any one specific area of the game.

[Eartholloth]

You're going to be very upset to hear that we're discussing taking your stars away then. The next version of the community sites may not use the reputation system.

PLEASE GET RID OF REPUTATION!!!!! It is useless & I am tired of people abusing negative rep.

[Eartholloth]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

I always come to the forums from this link. I do that so I dont miss any important posts.

[Exion_Blade]

Thread like this needs a sticky. Far too much valuable information here.

[mjk47]

I always come to the forums from this link. I do that so I dont miss any important posts.

Same here. That is what I have bookmarked.

[RingOfFire]

And out of curiosity (and this is an honest question), does no one use this page? http://forums.lotro.com
it's a clear display of pretty much every forum there is and most of the ones people seem not able to find aren't that far down it. Maybe I should try an experiment and move general to the bottom?

To be honest, I would suspect the results of moving forums around would depend on what is the collective purpose for all of them. Given how these official forums are heavily game-focused, I think going farther than just moving General Discussion would be necessary to get further mileage out of the less-used ones here. Here's my theory:

If the various categories of forums present here are reorganized rather than just moving individual ones, more attention could be drawn to the forums made for discussing specific aspects of LOTRO, therefore bringing in a greater quantity and quality of feedback as a result. To accomplish this, I believe reorganizing the forum categories to have any LOTRO-related news and announcements at the top (moving General Discussion and possibly Suggestions to a different or separate category lower down on the list), Free Player Forums right under for easy access, and then specific categories like Gameplay & Systems would work best. I'm not fully sure where it would be best to place the Servers and Customer Support categories, however.

Basically, I'm thinking the best approach to reorganizing these forums would be to have any forums for critical and/or specific posts at the top, and more generic forums at a lower spot on the index page, with the ideal result being players instinctively going for the forums best suited for their posts -- and if placed so they're very high on the index, with General Discussion much farther down, then player psychology should handle the rest.

And if someone is just wanting to post to get attention, they're going to have no problem finding General Discussion anyway.

[Jane66]

Can you nest some more of them - you have store feedback and store account support under one topic heading - could you do that with some of the others? The free player forums, servers and customer service forums perhaps? (And actually you have store feedback in there twice.) And then I would think you could probably combine one or two which have fewer posts in - I'm looking at war-steeds and mounted combat. I just find that page a bit 'wall of text'-ish.

[Isharra]

• Use by bartending days to come up with freakin' amazing themed drinks for our player party at pax this year. Anyone want a "Watcher in the water"? (Yes it has RUM in it!)

It is not feasible for me to take time off work and fly across the continent for this, so pictures and/or a recipe would be much appreciated in lieu of the real deal...

pweez?


Edited to add: nvm I see the recipe... pics would still be nice though

[Griffy]

The next version of the community sites may not use the reputation system.

*dance dance middle-earth revolution!*

Yes! Make it Gone. Make it so!

Still goin' gray,
Griffy~*

PS. As for on topic. Just fyi. I use a bookmark that drops me at a forum page. (I think someone linked it. index.php?) That and the New Posts button. I only logged in though to post a yay to the removal of rep. Any 5 silver bets, if it'll log me out as I hit submit?

[Nymphonic]

Sapience...

Thanks for support us players and putting up with the whiners and trolls who show up. Although most people don't know what you do outside the forums, you work hard and I for one am glad that your here for us :-).

I have had my issues with the blue names, and they have gotten really heated(especially the last month), but I have to agree with this post 100%.


That's why I stay here even though I get frustrated and rant and yell. Ignore the OP. It's one thing to voice concerns, but he is over the top.

[Nymphonic]

You're going to be very upset to hear that we're discussing taking your stars away then. The next version of the community sites may not use the reputation system.

I could go for that. Yeah, the only person higher than me is Khafar, and maybe Yula, but I would be happy to see the rep system go the way of the Dodo.