Forums Consolidation and Streamlining

[Sapience]

As we prepare for the upcoming changes to the LOTRO Community Site we've decided to take a look at the layout and number of forums within the site itself. Obviously there are far too many (Nearly 150 or so in English alone) and it's not always clear what is supposed to go where. So some forums will be rolled into each other, others will simply cease to exist.

Below is the final list of forums we'll be using in the very near future. In fact, this list will be put into effect ahead of the changes to the community sites. This will reduce the number of forums being carried over to the new site and will also, hopefully, make it easier for everyone to post their thoughts in the right places.

A few important notes:

• The German and French Forums will also take on this new format and layout of forums.
• No posts will be deleted, they will be rolled into the existing or replacement forums.
• Server forums will be condensed to just the server forum and its PvMP forum. The Trade and Kinship sub forums will be going away and all of those posts rolled into the general server forum.
• Store announcements will now be included in the Announcements forum with all other announcements.
• Crafting will now have a single forum instead of a forum for every craft.
• UI Skinning and Lua Scripting will now share the "UI Skinning and Lua Scripting" forum.
• Player Events (in and out of game) will share a single forum.

OFFICIAL LOTRO NEWS AND INFORMATION

• Announcements
• Patch Notes and Known Issues
• Developer Diaries and Discussion

LOTRO GENERAL DISCUSSION

• General LOTRO Discussion & Feedback
• Next Expansion Discussion (Helm's Deep currently)
• Player Suggestions
• Store Feedback

LOTRO GAME DISCUSSION

• Gameplay Discussion
• Adventuring in Middle Earth (Quests, Deeds, Reputation, etc)
• Skirmishes and Raids, & Instances
• Character Creation and Development (Races & Classes)
  
  • Burglar
  • Captain
  • Champion
  • Guardian
  • Hunter
  • Lore-master
  • Minstrel
  • Rune-keeper
  • Warden
  
  
• Monster Play/PvMP
  
  • Creep
  • Freep
  
  
• Legendary Items
• Mounted Combat
• Crafting
• Housing

COMMUNITY & SOCIAL

• Lottery & Community Site Discussion.
• Kinships
• Roleplaying
• Player Events (in and out of game)
• Music
• Player Created Guides and FAQs
• Cosmetics & Appearances
• UI Skinning and Lua Scripting
• J.R.R. Tolkien
• LOTRO Forums Hall of Fame
• Fansite News
• Off-Topic

TECHNICAL & ACCOUNT SUPPORT

• Account Support
• Windows PC Technical Support
• Mac Technical Support

SERVERS

• Server Name General
• Server Name PvMP

LANGUAGES

• German
• French

Finally, I want to thank the Players council for their feedback and suggestions on what to keep and what to let go. Also, a special thanks to Bondgirl51 who came up with the basic outline we all worked from.

Oh, and I also want to waive the council's NDA on this one topic. Council members are free to comment on this thread and their contributions to the revamp as they feel appropriate.

For council members, please keep in mind that your NDA on all other subjects is still very much in place.

[Crell_1]

Will we still have a Dev Tracker?

That's the one forum feature I can't find on DDO's revamped site.

(that and coaxing it to let me login...but, that's always been finicky on my account)

[TinDragon]

I spend 90% of my time in the class forums, so as long as those stay (which they are) I'm happy. Definitely liking the condensing as a whole. Especially glad to see a Patch Notes section! I never had a problem finding them but maybe this will stop most of the "Where are the patch notes?!" threads.

[Milithion]

do you know what i would like to see?

you have at the top of the forums 4 tabs (big ones)
1) english forum
2) german forum
3) french forum
4) Dev tracker

so you could easily swap between the different languages.

if you click on one of those tabs each single forum would be loaded.

[furtim]

Especially glad to see a Patch Notes section! I never had a problem finding them but maybe this will stop most of the "Where are the patch notes?!" threads.

Aw, but I'd gotten so used to seeing those. It's like saying goodbye to an old friend. An old friend you didn't actually like very much, but still. :P

[Sapience]

do you know what i would like to see?

you have at the top of the forums 4 tabs
1) english forum
2) german forum
3) french forum
4) Dev tracker

so you could easily swap between the different languages.

if you click on one of those tabs each single forum would be loaded.

I don't know if that's possible, but I'll look into it. This is just to let everyone know which forums will stay, which are going and whic (like the Patch notes and Known issues) are being added.

Will we still have a Dev Tracker?

That's the one forum feature I can't find on DDO's revamped site.

(that and coaxing it to let me login...but, that's always been finicky on my account)

That's a larger question. They were running a different version of everything than what's on the LOTRO site. Dev tracker will exist, but I don't know in what form and if it will be day one. The changes I listed are the actual forums for posting not the systems and software running it.

If things go well, what's posted above should start happening this week. However the actual software and systems changes have been delayed slightly and will likely not happen until mid-June based on current estimates.

[Nimelriana]

About the "language categories", take a look over here: http://forum.egosoft.com/index.php?

[Sapience]

About the "language categories", take a look over here: http://forum.egosoft.com/index.php?

I'm not sure I'm following. For starters, we have nearly 100 forums even after this list. Having 300+ forums on a single page is a problem. Also it's interesting they have 10 for English, 10 for German, but only 3 for French?

[Milithion]

here an simple image of what i meant: (first if you selecet the english forum, second part, is what you see if you select the german one)

[MrWarg]

There really are a large number of forums when you sit down and look at the list. One of the challenges was to try and identify which of those forums were simply not needed or which could be merged with others. That was actually a lot harder than it sounds because of course not everyone frequents the same areas of the forum with the same regularity as others. What is important to me may not be important to someone else, and vice versa. In the end though we managed to come up with what I think is a pretty good compromise overall that streamlines the forums whilst preserving those areas that are most used/necessary.

[Crell_1]

If things go well, what's posted above should start happening this week. However the actual software and systems changes have been delayed slightly and will likely not happen until mid-June based on current estimates.

Sounds like most of my concerns are a non-issue until June. A re-org won't necessarily affect the existing tracker, it'll just need a quick reconfigure. I'm just hoping we don't have any wierd-account-migration issues like what appear have gone on over on the DDO side of things.

[Loffler]

Dev tracker will exist, but I don't know in what form and if it will be day one.

If there's no dev tracker, and we all know how Turbine delivers on promises for stuff that will show up later, there's no reason to come to these forums. Launching the forums without the dev tracker is FAIL.

[Sapience]

here an simple image of what i meant: (first if you selecet the english forum, second part, is what you see if you select the german one)

I follow you. I'll pass this along. My post, and what I am inthe process of doing, is the actual forums themselves not the backend stuff (which your suggestion would require) that is outside of my direct control.

[cdpengys]

This looks really good. Having a Patch Notes and Known Issues section is a great idea that was a long time in coming. Also, Player Created Guides and FAQs is a fantastic idea, especially with the Lorebook being discontinued. Will the posts from the Community Created Guides section of the lorebook be copied to this new subforum before the Lorebook goes *poof*?

[Malindruel]

Although a Forum Restructuring is being done ...... yet again
(Was less than 3yrs since the last Restructure)

I have only one question

How will this affect the Auto Log-Out and "Click the Link 5x to access page" problem we are currently stuck with?

[DanteIL]

I'm happy to see the Forums consolidation and reorganization. I hope that there is a still a "New Posts" function, however, since that's how I read the forums

When it comes time to deal with the backend systems down the road, however, I also really really hope that things are tested in a way that avoids the complete foul-up that has become the DDO forums. I can no longer log onto my DDO forum account, and the readability and formatting of the new forum there is atrocious.

[Fredelas]

I'm glad a gameplay discussion forum is returning. It's good to have a place to discuss how things work that aren't specific to a particular class or encounter.

[Shukar]

I didn't see a forum especially for new folks in the list. It would seem to me that new folks who are afraid that they're asking a "stupid" question, or who don't really understand what forum to use (since there will still be lots!) might really feel better if we kept that one.

[Yicky]

If there's no dev tracker, and we all know how Turbine delivers on promises for stuff that will show up later, there's no reason to come to these forums. Launching the forums without the dev tracker is FAIL.

He simply said it might not be day one. That isn't a huge deal if it comes a couple days or a week later. I'm sure there will be a system put into place to allow players to find knowledge of an important message. Calm yourself a bit

[Nimelriana]

I'm not sure I'm following. For starters, we have nearly 100 forums even after this list. Having 300+ forums on a single page is a problem. Also it's interesting they have 10 for English, 10 for German, but only 3 for French?

It's only a small developer, which explains the small amount of forums.

If you click on one of the languages, all other forums, except the ones of the clicked language minimize, giving the focus to your chosen language

[Darlgon]

Sooo...

Since I have never dropped to Premium, much less F2P, have no idea where this is. However, when F2P was announced, or the forums were revamped, the forums had only certain areas were for Free 2 Play players to post, with the rest read only access, acknowledging Premium and above players were more valuable. Has that, Is that going away?

[Kleinwulf]

How about a blue blob/line/ball next to the forum thread if a Dev has posted in the thread? It's easier to get an fast overview if anyone's waiting for a dev reply.

[Drogo1]

• Crafting will now have a single forum instead of a forum for every craft.

Ah man - I didn't use the craft forums very much - but having them split out made it EASY to find info about a specific craft - like the Forester Hide Farming locations list that I check on and update every couple of months.... I get the feeling that post will be completely lost in the noise in a combined craft forum...

[TinDragon]

Ah man - I didn't use the craft forums very much - but having them split out made it EASY to find info about a specific craft - like the Forester Hide Farming locations list that I check on and update every couple of months.... I get the feeling that post will be completely lost in the noise in a combined craft forum...

Most of the craft forums see very little use. I'm sure if there's a thread that gets updated somewhat regularly (for crafting, every couple of months would probably do it) it'll be where people can see it. Plus, with a new forum comes a (hopefully) fully functioning search!

[StarryP]

Looking forward to seeing the new forums.

One wish I have, which I know isn't related to the structure but will depend on the software used, is that it is possible to change skin. My eyes mess up when I have to read a lot of white/light text on a dark background. An option to change it to be dark text on light background would be most welcome by me, and make me read and use the forums more.

Cheers and thanks!