Lottery?

[Aeilrond]

Have the lotteries been terminated? My computer doesn't allow me to do raids, etc.( unable to purchase a better system at the moment) so the only way I'm able to acquire those tokens is through the lottery when offered. Have the lotteries stopped?

[Nakiami]

Pretty much, yes.

They're supposed to come back eventually (tm). Don't hold your breath.

[Dotlbeme]

Lotteries have been absent for a while, yes. Will they come back? Probably.

In the mean time, be content with your hobbit presents....

[Loriadrel]

There actually was a lottery earlier this week, which surprised me.

It was "The Lottery of Things". Marks, Medallions and Tokens of Hytbold were offered iirc, since none of my alts won.

[Ambermoone]

How can we tell though if there is no lottery on or the widget/link to the lottery page is broken? I have 5 alts - the highest being level 32 and I've never ever had anything different that the "not eligible to enter " message. I have no other subscription but my vip one, tried other browsers and logging back in and out but no joy.

[Sapience]

Pretty much, yes.

They're supposed to come back eventually (tm). Don't hold your breath.

There's a great thread about negativity and people who make statements that are negative with no real facts or statements to back up or support the negativity. This is a great example.

Lotteries are in flux. There is a whole revamp of the forums and my.lotro.com coming. So they tend to work and not work at the moment in direct relation to how much time I want to spend pulling people away from working on the new stuff.

We've been super open about it, posted repeatedly when there are delays, been clear what is staying and what is going. I've even been so clear as to update everyone when I've had an opportunity to test the new lottery system and suggest changes for it (mostly on the back-end, but some front end stuff I hope gets in to make things a bit easier/better for you guys).

There actually was a lottery earlier this week, which surprised me.

It was "The Lottery of Things". Marks, Medallions and Tokens of Hytbold were offered iirc, since none of my alts won.

Since June 17th there have been about a half dozen total. More will come this weekend, probably starting later today.

[Ambermoone]

There's a great thread about negativity and people who make statements that are negative with no real facts or statements to back up or support the negativity. This is a great example.

Lotteries are in flux. There is a whole revamp of the forums and my.lotro.com coming. So they tend to work and not work at the moment in direct relation to how much time I want to spend pulling people away from working on the new stuff.

We've been super open about it, posted repeatedly when there are delays, been clear what is staying and what is going. I've even been so clear as to update everyone when I've had an opportunity to test the new lottery system and suggest changes for it (mostly on the back-end, but some front end stuff I hope gets in to make things a bit easier/better for you guys).





Since June 17th there have been about a half dozen total. More will come this weekend, probably starting later today.

Thank you- as one is expected today (I'm in the Uk so not sure what that will be in reality for us) I will keep an eye out and hit refresh to see if it works for me. (Fingers crossed. )

[Edrogar]

It's up now.

[Ambermoone]

It's up now.

Thank you very much Was able to enter at last!

[captainBA]

There's a great thread about negativity and people who make statements that are negative with no real facts or statements to back up or support the negativity. This is a great example.

Lotteries are in flux. There is a whole revamp of the forums and my.lotro.com coming. So they tend to work and not work at the moment in direct relation to how much time I want to spend pulling people away from working on the new stuff.

We've been super open about it, posted repeatedly when there are delays, been clear what is staying and what is going. I've even been so clear as to update everyone when I've had an opportunity to test the new lottery system and suggest changes for it (mostly on the back-end, but some front end stuff I hope gets in to make things a bit easier/better for you guys).





Since June 17th there have been about a half dozen total. More will come this weekend, probably starting later today.

Thank you Sapience!

I check daily because there just might be one. We appreciate the effort!

It is a fun way for me to participate while away from the client itself.

[thinx]

We've been super open about it, posted repeatedly when there are delays, been clear what is staying and what is going.

I'd suggest to have a current hot topics section (some kind of FAQ) to avoid some of this threads.

The alternative is what I do: Read each and every dev tracker response in each and every topic (no matter how meaningless or irrelevant the title is for me), just to ensure not to miss any information.
IMO there is no information source where information is presented in a summarized, clearly represented and searchable way. There is no single "must read" to know it all.

It is rather distributed in several subforums, topics and threads. There are dozens of "must reads".
Maybe summarizing would help. 20 questions with devs has been a start, but there are also 20 questions that are currently hot topics and have already been answered somewhere on the forums - and these 20 questions would have to be a living document.

I'd also suggest to have a section for currently occuring gameplay issues, tech issues (tech stickies are dated 2011?) and all time favorites (flying mounts...).

Maybe some of this is already part of the new forums....

Finally I also took part in a lottery again ;-)

[Sapience]

I'd suggest to have a current hot topics section (some kind of FAQ) to avoid some of this threads.

The alternative is what I do: Read each and every dev tracker response in each and every topic (no matter how meaningless or irrelevant the title is for me), just to ensure not to miss any information.
IMO there is no information source where information is presented in a summarized, clearly represented and searchable way. There is no single "must read" to know it all.

It is rather distributed in several subforums, topics and threads. There are dozens of "must reads".
Maybe summarizing would help. 20 questions with devs has been a start, but there are also 20 questions that are currently hot topics and have already been answered somewhere on the forums - and these 20 questions would have to be a living document.

I'd also suggest to have a section for currently occuring gameplay issues, tech issues (tech stickies are dated 2011?) and all time favorites (flying mounts...).

Maybe some of this is already part of the new forums....

Finally I also took part in a lottery again ;-)

Basicially you've described why the dev tracker was created. So players could, with one click, see all the posts devs make.

If we make FAQs all the time eventually someone would say we need an FAQ on the FAQs.

An example I've used before is, once you post in the launcher in 3 languages, facebook in 3 languages, the forums in 3 languages, and tweet about it, you've done about all you can to reach people and make it easy. You'll still see a steady stream of "they never told me" posts though. There's a point at which more isn't always 'better', it's just more.

And there is a lengthy post about exactly what is and isn't changing, stickied. http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...ms-and-MyLOTRO

[Darlgon]

Dev Tracker.

Oh, and, "Thank Gandalf Its Friday" lottery. P

[LongMarch]

Go Sapience!
I <3 the lotteries even if they are in an interim phase. Always one of the nicest little highlights with this game.

[thinx]

Basicially you've described why the dev tracker was created. So players could, with one click, see all the posts devs make.

It relies on 3 prerequisites: devs posting strictly on topic (problems with this are rare but have happened), meaningful thread titles and not overloading it with unnecessary information.
(By the way, this is OT...)
If I had problems with lags I would search on dev tracker for threads with the title "lag", and not with title (random examples) "please answer" or "enough is enough". If I would like to know if my Rohan goodie bag codes expire, I'd look in a thread named "Goodie bags expiring with Rohan release", not in a thread named "Where is my goodie bad" in dev post 7 there. (last one is just an example, the issue itself is no problem to me anymore, after a long feeling of loss....)
Don't get me wrong, those titles are not your responsibility, but they are what I can see when looking at dev tracker.
It is also not possible to see all dev posts with one click. I am currently too lazy to test how many clicks the OP of this thread would have needed to get the information. But for sure more than one. I'd guess something around 5-10 pages of reading.

Again, to my feeling dev tracker is no summary. It is an unsorted assembly. Sure, it is sorted better than the forums - but to my feeling this is still not "good". Is it even possible to search dev tracker?

An example I've used before is, once you post in the launcher in 3 languages, facebook in 3 languages, the forums in 3 languages, and tweet about it, you've done about all you can to reach people and make it easy.

I've followed this discussion and sat on my hands to stop myself from posting. I'd say this has improved a lot. A little inconsequence here and there, but no noteworthy problems ;-)

You'll still see a steady stream of "they never told me" posts though.

What you're essentially saying here is that some people would not see it even if it is right in front of their face.
My counter-question would be: Is it really in front of their face? Or is it in section b1 of the forum? Is it visible when opening the forum on first page or is it hidden by a newer topic in the announcement forum (e.g. the newest shop bargains)? Why is the launcher window still so tiny that sometimes announcements are hidden if the newest one is too big?
I guess there is some room for improvement without adding any new information, just by changing the presentation of the current one.

And there is a lengthy post about exactly what is and isn't changing, stickied. http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...ms-and-MyLOTRO

One of those threads I missed. I should spend more time on the forums, facebook and twitter - or maybe I shouldn't ;-)

I hope this thread is not too negative. If it is, I'd read the answer and stop this thread.
By the way: Some of the "negativity" can also be a culture clash. My (limited) experience with people from the US shows that their way of critizising and praising is quite different. Just one saying from my country: No complaints is enough praise.....

[dreamcreatorx]

Basicially you've described why the dev tracker was created. So players could, with one click, see all the posts devs make.

If we make FAQs all the time eventually someone would say we need an FAQ on the FAQs.

An example I've used before is, once you post in the launcher in 3 languages, facebook in 3 languages, the forums in 3 languages, and tweet about it, you've done about all you can to reach people and make it easy. You'll still see a steady stream of "they never told me" posts though. There's a point at which more isn't always 'better', it's just more.

And there is a lengthy post about exactly what is and isn't changing, stickied. http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...ms-and-MyLOTRO

Would it be possible to call my home and cell phones and leave a message? I would also like a post on my personal Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as, emails sent to all 6 of my email accounts. Maybe even a homing pigeon and flaming arrow shot to all my known locations. This should about cover it.

Thanks,

Bloodsip.

/JK BTW. Just trying to keep it fun......

[thinx]

/JK BTW. Just trying to keep it fun......

No. You stated your opinion in a hyperbolistic way to make my post look ridiculous without even providing an argument.
I guess this was a positive constructive contribution then, in contrast to my post that was full of negativity.

[Thrabath]

I think the main problem is that currently the information is up-to-date and recent, but if somebody is looking for information about f.e. lotteries in a week/ 2 weeks, these posts are not recent anymore, so not easy to find.

I try to read every post made in the dev-tracker, so I know most things, but if you are new to the game/ don't follow the dev-tracker constantly a problem that is known to a group for months but there no new posts about it for months, then they won't find/read it and ask a question.

I don't know if there is an easy solution for this, except having a know-issues-thread which in every sub-forum about the known-issues concerning the subjects of that sub-forum. That is a lot of work.

[dreamcreatorx]

No. You stated your opinion in a hyperbolistic way to make my post look ridiculous without even providing an argument.
I guess this was a positive constructive contribution then, in contrast to my post that was full of negativity.

Ummmm, I quoted and was speaking to Sapience. Maybe next time you should thinx before you post. Did you see what I did there, kinda funny right? Wait, no it isn't, this is serious business.

[Sapience]

What you're essentially saying here is that some people would not see it even if it is right in front of their face.
My counter-question would be: Is it really in front of their face? Or is it in section b1 of the forum? Is it visible when opening the forum on first page or is it hidden by a newer topic in the announcement forum (e.g. the newest shop bargains)? Why is the launcher window still so tiny that sometimes announcements are hidden if the newest one is too big?
I guess there is some room for improvement without adding any new information, just by changing the presentation of the current one.

In the matter of the launcher and downtime, it is in the most literal sense right in front of their face. If you open the launcher and the information is in the first position then you are looking at your answer. If you then go to the forums to ask why the game is down, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to help you. You chose to overlook the exact explanation right in front of your face. Literally.

[thinx]

In the matter of the launcher and downtime, it is in the most literal sense right in front of their face. If you open the launcher and the information is in the first position then you are looking at your answer.

IF it is that way and IF this was only about maintenance - although there was a message some time ago to NOT open the launcher too early during maintenance.
Nevertheless, imo in this discussion maintenance is a smaller part here. I know I've discussed this several times, but imo (as written below) this has improved a lot. Maintenance (and extension messages / problems) are now on all 4 media and 3 languages most of the time - which was not always the case. The thing with the launcher is that I am just wondering why "important information" (including store ads) is presented in such a small window - and why important information in the forums is not at the forum front page (although it is on the ticker on my.lotro.com most of the time) but in a sub-forum.

The main topic imo was the other things - which was also the starter for my discussion. You complained about people not reading your lottery posts. I just think this is to be expected. I am following dev tracker most of the time - and I also miss posts.
There have been many topics lately I'd consider as common interest that pop up every now and then - and I guess you would answer every question about those topics with "already answered".
I'll summarize some of them:

• Less focus on PvMP due to low player numbers
• Less focus on Raiding due to low player numbers
• multiboxing and problems distinguishing between cheaters and normal players
• Forum state
• problems with lags
• several common technical issues (W32 memory problems)
• several ingame issues
• foreign EULA issues on login
• etc.

Having those in an FAQ section would imo be better than having them somewhere in a thread with a meaningless name on page 15 on dev tracker. Also using the search engine is not helpful, as you just get general posts not your answers.
Sure, the answers are ALL THERE. But they're distributed.
An alternative would be a separate tracker, that is phrase searchable and is only used for things considered as "should be common knowledge" and not as ongoing discussion or whatever. Selecting what should be on this tracker would be your decision anyway.
And: I'd also suggest to have those common answers translated. Sure, the community is also doing this, but this is more by chance than on a regular basis.

EDIT: Just to make it clear: This is no rant. It should be a discussion to improve things, not a complaint. Of course this requires to express why things should be improved...