Is there a single dev who has played creepside for any considerable time?

[Ugmo]

Not talking about logging on to a creep and picking up sticks for 10 minutes, dies to the first freep he sees, then logs over to his minstrel or warden, either.

Is there any dev who plays or played creepside seriously?

[Menathradon]

there was probably one or two back when defilers were introduced..

[Yelloweyedemon]

Played: Yeah at some point. Back when the game was still a bit of serious.

Plays: ... lol

[BiteMarks]

Well, considering I haven't got a clue who is actually the PvMP dev or at least the nominated person to come onto the forums, right now I'd say there isn't one who plays regularly and gives even the slightest bit of feedback on here to either game play in genreal or any hint of how they think they may move PvMP forward.

Codemasters were superb with their feedback and I regularly saw Devs in the Moors doing fun things. Shame Turbine decided to take over all the servers

[Nyrion]

Well, considering I haven't got a clue who is actually the PvMP dev or at least the nominated person to come onto the forums, right now I'd say there isn't one who plays regularly and gives even the slightest bit of feedback on here to either game play in genreal or any hint of how they think they may move PvMP forward.

Codemasters were superb with their feedback and I regularly saw Devs in the Moors doing fun things. Shame Turbine decided to take over all the servers

Er, I'm fairly sure Codemasters didn't have Developers for LOTRO, they were just caretakers of the European side of the game. It's not surprising that CM would have had more time to devote to being ingame, since they had much less to be concerned with.

As far as them giving feedback on PvMP, well there's essentially no feedback on how ANY part of the game is doing right now, PvMP is not special in this regard.

Undoubtedly there is no current thought being given as to the future of this part of the game, that much has been made clear. The best we can hope for is that the freep class changes do not make them even more powerful than they already are(a very, very long shot indeed).

[Kafta]

I'm sure the answer is NO!
Considering the unbalance, lag spikes, bugs like the horse and the skills become gray when dismount on keeps, the lm and spider pets that follow burglars and stalkers when they hipses, when you get the relic and then breaks a leg and someone stun the person loses the relic, that hell is to keep picking outposts to stay 2/4 each side, riding next keeps being dismounted (not going inside), when it goes sometimes in fror you can fly, multiboxing freavers, bot freaver lootbox picking all day ... are so many things ...
They do not care about moors for some time.

[nubcat]

Well, considering I haven't got a clue who is actually the PvMP dev or at least the nominated person to come onto the forums, right now I'd say there isn't one who plays regularly and gives even the slightest bit of feedback on here to either game play in genreal or any hint of how they think they may move PvMP forward.

Trevor “Jinjaah” McEwen -- PvMP stuff and class revamp work. I think he's also the main dev to 1-2 freep classes but i'm not certain.

Would be good if each creep class could have a dev instead of one dev for pvp in general.

As for the question, no, I very much doubt any dev plays as a full time creep. Things couldn't be this bad if there was a dev that cared...=(

[Squelcher]

They probably get fired if they do.

[Kafta]

They probably get fired if they do.

oh =( its my dream, work playing all day

[Sapience]

Er, I'm fairly sure Codemasters didn't have Developers for LOTRO, they were just caretakers of the European side of the game. It's not surprising that CM would have had more time to devote to being ingame, since they had much less to be concerned with.

Correct. They did not have a development team. All development has always been done by us. Most of the development level questions were passed along to us, through the community team usually on both sides, and answered and sent back for them to post.

As far as them giving feedback on PvMP, well there's essentially no feedback on how ANY part of the game is doing right now, PvMP is not special in this regard.

Not sure if there's a question here or not.

Undoubtedly there is no current thought being given as to the future of this part of the game, that much has been made clear. The best we can hope for is that the freep class changes do not make them even more powerful than they already are(a very, very long shot indeed).

How has that been made clear? Did we state flatly that no thought was being given? No map, no major development at this time? Yes. No thought? Utterly false. We've even been pretty clear on why we're not making major changes creepside until after HD and the class changes have settled in on live and we know what balance changes we need to make there.

There's even more about this later this week in the next 20 Questions.

[Squelcher]

How has that been made clear? Did we state flatly that no thought was being given? No map, no major development at this time? Yes. No thought? Utterly false. We've even been pretty clear on why we're not making major changes creepside until after HD and the class changes have settled in on live and we know what balance changes we need to make there.

There's even more about this later this week in the next 20 Questions.

At this stage, Sapience, past experience tells us that there never are any meaningful balancing changes made either to nerf freeps or buff creeps. We get some nice dev diaries and promises but in the long run, nothing really changes...

You don't need to state it flatly when we can just look at history and get all the proof we need.

[hisoka-thorongil]

No thought was being given? No map, no major development at this time? Yes. No thought? Utterly false. We've even been pretty clear on why we're not making major changes creepside until after HD and the class changes have settled in on live and we know what balance changes we need to make there.

There's even more about this later this week in the next 20 Questions.

No update/thinking about update=nothing for the players.

[spelunker]

How has that been made clear? Did we state flatly that no thought was being given? No map, no major development at this time? Yes. No thought? Utterly false. We've even been pretty clear on why we're not making major changes creepside until after HD and the class changes have settled in on live and we know what balance changes we need to make there.

I'm thinking about owning my own private island while I complain on the LOTRO forums. Does my thought count for anything? And no, there's not really a question here.

[avengingbananaslug]

No thought? Utterly false.

That's true. You did put in the stupid kill deed changes and made freeps ridiculously OP while not fixing any bugs. Good job!

[Ugmo]

I guess that's a "no" to my question.

[Arathaert]

C'mon people - give them a break!!

Sapience as much as said flat-out that creeps are gonna get some attention after the HD update. BE PATIENT!

If, despite the obvious imbalance, you like pvping and creeping about (like me) then keep doing it. If not, stop complaining and get out of the moors already. Find something more useful to do with your time and come back when there's an update.

Continuing to whine and complain on the forums is not going to do anything except make the devs really not want to interact.

Sapience, thanks for all you and the rest of the devs do. It's not easy, I'm sure, when the forums are so negative, but know that the majority of the player base that actually is in the game playing loves what you guys come up with! Keep up the good work!

/reactionaryrant

[Sapience]

I guess that's a "no" to my question.

Sorry to disappoint you, but you'll need to seek elsewhere for the gloom and doom. Yes, we have devs that play creepside. Freepside, too.

[Isindar]

Why would it even matter? Considering the history of the balancing pendulum in this game it's clear that:
A) it will never and can never be balanced due to obvious design choices
B) this topic is a recurring one, and is more often than not pointless rhetoric
C) the best you can hope for here is that it somehow remains fun and engaging, otherwise you can hop on the next-big-thing MMO bandwagon that has plagued these forums for years

I'd expect this topic from someone who hasn't been here for an extensive period of time

[Nyrion]

How has that been made clear? Did we state flatly that no thought was being given? No map, no major development at this time? Yes. No thought? Utterly false. We've even been pretty clear on why we're not making major changes creepside until after HD and the class changes have settled in on live and we know what balance changes we need to make there.

There's even more about this later this week in the next 20 Questions.

Perhaps not clear in the sense that you(you being Turbine in general) have stated as such. But rather clear in the sense that there has been NO statement there is going to be attention given to the Ettenmoors at all. NO statement that the current crippling issues therein are being addressed. Not even the SLIGHTEST indication of admittance that said crippling issues even EXIST to begin with.

With regards to the future class changes, yes that decision would make sense, but only if the current balance wasn't so wacked already. Do you REALLY expect Creep players to just suck it up and deal with this atrocious balance until Helm's Deep, or even later? I'm sorry, but I don't find that to be reasonable at all.

To put it another way, no answer is itself an answer of sorts.

[Sapience]

To put it another way, no answer is itself an answer of sorts.

Actually it's not. Unless you're attempting to be as negative as humanly possible.

As they say, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Especially when we've been clear in stating class related and moors related issues as relates to class changes this year.

So if one were being fully truthful, you'd have to admit we've stated clearly, and repeatedly now, that any creep changes will come after the freep class changes have been addressed and balanced. Otherwise, as we've said repeatedly now, creep changes would be simple shots in the dark and would have to be redone anyway.

[Squelcher]

creep changes will come after the freep class changes have been addressed and balanced.

This is an interesting statement, but I am somewhat confused.

Does this mean that you are balancing the freep classes with specific attention to their PVP capabilities, or that you are adjusting their overall capabilities regardless of whether they are stronger or weaker than other freep classes in PVP?

[Nyrion]

Actually it's not. Unless you're attempting to be as negative as humanly possible.

As they say, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Especially when we've been clear in stating class related and moors related issues as relates to class changes this year.

So if one were being fully truthful, you'd have to admit we've stated clearly, and repeatedly now, that any creep changes will come after the freep class changes have been addressed and balanced. Otherwise, as we've said repeatedly now, creep changes would be simple shots in the dark and would have to be redone anyway.

Certainly, that much has been made clear. But again, my point of frustration is it means that, for the second year in a row, Creep players are forced to wait god knows how many months until the next expansion before we can hope for some semblance of fairness in the Ettenmoors. By choosing not to do anything about these problems until Helm's Deep you are thereby condemning us to attempt to cope with this shoddy excuse for balance.

Also: "Pound for pound, Creeps tend to get outgunned and outhealed compared to the kind of numbers Freeps can put out."

Does that sound familiar? It's what was stated in the Riders of Rohan Dev Diary for the Ettenmoors. We are in exactly the same position now.

And that is the biggest gripe I have with this. Mistakes I can understand. Balancing PvP is difficult, I get that. But making the same mistakes, repeatedly(said mistakes being balancing creeps to early expansion freeps and not scaling them also as freeps grow progressively stronger with better and better gear), is crossing the line of acceptability.

Creeps have every right to be upset, given what you're asking them to do.

[Lohi]

Does this mean that you are balancing the freep classes with specific attention to their PVP capabilities, or that you are adjusting their overall capabilities regardless of whether they are stronger or weaker than other freep classes in PVP?

There is an overall PVE revamp coming. That undoubtedly affects PVP as a side effect since the two can't be separated. So reading his comments in that light it means that they're not going to revamp PVP balance before that happens.

[Yelloweyedemon]

Sorry to disappoint you, but you'll need to seek elsewhere for the gloom and doom. Yes, we have devs that play creepside. Freepside, too.

Casual maybe. Logging in once a week, getting a few kills, then go back to whatever they were doing before?

Its really hard to believe that there are devs playing (aka working) for lotro pvp. So from when RoR released what devs done to pvp? Constantly changing how brands work, freep BF promotions, eeehm, eehm *scratching head* can't really recall anything else important. ... Those are the 'biggest changes' that happened to pvp from October 15.

So yes, we might believe that there are devs working on new content for the new expansion (still without instances or raids), but there's hardly any work done for lotro pvp. (By the way I'm not saying pve side is anywhere better... I can still point out bugs to the two classes I was playing, Warden and Hunter. Bugs that exist for over a year, but it seems everyone's too busy fixing them)

Sorry but no matter what you say, facts highly disagree.

[BiteMarks]

So if one were being fully truthful, you'd have to admit we've stated clearly, and repeatedly now, that any creep changes will come after the freep class changes have been addressed and balanced.

The problem with this is the fact you are really hoping that any creep stays with the game

Full time creeps that have seen multiple statements, promises, so-called updates to creeps and have seen them all taken back, nurfed or never ever materialised at all.

Any kind of balance within the Moors on our side soon gets the freeps QQ on all the forums stating they cant not win. If freeps had to play with the stats, dps, health, regen on power/health, heals, very poor or no updates, no new maps, no new skills etc that we creeps have had to put up with and who has also paid for the game just like they have had to, then they too would be screaming at you to actually start playing fair, do what you state and make it balanced.

So many long time, very well respected creeps have left and keep on leaving because of broken words. Soon you will not have any real creeps around to worry about