Hobbits to Isengard - Q/A with Sapience notes on what was said

[Mar-Evayave]

It is indeed. Here's a link for anyone who's interested in checking it out.

lol Woops. I'd meant to link that. xD Thanks!

[Thurallor]

Until Sapience gives a clear statement (is the quest pack free to VIPs and purchasable by others as previously stated, or was it false advertising and it's actually tied 100% into the HD xpac), there is little purpose in further discussion.

Why is a change in marketing strategy "false advertising"? As far as I know, no customers have spent any money on this update yet. So you have not been cheated. At worst, you could cite "broken promises", but until you put your money on the table, intentions are not obligations.

[Beaniemooch]

Why is a change in marketing strategy "false advertising"? As far as I know, no customers have spent any money on this update yet. So you have not been cheated. At worst, you could cite "broken promises", but until you put your money on the table, intentions are not obligations.

At this point many people are already disappointed, and more broken promises - real or perceived - becomes a very big thing to them. If you're VIP but didn't buy HD and were led to believe "free to VIP" included you for the new zone, yes, I can see that as a broken promise and a pretty big deal for people. It was not advertised as "free to VIP if you've already purchased HD" although that would've been good information to have in the beginning when it was announced.

[Mar-Evayave]

Why is a change in marketing strategy "false advertising"? As far as I know, no customers have spent any money on this update yet. So you have not been cheated. At worst, you could cite "broken promises", but until you put your money on the table, intentions are not obligations.

I most certainly do put money on the table. I was told, as was every other VIP, that each quarterly update would be free to VIPs. With VIP benefits going down the drain (remote access to mail does NOT make up for this quarterly update being taken out of the VIP benefits or for the Moors being sold in the store), it's getting downright discouraging. I have almost 20k TP. I can live off that for a very long time. I don't have to be VIP, but I choose to for the perks. If the perks keep going away, so will my subscription. What other reason will I have to give them $10 a month? A change in marketing strategy? Pfft. But I guess it's all academic. It would seem that U13's new content simply must be tied into the HD. The whole story about the quests in Fangorn being connected to the epic line is bull. I completed all non-epic quests and the dailies before I even touched the final chapter of the epic line. There is absolutely zero reason for this action, except to try and get more sales out of HD.

That said, Fangorn is probably only worth 200 TP anyway. Almost the entire thing is a set of repeatables. It's very reminiscent of the Limlight Gorge. You do your starters, and then you get a bunch of repeatables. Except it's solo-friendly (well, the trolls are a pain, but aside from them...).

[Orodbril]

It is indeed. Here's a link for anyone who's interested in checking it out.

Does anybody knows what their cloaks are?
They look nice.

[frickinmuck]

Does anybody knows what their cloaks are?
They look nice.

Those are the new Westemnet 95 level shard crafted cloaks. Watchful Cloak of the Deep on the human, Skillful Cloak of the Deep on the hobbit.

[Orodbril]

Those are the new Westemnet 95 level shard crafted cloaks. Watchful Cloak of the Deep on the human, Skillful Cloak of the Deep on the hobbit.

Thanks, so I'll propably wait a little bit until I get them. ^^

[Thurallor]

I most certainly do put money on the table. I was told, as was every other VIP, that each quarterly update would be free to VIPs. With VIP benefits going down the drain (remote access to mail does NOT make up for this quarterly update being taken out of the VIP benefits or for the Moors being sold in the store), it's getting downright discouraging. I have almost 20k TP. I can live off that for a very long time. I don't have to be VIP, but I choose to for the perks. If the perks keep going away, so will my subscription. What other reason will I have to give them $10 a month? A change in marketing strategy? Pfft. But I guess it's all academic. It would seem that U13's new content simply must be tied into the HD. The whole story about the quests in Fangorn being connected to the epic line is bull. I completed all non-epic quests and the dailies before I even touched the final chapter of the epic line. There is absolutely zero reason for this action, except to try and get more sales out of HD.

That said, Fangorn is probably only worth 200 TP anyway. Almost the entire thing is a set of repeatables. It's very reminiscent of the Limlight Gorge. You do your starters, and then you get a bunch of repeatables. Except it's solo-friendly (well, the trolls are a pain, but aside from them...).

I understand your discouragement. But the essential fact is that you can add or drop VIP status each month. You don't need to buy VIP status next month if you were only doing so to get U13.

Having said that, if you bought VIP for the year in advance with the expectation that all of the updates would be included, I think you have a legitimate gripe.

[Mar-Evayave]

Does anybody knows what their cloaks are?
They look nice.

They were indeed very nice. I actually wondered at the time who sets those characters up. I imagine, especially as it must have been done on Bullroarer (unless they have some other private test server that the devs share with the press), that those toons were created specially for that event. At least Sapience gets a box of Isengard gear on all toons for his runs.

I understand your discouragement. But the essential fact is that you can add or drop VIP status each month. You don't need to buy VIP status next month if you were only doing so to get U13.

Having said that, if you bought VIP for the year in advance with the expectation that all of the updates would be included, I think you have a legitimate gripe.

I'll say this once, because I don't want this conversation to continue. If Turbine wants my VIP money, they had better stop screwing over VIPers by taking away the bigger benefits (U13 "quest pack" and exclusive Moors access) and substituting them with little ones (remote access to mail). If you wanna speak further, feel free to send me a PM and I'll gladly continue it. But I'm personally finished, as far as this thread is concerned.

[Bel-Astarte]

Having said that, if you bought VIP for the year in advance with the expectation that all of the updates would be included, I think you have a legitimate gripe.

This would be me.

As it happens, I did purchase HD, so I'm not gated, but I have said before that I'm tired of feeling like a sucker for subscribing instead of purchasing as I go. This year will likely make or break that decision for me. Particularly as I have picked up TESO, so will be managing two games and deciding which is worth subscribing if I have to choose. (Note, I'm not leaving this game-I love it and my kinnies far too much to say goodbye. But I might not subscribe anymore if I keep feeling like I'm being played for a sucker, and this change in strategy has that smell.)

[Burrito]

Intentional false advertising? I think not. Someone just forgot to add the part stating "if you have purchased HD".

People are human, they make mistakes, others need to understand this and stop making them follow everything they said to the letter.

Besides, Kate - it seems - isn't there anymore (no official word, so who knows), so anything she may have said may possibly no longer hold value.

Although saying something repetitively, like "Epic Quests will always be free to all players" and then changing it, is a completely different story.

[praetorian6]

Intentional false advertising? I think not. Someone just forgot to add the part stating "if you have purchased HD".

I think that if you plan on releasing content, especially that which has always been free to VIP, and you now are applying stipulations to it (must have purchased HD) then they're obligated to note this change with the announcement. Same if they plan on doing this type of thing going forward, they need to say so.

I quit this game for quite awhile after it went F2P (I just personally dislike the F2P model) but came back because I really like the game as it's set in Tolkien's ME. Since I came back I've pretty much stayed VIP and have bought the RoI and RoR expansions as I've been catching up my characters and whatnot; but I've intentionally not purchased HD because it honestly didn't seem like a great expansion. Besides being able to continue with the epic storyline and seeing Helm's Deep itself, there just wasn't anything that interesting about it.

Now, if major content in the future updates are going to gated behind the HD expansion then I will stop paying VIP because the updates are the single biggest reason to stay subbed (my opinion, of course). There is nothing in Fangorn that binds it to the epic storyline in such a way that justifies gating it.

I've been a staunch supporter of Turbine/WB as they have been making changes and trying to workout what's best for the game, but if this is how it's going to be going forward then it will cost them two VIP subs and if they continue to gate the epic storyline behind expansions I will just quite the game altogether. I'm not one of those people that goes around in the forums all "OMFGherpTurbineSucksDerpI 'm-quiting-the-game-for-the-1,384,847,273th-time," I know no one cares, I'm just stating what's going to be a deal breaker for me personally.

[frickinmuck]

I've intentionally not purchased HD because it honestly didn't seem like a great expansion. Besides being able to continue with the epic storyline and seeing Helm's Deep itself, there just wasn't anything that interesting about it.

I honestly believe that this is an excellent expansion. I'm always a bit amazed when people talk it down. I guess maybe it's just a matter of taste, but I love it. It helps that I love big battles, but the other content is also great. The landscape quests are some of the most engaging I've done in ages. The writing overall for this expansion is superb. The epic is not to be missed. The class trait points that come from doing content associated with this expansion are also a nice bonus. But like I said, it's a matter of personal taste so it's hard to quantify.

[Beaniemooch]

I honestly believe that this is an excellent expansion. I'm always a bit amazed when people talk it down. I guess maybe it's just a matter of taste, but I love it. It helps that I love big battles, but the other content is also great. The landscape quests are some of the most engaging I've done in ages. The writing overall for this expansion is superb. The epic is not to be missed. The class trait points that come from doing content associated with this expansion are also a nice bonus. But like I said, it's a matter of personal taste so it's hard to quantify.

With the exception of the landscape, there's actually very little I liked or wanted in this expansion. The zone quests that gate trait tree points which have to be completed looooong after you've outleveled them or gotten kindred with an area are annoying. My "little" minstrel is 94-1/2, still neutral with helmingas because there were so many quests to do once I "could" have left an area (but needed them for the trait point) that I'm way over level for where I'm questing. In the Epic around Edoras, before you can finish evacuating you have to complete I think it's 12.5 and 12.6, but by the time you finish those the quest in Edoras is light blue if not green because the levels are so spread out. You can't start on task rep at the correct time. The mobs have to be 89 for Eorlingas rep, and they have to be 93 for Helmingas rep - and by then you're probably close to 95 (like me) and still neutral. Yet you have to continue on even after you're 95. In fact, you have to continue on even if you get kindred through the task board because you need the trait point. It's frustrating. It's not well planned or laid out in my opinion. There were no instances and raids, and I don't enjoy BBs even with a R6 minstrel. It is personal taste, and I'm glad there are those that enjoy it. I'm just not one.

I look forward to Rowan's next letter and hope for better news of things to come.

[frickinmuck]

With the exception of the landscape, there's actually very little I liked or wanted in this expansion. The zone quests that gate trait tree points which have to be completed looooong after you've outleveled them or gotten kindred with an area are annoying. My "little" minstrel is 94-1/2, still neutral with helmingas because there were so many quests to do once I "could" have left an area (but needed them for the trait point) that I'm way over level for where I'm questing. In the Epic around Edoras, before you can finish evacuating you have to complete I think it's 12.5 and 12.6, but by the time you finish those the quest in Edoras is light blue if not green because the levels are so spread out. You can't start on task rep at the correct time. The mobs have to be 89 for Eorlingas rep, and they have to be 93 for Helmingas rep - and by then you're probably close to 95 (like me) and still neutral. Yet you have to continue on even after you're 95. In fact, you have to continue on even if you get kindred through the task board because you need the trait point. It's frustrating. It's not well planned or laid out in my opinion. There were no instances and raids, and I don't enjoy BBs even with a R6 minstrel. It is personal taste, and I'm glad there are those that enjoy it. I'm just not one.

I look forward to Rowan's next letter and hope for better news of things to come.

Interesting. I think it is not always clear what order to do things in. I had a similar experience on one of my alts, but with the others there's been a better flow. Although, by accident. I don't really know what I did differently on the first one. I don't really care about levels, though. I'm just doing them for the fun and for the trait points and rep, so that may be the difference. Big battles give a lot of XP too, so overall I've just opted to ignore the level thing. Hitting cap doesn't really stop me from continuing with the quest lines. It's cap, so it feels like a dead end unless I make it more than that.

[praetorian6]

I honestly believe that this is an excellent expansion. I'm always a bit amazed when people talk it down. I guess maybe it's just a matter of taste, but I love it. It helps that I love big battles,

The Big Battles is what I had the hardest time getting into. When I was testing the new content out on BR I did try the BBs a couple of times and I honestly just didn't get it. I had no idea what I was supposed to do other than the basic "stop the trolls from destroying the statue," or whatever. I'd like to think I'm not a total idiot, but I really didn't find it very intuitive. I wish that if they were going to introduce something along the scale of BBs then they would offer at least a basic primer to how to make the NPCs do what they need to do or how to interact with things inside the BB. Yes, I took Aragorn's little crash course but I still didn't understand what I was actually supposed to do, or more accurately, how I was supposed to do it.

Anyway, I'm really not trying to talk it down, it just didn't seem to be that interesting. To be fair I haven't tried it yet, so other than not liking/fully understanding the BBs, I really don't have anything to base any dislike on. I will buy it at some point because I am determined to have my cappy stand at the Gates of Mordor, assuming, of course, the game makes it that far. Which I truly hope it does.

[Shumzuda]

So Sapience didn't run it on Riddermark?

[Orodbril]

So Sapience didn't run it on Riddermark?

not, yet but he will do it:

24. [server] Riddermark - May 14 5:00PM

You have the whole schedule and all the standings here.

[frickinmuck]

Just a note to let you know, if you want to see a transcript of the Update 13 preview tour that happened with the dev team, there is a transcript available here.

[Shumzuda]

not, yet but he will do it:

24. [server] Riddermark - May 14 5:00PM

You have the whole schedule and all the standings here.

Great, thank you!

[frickinmuck]

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Silverlode

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Silverlode
Video available here.

1. Question about the Mac client
   Unfortunately he has no news or information about the Mac client, so can’t answer the question
2. Will crafting instances be added for the previous tiers that don’t have them
   He doesn’t know
3. When can we expect PvMP LI FAs
   He thinks probably 13.1, but will check with Jinjaah
4. What is the motivation behind avatar changes
   Artists always think they can improve on things, and make things more realistic and lifelike, so occasional adjustments are to be expected. Everyone wants the game to look as good as it can.
5. Question about speed buffs for Hadacar
   Whatever gear he’s wearing is all he uses. That and whatever the raid puts on him.
6. Any plans to add body changes to the barber
   None that he is aware of
7. Will there be changes to the Moors to balance out U13
   Balance is never done. They work on it every update, with tweaks on all sides. So the answer is, yes.
8. What has been the reception for auto-scaled freeps so far
   So far it seems fairly positive. He hasn’t seen a great deal of the wailing and gnashing of teeth that was predicted. We shall see.
9. Question about raids
   Nothing planned for 2014. If you read Aaron’s letter and watch the U13 livestream you will have all the answers to instance questions that are available.
10. Can you leak anything about the new class
    They told us what it is and when it’s coming, there’s not much more to leak.
11. How do people feel about the 95 FA drop rates
    He hasn’t heard much feedback about it. It’s only been a day and a half.
12. Are we going to get more control options for skirmish soldiers
    Probably not. They were intended to be fairly autonomous, and not a controllable pet.
13. Why a cap plan of 105 instead of 100
    LotRO’s caps have always tended to end in a 5, with only a few exceptions (65, 75, 85, 95). This time they’re just splitting it into two pieces instead of doing one 10 level increase.
14. Question about big delay in loading when opening maps
    The first time you open the map, it loads from the server. Consecutive times it loads from your machine, with updates on your location, etc. from your machine. Because it gets loaded into your machine’s memory, if you don’t have a lot of available RAM you may have some delay. There is a similar process with vaults. The first time you open it, all the items have to load, but consecutive times it’s faster.
15. Question about whether there will be more of these types of events in the future
    Originally he hadn’t given it a ton of thought, but they’ve become so popular that it’s pretty much a given. There will probably be a break when this one is over, since there’s still just over a month left in this event, then come up with a different idea. The idea of having regular livestreams is a definite. In fact they want to do more along the lines of the U13 preview one they did, where players get to chat more directly with the devs.
16. Will you be going to PAX Prime
    As far as he knows there are no plans for LotRO to go, but if that changes he will arrange a meet and greet for the occasion.
17. Will you ever come to Britain
    For those who don’t know, whenever he has a meetup with players at various cities, he’s on vacation. He makes time when he goes on vacation to arrange meetups with players along the way. So they tend to happen at places where he’s going to on vacation. He has family in Britain so it’s possible he’ll go there at some point, but probably not this year.
18. Are there any plans to update the instance finder
    Not that he’s aware of. Not to say that someone might not pick up on the idea and do it, there’s just nothing planned that he’s aware of.
19. Are you planning on creating a Linux client
    No.
20. Question about expanding the Moors
    There are currently no plans, and no plans for a new PvP map. That was not something that was in Aaron’s roadmap for the next year and a half to two years.
21. Is there some aspect of the game you wish players would use, appreciate, do more than they currently do
    He thinks he’s done a pretty good job of promoting tag and freeze tag in the hobbit runs. He’s always been a bit disappointed people don’t use those as often, especially since they’ve been there since day 1.
22. Is the new class going to be man only
    Not a question he can answer right now. They’ll talk about the new class as they get closer to it. They’re about to seat a new Players Council, and that’s a question they’ll be having a lot of those conversations with them first.
23. The announcement of the new council will be happening on April 24th. Applications closed April 14th, which leaves him with 10 days between the closing of applications and the announcement of the new council to read through all the applications. He did a lot of that while on vacation, but he still needs to get through the applications that came in since then. Once he’s got that all sorted out, they’ll need to reach out to the selected players to see if they still want to be on the council. Once they’ve formed them all up, they’ll announce it to us and put them to work.
24. Was there a huge influx of applications after Rowan’s letter
    They did spike for an hour or two after. He doesn’t know whether it was because of the letter, or if it was because the letter came on the day they were closing applications, but there was a spike for a couple hours in the afternoon.
25. Suggestion about creating a vector quest to introduce the players to the tag/freeze tag areas
    Great suggestion, he will bring it to the team
26. Dwarf women, will they ever be added
    They are already in the game. If you look closely, when you create a Dwarf, there is no gender selector. As Tolkien himself said, even Dwarves can’t tell male from female, especially when they travel about, because they dress the same and even their beards are the same. As someone in the chat suggested, you can always put a dress on one.
27. Will we ever get Dwarf wardens
    That is something he’s talked to the team about – loosening the restrictions on what race can play what classes. He doesn’t know if it’s on anyone’s radar to actually get done, but it is a conversation that has taken place.
28. Have you considered doing “a day in the life of Turbine”
    He’s not sure what’s meant by that – just walking around with a video camera? He’d like to hear the idea fleshed out a bit more, it could be an interesting thing to do. [The thread for that is here – Frick]
29. Has a new round of Extra Life started yet
    Yes it has. Boston Children’s Hospital was kind enough to give him a donation bucket that has their logos on it, and he carries it around with him to meet and greets and various places. He wants to give a big shout out to everyone who went to the three recent meet and greets because combined they managed to raise over $600 for Extra Life. At the North Carolina meet and greet they raised $102. In Orlando they raised $213, and in Boston they raised $350. Here’s a link to get involved. He had dinner with the founder of Extra Life, Jeremy Adams, and they made an agreement that if Sapience can raise $100,000 he will get the Extra Life logo tattooed on his arm or shoulder. So this year we get to make him get a tattoo!
30. Friday’s livestream (Gwaihir), since he will be at home, we will probably see a pretty funky beard. He has everything and will be at home, and all is going as it should, and there’s no reason not to do it, so he will finally be dyeing his beard.
31. From this week between now and the 21st (which is the date of the Boston Marathon), if you go to the LotRO store and use the coupon code STRONG, you can get the One Fund cloak for free. It’s just a way for them to thank us for our help last year when they were raising money for the One Fund in the wake of the bombing. They also just wanted to commemorate the anniversary and remind everyone that the city is back and stronger than ever, and they appreciate that everyone stood up and took notice and stood with them.
32. Will we ever have more than one house per account
    He doesn’t know. It has been discussed but he doesn’t know if or when it will ever happen.
33. What are your thoughts on a dedicated PvMP server
    Extraordinarily unlikely. With the costs associated with running multiple rule set servers, it’s just not practical.
34. Is there a date for the start of the Spring Festival
    Yes, it will be starting shortly after the Anniversary Festival. The Anniversary Festival will be running for three weeks.
35. What content are you most looking forward to this year, other than chicken ball
    That takes his first answer out of the equation. Probably following the story. The story is what first brought him to LotRO. Now that we’re in the meat of the story and will be exploring some of the rough and tumble war parts of the story, he’s really excited to see how the team handles that.
36. Do you really read every Players Council application
    He can promise that he does in fact read every single application, which is why he schedules it over his vacation – so he has the time to. That’s also why he gave himself 10 days between the close of applications and the announcement of the new council – to give him time to read all the new ones that have come in. There is a lot of sorting, re-sorting and yes, no, maybe stuff involved, so it’s not just a one read, pass or fail thing.
37. Can pending loot be added to GMs things to moderate
    He can pass the suggestion along. He’s not sure of the technical challenges involved, or if it’s even possible, but he will pass it along.
38. Request for clues on kinship crafting system
    He will give no clues on that at all, sorry.
39. Are you planning on contributing any new titles or goodies for Weatherstock this year
    No, but he will be offering the same titles as last year – which for new players will be new. Whoever is organizing Weatherstock can reach out to him and let him know what they’re expecting, and he can make sure they have enough codes for it. But in terms of new codes or new titles to differentiate from last year, nothing is planned.
40. How many mithril coins does it cost to go to the Ettenmoors
    It costs 20 mithril coins to take a Free Peoples character to the Moors. It’s for 6 hours, and it only counts down when you are logged in, so if you log out you don’t lose that time. But regardless of where you are in-game, if you are logged in, it will count down.
41. Question about being able to obtain “extinct” titles and rewards such as the ones from the old Eregion unlock event
    He actually spent a great deal of time yesterday working on this very thing. He sat down with Rowan the other day on this, and he has to have a conversation with HoarseDev to get it all set up, but they have been going through the back catalog of things players can’t get anymore, or that were only offered for a very limited time, back around the Angmar and Moria days especially. Titles, cloaks, they even found a couple of mounts and a few other things that were offered one time, or offered in an obscure place and not everybody got.
    They’ve been looking at ways of going back and finding ways to create codes for those, and to do giveaways and contests for them. Maybe even make some of the stuff part of Extra Life this year. So definitely yes, that conversation is ongoing and there is an active plan being worked on. He thinks he came up with something like 35 different items already. Some of them shouldn’t be too difficult to convert, some of them will be kind of difficult to convert, but they are working on it.
42. Suggestion to make a LotRO stream of people trying to pronounce the names of places in Middle Earth
    That might be an interesting one, to walk around and get people from Turbine to do that. He’s going to write it down and think about it some more, he likes the idea.
43. Request to get the Moors pass timer to stop when you leave the Moors
    He will look into that. He doesn’t know if there’s a technical reason for that or not, or if it will get changed, but he will pass the suggestion along.
44. Which Anniversary barter box do you like best
    Probably the cosmetics one.
45. Sapience takes everyone through the tag and freeze tag areas, explaining how they are played. Tag is at 25.4S, 50.9W in Bree-land, and freeze-tag is at 26.2S, 49.6W in Bree-land. [For those interested in viewing that section, it starts at 1:06 in the video. For those who are interested in these games, the demo he does is quite good. – Frick]
46. When will Hobnanigans be active
    He’s not quite sure. He thinks they are still working on some minor tweaks, and some rewards for it, so he doesn’t think it’s quite ready yet.
47. Will Hobnanigans be a separate event like Treasure Hunt, or will it be tied to a festival
    It will be a separate event, so they won’t have to turn on an entire festival just to play Hobnanigans. They may run it in conjunction with a festival, just like the lootbox event is running right now alongside the Anniversary Festival, but it will be separate.

[Faratalath]

Thanks again Frick! Couldn't see this one but the write-up is very useful.
The Dyeing of the Beard! Finally!
That information on the map-loading is interesting, had been wondering about that for a long time but never really bothered about it, this does explain why it takes so much longer to load the first time (:

[LongMarch]

I know it's been said, but "Great job!", Frick!

Sapience, these live streams have been such a gold mine for player interaction. Hats off to a great idea and a fun event!

[Orodbril]

Thanks again for the transcription, frick.

But I have one question - most likely to be answered by Sapience or another member of the team I think. ^^

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Silverlode

34. Is there a date for the start of the Spring Festival

Yes, it will be starting shortly after the Anniversary Festival. The Anniversary Festival will be running for three weeks.

Wasn't it 2 weeks? That's what was written in the rewards article... o.O

[frickinmuck]

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Gwaihir

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Gwaihir
Video available here.

As promised, Sapience had his beard dyed for this run.

1. What if someone wanted to take you to Flooded Isengard – could they do that?
   As long as they’re taking him to Isengard, he doesn’t care which version
2. Is there any chance that Steel Blue and Walnut Brown will be added to warsteed cosmetic colors
   He doesn’t know, but will ask the team, and let them know it’s been asked for
3. Were the Hobnanigans team-sizes modified to account for the new field sizes
   He doesn’t know where things stand, because the devs are still tweaking, but the version he played about a month ago was a 5v5
4. Any thoughts on festival warsteed gear, adding Gear/Head/Leggings/etc. instead of just a Caprison
   He doesn’t know if more are being made. He knows that players have asked previous festival steeds to be converted to warsteed cosmetics as well, so it’s definitely something that’s been discussed. He will pass the request for a full set on to the team.
5. Can we have an in-game option for your beard dye
   He’ll mention that to the developers, and then he’ll duck.
6. Comment about Entwood barter prices seeming off
   He recommends making that comment/suggestion in the forums
7. Any plans to update the instance finder, or make it cross-server
   He’s not aware of any current plans or projects to revise the finder, and there are no plans to make a cross-server one at this point.
8. Sapience recommends everyone who missed it, to read EP Aaron Campbell’s producer’s letter. It spells out the plans for the upcoming year pretty clearly.
9. Discussion about lag
   Any time there are that many players in one area, onscreen, you’re going to get a lot of lag. Anytime you can reduce the amount of work your computer has to do, whether that be by getting rid of mounts and removing cloaks or by adjusting your settings – turning off particle effects, turning down graphics – that is going to help. But when you are in regions where there are a lot of people and a lot of texture files, player outfits, mounts, etc. your computer needs to handle, you will notice some lag. There can also sometimes be connectivity issues. He’s running LotRO at ultra high, DX10, full resolution, fullscreen. Most settings are maxed. And he’s running the game, streaming the game, and then watching the stream back on his computer, so there’s all that rendering happening. He has a good computer – 16GB or RAM, an i7 (but an older one, an 860), Invidia GTX 580 with 1GB RAM.
10. Any plans to upgrade the server power of LotRO
    Not in the immediate future. When they went F2P the servers were all upgraded, when they brought the European servers over, those were given new hardware, it was upgraded at Moria, it was upgraded one other time – they have been upgraded over the years. A lot of times what they see, for example with the player survey they did, people say, “Upgrade your servers” but so many players are still playing on the same machine they were using when they started with LotRO back in 2007. And LotRO has moved forward graphically since then. So a lot of what players are seeing is just their machines having a harder and harder time keeping up, especially since a lot of them are reporting that they’re trying to play in ultra high, which just isn’t going to work for them anymore. There is a great thread in the forums that has some tips on how to minimize lag.
11. Is there anything new in the anniversary gift boxes besides the pots and level 95 LI
    Not that he is aware of.
12. Question about the quieting of the ents quest bestowal problems
    The quests might not be intended to work the way people expect them to work, with the delays and randomness and everything, but he also knows that the dev who wrote them – jwbarry, and QA are looking into some of the reports they’ve been seeing since it went live. But any changes that get made as a result of their investigation are likely not going to come until 13.1 which is still a ways out. They are aware that there may be some confusion with the way quests bestow, which aren’t necessarily bugs. Which doesn’t mean that’s not something they might take a look at and make some adjustments on. But not until 13.1.
13. Do GMs have the ability to reset buffs on players as a workaround
    He doesn’t know if they do. GM tools vary. He doesn’t know specifically what they can use. When it comes to buffs in general, he doesn’t believe so.
14. Can we get the option to add personal waypoints to the map
    It’s something they’ve been asked for a few times. It would require significant changes to the map system – it’s not a simple thing – it would be a pretty big engineering project. So the devs are aware that this is a feature players would like, it’s just not on the schedule at the moment.
15. Question about balance
    He thinks everything is being looked at for balance. One of the challenges with saying gear is OP is that so many people have said for so long “the gear from this area is not worth getting because the changes are so small” and they adjust it and then people say it’s OP. If they do one thing it’s not enough, if they do another thing it’s too much. So that’s a perfect example of how balancing is not nearly as easy as a lot of people think it is. But they did do a pretty good balance pass in terms of making some pretty big changes to stat contributions and mitigations, which he thinks some people are still working on trying to figure out how to cope with. So he thinks they’re going to see how that works out and tweak that a little bit before they work on anything else (with a different system like changing stats on gear).
16. Will class adjustments be made before the level cap is raised again
    Specifics on level changes and class changes coming with those will be discussed as we get closer to the updates where the level caps are changing. Right now he could give assumptions and thoughts, but he’d rather have definitive answers as they get closer and know exactly what’s happening.
17. Don’t the devs care about balance in the Ettenmoors
    Obviously with the amount of attention that Jinjaah has given it, and the amount of times he’s commented on it and been involved, obviously they care. One thing he was talking to him about the other day – they see people talking about how it’s good for one side and not the other, or it’s good for raids but not 1V1s, but the reality is, it should be better for raids, and not as good for 1V1s. Because there should not be perfect balance between every single class in the Moors. That’s not what the Moors is for. It’s not a 1V1 space, it’s a many v many space.
18. Any information about future landmass segments
    That conversation will happen when we get closer to the time. Rowan gave a good map of where we’re going, and people want to know what are the sites we’re going to see along that road. But part of trying to be transparent is being cautious about creating expectations until things really start taking shape. Once plans are more firm, that’s when they generally start talking about what’s coming.
19. Are there plans to improve instances, especially end game ones
    He doesn’t know what’s meant by improve, but if the question is ‘add new’ then no. They’ve said several times over the past 18 months that they are not currently planning any new instances or raids, and that hasn’t changed. He believes Rowan restated this in his producer’s letter, or in the follow up responses. He did mention that they are going to look at a new big battle and some adjustments to that system, but beyond that – none that he is aware of, and none that are currently planned.
20. Is there anything coming with 13.1 that we don’t expect
    He doesn’t think so. He thinks everyone pretty much knows what to expect from 13.1. He wants to remind everyone that .x releases like a 13.1 or a 13.01 (which would technically be a hotfix), usually don’t have major changes, usually they just have bug fixes, adjustments and touch-ups from the previous update, they don’t generally have anything new or major in them. It’s the full (10, 11 12, 13, 14) releases that have new features or additional content. The possible exception to that is Hobnanigans, but we already know that’s coming.
21. The new class doesn’t sound too different from the champion class – what sets the new class apart
    Unless Rowan gave a whole lot more details than he remembers reading, he’s not sure how that assessment can be made, since they haven’t said what the class does beyond shape-shift. He gave some vague outlines but no real information about the role or what and how it does things. That’s another thing that will be talked about as we get closer to it. The first conversations they’re going to have about it, as they get closer to putting it in-game and as Palantir gets ready to test it, is with the Players Council.
22. He finally finished wading through all the applications, and thanks everyone who applied. There were some really great applications, and he was happy to see some really long-time players had applied. Players who’d been in the original Shadows of Angmar beta. Quite a few long-time players. It was also good to see how many players from around the world applied. He was really blown away to see how many female players applied. Probably about 50-50. There are a lot of women who play LotRO and he thinks it’s great that they are stepping up and want to have a voice in participating in steering the future of the game.
    He hopes to have his exact list locked down by the end of the day, if not then first thing tomorrow morning. The devs have had some pretty good input about who they want to see added, and who from the existing council will be coming back. There are 9 members of the current council who are coming back. They’re going to use them to help bring the new Players Council up to speed, because there is a lot of experience in these 9 members, learning the various things that the first Players Council had to learn about how to interact with devs the right way so that the devs are getting the feedback that they want and need. What’s the difference between feedback and complaints. Not all complaints provide useful feedback, which kind of makes them pointless in the council. A lot of things like that which these 9 can help with to get the new council up and running faster. Obviously Rowan and Jinjaah and HoarseDev already have things in the back of their minds that right off the bat the Players Council is going to have to start addressing and dealing with.
23. How many separate piles do you have
    Last year he thinks they made a mistake when they talked about different players roles (this one RPs, this one raids, this one is from that server, etc). It’s not so much the role of the individual player so much as it’s, what have they said in their application that leads them to believe that they will be a good all-round contributor. They’re going to pick people who are interested in and knowledgeable about the various areas of the game (PvMP, festivals, etc) so they have the best quality feedback on those things, but they don’t want someone that’s going to be in there and say, “I only want to talk about X!” The Players Council doesn’t work that way. Basically what you’d be saying there is that you want to have a conversation about one topic over the course of the year, and that doesn’t work. One thing they impressed upon the Players Council this year is that everybody should be involved in every conversation, because ultimately whether or not you partake of a given system, the decisions made for that impact you because working on item A may preclude working on item B. So they really want the feedback on how everyone feels about a certain topic, even if the feedback is “yeah, I agree with everyone else.” That’s still useful feedback.
    So it’s less about “I am a champion and I only want to talk about champions.” That’s actually of marginal value. However, having a champion and knowing champions very well and still being able to talk about overall balance – both in the Ettenmoors and in PvE – and who can relate to changes and how they would impact other player classes- that’s a valuable member of the council.
24. How many total players for the Players Council
    The goal was to get between 30 and 50. They had 75 last year, and what they learned from that is they really don’t need that many people. They’re going to end up with a core group that do most of the work and then others who will give feedback in bits and pieces. So one of the things they wanted was a little bit more rounded council that was slightly smaller and they wanted to stay between 30 and 50. And they also wanted to put between 5 and 10 players from the existing council. So he thinks they’ve got 59 or 60 including the returning members.
25. Have you read The Lord of the Rings
    Multiple times. He’s also read The Hobbit multiple times, he’s read The Silmarillion, he’s read The Book of Lost Tales, he’s read Tolkien’s letters, he got halfway through Christopher Tolkien’s work where he went through how his father went about writing The Lord of the Rings, about the plans for a sequel to it that were abandoned, about how Frodo and Bilbo came to be. One of his favourite pieces from that was finding out that Strider was originally a hobbit in one of the early drafts, so he’s read most things by Tolkien. He doesn’t read a lot of the translated poetry, and he’s not a Beowulf fan, sorry, so he did read that. He’s read Children of Húrin, he’s read not all but most of his work.
26. Which volume is your favourite
    He just really enjoyed reading the letters, and getting the background on what he was thinking and what he thought about his success.
27. Which ent pet do you like the best
    He likes the snowy one. He also likes the honeycomb one, but the snowy one is his favourite.
28. What about new hobbies
    There are currently no plans for new hobbies, sorry.
29. Why is rank farming not being banned
    If you see rank farming, report it and it will get investigated, and if it really is rank farming the appropriate action will be taken, whether that be a ban or a suspension or what. Remember – everything is investigated. Just because something was reported, that doesn’t mean something will happen. And if something does happen, it will never be discussed with other players, only with the player in question.
30. Why are there no festival dresses this time, just the robe
    Because this time that’s what they made. Sometimes it’s not a do everything, it’s a do one or the other, and this time they made a robe.
31. Comment that this stream was the first mention of the Moors being group focused
    He would be surprised if that was true. He knows that Jinjaah has talked about it before. It’s meant to be balanced for group vs group play, not 1V1.
32. When will we have a Bullroarer install
    He doesn’t know. He knows they’re working on it, and that it will be the new Akami installer. He thinks that since they won’t be bringing anything to BR soon, the goal is probably to get the live installer out first, but he could be wrong. But he believes that’s the plan. And the plan is to have a new BR install ready by the time 13.1 goes to BR.
33. Players Council member Yicky AKA Delmore asks people to bring concerns about PvMP balance to him in via PM and he will bring that directly to the devs.
34. When will you decide who is on the shortlist for the Players Council
    That was probably yesterday afternoon before he left. He was there on Wednesday until 9 or 10PM making sure that he’d read through all the applications before the weekend. Friday is actually a holiday for him and the office is closed, which is why he did this hobbit run from home.
    Generally how it works is that they pick those who are a preliminary yes, a secondary yes, a definite yes, and just start weeding through them that way. No one ever comes out of one of those groups once they are put in, so the 59 they have right now are definite yes picks. They will probably, if he has time, get an email sometime this weekend inviting them to participate. Those people will be in. They will go back to the secondary and primary picks and start pulling from those if someone drops out and the membership falls below a number they are comfortable with. If you want to use a sports analogy it’s kind of like first team, second team and the practice team.

A quick reminder that Extra Life is happening now. Here’s a link for people who want to get involved.