Summer LOTRO Executive Producer’s Letter

[Fatty]

So, what will happen to Ettenmoors? Will it still exist alongside the New PvMP area, will it be removed altogether, or will it be changed into a 'normal' questing zone?

[Raven-EU]

can anybody please tell me why the player council is getting any input on the future of pvmp, the player council as shown they have no interest in pvmp, this should go to active people that play pvmp and have pvmp experience, again, why would you have somebody give you advice on something that has no knowledge of it?

Maybe it's because a number of council members (players who mostly, or exclusively, play PvMP) have been working hard for two years to get PvMP higher up on the agenda...

But then, why let any kind of fact, or even a hint of a fact, ruin a good rant?

[Makawulf]

can anybody please tell me why the player council is getting any input on the future of pvmp, the player council as shown they have no interest in pvmp, this should go to active people that play pvmp and have pvmp experience, again, why would you have somebody give you advice on something that has no knowledge of it?

In case you dont know. Two different Player Council exists. Player Council and PvMP Player Council.

[Sitaprutske]

Have to wait and see if Withy is on the merger list or not. If so, let's hope we merge with a good server then.

Everything seems pretty solid to me although i do have a few pointers:

* Minas Tirith: prolly a bb involved with it, hope the scale of the movie then.

* New pvmp map: i hope smaller than the one we having now. Smaller means more action means more fun. Especially lower populated servers having trouble with the Ettenmoors map. Run half an hour sort of speak to pick a fight. Hoping new map is smaller so you come across each other more. Also why not implement 5v5, 3v3, capture the flag etc and make pvmp ranked overall, not only your own character. Make online rankings for people to see who's up in the bracket of pvmp. Arenas with a solid que cross server is a valid option as well. I know i'm taking alot of stuff from WoW but atleast it worked there especially for the smaller servers with the que's cross-server.

* Bingo Boffin: he better have some pretty good rewards there in the end.

* New store: i'm happy with this one atm but always room for improvement.

* New data servers: Can't say anything on this besides awesomeness.



Other features to be considered:

* Mount vendor. Tired of being halfway the map and ur bag is full? Nps, just summon ur vendor mount and you're good to go again.

* Full kinship revival. Let people donate gold into the kinship bank and have a tab where we can see what goes in and what goes out of the kinship bank. Atm not even God himself knows what's being taken out or brought into the kinship bank. Give leaders and officers alot more options to choose from inside the kinship tab. There has been a post bout it for years but it's completely ignored although this would be a very good benefit towards the game.

* Implement cosmetic weapons already. People are waiting for this forever. Time to do something bout it. (I want my 2H 1st age lvl 60 on my lvl 100 champ).

* Scale old dungeons and raids also to lvl 100 so we not bored of doing the same stuff over and over again. Who wouldn't love to run dungeons and raids from back in Moria right @lvl 100? Everyone would.

* Flying mounts? no? yes? The lore makes it possible so why not.

* Race change? why not. People are tired of playing the same race for years now.



Just my 2cents on this letter.

[Fumanciu]

Frelorn, is there any chance to see free transfers from closing servers up before september? Many people are leaving the game and its dead every day more, will we have a chance to transfer for free before that date? Or with some discount like 50%? Would be so much appreciated really...

[Wanderv]

Great news!

Will we have these Bingo Boffin series in 16.1?

Also we are nearly 2 years without level increasing. How about +5 levels (and new crafting tier )?

I'm struggling to take this "letter" seriously.

An official release from Turbine that spells Minas Tirith wrong and refers to our kinships as guilds.

Do we honestly need further proof that these people don't actually play the game they are currently developing?

Frelorn don't develop the game, you know.

No mention of crafting tiers (promised "post Update 16"), further loot itemization, or music system improvements.

Where it was promised? I ask because i also want new tier very much (it's quite weird that Gondor has eorlingas ore).

But...we are getting a new Store upgrade. Which benefits no one but Turbine.

Talk about not knowing your audience....

Actually it's very important ant great news if you think about it a bit. There is no point in revamping Store (which works for 5 years) if the game is going to close in 1.5-2 years... So it seems that Turbine plans to operate the game for lot of time further.

[bucko39]

Great news!

Where it was promised? I ask because i also want new tier very much (it's quite weird that Gondor has eorlingas ore).


Actually it's very important ant great news if you think about it a bit. There is no point in revamping Store (which works for 5 years) if the game is going to close in 1.5-2 years... So it seems that Turbine plans to operate the game for lot of time further.

Frelorn mentioned in a live twitch feed that updated crafting recipes would be coming "post Update 16" Granted, that could mean as far out as Update twenty whatever. But I digress.

You made my point about the Store for me. It's working and has been for the past 5 years. We need a housing, kinship, crafting, and music system upgrade more than we need a Store upgrade.

[Hammadryad]

Wow. You have all your character slots filled on every server? What is that, 493 characters? How on Earth do you find time to play them all?

There are only 6 English speaking EU servers, 6 German speaking EU servers and 2 French speaking EU servers, so they only need 12 characters ( if they speak English or German) or 4 characters (if they speak French) to have all their slots filled if they have 2 per server and can only transfer EU to EU servers.

[Castorix]

* Scale old dungeons and raids also to lvl 100 so we not bored of doing the same stuff over and over again. Who wouldn't love to run dungeons and raids from back in Moria right @lvl 100? Everyone would.

Yes, but with new itemization and proper scaling.
(e.g. not like Helegrod that I wiped 12-manned at lvl 50 (and it was fun) but that can be done alone now with several classes at lvl 100 (not fun) => bad scaling => broken (and items are from the awful 12.1 loot tables))

[bucko39]

Yes, but with new itemization and proper scaling.
(e.g. not like Helegrod that I wiped 12-manned at lvl 50 (and it was fun) but that can be done alone now with several classes at lvl 100 => bad scaling => broken (and items are from the awful 12.1 loot tables))

I would take this a step further. As Turbine has proven they can't scale instances properly, revert all the instances to their initial level only. Implement a "mentor" program similar to RIFT where we can level down to whatever level the instance requires (in the event we are feeling nostalgic or what to help out lower level kinnies).

This would include the Big Battles, with the exception of Pelargir as I consider that current "end-game" content. (sad, I know)

Implement a "Legendary Instance Cluster" program where only a few select instance clusters are scaled to current level cap (OD, BG and ToO would be my vote along with a few other 6-mans). Revamp the entire loot system for those instance clusters as well as the current Osgiliath instance clusters.

T1 loot table needs to have guaranteed essence drops (purple) with a % chance for teal

T2 and challenge needs to have a guaranteed essence drops (purple, teal and gold) depending on the number of "bosses" in the instance. Personal loot is guaranteed with an additional roll for bonus group loot.

Guaranteed that item X or Y will drop in these instances, but you will have to roll on it. No. More. Bloody. RNG.

Put daily locks on the level cap instances, but double or triple the marks and medallions that drop (you can do the instance more than once per day, but the essence and item X drops will only be available once a day).

Say goodnight, Sammy--you've earned your rest.

[Deorwyn]

Some great news in this letter. Looking forward to what is coming.

Also, please no level cap increase in the near future. Right now, we have many possible things to do at level 100, why make all these worthless by increasing the cap?

[Thorgrum]

I'm struggling to take this "letter" seriously.

An official release from Turbine that spells Minas Tirith wrong and refers to our kinships as guilds.

Do we honestly need further proof that these people don't actually play the game they are currently developing?

No mention of crafting tiers (promised "post Update 16"), further loot itemization, or music system improvements.

But...we are getting a new Store upgrade. Which benefits no one but Turbine.

Talk about not knowing your audience....

/sigh

Why would you say they dont know their audience? Its the contrary they know it well, supply and demand economic theory usually drives production. What ever they are putting out people are buying. If that wasnt the case the problem (imagined or real) are much much deeper. I think that in addition to the slot machine you get at logging in there should be an option to win currency to be spent at the new store to really kick it off right. Maybe like a roullete table or something. Anyway the spelling of the minas tirith wrong? pish posh, how is that important at all ?

[StinkyGreene]

I'd like to see a mobile option for the forums. It looks like a fairly standard vbulletin setup, which can and should incorporate automatic mobile settings. It's an absolute pain to read the threads on my phone.
/rant

Although it is not automatic, there is a "style" you can choose for mobile devices. Go to the far bottom right of the forum and you will find an option to use "Default Mobile Style". Works well until posters start using colors like white, yellow, or pink which are unreadable within that style.

[vetteboy20]

Any chance on more ranks out in the Moors?

[Frelorn]

So are we to understand that by the end of September 2015 when the servers have moved to the new datacenters, that Turbine will then AT THAT TIME publicly announce the list of servers which are slated for closing?

No, the plan is for the announcement and the start of transfers to happen before then.

[Frelorn]

Frelorn, So my question to you guys is will the original servers stay and the newer ones go ? i mean some of the oldest server have low population but have the strongest groups / kins

The decision is not being based on server age, but population.

[Frelorn]

So, what will happen to Ettenmoors? Will it still exist alongside the New PvMP area, will it be removed altogether, or will it be changed into a 'normal' questing zone?

As of right now the plan is for the Ettenmoors to stay and have Osgiliath be a separate zone. With the populations being condensed into a smaller number of servers, we feel this is a good option as the PvMP populations will be far less spread out. Having 2 areas will hopefully allow for whatever playstyle you prefer in your PvMP.

[Frelorn]

Frelorn, is there any chance to see free transfers from closing servers up before september? Many people are leaving the game and its dead every day more, will we have a chance to transfer for free before that date? Or with some discount like 50%? Would be so much appreciated really...

Free transfers are the plan. When we announce the servers and turn on the new service, it will be free for a set time for all players.

[Frelorn]

Any chance on more ranks out in the Moors?

This is something the team is looking into.

[Frelorn]

Eh, for the new instances, the t1 ones need to have some incentive to run them via marks + medallions at the least. Chances of Morgul crests dropping would be nice too (not 100% like t2, or is that only t2c?)

As for the letter- thank you for the update. I am cautiously optimistic. I sincerely hope the Turbine team looks at real world stone cities to get a look at poorer districts rather than assuming everyone in Minas Tirith was rich, like they seemed to do with Dol Amroth. I hope that interiors are not neglected as they were in Central Gondor (Linhir and Pelargir are dismal in that regard).



Re: server transfers. What will you do for players who have capped out their character slots on a closing world, but want to bring them all to another world where they already have characters?

Frelorn, any word on the 2015 Council? Been keeping an eye on my email, hah.

When we turn on the new transfer tools, we will also be making more character slots available to all players as well. We don't yet have the exact number set, but when we put out the Transfer FAQ, it will have that information as well.

[ShireDweller]

Free transfers are the plan. When we announce the servers and turn on the new service, it will be free for a set time for all players.

Frelorn, when you say "announce the servers", what do you mean, exactly? Does that include "announce which servers will be closed and thus unable to be transferred to"?

I think that list is needed from the start, to avoid the case of say, someone transferring to a server that then ends up being closed because of low population. Otherwise, unless you allow folks in that case to do another free transfer, you're screwing people who transfer in good faith and would end up having to pay for another transfer to be able to continue to play.

[Mithithil]

As a rule I dont PvMP, it now seems a subcult all its own, with a significant learning curve providing a low RoI for quite some time, and an apparentt "we do/you don't so don't ask to play with us" ehtos at times.

But...

Osgilliath would be interesting, how do you stop it becoming West Side vs East Side with squabbling on the Great Bridge? I would hope for some cunning refinements such as:

control an area for a while gives you bridging gear with which you can span broken sections
take control of a bridge with player (or monster) built sections and you can destroy them, or maybe take them up and move them elsewhere (use the code for Engineers moving barricades in EB?)
no defensive one shotters, if you can get to Gates of the Moon/Gates of the Sun your side gets a temporary bonus, say no respawning of NPCs or NPCs get a morale penalty or somesuch

I could be tempted into some of that

[Rufkin]

You made my point about the Store for me. It's working and has been for the past 5 years. We need a housing, kinship, crafting, and music system upgrade more than we need a Store upgrade.

That is one of my concerns as well. Why announce an 'update' to the store instead of just adding new payment options. I'm afraid the answer is simple. Brands seem to think it is easier to increase prices if they change the packaging. Somehow they are stupid enough to think customers won't notice cost increases if the product is packaged with words like "New" and "Better" or the like. It is worrisome to say the least. If you are planning on increasing costs Turbine, don't play us for idiots. Tell us, and then do it. Best to pull the bandage off all at once.

• New Store: At the end of the month of June we will be transitioning to a completely new store that features more payment options, one click buys and a cleaner interface. As part of this transition, those of you relying on certain alternative payments will lose access to those payments beginning June 12th for a short amount of time. Within a month of that date, however, we should have a new store online that will provide many more payment options than we have had previously. We are also taking advantage of this opportunity to update and streamline the in game store to be a better experience all around.
• New Servers and Datacenters: We spoke about this Turbine wide upgrade at the beginning of the year and had expected to have it done by now, but weather and other obstacles set us back. We finally have some progress and we can safely say that by the end of September of 2015 we should have the servers moved to our new datacenters with upgraded hardware and Operating Systems. The US servers will operate from our new datacenter in New Jersey while our EU servers will move back to Europe and reside in our new datacenter in Amsterdam.
• Transfer Systems and Server Merge: To support the move to the upgraded server hardware we will be implementing an improved server transfer service that will run from the game launcher rather than a website. Once implemented, server transfers can be account or character based so that all your account level items including marks, Mithril coins, etc. can be transferred. We are also adding functionality that will allow Kin leaders to disband their Kin on one world and then recreate it on another maintaining status and achievements earned by that Kin over its lifetime. More details and breakdowns on all of this to coming in the next few weeks as we move into final phases of development and testing.

You will have 3 months past the date of the launch of the new service in which to continue playing on the smaller worlds while planning and or making your move to a larger server. After that point your characters will always be available to be transferred to one of the remaining worlds, however you will only be able to log in to the remaining servers. More details on all of this as well as detailed instructions on how to move will be provided in email, in-game mail as well as website and forums in the months to come.

So are we to understand that by the end of September 2015 when the servers have moved to the new datacenters, that Turbine will then AT THAT TIME publicly announce the list of servers which are slated for closing?

Frelorn, since free transfers won't be until September (unless i'm reading this incorrectly), do you have an ETA on when paid transfers will be back online?

Turbine will do as they feel best, but if I were them, I would not initiate free transfers until:

1) The new servers were fully in service, and

2) It could be determined what impact the new servers had on system performance, and on Brandywine in particular (both general and in PvMP).

And even then, I'd consider long and hard if I would allow free transfers (in an effort to discourage such transfers) to Brandywine, unless the new server performance was outstanding. As a player with characters on Brandy, the current performance is marginal at best, and I do not know what the performance in the Moors is like (I doubt it is very good). Brandy seems to offer the 'perfect storm' for load-testing the new server hardware, as there has been a significant influx of new (to the server at least) players into Brandywine - many of who appear to be from the servers formerly operated by mail.ru (the advent of Russian-language Kins is an indicator, IMO). I know that I would not recommend anyone transfer to Brandywine at this time, based on current server performance - perhaps the new servers will significantly change that, but perhaps not.

It may just be me over-analyzing (which I doubt), but I see a time frame clearly laid out in this for the server transfers. July - September, at the latest, before the servers move to the new datacenters. The message blatantly states that the move to the new datacenters will occur by the end of September. Then goes on to state that the upgrades to the transfer system is, "To support the move to the upgraded server hardware," and, "You will have 3 months," which means to me that the transfer will take place starting in July at the latest because the transfer upgrades are being made to help with the move to new datacenters. In other words, I expect that the closed servers will no longer exist once the move to the new datacenter has happened. Not to mention that this isn't the mid-year producer's letter, mostly these are plans for this summer.

So, Frelorn, are we going to see the list of closing servers next month, or are we going to have to wait until July?

[Frelorn]

Frelorn, when you say "announce the servers", what do you mean, exactly? Does that include "announce which servers will be closed and thus unable to be transferred to"?

I think that list is needed from the start, to avoid the case of say, someone transferring to a server that then ends up being closed because of low population. Otherwise, unless you allow folks in that case to do another free transfer, you're screwing people who transfer in good faith and would end up having to pay for another transfer to be able to continue to play.

I thought that we have been pretty clear about this, but lets see what I can do. At some point in the not so distant future we will announce the servers that will be remaining open, and the ones that will be eventually shut down. When that time comes, transfers will only be allowed to those servers that are remaining open and will be free of charge. The ones that we will be closing down, will have transfer to them turned off.

We have not yet made the server list available in part because without the new tools and free services yet available, players will still have to go through some part of the process again anyway because right now you can not transfer over account items and a few other things that will be available with the new tools. And on top of that, we do not want to promote an early land rush to the servers that will be remaining because they are still on the old hadware/in the old datacenter and could cause a negative experience for everyone when the servers get overcrowded.

I hope that clears up a couple things.

[Frelorn]

That is one of my concerns as well. Why announce an 'update' to the store instead of just adding new payment options. I'm afraid the answer is simple. Brands seem to think it is easier to increase prices if they change the packaging. Somehow they are stupid enough to think customers won't notice cost increases if the product is packaged with words like "New" and "Better" or the like. It is worrisome to say the least. If you are planning on increasing costs Turbine, don't play us for idiots. Tell us, and then do it. Best to pull the bandage off all at once.

We found a new store partner that would give us more flexibility and options, while improving upon some things we knew needed some love. Overall we hope this is going to be good for all involved.

As to the second part, I will answer in bold so as to not cause any doubt: We are not going to raise any of the prices for anything with this transition. The cost you see in the store now will be the same cost you will see in the new store.