Summer LOTRO Executive Producer’s Letter

[Boskone08]

How likely are people to accept having to rename a character they've played for 7+ years because the name is already taken on all surviving servers?

I can really only speak for myself with certainty - I'll find a way to work with it when (not if - I anticipate name collisions, likely with myself if not with others). In general, some will also work with it and some will quit because of it - my guess is attrition will be on the close order of 25% (between 15% & 40%) on the closed servers. If the name issues impact the servers remaining open to any significant extent, there will be significant attrition there as well. Since I can see Turbine with a vested interest in keeping VIP subscribers as happy as possible, some name mechanism that has a bias toward VIP subscribers may be attractive to WB/Turbine, which could easily create attrition on the servers remaining open.

For me, the names are a consideration, but not a huge one (and many of my names are not too common and/or are in foreign languages [not too many Hungarian-speakers on the NA servers]), but for others, it will be a major factor. That aspect of the server consolidation will be messy, no matter how hard Turbine tries to mitigate it.

[Trixie_Me]

I am also one of those people for whom naming is extremely important. Many of my character names have been around on multiple games for 10 years (in some cases more!). I do hope that VIP status is a major factor in any naming collision resolution.

That said, there are ways to avoid the problem altogether (WoW certainly did so with their server mergers). Internally combining the name with server it was created on solves many (not all) problems. Another alternative I can see is combining first and last names. I've not seen it done, but if the combination were required to be unique it would open up a lot of names for people to use.

[devdor]

How about you making the current t2s doable. Not even playing lotro till they make it so I do t have to spend 7hr I a 3man t2 and not be able to Complete it

This is how the game used to be 3 mans t2c should be hard 6 man t2c should be hard you should have to have the right gear to go in there they are doable I know because I've done all of them and it didn't take 7hours if you want the good loot you should have to be geared nicely and have a good group it's finally nice to see some content that is hard for people to do. sorry if it seems harsh but the game thrived when instances were hard when you would do them t2c perhaps it is the reason turbine is going back to that glad to see.

[Almagnus1]

IMO, the renaming should go by when the character was last played, so if a character on the incoming server has your name, but it hasn't been played in a year or five, it gets the rename, and you retain your name.

For all other transfers not related to the migration, the usual rules apply.

That's the fairest thing to do here.

[Beaniemooch]

@ Frelorn

Thanks for the heads up and effort to communicate, it's always appreciated as you know.

Whats the word on the new Players Councils for this year? When will you be posting the new appointees lists?

I'm curious about this as well. Have the two Player Councils been selected and put in place already?

[Warmutkan]

I'm curious about this as well. Have the two Player Councils been selected and put in place already?

Quoted from this thread:

@Frelorn said:
"Both councils have have been chosen and are working. In particular, the PvMP council members are the ones giving us feedback on the new map, among other things. We will be making the full announcement of the council members and such next week."

[kickman77]

IMO, the renaming should go by when the character was last played, so if a character on the incoming server has your name, but it hasn't been played in a year or five, it gets the rename, and you retain your name.

For all other transfers not related to the migration, the usual rules apply.

That's the fairest thing to do here.

Or they could do like STO does and make Toon Name@Account

For instance over there I am

Blog@kickman
Olympion@Kickman
Kickman@kickman

ect/

That would solve all of these issues
'

[cdq1958]

Or they could do like STO does and make Toon Name@Account

For instance over there I am

Blog@kickman
Olympion@Kickman
Kickman@kickman

ect/

That would solve all of these issues
'

I'd hate that, strongly! That's worse, to me than name@oldserver. I don't want either directly attached to my character's in-game name. I'd rather have name-1 first. Better yet, just let me pick a new one if I have to (and given that I had and took the opportunity to check each of the NA servers, I know whether I'd face collisions or not transferring any of my names, of which I have 38 per world). What I have not done, yet, is test for name collisions related to my crafter alt kinship. That one does not concern me much at the moment. What will concern me is replacing the kinhouse. The kin is rank 10 and exists on two servers now, both with decorated houses and unlocked storage.

[Thurallor]

There have already been several gigantic threads discussing the naming collisions.

[Christian.S]

IMO, the renaming should go by when the character was last played, so if a character on the incoming server has your name, but it hasn't been played in a year or five, it gets the rename, and you retain your name.

For all other transfers not related to the migration, the usual rules apply.

That's the fairest thing to do here.

It isn't by far the fairest choice.

Lets say,you go on vacation for a week during this transition period and come back to find you need to be renamed. Why? Because another player used your name on a different server and transferred to your server. You didn't play for a week,thus they are more recent in activity. You just lost your name.

Many players take extended breaks of a year or more. Lots are VIP and Lifer's.

I don't think you had this scenario in mind when making your opinion. I see a player in an unusual situation losing their name.


I haven't come up with an objective solution to the naming conundrum. Knowing the naming limits of characters may offer some solutions. Middle names? Server name attachments. Such and such of (server).

Its basically first to name,gets the name. I see no reason to change the process.

[Trixie_Me]

Its basically first to name,gets the name. I see no reason to change the process.

First to the name? Or first to the name on that server? Those are very different solutions.

[Beaniemooch]

First to the name? Or first to the name on that server? Those are very different solutions.

Or first to name but it's been level 1 in the intro for 5 years and the other is a higher level that's played constantly? Or first to name it and be 100? Or first to..... set the standards. Somebody will still get the short end of the stick. There is no good solution that will be fair for everybody.

Quoted from this thread:

@Frelorn said:
"Both councils have have been chosen and are working. In particular, the PvMP council members are the ones giving us feedback on the new map, among other things. We will be making the full announcement of the council members and such next week."

Thank you, it was opened and closed before I even got to the forum today. Let the games begin.

[FyreBrand]

Or they could do like STO does and make Toon Name@Account

For instance over there I am

Blog@kickman
Olympion@Kickman
Kickman@kickman

ect/

That would solve all of these issues
'

I really love how Cryptic does this. I'm hoping that will be our option. I can deal with whatever, but this is my favorite.

The rest of the news is good if not a bit vague. At least it says they're getting ready to move forward. I'm hoping I can transfer my Nimrodel characters and my Crickhollow characters to a single home. The Nimrodel characters are my oldest and went through Shadows, but Crick has been my new home for a while and like my characters there. I just want them all on one server even if I have to do renames (which I will since many are dupes).

[Gandolf_TheOld]

I really love how Cryptic does this. I'm hoping that will be our option. I can deal with whatever, but this is my favorite.

The rest of the news is good if not a bit vague. At least it says they're getting ready to move forward. I'm hoping I can transfer my Nimrodel characters and my Crickhollow characters to a single home. The Nimrodel characters are my oldest and went through Shadows, but Crick has been my new home for a while and like my characters there. I just want them all on one server even if I have to do renames (which I will since many are dupes).

Yea, but Cryptic's system has been designed for it, unlike LOTRO. I have been under Cryptic's naming convention. I prefer LOTRO's, it assists the emersion.

[Lyzau]

Just adding a concern that I would like to see addressed that I have not found an answer to. Perhaps it is already obsolete, but just wondering...

In the early days it used to be impossible to transfer back to the initial server that you came from. At least that's how it was in Europe under Codemasters as it would cause a data conflict. I wonder if this issue remains unresolved? If I play on one of the EU servers that will be closed, will any previous EU servers be excluded from my transfer options?

Thanks for all the info already provided, though my blog activity has dwindled, I am still enjoying playing Lotro every day and look forward to the improvements!

[Wof]

I never said I was quitting, I said I was reducing my playing time. Posting good bye messages or "I quit" is a violation of the ToS I agreed to when I registered an account. I would never break the rules so blatantly. I highlighted a very important part of your post, I know I am.

Here's the rub, everyone else here likely thinks they are as well and thats part of the problem. The poop storm drives traffic, traffic increases the chances for consumption, consumption increases revenue which is good for turbine.

The last thing they want is for you to become apathetic to the point where you really do pull your consumption. So the conditions are encouraged by which, hope, still has a place in the thought processes and thus postings of people on the forums. Thats a good thing, however at the end of the day you, I and they are the ones responsible for consuming the product. If its isnt good enough you have to stop, otherwise youre sending the clear message that the status quo is okay. I'll likely never play one of my free people toons again after being resold imbunement (I paid for it at MoM). I might play my WL again someday if they make creepside more interesting.

For me it was always more than a map, I need more than that to keep me engaged at this point. I never was an advocate for a new map rather and advocate for making the PvP better. A new map, with out real improvements to game play and risk reward mechanics is akin to slapping lip stick on a pig. What bothers me, and this is 100% my fault, that I was fooled more than once. I believed them when they promised a new map the last time and enhancements and bought ROI because of it. I stuck with it, HD and the trait trees was the last screw job for me really. I knew then this was no longer a game I really wanted to play and stopped spending money in it.

If you arent there yet what is there to say? Enjoy it for what it is and excerise your power (your consumption) to illustrate clearly your displeasure. Anything less than that is just noise and as stated, just increases traffic.

I have taken a break because all the Fanbois making personnal attacks because they didn't like what was being said got me down. I will say that a large proprtion of my kin has quit since the news of the closures was made public and a lot more say they will play until the closures happen and then just leave their characters and walk away. Turbine is losing/going to lose a lot of revenue over this and whether the savings will be worth it is for them to find out. Personally I have decided, as have a few of my playing friends, to continue to play as a premium player staying in the lower regions and not bothering to buy new content or much of anything anymore. I have a ton of TP saved up for buying virtues, slots etc and will coast along playing for free from now on making new alts to roleplay. I suppose you could say that we as players are going into maintenance mode, lol. We are voting with our wallets and keeping our money out of Turbine's pockets unless things improve (from our point of view) dramatically. Otherwise we will just drift along until the games completes its downward spiral and closes.

[Sullo]

The way Episodic quests work is that each week a new quest in the series will become available. You can join in at Quest 1 at any point and play up to the latest released quest, but just like a TV series, once you have caught up, you will have to wait until the next week to find out what happens next.

And the quests will be available forever, right? To clarify, if a player were to return to the game in in a year, that player could still start this quest chain?
Will the Episodic content be free for all players, or will it require purchase? Free for VIP?

[Boskone08]

Or they could do like STO does and make Toon Name@Account

For instance over there I am

Blog@kickman
Olympion@Kickman
Kickman@kickman

ect/

That would solve all of these issues
'

Afraid it would not, at least in my specific case: eight Lebenedh@Boskone08 characters (L56 on Brandywine to L16 on Nimrodel; also 8 each Lebdas & Rhiwsul) would still not share 6 or 7 remaining servers very well, and I'm not at all confident that there will be as many as 6 remaining NA servers.

With a statement by Frelorn like "...PvMP populations will be far less spread out" (8:37 AM 5/22/2015, this thread), a reduction of over 50% does not seem out of the question. And it may well be necessary, as I would rather see WB/Turbine cut on the edge of too much rather than not enough and need to repeat this unpleasant reduction again in a year or so. If my uninformed wild guess on player attrition is close to correct, 'too much' might not be too much after the consolidation is compete. The 'known inaccurate' data available to us as players indicate that most of the NA servers are in the 3-5% of NA load range, with one seeming a bit overloaded with current hardware at about 27% (4x the 'average load'), but another seeming OK at 13% (2x 'average). New, more effective server hardware could let 4 or 5 servers handle the full current NA load - 5 current servers might be able to address the current NA load if it were a bit more evenly spread.

[Mar-Evayave]

How will the mechanics of the episodic content work? Will new episodes unlock automatically at the designated time, or will we need mini downtimes each week to turn them on?

[Rufkin]

How will the mechanics of the episodic content work? Will new episodes unlock automatically at the designated time, or will we need mini downtimes each week to turn them on?

I'm just making an educated guess here, but having dealt with this 'style' of gaming I can tell you how it usually works. In the case of most episodic content, each episode can be purchased separately, or in a 'season pass'. The separate episodes will cost you more, but they give you the freedom of finding out if you want to continue the story. Obviously, the season pass has the downside of buying into something you're not sure you will like, but then it unlocks each episode as it becomes available. Episodic content in other game genres is a great way for developers to pre-sell add-ons, before they are even done developing them. Giving them the time to both develop those add-ons, and create an interest that keeps you playing.

In the case of this content, it sounds like you will need to start with episode one in order to continue to episode two, and so on, but I may be wrong on that.

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

I'm just making an educated guess here, but having dealt with this 'style' of gaming I can tell you how it usually works. In the case of most episodic content, each episode can be purchased separately, or in a 'season pass'. The separate episodes will cost you more, but they give you the freedom of finding out if you want to continue the story. Obviously, the season pass has the downside of buying into something you're not sure you will like, but then it unlocks each episode as it becomes available. Episodic content in other game genres is a great way for developers to pre-sell add-ons, before they are even done developing them. Giving them the time to both develop those add-ons, and create an interest that keeps you playing.

In the case of this content, it sounds like you will need to start with episode one in order to continue to episode two, and so on, but I may be wrong on that.

As much as I love the stories that MoL has created for LOTRO in the epic, I won't be paying for this new content. I'd hope that VIPs get this free.

[robbie1435]

I'm just making an educated guess here, but having dealt with this 'style' of gaming I can tell you how it usually works. In the case of most episodic content, each episode can be purchased separately, or in a 'season pass'. The separate episodes will cost you more, but they give you the freedom of finding out if you want to continue the story. Obviously, the season pass has the downside of buying into something you're not sure you will like, but then it unlocks each episode as it becomes available. Episodic content in other game genres is a great way for developers to pre-sell add-ons, before they are even done developing them. Giving them the time to both develop those add-ons, and create an interest that keeps you playing.

In the case of this content, it sounds like you will need to start with episode one in order to continue to episode two, and so on, but I may be wrong on that.

It will probably work like the Festivals. All of the quests will be downloaded, but they'll have to "flip the switch" to turn it on. I highly doubt it will be P2P

[Almagnus1]

Hi

It isn't by far the fairest choice.

Lets say,you go on vacation for a week during this transition period and come back to find you need to be renamed. Why? Because another player used your name on a different server and transferred to your server. You didn't play for a week,thus they are more recent in activity. You just lost your name.

Many players take extended breaks of a year or more. Lots are VIP and Lifer's.

I don't think you had this scenario in mind when making your opinion. I see a player in an unusual situation losing their name.


I haven't come up with an objective solution to the naming conundrum. Knowing the naming limits of characters may offer some solutions. Middle names? Server name attachments. Such and such of (server).

Its basically first to name,gets the name. I see no reason to change the process.

So if E gets shuttered, you're saying that I should retain my name and force whoever is on the target server to change names?

And there should be a minimum time (like several months inactive), where other criteria (like VIP status) should get used.

It's really a situation where different rules should apply because Turbine is forcing moves, rather than players moving of their own free will.

[YamydeAragon]

Just adding a concern that I would like to see addressed that I have not found an answer to. Perhaps it is already obsolete, but just wondering...

In the early days it used to be impossible to transfer back to the initial server that you came from. At least that's how it was in Europe under Codemasters as it would cause a data conflict. I wonder if this issue remains unresolved? If I play on one of the EU servers that will be closed, will any previous EU servers be excluded from my transfer options?

Thanks for all the info already provided, though my blog activity has dwindled, I am still enjoying playing Lotro every day and look forward to the improvements!

I once did this but i got warned by the GM that there was a 50% chance that my toon got corrupted & unrecoverable. I made the leap of faith because if the toon get damaged i will only lost 2 months of leveling but didn't want to go all over again if i could skip it. It all went well but is a high risk. More recently i have seeing many player transfer back to original server but i bet the more times you transfer back & forth, the higher the chance to get corrupted.

[Zithlinraiss]

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?

Yes, I have them all filled. Admittedly there's a few I haven't really played but a lot of them I try to play every now and then. They're all different to me, different specs, goals, etc. I try out things I may not want one my characters on the main servers I play. Have houses in different places, trait set-ups and such. For years some of them were just placeholders but the last 2 years that has changed a lot. Am a lifer by the way, had in mind to get all of them well up in levels before the game ended. Several of the worlds I have really started to get somewhere finally. Real life issues delayed me a bit. Still hoping I can keep them ( admitted altaholic with no intentions on rehab;p ).