Summer LOTRO Executive Producer’s Letter

[Rhoewyn]

It is quite clear that you don't agree with changes to the naming convention. However, that quote is taken directly from what she said. Turbine wants to accommodate players instead of forcing name changes after forcing transfers. Yes, 'active' was not defined, and yes, the statement clearly is not a guarantee. You're right that some players will lose out if account age has any weight. The best way to avoid that is to leave as many of the original servers intact as possible.

Trixie_Me outlined quite well a version of what I hope the Turbine Team is trying to accomplish. Some effort to appease the players that will be losing there homes/kins/community should definitely be made, and then we can all share the burden of difficulty that we will face instead of one group treating the other as second class citizens with no hope of keeping anything, including their characters' names.



I would change the level in number 3 to 30 (because 20 is just too easy to reach).

Her quote referenced an acknowledgement that player names is a concern and they intend in their plan to give weight to active players. It hints not at all to any change aside from active versus inactive, however that ends up being defined. Anything else you read from that is pure speculation because nothing else was implied. It made no mention of Account dates, player level, ./played or any other criteria. In any event I am likely to move and will end up with the name I end up with. If I have to change I will. Let me ask this, if as many surmise all players will be open to a transfer to any server not on the closing list should the same rules apply? Lets say someone wants off Brandy because of lag and other population induced issues. Say Vilya does stay online, and they choose Vilya and lo and behold have the same name as me. I have 7 years they have 8. Should Turbine force me to surrender the name? They were not forced to move, it was optional. I think most would say the old rules should apply. But it's during the open migration period. Do we really think Turbine has the resources to architect a system that takes all of these things into account? I for one do not. I'm not convinced they will be able to figure out how to base it on active versus inactive and if they do, I believe they will do it based on something such as account has not logged on for 18 months or some such thing. These matrix concepts people are putting forth, while looking good on a message board, I think will be more complex than Turbine is manned to implement. End of the day my guess, and its only that, is a two wave approach. Phase one limbo accounts not logged on for X days, giving them a joesmith-1. Phase two open transfer with the old naming rules in effect. I think anything more complex than that will be too much to bite off. I hope I am wrong. I hope they find a way to allow a surname/custom title and as many people can keep their name as possible. I'm just not terribly optimistic. And that is my primary opposition to complex naming rule revision. It will take developers away from game content and exponentially increase the chances the whole thing becomes a hugely chaotic mess.

I'm also not in favor of Trixie's concept because of the trickle down affect. So a bunch of people on server X. Incoming transfer takes a name, bumps incumbent A. That person then chooses a name and bumps incumbent B, who then reanmes and bumps incumbent C. But hold everything, next week transfer 2 comes in and bumps C again, who now bumps D, etc. I think there is a much greater chance of people quitting under that scenario than an incoming player (say me) having to adjust spelling (to Rhowyn, or Roewyn, or Rhoewynn.) But thats just my opinion.

[cdq1958]

Her quote referenced an acknowledgement that player names is a concern and they intend in their plan to give weight to active players. It hints not at all to any change aside from active versus inactive, however that ends up being defined. Anything else you read from that is pure speculation because nothing else was implied. It made no mention of Account dates, player level, ./played or any other criteria. In any event I am likely to move and will end up with the name I end up with. If I have to change I will. Let me ask this, if as many surmise all players will be open to a transfer to any server not on the closing list should the same rules apply? Lets say someone wants off Brandy because of lag and other population induced issues. Say Vilya does stay online, and they choose Vilya and lo and behold have the same name as me. I have 7 years they have 8. Should Turbine force me to surrender the name? They were not forced to move, it was optional. I think most would say the old rules should apply. But it's during the open migration period. Do we really think Turbine has the resources to architect a system that takes all of these things into account? I for one do not. I'm not convinced they will be able to figure out how to base it on active versus inactive and if they do, I believe they will do it based on something such as account has not logged on for 18 months or some such thing. These matrix concepts people are putting forth, while looking good on a message board, I think will be more complex than Turbine is manned to implement. End of the day my guess, and its only that, is a two wave approach. Phase one limbo accounts not logged on for X days, giving them a joesmith-1. Phase two open transfer with the old naming rules in effect. I think anything more complex than that will be too much to bite off. I hope I am wrong. I hope they find a way to allow a surname/custom title and as many people can keep their name as possible. I'm just not terribly optimistic. And that is my primary opposition to complex naming rule revision. It will take developers away from game content and exponentially increase the chances the whole thing becomes a hugely chaotic mess.

Theoretically, this could happen to me, though I doubt it. I expect to be an immigrant to one of the servers to remain open, on both of my main servers. I have scouted my character names. I expect to have to change some of the names, since I expect currently active incumbents to have priority over currently active immigrants. I'm not concerned about my crafter kin's name. What I am concerned about with that is the house and rank.

Speaking of personal houses, what will happen if I move my characters from the two servers that I'm on and expect to close to the same server that's open. Currently, I have houses on two servers, per account. Will I get to keep two houses on the new one?

[Rufkin]

Lets say someone wants off Brandy because of lag and other population induced issues. Say Vilya does stay online, and they choose Vilya and lo and behold have the same name as me. I have 7 years they have 8. Should Turbine force me to surrender the name? They were not forced to move, it was optional. I think most would say the old rules should apply. But it's during the open migration period. Do we really think Turbine has the resources to architect a system that takes all of these things into account? I for one do not. I'm not convinced they will be able to figure out how to base it on active versus inactive and if they do, I believe they will do it based on something such as account has not logged on for 18 months or some such thing. These matrix concepts people are putting forth, while looking good on a message board, I think will be more complex than Turbine is manned to implement. End of the day my guess, and its only that, is a two wave approach. Phase one limbo accounts not logged on for X days, giving them a joesmith-1. Phase two open transfer with the old naming rules in effect. I think anything more complex than that will be too much to bite off. I hope I am wrong. I hope they find a way to allow a surname/custom title and as many people can keep their name as possible. I'm just not terribly optimistic. And that is my primary opposition to complex naming rule revision. It will take developers away from game content and exponentially increase the chances the whole thing becomes a hugely chaotic mess.

You have a good point. They should lock all transfers that are not mandatory during the grace period if they do any naming convention that would allow abuse by non-mandatory transfers. They might want to lock up paid transfers during the closures anyway, just to see where the populations are when the dust settles.

However, the several matrix ideas are all fairly simple if-then statements or the like, in my opinion. I would think the hard part is comparing the two characters from two completely separate servers past the name in the first place.

[Fratonia]

• 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.

Too bad that the server move/refresh has been delayed that long. Means that I can extend my break from Lotro to almost the end of this year because Telia and Internap can't get their networks fixed...
At least I get lots of new things to explore (Central Gondor, Eastern Gondor, Minas Tirith).

[Umbrael]

If only they would implement a system of naming that involves a first name and a surname, joined together, to represent each character. And that would easily take care of any stress over losing their character name during a move, for any players. Then everybody is a little happier, since the chances of having the same first and last name, together, are pretty slim. I know that I like playing on a smaller server and I like my character's names there. As it stands, I'm not exactly excited for the server merges, tbh, and I don't relish losing my character names, either.

I believe there was another game that did that during their server merge and I had no problems retaining my character's first names. Maybe it can be looked into as an option, even though I'm sure this has already been suggested. :/

[hobold]

Thread started out great, now it sounds worse than a broken record of the beatles revolution number 9 being played backwards. Only thread I've ever followed for any real length of time and now its nothing but people bitching about their names, get over yourselves. You've now killed any possibility of people that have an interest in contributing to an exchange of useful ideas that would be beneficial to in game experience (congratz everybody ????) and replaced it with naming dogma, spurred on by your own fears of loosing your names. Do your real lives suck so bad that you're pathetically clinging to a game identity. It's the experiences in game that count, NOT the name.

It's this kind of thinking that the OP set out to counter with a transparent and planned roadmap for 2015. Please stop rehashing the same ideas and proposing your own IFTTT naming recipes, it's getting really sad.

Thread removed from bookmarks ????

Gandalf: I want to be named Sauron when we move to the new server
Sauron: But I've been called Sauron since they made me change my name from Mairon after i became an evil ####### that seeks to bend all to his will
Gandalf: Don't worry, you'll still be an ####### that no one likes
Sauron: But it's not fair! *stops feet on ground in tantrum*
Yoda: Much butthurt I sense in you, continue to ##### like a thread usurping troll you should

[Solarlight]

Thread started out great, now it sounds worse than a broken record of the beatles revolution number 9 being played backwards. Only thread I've ever followed for any real length of time and now its nothing but people bitching about their names, get over yourselves. You've now killed any possibility of people that have an interest in contributing to an exchange of useful ideas that would be beneficial to in game experience (congratz everybody ????) and replaced it with naming dogma, spurred on by your own fears of loosing your names. Do your real lives suck so bad that you're pathetically clinging to a game identity. It's the experiences in game that count, NOT the name.

It's this kind of thinking that the OP set out to counter with a transparent and planned roadmap for 2015. Please stop rehashing the same ideas and proposing your own IFTTT naming recipes, it's getting really sad.

Thread removed from bookmarks ????

Gandalf: I want to be named Sauron when we move to the new server
Sauron: But I've been called Sauron since they made me change my name from Mairon after i became an evil ####### that seeks to bend all to his will
Gandalf: Don't worry, you'll still be an ####### that no one likes
Sauron: But it's not fair! *stops feet on ground in tantrum*
Yoda: Much butthurt I sense in you, continue to ##### like a thread usurping troll you should

Depsite any wishing to the contrary, most human being WILL be bound up in whatever they perceive as their identity, and names are a linchpin of human identity and culture.

So, yes, people are gonna freak out and its understandable up to a point, although it shouldn't become detrimental to all discussion.

[Alifa]

I wonder if they'll keep Gladden as one of the servers for the merger, I mean for the past gods know how long it's been the favored send New players there.

Agreeing with people on getting a merger list before they actually do mergers.

[Lasagabaster]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but will we have to pay for the transfers from the closed worlds to the merged ones?

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

Sorry if this sounds stupid, but will we have to pay for the transfers from the closed worlds to the merged ones?

They've confirmed that you won't have to pay if your server is closing down.

[Lasagabaster]

They've confirmed that you won't have to pay if your server is closing down.

Thanks.

1234567890

[Giliodor]

How about some plans to buff creeps. It needs to happen soon. As soon as possible.

[Constrictions]

How about some plans to buff creeps. It needs to happen soon. As soon as possible.

28) Any plans to do trait trees for Creeps?

- No. But there will be an audit done on all Creep traits and changes be made to better reflect the current state of the game. In fact, Creep love is coming ...

Plans have already been communicated.

Trace back to the thread and see if you can't figure out what the current PvMP priorities are, as well as its 'plans'.
Who knows, they might even be topics worth more serious discussion in the MP boards.

Time will tell I guess..

[Econn71]

Hello again residents of Middle-earth!

I hope that you are enjoying Update 16: Ashes of Osgiliath as much as we are. The flowers of Ithilien are as beautiful as the destruction of war-torn Osgiliath is haunting.

Now that Update 16 is out, we are turning our attention to the next suite of work before us and I want to share some of those exciting developments with you. Our major content initiatives for the remainder of the year are:

• New PvMP Map: It is true, we are currently working on a new PvMP map which will take place in a version of Osgiliath. We are designing this space now and it should be going through its first round of feedback with the Player’s Council in the near future. It will also be getting extensive Beta feedback on Bullroarer when ready and released this summer.
• Adventures of Bingo Boffin: Also set for a summer release is this new episodic quest in which you will follow the trail of a new Hobbit friend Bingo Boffin as he traverses Middle-Earth. Each week a new episode of the quest will unlock showing you where Bingo is off to next.
• Minas Tirith: For the late Fall World Designer Chris Pierson is already hard at work carving this shining example of Middle-Earth beauty from stone…errr…ummm…code…a nd laying the ground work of an exciting and surprising take on the Siege of Gondor that will be unlike anything you have seen before. We are really excited about the plans, but won’t spoil them here.

In addition to our new content, we are kicking off a series of major service upgrades for The Lord of the Rings Online which should be completed by end of September of 2015. Let me outline the details of those changes.

• 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.

• Other Features: There are a number of other features we are still developing and are not at the point of talking about yet for the remainder of the year. More on all of these things as they come closer to fruition.

So as you can see it will be a very busy few months. We are really excited for these changes and what they mean for the future of Lord of the Rings Online and we hope you are as well!

More from me and the team soon,
Athena “Vyvyanne” Peters
Executive Producer

Too bad these things will not save the game. You guys know what needs done but you continue to ignore the real issues.

[Giliodor]

Plans have already been communicated.

Trace back to the thread and see if you can't figure out what the current PvMP priorities are, as well as its 'plans'.
Who knows, they might even be topics worth more serious discussion in the MP boards.

Time will tell I guess..

Oh come on. We both know this does not mean anything at all.

[Nerawen]

What this game needs is to update the crafting system, give us tier 10 crafting [ Numenorean Ore, Gondorian Hides etc], because being a guild master crafter is next to useless at the moment for end game stuff, and certainly not worth paying tp for guild membership
Don't like imbuement system is just a rip off to get you to buy MC with tp or whatever, so the game is now pay to win.
Make the game harder and more challenging to play like it used to be when you had to fellow to get stuff done.

I could go into a lot more detail, but I think stuff is coming out to quick and we are losing quality to quantity, and theres still a lot good about lotro, but there is a lot that needs to be fixed, many have left lotro for other games because of frustration, the design team needs to look at why people are playing other games and why they left lotro

and does anyone ever police world chat or deal with the complaints logged there, as it seems to be a joke. I have known 4 players who have given up the game because the offensive nature of chat there

oh well maybe someone will read and something will get done, but then who am I kidding

Thanks for reading

[Trobon]

Too bad these things will not save the game. You guys know what needs done but you continue to ignore the real issues.

You know, no matter what an update brings there's always some guy who comes on and says something like this. It's so weird how they never seem to be able to get it right. I mean in previous years people have always said what needs to be done. Like fixing the population issues, or adding more PvMP content, or bringing players to their favorite places from the books. Why won't Turbine listen to what needs to be done?

So, what exactly does Turbine need to do? What are the "real" issues as you have ordained them oh knower of secrets?

[Constrictions]

We both know

Speak for yourself.

[Spaz]

To be honest, I find this all very unimpressive and only lends to my malcontent towards LOTRO.

The new PVMP map was promised so long ago. Why even bother adding it now? Really, what is the point after all these years when the game is in sunset. What a pathetic ploy.

Bingo and Boffin sound fun, but weekly installments will only make it annoying. It should just be put in all at once so players may move at their own pace.

Gotta love *and groan oh no!* when you see words like "exciting" and my favorite "surprising" used in reference to the Siege of Gondor. Just what new horror are we in store for now?

I'm glad there is a new store b/c that seems to be the core focus of the game. It is very important to make bilking your customers easier, faster, and a more pleasant experience.
Adding more payment options is also brilliant. You do not want to miss out on a single penny and it's important to milk it for all it's worth!


New Servers / Server Mergers...... If anyone has read the BBB boards on Turbine, this should prove to be interesting. I wonder how many characters will get fudged in the process and become utterly unplayable. Extorting money for server transfers prior to the merger is just terrible.

Yep, if you haven't guessed it by now, I've reached the point of utterly loathing Turbine and have no desire to hand them a single penny more. I only keep playing b/c I originally put a lot of money into the game (sooooo regretting that) and I am determined to see it thru to the end.

Bitter and disappointed.

[hobold]

Shouldn't the Gift of the Valar item be upgraded to level 90 boost? The same type of item exists in WoW and costs an identical amount, however boosts the character to 90% of the max level. Whereas the gods of middle earth only seem capable of boosting a toon 1 week worth of questing for $60, kind of a rip at this point. Was well suited to when it was released 2 years ago, but needs to be changed to reflect the changes that game has undergone in recent years regarding level cap, imho.


Might actually buy one and finally purchase that beorn class I've been itching to play

but am thoroughly bored with lvling toons through 1-85, bores the #### out of me anymore (hence why this toon is still 61).

will update my credit card info with turbine when and if they update the item

thanks for consideration devs,
hobold

[Tat2Yoda]

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.

1. We want all our stuff to be transfered , not just Marks ,Mithril Coin , We want our Gold,Items, shards,Nodes,Gear...all of it!!!!!!!!!!!

2. We want Transfers from NA to EU and or EU to NA servers.

We copy Character to Bullroarer so i know you have the technology to allow us to transfer from EU to NA or NA to EU.This will help drop the work load of the server if EU players can transfer back to EU from NA servers. If this seem like a problem call this # 617-253-1000 M.I.T.

And a Few other things :

Beorning : Sure it was cool to rush out a new while "The Hobbit" movie was going on but for the love of Gandalf's chin hairs you could have put in gear we can use. A few recipes for medium armour here and there.It's like you got all dressed for the Prom but forgot ask someone to the Prom.......But wait there is a fix.......Yes instead of working someone for 100 hours to make and design gear take a hour and give them the Warden schematics it a win win for everyone.


VIPs : We support the game but benefits aren't that great.You have TP bandits getting the same things we are getting.Few changes need to be enforced.
1.You drop VIP you lose all VIP benefits get turn back in to a F2P , no more swift travel, no extra bag slots, no extra Virtue slots.
2.Sweeten VIPs pots ; We want free Vault , Aution House, and repair button access in the field ( no Mithril coin cost & store bought), More Rest Exp , Stable travel discount (25%) repair cost discount (25%), Crafting exp buff, and for Epic Battles gear drops to be BTA.

Speaking of Epic Battles WTH , people spend good money on Helm's Deep for the area but #1 incentive for the purchase was the jewelry drops.But what happen.... Retaking Pelargir for F2Ps.Now they can get the same stuff that players spent good money on Helm's Deep for free.Do you not love the VIPs anymore ?

3.Need more cash flow since people are there around the clock hire a few people for 24 hour call line , account support and hey maybe able to buy stuff.Add a few extra things to the LOTRO Market other then Expansion packs & TP.People would call in a order to bypass the market place order hassle.

Here is one Simple Idea stop rushing to create new stuff and fix what broken first.You lost alot of players from not fixing stuff, check your staff count ..... it had dropped over the years.Make things right and the Players will return.Happy players = $$$$

I leave you with this quote "No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try" ~ Yoda

[Giliodor]

Speak for yourself.

Very well.

I know this doesn't mean anything at all, and you ought to know. I'm guessing your view on things changed when you saw your name in the PvMP Council list? Please, don't turn into Stickeez the second.

[Nimrinoth]

I know this doesn't mean anything at all, and you ought to know. I'm guessing your view on things changed when you saw your name in the PvMP Council list? Please, don't turn into Stickeez the second.

Come on, I have faith that Constrictions,Untg, or whatever he goes by now, won't make his turbine *** kissing as obvious as Stickeez.

[Constrictions]

Very well.

I know this doesn't mean anything at all, and you ought to know. I'm guessing your view on things changed when you saw your name in the PvMP Council list? Please, don't turn into Stickeez the second.

I find that this grandeur of 'negative knowledge' being shamelessly mimicked has never been worthy of any respect whatsoever. I don't find it useful for anything other than an attempting to 'brute force' silence with the implicit motive of "I don't want you/people to think about X topic in this/that way", or reinforcing a position of pretentious pompousness. It's not constructive in any manner. It's not honourable in the slightest. The best I've seen it do for anyone is tarnish their general credibility. I won't hide that I didn't like the previous community manager largely due to his employment of 'negative knowledge'. But I tend to have distaste for anyone that uses it.

We both know you're better than that Gil. You've proven yourself to have the ability to construct the tone and content of your posts to be stimulating, practical and constructive. If you still find enjoyment in this game, I'd encourage you not to abandon that just to add to the toxic vacuum spouted by other posters, some of which notoriously have not played the game for a long time.

Otherwise, feel free to consider this:

With the exception of 'housing' and 'kinships', Turbine has historically followed through with the development of features outlined in all their previous producers letters. As such, its not unreasonable to expect that the core features of this letter, which includes attention to PvMP, will be developed accordingly.

On that merit alone (That is, according to the producers letter), I am fairly keen to see the manner in which Turbines plans develop. For anyone with any love for the game, and still playing because of enjoyment, I would have expected this to be true also.

[Vinteal]

This is one of the first great suggestions I have heard with regards to another hobby. I like the idea.

Thank you!

And the majority of players are considered casual gamers, but tend to get silenced by the small mob screaming on the forums like little children who don't get what they want. Some of these people need to realize, it's only a game, and meant to have fun. If only end-game content is focused on, then a majority of people are left out. I myself, am a casual gamer.

My suggestion to Lotro, is this: We've made it to level 100 in record time, which is great, but now we should think back on the old original game and what brought new players in. There are several things that need to be addressed and updated for the old-game content. I would enhance the old things again before moving forward. We still only have 1 hobby...it is kind of embarrassing considering how long this game has been out.

But, this is my opinion. I am still a fan and I love this game.