Lit Lanterns in Michel Delving

[Tarlywyn]

You all got it wrong. Those are not the servers that will close. They are the only ones that will be left open

I think this is the most logical theory - the servers with their lights estinguished will be the ones with their power lights estinguished.

[HeirOfNumenor]

That's hilarious! Though, if you really think about it, the idea to light a flame in remembrance of the lost servers really makes a lot of sense. I posted some numbers of those servers in the other thread, then realized that this one existed already, so here is that info:

I also checked this out, and compared it to some of those server lists people post. Here are the servers with torches lit, and the %s from that website. It very easily could be true, but I am hesitant to say that it is because it could also just as easily be that they lit these specific lanterns for lighting convenience. As always, those %s have been said by Turbine to not reflect actual populations %s, but to see that no high % server is on the list... makes you wonder. Then again some low % servers you would expect on the list, just aren't there.

American Servers:
Elendilmir 4
Imladris 4
Nimrodel 3
Windfola 3

European Servers:
FR:
Estel 34

EN:
Laurelin 20
Snowbourn 13

DE:
Vanyar 13

The way those numbers line up (4 American, 4 European - which are cut down even further into the three sections) seems a bit too convenient to be a random lighting decoration...

What????? Vilya is NOT on the list? Vilya is the twin of Nimrodel, at about 4% (they are extremely equal in numbers, every time I check both servers' populations in game via /who function, one right after the other....)

Gotta have BOTH of my servers closed down, and BOTH kins forced to move

[BangoTwinkletoes]

Whichever it is, to remain open or to be closed, if this is Turbine's way of telling us which ones are closing down it's a totally stupid and downright insulting way of doing it.

Instead, why not just public a clear and unambiguous list under a formal Turbine thread providing the information and the reasons why the servers were chosen along with the dates when they will close. For those people who are affected it's the least they deserve and not this cretinous trolling.

But hey, I'm just nitpicking!

[peachykins]

I would be surprised if this is the list of closures given that Gilrain & Riddermark are not on the list & those 2 servers most definitely should be closed. Unless there keeping a couple servers for low pop.

[Roelen]

You all got it wrong. Those are not the servers that will close. They are the only ones that will be left open

No way xD They aren't closing brandy, crick, and landy!

[Marancil]

Stop whining about who will have to move OUT, and start worrying about who will move IN with you.

[Roelen]

Stop whining about who will have to move OUT, and start worrying about who will move IN with you.

Crickhollow is already an insane troll capital, new people can only be a good thing. I'm worried about Laurelin moving out though, everything is so established there and it will all come crashing down if we have to move to Landyland... and none of us want to meet vampire elves that have control over the elements in the prancing pony, or the "King of Gondor" characters, etc... I.E. if you're gonna turn off Laurelin, turbine, give us a new RP server (Landy is only RP Encouraged)

[JimhadaUK]

Im not sure they can support a RP server if they go down to only 4 EU servers, assuming 2 language servers, 1 RP server and 1 Normal server.
That forces anyone with an inappropriate name for Laurelin, on a closing English EU server the choice of moving to the non-RP server, or taking the chance of their character being renamed on Laurelin.

[Tiempko]

My theory is . . .

They picked a set of servers that looks like it might contain useful information and lit the lanterns so they could sit back and be amused by the different theories people came up with as to why some lanterns were lit and others were not.

[Theomur]

Call me a chauvinist, but the one thing that makes me doubt this theory is the fact that Brandywine is not amongst those servers. Brandywine is the biggest one of all servers and it seems weird that all those people from the biggest server would have to migrate. It seems more efficient to let Brandy continuate.

[Lilka]

Call me a chauvinist, but the one thing that makes me doubt this theory is the fact that Brandywine is not amongst those servers. Brandywine is the biggest one of all servers and it seems weird that all those people from the biggest server would have to migrate. It seems more efficient to let Brandy continuate.

Or Brandy's remaining open, but closed to new transfers.

(just speculation ofc.)

[Marancil]

Let me ask this: What is so special with an RP server?

Frankly, if the servers are not the same, that is Turbine's fawlt. I will keep doing what I do regardless of what server I end up on. Now, I am not saying I won't adapt to customs on the receiving server. Even if I am an "immigrant" I will do as Jack London tells me to:

“When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to forget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such customs as are inherent with existence in the new land; he must abandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he must reverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto been shaped.”

But I am no RolePlayer.

[BangoTwinkletoes]

Let me ask this: What is so special with an RP server?

Frankly, if the servers are not the same, that is Turbine's fawlt. I will keep doing what I do regardless of what server I end up on. Now, I am not saying I won't adapt to customs on the receiving server. Even if I am an "immigrant" I will do as Jack London tells me to:
But I am no RolePlayer.

I'd hazard a guess but a sizable proportion of Laurelin's population are not active roleplayers but enjoy the atmosphere and environment created by others rp'ing. Similarly there is also a decent number who have nothing whatsoever to do with RP'ing - such as those into pvmp or pve end-game. The problems tend to be with those coming onto Laurelin who have a desire to disrupt other people rp'ing. Probably the same on the other EU RP servers and Landroval.

[Everbrock]

Let me ask this: What is so special with an RP server?

This ~ Turbine Official Roleplaying Rules and Policy ~ it is special that this company/game recognises the importance of the RP in MMORPG, even if only on a few servers out of many.

[Marancil]

yes have read that, a long time ago. It says that: "The following worlds are Roleplay-Supported". As in SUPPORTED. Not as a mandatory playing style.

[Gandie2]

Well, with all the talk I had to go look at these lanterns. I could not picture what lanterns you were all talking about so I flew to MD. A brand new feature. My 2 cents currently which lanterns are lit has zero significance. I will say that this new feature is with an eye to a future were some worlds will cease to exists. Rather the worlds that blink out will have the lanterns go out, or vice a versa is not known.

Thanks for the weird al song. That guy is always a hoot!

[The_Jagannath]

Let me play you a song....

FTFY 10/chars

[Everbrock]

yes have read that, a long time ago. It says that: "The following worlds are Roleplay-Supported". As in SUPPORTED. Not as a mandatory playing style.

There are the additional naming and chat rules on the Roleplay-Supported servers, so in that sense mandatory ~ but as is also noted, 'roleplaying' has as many different meanings as there are players.

TLDR: To each their own, so long as their own does not spoil others' own.

[Almagnus1]

Given some of the interactions I've had with the RP community in recent months, I'm not going to shed a tear if one of their servers gets shuttered.

[BangoTwinkletoes]

Given some of the interactions I've had with the RP community in recent months, I'm not going to shed a tear if one of their servers gets shuttered.

Hopefully that experience was not on Laurelin?

[Almagnus1]

I see far too many people worried that we're seeing a portent of things to come, when really we just need to wait for word from Turbine.

It's like a whole bunch of people who swore that the world was going to end because Mayan calendar.... then Y2K, then whatever the next thing was before that.

At the current point in time, we're not going anywhere, these are just art assets sitting in Michel Delving, and as far as we can tell, the lighting of the candles is purely coincidental.

I mean, the candles could possibly have an interaction with the horseshoe that will completely upgrade a 100 Third Age class item while consuming the horseshoe as far as we know, and only have it work on the servers who's candles are lit.

Or maybe throwing enough horse shoes at the candles will open a portal for the creeps to escape their playpen and roam part of Middle-earth freely for the first time ever.

But really...

Hopefully that experience was not on Laurelin?

No, but I've experienced enough weirdness from Landy to have killed that RP desire for the rest of time.

[ElanorFb]

I think it is a memorial to the closed servers. The announcement will be soon. We just figured it out before they could officially make the announcement.

[Iris_Piperylie]

That's hilarious! Though, if you really think about it, the idea to light a flame in remembrance of the lost servers really makes a lot of sense. I posted some numbers of those servers in the other thread, then realized that this one existed already,

Sorry about posting that in the other message board as well as this thread too. I did see your response there but thought I should probably start this new thread if the topic was just going to be the lanterns and not the rest of the new landscape features.

Yeah I agreed with what you thought as well. As soon as I walked into that space, I felt that it was a memorial garden and immediately felt all the emotions you feel when you do enter a cemetery or memorial garden. I too thought the idea was to "light a candle/lantern" for our server(s), so I tried to light one. But the icon you get over the lantern wasn't a housing interaction type of icon like I expected, and the Bounder's Bounty board popped up instead, which was neat. The little plaques sitting below the lanterns are cute too, they give the area that hobbit sense of recordkeeping and ceremony. So then I thought "well, so this doesn't light it up, so why are only a few lit?" and then walked around to the other servers with the lit lanterns, and went into full paranoid mode. I hopped on to other servers where it was night-time to see if they also had the same ones lit, and then I came to the message board to see what all of you were thinking about these lanterns.

I agree with this: "BangoTwinkletoes: Whichever it is, to remain open or to be closed, if this is Turbine's way of telling us which ones are closing down it's a totally stupid and downright insulting way of doing it." (sorry I did not do the forum quote paste for this) I agree that if this is Turbine's way of letting us know, that it's not a very good way to go about it - clever, maybe but not kind. No matter what, we all have memories at each of the servers that will be shut down, friends that passed away or left the game who we still keep on our friends lists just because, and that's the sort of stuff we will lose once a server is shut down. Every server does look the same once you get on it, but it's the friends you make there that make it your home. I look forward to hearing whatever the actual list will be whenever they are ready to tell us.

[Arbor]

Man, you guys are great conspiracy theorists. The lit lanterns are random and done for aesthetic purposes, courtesy of one of the artists (though to throw some fuel on the fire, my live character is from a server with a lit lantern. oooohhhhh....)

As for an update on the server transfers, it will come. I don't have a date but it will happen

[robbie1435]

Man, you guys are great conspiracy theorists. The lit lanterns are random and done for aesthetic purposes, courtesy of one of the artists (though to throw some fuel on the fire, my live character is from a server with a lit lantern. oooohhhhh.....)

As for an update on the server transfers, it will come. I don't have a date but it will happen

*takes off tin foil hat*