World Transfers

[Lilka]

I agree with the naming issues/. I already spotted a troll last night telling someone he was going to go to multiple servers and make a toon with their name...

If 2 players exist on the same server and are both active, the player created MOST RECENTLY will have the forced name change.

True, but then I and other innocent players looking forward to new adventures on a new server would be punished. I found a very simple, sweet hobbit name - example: Daisy - had been freed up on my server Eldar. No idea why. Maybe they deleted. Anyway, I've created the character but my intention is to take Daisy to Laurelin with my batch of lv100s and roleplay and level her there. I have not done it to upset Daisy of Gilrain or Daisy of Withwindle, who might now call me 'a name stealing troll' (although I, as the incoming player, would lose the who-gets-the-name battle anyway.)

People who say 'add a surname' or 'change the name system' - srsly. Huge programming headache. The very core of the game is built around characters with a single identifier, with neither underscore nor space nor symbol to confuse matters.

One suggestion might be not to agitate trolls and make them want to steal your names I'm sure someone might now go and be a smartypants and try and create various Lilkas.

[Marancil]

we will find out what servers on aug 3rd says in the dev diary

Hmm, yes, I know. Have read it several times. My post was in answer to Maartena, which should have been pretty obvious since I quoted the relevant part of her text...

[cdq1958]

Still trying to figure out name availability. Most of the characters I'll want to transfer are unavailable on the servers I expect to survive. Of the few that I can "friend", the last login dates are month and day spread out over the year. However, I don't see how to to find the *year* of that login. Am I missing something? For example, I'm pretty sure Aurora and Thanior, the founders of Carpe Jugulum on Silverlode, haven't logged in since about 2009, but they also just have month and day.

Am I missing a setting or something?

The Friends List may not provide accurate information. To know, with certainty, if a name is taken, you must try to claim it. Sort the list in 'most recent login' order so today is at the top. It will list it by date, but the year is not shown and I do not know of a setting that shows the year. You'll have to try to figure out, by other evidence, what the year might be.

[camenecium]

Landroval (which is the US RP server) is officially merely "Roleplay Encouraged", which means there is no special rules for it. It uses the same naming rules as all the non-RP servers.

You're right; Landroval is not an RP Supported server, and at this point Laurelin is likely the only RP-Supported world to survive. If kickman77 transferred to Laurelin, then there would potentially be renames for violations. It's critical that Turbine explain this in the transfer announcement, and I wish the launcher/world list linked to the policy and raised an alert the first time a player creates or transfers a character to it.

It would be less confusing if they dropped the RE designation altogether. Although it's unlikely, I hope/wonder if we'll get an actual RP Supported server in US.

[cdq1958]

I don't think it will, but maybe I'm giving the community more credit than it deserves.
Personally, I think folks have more important things to do with their time...and that maybe you are blowing things out of proportion.
I guess we will find out.

I agree with you. I think most players will be nice and only worry about their names. Once they've done that, they'll leave others alone. Of course, jerks will be jerks and will try to cause grief; so there will be some who will go out of their way to cause trouble.

[Marancil]

then there would potentially be renames for violations.

As I asked before, what renames for what violations??

[ArsSupervivendi]

We are still resolving timelines on moving the worlds to new tech but it is looking like we should be moved over in the next 2-3 months. I will give a better timeline once I have it.

5 US and 5 EU is correct. In our selection we will have one RP per region (EU & US) and one world per language (DE, FR and ENG).

First of all, thanks for all the information you can and did give and so far. Already counting the days till Monday


One question concerning the European Servers though:

You said 5 remaining worlds for Europe and mentioned above 1 RP Server, plus one world for each language. This would mean only 4 European Servers all together. What about the 5th? Another RP Server? This seems to be a great concern right now for the european RP community.

Or do you plan on one "United Europe" Server for all languages?

I know, Monday is not far off, but maybe a more detailed explanation is possible.


Yours Mahalin

[LagunaD2]

Concerning the naming conflict resolution procedure, how do we know whether we will lose or keep our names before we actually transfer?

Of course, you can create a new character to check whether a name is unused on the server or not, but that is not what I'm talking about. If the name is unused, then there is no naming conflict.

I mean rather, if you find that your character's name is in use, do you have to go through with the transfer all the way to the end to find out whether you will be "Legolas-1" instead of "Legolas"?

Related question: will names that haven't logged in for > 1 year become available for new characters too, or only for incoming transfers?

[miriadel]

As I asked before, what renames for what violations??

this applies to Laurelin and the other EU rp servers, it was a specific set of rules that was kept from Codemasters days, that protects the environment for immersion, and the lore friendliness of names. If you transfer from a server on Laurelin, and you are named say Leeggoolas or Roflcopter, that name can be reported by other Laurelin players and a GM may force rename your character from the lore breaking name to one better fitted with the lore. Names that are not lore appropriate are considered violations in this sense. Same goes for DE-RP and FR-RP.

edit: read this: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...les-and-Policy

[Marancil]

this applies to Laurelin and the other EU rp servers, it was a specific set of rules that was kept from Codemasters, that protects the nevionment for immersion, and the lore friendliness of names. If you transfer from a server on Laurelin, and you are named say Leeggoolas or Roflcopter, that name can be reported by other laurel in players and a GM may force rename your character from the lore breaking name to one better fitted with the lore. Names that are not lore appropriate are considered violations in this sees

Yeah, well your examples are abominations any way so good riddance. Thanks.

Hmm, I can see how Sturmdrang and Anancite might be borderline though.

[Teslana]

But you didn't pay for all those extra characters - you only paid for the maximum number of characters that you have on one server (above the 2 free alts per server from F2P) - all the other toons on other servers ARE ALREADY GIVEN TO YOU FREE BY TURBINE.

That's simply not true, as character slots are sold as an account-level item - people are buying them with the explicit understanding that they can create characters on every server. As it stands now, people buying an extra character slot have been paying for the option of creating an additional 29 characters (if they took advantage of it on every single server, which seems unlikely but is well within their rights). Now, Turbine have effectively told those people, "Thanks for paying for a character slot in the past, but if you want to carry on playing all those characters you made in the spaces we have already sold you, you'll have to pay for 19 more character slots to accommodate them because we've made the decision to shut down many of our servers."

As I said before, I personally don't have a mass of alts, but it seems like double-selling to me to make people who paid for a specific service to pay for that specific service again because Turbine want to have a server-merge.

[lilbert]

I feel like I'm asking a dumb question but what about regular bank space? bags? Is that considered part of the character and will transfer or do I have to figure out how to get everything I want into shared storage or housing?

[Everbrock]

I recommend that anyone who feels hard done by in respect of the coming changes to the game, re-read the LOTRO Terms of Service that they agreed to (you did read them in the first place, right? Didn't just skip to the end and blindly hit Accept...) in particular item number 2. Changes to Agreement and Game

Turbine may change, modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Game at any time. Turbine may also impose limits on certain features or restrict your access to parts or all of the Game without notice or liability.

[Gardiaah]

I feel like I'm asking a dumb question but what about regular bank space? bags? Is that considered part of the character and will transfer or do I have to figure out how to get everything I want into shared storage or housing?

It's not a dumb question I'm kind of wondering that too if everything you unlocked with that character, vault, and everyway is going to stay the same or will you need to redo that too? From what I understood I thought it was.. but I assumed because I don't really see this written anywhere for sure either.. hugs n comforts! =)

[GB-Esty]

Still trying to figure out name availability. Most of the characters I'll want to transfer are unavailable on the servers I expect to survive. Of the few that I can "friend", the last login dates are month and day spread out over the year. However, I don't see how to to find the *year* of that login. Am I missing something? For example, I'm pretty sure Aurora and Thanior, the founders of Carpe Jugulum on Silverlode, haven't logged in since about 2009, but they also just have month and day.

Am I missing a setting or something?

The way I've been doing it is to ask in world chat whether anyone has an alt or someone on their friends list that hasn't logged on in a year or more. You can then add that character to your own list and order the list by time last played - anyone below that character will be a year or more old.

[camenecium]

Ok I was misinformed...

You've been twice misinformed. "Doing" RP is always optional; RP Supported servers do enforce some rules; Landroval is not an RP Supported server. Best thing to do is read the policy for yourself:

Turbine Official Roleplaying Rules and Policy


RP Supported means limiting immersion-breaking things like OOC chat in certain channels and lore-inappropriate character names. That's all it means really. Many people on Laurelin don't or rarely RP in the "doing" sense even though it's an actual (and soon maybe the only) RP-Supported server.

The spirit of the policy is more about not interfering in other people's role-playing and enjoyment of the game. Its impact on how the community behaves and treats each other is much bigger than the actual policy; LOTRO overall has a nicer community than most MMOs I've played, but Laurelin is above and beyond even that. And I think part of that stems from these minor rules.

For what it's worth, I've seen naming enforced, but I don't think I've ever seen the chat rules enforced. Hmm, I wonder if you could transfer there, report yourself, and get a free rename if you actually want to move to an RP Supported server and get a free rename to boot?

[Tuco]

The way I've been doing it is to ask in world chat whether anyone has an alt or someone on their friends list that hasn't logged on in a year or more. You can then add that character to your own list and order the list by time last played - anyone below that character will be a year or more old.

Brilliant - thanks!

[Padhril]

For what it's worth, I've seen naming enforced, but I don't think I've ever seen the chat rules enforced. Hmm, I wonder if you could transfer there, report yourself, and get a free rename if you actually want to move to an RP Supported server and get a free rename to boot?

People who are renamed for RP rule violations don't get a free rename, they get renamed to what I only assume must be the first name the random generator spits out, from what I've seen. So I wouldn't try that strategy unless I really didn't care about the name's aesthetics at all.

[Beaniemooch]

I recommend that anyone who feels hard done by in respect of the coming changes to the game, re-read the LOTRO Terms of Service that they agreed to (you did read them in the first place, right? Didn't just skip to the end and blindly hit Accept...) in particular item number 2. Changes to Agreement and Game

And this has absolutely zero to do with how people feel about what's happening. Turbine has the right to take everything away that we've paid for without notice and giving us nothing back, we get it. I don't think anybody ever disagreed they had that right. I think what everybody is saying is that it simply sucks to have this happening. People are concerned and expressing their feelings and you're telling them "too bad, so sad, stop whining". But then I've come to expect no less from Turbine in the way of customer service and communication and the sad folks that support every action they take, regardless of who is unfairly treated in the process.

[camenecium]

Hmm, I can see how Sturmdrang and Anancite might be borderline though.

They seem fine unless there's some cultural reference or slang meaning I'm not getting. If I came across either of these as minor characters in a missing chapter of the trilogy, I wouldn't be wondering what was in Tolkien's pipe that day. Seeing those names in a fellowship, around town, or in an IC chat channel probably isn't going to break people's immersion. That's what the rules are essentially about.

[Beaniemooch]

They seem fine unless there's some cultural reference or slang meaning I'm not getting. If I came across either of these as minor characters in a missing chapter of the trilogy, I wouldn't be wondering what was in Tolkien's pipe that day. Seeing those names in a fellowship, around town, or in an IC chat channel probably isn't going to break people's immersion. That's what the rules are essentially about.

On a RP server names like Stormtrooper or Gigantico would be in violation, but there's nothing wrong with the actual name - it's just not lore appropriate. So if somebody is from a closing server and has to go to one of the 4 remaining US servers (can't transfer in to Brandy even though its a survivor) it's possible they'll have too many characters to put all on one and may end up on a RP server. The name wouldn't be taken, but they wouldn't necessarily be allowed to keep it for fear of upsetting the role players. Not all of us name our characters as having anything to do with Lord of the Rings or Middle Earth. My teenage son came up with some interesting names that were perfectly fine but wouldn't be okay on a RP server.

[camenecium]

People who are renamed for RP rule violations don't get a free rename, they get renamed to what I only assume must be the first name the random generator spits out, from what I've seen. So I wouldn't try that strategy unless I really didn't care about the name's aesthetics at all.

Ha, I never knew that! The random name generator can come up with some really awful things. I wonder how often people report randomly-generated names as violations and if support can see that a name was randomly generated?

[Padhril]

I recommend that anyone who feels hard done by in respect of the coming changes to the game, re-read the LOTRO Terms of Service that they agreed to (you did read them in the first place, right? Didn't just skip to the end and blindly hit Accept...) in particular item number 2. Changes to Agreement and Game

That is Turbine's right. But if Turbine doesn't want players to do what is their right, namely stop spending money on the game, they'll be inviting feedback and try to address people's concerns. Companies that want to stay in business generally do more than the bare legal minimum to satisfy customers.

[Gardiaah]

And this has absolutely zero to do with how people feel about what's happening. Turbine has the right to take everything away that we've paid for without notice and giving us nothing back, we get it. I don't think anybody ever disagreed they had that right. I think what everybody is saying is that it simply sucks to have this happening. People are concerned and expressing their feelings and you're telling them "too bad, so sad, stop whining". But then I've come to expect no less from Turbine in the way of customer service and communication and the sad folks that support every action they take, regardless of who is unfairly treated in the process.

I'd just like to add to that. There are more games out there.. no reason to settle for that kind of thing..if people are treated badly enough eventually they will go somewhere else or back someplace they have been treated better as far as that goes. Customer service is still important and if I get a nasty hamburger constantly at burger king I am going to eventually go to Mcdonalds.. so while they got their right -- so do we as players and while I don't have nothing to loose from this I really don't.. I can understand other people getting upset having the problems that they are going thru with this.

We had spent 1 time of VIPx 6 family accounts for one month a year ago to unlock swift travels which we are going to maybe do again after the merge and characters are all settled in with new additions pending how it goes..
we several times of a family worth account of purchasing some points but I'm not buying anything for the household 6 well really 7 accounts------ until I see I should.. if I work things up and like these people get it taken away-------- like I said mcdonalds is out there too......
Remember we're still deciding whether this game is right for us.. so watching how the old players get treated to decide how much we want to put into this.. and I'm sure we aren't the only ones doing that too... hugs n comforts to all during this time =(

[Gardiaah]

That is Turbine's right. But if Turbine doesn't want players to do what is their right, namely stop spending money on the game, they'll be inviting feedback and try to address people's concerns. Companies that want to stay in business generally do more than the bare legal minimum to satisfy customers.

Exactly what I was tyring to say after all what is left of a game without the players...=) hugs!