Who is excited?

[daneyul]

New housing hooks, unlockable in the store. Cheaper in bundles. Very excited about additional decoration placement options we've been seeing on Bullroarer, but I never thought they will be freely available for all. Big demand, fluff luxury, easy to monetize, perfect for store. And hopefully the profits will keep Lotro going for years to come. Speaking honestly.

Ack! I bet you're right. Hadn't considered they'd charge for those hooks, but it makes sense.

I sure hope they give at least some slots free to VIPs, and that they don't get too greedy with the costs.

[Laerien]

Vault, Auctioner NPCs

More Bingo type DLC

[Denhith]

On the issue of grind, I have always been on Team Hurin, and while I applaud his tenacity...the reality is this:

Turbine is a F2P game. For whatever reason (be it metrics, data analysis, whatever) they have decided to create content with a certain amount of grind...and tied it--specifically--to the store (grind reduction).
Whether it is essences (universal solvents) or LIs (any number of upgrades that apply) or slayer/skill deed reduction, to quick travel back and forth via mithril coin (the absolute evil of their sins related to grind).

That is not going to change. Mostly because Turbine doesn't have the resources to make such a drastic, fundamental change in how they do business.
So, here we are...

[Dmira]

Don't mind Hurin. This is his particular axe to grind, at any opportunity.

After a while you learn to tune it out, and just play the game the way you want without answering to anyone or feeling like you need to justify your choices to anyone else.

Thanks, ShireDweller. Sound advise.

I am excited! And no sarcasm.

Silvan War Antlers was a fun one! Speculate on what the quite a few new offers will be.

Please.

I'm excited, too. I'm hoping it will be the new housing hooks (assuming they do not include them for free), new housing decorations, and new cosmetics. Whatever it is, it should be interesting.

[siipperi]

New housing hooks, unlockable in the store. Cheaper in bundles. Very excited about additional decoration placement options we've been seeing on Bullroarer, but I never thought they will be freely available for all. Big demand, fluff luxury, easy to monetize, perfect for store. And hopefully the profits will keep Lotro going for years to come. Speaking honestly.

I hope this would be the case. Would actually force these so called housing players to show they actually care for content that is deved for them.

[The_Jagannath]

Thanks, ShireDweller. Sound advise...

Enjoy your "safe" space.

[Hurin]

The reason is because LOTRO was not generating enough subscribers to keep the game a sub only game.

Not necessarily. In business, it is malpractice to not take the route that will lead to more revenue. The Free-to-Play/Store model was, at the very least in the short-term, the more lucrative route to take. But that is not necessarily to say that the subscription model was not generating enough revenue to keep the lights on.

All of which is why I never lay the blame at Turbine's feet. They did what any business would do. The fault lies with the players who are willing to accept such a business model. We make such a perverse business model more lucrative. Because we lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that what we purchase need not affect anybody but ourselves. . . even as our aggregate purchasing decisions fundamentally transform the game, its design philosophy, and its fortunes.

And then we come to these forums, continuing to play dumb, and ask people: "Who are you to judge me!?! Would you have me just grind, and grind, and grind instead?" While being totally oblivious to the fundamental truth that the grinds are only that bad because of that very attitude. And, yes, there have been people who refuse to purchase their way around the grind, still yearning for the day when the grinds in the game were there for more legitimate reasons. And they have continued to climb the ever steeper mountains placed before them in large part in response to those happily buying their way to the top(s). But even these hardy souls despair eventually. Because, thanks to the "Turbine has to make money some way" crowd who are the first to say "don't judge how I play my game!". . . their game has gradually been pulled from their grasp in the name of "convenience" for others.

[daneyul]

I hope this would be the case. Would actually force these so called housing players to show they actually care for content that is deved for them.

Yeah, the housing players never pay for anything. Except all the cosmetic outfits, emotes, pets, every steed available and pretty much anything shiny thing that goes on sale.

[Denhith]

Sure fire way to make money--place an item in the store that allows a player to change their character's appearance.
You can't change your race or class--but you can change your sex and every other physical attribute (not just the color or style of our hair like it is now)

Maybe with the revenue from that, we can get new customization options

[Curuer_Bauglir]

I hadn't considered that the expanded housing hooks would be store items. I wonder if making them available as a store only purchase would be practical from an implementation standpoint. If they went that route, I'm guessing that the layout of everyone's houses would change with new hooks added, but only players who purchase the new hooks would have access to them. In order to add more hooks, I'm assuming they are changing the location of the current hooks in order to evenly distribute the new hooks. If this is the case, I would imagine there would be some upset people about the fact their houses were involuntarily changed. Perhaps I'm wrong and the current layout would remain in place and only be changed once the new hooks are purchased from the store. Who knows? I wouldn't mind seeing new housing items available in the store, although I already have a chest full of housing items that probably outnumber the amount of new hooks added in the update. Maybe they could add a account wide travel skill that would allow others to visit your house more easily. I'm not really into housing that much, but I have decorated it as I've gotten interesting decorations. Unfortunately, zero people outside of myself have ever actually seen my house, nor have I ever visited anyone's house. It's difficult for me to get into things that aren't integrated into the main thread of the game, such as cosmetics, PvP, housing, role-playing, etc. They have a sideshow feel to them that has never been alluring enough to pull me away from the main stage.

[MalonSaria]

Sure fire way to make money--place an item in the store that allows a player to change their character's appearance.
You can't change your race or class--but you can change your sex and every other physical attribute (not just the color or style of our hair like it is now)

Maybe with the revenue from that, we can get new customization options

I've been dreaming of something like this for Lotro from the time i started playing, i hope they implement it! It would make me concentrate more on certain characters, not gonna lie, appearance makes a big difference in whether i want to focus/level them. And of course i could just remake a new character, but some of them are very old and have obsolete titles, items etc

[Curuer_Bauglir]

Sure fire way to make money--place an item in the store that allows a player to change their character's appearance.
You can't change your race or class--but you can change your sex and every other physical attribute (not just the color or style of our hair like it is now)

Maybe with the revenue from that, we can get new customization options

Forgive my momentary insanity, but what if they sold an item that allowed you to change classes? I understand it would be a mess considering classes have different LIs and stats, but it would be interesting, assuming they charged an arm and a leg for it to justify the work they'd have to do. I'm not interested in the Valar boosts because I want to experience everything on my character that has journeyed throughout Middle-earth. I don't want to roll a new character and redo all the virtues, trait points, quests, deeds, etc. I want to play Curueru. If the new raid turns Curueru the Hunter into Curueru the Unwanted, I would consider forking over thousands of TP in order to turn him into Curueru the Rune-keeper. I know this would never happen, but it's speculation. May as well go full tinfoil.

[wispsong]

I hope this would be the case. Would actually force these so called housing players to show they actually care for content that is deved for them.

No, just no, please not. The housing update will be the only interesting part of 18.2 for me. I have been looking forward to redecorate my houses to stay busy a little bit longer. If the hooks cost TP I guess it's time for a big break because there is nothing else besides Bingo (ending in 2 weeks) and leveling my RK for an hour with a friend most nights that keeps me playing right now. Since neither U18 nor U18.1 had long lasting worthwhile content for solo players the housing update will be a good thing to keep some of us playing.

[daneyul]

No, just no, please not. The housing update will be the only interesting part of 18.2 for me. I have been looking forward to redecorate my houses to stay busy a little bit longer. If the hooks cost TP I guess it's time for a big break because there is nothing else besides Bingo (ending in 2 weeks) and leveling my RK for an hour with a friend most nights that keeps me playing right now. Since neither U18 nor U18.1 had long lasting worthwhile content for solo players the housing update will be a good thing to keep some of us playing.

I have no problem paying TP, as long as they don't go crazy with the price. We do want them to make money, and see housing improvements as lucrative and worth doing, after all.

I do think those of us with subs should get some as part of being VIP though. There's little enough benefit to maintaining a subscription, this would be a good opportunity to add to the list.

[Denhith]

Forgive my momentary insanity, but what if they sold an item that allowed you to change classes? I understand it would be a mess considering classes have different LIs and stats, but it would be interesting, assuming they charged an arm and a leg for it to justify the work they'd have to do. I'm not interested in the Valar boosts because I want to experience everything on my character that has journeyed throughout Middle-earth. I don't want to roll a new character and redo all the virtues, trait points, quests, deeds, etc. I want to play Curueru. If the new raid turns Curueru the Hunter into Curueru the Unwanted, I would consider forking over thousands of TP in order to turn him into Curueru the Rune-keeper. I know this would never happen, but it's speculation. May as well go full tinfoil.

Side note on the Valar boost, for me...it isn't worth the money. There is still soooo much work you have to do on your character even if he/she is automatically level 95.
Now, if they added a maxed out crafting profession of your choice, all virtues and racial traits at max level (for 95), and ALL skill tree points that an average person would have accumulated by the time they hit 95 (doing all skill deeds, quests, etc)...then maybe it would be worth the price (in fact, I would probably pay just a wee bit more).

[Thoroval]

New housing hooks, unlockable in the store.

While I could've understood having the extra hooks as a VIP perk, at this point I'd be very surprised if the store is involved for 2 reasons.

1) The patch notes said absolutely nothing about it, and
2) In order to properly evaluate and provide feedback on the new hooks, there would need to be some way of distinguishing the two "sets" in each house, i.e. the "default" set of hooks would need to be marked in some way and the "store" set marked in some other way. The hooks aren't distinguished in any way.

In the absence of both of these, I don't see an easy way for Turbine to do anything but simply adding them to the game by default.

The only way I could conceive of these being a store item is if interior floor plans could somehow be swapped out as a whole. That would be nice since it would allow Standard houses to have Deluxe interiors (even though outside would be unchanged), but I just don't see how that can be accomplished without changing the way the entire housing system works. It appears to me that Turbine is trying to avoid that amount of work. If they weren't, they'd also be reworking the exteriors and I've seen no evidence they are.

[maartena]

Maybe..... just maybe.... there will be purchasable unlocks to make a Hobbit Loremaster, a Elven Captain, and a Dwarf Burglar!

[Liktitamas]

Turbine recently reduced the number of mobs to kill on many slayer deeds (benefits everyone without the store). They also added cheap ways to get empowerment scrolls (MT Dailies) and now feature instances drop tons of them. This doesnt count as reducing the grind? Some people find anything to complain about seriously.

[Knight.]

let's hope that the long overdue and constantly requested server transfer tokens are one of these new items.

[Laerien]

I hope this would be the case. Would actually force these so called housing players to show they actually care for content that is deved for them.

Yeah, those cheapskates don't even want to pay our raids

[StoatMandible]

(...) at this point I'd be very surprised if the store is involved for 2 reasons.

1) The patch notes said absolutely nothing about it, and
2) In order to properly evaluate and provide feedback on the new hooks, there would need to be some way of distinguishing the two "sets" in each house, i.e. the "default" set of hooks would need to be marked in some way and the "store" set marked in some other way. The hooks aren't distinguished in any way.

In the absence of both of these, I don't see an easy way for Turbine to do anything but simply adding them to the game by default..

I concur. I think we may be jumping the gun to assume the testing on Bullroarer signifies that housing hooks will come with this update. When they do come, I forsee them added by default and things to fill the hooks added to The Store.

[Kostas2112]

Maybe..... just maybe.... there will be purchasable unlocks to make a Hobbit Loremaster, a Elven Captain, and a Dwarf Burglar!

No.

Dwarves make too much noise. It ain't gonna work.

Ppl will start asking for their money back.

[wolfgarde]

Eagle mounts.....finally getting eagle mounts!

[Herwegur]

While I could've understood having the extra hooks as a VIP perk, at this point I'd be very surprised if the store is involved for 2 reasons.

1) The patch notes said absolutely nothing about it, and
2) In order to properly evaluate and provide feedback on the new hooks, there would need to be some way of distinguishing the two "sets" in each house, i.e. the "default" set of hooks would need to be marked in some way and the "store" set marked in some other way. The hooks aren't distinguished in any way.

1) Patch notes are inconclusive by their own assertion and only briefly mentioned they are "experimenting" with new housing hook placements. That is vague and can imply absolutely anything.

2) "To properly evaluate and provide feedback" - come on, this is Bullroarer a.k.a. free preview with gameplay-impacting tweaks/bugs to be ironed out, after all these years you can't possibly still think it's a rigorous and thorough public testing procedure with player-driven impact On a more serious note though, the only thing missing from new housing hooks are little Turbine-logos that link to the store. If indeed there is a plan to make housing hooks store-unlockable, their locations and placements may just as well remain an internal decision.

Perhaps the real "experimenting" being done in this beta vis a vis housing hooks is to gouge current players' interest and passion for this new feature. To be honest, the Paiz-overhyped/Rowan-cancelled "major revamp to housing" that's been used to string players along for 1.5 years has been so daft that quite a contingency of paying customers cancelled their subs and left the game (it really didn't help it was occurring simultaneously with HD-traitline fallout, bullyish forum behavior of previous CM, etc). Are we still as obsessed and excited about housing as in years prior? The gladness and joy at the news of new housing hooks swept the forums like a wave. Maybe Turbine is still on the fence whether to monetize this or not - in which case the current "experimentation" is still far from conclusive and may not reach live with this update yet.
So if Turbine monetizes this feature, that's a sensible developmental investment that is going to pay off - something players have been asking for, and something that should've been done years ago, but is still not too late. Or if they actually give these additional hooks free for all - I would actually be surprised at such generosity and a missed opportunity to generate considerable revenue from this feature, but if the new store items include a boatload of new housing decorations, it's all gonna even out.

Either way, super happy at the prospect of new housing hooks, for sale or not

[Thundertrain]

Eagle mounts.....finally getting eagle mounts!

I hate you a little bit for even mentioning this.

Bring on the war-goats, too! And a Beorning Champ. I want my giant bear-man swinging a big sword in each hand.