Q&A w/ Raninia on +Cord of the Rings - 6/18 @ Noon ET

[TearMaker]

Hello,

1) Why is SSG so much against alts?
- the grind is ridiculous - legendaries, virtues, crafting and reputations, skill points etc.

Heartily agree with this... I have 9 alts which are between 100 and 115, another 3 are between 120 and 130 and one at cap. I am totally burned out and cannot bring myself to grind anymore.... for SSG they must realise that there is negative returns on all this grind. Yes, some folks will do it without complain but most burn out and then just don't play and more importantly... don't pay.

Someone really needs to take a forensic look at trends and you know... actually listen to what folks are saying.

2) Why most of currency (GOLD !) and crafting material isnt shared yet? - Other things that could be shared acrros all characters: AH listings, mail - its time consuming when I have to load bunch of characters trying to find where is the crafting material or gold
(i like the Guild Wars 2 system, crafting material bank, shared currency...) - I would even pay for it.

There is a couple of things that could help you now whilst you wait for your reply from SSG...

1) Gold - if you need to share gold with your alts... you can purchase bags of gold from the Vault. IIRC they come in 1gold and 10gold and stack to quite high numbers. So you can purchase thousands of gold and stack them in shared storage and all your characters can access as much gold as they want as and when they need it.
(If you don't have shared storage then I really do recommend it) I also have the full amount of slots unlocked in shared storage and not including my cook, I have a good 60% of all my craft materials in shared storage also, so that all my alts have access.

2) With regards to having to log on all your alts searching for that elusive craft material you don't have in shared storage... well this has been taken care of for you by those great folks who have also been abandoned over in the LUA department... It is called alt inventory. You download it and activate it to all your characters and then you just need to log into each character once and then you can search for any item across all of your alts from within the game and it informs you where that item is. You can also look at the bags of an individual alt etc... it really is worth having if you have a lot of stuff stored or use some alts as mules...

https://www.lotrointerface.com/downl...Inventory.html

[Kaeneth]

Will we ever see changes to racial skills? At the moment certain races are just clearly the best choice for certain classes/roles, while other races are left in the dust, and it's not fun knowing that you have to willingly have an inferior character, even if only by a small %, just because you don't want to play as a certain race/class combination. Additionally, due to weapon bonus racial skills there are a number of weapon types in the game that are just never worth using because no race offers a bonus for them. Hammers, crossbows, spears, maces...or even people that just want to maybe use an axe on their man or elf character. While racial skills are neat, and can be interesting, having them set up in their current design forces you to sacrifice certain customization choices just to be optimal, which is not ideal.

[Uroc]

I wanted to ask question about grind. Since it was already asked I will just say that I support those questions and that I would also like to hear what you say about it.

[Lillipia]

Hello,

When do you expect there to be a solution to the extremely bad lag game worlds have been experiencing. I noticed it has been getting worse since the last update.

[Moondog548]

Hey folks, I'll be doing another Q&A on Cord's stream this Friday at noon Eastern Time, which you'll be able to watch here.

In preparation for that, if you have a question you'd like answered, feel free to throw it in this thread. I'll be starting the stream by answering as many questions in here as I can.

That said, a few ground rules on things I can't speak about, in an effort to save y'all some time:

1. I probably can't announce anything, including dates

That means no specifics about post-U31, or even when U31 is happening, or how exactly the Brawler will play, etc.

2. I can't speak to things that happened before I got here

That means basically anything before April 2021. Unless I was personally part of it - like my old play experience - I'm not gonna be able to answer your question. I can talk about how gamedev tends to work in general, but specific stuff that I wasn't part of I'm certainly not qualified to speak on.

3. I can't talk deeply about specific design or feature choices

Unfortunately, I can't give you the blow by blow for why Telling Mark got changed in U30, or which Guardian bleeds we're looking at changing in the future, or which roles we think Warden should or shouldn't have. General philosophical stuff is probably stuff I can speak to, however.

Everything else should probably be fair game, but if there's some other category of questions that crops up which I can't answer, I'll update this post.

Looking forward to answering your questions this Friday!

I think my most pressing questions are covered many times over by other players, so I just gotta say:

- Thank you for the amount of communication you are giving the player base. It can't be said enough how refreshing-like-an-oasis that is.
- Thank you for the quality and content of the communications! VERY PRODUCTIVE! Again... absolutely amazing given our experiences as players for years... and years... and years!

[MandravalGalabian]

1) Could you explain a "normal" bug report cycle?
e.g.
- player reports bug
- QA trying to reproduce the bug
- QA reporting to department XYZ
- etc.

2) Is there any difference between reporting bugs and/or localisation problems?
(at least a quarter of the quests in Azanulbizar lack translation to german)

3) What is the best way to report localisation problems? (forum, bug report, screen-shots, video-clips)
I don't report issues and let SSG guess, what is wrong, I try to give a proper translation, but since my bug reports seemed to be ignored, I lack enthusiasm.

4) Could you improve localisation problem reports?
Doing a bug report via the web-page is quite tedious, to just report a missing name, an extra word.

5) What exactly should the chat command "/accountstatus"/"/kontoinfo" do?
It is there, but seems to do nothing...

6) Is the Feature Instance-Rotation on the todo list?
I still dream of a more dynamic rotation. E.g. each reward of a featured instance will increase a counter for this instance. and the next featured instance will be the instance with the lowest counter (or random from the 5 (or 10) lowest numbers) (but not the same as last week) (and may be different for the servers)

7) There are special quests availabe in Lorien for "the battle for lorien", which need the server to do "preparations IV" 600x to be unlocked... could you lower or remove that counter, since this is no longer endcontent? (like it was done with the angmar instances avaiulable at Gath Fortnir)

8) Any plans to do a server event like the unlock of filikul, the unlock of some regions of western gondor, bounders bounty?
Was really fun to do that stuff, although I see the problem to do stuff, that is only available for a short time.

Picking up an idea someone mentioned above:
9) How about building a city like hytbold, and if it is completed, you need to do quests again to maintain the city (might be a server wide task)?
I always wondered, why every new expansion had a new "city to be" from the beginning... doing some quests to provide town services would not bother me

10) Do you plan to further increase the level cap?
Every new level cap renders most of the previous stuff obsolete, especially equipment like jewelry and armor. Stats seem to have increased tremendously with each level cap increase

11) Any plans to make Conjunctions valuable again?
For me, those were THE difference in game-play mechanic, but they have been neglected like Skirmishes, Epic Battles, War-Steeds.

12) Perhaps a bit related to 6), Could you make scalable instances more rewarding, depending on the time, you need to complete it?
if players have the option to do a 5 minute instance and a 3 hour instance, players will always use option a) and ignore option b)

13) considering old deeds from instances: Would it be possible to get the challenge mode (and deed) if you open the (perhaps newly) scalable instance at the original level or above? (even on non-legendary worlds)
e.g. Helegrod was originally a level 50 instance, so doing and instance at level 50+ will get you challenge mode and deed
same for mirkwood instances/In their absence at 65+
erebor stuff at 85+
osgiliath 100+
pelenor 105+
That way, the titles will be a reward for the early birds, but available at a later time for more casual players

[truPaltrax]

is custom map markers a thing we can see in game in the furure
like the little flags that shows landmarks and such i would personally ike to place down my own maybe to mark something im looking for

[Rorrelm]

My main question pertains to improving LUA functionality. However, in the past this has only been responded to with a lack of knowledge or just brushed off. LUA is a big thing and answering with there is interest or would be cool is not satisfying. That is why I want to expand a bit why players care about the different aspects and wonder how you and the rest of the team look at this.

In a nutshell I see 2 types of plugins: UI improvements and gameplay additions. There is ofcourse overlap and you might be able to classify it better, but this will help the discussion.

UI improvements

I see UI improvements in two different types, mainly the usage. The grouping improvements and gameplay UI.

The grouping improvements directly translate to the fellowship/raid group frames and functionality. The classic lotro layout is enough for basic cases but with the endgame growing considerably more advanced over the last few years and players evolving it just does not cut it anymore. Not to mention that a lot of players would like to adjust every UI element on their screen. The problem is that raid frames are hard to replace because by using a plugin to change them you remove a lot of basic features due to the API not working properly. The biggest of this is the effect system not working properly for your party members. There is functionality to see what effects are applied and you can see when they are removed or added. They just do not work properly, whenever an effect is added a random number of effects dissappear from the list (eventhough they are still on the target). Then when the next effect is added they can all be added back. This makes it so you can never be certain if an effect is removed. Which is highly problematic to make accurate raid frames. Side note: sometimes when something applies multiple effects in the same action some do not show up initially but only after refreshes.

The problems above are also present for API implementations of your targets with the added benefit that they are massive performance problems.

Another issue of the raid frames is that you are unable to track a readycheck because the functionality (that is in the API at the moment) just straight up does not work.

And here comes the kicker, the API just breaks the moment you convert a party to a raid. This forces plugin makers to reload an entire plugin whenever there is a change to the party.

The main question here is, how do you value the importance of player made group UI in updating API? This would not require many added functionality but rather fixes to the current features

Other Gameplay UI Improvements
Under this banner I group mostly plugins that handle things like your inventory (maybe with some cool new UI), certain skills (think travel skills), or skill layouts. The current API only marginally helps with this. For example: there is only little information a plugin can request from an item. Making sorting or anything more advanced (stat comparison) hard or impossible. A plugin is not able to see when a player uses a skill, only when the skill cooldown has changed (try tracking skills that do not have cooldowns). Or some skills just aren't available in the API (Beorning).

Plugins makers are currently able to hide the game UI for raid frames, player/target vitals and inventory bags. Why stop here? Why not include things as the wallet, collection panels or social panels with this? Just to name a few.

My question here is, would work on the API also involve expanding the current features to allow for better quality plugins in mentioned areas.

Gameplay additions

Here I group things that the game itself does not supply such as damage meters, instance helpers or group trackers.

One of the BIG reasons there is so much uncertainty about strength of classes is the lack of group wide combat data. Comparing classes and players in different scenarios is a PIA on a good day. It is in my opinion one of the big thing the lotro endgame needs to improve, but also create more insightful class data.

Getting any information about instances is completely on the makers of plugins themselves. My main problem with this is that the lotro instances are very unfriendly for new players trying to figure out what is going on, or supplying them with information how to improve. Plugins for this exist but it has been a later trend. Would expanding the API ever include things that would help plugin makers making more helpful plugins for instances?

Group trackers are in essence just guessing all the time. There is hardly any support from the API to figure out what your group is doing, what they have equipped or really any information past the most basic. Any addition here would vastly improve groups diagnose problems.

My burning question here is would work on the API support paths that while the game does not supply it directly would be supplied through plugins?

There is so much more to talk about regarding plugins. It has been neglected for so long so any thoughts would be welcome to hear. So we know if we can have hope for the future or....

[simsim98]

What are some ways that SSG can modernize LOTRO's approach on how it handles its content creators and its use of social media in general?

I would love to hear an answer for this question from the SSG team. Lotro does not seem to have a presence on social media. Are you guys planning to update the Steam page for Lotro with latest updates and news to try to expand the audience?

[Minimur]

Why is layering not used very often in crowded endgame zones to improve game performance for players? It is used often in Bree for this reason I assume.

[DavidmeetHal]

Hello,

1) Why is SSG so much against alts?
- the grind is ridiculous - legendaries, virtues, crafting and reputations, skill points etc.

Being an altaholic, I have to agree with this. Especially the deeds. UGH.

There is just no reason to have to do deeds on EVERY SINGLE alt.

[Kaeneth]

I know you probably won't discuss specific class balance details at length, however if it's at all possible it would be really great if we could get some kind of information regarding the trait lines that are not the "main" trait lines for each class, and what the goal for those types of trait lines might be, along with how they fall in line on priority when balancing classes.

I'm thinking lines line yellow guardian, an alternate tanking line that should be focused as a debuff/dps tank. It may not compete with blue for high end tanking, but what purpose should it serve and should we expect to see attention given to off lines like this? Or another, like Blue champions. Should they at least be viable to tank 3/6 mans well, maybe T1/2 raids? Will they ever be able to use shields again?

Again I wouldn't expect getting into specifics, but just a general idea of what we should be able to expect as far as balancing/the goals of these kinds of trait lines would be nice to know. There's many of us who really enjoy these kinds of trait lines, and not just these two specifically but the less used ones across many classes, but rarely ever get the opportunity to make good use of them.

[Arnenna]

Any plans to revisit the "forgotten" systems such as Epic Battles, Skirmishes and Mounted Combat? All three feature separate progression trees that quickly lose their usefullness as you level out of their relevant level range. It is especially egregious with Skirmish Soldiers and War-Steeds which due to their lack of proper scaling are simply detrimental to use from Mordor onwards, where most characters eventually end up.

And Featured Instances, which have also fallen by the wayside.

[hunter4215]

Can you guys give some indication about your official stance on Alt-Looting? (Completing an encounter on one character and then alting for loot on a separate character).

It seems you guys are against it with the recent changes made to Shelob/FoKD, but a reason or indication as to why would be nice.

This game, at the end-game raiding level, has very few members left that can perform certain raid roles or responsibilities. There aren't many Guardians/Nerfed Yellow Cappies running around anymore and so pugging or raiding with only one character is a huge disincentive to play the game after you lock your character in a specific raid or encounter. It also makes the gearing process harder and more time-consuming.

[Chirrup]

Here's a teeny-weeny little request, amongst all the Big Requests!

The deed log is VERY hard to read for those of us with suboptimal eyesight. Yellow letters on a yellow background, with only a "drop shadow" delineating the letters, is very difficult to read.

Please:

1. Use more contrast between letters and background
2. No drop shadows
3. Use a sans serif font - aim for a nice, simple, clean presentation.

With these changes, I have no doubt my deed completion would skyrocket 300%!! Well, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but would sure be appreciated...

Cheers!

[Arantha]

1. Why are some items like carry-alls not more often in the shop? Lotro would earn money, the player strongly demand these...

2. Are the implementation of light hooks in the old house-areas possible?

3. The midsumer-festival just startet, but 50% of last year items were not avaible. Why?

4. Why are all housingitems bound? There is no way to give in roleplay a present ...

[ZephyrDylan]

Here's a teeny-weeny little request, amongst all the Big Requests!

The deed log is VERY hard to read for those of us with suboptimal eyesight. Yellow letters on a yellow background, with only a "drop shadow" delineating the letters, is very difficult to read.

Please:

1. Use more contrast between letters and background
2. No drop shadows
3. Use a sans serif font - aim for a nice, simple, clean presentation.

With these changes, I have no doubt my deed completion would skyrocket 300%!! Well, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but would sure be appreciated...

Cheers!

I think it's important for the game designers to take this into account, and there might be plugin skins that can alter the appearance in the meanwhile.

[thinx]

1) Why is SSG so much against alts?
- the grind is ridiculous - legendaries, virtues, crafting and reputations, skill points etc.

They are not specifically against alts. SSG is trying to establish a "minimum invested time" that keeps players attached to the game. This time is already enforced on mains, alts are just collateral damage. The ridiculous grind is the grind on mains, multiplying it with alts just moves it beyond good and evil.

[Merlinous1]

Lore Master- Would you be able to add some animation to where LM can walk with their staff? the animation is already in the game with the NPC Wizards. Also, Illumination with their staff, that would be AWESOME.

[GLipscom]

Are there plans to add Accessibility Option to adjust Mouse Pointer Size for better Pointer visibility during combat?

I don't use Plug-ins in LOTRO, mouse Pointer Size seems like a basic Accessibility Option that should be baked-in to LOTROs standard UI options, w/o resorting to Plug-ins...

[Merlinous1]

Another question....is LOTRO looking to potentially upgrade engine / graphics? I love the way LOTRO looks but it is something I and others have wondered about.

[GameProFrreakk]

Will we see a fix on the Serrated Edge trait for beorning red line, the 3rd rank doesn't work as described and instead of adding 100% damage to bleed it reduces the damage by 21-22%

[SotF]

With regard to missions, is there any chance that the AK rep missions could be put into the rotation for missions there? I'd love to see the extras there and it could bring it up to the same 10 as the rest of the mission sets

[Cordovan]

Thanks everyone!

[Braer]

I for one will be looking out for the answers to questions Cord deftly skipped over. Maybe scroll down issues? Otherwise a lot more interesting than other streams. /cough gold spam