Feedback: Producer's Letter March – 2011

[Namesse]

I was under the impression that RoI would also have a raid, with the delay of the Anniversary raid does that mean that the plan is to launch RoI with 2 raids or that the RoI raid will be delayed? Or was my initial assumption incorrect?

I always thought that a second raid so soon after OD was going to short change one of them, unless it was a single dungeon raid a la Watcher or Turtle.

[Beldacar]

Personally, I could care less about group content or festivals. So basically nothing currently on the radar that would even moderately interest me. Glad I'm going Premium next week.

I suspect many players won't even notice the lip-syncing on the dragon, honestly. But one can always hope, I guess.

And yeah, the blatant store plug was a bit tacky. It gives me absolutely no confidence that Turbine will see the error of its current ways, or even acknowledges just how many veterans are unhappy. But hey, maybe it will all work out for Turbine in the long run. They'll just have to do it without any more of my money, is all.

[Yosoff]

If the new raid is as well done as OD then I will gladly wait. Would love to hear more about how many bosses & if this means that Isengard will launch with multiple raids.

"...and the Gorthoron Raid (thank goodness the wings stay unlocked once finished – I just can’t quite hack those all night raids anymore)."
What is she talking about here? That's what a raid lock has always done. Maybe she was thinking about the excessive trash pulls in BG or the gauntlet re-spawning, which has nothing to do with locks. If so, I can agree that it would be a much better raid if it got a once over and 3/4 of the trash was pulled out.

[dotfive]

Looks interesting, it's a shame that the raid is being delayed (sounds cool though, everyone likes a dragon).

[geoboy]

Looks interesting, it's a shame that the raid is being delayed (sounds cool though, everyone likes a dragon).

I think the dwarves would have something to say about this.

[Skigorn]

So a May update probably means mostly a "class update" patch. Wardens, Guards, Chumps?

[Beimez]

Anniversary rewards this year for VIP or Lifetime subscriptions this year are not mentioned. I think we all enjoy those.

[Southpa]

The masses want festibals!



Show me the money, Turbine...

[starscolapse]

Anniversary rewards this year for VIP or Lifetime subscriptions this year are not mentioned. I think we all enjoy those.

Rewards?? For Lifers? You have my attention =P

[Bryzinkta]

Big thanks to the money machine at WB/T for providing yet another game improvement only available for cash via the Store.

Many of us have wanted an option to "Trade In" our Soldier, in whom we have often invested a lot of SMs, to try a different model, but just can't stomach the idea of paying out vast amounts of SMs to level another model just to find it doesn't work.

Instead of making the Scroll to return the SMs from a Soldier only available by paying yet more money to WB/T this item should be available for SMs. This would be entirely logical and consistent with the basic premise of a Skirmish Soldier; but it obviously runs counter to the micro-transaction approach to the game where extra cash is milked from every opportunity.

I guess the next thing will be Skirmish Soldier improvements, or to use WB/T-speak "convenient enhancements", that are likewise only available for cash through the Store?

[joev]

We’ll also be introducing a new item to the LOTRO store that allows characters to reset the Skirmish Marks spent on Skirmish Traits.

Brilliant! Now, fix the wallet so it can hold all the danged tokens, branches, leaves, twigs, medallions, badges, and assorted other "currencies" so we can have some of our Vault space back. (snarky comment about liking our vaults full of this stuff to sell more Vault space in Store with held).

[Baresira]

I'll add my 2 cents here.

The blatant store advertising is disheartening. Do, the developers actually think people LIKE how in your face the store is? It makes me wonder.

I would offer more of my opinion, but it appears I need to buy an item from the store to continue.

[Laire]

I agree with the rest of the thread that the store plugins in the first paragraph were tacky and unnecessary.

Nice to know that there is an update planned for May, not surprised about the delay of the raid, though this "dragon" bit made me wondering. Will it be an undead Ancalagon? XD Maybe she meant drake... ah, who knows.

Also, folks, I imagine that more class updates are on the way. I doubt that every upcoming update for May was announced in this letter, especially since, while 2 instances and 2 skirmishes are cool, that's still nothing compared to this last update. I would imagine more class improvements, and maybe some more UI changes and core element revamps (like some kinship improvements).

And dang it all, I want housing revamped

[Smokey050]

I really love the new content so I'm really happy with the last update. I think all the instances are great, and i'm glad to hear that bugs are being worked on. Glad to hear some news about the raid, even though it's being delayed. Also glad to see some fluff festival stuff, regardless of what some people say I think the festival stuff is a lot of fun. However the letter just leaves more questions than answers, I would like to have some more details so for now I think the letter was a little meh..

Now that The Raid is delayed are we getting 2 raids with Isengard? or is the Raid that was suppose to come with Isengard getting pushed back also..

Also are there any incoming updates to the Legendary item system? I thought it was suppose to be a 2 or more phase update. however maybe I'm mistaken.

Now I'm not one usually to complain, but unfortunately the only time things get fixed are when enough people complain so..

Raid pushed back for a fluff mechanic? really?

Skirmish points reset, cool? Store only? What is the reason again for being VIP?

Just to reiterate what others have said.

I got to say my stomach turned when I read the blatant plug for the Store and the pots. I mean really, come on... Stuff like that just gets under my skin. You have already broken the promise about not adding anything into the store that couldn't be acquired in game also. Then you talk about the new raid and store pots right after? I don't like to try and read in between the lines that often but when it's so blatant its kind of hard not to... Now I'm starting to wonder if I should just get out before things turn sour and these store items will be required to beat content on a consistent basis.

- Smoki

[Sapience]

Raid pushed back for a fluff mechanic? really?

I'm really glad you asked this because it gives us an opportunity to explain a common point of player confusion. There is a very natural tendency to assume serial events have causal relationships. That A leads to B as it were. In development, especially game development this is almost never the case. Most work is done in parallel, not serially. So something impacting A almost never leads to B and B doesn't always follow from A. They're unique, stand alone, events.

The raid being pushed to the expansion is not due to prioritizing a festival ahead of it, it's due to the scope of the raid being such that its simply not possible to complete it in the time allotted. So the option was, scale it back dramatically and make is less interesting, or keep the original design and allow the team more time. Rather than make a raid that neither the team nor you guys would be happy with, we took the second option.

As for the comment that no one will notice the lip-syncing. Oh, I don't know about that.

[Lomeloth]

I'm really glad you asked this because it gives us an opportunity to explain a common point of player confusion. There is a very natural tendency to assume serial events have causal relationships. That A leads to B as it were. In development, especially game development this is almost never the case. Most work is done in parallel, not serially. So something impacting A almost never leads to B and B doesn't always follow from A. They're unique, stand alone, events.

The raid being pushed to the expansion is not due to prioritizing a festival ahead of it, it's due to the scope of the raid being such that its simply not possible to complete it in the time allotted. So the option was, scale it back dramatically and make is less interesting, or keep the original design and allow the team more time. Rather than make a raid that neither the team nor you guys would be happy with, we took the second option.

As for the comment that no one will notice the lip-syncing. Oh, I don't know about that.

That's not how I read the comment. I don't think the poster was referring to the festival as the 'fluff mechanic' delyaing the raid, but rather the lip-synching mechanic that the letter cited as the reason for the delay. However, reading your response, it seems like that is not the only reason for delaying the raid but just one easily-identified aspect.

[Ciryandir]

The improved Morale potions and Battle potions of Restoration have also found permanent places on my hot bar

Not mine. Sorry Kate, I consider these potions to be an unacceptable store-exclusive advantage. If content is designed that requires the use of these potions, I can assure you I won't financially support this game again.

[NameAlreadyTaken]

Disheartening Store commercial is disheartening.

[Macfeast]

Since when did dragons talk in the first place?

Since The Hobbit?

[DelgonTheWise]

Not mine. Sorry Kate, I consider these potions to be an unacceptable store-exclusive advantage. If content is designed that requires the use of these potions, I can assure you I won't financially support this game again.

I imagine those store pots don't cost her as much as us :/

Skirmish mark reset store only also strikes me the wrong way. Yes, recovering many skirmish marks on a soldier you decided not to use is a "convenience", so this at least doesn't break game balance like the pots could if they became a requirement.

Would have really liked to see something saying "Lifers and VIPs, we have something
special for you...". Whatever came after, would at least feel that the howling
going on was acknowledged, rather than hearing that there has been lots of
"positive feedback ... on the changes in the store".

On the positive side, glad new bugfixes and content are coming. On the negative
side, the number of times the store dialog pops up when I click on random things
is getting really disgusting.

[FoxFire]

Yes Northcotton Farm is great! Love more hobbit/shire goodness, and the extensive farm has a real authentic feel to it. Good job. (Hope to see the South Farthing one day too. I can never have too much Shire.)

The new upcoming raid sounds REALLY interesting! I agree, take the time needed to do it as much justice as possible. I'd rather have things polished and excellent than rushed out the door half-baked.

But a dragon??? What's up with that? I'm curious as to how it fits the lore.

Well all-in-all it sounds like some exciting changes coming, though you know us, we always want more, more, MORE!

P.S. I also was turned off by the Store bought pots plug. I never liked them in the first place, and to see them pushed like that certainly doesn't improve things, and continues my concern that these are going to be seen as necessary items.

[Patrickwg]

Since The Hobbit?

lol sorry i never read the books so was not sure never knew there was talking animals in lotr like chronicles of Narnia

[Wanderv]

Since when did dragons talk in the first place?

Since their creation

[FoxFire]

lol sorry i never read the books so was not sure never knew there was talking animals in lotr like chronicles of Narnia

Well we have talking wolf-like creatures, tree-like creatures, spiders, eagles, etc...

I would HIGHLY recommend you read the books, they are awesome!

[LilFeet]

I'm enjoying Update 2 and like hearing about coming changes/content.

I have to agree with other posters that bludgeoning me over the head with the Store items in the first paragraph of the Producer's letter gives a clear indication of where the priorities are for the game - and they are not in the game itself. /sadpanda

^^
I agree also, I find the first paragraph of the letter to be insulting actually. We don't need these pots to complete content supposedly and we get a "Producer's Letter" with blatant plugs for store items. I'm very disappointed by the tone of the letter. It doesn't come across as very sincere.