Hobbits to Isengard - Q/A with Sapience notes on what was said

[frickinmuck]

The minstrel forum has been filled with requests and questions and all manner of pleading for months. There are no new questions, simply the questions that have been there from the beginning. Which incidentally are the same questions that were there in beta. We are still waiting. Thank you to whoever posed the question.

Well, there is this:

Why doesn’t DeviledEgg post on the forums
She has posted on the forums. Remember that no dev is required to post or interact on the forums. They do it when they can, if they can, if they wish to. Some people choose to post more than others, but everyone does read them. Even if they aren’t posting, they do read them and are aware of what’s being said. Even in the recent chat Aaron mentioned that he reads the suggestions forums. He doesn’t get to read them all, but he does read them.

Although I do see that you're in a bit of a catch-22. Sapience says, "I don't have specific answers to specific class-related questions, ask in the LotRO forums for your class." And then you post in those forums, get no answer and when you complain you're not getting answers he says "Devs aren't obligated to participate in the forums." So how do you get your answers?

I think that's a fair concern that needs to be addressed.

[Calta]

Well, there is this:



Although I do see that you're in a bit of a catch-22. Sapience says, "I don't have specific answers to specific class-related questions, ask in the LotRO forums for your class." And then you post in those forums, get no answer and when you complain you're not getting answers he says "Devs aren't obligated to participate in the forums." So how do you get your answers?

I think that's a fair concern that needs to be addressed.

Nicely said!

And again, 'Thank you very much' for doing this. I like your shiny title.-well deserved!

edit: for those unaware of the reason for minstrel's frustration, check the dev diary and our sub-forum: the last class update developer communication was on november 23rd last year.

After 4 months of near total silence, I can only assume we are not ever to know if we are wai: broken skills / heal threat mechanics/fast skill bugs/no rally in yellow/yellow spec deed gating through useless song of aid and the near unanimous complaints about our current OP BC aoe heals- (from creeps and other classes as well as minstrels) notwithstanding.

While under no obligation to answer if things are wai or not, the catch 22 described, has got frustrating. Even more so for those of us who anticipated testing if we were getting our promised review of class changes and some skill bug fixes next week.

Thanks everyone for your support in trying to get us some feedback-especially in twitch.

Now I, too, give up.

[frickinmuck]

Now I, too, give up.

I wouldn't give up completely. Turbine seems to be committed to communicating more often and through different venues, so there's still a chance it will improve. My feeling is that if the dev doesn't have time or inclination to participate on the forums (and I could totally understand that - the forums can be a dark, unpleasant place), then there could be other ways to get more answers. Even if that is for Sapience to have a quick chat with the dev one afternoon before getting onto the Hobbit run.

Barring that, U13 should hopefully answer some of your questions, if some of those changes come through. After all, actions are better than words.

[Beaniemooch]

Barring that, U13 should hopefully answer some of your questions, if some of those changes come through. After all, actions are better than words.

I haven't seen any preliminary notes for U13, no indication that there has been any change or attention paid to the minstrels. You're right, actions are better than words, but at this point we aren't getting anything. We've had neither for 6 months.

[frickinmuck]

Couldn't get new posts to work so I decided to just edit this one and put the Vilya transcript here (so if "date posted" looks off, that's why).

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Vilya

1. Question about whether usage of his home or work computer will affect the time
   Both computers are really similar. If anything, his work PC has better ping time and a faster internet connection. But Arkenstone made a solid case for that not mattering at all, since he used his home computer for that run.
2. Question about multi-boss raids
   Read Aaron’s producer’s letter, he covered that there and is the best person to answer that
3. Are there any sneaky things planned for the BR run on Friday
   He’s asked some people to aid in making things interesting. Jinjaah and EP Aaron Campbell are both going to be in for that run to answer some questions. Not all of the devs have headsets at their desks, but the devs have promised to make themselves available via IM to answer any questions via Sapience, so there should be lots of opportunity for people to get questions answered either directly or indirectly in the stream. The only potential hitch is that they’re going to be trying to get BR up and running tomorrow. If that doesn’t happen, that puts a bit of pressure on their ability to get things ready for Friday. He’s also talked to Chris Martin, the engineer responsible for the inventory revamp, and the current plan is to get him in on a livestream Monday sometime, to demo the new inventory and answer any questions people have.
4. What is Bullroarer
   It’s the test server for LotRO that’s used to stage content for players to test out before it goes live on the main servers. Because it’s not a live game server there’s a lot more flexibility in terms of what they can do on there, so fun things can happen.
5. I’ve never been on Bullroarer will there be opportunities to access it soon
   Yes, they plan on making it available before U13 goes live. There is no application process – it’s an open server, they just don’t have an installer ready at this point, so anyone needing to install the Bullroarer client from scratch will have to wait a bit longer to get in.
6. Question about the dwarven area in Bree that Scarycrow was working on
   He honestly doesn’t know what the status of that is. If it was a personal project he was working on, it’s something other devs may choose to take on, but it was probably never an assigned task. In fact, most of the Bree revamp was a pet project of his. [All the more reason I love Scarycrow so much – frickinmuck]
7. Question about new map art for some of the older regions
   If it’s on the list of things to do, it would be lower down than, say, creating new content, so it may eventually get done, but as a lower priority item.
8. When the install is ready, will there be any instructions on getting Bullroarer installed
   It will be as simple as “click here.” Installing Bullroarer is as easy as installing the game and is really straightforward.
9. Will you be livestreaming a game of Hobnanigans
   That’s still being planned, not quite ready yet. Won’t be ready for U13, but may be ready for 13.1. Will definitely be doing a livestream in the future.
10. Age-old question, “if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too”
    As Sapience leads several players over a cliff in Bree-land, that seems to be a resounding YES.
11. Are things still on track for the Council applications to open up on the 14th
    Actually they’ve been pushed back one week to the 21st. They are planning on announcing the council during the Anniversary, and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to have 5 or 6 weeks of applications. This way he can read them all while he’s on vacation and uninterrupted by other things.
12. When will Spring Festival start
    After the Anniversary Festival (Anniversary happens in late April)
13. Will BR be up in time to give people time to patch
    Yes, that’s the plan
14. When will we see the next 20 questions
    He mentioned it on Twitter for those who follow, that they will be doing it more toward the end of the month. While he’s on vacation he will give people a chance to post questions, and the answers will come after that. It will be helpful to give people a chance to see U13 on Bullroarer before they ask questions so that they don’t ask questions that will be answered by seeing the update.
15. Question about not seeing the design director in a year
    Actually, whenever there is a 20 questions, he usually has a hand in it, so you've seen him maybe just haven't realized it

[chrisli]

Can we expect balance changes in U13
Yeah, balance is something that they are constantly working on. There are definitely some changes coming with U13 specifically to address difficulty. He was just talking with Jinjaah today about some of the things he and other people on the team are working on to address balance and difficulty level. They’ve been getting feedback from the Player’s Council on it as well to get their thoughts on it.

I have to say this sounds a little bit better than the answer last time. Looking forward to U13.

Well, there has been a lot of talk about balance and how that is currently being worked on, and bugfixes are always part of every update, but I do get that people want to hear actual news.

I agree that balance will be good for minstrels - in fact maybe I'll even finish the last 10ish levels I have left to go to get mine to end game, if I see people asking for healers for 95 content. However, many of the issues, for example the restriction of minstrels' in-combat rez to blue-line only, are more than just balance issues. For me at least, that's the real problem, because if that (and other issues) are working as intended and no changes are in the cards, then no amount of balance and bugfixing is ever going to make a difference. That's where a little communication might come in handy. If we knew what the dev's plans were, we could make suggestions based around what she wants to do, and maybe come up with something that works, or at least sort of works, for everyone.

Back on topic. I'm really happy to see a Bullroarer run scheduled, and it's conveniently at a time when I shouldn't have anything else going on. Great idea to whoever originally suggested that! And thank you Sapience for fitting it in.

And also, thank you very much, frickinmuck, for taking the time to put all this together. It's very much appreciated.

[Sapience]

I haven't seen any preliminary notes for U13, no indication that there has been any change or attention paid to the minstrels. You're right, actions are better than words, but at this point we aren't getting anything. We've had neither for 6 months.

We don't post the preliminary release notes until the Update is live on Bullroarer. Which hasn't happened yet. Preliminary release notes are never posted until there is a build on a server players can access (like Bullroarer). Out current plan is for the later half of this week.

Tips on Getting a Good Time to Isengard For Your Server
(I will keep these updated - anyone with suggestions let me know and I will add them)

• No cloaks or mounts
• Keep the amount of players around Sapience – especially within his line of vision – to a bare minimum to reduce lag
• Have most of the party waiting outside of Bree, and have just a few people run him from the Prancing Pony to the gates where everyone else is, to keep lag down in that area
• Keep the need to swim to an absolute minimum, keep broken legs to a minimum – anything that will slow run speed
• Ensure people around Sapience stay out of combat and can focus on running
• Find a good route and practice it, preferably with at least a couple of raids worth of people to ensure the test runs imitate server conditions at the time of the actual race (i.e. tons of people on)
  To use the plugin Sapience uses for these runs, go to LotROInterface and dowload Thurallor's plugin there.
• Take special care around bridges and other obstacles so that he doesn’t fall off or get stuck or hung up on things
• Keep any run speed buffs on him that you are able to
• Watch previous streams, particularly fastest times, for ideas
• Good idea to have a backup group waiting in Bree in case he dies so that they can get running again right away

Arkenstone proved the value of doing these things on Friday. They did every last one of them and there was almost no lag worth mentioning. What is says is what I've been saying all along, if you follow our directions on how to improve your frame rates, they WILL improve and your play experience will be better. Also, for the record, I was playing from my home on Friday which means I had a less powerful machine, a slower internet connection, and a higher ping. Despite that, we had one of the most lag free runs to date.

The schedule has changed – be sure to check the forums. Belegar, Sirannon and Anduin have moved, and Bullroarer has been added to next Friday. Since there is a lot of flexibility on Bullroarer he is working hard to ensure it’s anything but a normal run

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected so don't take all this as gospel.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Arkenstone

1. Will Gilrain be recommended server
   He doesn’t know what current recommended server is, thought they’d already changed it. He will check on it
2. What are the odds the character slot limit will be increased
   He doesn’t know. Some players have expressed a desire to have that limit raised, and it has been passed on to the engineers and some other people to take a look at and see if it can be done.
3. Is the recommended server set manually
   Yes, they can set it to whatever they want. Only difference is with European servers, which will recommend German or French servers if you are in those regions.
4. A few class-specific questions
   For class-specific questions, it’s best to post those in the forum for that class. He can tell the dev, “Hey, go look at the minstrel forums there are a few new questions.” But generally he’s not the best person to answer any class-specific questions.
5. Has the new Bullroarer client been fixed so it doesn’t install Pando
   Currently Pando has been removed across the board, but there is no Bullroarer install at this point, and it won’t be around until one or two rounds of bug fixes on Bullroarer. So if you don’t have the Bullroarer client at this point you will have to wait a bit. If you do not currently have Bullroarer installed there is no way for you to have it installed for next week. You will have to wait until an installer becomes available.
6. How did Aaron enjoy being on the stream
   He seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, and a couple more team members have expressed an interest in being involved so he’s going to try to get some people in for Bullroarer. If they can’t get in on voice chat he’s going to try to get them to at least roll up a hobbit and do the run with us.
7. Question about end game content
   There has already been a lot said on this topic, so he’s just going to say, read Aaron’s letter and the comments he made in the thread following. He spells it out pretty clearly in his follow up comment, so if you read that thread you will have the answer you are looking for.
8. Any clues on the name of volume 4
   You will find out when we go to Bullroarer. If you read what was said so far about U13 you should be able to make a close guess.
9. Question about the timer Sapience uses
   It’s called Event Timer, and was written by a player. On the 3rd or 4th run, the player decided that it would be nice to have an onscreen timer so people wouldn’t have to keep asking for the current time, so went ahead and created the plugin for it.
   EDIT: The player in question is Thurallor of Landroval, and the plugin can be found here.
10. Do you know how to pronounce all the things and places and people in the game
    No, he butchers a lot of them, tries to keep the need to pronounce the difficult ones to a minimum
11. What are the odds of getting major events such as Weatherstock into the splash screens in the game
    It never occurred to him before, but he’s definitely going to look into it – thinks it’s a great idea
12. Do you enjoy the runs
    He enjoys them a lot. He thinks it’s fun to watch how different groups try to approach things differently, and enjoys some of the weird and interesting questions.
13. What is your most memorable moment from all the runs so far
    The last run (on Snowbourn) – at the exact moment Aaron was about to answer a question, a member of the Turbine QA team let out a scream that was perfectly timed in the gap. She was very embarrassed and everyone had a good laugh.
14. Why can’t we have monster players in these runs
    Because monster players exist exclusively in the Ettenmoors and we aren’t in the Ettenmoors for these runs
15. Comment that splash screen ads would be a nice tip of the hat to people organizing events
    Even if they can’t do a splash page, using the example of Weeatherstock, in the past they’ve put Weatherstock on Facebook and Twitter, they’ve added special codes so participants – people who go to Weatherstock and who organize it – can have account-wide titles associated with the events, etc. Even PC Gamer magazine has covered Weatherstock in the past, so they do support it a lot.
16. What is Weatherstock
    Think Woodstock only in-game. A group of players organized an in-game music festival that happens every year at Weathertop on Landroval. If you are not familiar with the music system in-game, you can start a band and play music, and there’s a group on Landroval who organize a concert every year called Weatherstock.
17. Can we expect balance changes in U13
    Yeah, balance is something that they are constantly working on. There are definitely some changes coming with U13 specifically to address difficulty. He was just talking with Jinjaah today about some of the things he and other people on the team are working on to address balance and difficulty level. They’ve been getting feedback from the Player’s Council on it as well to get their thoughts on it.
18. There are a lot of groups that do things on a very regular basis on different servers. Windy Acres Ranch does mounted races, Ales and Tales – there are a lot of player-organized events. Check the forums, people usually do post a notice and you can find all sorts of fun in-game events to take part in.
19. Why doesn’t DeviledEgg post on the forums
    She has posted on the forums. Remember that no dev is required to post or interact on the forums. They do it when they can, if they can, if they wish to. Some people choose to post more than others, but everyone does read them. Even if they aren’t posting, they do read them and are aware of what’s being said. Even in the recent chat Aaron mentioned that he reads the suggestions forums. He doesn’t get to read them all, but he does read them.
20. Is there a perfect route for this event or are there multiple and it’s just about execution
    He thinks there may be a perfect route, but execution is extremely important. Arkenstone appear to be doing everything right, so their time would be good regardless of route.
21. How were run times/dates decided
    He made it up as he went along. Times are decided based on time zone of those servers, so that factors into it. The earlier in the day he can do it, the more likely he can get a dev in to chat with us.
22. Do the people who group up get anything special such as a title
    Nope, they just get bragging rights
23. Has there been any talk about when we may see Shelob appear within the game
    He doesn’t know if that specific conversation has taken place, but they do try to get lore moments in the game at appropriate times, so when the time is right the conversation will happen.
24. Any news about the housing revamp
    No news about housing revamp, beyond what Aaron said in his letter
25. Where is the Bullroarer download link
    There is no link at this point. If you don’t have it installed you will have to wait until the middle or end of the month, he thinks.
26. How does one apply to work for LotRO
    Go to turbine.com/en/careers. All their jobs are in Boston. They have some engineering, marketing and tech jobs open at the moment.
27. Are the in-game GMs all in Boston
    All the English speaking ones are. The French and German ones are in those regions, but for the most part all LotRO jobs are in Boston.
28. Could the BR run be rescheduled until there's a fresh installer build
    No, the only reason he was able to pull off a Bullroarer run at all was because a couple of runs needed to be rescheduled due to translator availability and an opening was made that gave a perfect opportunity for a Bullroarer run

Looks like another great transcript.

[DJ_JD]

A few class-specific questions
For class-specific questions, it’s best to post those in the forum for that class. He can tell the dev, “Hey, go look at the minstrel forums there are a few new questions.” But generally he’s not the best person to answer any class-specific questions.

I believe this question was asked because the Minstrel dev has not replied to us since November last year (if I recall the dates correctly).

[Sapience]

Couldn't get new posts to work so I decided to just edit this one and put the Vilya transcript here (so if "date posted" looks off, that's why).

Please note: I am paraphrasing here. Anything said here is coming through my interpretation of what was said, and is subject to being corrected, so don't take all this as the final word.

If anyone who was present has any additions or corrections, feel free to post.

Q&A Hobbits to Isengard - Vilya

1. Question about whether usage of his home or work computer will affect the time
   Both computers are really similar. If anything, his work PC has better ping time and a faster internet connection. But Arkenstone made a solid case for that not mattering at all, since he used his home computer for that run.
2. Question about multi-boss raids
   Read Aaron’s producer’s letter, he covered that there and is the best person to answer that
3. Are there any sneaky things planned for the BR run on Friday
   He’s asked some people to aid in making things interesting. Jinjaah and EP Aaron Campbell are both going to be in for that run to answer some questions. Not all of the devs have headsets at their desks, but the devs have promised to make themselves available via IM to answer any questions via Sapience, so there should be lots of opportunity for people to get questions answered either directly or indirectly in the stream. The only potential hitch is that they’re going to be trying to get BR up and running tomorrow. If that doesn’t happen, that puts a bit of pressure on their ability to get things ready for Friday. He’s also talked to Chris Martin, the engineer responsible for the inventory revamp, and the current plan is to get him in on a livestream Monday sometime, to demo the new inventory and answer any questions people have.
4. What is Bullroarer
   It’s the test server for LotRO that’s used to stage content for players to test out before it goes live on the main servers. Because it’s not a live game server there’s a lot more flexibility in terms of what they can do on there, so fun things can happen.
5. I’ve never been on Bullroarer will there be opportunities to access it soon
   Yes, they plan on making it available before U13 goes live. There is no application process – it’s an open server, they just don’t have an installer ready at this point, so anyone needing to install the Bullroarer client from scratch will have to wait a bit longer to get in.
6. Question about the dwarven area in Bree that Scarycrow was working on
   He honestly doesn’t know what the status of that is. If it was a personal project he was working on, it’s something other devs may choose to take on, but it was probably never an assigned task. In fact, most of the Bree revamp was a pet project of his. [All the more reason I love Scarycrow so much – frickinmuck]
7. Question about new map art for some of the older regions
   If it’s on the list of things to do, it would be lower down than, say, creating new content, so it may eventually get done, but as a lower priority item.
8. When the install is ready, will there be any instructions on getting Bullroarer installed
   It will be as simple as “click here.” Installing Bullroarer is as easy as installing the game and is really straightforward.
9. Will you be livestreaming a game of Hobnanigans
   That’s still being planned, not quite ready yet. Won’t be ready for U13, but may be ready for 13.1. Will definitely be doing a livestream in the future.
10. Age-old question, “if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too”
    As Sapience leads several players over a cliff in Bree-land, that seems to be a resounding YES.
11. Are things still on track for the Council applications to open up on the 14th
    Actually they’ve been pushed back one week to the 21st. They are planning on announcing the council during the Anniversary, and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to have 5 or 6 weeks of applications. This way he can read them all while he’s on vacation and uninterrupted by other things.
12. When will Spring Festival start
    After the Anniversary Festival (Anniversary happens in late April)
13. Will BR be up in time to give people time to patch
    Yes, that’s the plan
14. When will we see the next 20 questions
    He mentioned it on Twitter for those who follow, that they will be doing it more toward the end of the month. While he’s on vacation he will give people a chance to post questions, and the answers will come after that. It will be helpful to give people a chance to see U13 on Bullroarer before they ask questions so that they don’t ask questions that will be answered by seeing the update.
15. Question about not seeing the design director in a year
    Actually, whenever there is a 20 questions, he usually has a hand in it, so you've seen him maybe just haven't realized it

Not sure how this got posted back up in to the thread (Tricksey frickinmuckses!, but looks accurate to me. Vilya was a way focused. Not a lot of questions were asked.

I imagine tomorrow on Bullroarer is going to be a different story.

[Nyrion]

Not sure how this got posted back up in to the thread (Tricksey frickinmuckses!, but looks accurate to me. Vilya was a way focused. Not a lot of questions were asked.

I imagine tomorrow on Bullroarer is going to be a different story.

Are we still on track for BR coming up today for patching and testing? If not then a lot of people won't have time before the run.

[Sapience]

Just a reminder we are on track for a live stream today at 2:30PM. Executive Producer Aaron Campbell and also our PvMP and Class dev Jinjaah will be joining in via Skype to answer questions.

[Crell_1]

Just a reminder we are on track for a live stream today at 2:30PM. Executive Producer Aaron Campbell and also our PvMP and Class dev Jinjaah will be joining in via Skype to answer questions.

Thanks +Rowan and +Jinjaah for joining us today! I just hope you're much easier to understand this time when you join the feed. Last time I had to plug in my external speakers, turn them all the way up, and it was still difficult to hear your answers. I had to rely on others to relay your replies.

[TharbadThief]

This is coming more than a week too late but congrats on the forum title (you heard it here first LOL ) Enjoying your posts!

[Sapience]

I have a feeling it's going to take Frickinmuck a bit longer than usual to write this one up. Lots of great info and some pretty big bombshells!

[Belnavar]

I have a feeling it's going to take Frickinmuck a bit longer than usual to write this one up. Lots of great info and some pretty big bombshells!

Lots of good, juicy info. Can't wait for more details (hint, hint).

-Bel

[Crell_1]

I have a feeling it's going to take Frickinmuck a bit longer than usual to write this one up. Lots of great info and some pretty big bombshells!

I predict. One will be hyped. Many more will require inspire lots of discussion from long time players.

Can you give us a hint when the next 20+Q thread will be up? I know it seemed like your chat got bumped forward at one point. I know mine did multiple times.Even though i was trying to follow along with how far back you were answering questions in real time..

Edit: PS. Excellent job +Raina. ; And +Rowan, +Jinjaah, +Horsedev, You were all amazingly clear this time. Thanks so much! It was much more enjoyable than struggling to hear replies!

[SouthernBelle0927]

I have a feeling it's going to take Frickinmuck a bit longer than usual to write this one up. Lots of great info and some pretty big bombshells!

That's a bit of an understatement.

Thanks for your efforts on resolving the technical issues with the dev chat during the stream. Jinjaah, HoarseDev and Rowan were all clear as a bell this time.

/thumbs_up

[Sezneg]

Just a reminder we are on track for a live stream today at 2:30PM. Executive Producer Aaron Campbell and also our PvMP and Class dev Jinjaah will be joining in via Skype to answer questions.

The structure of that sentence is very interesting.

Is Jinjaah basically the class lead across the board?

[Crell_1]

The structure of that sentence is very interesting.

Is Jinjaah basically the class lead across the board?

Well.. I'll say that +Horsedev was actually the one +Rowan looked to for approval to tell us that the big surprise was a new class.

Read into that what you will.

[Sapience]

The structure of that sentence is very interesting.

Is Jinjaah basically the class lead across the board?

Classes haven't really been a single person's role or a singe dev for a few years. Classes are done by a variety of devs. So it's not that there is one dev, it's that devs work on multiple things. So he does both. Which class or classes is sometimes subject to change.

[Sapience]

Well.. I'll say that +Horsedev was actually the one +Rowan looked to for approval to tell us that the big surprise was a new class.

Read into that what you will.

Not really a lot to read into it. Aaron says 'Let's do X' and the team looks into how to get it done and if it can be done in the time-frame requested. So he was basically checking to see if they had nailed things down enough to talk about it.

[LordVoronturEU]

Not really a lot to read into it. Aaron says 'Let's do X' and the team looks into how to get it done and if it can be done in the time-frame requested. So he was basically checking to see if they had nailed things down enough to talk about it.

And if it's being talked about, it must mean it's nailed down to a degree at least!
Sadly, I was watching Bartlet win a 2nd term, so I missed the event. I heard there were Balrogs!

[Dolamrothdame2]

I actually watched this one. It was my first run. Very traumatizing (though I know being Bullroarer, it wasn't typical)! Lots of giant legs stomping about and squashed hobbits. And there was this evil laughter going on in the background...

It was nice to be able to put a face to the name, Sapience. I hope you got some ale eventually-you definitely earned it!

[Eldalleth]

And if it's being talked about, it must mean it's nailed down to a degree at least!
Sadly, I was watching Bartlet win a 2nd term, so I missed the event. I heard there were Balrogs!

Yep multiples of them https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...0532556&type=1 Grey Company Facebook page for Dwarrowdelf I posted about 80 pics from it

[PKCrichton]

I have a feeling it's going to take Frickinmuck a bit longer than usual to write this one up. Lots of great info and some pretty big bombshells!

Thanks to +Sapience, +Rowan, +Raina, +Hoarsedev, +Jinjaah and the other devs who answered questions via PMs during todays TTHTI livestream. It helped us not only answer some very OLD questions but also helped us to see more of where things are going in the future.