Stories of development through this game

[Arbor]

MOL, you and Arbor should do a Q/A stream sometime next week(Other than Thursday, that wouldn't be fair to Frelorn!)

I think it would be fun, though I've never done a stream before. People are usually more interested in talking to the devs than QA

Speaking of Chicken Play... Who had the idea of Hobnanigans!?

I don't know who first developed it but JWBarry was the one who revamped it

Any plans on finishing it, once and for all? I think a lot of people would enjoy having that storyline finished -- even if it is a few years late. Especially if it helps a few Slayers go up in numbers! hehe

That's up to the devs to decide but I think it had its time and we should focus on the future

[Almagnus1]

Chicken-play really came out of a bigger concept, and the idea was that you'd take control of certain enemies, and complete short sessions that let you see some stories from the other side: Orcs, an Uruk-hai, a giant, a shade. But those raised some tricky questions: how do other players interact with you? Will they expect a player playing as an Orc to count for their Orc-killing quests? So the idea was scaled back a little, and it became more about playing as critters or smaller foes: a slug, a chicken, a spider hatchling.

Playtesting resulted in only the chickens really making it through, and it turns out that those are the ones that really captured people's imaginations.

MoL

I mean, they are the fowlest of all the critters....

[BelamanthDE]

Of course, only the oldest of veterans remember the amount of outrage Chicken Play spawned on the forums about "wasted dev time".

[DiogoVP]

I think it would be fun, though I've never done a stream before. People are usually more interested in talking to the devs than QA

Frelorn, QU, Professor tolkien... those aren't devs as far as I am concerned... I support you guys streaming even if you're from the QA.
By the way, it's about time we see your posts on the dev tracker... why aren't your posts being tracked by it?

[Herwegur]

Send me some locs (type in /loc in chat) of what you'd like to see and private message me. Please don't go overboard; just limit it to top 5 or 10 things. I can only suggest it, nothing more but I think we're always looking to add new housing items to the game

Thank you so much for your time and consideration, PM sent

[Arathaert]

I think it would be fun, though I've never done a stream before. People are usually more interested in talking to the devs than QA

Nonsense! Any time y'all want to pop in on one of my streams (official channel or not) via a skype call or raidcall or something to interact with the folks in chat, you're more than welcome!

[Arbor]

lol, whenever players come to visit the office, they skip QA and go straight for the devs. Same with the meetups at PAX East, though I'd understand if people were just nervous when we'd try to talk to them.

I'm not on the dev tracker because of some switch not being activated for my account. I'm pretty Frelorn can fix it but I haven't cared enough to ask him to do it

[Marancil]

My story is pretty much like the OP. Minus the "pause". It has taken me over a month of "played" time to get to 100 with Malancil. That is from September 2013 up till a couple of weeks ago. Having set goals with all my Characters, takes time. Kindred. With them all, for all factions. Even Forochel. I think few are Kindred with Forochel, but all my Characters are or will soon be. Crafting. All are Westemnet Crafters.

I lack more information on how you improve your character. One goes around focusing on the Main Quest line, doing some side quest, and eventually finding out you can do deeds. But what do I do deeds for? Some is obvious, it gives you this or that XP, for your character, your steed or your reputation. But "Valour"? "Wisdom"? What good is that in your stats? I have only come to realize this the last few months. But the real down to earth basic info on how to approach this and why to do it, is sorely missing in game. The Wiki is of course excellent, but you end up reading calculus about how you add this or that to the other will give you a better, more damaging strike. Math?

I recall one event, my Warden Sturmdrang was called upon by a Hobbit Minstrel to help out with Iorbars Peak. Sturmdrang around 37-38 or so by then, The Hobbit said, with a companion, "You are a Tank Class, just change your stats a bit and we will do this in no time!". I was like "oookay...?". Tried my best but considering I had no or little idea about what that Hobbit was talking about, we of course failed. I had no clue about deeds. I did not know of anything in game that had told me to "do this because it will eventually give you a better hit" - "and do it 500 times".

I am still a bit in the dark to get that right. So are many, I dare say. Why else so many threads on alternating Trait Trees, on searching for the best Heal+Damage configuration?

Love the game, less so the grind, but I am in for it. I have 5 characters, I aim to be self sufficient and so far I have been pretty successful in that. However, I am at the end. Always proven crafted items to be better than drops, the last 6 months, none of my characters lacked the latest crafted gear when leveling up. Now I need crafting materials I turn out to be to weak to get. Hence, back to the deeds, back to fumbling my way in the darkness of achieving Trait points, Class Deeds and other things, that will eventually and hopefully strengthen my Champion, so he can put down some Boar Warband in Aldburg 20 times and get 4-5 Emerald Shards.

I have no idea how long time that will take, and it is frustrating, feels like hitting a brick wall. Maybe I can find it easier in Gondor, but I do not know yet.

My in game fantasy would be the ability to multibox my characters, side-by-side. See them all in their glorious greatness, like the brothers they are, helping out each other, and finally also taking blows for each other. I guess it wont happen, they are all on the same account, and the multiboxing I know of, only allows it for characters on different accounts.

[DiogoVP]

lol, whenever players come to visit the office, they skip QA and go straight for the devs. Same with the meetups at PAX East, though I'd understand if people were just nervous when we'd try to talk to them.

I'm not on the dev tracker because of some switch not being activated for my account. I'm pretty Frelorn can fix it but I haven't cared enough to ask him to do it

Well, I'll PM him about it :P

[xdjxzxde]

C'mon, give us something more specific. We all have stories to tell.

Granted, I work in QA so my stories will be different from the developers.

I have a specific question. Trait trees, when was that first mentioned. I imagine a room full of people when it was first mentioned and people laughing and say what a joker. Then somebody says, 'wait, the dude is being serious.' And somehow here we are

[Darkheart06]

I had a really old issue of Game Informer laying around with an article about LoTRO when it was still Middle Earth Online. I posted it here years ago if old posts are still archived.

It has some pretty unique concepts, like wearing magical items would slowly corrupt you to evil or something like that

[Jewl_of_the_lake]

Who created the character Corudan and will we see more of him as he seems to have been forgotten in Rohan the last we here is this

Corudan: 'There you are, my friend! I am glad to see you before I leave. I am going to ride from the Dike and see what I can tell of Saruman's forces. There may be some weakness in their ranks we will be able to exploit, but until I see his armies on the march all we have is rumour and fear. I will return before long, and tell you what I have seen.'Do not fear! I will return before the battle is joined, and perhaps with news that can help us. Stand strong and inspire the Men of Rohan, <name>! I know you will not let them down.'

[OldMadeOfLions]

Who created the character Corudan and will we see more of him as he seems to have been forgotten in Rohan...

That was me. I haven't forgotten about Sigileth's brother, and I'm glad you have not either!

MoL

[Jewl_of_the_lake]

That was me. I haven't forgotten about Sigileth's brother, and I'm glad you have not either!

MoL

I hope I am not the only one that still has her knife in my vault

[Frelorn]

lol, whenever players come to visit the office, they skip QA and go straight for the devs. Same with the meetups at PAX East, though I'd understand if people were just nervous when we'd try to talk to them.

I'm not on the dev tracker because of some switch not being activated for my account. I'm pretty Frelorn can fix it but I haven't cared enough to ask him to do it

This has been fixed!

[ComicRelief]

*snip*
I'm not on the dev tracker because of some switch not being activated for my account. I'm pretty Frelorn can fix it but I haven't cared enough to ask him to do it

Well, somebody turned it (back) on, 'cuz you're showing up in the tracker now.


----
Edit: Nija'd by Frelorn!

[Laire]

I know the Dwarven Quarter of Bee was a side project of ScaryCrow who is no longer on the team, but do you think you could open it up the public at some time? Even if all doors were locked, I would love to just stroll through there.

Ohhh yes! And the closed off wing of the Pony. He was going to rebuild the interior to make it so that we had both wings of the Pony... and sadly he left before he could finish that or the Dwarf quarter in Bree, which would be really amazing.

Maybe the person/people building Minas Tirith can find some inspiration and finish off those projects... not sure if they're watching this thread... if you really want to see them where they'd be in use, mosey on over to Landroval...


@Arbor - I work in QA, myself, for a website currently in development. If I ever come visit Turbine, I'd talk with you! We can talk about the most hilarious bugs we've encountered, or the ones that made our programmers glare at us.

And thank you for the housing invitation, I will consider what I want very carefully... there are /so/ many cool items.

[ThePinion]

Pinion, what is the achievement that you've worked with/suggested(That made it into the game, ofc) that you are most proud of?

Seat of the Great Goblin means a lot to me. I was still a fairly new designer at the time, having only joined LOTRO's content team during the end of Rise of Isengard development, so it was an awesome challenge to take on. It's the first group instance I've designed in any game, and it takes place in a location that I've always loved. Even though not all of my original designs made it in, I'm happy with how it turned out.

In terms of ideas that didn't make it, the last encounter was originally going to feature six "Great" goblins, of which it would pick three on each run. It would have changed each time you ran the instance, and I would have built a deed around eventually fighting them all.

[robbie1435]

In terms of ideas that didn't make it, the last encounter was originally going to feature six "Great" goblins, of which it would pick three on each run. It would have changed each time you ran the instance, and I would have built a deed around eventually fighting them all.

That would have been awesome! Do you know why it got scrapped?

[robbie1435]

That was me. I haven't forgotten about Sigileth's brother, and I'm glad you have not either!

MoL

I want to see more Nona and Horn! I actually wrote lyrics to our conversion of Peaceful Easy Feeling(The Eagles) about their love story in Wildermore.

[ThePinion]

That would have been awesome! Do you know why it got scrapped?

The amount of skill-work, drama, and scripting it would have required was frankly too ambitious for the amount of time I had to work on the space (soon after, I had to jump onto Wildermore development), and after discussing it with the team, I decided to focus on fleshing out the three goblins that made the cut and turning it into what I hoped would be a fun and frantic encounter with a bit more character.

[robbie1435]

The amount of skill-work, drama, and scripting it would have required was frankly too ambitious for the amount of time I had to work on the space (soon after, I had to jump onto Wildermore development), and after discussing it with the team, I decided to focus on fleshing out the three goblins that made the cut and turning it into what I hoped would be a fun and frantic encounter with a bit more character.

Gotcha. It's a nice instance, I'll admit. I like the trick with the bridge

Any little secrets you can hint at regarding upcoming projects? Something to make us anxious? hehe

[kickman77]

Chicken-play really came out of a bigger concept, and the idea was that you'd take control of certain enemies, and complete short sessions that let you see some stories from the other side: Orcs, an Uruk-hai, a giant, a shade. But those raised some tricky questions: how do other players interact with you? Will they expect a player playing as an Orc to count for their Orc-killing quests? So the idea was scaled back a little, and it became more about playing as critters or smaller foes: a slug, a chicken, a spider hatchling.

Playtesting resulted in only the chickens really making it through, and it turns out that those are the ones that really captured people's imaginations.

MoL

Cpuld this not still happen but as optional session plays? I would love a small quest chain as a orc taking Osgiliath or something like that...

as far as stuff like chicken runs.... maybe we can get a squirrel or snake as someone suggested

[siipperi]

Gotcha. It's a nice instance, I'll admit. I like the trick with the bridge

Any little secrets you can hint at regarding upcoming projects? Something to make us anxious? hehe

Rook escapes in the end of the DoS boss fight, maybe he's involved as a boss in next instance cluster.

Edit. Is lord of pinions refering to his old status with Saruma and Isengardn, or is there some future tease in it?

[Vulcwen]

Seat of the Great Goblin means a lot to me. I was still a fairly new designer at the time, having only joined LOTRO's content team during the end of Rise of Isengard development, so it was an awesome challenge to take on. It's the first group instance I've designed in any game, and it takes place in a location that I've always loved. Even though not all of my original designs made it in, I'm happy with how it turned out.

In terms of ideas that didn't make it, the last encounter was originally going to feature six "Great" goblins, of which it would pick three on each run. It would have changed each time you ran the instance, and I would have built a deed around eventually fighting them all.

It's probably my favorite instance (I tend to find 3mans the most fun, due to the variation in tactics you can do there.. in 6mans/raids tactics don't depend on class setup as much as it does in 3mans..), and I think actually cutting it back to 3 bosses was a good choice.. people don't tend to like randomness in this game, especially with a deed attached to it.