Anniversary Livestream Wednesday, April 27th 12-6 PM Eastern

[Frelorn]

As most of you know, we are celebrating the anniversary of LOTRO this week. As part of that celebration we will be doing a 6 hour livestream on Wednesday April 27th from 12pm - 6pm EDT at https://www.twitch.tv/lotrostream. We will be talking to the team both past and present as well as answering questions from players and of course playing the game.

We do know that not everyone can make to watch these streams so if you have a question you would like answered so you can see it later, please post the question here. We do ask that this thread be only for the questions and no commentary or other discussions take place in this thread. Thanks and we hope to see you all on the stream.

[Erennor]

It is good to see this initiative!

Among many questions, perhaps the most burning one for all is regarding the license as we are now one year away from the next anniversary.

For my part, I feel (and hope) that it is certain it will be renewed due to some game development things that we have seen the past year, and also based on social-strategy movements for the sharing of LotRO that I have noticed in some sources. And I remember reading that the only, or main, reason WB wanted to buy Turbine was to own the rights to all the Lord of the Rings games (as till then LotRO was the only one not tied to them it seems). If that is true, it seems then very unlikely that WB will let others have it. It is a never-ceasing source of players due to not only the pre-existing strong and great in numbers Tolkien fandom, but also new folk that get to read the books and see the movies. The charm and lure of Tolkien's mythos is never fading. It has conquered the test of time like no other fantasy genre.

1. In short, a confirmation on the renewal of the license would be appreciated much. Even if naught is set down yet for next year, a 'we intent and plan to continue' would be welcome.
   
2. Also, on a recent interview/talk (in 2015) the Lead Worldbuilder mentioned that the rights to the Hobbit were still in place. Can this too be confirmed? that you still have the licence for the Hobbit. For based on the latest official information it seems that the rights to the Hobbit are available again.
3. Another question that I have had in mind for some time is whether Turbine would be open to, indeed, crowdfunding LotRO. You have perhaps the most loyal mmo community, and awarded multiple times for its passion. Let us help LotRO. I am certain more than a few are willing to.

Many thanks.

And nine years of Middle-earth online, that is a long time indeed, and I hope many more are to follow!

[Mithlanros]

I have a question for you guys. With the recent level increase are there plans to tie "static" skills to a stat or at least adjust the values? For example, Yellow Line hunter trap damage does very well early in the game but at level cap does very poor damage due to not being tied to Mastery. The same can be true for Lore Master pet damage at level cap. These skills are a primary damage source for those 2 spec and I am sure there are other examples in the game as well. You have recognized the fact that stats have swelled over the past few years by increasing the mastery caps. By doing so the 2 specs mentioned above become even more outdated because the gap in DPS is only increased with these changes. Are there plans to address this?

[ISS_21]

1. Any chance we see the battle of gondolin in game at some time?

2. The option to disable buffs is great, but it is possible to add exceptions to that option, so some buffs will still show up (reflects, heal on hit, damage reduction (shield wall etc.)?

3. Any chance for a new creep class?

4. Any chance to introduce a rank based restriction to infamy/renown gain from quests in moors/osgiliath. Lets say Once you hit r9 you dont get any more points from quests, just comms.

5. will we step into mordor on our own before the ring is getting destroyed or will we enter it via session play (Frodo, Gollum, Aragorn etc.)

[kickman77]

Ooh I have a question: When will the festival token barter npc that we were promised in u18 be in? Because as it is now he only appears for random players at random time?

Question 2: Will the cost of update 18 be lowered?

[frost702]

I have a question, when are we going back to shadows of angmar? The game has been going off a cliff ever since we left that expac. Now with Runescape, Everquest, and World of Warcraft's legacy server hubbub we can all see that the old times weren't the good times just because of rose tinted goggles.

If it wouldn't just revive this dead game outright then it would atleast give turbine a massive return on investment.

[Urwendil]

Will you be finally redoing/reforming the loot tables in the near future?

[Garan]

Fairly simple question for any (or all) of the staff past or present:

After nine years of publishing an MMO for one of the greatest IPs of all time, what is the greatest thing that you wish you could have implemented in LotRO but could not.

[Mercho]

When are minstrels getting new instruments?

Will you be adding new crafting recipes and/or a new crafted guild tier soon?

Is it intentional that trap damage during Epic Battles is tactical mastery based?

Will you add a method to replace passive stats on Legendary Items?

[Tirian-Hammerfist]

It is good to see this initiative!

1. In short, a confirmation on the renewal of the license would be appreciated much. Even if naught is set down yet for next year, a 'we intent and plan to continue' would be welcome.
   
2. Also, on a recent interview/talk (in 2015) the Lead Worldbuilder mentioned that the rights to the Hobbit were still in place. Can this too be confirmed? that you still have the licence for the Hobbit. For based on the latest official information it seems that the rights to the Hobbit are available again.
3. Another question that I have had in mind for some time is whether Turbine would be open to, indeed, crowdfunding LotRO. You have perhaps the most loyal mmo community, and awarded multiple times for its passion. Let us help LotRO. I am certain more than a few are willing to.

Many thanks.

And nine years of Middle-earth online, that is a long time indeed, and I hope many more are to follow!

I'd echo both this sentiment (that its great to see the team, other than a select few, properly interacting with the community), and the questions posed here, particularly the one regarding the license - it would be great for you to confirm to your loyal fans that the end is not coming soon for LOTRO.

Putting my questions simply:

1) Will the license be renewed?

2) Where are we going next, after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields? The Morgul Vale? The Black Gate?

3) As a sub-set to that last question, if we see the Black Gate (and North Ithilien), will the Dead Marshes finally link to the Gondor landscape? And can we finally visit Amon Lhaw (and Emyn Muil?)

4) Will we ever visit the Gladden Fields? The glimpse of the Carrock that we get from Grimbeorn's Lodge makes me very much want to visit, and a portal in Goblin Town/The Northern High Pass (or both!) would be wonderful.

5) Will MoL soon let us know which members of the Grey Company survived the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (it can't just be those at the Threshold of the City!), and the fates of the 30 who survived the Falcon Clan?

6) In addition to that, can you tell us which members of the Rohirrim leadership survived the battle? Ingbert, in particular, is a concern!

7) What was the thinking behind making a boss in an instance include mounted combat? Was there no consideration as to how this would negatively effect melee classes, once again?

8) When will we see the next batch of Featured Instances? And which instances do you have in mind to be a part of it?

9) Big Battles are now essentially redundant. While they aren't my favourite content in the game, they do fulfil a significant part of the story - when do you plan to scale them?

10) The promotion for the last update was basically non-existent (no live stream, dev diaries only appearing afterwards, and very limited Twitter/forum promotion). Will we see a return to proper promotion of excellent content for the next update?

[Narthalion]

Thanks for the opportunity.

Is there any possibility of a few additional decoration "hooks" being added to both interior and exterior of player housing. Over the past few months, you all have once again created some fantastic decoration items (I'm thinking in particular of the Bingo quest line and the Anniversary Festival) and yet, so few of them can be displayed at any given moment.

Even if the extra "hooks" would require an additional purchase, it would be tremendous, and I'm quite sure a huge seller.

[Lioncourt86]

Is Finesse currently working as intended? (Not penetrating partial B/P/E)

If not, when can we expect it to be changed?

What is the process the Development Team goes through when reviewing player suggestions?

Can we expect more staff-playerbase interaction in the future?

[RJFerret]

Sorry to ask, as I want devs paid, the company to grow, food on everyone's tables, but satisfied with pricing the new region 2.5x comparable regions with similar or greater content? Any hope the instances/raid might be made available separately in the future?

[hobbit1968]

It is good to see this initiative!

Among many questions, perhaps the most burning one for all is regarding the license as we are now one year away from the next anniversarry.

For my part, I feel (and hope) it is certain that it will be renewed due to some game development things that we have seen the past year, and also social-strategy movements for the sharing of LotRO that I have noticed in some sources. And I remember reading that the only, or main, reason WB wanted to buy Turbine was to own the rights to all the Lord of the Rings games (as till then LotRO was the only one not tied to them it seems). If that is true, it seems then very unlikely that WB will let others have it. It is a never-ceasing source of players due to not only the pre-existing strong and great in numbers Tolkien fandom, but also new folk that get to read the books and see the movies. The charm and lure of Tolkien's mythos is never fading. It has conquered the test of time like no other fantasy genre.

1. In short, a confirmation on the renewal of the license would be appreciated much. Even if naught is set down yet for next year, a 'we intent and plan to continue' would be welcome.
   
2. Also, on a recent interview/talk (in 2015) the Lead Worldbuilder mentioned that the rights to the Hobbit were still in place. Can this too be confirmed? that you still have the licence for the Hobbit. For based on the latest official information it seems that the rights to the Hobbit are available again.
3. Another question that I have had in mind for some time is whether Turbine would be open to, indeed, crowdfunding LotRO. You have perhaps the most loyal mmo community, and awarded multiple times for its passion. Let us help LotRO. I am certain more than a few are willing to.

Many thanks.

And nine years of Middle-earth online, that is a long time indeed, and I hope many more are to follow!

EXCELLENT QUESTIONS! I second this!

[bucks]

give us details on the new raid coming up!

will there be a separate set for it, new jewelry drops?

any other details would be greatly appreciated

-sneakymoth

[maartena]

My 10 Questions:

1) Will "pet projects" by previous developers no longer employed by Turbine, such as the revamping of Bree and Laila's shop ever be revived by Turbine?

2) Will level 110 be something we will see in 2016 or 2017 or not at all?

3) What are the chances that old raids and old instances are re-written so that they can be scalable? I am thinking Moria, Isengard, Lothlorien.

4) Will there be new classes in the future? (Side question, if unknown or unwilling to reveal: Does the lore allow for any new classes in the game?)

5) When Bingo's journey completes, will we see other, similar journey's from other characters? Perhaps a dwarf?

6) There is a strong desire to overhaul the loot tables. (e.g: no +will item when there are no +will classes in group) Will this ever be done?

7) Will older zones, part of the original game, every get a graphics overhaul? (e.g. Northern Barrow Downs got some overhauling with the grass and fog)

8) Will we get a new crafting guild tier? (Level 105 armor?)

9) In the past some regions like Moria, North Downs, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains got a quest overhaul. Are such overhauls planned for other zones?

10) Will there ever be a new creep class? (How about a Morroval?)

[Valamar]

My 10 Questions:

1) Will "pet projects" by previous developers no longer employed by Turbine, such as the revamping of Bree and Laila's shop ever be revived by Turbine?

To this list add the Lua interface.

[Valamar]

1- I'd like to see work on the Mac Client. The constant crashing is quite annoying and the smug comments by support on tickets really uncalled for.

2- Vyvyanne told about new "System Requirements" being developed -- when will we see them, and will they be uniform across the game world. I.e. pre and post The Great River and Riders of Rohan and then (Old Anórien). There appear to be three distinct "graphics zones" in the game, i.e. levels of graphics technology.

3- Will mounted combat ever be balanced when compared to un-mounted? A hunter on foot can do far more damage than when mounted. Only the Rune-keeper seems to have a reasonable balance between mounted and unmounted combat.

4- Will the FPS slider ever be fixed? It has been broken since the pre-beta back in 2007!

[Valamar]

PLease record the livestream and post it!

[Valakircka]

1.will you plz open all regions of the lotr world?
2.will you plz revamp the housing system, you have very nice proposals all these 9 years but we ve seen nothing happened..........

[Siddharta]

1. Will the upcoming raid be scalable or not?
2. How many bosses?
3. What rewards planned for it?
-------
4. What is new Minas Thirith reputation for?
5. Will rune-keeprers be nerfed or hunters buffed in the nearest future?

[siipperi]

PLease record the livestream and post it!

You can watch it afterwards on twitch with all comments coming up on the right time.

[Elennare]

PLease record the livestream and post it!

Six hours of the record, oh. Maybe someone will make a transcript? Or even an official transcript - it's a dream!

[Xhiu]

It scares me that past and present staff will be on the livestream.

My question is:

When is the next layoff?

"I have a bad feeling about this" Then again I have a high level of paranoia.

[Warmutkan]

1) Does Turbine plan to renew the license in 2017?
2) What's the course of the game over the next year?
3) What are the fixes/additions you are most looking forward to putting in the game this year?
4) What can you show us about the new raid?
5) What are some of the best suggestions from players that have made it into the game?