What's your reason for defending Turbine?

[Robov]

Ugh. This is what I hear reading the OP post:

Wah wah wah, Turbine wants to make money off a game, I don't want to pay. I don't like change. Why can't things be like they were and can I have a kiss on my boo-boo? All while you all dance to my trolling jig.

I don't have a rolleyes big enough.

I really don't give a damn if you think the game is inferior or not value for money because you know what? THERE ARE OTHER GAMES! Go play them and stop wasting the time of people here. I play other games, I play this game too. Guess what? Nothing MAKES me do that. I don't think things are perfect. I know that there are glitches but you know what? They say they are working on the problems that bother me and I expect that they are. The game isn't broken, and yes, I expect a company doing business to expect a return on investment. LOTRO is different from a lot of other games in that it allows players to play for absolutely nothing pretty much most of the game. All you need to do is spend the time earning the TP. But Lo: money buys a shortcut! Why? Because THAT IS THE ENTIRE MODEL OF HOW THEY MAKE MONEY.

Not ripping you off with things you must buy to be able to enjoy the game, but asking you to pay some money for the same points everyone else uses to buy content and convenience. You want it now? You pay.


And now back to playing some games.

[Zwergenbart]

/signed

added comparison...
Rise of Isengard Legendary $49.99 Heroic $39.99 Base $29.99
Riders of Rohan Legendary $69.99 Heroic $49.99 Base $39.99
next add on Legendary $99.99 Heroic $59.99 Base $49.99 (twice as big as Moria was, of course)

http://rohan.lotro.com/pre-order.html
http://isengard.lotro.com/purchase.php

*giggles*

[Neumi]

A whole new game system ...

"Jump to Lightspeed" for Star Wars Galaxies didn't cost as much and it brought a LOT more to the game then Rohan will do.

[Teslana]

I tend to not defend - the company has done plenty of things wrong, after all - but I tend not to criticise much either, as they've done plenty of things well. None of us would be here, I guess, if there wasn't something ace to be had from the game...

I am, however, unnerved by the -ever-creeping-higher prices of expansions. I can understand that they're marketing as though selling a whole new game to players, but it's not a whole new game, merely an add-on for something that's quite delightful but a little frayed at the seams... Also, for the price they are charging I could fly to Spain/Ireland/Netherlands/other lovely places and have a nice little holiday - just using that as an example to suggest the scale is a bit off, to my eyes. The costs really need tweaking to stay competitive when there are just *so* many other ways that money can be spent... Or, rather than do infrequent, huge new, banner-waving exansions, as seems to be the trend, just regularly introduce smaller hubs for less money - we get the same content, they probably get the same money, but it's way, *way* easier to budget for and thus more overall sales (maybe they don't want to do that, as VIPs would probably - and quite rightly - expect the little add-ons to come free with their 'all-in' subscriptions?).

[Kerin_Eldar]

I am amazed at the amount of Turbine apologists there are. This company has continuously screwed over it's player base, and yet people still defend this company to nail and bone, and I am trying to figure out why.

An excellent article explaining the mentality of fanboys in general, which seems equally applicable to places like this:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...er-self-image/

One sentence there seems to sum it up well:

“Consumers are highly resistant to brand failure to the point that they’re willing to rewrite history,”

[Puravidaman]

I speak usually with my pocketbook. If I don't want to pay $70 for the expansion, I won't. I'll wait for the inevitable discounting that will go on within weeks of it going on sale. And if I ever have as much dissatisfaction as many seem to have on the forums, I'll go find some other way to entertain myself.

[Arannir]

An excellent article explaining the mentality of fanboys in general, which seems equally applicable to places like this:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...er-self-image/

One sentence there seems to sum it up well:

What an over-simplification of facts. You do not need to be a blind fanboy to be quite okay with LotR and Turbine so far... many good reasons given in this thread already.

[Unique]

The reason I don't feel I have to rub every mistake they have ever made in their faces year after year is because I realize that behind the game are humans, that's right those are people making the game and posting on the forum and they sometimes make mistakes. Can you tell me that you don't make mistakes at work that affect customers?

You can call me an apologist, a defender or a fanboy (technically that's fangirl) all you want. It's better than what some other posters could be called.

You know when you made that one big mistake back in 2009, and now whenever your spouse gets mad he/she throws it back in your face again and again? That's what some of these posters remind me of, yes you are now THAT spouse. Ok Turbine is not perfect but can we at least stick to the mistakes from this year, do we really have to keep beating the 2009 horse, or the 2010?

[Uddl]

Well, I don't really care about Turbine, but I love Lotro - and people working for Turbine have created this cool and special game.

I think that we as players do not have enough insight into the company, its structure, its employes, etc to make accusations and jump to conclusions. Also, no matter which game forums you read, you'll see the same complaints from players of other games, you just need to replace the company's name. Blizzard is greedy and destroying the game, just as Bioware, Turbine, EA and all other game companies...

As long as I enjoy the game, I'll say it. If I don't like something, I'll say it as well. If there's too much that I don't enjoy and I don't have fun anymore, I'll go look for something else.

However, accusing a company of not caring or being greedy is really useless. What do you expect them to do? They are not charity, of course they want to make money. And yes, they also have to change things and update things to try to please more people and yes, bugs occur and a solution needs to be found. This happens in all online games out there, though. Never seen one that didn't have similar problems. I guess Turbine could do whatever they want, there would always be people who like it and people who don't like it and people who just don't care... They can't please everyone.

[Neumi]

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/20...er-self-image/

One sentence there seems to sum it up well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hater

Point #3 might fits OP and some other posters here.
Haters gonna hate.

[Kerin_Eldar]

You know when you made that one big mistake back in 2009, and now whenever your spouse gets mad he/she throws it back in your face again and again? That's what some of these posters remind me of, yes you are now THAT spouse. Ok Turbine is not perfect but can we at least stick to the mistakes from this year, do we really have to keep beating the 2009 horse, or the 2010?

Not at all .. except in the case of Turbine they're serial transgressors, they didn't screw-up just once but have a history of the same kind of behaviour; to wit, providing misleading, if not downright wrong, pre-release information that only later we learn the reality.

When the horse is the same one that died in 2009 and 2010 (and other times) then it's indicative of expected behaviour I would suggest.

[podgie_bear]

I am not a Turbine apologist, in fact I have said a few uncomplimentary things about Turbine myself. However I have nothing bad to say about the people who put in the work, my gripe is with the leeches who tell them what to do. I have extensive experience in the business world stretching back over 30 years and from that experience I have rarely if ever found that the workers are responsible for the poor products, inaccurate communication and awful service. It is nearly always the 'suits' for want of a better word who claim to be managers who are responsible. The old adage I was told when I first entered business has been proven right time after time;

"If you want something done right, never ask a manager. Go straight to the workers actually doing the job, since they are the ones who know what should be done!"

[ruogon]

I am amazed at the amount of Turbine apologists there are. This company has continuously screwed over it's player base, and yet people still defend this company to nail and bone, and I am trying to figure out why.

Before my rant continues, let me first start off saying I love this game, it's been my favorite video game EVER and I want to continue on playing it, but I am 100% dissatisfied with Turbine as a whole.

1)There general lack of communication with the player base is astounding. I can't imagine being on the PR side of Turbine/WB, I imagine it's a living hell. I feel like the pre-orders for Rohan came out WAY to early considering the amount of information we have received about it. Then when we (the players) request more information about things we don't hear about it at all.

2)The cost for this EXPANSION (not game, hence the emphasis on expansion) is so ridiculously high I nearly deleted my account when I saw it. 70 dollars for the top package, that's more than the cost of a new game on any console out there. And come September, there won't be any instances with it for probably another 1-2 months after release. We were told a 6th inventory bag would be coming with the pre-order, little did we know we would be having to pay for the most expensive one out there. Even still 40 dollars is too much, that's nearly as much as I paid for the top pre-order for Isengard. Not pre-ordering until the price drops.

3)Turbine not only doesn't deliver what's they have promised to us, but they are dishonest. Ever since Mirkwood there has been talk about a new PvMP map, and PvMP overhaul, and there has been no such thing. The commendation system they implemented is a huge fail in and of itself, and the moors is as unbalanced as ever.

4) It's been MONTHS since the lag came with update 6, and where are we at in fixing it? Nowhere near it, we don't even know what the problem is STILL! First they said it had nothing to do with their servers because everything was fine on their end (lol). We're still experiencing the lag and stable mount hitching Turbine!

Edit: Adding a 5th
5)Releasing buggy content. Dragon has been out for a long time now and that raid is still buggy. Anyone remember the pits of isengard (not the instance, the area in the cave in dunland) area? Remember how you couldn't navigate through there without falling through the dang floor? Ridiculous.

These are fice of the most important issues I've come across with Turbine. Trust me, I know there are PLENTY more to be added to the list (please do so if you would), but I am sick of it. I am sick of being used and treated like dirt when I've been a loyal paying defending customer for nearly 4 years. I'm sick of the dishonesty, I am sick with the lack of communication, and sick of the cr*p we go through all so you can make a pretty penny.

/sign if you are fed up with Turbine.

If you are 100 % dissatisified then you dont like lotro.

[Celestrata]

All right guys, I'm not digging this thread at all. I know that everyone has their opinion regarding the Riders of Rohan pre-order, but it's not ok to go around and attack people for their opinions, or get angry at other people for what they believe. Everyone is entitled to the opinions that they have, whether they are positive or negative. You are also allowed to say your opinion on our boards as long as they do not violate the community guidelines. This is one such post that is infringing on the community guidelines for attacking others.

We've kept this thread pretty civil for the most part, which I am glad for (and it's been civil because we are such a good community), but I'm going to end our discussion here before it does take the inevitable turn for the worse.