Bullroarer Update 35.1 - Beta #3 - CLOSED

[Rino90]

Models of some pauldrons on the test are broken. I don't understand why they needed to be changed at all (on actual servers and on the test).



But the Wildermore medium helmet, as it was with sticking out textures of hair on a human man, remained.

[eliadon]

Since we're going the distance on removing distinctions across origins, can we get an idle stance option? I'm tired of elves with back problems and would love to use race of man stances.

[MVP_SSG]

There were no changes to pauldrons in this update. There are, however, changes to the human avatars that may affect how some items fit onto their bodies. If you see this, please submit a bug report with a screenshot and the exact name of the item or cosmetic in question so that each issue can be addressed. Thanks!

[Askelin]

Glaring visual bugs aside. There's potential here for some cool character designs.
I just don't understand why the original hairstyle textures weren't updated to match the quality of the new hair designs, especially seeing how they're kind of the average "regular" hair designs for characters. Perhaps they could be improved in time?
Weight slider is much more free, which is cool. It's nice to see more options like this. I'd personally love to see a height slider, nothing drastic, but it'll be neat for further customization.
Selectable idle, walking, riding animations and such would also be a cool thing in the future.

[Fenix43]

Since we're going the distance on removing distinctions across origins, can we get an idle stance option? I'm tired of elves with back problems and would love to use race of man stances.

I agree, in fact, I noticed that from the Before the shadow mini expansion in the character pannel in game for the elves they have a different Idle animation than the one they have in the game, personally I would like to be able to choose from as many different types of Idle animation as possible if I can, this increases also the possibility of more customization and diversity in my opinion.

[Elhiril]

Exciting updates. The improved customization is great.

I'd just echo the need for more selectable origin places - the race of men characters don't all fit into coming from the same four places and this matters to many players.

I'm a bit sad to see the appearance distinctions going away based on where you're from, but excited about the increased options.

I'd love to see longer hairstyles and an update to the old hairstyles. This area feels lacking to the point that it stands out.

[JuanD]

Any chance we get a way to export or save our character sliders somehow, both ingame and during creation? Something like a file similar to the ui layouts or a face code a la Mass Effect.

That would allow us to try different setups without fear or loosing some good ones, being able to resume our character creation in case something happens and we are not able to finish in one sitting (which is more likely now with the massive amount of options introduced), and also share our characters with other people.

[Ludiklovn]

Add another patch note - game now takes place on planet Earth, Arda has been removed.

[wispsong]

Add another patch note - game now takes place on planet Earth, Arda has been removed.

I agree. This will be more modern world than ME. But they do it to history, so what's new.

[Bromlin]

I'm glad to see not everyone is willing to swallow this nonsense without objection.

[TesalionLortus]

Without reference to "the wider cultural war or politics", could you explain why SSG believes Race of Men women with beards belong in a game based on the world of J.R.R. Tolkien?

That's a good one

No matter how polite one may try to be, "without reference to X" comes across as highly hypocritical in this context and come on, they know it - they're too intelligent not to know. Anyway, my biggest disappointment is we don't seem to be getting any specific facial features and paint marks to create Dunlendings or Haradrims.

Or paint symbols and very specific beard style like this Easterling guy:



How come this isn't included yet? I want to immerse myself in this game's world and roleplay its races!



For a bleak joke, I'm surprised no one had drawn a summoning circle and called Mr Radhruin yet. Unless... they're already banned? I had my own share of strange disagreements with them but also a manner of respect and nothing they ever said was exactly deserving of a ban either. Would be a shame to see the place as harshly "cleansed" over petty things while preaching uniqueness, and shame on such practices if it was ever supposed to come to pass

[Westnovote]

LOTRO is celebrating the uniqueness of every player

I see. Please be very careful how you proceed with this. There are a great many people, myself included, who love the authentic world you have replicated. The authenticity of this world can be all too easily diminished by a few poor decisions.
You will forgive me, I trust, for being overly sceptical without seeing the fruits of your work. However, the potential for misstep from this point is, in my view, significant.

[Fealhach]

NOTE: We will not be permitting discussion of the wider cultural war or politics as it relates to the avatar update. Any player to engages in such discussion can expect to be removed from the forums.

No discussion here. But I will be clear that I strongly disagree with the addition of certain features to female human avatars. I would also strongly disagree if these additions were added to any updates made in the future to Elves and Hobbit avatars. I also disagree to some of the more outlandish designs of head wigs.

That said, I strongly disagreed to the class changes made last year and you still went ahead with that, so I don't expect any different here.

Can we get a statement from SSG on exactly what their vision is for LOTRO? What is the mission statement? Because we seem to be moving further away from Tolkien's LOTR. And it would be appreciated if we could get back on course.

Cheers

[Karou32]

I welcome most of these avatar changes with open arms. However it becomes evident that the origins of our characters should be expanded, in order for those changes to work and fit the wider Legendarium, the four we currently have aren't enough to accommodate the needs of the character creation. It would be even better to include "sub-origins" (Eglain, Lossoth, of Harondor, of Dunland) and so on, though I understand that this is impossible for now.

[TesalionLortus]

I welcome most of these avatar changes with open arms. However it becomes evident that the origins of our characters should be expanded, in order for those changes to work and fit the wider Legendarium, the four we currently have aren't enough to accommodate the needs of the character creation. It would be even better to include "sub-origins" (Eglain, Lossoth, of Harondor, of Dunland) and so on, though I understand that this is impossible for now.

Yeah, the origins *should* be expanded and become something like 20+ different types to choose from, and these strong Asian looks (like Chinese etc) could use a "Far East of Middle-earth" option because they don't exactly fit the ethnic idea of Rhun as it's been shown to us in the game with mobs and NPCs. Narratively, the Chayasir, who aren't as ethically different from clans of Rhun, are still considered different enough and deemed "lesser" as slave material in the story we've been told, so clearly they are not going to turn Rhun into China now, no? and anything resembling Chinese Asians would have to be even further East beyond the bounds of the map. So I really expect to see a whole bunch of quite interesting labels to choose from, make it scrollable and off we go, they can have as many as needed and different subtypes too

[Ludiklovn]

Also they are royally going to screw over cosmetics with avatar updates. There's gonna be more clipping than world's coupon faire.

[TheGeekGirl]

Still no sign of more hairstyle options for Human females unless they want kinky curls, cornrows, or dreadlocks.

I'm sorry, but are we never to get a simple BRAID option that just lays down the back? Or a longer ponytail? Or some wavy hair? Right now we have like 15 variations on pixie cuts, a few updo's, one or two hairstyles that might be called "long", zero wavy hair styles, and now another dozen bizarre braids and shaved head styles. As a roleplayer who wants to portray realistic-looking women from places like Bree and Rohan, this is endlessly disappointing. The NPC's have nicer hair than we do.

The body slider is a good start, but let me know when you can come up with one that allows us to have non-massive boobs. Or one that can make a woman "bigger" in the proper proportions (hips, butt, thighs) instead of just giving her weirdly thick arms like a rugby player.

[TheGeekGirl]

Well said.

No discussion here. But I will be clear that I strongly disagree with the addition of certain features to female human avatars. I would also strongly disagree if these additions were added to any updates made in the future to Elves and Hobbit avatars. I also disagree to some of the more outlandish designs of head wigs.

That said, I strongly disagreed to the class changes made last year and you still went ahead with that, so I don't expect any different here.

Can we get a statement from SSG on exactly what their vision is for LOTRO? What is the mission statement? Because we seem to be moving further away from Tolkien's LOTR. And it would be appreciated if we could get back on course.

Cheers

[TheGeekGirl]

This. I don't log into LOTRO to look at myself and live my own life. I can kind of do that by just... logging off.

We log into LOTRO to see Tolkien's Middle-earth and have the joy of stepping into it and OUT of ourselves.

I see. Please be very careful how you proceed with this. There are a great many people, myself included, who love the authentic world you have replicated. The authenticity of this world can be all too easily diminished by a few poor decisions.
You will forgive me, I trust, for being overly sceptical without seeing the fruits of your work. However, the potential for misstep from this point is, in my view, significant.

[TesalionLortus]

Still no sign of more hairstyle options for Human females unless they want kinky curls, cornrows, or dreadlocks.

I'm sorry, but are we never to get a simple BRAID option that just lays down the back? Or a longer ponytail? Or some wavy hair? Right now we have like 15 variations on pixie cuts, a few updo's, one or two hairstyles that might be called "long", zero wavy hair styles, and now another dozen bizarre braids and shaved head styles. As a roleplayer who wants to portray realistic-looking women from places like Bree and Rohan, this is endlessly disappointing. The NPC's have nicer hair than we do.

The body slider is a good start, but let me know when you can come up with one that allows us to have non-massive boobs. Or one that can make a woman "bigger" in the proper proportions (hips, butt, thighs) instead of just giving her weirdly thick arms like a rugby player.

Well said.

*sight*

[Kaeneth]

It seems the running animation for men was changed, it now looks nearly identical to the regular elf running animation. Not really a fan of this change, I think the running animation was better before.

Also it seems there's a new horse riding animation for men as well. It looks a bit buggy though as my character's cape sort of stiffly jumps up and down rather than flowing at all, and I find it odd that my character is looking at the ground the whole time as well instead of looking forward. Otherwise I'm fine with the posture of this change.

[Fantomex]

The avatar updates are... certainly a choice.

I was excited at first about finally having the option to make my Gondorian Black like I've always imagined him to be (and the lore fully supports), but this is a bit like fishing with dynamite. There's not enough visual distinction between the people of Bree, Rohan, Gondor, and Dale as is and by multiplying the options across the board it's going to be even less clear who is who. A bit of a shame for Tolkien to have taken such care creating rich, diverse cultures to inhabit his world only to see their differences treated as trivial.

Blood of Azog was a crowning achievement in terms of character design. The thoughtful, respectful representation of all Seven Clans of the Dwarves was so exceptional and rooted in the lore that it was a HUGE letdown when they were all but omitted from Gundabad content. I still hope to eventually create a Abnuzhu or Temamir dwarf eventually who has a unique look and background to match my Stout-Axes. It would be a shame for that option to lose all meaning if dwarves receive the same treatment.

I understand that you're approaching this with good intentions, but it feels like a careless decision made without actually consulting the people it purportedly serves. And as a member of your BIPOC playerbase who has had to deal with some unsavory encounters, I hope you'll consider reimplementing a faster report option for players who are abused because of or using these expanded options.