While I'm proud to say I got the shortest answer, I do wish there was a little bit more information in it. All in all, this was an enjoyable Q&A. We should do this more often.
Here is an easy step toward better priorities. Have polls on the forums for what players would like to see in upcoming releases--from housing updates to PVMP to more instances, etc--with one vote per player. Let US, the paying customers, do the prioritizing, not your ###### marketing team that's full of fail.
It's rude but i agree. Turbine should count the community. I dont think that at least housing and may be PvMP are low priority for players. Lack of housing development is especially weird since it can be VERY profitable for Turbine.
I guess I'm a bit disappointed. I don't see any actual answers to serious questions here. ...
I disagree. I think that you can find quite a few answers within that curly writing. Or at least towards some development priorities for the foreseeable future. I guess its also stretching the expectations a bit to expect "normal employees" to give out some strong commitments.
my personal impression:
no housing improvement
no more hobbies
no revolution, just evolution in the moors
no solofication of endgame content/instances -> no greatly increased ways to solo-play for endgame rewards
no work on mailing system
XP-toggle likely to come
saving trait/virtue sets probable
Many "NOes" in there, but at least we have a hint which things we dont need to hope for.
Originally Posted by Lainalagos
...If realized properly this will give LoTRO a unique mechanic in all of MMO land that truly does belong in the lore. In a now very crowded F2P market LoTRO badly needs a unique selling point to attract new attention. ...
I hate you. Here I am, priding myself on a somewhat analytical mind... and that angle on mounted combat totally went above my head. +rep
They've already said that mounted combat will be limited to certain zones, which I am guessing will be somewhere in the 75-85 level range, and won't be usable throughout all of Middle Earth like some think it will be. And I am sure it won't be usable in the Ettenmoors either.
Personally, I'm not the least bit excited about it because, like everything else, they're going to over-hype it and it's going to be a big let-down when we actually find out what it's all about.
And I really don't see what's so special about mounted combat. It's the same combat moves we have now, just on a horse. Why not just give us faster run speed and the ability to do the combat moves on foot while we are moving, and it will be the same thing (plus it would probably save a lot of development time).
I mean, it's going to be pretty odd that we'll only be able to do certain skills while mounted and moving, but probably won't be able to do those same skills while using our own to feet and moving.
Furthermore, as we will be limited in the skills that we can use while we are mounted, we're going to have to dismount to use our other skills if need be.
And, finally, it was seemingly mentioned that mounted combat would be "required" to get through these certain zones. No thank you. I don't like being forced into doing things a certain way.
...
And I really don't see what's so special about mounted combat. It's the same combat moves we have now, just on a horse. Why not just give us faster run speed and the ability to do the combat moves on foot while we are moving, and it will be the same thing (plus it would probably save a lot of development time). ...
I take it you base this on your extensive experience in closed beta testing?
They've already said that mounted combat will be limited to certain zones, which I am guessing will be somewhere in the 75-85 level range, and won't be usable throughout all of Middle Earth like some think it will be. And I am sure it won't be usable in the Ettenmoors either.
Personally, I'm not the least bit excited about it because, like everything else, they're going to over-hype it and it's going to be a big let-down when we actually find out what it's all about.
And I really don't see what's so special about mounted combat. It's the same combat moves we have now, just on a horse. Why not just give us faster run speed and the ability to do the combat moves on foot while we are moving, and it will be the same thing (plus it would probably save a lot of development time).
I mean, it's going to be pretty odd that we'll only be able to do certain skills while mounted and moving, but probably won't be able to do those same skills while using our own to feet and moving.
Furthermore, as we will be limited in the skills that we can use while we are mounted, we're going to have to dismount to use our other skills if need be.
And, finally, it was seemingly mentioned that mounted combat would be "required" to get through these certain zones. No thank you. I don't like being forced into doing things a certain way.
Not sure where I read it and Im in the middle of baking a birthdaycake and don't have time to look it up, anyhow I think I have read somewhere where a bluename said there was going to be special skills for the mount and for the class (I could be wrong, maby dreamt it), I imagine you could do some realy cool stuff as mounted combat more than just doing your usuall skills, as also mentions in the QA they said it's more of a new mechanic so I am pretty sure it's just not our regular skills in higher speed.
I am not gonna have much expectations over it... That always ends in disepointment, your mind is almost always much better than what will come, but I sure won't doom it before it even has been leaked any information.
I think Turbine does a good job, I am sure they are doing the best they can... They wan't us to play the game, but they have to aim first for whats best for their bussines and those things is very hard for us to see.
A nice post anyway, nice to see some neat answers, I like it and I would like more!
And, finally, it was seemingly mentioned that mounted combat would be "required" to get through these certain zones. No thank you. I don't like being forced into doing things a certain way.
Oh how i love the "dont force me to cure my OCD" people. You do realise that ALL games force you to do everything in them THE WAY THEY WERE CODED. Some games offer the ILLUSION of freedom but its just that, an illusion since there is not yet a comercial script that would imagine new dinamic scenarios and mechanics. Maybe some high-end complex mathematical processing algorithms. And no not even Diablo with random dungeons, elder scrolls with open sandbox or GW2 with events doesnt fit in the "i can do everything". They still have fixed mechanics that are used in an apparently open way.
So dont QQ about new mechanics until you have actually tested them. And after if you dont like them well....there is a place where you CAN do anything you like: real life, so log into that ;-)
Let me say that I really like the Lotr story. I loved the films. In Lotro, I am leader of a small raiding kin in Riddermark. During last few months, after RoI launch, our server suffered a considerable amount of people leaving for so many reasons.
According to my experience/observation following are the reasons.
1. People had high hopes about lvl 65-75 class changes. Personally I didn't expect an "improved" version of skills. Some classes like Hunter (my main and move loved class) is not really impressive anymore.
2. There is a serious lack of things to do or even if we spend hours to trying succeed something bug out like Draiglitch (lol). We had to find way to not to bug, no pets, no flags, no stones, stuff like that. Yesterday, my kin reported a bug in ToO Lightning t2 (2nd room).
3. The reward system is very dull. E.g. in OD, there is a T2 set.
4. People need to depend largely on certain classes, like Tanks, healers or something like that.
These are few reasons, that people are loosing interest of this amazing game. I don't know if Turbine would/can come up with a real solution to all these issues.
Turbine motto is "Powered by Fans", aren't we fans? or are we just players?
Oh how i love the "dont force me to cure my OCD" people.
Well, that was fairly obnoxious.
I, for one, would hope that mounted combat isn't required in order for me to level. If it's part of a certain quest or area, I'd like to be able to skip it. I don't care for mounted combat in any game thus far. It would have to be pretty dang spectacular here to make me happy to do it.
Here is an easy step toward better priorities. Have polls on the forums for what players would like to see in upcoming releases--from housing updates to PVMP to more instances, etc--with one vote per player. Let US, the paying customers, do the prioritizing, not your ###### marketing team that's full of fail.
Not here, in-game.
Let's say... one poll at some point during leveling.
Another - a month or two after reaching current level cap, so everyone has enough time to jump into desired or unknown content and even get bored a little.
Last edited by Ferthcott; Jun 02 2012 at 07:40 AM.
...
3. The reward system is very dull. E.g. in OD, there is a T2 set. ...
Orthanc has not such a different armor scheme as OD had. A purple instance armor available for everyone and a teal raid armor for which you must complete the raid to get the whole set. The only difference being that you dont need T2 for the set, but it has T2 quality.
The only thing bad about Orthanc is the curious choice of other drops. But OD stuff wasnt all wondrous as well. It just didnt have that much "competition" as Orthanc stuff has from Scalables loot, useful crafting recipes and the barter jewels.
Last edited by Vandervahn; Jun 02 2012 at 09:55 AM.
Don't have an account; don't want an account; don't visit the sites (in general).
This is a pragmatic decision. There are only so many sites I can go out and track the progress of on any regular basis. RSS feeds help with some sites, and there are some you know to visit every day (comics), but in general, I have tolerance for about 6 things I will keep track of through monitoring. LOTRO on Twitter and Facebook are not part of those 6.
So you purposefully limit your internet experience to only a handful of sites and then complain that you can't find every bit of information about a specific topic? Seems reasonable to me...
Originally Posted by Anoir
Hahahaha. Good read, gave me lots of laughs for the amount of ignorance Turbine has with PvMP and how cant they be bothered to do anything about it.
"If you are asking why Creeps don’t have a traditional leveling experience, that’s because being a Creep is about PvP. We want you to be able to join the PvP battle the moment you enter the world. - Kelsan"
I would re-write this line as in "We want you to create a creep, get zerged once, give us your hard earned money for some store skills you SHOULD ALREADY HAVE and then go and figh..sorry I mean go and get zerged. Again. And again.
I realize I should just avoid responding to you based on the nature of your post, but...I can't help myself.
Creeps were made specifically for PvP. You create one and can immediately head out and start PvPing (provided there are appropriate targets available on the other side). Why would anyone want a PvP character to be gated by PvE? In fact, EVERY effort on Turbine's part to introduce PvE elements into the Moors structure has been met with howls of derision and complaints of grind. Or perhaps you don't remember when Delving was required for rewards? Or keep boss drops? That's why we got Commendations. People HATED having to PvE in order to play their PvP characters effectively.
Originally Posted by Anoir
"Revising an established system without potentially destroying what made it enjoyable to begin with is no simple undertaking and requires that we put careful consideration into each revision. Essentially taking baby steps towards our ultimate goal: create a fun PvP zone where players can engage in both small and large scale skirmishes of their choosing."
Seriosly? Taking baby steps = Not doing anything! PvMP has been the EXACTLY same for past 5 YEARS! Oh wait I forgot.. you added a tree there, a bird there, a few new grind fests, made some bugs, fixed some bugs, made more bugs, forgot to fix them etc etc etc.. Yey for baby steps in PvMP!
Again, perhaps you're new here, but the Ettenmoors have changed significantly since the game's launch. Hotspots were removed, stars removed, Delving was added, Defilers, outposts, race traits, CC diminishing returns, GV/Grams safe exits, keep flags, intro quests, countless consumables and gear sets, commendations, audacity. There is literally nothing about the Moors that has not changed in some way in the last 5 years.
Originally Posted by Anoir
"Over the last two years we’ve taken steps to strengthen the foundations of PvMP through Creep class rebalancing, introduction of new advancement rewards, and the addition of a PvMP Currency and Stat that allows us to create a ‘seasonal’ mechanic in the Ettenmoors. More revisions are coming to further drive forward our goals. - Jared "Kelsan" Pruett"
Uhm.... where to start.. okay. Creep class rebalancing? Sure you gave spider and warg an hour of your office time to think up a few new neat tricks (Well actyally, you just copied off them from the people who suggested them to the forums dint you?) but where the hell are the rest of the creep updates? Reaver, WL, Defiler, BA.. Cmon guys, you want to "rebalance" the PvMP? Then stop writing bull on the forums and get to work! About comms and audacity.. Good job with those, must been hard to come up with those brilliant ideas *Cough copying much from certain another MMO*
You seem to have changed your argument from "there have been no changes" to "I don't like the changes". An easy mistake to make.
Originally Posted by duamarth
Yup, in fact, Turbine's poor track record at taking priorities FROM THE PLAYERS is the main reason why I've ub-subbed. Housing, crafting, LI updates, BUG fixes, and PVMP updates are on the top of the lists of many players--not more of the same expansions with 1000x(n) of the same quests involving the same repetitive tasks over and over. Yet the "content" we constantly get is store updates, more quests, more itemization, more useless wastes of time.
Here is an easy step toward better priorities. Have polls on the forums for what players would like to see in upcoming releases--from housing updates to PVMP to more instances, etc--with one vote per player. Let US, the paying customers, do the prioritizing, not your ###### marketing team that's full of fail.
You assume that the people who view and post on the forums represent the entire player base. This is not true. Turbine has repeatedly over the years emphasized that a very small (but vocal, by definition) segment of the player base posts on the forums. So while a forum questionnaire would gauge the interest of the forum population, it would NOT gauge the interest of the player base at large.
Also, I'm unsure why you include "quests" and "itemization" in your list of "useless wastes of time". Surely you don't think content and rewards should not be a priority of development? (As the poster below shows, some people aren't even satisfied with the amount of content now.)
Originally Posted by imkush
1. People had high hopes about lvl 65-75 class changes. Personally I didn't expect an "improved" version of skills. Some classes like Hunter (my main and move loved class) is not really impressive anymore.
We have been receiving "improved" versions of skill with every expansion and level increase since MoM. I'm unsure why this would be unexpected to anyone.
Originally Posted by imkush
2. There is a serious lack of things to do or even if we spend hours to trying succeed something bug out like Draiglitch (lol). We had to find way to not to bug, no pets, no flags, no stones, stuff like that. Yesterday, my kin reported a bug in ToO Lightning t2 (2nd room).
There are literally dozens of instances you can run in raids at the level cap. Why are you lacking things to do? In SoA, there was only Rift, Helegrod, and a handful of 6-man instances, yet I don't ever recall hearing this much whining about having nothing to do. There is the entire Orthanc cluster, Draigoch, RoF, the scaling classics of Helegrod/GB/HoN/IoF, and 19 skirmishes that you can run on T3 and +5 levels. There has been hundreds of hours of content added that can be run at the level cap that gives universally applicable rewards. Anyone who complains about having nothing to do simply isn't trying.
Originally Posted by imkush
3. The reward system is very dull. E.g. in OD, there is a T2 set.
I don't even know what this means. There are three gear sets for every class and the upgradeable cloak and jewelry system from Orthanc, Draigoch, and countless other rewards available from general currency.
Originally Posted by imkush
4. People need to depend largely on certain classes, like Tanks, healers or something like that.
Yes, the game is built around a balanced group system. That has been the case since before launch, and it will be the case the day the servers close (or are destroyed by the zombie apocalypse). There have been significant advances in how you can balance a group, with a new tank class and a new healer class added, and the healing and tanking abilities of other classes significantly buffed to make them viable in those roles. However, yes, as long as you play this game, you will need a tank and a healer for any challenging group content. Sorry.
Last edited by gildhur; Jun 02 2012 at 10:09 AM.
Elendilmir: Arda Shrugged - Crickhollow: The Colonists
So you purposefully limit your internet experience to only a handful of sites and then complain that you can't find every bit of information about a specific topic? Seems reasonable to me...
I think it is quite reasonable to expect specific info on the very specific topic of LotrO to be published on the even more specific homepage of the game. This site isnt only the forum; there´s also an extensive news sub-menu, and the main site lotro.com
All you find on these are few old press releases, fluffy competitions and orphaned and outdated guides. How is THAT reasonable?
I'll save you some frustration...give up on that hope now. They've told us since housing was first introduced that they are "talking" about it, and they've also told us about the "priorities", yet nothing has ever come to fruition, so I wouldn't hold your breath.
I will nevah give up hope! Nevah!
*holds breath*
The Crimson Burglar Squad - First you see Red...Then you are dead.
You assume that the people who view and post on the forums represent the entire player base. This is not true. Turbine has repeatedly over the years emphasized that a very small (but vocal, by definition) segment of the player base posts on the forums. So while a forum questionnaire would gauge the interest of the forum population, it would NOT gauge the interest of the player base at large.
First, an in-game type of polling mechanism (or simply polling directed to players via the news on the log in page) would work fine.
Second, Turbine would be crazy to not place the "vocal minority" on the forums as the top source of player information--it is, largely, the forum players that make the many websites that have wealth of information (and count as marketing), the players who do the large in game events, the players who run or are active in the large kins that recruit and retain many LOTRO players, etc etc. So it is hard to see why the opinion of the players on the forums shouldn't count above all others.
And the list of player requested changes Turbine has made that is linked on page 2 is rather embarrassing, since most of them are fairly minor improvements. Compare that to, say, the 3-4 year desire of a huge population of the player base to have some actual PVMP content updates--a new map, new fighting systems, new skills or classes, etc--a desire that has gone completely unanswered. Or how about the longstanding bug issues, such as the dragon, that have gotten bandaids but no real fixes? Of course, Turbine often complains about the complexity of many systems in the game. Well, that is a reason to keep them in development longer and not rush them likely they so often do.
And the list of player requested changes Turbine has made that is linked on page 2 is rather embarrassing, since most of them are fairly minor improvements.
You should expect that. Turbine appears to only have the resources one maybe two major improvements in a calendar year. Often the major improvement is the core component of an expanion:
Moria - Legendary Item System
Mirkwood - Skirmish System
Launch of F2P - Lotro store and the hybrid payment plan
Rise of Isengard - Phasing Tech
Riders of Rohan - Mounted Combat.
When you get to something like PvP and housing, these features that have limited appeal to the overall customer base. Obviously there are a number of very vocal forum members that love these features.
Unless stated otherwise, all content in this post is My Personal Opinion.
First, an in-game type of polling mechanism (or simply polling directed to players via the news on the log in page) would work fine.
Second, Turbine would be crazy to not place the "vocal minority" on the forums as the top source of player information--it is, largely, the forum players that make the many websites that have wealth of information (and count as marketing), the players who do the large in game events, the players who run or are active in the large kins that recruit and retain many LOTRO players, etc etc. So it is hard to see why the opinion of the players on the forums shouldn't count above all others.
And yes, Turbine would be crazy to place the vocal minority as a top source of player information whenever they can data mine the game that shows them what every player in the entire game is up to whenever they're logged on. That's the data they use - and should be using- when deciding what features get precious dev time.
This is not to say that the forums aren't important - quite the opposite. However, whenever posters say that this a "heavily requested feature" or that "this is what the majority of the playerbase wants" and other, similar statements, it is a good idea to take them with a grain of salt.
Have to say, I am rather disappointed with the choices in both the questions, and responses given by Turbine.
3/4 of those questions were ridiculous questions that had no impact on this game what so ever, and the other 1/4 we were given such vague responses that the resulting trend in those responses was "we all talk a lot about it". Awesome. So instead of telling the player base nothing at all, why don't you tell us how the conversation went?
"Hey Rob? What do you think about revamping the housing instances?"
"Sup Bill. Yeah I don't I like the sound of it. Sounds like a lot of work, ya know? Hey what do you think about a beer and a burger for lunch?"
As a player who has paid good money into this game for quite a long time, I'd like to see a little transparency myself. You don't have to tell me everything, but a little bit of clarity beyond "we talked about it" would be appreciated. You saying you talking about it tells me nothing. It could have been an idea coming up in passing by a co-worker, or it could have been held with the entire development crew participating. It could have been on a conference call with the executives from Warner Brothers, or it could have been the ever present bathroom stall bull#### session while two people take dump 3 feet apart. Point being, that entire QA was almost entirely useless. Thank you for posting no info what so ever.
To get into the Facebook and Twitter accounts and pages.......
Anything you post on one, should be posted on all 3 (the lotro forums, twitter, and facebook). Its foolish to think that all of your player base focuses on all 3 information hubs. Many, as provided by some of the posts on this thread, do not use twitter (I am one of them) or facebook (I do, but only for business networking purposes). With that being said, partial information on each page is about as useful as #### on a bull.
Talk about making things much more difficult than what they should be...
There is a fictional character named Earl Pitts who used to be on several different radio stations, sometimes syndicated (I used to find him quite funny). His tagline was "WAKE UP 'MERICA!". Sadly, I think it applies here but turned slightly to be "WAKE UP TURBINE!"
We have been receiving "improved" versions of skill with every expansion and level increase since MoM. I'm unsure why this would be unexpected to anyone.
I agree that I wasn't around since the beginning of the game. However, I don't see any "Improved" version of skills until 65. And if you honestly believe, that you have got what you expected, you're a happy person. But if you browse others forums, people do concern about this.
Originally Posted by gildhur
There are literally dozens of instances you can run in raids at the level cap. Why are you lacking things to do? In SoA, there was only Rift, Helegrod, and a handful of 6-man instances, yet I don't ever recall hearing this much whining about having nothing to do. There is the entire Orthanc cluster, Draigoch, RoF, the scaling classics of Helegrod/GB/HoN/IoF, and 19 skirmishes that you can run on T3 and +5 levels. There has been hundreds of hours of content added that can be run at the level cap that gives universally applicable rewards. Anyone who complains about having nothing to do simply isn't trying.
First, I was expressing my opinion. I don't whine. I didn't reply to this threat to be insulted by you. I know all about Helegrod/GB/HoN/IoF and skirmishes. But when it comes to a MMO, it is not just about raids and instances. It is community. In my opinion, the people who always run instances/skirmishes/raids miss out some part of MMO spirit. Massively doesn't mean 12 people.
My point was largely about instances getting bugged (Today, my own draigoch bugged 2 times at 1M HP and 20k HP.) You didn't reply to that part of my experience.
Originally Posted by gildhur
I don't even know what this means. There are three gear sets for every class and the upgradeable cloak and jewelry system from Orthanc, Draigoch, and countless other rewards available from general currency.
Well I have the ToO T1 sets of all my 75 toons, I have almost the best jewelry. I was talking about ToO T2 set or some reward system to motivate the raiders who has completed ToO T1 for numerous time.
Originally Posted by gildhur
Yes, the game is built around a balanced group system. That has been the case since before launch, and it will be the case the day the servers close (or are destroyed by the zombie apocalypse). There have been significant advances in how you can balance a group, with a new tank class and a new healer class added, and the healing and tanking abilities of other classes significantly buffed to make them viable in those roles. However, yes, as long as you play this game, you will need a tank and a healer for any challenging group content. Sorry.
If you think, there is no declining of player participate on Lotro, check out our server (Riddermark). Considerable amount of players are gone from lotro. I would like Lotro to pick up again. Just because I love this game. Gildhur, I am not a native english guy to explain everything comes to my mind. I like you defend Lotro. But this is my game also. I like my voice heard.
And yes, Turbine would be crazy to place the vocal minority as a top source of player information whenever they can data mine the game that shows them what every player in the entire game is up to whenever they're logged on. That's the data they use - and should be using- when deciding what features get precious dev time.
The problem with this argument, is that certain activities are going to show up on their data as being very low on the 'time invested' side of things.
E.g. Housing; I'm sure Turbine's data shows that the majority of players spend very little time on any activities connected with housing. We, the players, would look at that and go 'Well yeah, we hardly spend any time on housing because the system is broken and simply doesn't have enough features to allow us to spend a significant amount of time on it even if we wanted to'.
Whereas the guys that make the decisions on what to prioritize in terms of development in Turbine, would look at the same data and translate it to mean 'Right, the players only spend x amount of their time on housing related activities. We know the system could be better, but because it's used so little as opposed to other activities like players levelling alts, or raiding, it's not worth our while diverting development resource to it'.
You can't just rely on one source of data to make your development decisions or you end up feeding the players what you think they want rather than what the players actually want.
For the pvmp stuff, turbine should just nerf us back to early SoA, no store stuff, no DoF pots, 5 skins (for wargs), 1-2 inf per kill in a raid, no crosshair for heartseeker, no track notifications, dp instead of comms, perma mez/no DR (just so i can map out in a mez again on incompetent LM's), ect. Many experienced pvmpers from SoA will say that was the best time they ever had, and i personally agree, we should go back to that. Best thing turbine ever added to the game was /rude for wargs so i can mark my kills.
Last edited by Rohan1240; Jun 03 2012 at 12:57 PM.
-Azsouth the Hand of Doom of Elendilmir, Rank 14 Warg
Originator of the 1st Good 1v1 Thread (Meneldor)
You can't just rely on one source of data to make your development decisions or you end up feeding the players what you think they want rather than what the players actually want.
I think we have gone beyond the point of them caring what we do or don't want, or thinking what we do or don't want, and gotten to the point of us being told "You want this, you just do not know it yet. So here's a the spoon with the poo on it, eat it nicely".
Case in point is the character journal. I don't ever remember seeing a large outcry for that to be revamped, yet we got it anyways instead of: bug fixes, class fixes, added content, housing fixes (or a general cleaning out of the housing instances to eliminate the foreclosed homes), a kinship panel that is outdated and practically useless, or any other number of things "yet to come" because it got put off for something else that is not revolving around the ever increasing presence of the in game store.
This was a great idea & hope to see more questions asked & answered.
I have to say though in regards to the question about housing- START MAKING IT A PRIORITY! The housing system at current state is a joke & needs fixing.
Yeah, given that many other things were at least hinted at as being looked into, I'd read both the Housing and Hobby answers as pretty much confirmation that we're never going to be seeing upgrades or additiions in those areas. Which is odd because both, housing in particular, could easily and majorly be hooked into the Store so the development costs would be at least partially self funded.
FOr those who are commenting that they don't "do" Facebook and Twiiter
...
Also, the sites are safe and wont harm your computer in any way.
Obviously you are unaware that Facebook tracks users AND NON-USERS across the entirety of the Internet via their "share" features, logging what you view and how long you spend viewing it.
Obviously you are also unaware that the illustrious founder of Facebook has been known to misuse user data, and in fact bragged about how stupid the earliest Facebook users were to trust him with their data.
Facebook is anything but safe, and far from reliable.
"Q8: What type of development methodology does Turbine use, and how is that methodology shaped by working on an MMO as opposed to other types of games? - Denny Vaccaro A: We use an adapted scrum methodology with different agile teams. Each team is focused on a set of features or a goal, and lets us balance short and long term objectives. We balance supporting a live game, building features and updates for the “near” term (next 3 months or so), and looking forward to our next big set of expansion technology. - Aaron “Rowan” Campbell, Senior Producer"
I happen to be a digital project manager (and when I was young and needed the money, an IT PM.) So that was white hawt Project Management porn to me. /emote smoke
Does this mean Turbine has a Project Managers Book of Lore?
Why not just do a 'training' mode version of an instance? Solo if you want, or a duo, or even a Guild* group able to enter. I think this would be really handy for helping people to learn and develop good group play all round, and not just Guild groups either . Just click the 'Training' button, then how many players (1 to whatever), and then select the level you want from -10 to +10 (or whatever you think is best) based on the level of the solo player, or the highest level in the group?
That way a particularly squishy can go in at -10 and have a good look around and learn, and work up as they see fit after a couple of run throughs, and you don't have to do anything other than change the mob levels to suit the selected level (none of this tailoring an instance for each class)?
Yeah I know, probably a vast amount of work, hehe, but for improving group dynamics it might be worth it. Let's face it, in MMO's this past 10 years or so, grouping and general playing standards have plummetted pretty badly, from what I have seen (hence my very strong preference for soloing today), and Guild Leaders/Officers being able to plan Guild runs, etc., I think it could be a huge winner, be a lot of fun, sort out some nice entertainment for soloers as well in the process, but really the biggest beneficiaries will be the non-soloers and Guilds, plus, before too long, it would probably go a long way towards encouraging soloers (like myself) to group up.
*substitute Guild and Group for whatever, I haven't played LOTRO long yet, hehe.
PS. Yeah having been around the Internet from the days when it was University WAN, like all my friends, we don't touch nonsense like Facebook or other social media sites, with a bargepole. Even if it's your bargepole. But then again I'm not worried about looking at screenshots either, so no probs.
PPS. The biggest problem with housing, is its similarity to DAoC's - taking the population away from natural hubs. I beta'd just about everything with DAoC, and I thought it was a huge mistake with their housing, putting crafting capability in with the houses too (though they did have the saving grace of having merchants outside houses, which did pull people in to entrances to at least use the merchant that listed everything on those house merchants). What I recommended to DAoC before beta, actually got put in as EQ2 housing (which seemed to work ok initially from what I saw, after a friend told me my system had been put in, so I went and looked - though apparently later changes messed it up or something). The important thing is to have housing where the community is centred, close to crafting, AH, merchants, and trainers. Then it's 'busy' and busy has 'atmosphere' and atmosphere helps build and maintain community.
Last edited by WychHazel; Jun 05 2012 at 03:33 PM.
So you purposefully limit your internet experience to only a handful of sites and then complain that you can't find every bit of information about a specific topic? Seems reasonable to me...
Did you read my post? Where _at_all_ did I complain? In fact I even said this:
Originally Posted by uvm.tp
I have no problem with them showing teasers, store specials or other things on Twitter and Facebook that I will miss.
Let's say... one poll at some point during leveling.
Another - a month or two after reaching current level cap, so everyone has enough time to jump into desired or unknown content and even get bored a little.
Adding polls in-game would be a neat idea, and especially if well-done, would be a good way of gathering data. Not a hard thing to do either. Simply make an exit poll when logging out, or entrance poll on the character screen. Another method would be to create NPC's that have polls. No matter what, you should be limited to one response per poll question for your account.
And yes, Turbine would be crazy to place the vocal minority as a top source of player information whenever they can data mine the game that shows them what every player in the entire game is up to whenever they're logged on. That's the data they use - and should be using- when deciding what features get precious dev time.
This is not to say that the forums aren't important - quite the opposite. However, whenever posters say that this a "heavily requested feature" or that "this is what the majority of the playerbase wants" and other, similar statements, it is a good idea to take them with a grain of salt.
Note that Arma doesn't bother to even mention about the poll here.
Obviously you are unaware that Facebook tracks users AND NON-USERS across the entirety of the Internet via their "share" features, logging what you view and how long you spend viewing it.
Obviously you are also unaware that the illustrious founder of Facebook has been known to misuse user data, and in fact bragged about how stupid the earliest Facebook users were to trust him with their data.
Facebook is anything but safe, and far from reliable.
And Twitter is heading that way as well.
Oh yeah, I hear Mark Zuckerburg is also an alien, too! I heard he is planning on using FB user's info to create World War III, to allow the aliens from his race to take control of our planet! It's true!!! This guy I know, knows someone who works for Mark, and said so!
Q25: When is the Pre-Order Info for RoR be available? - Miguel Rock
A: Incredisoon™! No, seriously. Very soon. Have you seen all those great images we’ve been tweeting and posting on Facebook? They all seem to be leading up to something… – Rick “Sapience” Heaton, Community Manager
I don't know why, but 'Incredisoon™!' made me lol and lol.
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All in all, this was an enjoyable Q&A. We should do this more often.
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Originally Posted by duamarth
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