Thread: Riders of Rohan Community Q&A with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell Discussion

Originally Posted by Aedfrith

Has any dev even bothered to read the hunter forums, let alone engage with the class?
*sits back and waits for anything to pierce the ears of "La La La, I'm not listening".*

Ah yes, Celestrata moved the discussion into the hunter forums because the complaint (not from me, from Zalladi) happened to be about a particular skill. QED. However, she did say "it will not be ignored."

At least it means she did enter the forum. I hope she clicked around a bit while she was there.

Coming soon to the Instance Finder: Accept a random chance that your group will be assigned to do "The Great Rohan Fishing Expedition", or lose the 50% loot bonus from the IF.

But no one will be FORCED to do the fishing thing.

Will we at least be able to fish from our War Steeds???

Seriously?

10 new levels means like 3-5 new skills, and the hunter has to use up one of those slots on a *worthless* group version of desperate flight?

One we had when Lotro first went live and changed in the first(ish) update to only work on oneself.

Talk about adding insult to injury to the already poor treatment of the hunter class and hunter community.

Please, just don't bother giving the hunters things like that, we're better off getting nothing than poor "upgrades" like that?

Let me guess... the champ gets another healing bubble and the RK a skill to ignore the green/red scale for a while, yes?

Lmao. Fishing. Yay,endgame! I feel sick.

One question I would like to see answered is how Rowan still has a job at turbine.Since hes taken over we have seen the most underwhelming updates and broken content.the forums have more negative posts then ever.We had more info 6 months before Moria then we do now and its less then 3 months away.Im complain about somethings trbine but usually give them the benefit of the doubt(I preordered like an idiot figuring we wouldnt get screwed) but its getting really hard to defend turbine anymore.

Where is the new pvmp map promised last year.No new skirmishes but we get an epic fishing quest.A year from now we will get an update where we will go to the sea and we'll get an epic raid where we have to catch the big one.One of us will have to reel it in while the other 11 emote encouragement at you but if you dont do it in the right order the fish will bug.I think im gonna contact my bank see about getting my money back.

Originally Posted by Aedfrith

Ah yes, Celestrata moved the discussion into the hunter forums because the complaint (not from me, from Zalladi) happened to be about a particular skill. QED. However, she did say "it will not be ignored."

At least it means she did enter the forum. I hope she clicked around a bit while she was there.

I speak on terms for the majority of Hunters thoughts on the matter. Tell me ten hunters that like this idea.

Originally Posted by Valerian_Moonfire

IMHO this would be a rip-off for the f2p and premium players. As RoR is called an expansion and not a glorified quest pack I hope you are wrong .

Originally Posted by Osolep

I think that it is fair to say that this expansion price will include the instance cluster. Seeing as they stated that it would be included in a later update, suggests that this is the case.

As with MoM, SoM, and RoI, all which included their instance clusters with the purchase of the expansion, this will be the same case hear. Seems logical to me.

Originally Posted by Eltheanor

So. If we pre purchase RoR.. Do we get the Instance cluster that will be released later in the year for FREE? Like with RoI? Or not? I don't get it. Can we get straight answers? Or am I that dumb?

So from the following post

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...11#post6219811

(Emphasis mine)

Originally Posted by Sapience

The FAQ on the CS site was partially incorrect and is being updated. The instance cluster answer in particular was based on older Rise of Isengard information and was not properly updated before going live. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

As mentioned previously, Riders of Rohan will not include an instance cluster when it releases on September 5th. While we are not including a new instance cluster in RoR, the expansion will ship with an entirely new type of repeatable high-level content that we're very excited about. Once the expansion pack has launched we will introduce a new instance cluster based in the Rohan region as part of our regular update schedule. Expect to hear more about the new content and systems of Rohan as we move through the summer.

To me this sounds more like the instance cluster that is coming later will be free to players with subscriber status only.
The reasons for me to believe this are

[...]we are not including a new instance cluster in RoR[...]

and

[...]we will introduce a new instance cluster based in the Rohan region as part of our regular update schedule[...]

It all looks like GR, Lothlorien, Enedwaith and skirmishes are handled to me.


While I applaud to give more incentives to subscribers I am still cautious about the repeatable endgame content that should ship with RoR i.e about

expansion will ship with an entirely new type of repeatable high-level content

Without knowing more about what this will exactly be it is difficult to make a proper decision whether this is really good added value to the expansion or just some new ways to spend time until the instance cluster actually arrives and what rewards these repeatables will give and whether they are the source of the end game gear until the instance cluster arrives later on. Also it will be interesting to see how group content is done within this mechanic but it surely seems to support solo players better than what we have now.

Originally Posted by Eltheanor

Lmao. Fishing. Yay,endgame! I feel sick.

Are you kidding me? Really? Fishing? Once I hit lvl cap and rep I never did that horrible fishing quest again in Galtrev. What makes Turbine think I would look forward to this? I swear they have no clue.

Sad thing is I have seen this type of business before. The Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have a great ballpark in a great neighborhood. They don't need to field a quality team to make money. The draw is going to the park and seeing a game at Wrigley Field. Turbine is the Chicago Cubs of MMO's. As long as they have the Tolkien franchise they don't need to put out a good product to make money.

Originally Posted by monk_tbd

So from the following post

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...11#post6219811

(Emphasis mine)




To me this sounds more like the instance cluster that is coming later will be free to players with subscriber status only.
The reasons for me to believe this are



and




It all looks like GR, Lothlorien, Enedwaith and skirmishes are handled to me.


While I applaud to give more incentives to subscribers I am still cautious about the repeatable endgame content that should ship with RoR i.e about



Without knowing more about what this will exactly be it is difficult to make a proper decision whether this is really good added value to the expansion or just some new ways to spend time until the instance cluster actually arrives and what rewards these repeatables will give and whether they are the source of the end game gear until the instance cluster arrives later on. Also it will be interesting to see how group content is done within this mechanic but it surely seems to support solo players better than what we have now.

Well said!

Originally Posted by lgato411

Are you kidding me? Really? Fishing? Once I hit lvl cap and rep I never did that horrible fishing quest again in Galtrev. What makes Turbine think I would look forward to this? I swear they have no clue.

Sad thing is I have seen this type of business before. The Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have a great ballpark in a great neighborhood. They don't need to field a quality team to make money. The draw is going to the park and seeing a game at Wrigley Field. Turbine is the Chicago Cubs of MMO's. As long as they have the Tolkien franchise they don't need to put out a good product to make money.

And that's why I stopped playing Lotro and moved to GWII,beta for now and hopefully live soon. And that is the point,the LoTR lore isn't always enough to keep people happy with failed content lacking expensive quest packs like RoR. Turbine failed. ArenaNet wins. Ok,time to leave the forums. GWII Beta weekend starts today. AND IT HAS NO FISHING!!

Originally Posted by monk_tbd

While I applaud to give more incentives to subscribers I am still cautious about the repeatable endgame content that should ship with RoR i.e about

I agree, it's finally something meaningful for VIP, good to see a step in such direction (especially after I whined about it in exit survey ).

Too bad it happens at the expense of overall expansion value, it's like Turbine is asking "Are you happy NOW?".

This game is definately going down the hill. The store mitigates every effort you do. What's the point of trying to get a cloak in an instance if you can get it for TP? F2P is an absurd too.
I'm starting to regret pre-purchasing RoR. We already had tweaking and improved versions of the skills. We want new skills now. What's the problem of being down to you to choose to remove one skill from your bar at the expense of another, new? For me that's part of playing a game like this. Besides, I hope these mounted combat skills are not simply "Mounted Staff-Strike" or "Mounted Bow Attack". That would be disappointing to say the least. No new legendary skills? It's been a long time since we got them and to make things worse one of them will be removed (LM?). We need at least one new class trait slot too. It's time for something NEW.
Fishing? You guys gotta be kidding on this one. Not only is the unique hobby but that's boring as hell. I'm not doing those quests.
Where is new PVMP area? If you can't give someone something, don't promise it.

Congratulations guys, 50k more damage and we'll have downed Saruman at T2

<Mischevious Hunter>Time to use my FS desperate flight skill methinks!</Mischevious Hunter>

Or just as likely -

Leader - "Hunter get us out of here before we all die!"
Hunter - "Sure thing boss!"
Minnie - "Wait - I don't have any travelling rations left...guys? Guys???"

Now if you want to decide to remove desperate flight altogether and replace it with another "Oh S**t" button I'd start to rethink the over-inflated price...

Originally Posted by monk_tbd

So from the following post

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...11#post6219811

(Emphasis mine)




To me this sounds more like the instance cluster that is coming later will be free to players with subscriber status only.
The reasons for me to believe this are



and




It all looks like GR, Lothlorien, Enedwaith and skirmishes are handled to me.


While I applaud to give more incentives to subscribers I am still cautious about the repeatable endgame content that should ship with RoR i.e about



Without knowing more about what this will exactly be it is difficult to make a proper decision whether this is really good added value to the expansion or just some new ways to spend time until the instance cluster actually arrives and what rewards these repeatables will give and whether they are the source of the end game gear until the instance cluster arrives later on. Also it will be interesting to see how group content is done within this mechanic but it surely seems to support solo players better than what we have now.

Edit: See edit at bottom. Apparently things aren't going to work like they did for RoI, but it's still unknown just how they're going to work.

One concern I have about the instance cluster shipping later is how it will be handled: will it be treated like the instance cluster for RoI was, in which subscriber status didn't matter but the method you used to purchase RoI did? Those who wanted to purchase RoI w/TP were told that the version of RoI being sold the day it launched was just the quest pack, so the instances would be priced separately - this applied to VIPs, Premium, and F2P folks alike. However, if you paid cash for RoI, you were given the instance cluster for free when it arrived - this applied to VIPs and Premium alike.

It'd be nice to actually be able to use TPs to buy an expansion like Sapience told us we'd be able to - on the day the expansion launches, not two-three months down the road when the rest of the expansion content finally arrives. At the very least, it'd be nice to actually have account status mean something, by which I mean that if a VIP buys RoR w/TP, then the VIP gets future updates for free, while if a Premium member spends TP to buy an expansion, the Premium member still has to shell out TP for the future (major) updates, like instances and new zones.

Hopefully all this is cleared up well before September 5th, one way or the other.

Simply put, Turbine, please clearly describe what each of the following groups will get for their money/TPs (specficially, will there be additional charges for the instance cluster and/or other major content updates between RoR and the next expansion?):

-VIPs who buy RoR w/cash.
-VIPs who buy RoR w/TP.
-Premium members who buy RoR w/cash.
-Premium members who buy RoR w/TP.
-F2P members who buy RoR w/TP.

(F2P buying with cash is no longer F2P as I understand it, so not included here).

I know how I think it should be, and I know what impression we were given in the fall of 2010 about how it would be. However, both of those were wrong with RoI, and RoR seems to have introduced some new confusion, so it'd be nice to have things clearly explained - even if what you tell us isn't what we want to hear.

Edit: I see in another thread that Celestrata has addressed my question somewhat, albeit to say only at this point that the instance cluster isn't included with purchase of the expansion and that they're still working on the pricing of the instance cluster - no mention of whether account status will make a difference, though.

Dear Mr. Campbell,

I actually would like to give you cash for an expansion as I realize that making a profit isn't evil and is the key to LotRO continuing as a viable game. But I'm not a sucker, willing to give you cash just because you put out a substandard, shoddy product that is called an expansion but is in reality a quest pack.

I would have expected the expac to include the overland quests (check), mounted combat (free for all, not included in the expac so there's no need to spend money on it), instances (I'm a lifer so I get all updates); I see now that $40 gives me a quest pack, and some horse trait lines, and that's all I see. I was expecting to shell out for the top tier pre-order, but now the only rational thing for me to do is to use my accumulated TP to purchase the glorified QP.

I've been here since beta, and I'm not ready to say that I'm going to quit, but maybe I'll just fall back to logging in less often, maybe just running festival quests, or maybe completing deeds on my 6 level capped toons. This would be a huge change for me as I'm used to running raids, instances, pvp, you name it. You just haven't given me anything that looks worthwhile to do at end game; do your login stats really cover what people are doing to keep a server vibrant? I've tried to keep 3-4 toons raid ready, this will likely fall down to 1 toon, if I even care to keep that one up.

This is the sorriest excuse for an expansion that I've ever seen. Maybe there's something awesome that you haven't yet disclosed and you can yet redeem yourself. Right now I'm just discouraged. Is there anything that you or your staff can say in the next month to pique my interest in the future of the game?

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us. A 70$ expansion? Yes a bit overpriced but I am sure it will qualify as an expansion better than Rift's or WoW's or the soon to be released GW2. Another thing. PEOPLE, STOP ANNOUNCING THAT YOU ARE LEAVING A GAME. YOU ARE ACTING AS IF YOU LEAVING WILL MAKE TURBINE COME TO YOUR DOOR AND BEG YOU TO COME BACK IN! Honestly, if you don't like this game then why do you play it. You wanna go to GW2? No one is stopping you but don't announce it! Right now non of you are being encouraging. Don't critizice what you don't know! I bet you Turbine won't disappoint us, they are not dumb.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us. A 70$ expansion? Yes a bit overpriced but I am sure it will qualify as an expansion better than Rift's or WoW's or the soon to be released GW2. Another thing. PEOPLE, STOP ANNOUNCING THAT YOU ARE LEAVING A GAME. YOU ARE ACTING AS IF YOU LEAVING WILL MAKE TURBINE COME TO YOUR DOOR AND BEG YOU TO COME BACK IN! Honestly, if you don't like this game then why do you play it. You wanna go to GW2? No one is stopping you but don't announce it! Right now non of you are being encouraging. Don't critizice what you don't know! I bet you Turbine won't disappoint us, they are not dumb.

The people who've been here a while have given Turbine a chance. And another. And yet another. And another after that.

Mirkwood contained quite a bit less content than Moria did, but at least it made up for it by being cheaper.

RoI contained no new endgame 3- or 6-man instances at launch, a feat which no major MMO had ever done before, nor probably even considered. Many folks were of the opinion that "Turbine won't disappoint us [by not releasing any new instances with an expansion], they are not dumb", and were unpleasantly surprised. We also learned that Turbine wasn't very good at communicating things to us, as people had a lot of questions that went unanswered until somebody actually talked to a Turbine employee in person and posted the interview on the forums. Only when Turbine's hand was forced were we given any real information about whether or not RoI would have an instance cluster.

We did get Draigoch, but that fight was buggy for a number of people (and still is). The new multi-boss raid was launched a few months later - overtuned and undertested, and had bugs of its own that weren't fixed for months.

Now RoR is coming, and Turbine has decided to not release a new instance cluster with the expansion yet again. What was supposed to be an aberration is now the norm, apparently - with the one main difference being a rather large increase in price for what appears to be less content (although perhaps we're supposed to be happy to work on a new LI with a horse skin), and Turbine has proved to yet again be inept at communication. I don't blame the community reps for this, as they can only tell us what they're told, but the fact that nobody seemed to anticipate any of the questions that the players have had the last few days shows that there is still a pretty serious deficiency somewhere in Turbine.

The PvMPers keep waiting for a new map, or a sincere attempt at balance or class revamps. There are things in the Moors that have been bugged for years that still haven't been fixed.

The end-game raiders who stuck with it through RoI believed that RoR would at least give us a new raid at launch, rather than months later. Turns out that they were wrong, and I suspect that many of them believe that when a new raid does come out, that it'll probably be buggy and undertested yet again.

The crafters dealt with no new crafting tier in Mirkwood, got a new tier in RoI but found it terribly disjointed and rather useless until level 75, and have been dealing with the fact that they haven't made top-tier armor since SoA.

Long-time players of all stripes keep seeing changes made that seem solely motivated by the Store and/or attracting/milking new players with little thought to existing players.

People keep hoping that the next expansion or major content update will finally be the one that makes the game they love even better, but instead things seem to keep going the other direction. So they get more and more disillusioned, and some of them voice their displeasure on the forums. Some of them mention that they're going to other games, and I think that many of them do so to let Turbine know exactly why they're leaving: game X has this and this, LOTRO doesn't; game X's company communicates with its players, LOTRO doesn't; and so forth.

I suppose that they could just quietly fill out the exit survey that's presented to those who cancel their VIP subscriptions, but that isn't an option for F2P or Premium players, would be stupid for a Lifetimer to do, and apparently Turbine's concern for its existing players is so poor that the exit survey still only lets you enter a value up to 65 for what level your character is - nine months after we've been able to get to 75.

I fail to see what harm there is in someone, or many someones, voicing their displeasure with the path this game seems to be on or the pricing of the expansion and calmly explaining why it's finally the last straw for them and they're moving on. Perhaps if something that you'd invested a lot of time, care, money, and emotion into continually disappointed you or upset you then you would stay quiet about it and just silently walk away from it, but many other people aren't like that. If you're that upset or bothered by other people not liking something that you like, then learn to avoid reading those sorts of posts.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us. A 70$ expansion? Yes a bit overpriced but I am sure it will qualify as an expansion better than Rift's or WoW's or the soon to be released GW2. Another thing. PEOPLE, STOP ANNOUNCING THAT YOU ARE LEAVING A GAME. YOU ARE ACTING AS IF YOU LEAVING WILL MAKE TURBINE COME TO YOUR DOOR AND BEG YOU TO COME BACK IN! Honestly, if you don't like this game then why do you play it. You wanna go to GW2? No one is stopping you but don't announce it! Right now non of you are being encouraging. Don't critizice what you don't know! I bet you Turbine won't disappoint us, they are not dumb.

Too late on Turbine not disappointing people:

Celestrata:

We will be releasing an instance cluster after the update comes out. However, we have not discussed the pricing of the cluster at this time. The mention of the cluster being free to players who have purchased Rohan was incorrect, and that's what we have removed. There is no instance cluster coming out simultaneously with the expansion. We will be discussing the pricing of the instance cluster at a later time.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us.

Turbine told people that the cluster would be included with the purchase. They later stated that this was incorrect, and pricing will be discussed later.

Turbine can give out refunds, or they can add the cluster as a bonus to those who bought the expansion before the correction, but they can't make up for false advertising with fluff content that was already part of the expansion anyway.

Originally Posted by Lestache

The people who've been here a while have given Turbine a chance. And another. And yet another. And another after that.

You said it exactly. I have no hope now that things will get better. RoR does not look in any way like a full expansion.

In my sad dreams I was hoping that the money put back into Lotro would finaly bear fruit in an amazing expansion - but it just looks like more of the same. Mounted combat may be cool - but most likely it will be hyped a lot, and the rest of the "expansion" will be so-so.

Originally Posted by Lestache

lots of intelligent words.

You hit the nail on the head with this post. I find it really sad to admit I played GW2 beta today, and didn't even miss lotro.

As much as I have loved this game, nothing about the actual game interests me anymore. The thought of leveling up another 10 levels and then derping around in another broken raid with sub par rewards is not motivating at all, and paying $40 for it is just ugh.

I wish I could just take all the people I have enjoyed playing with and transfer them to a new game because that's the only thing I'm sad to leave behind at this point.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us.

It's too late, we've already been disappointed. We were hoping for an expansion, but what we have is a quest pack.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

Honestly, if you don't like this game then why do you play it. You wanna go to GW2? No one is stopping you but don't announce it!

Actually, I think you'll find the majority of people here are this way because they care about lotro and because they love it. Surely that much is obvious? What we are able to see is that a game with such potential and such heart is being ruined by the people in suits at Turbine.

I'd actually love Turbine to prove me wrong. I don't hold out much hope for that, though.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us. A 70$ expansion? Yes a bit overpriced but I am sure it will qualify as an expansion better than Rift's or WoW's or the soon to be released GW2. Another thing. PEOPLE, STOP ANNOUNCING THAT YOU ARE LEAVING A GAME. YOU ARE ACTING AS IF YOU LEAVING WILL MAKE TURBINE COME TO YOUR DOOR AND BEG YOU TO COME BACK IN! Honestly, if you don't like this game then why do you play it. You wanna go to GW2? No one is stopping you but don't announce it! Right now non of you are being encouraging. Don't critizice what you don't know! I bet you Turbine won't disappoint us, they are not dumb.

So it is safe to assume that you haven't been around for long?

But if you have been around for some time, you would have seen that the older contents from Shadows of Angmar for instance, has a completely different quality to it. But most importantly, what is killing off Lord of the Rings is Turbine themselves.

Back then, it was a complete focus on the Tolkien lore, and the Tolkien stories; now it is all about buy buy buy buy buy, even in the so called Player versus Monster (PvMP) player scenarios.


So if you have missed it, Turbine has done a rather nice series of complete mess-ups, including but not limited to Draigoch, armours in the store, anti-stun pots for PVP, legendary relics grind, lootboxes and it goes on...

Turbine has said on countless occasions that they will improve communications with the community, but they are still silent, with exception of Sapience, Jwbarry and Celestrata who are actually taking their time to give us information.

So you ask us to give Turbine a chance?

- They have had their chance, for years - but they are still not fixing what is broken or communicating with the community.

I'd just like to throw in here that the LI system was a good idea at the start. when i got my first LI i though "cool! i can costomize my weapon!" and was happy i didnt have to get preset weapons (though it was much easier, i liked to costomize) however, after moria/mirkwood i realized how much work was needed to get a LI to be good.

but it was still much much better in the MoM days and id say that lotro reached is pinacle at MoM. a first age was not at all out of reach (turtle, simple 1 boss run that can drop a first age) and with MoM i'd say it beat SoA anyday. the instances in Moria were great and i loved it in every way.

SoM was still great, though the DG grind was too much for me. running sword halls every day got a bit boring. LI grind became worse. i still liked it for asthetics but the gear gridn

but BOOM here comes WB with their store. and RoI was a flop, the LI system was fail, and it requires MOAAAAR grind. any scrolls of empowerment or stuff requires massive TP or massive mark grinds or money.

in short: since MoM the LI grind has gotten progressivly WORSE to the point where from MoM to RoI the % fo people who have 1rst ages has dropped.

Personally, as a casual player, i once had a chance (turtle) to get a first age (PUG groups could do it with proper management.)

now i dont have a snowballs chance to get one. the raid to get the first age requires the best people with the best gear.

so now to get good stuff i need good stuff, wich to get i need good stuff, and time, and so on.

In short: Ya need good gear to get good gear

and ya need more time and more stuff to get good LIs. the LI grind has gotten incredibly long.

OH, BY THE WAY, HAS ANYONE NOTICED THE DWARF RIDING THE HORSE IN THE UPPER LEFT OF THE SIDEBAR NEAR "LOTRO COMMUNITY"? NOTICE THAT HE HAS BOTH HANDS ON HIS AXE WHILE RIDING? THATS BECAUSE DWARVES ARE EXPERT HORSEMEN!

THE LORE HAS BEEN BUTCHERED!

I have to say I am terribly disappointed with the info given on the Rohan release. And what da HELL is up with the bogus bonuses... I mean... egads! I could give a #### about any of the pre-purchase bonuses and they don't even make sense. I have always been a lotro cheerleader... but now? This all seems like a sad money making scheme. I understand money has to be made... hence why I pay VIP... but now I just feel like I am getting ripped off. What am I paying VIP for? I am starting to wonder...

They want good bonuses? Email me turbine people... or pretty much any player, we'll tell you what we're looking for. This Rohan ain't it. It just seems really... lame.

Originally Posted by Wibz

It's actually quite impressive that with every comment Turbine makes about RoR they manage to make the situation worse and turn even more people against them.

Haha! I couldn't have said it better myself!
+Rep for you

Originally Posted by Lendas

I'd just like to throw in here that the LI system was a good idea at the start. when i got my first LI i though "cool! i can costomize my weapon!" and was happy i didnt have to get preset weapons (though it was much easier, i liked to costomize) however, after moria/mirkwood i realized how much work was needed to get a LI to be good.

but it was still much much better in the MoM days and id say that lotro reached is pinacle at MoM. a first age was not at all out of reach (turtle, simple 1 boss run that can drop a first age) and with MoM i'd say it beat SoA anyday. the instances in Moria were great and i loved it in every way.

SoM was still great, though the DG grind was too much for me. running sword halls every day got a bit boring. LI grind became worse. i still liked it for asthetics but the gear gridn

but BOOM here comes WB with their store. and RoI was a flop, the LI system was fail, and it requires MOAAAAR grind. any scrolls of empowerment or stuff requires massive TP or massive mark grinds or money.

in short: since MoM the LI grind has gotten progressivly WORSE to the point where from MoM to RoI the % fo people who have 1rst ages has dropped.

Personally, as a casual player, i once had a chance (turtle) to get a first age (PUG groups could do it with proper management.)

now i dont have a snowballs chance to get one. the raid to get the first age requires the best people with the best gear.

so now to get good stuff i need good stuff, wich to get i need good stuff, and time, and so on.

In short: Ya need good gear to get good gear

and ya need more time and more stuff to get good LIs. the LI grind has gotten incredibly long.

Yes. Exactly. Well put.

As to giving Turbine yet one more chance, a song from my childhood (dance steps omitted, but feel free to hop along):

Little Bunny Foofoo hopping through the forest, picking up the field mouse and bopping them on the head.
Out comes the Good Fairy, and she says, "Little Bunny Foofoo I don't want to see you picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head. I'll give you three chances, and if you don't stop, I'll turn you into a goon."

Repeat for first chance
Repeat for second chance
Repeat for last chance

Out comes the Good Fairy and she says, "Little Bunny Foofoo I gave you three chances. Now I'm going to turn you into a goon."

The moral of this story? Hare today, Goon tomorrow.

"In addition to the Mounted Combat skills, we're developing three new or improved skills for each class."

Three new or improved skills for ten new levels is to low, because these mounted combat skills will only be available in one specific region. Without really big class revisions it will be very depressing to play and level up...

Does anyone remember this post quite some time ago

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...73#post5948973

I specifically want to point out 2 extremely important parts.....

"The launch of LOTRO’s F2P version, for instance, multiplied monthly audiences and provided an increase in revenues which we will re-invest in the game. We’ve been ramping up for some time now and you’ll start to see more evidence of that re-investment this year in the form of major new content and game systems."

........Ok so if revenues were up and you have so much to reinvest into the game, why are we being nickled and dime'd by breaking Riders of Rohan into a glorified quest pack which nobody in their right mind would call a good value for their money, even including all the useless fluff, and later a Instance Cluster in which there is no transparency as to who exactly will get it for free if anyone, just speculation.

"We’ll take this as a sign that we need to do a better job in clear and open communication. In the future we will take more time to explain why - not just what we’re doing."

........Get your collective heads out of the sand and explain why you are separating the Rohan Quest Pack (Which you refer to as a Expansion) and the Instance cluster as 2 separate products and not giving any clarity as to what exactly differentiates Rohan (in quest pack or expansion form) from other offerings and why we should buy it, especially when it's purchase will include nothing special to do once we hit level cap (or even months later without forking out additional money) besides maybe some dull grind in the spirit of Limlight Gorge.

I took this excerp out of the interview talked about in this thread thread http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...-amp-A-from-E3! , which can be read here http://kalamarikastle.com/?p=4947

Q: Will Moors access for freeps be available for purchase for FTP players?
A: We aren’t the right people to ask about that, not the business team, but it’s an interesting idea!

Seems to show where the priorities lie atm....if it doesn't make the business team 100% happy, then it doesn't get done. So should we be asking the Business team why the expansion (Glorified Quest Pack) is being sold in its current offerings?

Originally Posted by Vezz

.../snip

So should we be asking the Business team why the expansion (Glorified Quest Pack) is being sold in its current offerings?

Depending on who you ask, you will get a different answer. And by that, I mean the employees at Turbine.

Clearly they are not sure what is going on, because one day they will say "yes of course", the next days they will say "of course not", and by mid-week its all turned into "maybe, unless its yes or no".

Just read different interviews, and Turbine representatives posts on the forums and you will see the inconsistency. That is obviously an indicator that there are internal communication problems too.

Originally Posted by Sapience

• Patience said convenience, not advantage.

Very true. It’s one of our guiding principles. Some people have time, others have money and when players are willing to trade money for time we usually consider that a convenience. Our goal is to allow players to customize their play experience to deliver as much fun per hour of play as they want without impacting the play of others.

• What’s not a convenience?

Anything that’s compulsory to be competitive in ranked play or achieves something by degrading another player’s experience. We have not and will not make that part of our F2P offering.

Anti-stun pots in PvMP, Anti-fall immunity in PvMP, Steed speed boost in PvMP, Morale/Power pots healing over Time in PvMP, Damage reduction scrolls in PvMP...do I need to go on? These are things that are available to people with money, giving an advantage in a Player versus Player scenario; its not for everyone.

But back on topic, it is clear that Riders of Rohan is controversial, but we will not see any change in price, or change in the package offer.

And I bet my grandmother and her knitting set, that we won't see anything about WHY the price is so high for Riders of Rohan, especially since it's excluding raids/skirmishes

Originally Posted by Sapience

In the future we will take more time to explain why - not just what we’re doing.

Originally Posted by ElvenKing_of_Old

You guys, give Turbine a chance. Most likely they will not disappoint us. A 70$ expansion? Yes a bit overpriced but I am sure it will qualify as an expansion better than Rift's or WoW's or the soon to be released GW2. Another thing. PEOPLE, STOP ANNOUNCING THAT YOU ARE LEAVING A GAME. YOU ARE ACTING AS IF YOU LEAVING WILL MAKE TURBINE COME TO YOUR DOOR AND BEG YOU TO COME BACK IN! Honestly, if you don't like this game then why do you play it. You wanna go to GW2? No one is stopping you but don't announce it! Right now non of you are being encouraging. Don't critizice what you don't know! I bet you Turbine won't disappoint us, they are not dumb.

lawl.....


There's a sucker born every minute.

Your right, they are not dumb.

They just want your money, and they are being very smart about getting as much as they can.

[Bold added]

Originally Posted by Vezz

Does anyone remember this post quite some time ago

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...73#post5948973

....

"The launch of LOTRO’s F2P version, for instance, multiplied monthly audiences and provided an increase in revenues which we will re-invest in the game. We’ve been ramping up for some time now and you’ll start to see more evidence of that re-investment this year in the form of major new content and game systems." ....

Obviously, for whatever reasons, this never happened: reinvesting and ramping up. This would have meant they hired more staff to develop Lotro. But we have not seen better content, and not really more content. Both ROI and RoR don't look to be anything special. Where is the full expansion, where is the increased QA work to reduce bugs? I do believe they have been doing well - but just not reinvesting in the game.

Originally Posted by Lendas

THE LORE HAS BEEN BUTCHERED!

One Word: Orthanc

Here's the bottom line folks (truly) I'll keep it simple,

Let's say in the past if Turbine sold 4 expansions for $30 they made $120
In the F2P era they sell 2 expansions for $70 they made $140

Turbine could lose HALF the player base and still be making more money than pre-F2P.

Less overhead, less complaints, less cost and more money, what's not to like from their end?

Unless there is such tremendous blow-back against this pricing scheme that it can affect the bottom line negatively its my opinion that this is the new standard we'll see from Turbine from now on, nothing more than overpriced quest packs labeled as expansions...

Have you guys learned nothing about turbine ?????
They will tell you what they want you to know, when they want you to know it and don't really give a damn about what we think or want. Turbine are not interested in answering our questions, but instead only care about taking our money. It has been this way from the start and it will continue to be like this until the end. The problem is, that because we love this game so much, we put up with it and turbine know this. They know that we are going to continue having our little moans at them, but they also know that we are going to carry on playing this game. So in effect, they have one hand in our pockets while the other hand is squeezing us by the (you know what).

http://rohan.lotro.com/features.html
VS
http://stormlegion.riftgame.com/en/
or
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/mis...daria/feature/

Compare expansions content(wow-mop and rift -sl) with RoR . Both (wow and rift) expansions look like expansions (full of content) RoR expansion look like questpack ?

if it comes to finances, if i where a WB stockholdeer and if i was a smart stockholder i'd look though all the stuff about this possibly big impact event on my porfolio.

if i was a smart WB stockholder id look though all the feedback from the costomer base to see if i should jump ship or invest more

i would go though all the MMO review sites and the forums.

i would come to this thread.

i would hit sell. no way is turbine/WB gonna make a huge profit off of this if there is this much negative feedback about this glorified questpack.



honestly, if they just let turbine run the way it was running before + some F2P and store im sure RoI and RoR would be good. but there is no more excitement.

If i am a WB stockholder i would not be happy about this.

If i am a WB stockholder in gonna pull my money out of their pockets. becuase in both long and short term, this is not looking good.

WB finance people looked at their charts and saw the demand-to-price ratio intersect at the point they are pricing it now.
they miscalculated how gullible we are. sorry turbine but we are not WoW kiddies. you are waaay off.

Time to invest in GW2

The usual assumption is that what we see in-game is the result of a determined rationale. That things are as they are because Turbine made a positive affirmation for them to be that way. That someone, or some defined group, within Turbine considered their options and made a decision. But if you make the opposite assumption, that things are chaotic at Turbine because there are too many groups making decisions and that the decisions by some are over-ridden by others and then there are still others with a road map that doesn't match the road map of any of the other decision-makers, you get an organization that has no clear direction and therefore no clear statement to communicate.

I've spent half my life in the corporate world, and from my experience decisions are rarely made for the reasons people think they are, assume they are, or even hope they are. They are made for ego enhancement, fiefdom protection, fear, cowardice, self-protection, personal animosity, laziness and expedience. They are made under the influence of fatigue, stress, neurosis, family drama, and controlled substances. The more at stake, the more these factors come into play. All businesses suffer to some degree from this, why should Turbine be any different?

Originally Posted by DrumMajorC

ZOMG! Does endgame fishing include going out on a boat with my 11 other buddies and killing a whale?!?

Yes, but each of you must be solo, and at a separate spot on the boat.


I can see the big sign posted on the moors already.


Gone Fishing!


*Refills the popcorn bowl, and takes a seat in his favorite easy chair near the hearth.*