Thread: Kalamari Kastle's Review of ROR Plus Exclusive Community Q&A from E3!

Kalamari Kastle's Review of ROR Plus Exclusive Community Q&A from E3!

Check out KK's Review of the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion to Lord of the Rings Online!

In addition to a review of the expansion check out the exclusive community Q&A where KK asked Turbine staff a number of questions straight from you the community!

http://kalamarikastle.com/?p=4947

Hm. Interesting - thanks for the link.

You deserve +rep for that.

Q: Will there be a new PVMP zone?
A: Not on the Road Map!

Lmao

This was an excellent article.

I would like a dev or one of the community managers to address the question about the skirmish soldiers, though. Surely, there's going to be a trait level increase for skirmish soldiers.

Originally Posted by hillard1959

This was an excellent article.

I would like a dev or one of the community managers to address the question about the skirmish soldiers, though. Surely, there's going to be a trait level increase for skirmish soldiers.

I would like a community manager to adress whether or not we are entitled to refunds based on the fact that pre-orders were paid for based on false advertising that was later changed.

Q: Will there be a new PVMP zone?
A: Not on the Road Map!

Thats it, im out, it has been a great 5 year run... (Hopefully i'll come and visit once in a while.)
------
Seems like this is gonna be one of the last expansion for lotro guys.

Originally Posted by dadiro95

Q: Will there be a new PVMP zone?
A: Not on the Road Map!

Thats it, im out, it has been a great 5 year run... (Hopefully i'll come and visit once in a while.)
------
Seems like this is gonna be one of the last expansion for lotro guys.

I don't know. I think this game still has at least another 5 years left in it. Personally, though I'd really like to see a new PVMP zone or PVMP skirmishes, I'm kinda intrigued by the proposed changes to capturing keeps. If done right, I might actually drag my butt out to the Moors more often and get past Rank 2.

I've loved playing lotro for years now,but what they are doing is destroying this game for the bottum line and i personally am not sure if i want to stick around to watch this train wreck.Half the items that were "Not on teh road map" were things that we were told they were working on before RoI.What a joke.Anyone else think that the prodeucer should be fired. Since he took over this game has been going down hill fast.

Originally Posted by dadiro95

Q: Will there be a new PVMP zone?
A: Not on the Road Map!

Thats it, im out, it has been a great 5 year run... (Hopefully i'll come and visit once in a while.)
------
Seems like this is gonna be one of the last expansion for lotro guys.

Why because of no new PVP map? Not everyone who plays this game likes doing PVP. PVP was not intended for this game. If you came to this game for pvp you are playing the wrong game.

Originally Posted by Eartholloth

Why because of no new PVP map? Not everyone who plays this game likes doing PVP. PVP was not intended for this game. If you came to this game for pvp you are playing the wrong game.

No not just because of the map, but the price as well.
Well, listen,
Pretend you level at Bree-Land, and each year they would just add a few quests to get you to the next max level, wouldn't that place get boring? Same land?

Only bad news from this article...

I'm going to do everything I can to try to make myself stick around.

But no, I don't believe this expansion will kill lotro. This game will probably be around until for the next 5 years until the liscense is gone. It will lose customers, but not enough to kill it.

Ya guess, so, maybe i was overeacting.. but still they are going to lose a bunch of costumers.

Originally Posted by dadiro95

Ya guess, so, maybe i was overeacting.. but still they are going to lose a bunch of costumers.

It already has. And then it gained some. MMOs are a revolving door. People will drop in, drop out, complain about the direction a game is going, play some other game for a while, get bored with that and come back... But, like most MMOs it will retain a core fanbase that will stick with it to the bitter, bitter end.

While I feel bad for the PVMP players over this announcement, I can't really say that I'm suprised by it. PVMP has always seemed such a very small part of this game and looks likely to remain that way. That part of the system just limps along with tweaks here and there but that's about it. Doesn't really affect me as it's not an aspect of the game that I've ever cared about, but it seems that many players do; or maybe its a small group that's very vocal. I don't know. Anyway, I can't understand why Turbine won't throw those players a bone and give them a new area to fight in. I'm not a programmer/developer but is it really so hard?? Maybe the answer is that they're short staffed and just putting out regular updates and expansions pushes them to the edge of their resources. They know some players want more PVMP content and they want to give it to them but they just don't have the manpower to make it happen. Not without sacrificing the frequency of regular updates, which has a greater impact on the health of the game.

LMAO. I am even more suprised they are not even gonna bother jumping in on the Hobbit movies. That is even more disturbing.

That doesn't make any sense at all. Especially since they own the rights for it.

Those guys really like exclamation points!

Originally Posted by Jeronan

LMAO. I am even more suprised they are not even gonna bother jumping in on the Hobbit movies. That is even more disturbing.

That doesn't make any sense at all. Especially since they own the rights for it.

Well, they always said the story of the books (meaning LotR) is the centre of the game, so it does make sense... I think it would also be bad to develop Northern Mirkwood now and then be put to shame because in the movies everything looks much better. I could also see the WB not wanting them to "mess" with franchise games they are planning for the Hobbit. Oh how much I crave for a game like what was planned with "The White Council". Elder's Scrolls in Middle-Earth!

Of course, we have made distractions and sideways from the book's path, but the reasons for that were always connected to the Fellowship.


I personally had always believed that they would go at least until Gondor first and maybe then to the North, as that is the time in which the battles there took place... why go to another place where there is just lead-up to some battles again and no real actions, while in the South all the big book events happen?

The Battle under the Trees is on the same day as the Battle of the Pelennor (15 March) and the Battle for Dale on 17 March. So I don't see a point in going North in the first days of March where we should be after RoR.




As to the article... I do feel sympathy for the PvP players... although, never entered the Ettenmoors in 5 years of playing, I am also glad to some extent that the progression of the story has been more swift in the last 1.5 years and that I get more ME moments again... so for me this article is not negative at all, as I do not see how it will kill the game anytime soon.

Originally Posted by dadiro95

Q: Will there be a new PVMP zone?
A: Not on the Road Map!

Thats it, im out, it has been a great 5 year run... (Hopefully i'll come and visit once in a while.)
------
Seems like this is gonna be one of the last expansion for lotro guys.

Kinda feel your rage here, especially since a new map has been promised for some time now (here, for example. But I can't say i'm surprised. For a long time now it's been obvious that pvmp is very low priority for Turbine. Which is sort of strange since a lot of new creeps will have to buy skills from store because of the commendation prices.

"Regarding speed the war mounts will be the fastest mounts in the game with 300 times the run speed of a normal character."

I'm sure there is a typo here. It should be either 3 times or 300%. 300 times would be like light speed.

Regarding speed the war mounts will be the fastest mounts in the game with 300 times the run speed of a normal character.

300% Mount speed? Isn't that a bit to fast?

Originally Posted by Hibbit

Regarding speed the war mounts will be the fastest mounts in the game with 300 times the run speed of a normal character.

300% Mount speed? Isn't that a bit to fast?

We have double the size of Moria to ride upon ... ;-)

Q: Are you working on any updates on the player avatar?
A: We are working on an avatar upgrade for the future!

Interesting... very interesting:-)

Originally Posted by SHADOW83

.Anyone else think that "Rowan" the prodeucer should be fired.Since he took over this game has been going down hill fast.

Aaron "Rowan" Campbell is a Senior Producer, he's not the Executive Producer of LOTRO. Someone above him told him to deal with this mess and he gave it a shot so give him some slack.

I hope this feedback remains on the forums this time.

Similar to the Massively interview, pretty thin line up coming our way. This eastern/western Rohan thing is if concern, and could expensive for customers. As for PvMP we were told a new region was on the cards, can't expect players not to be angry.

From the RoI page link;

NEW FEATURES:

Experience the Rise of Isengard – The Epic Story continues as the Grey Company makes its way south into Dunland, but troubles arise as their road takes them into lands where Dunlending forces, marshaled by the Wizard Saruman, prepare for war. The Rangers must seek new allies and face dangerous new foes, chief among them the traitor Saruman, whose web of intrigue threatens to endanger your quest, your friends, and your life.
Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 70, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.
Expanded Monster Play – LOTRO’s monster play system will get a major revamp including opening up the feature to all players, changes to monster player skills and advancement and a brand new region for players to battle for or against the forces of evil.

Not on the roadmap!

Well, I guess at 300 times run speed you will need an inertial navigation system coupled with some kind of safe landing package anyway..could probably jump out the doors of Glan Vraig and land in the EC!

Originally Posted by nolins12

Q: Will there be a new PVMP zone?
A: Not on the Road Map!

Lmao

A: Not on the Road Map and not in the Future...

Is the Right answer he mean ^^

Regarding speed the war mounts will be the fastest mounts in the game with 300 times the run speed of a normal character.

300 times the run speed of a normal character.

300 times

Originally Posted by MoonwalkIntoMordor

300 times? 300% is only 3 times the normal run speed of a character. 300 times would be 30000%, and that would be fairly well unplayable (I can only guess they got their percentage maths confused a bit).

Considering the regular mounts are 162/168% character run speed (so about 1.5 times faster) the 3 times faster might be more like the stable mount speeds.

It looks like in paraphrasing our answers, some of the details were blurred. As I was one of the people in the room, I'll try and give some more clarity on a couple of items.

Originally Posted by Hibbit

Regarding speed the war mounts will be the fastest mounts in the game with 300 times the run speed of a normal character.

300% Mount speed? Isn't that a bit to fast?

I can see where this is a bit confusing. As noted, the fastest steed now is 168% speed. Which is compared as one steed to another. NOT to a walking character compared to a steed. Steeds are already faster than a running character, and faster than even a Hunter with Find the path or other speed boosts on them. War-steeds are currently between 180% and 220% speed (again, using mount speed comparisons, not running to mount speed comparisons). These numbers are likely to change during beta. I can honestly say you eat up a lot of real estate very quickly in mounted combat.

Originally Posted by kedarid

Q: Are you working on any updates on the player avatar?
A: We are working on an avatar upgrade for the future!

Interesting... very interesting:-)

Just want to temper this a tiny bit. It's something we're studying. We continue to upgrade our environmental effects and improve the graphics of the game. Avatars are something that's definitely lagging behind a bit and it's something we really want to address and update. So yes it's on the table, but not as part of Rohan and unlikely to be this year.

Originally Posted by CGDrakken

Aaron "Rowan" Campbell is a Senior Producer, he's not the Executive Producer of LOTRO. Someone above him told him to deal with this mess and he gave it a shot so give him some slack.

Kate and I were the primary individuals involved in the Q&A in the OP. Aaron's Q&A is part of a planned series of Q&A's that we'll be rolling out on a regular basis. If you recall, we started with a general Q&A with questions submitted by the Community via Facebook. You can expect more of both types as we go through the summer and beta.

Originally Posted by Eartholloth

Why because of no new PVP map? Not everyone who plays this game likes doing PVP. PVP was not intended for this game. If you came to this game for pvp you are playing the wrong game.

I take it you're new to the game? Read the second page of this thread. A new PVP zone was supposed to be included in the Rise of Isengard release, and when I say supposed to I don't mean a friend of a friend told me... It was included in turbines official release statement. Now after five years they say they have no intention of doing it and you wonder why players like the above are angry about it?

Stating that pvp was not intended for this game just does not cut it... PVP was included in the game and thus has to be supported. If a new car is sold with an air conditioner it has to be working, the dealer can't simply say "sorry we didn't intend to put air conditioners in this car, if you wanted an air conditioner you bought the wrong car..."

Originally Posted by hillard1959

It already has. And then it gained some. MMOs are a revolving door. People will drop in, drop out, complain about the direction a game is going, play some other game for a while, get bored with that and come back... But, like most MMOs it will retain a core fanbase that will stick with it to the bitter, bitter end.

I think (by plan) the revolving door is getting up to about 300X faster than it used to be.

More revolving, less people staying for long, new players paying enough money for in the store to make them very attractive to Turbine.

Wow, VERY disappointing news for PvMP players. That includes myself. I thought there was mention of a new map/zone being included with ROI?

Now there's no plans. Good message to send to everyone that had there hopes up. Lets call those people---->customers.

Originally Posted by Cindir

I think (by plan) the revolving door is getting up to about 300X faster than it used to be.

More revolving, less people staying for long, new players paying enough money for in the store to make them very attractive to Turbine.

I don't think I'd agree with that. At least not completely. If there wasn't enough people sticking around to play the newest content, it would make no financial sense to create new, high-level content. But they have and are and will likely continue to do so well into the future. It comes right back to that core fanbase. While new players who don't stick around long might bring in extra cash, your core fanbase is your steady paycheck. You don't mess with your steady money.

Originally Posted by Sapience

I can see where this is a bit confusing. As noted, the fastest steed now is 168% speed. Which is compared as one steed to another. NOT to a walking character compared to a steed. Steeds are already faster than a running character, and faster than even a Hunter with Find the path or other speed boosts on them. War-steeds are currently between 180% and 220% speed (again, using mount speed comparisons, not running to mount speed comparisons). These numbers are likely to change during beta. I can honestly say you eat up a lot of real estate very quickly in mounted combat.

I'm rather enjoying the mysterious steed from Combe. I likely missed it, but in session play I did not see an indication of the run speed of myself or the boosted speed using the nifty "faster" skill.

So I have a sense for the numbers you mention, what is the base speed of the Combe steed as a percentage?

Cheers,
Gloimli @ Windfola

My favorite question/answer from the interview:

Q: Will the rift be scaled?
A: Over time most instances will be scaled

I just love the idea of running CD on level again.

Cheers,
Gloimli @ Windfola

Some days ago I noticed Turbine has the rights to The Hobbit to make North Mirkwood/Dale/Lonely Mountain, but now they axe that hope...

Originally Posted by BINKLEY1

I'm rather enjoying the mysterious steed from Combe. I likely missed it, but in session play I did not see an indication of the run speed of myself or the boosted speed using the nifty "faster" skill.

So I have a sense for the numbers you mention, what is the base speed of the Combe steed as a percentage?

Cheers,
Gloimli @ Windfola

I honestly do not know. Also, just to be very clear, the numbers I gave are for the way things are as of the demo we gave at E3. That demo is severa versions behind and those numbers change on a regular basis as the team adjusts, tinkers, and tunes the game play. It will continue to change based on player feedback once Beta starts. I'm just trying to give you a ball park for reference. How you choose to trait your steed will also imapct its final speed.

Originally Posted by Sapience

I honestly do not know. Also, just to be very clear, the numbers I gave are for the way things are as of the demo we gave at E3. That demo is severa versions behind and those numbers change on a regular basis as the team adjusts, tinkers, and tunes the game play. It will continue to change based on player feedback once Beta starts. I'm just trying to give you a ball park for reference. How you choose to trait your steed will also imapct its final speed.

Cherry picking this small detail for response is not helpful. Players have real concerns here, and the main take away from this is that there is no PvMP zone, even though it's previously stated, surely you can see that? Am I missing something here, is this not to be discussed? I can see why some people get frustrated on these forums now when all they really want is accurate information. Ignoring this type of request, just leads to people escalating their behavior on the forums.

So to break it down so we can get some good info here.

1) what was the PvMP zone that we were going to get with RoI,can you tell us what we were looking to get, what was planned at that time?
2) was the work completed, or just theorized?
3) when was the new PvMP zone due to be released, with the instance cluster later in 2011?
4) why was the decision made not to continue work on this?
5) is this interview accurate that there is no road map for future PvMP zones or skirmishes? If it is, when are we getting this PvMP zone. To be clear, I am not talking about a revamp to the Ettenmoors content here.
6) can you see why players get frustrated by the way this is handled?

I hope that clears things up from the customers who wanted to talk about this part of the interview, I trust you are able to furnish us with more information.

Thanks

Originally Posted by Sapience

Just want to temper this a tiny bit. It's something we're studying. We continue to upgrade our environmental effects and improve the graphics of the game. Avatars are something that's definitely lagging behind a bit and it's something we really want to address and update. So yes it's on the table, but not as part of Rohan and unlikely to be this year.

I'm just glad to hear that this is on the table! With the world around us becoming more real, I hope that that will also be the direction for our player avatars. I never liked the cartoony curves and extremely limited customization. The male elf to me is the worst, with the warped spine and the ridiculous facial expressions, it has been enough to keep me away from them all these years! I'm excited to see what you guys do with this!