20 Questions – Big Battles

[Elderban]

Will promotions [NOT TO be confused with Battlefield Promotions], like audacity ONLY affect our characters while engaged in Big Battles?

From what I understand, Audacity only applies to the Ettenmoors and will not apply to Big Battles.

[whheydt]

Were you really expecting the Battle of the Hornburg to be done as a session play? That would be wholly unsatisifying to most everyone else.

No, I wasn't expecting to be a session play. However, our characters weren't there according to Tolkien, so by putting our characters there, we are decidedly not going to be playing through what Tolkien wrote about, but some alternate world where Turbine caters to those for whom game mechanics get to overrule the underlying IP. Makes me glad that my wife's book contracts specifically *didn't* grant game rights to the publisher...and that long before the rise in popularity of MMOs.

[whheydt]

So no traditional instance cluster in HD. I am not surprised - but this is a bad thing. More players will leave the game. It is like with the Battles, you decided because those are instanced, you don't even need to bother working on an Instance Cluster.

I am sure some players would be happy if you just put out good PVE content and zones, and good traditional instances including good raids. I will have to wait and see - but want to give the feedback that this doesn't sound so great to me, and it sounds like another small expansion because you don't have enough money to spend creating good group content. A full expansion would have 1) the Battles, 2) good PVE content, 3) good raid and group content. #3 is missing.

Yes I know the Battles are group content, but this is like if you decided to give mounted combat in RoR and then said "we have this great new thing, so we are deciding not to offer you any group content in the expansion this time".

You might consider trying the battle instances before writing them off as an unacceptable alternative to the tradition instance cluster. (Mind you, the workability of the Big Battles mechanic is a completely separate issue from my take away opinion of what Turbine is doing to the lore).

It's not that Turbine is 'only doing the Big Battle instances' and not a traditional instance cluster. It's that they haven't the resources (time/money/people) to do both. It is their instance cluster team that has been doing the work on the Big Battles.

[secondstar]

Hmm... Sizable Scuffles?

Massive Melees?

Colossal Conflicts?

[Maxal]

And WE NEED RAIDS. This is not raiding, is ... experiment, hybrid, i dont care. But we need raids. With out raids, lotro will die. And it seem we will not have raids for long time.

Wow normal doom and gloom here. Raids do not make this game. It has been stated for years that only a small portion of the player base raids. so how do raids save or kill LotRO if a very small portion actually plays them?

The rest of the comments are just your basic baiting comments. have fun catching anything. lol

[whheydt]

[COLOR="#FFFFFF"]
Limit yourself to participating on a man toon? Or pretend your hobbit/dwarf/Elf is having a very vivid dream. :P

More like grit my teeth and run ONLY those instances that are part of the Epic Books and otherwise completely ignore the existence of the "Big Battle" instances. It's a pity, really, since the mechanic looks to be be both good and interesting and will probably be excellent for handling the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate battles. I had hopes that Turbine had found a way to be truly innovative and done something that was neither putting player characters at the Battle of the Hornburg (objectionable to those that actually care about the lore) nor a session play (as there are those that really dislike that mechanic as well). Sadly, Turbine hasn't thought very far out of the box after all.

[Crell_1]

From what I understand, Audacity only applies to the Ettenmoors and will not apply to Big Battles.

Of course. My reference to 'Audacity' was to give an example of a current analogue system where the effects/bonuses arent in place outside of the system.

[Ciubakka]

So if you can get platinum in a solo encounter, what stops everyone just doing solo, get best gear, and be done with it? It's been like this through RoR already and i don't like the idea of that happening again. Unless platinum means you get only more points or what not and not gear.

[Nyrion]

More like grit my teeth and run ONLY those instances that are part of the Epic Books and otherwise completely ignore the existence of the "Big Battle" instances. It's a pity, really, since the mechanic looks to be be both good and interesting and will probably be excellent for handling the Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate battles. I had hopes that Turbine had found a way to be truly innovative and done something that was neither putting player characters at the Battle of the Hornburg (objectionable to those that actually care about the lore) nor a session play (as there are those that really dislike that mechanic as well). Sadly, Turbine hasn't thought very far out of the box after all.

Bolded for emphasis.

Listen dude, not complaining about this lore-break doesn't mean I don't care about the lore. Likewise, not wanting a session play here does not mean I necessarily dislike session plays. The way I see it, this is a 'gameplay over lore' example, like the existence of Swift Travel, Hobbits and Elves running every which way and us being in Moria, period. And yes, this is in fact a *game*, not a Lord of The Rings simulator, so sacrifices must be made. Your hope was in vain from the beginning, as there is no possible way for us to have our characters be present, which is what the bulk of us wished, while simultaneously NOT having them be present, which is what yourself and others wished.

[Crell_1]

So if you can get platinum in a solo encounter, what stops everyone just doing solo, get best gear, and be done with it? It's been like this through RoR already and i don't like the idea of that happening again. Unless platinum means you get only more points or what not and not gear.

A need to get the 'Platinum' medals for the quests in the group instances, so that they can get all of their 'promotions' The question then becomes, is the system self-contained, (Ie does the promotion only have a use there? if so, the player is free to do only solo for their 'gear' and ignore others)

[Elderban]

So here's my suggestion: Hold a naming contest -- allow people to submit names, pick the 10 or so ones that you guys would approve of, and then let the community vote for the favorite, with some appropriate prize. There's got to be enough creativity around here to come up with something better than Big Battles.

I second this idea. Or, dare I say, /signed?

[Elderban]

So if you can get platinum in a solo encounter, what stops everyone just doing solo, get best gear, and be done with it? It's been like this through RoR already and i don't like the idea of that happening again. Unless platinum means you get only more points or what not and not gear.

Why should it matter if someone solo's or goes as a raid for the platinum? Not everyone likes to group, many kins don't have enough players for a raid and there's no secret MMO rule that says you have to group up to get the best gear. I am guessing the battles will be MUCH harder for a solo player, anyway.

[LagunaD]

And WE NEED RAIDS. This is not raiding, is ... experiment, hybrid, i dont care. But we need raids. With out raids, lotro will die. And it seem we will not have raids for long time.

[...]

SO when HD will be lauched, what we will have at begining? Leveling until 95 and than? Skirmishes? Old raids? If battles will not be launched from start, (anyone remember Rohan launch?), than Turbine will really pay for these experiments.

Combined with skill tree ... all these ... pandas anyone? We are only missing instant aggro and instant healing like WoW and we are good to go mates.

Um...WoW has raids. Lots of them...

There aren't any 'bad guy hq's' so to speak in this region.

Dunharrow says hi.

[SNy-lotrolinux-EU]

Turbine Dictionary of Contemporary English:

solo [soh-loh], adjective, With a companion or partner, in a duo.

Example:

The solo option allows two players to be in the instance together, but does not increase its difficulty when the second player joins.

SNy

[Crell_1]

I am guessing the battles will be MUCH harder for a solo player, anyway.

Read Q6.

There's no reason to think they're all going to have group modes. If someone wants currency they'll probably pick the Solo only one and grind that to their hearts content.

[whheydt]

My "take away" from the thread comments...

I've spent the last two months getting heavily criticized for publicly stating a--obivous to me--conclusion that there would be no "traditional" instance cluster associated with HD, at launch or during the following year.

Anyone who has been insulting me over that point wish to apologize now? Or do you plan to spend all your time dumping on Turbine instead?

[Runesi_EU]

My "take away" from the thread comments...

I've spent the last two months getting heavily criticized for publicly stating a--obivous to me--conclusion that there would be no "traditional" instance cluster associated with HD, at launch or during the following year.

Anyone who has been insulting me over that point wish to apologize now? Or do you plan to spend all your time dumping on Turbine instead?

As I recall you also said it would most likely be session play or some other method of it not being our character

I for one am glad my character (be it elf, hobbit, dwarf or man) gets to partake.

[Minquinn]

My "take away" from the thread comments...

I've spent the last two months getting heavily criticized for publicly stating a--obivous to me--conclusion that there would be no "traditional" instance cluster associated with HD, at launch or during the following year.

Anyone who has been insulting me over that point wish to apologize now? Or do you plan to spend all your time dumping on Turbine instead?

Man you got some weird mood swings. I believe it was you dumping on Turbine a few posts ago about how disappointed you were that the big battles were totally lore breaking, that you would avoid them at all cost. Now you are demanding apologies from posters because you made some prediction about the game that no one needed a crystal ball to deduce.

No one criticized you, really it was just a bunch of players that were hoping that Turbine would give them Traditional Raids and instances.

Are you willing to apologize for any comment you made that may have made players feel alienated?

Thirdly the posters aren't dumping on Turbine, but they are skeptical about what Big battles brings to the table.
Why shouldn't they be?

I will await your answers.

[Othniel]

Dunharrow says hi.

I was actually afraid that Turbine *would* turn Dunharrow and the Dead in the mountain into the next raid cluster. I can't begin to say how happy I am that this isn't the case. After all, the way was shut until Aragorn's time. Ater that the Dead there would have been released, so the mountain would have been empty. It would have made little sense to make a raid out of Dunharrow.

There are two things that I'm wondering though. Forgive me if I'm repeating a question, but I've read up to this point and I don't think I missed this. Will skirmish marks, medallions, and seals play any part in these "Big Battles" or will they remain something you have to earn in other content if you want things like scrolls of empowerment and the like? Additionally, does this mean there might be hope for future "scaling down" of higher-level characters to join lower-level characters in content? If so, I hope such scaling would be optional as sometimes it is nice to be able to help out a kinmember or friend through some difficult content while being higher level.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this content. I have been a raider in the past, and still enjoy them from time to time (though less so with the more "grindy" feeling raids lately). What I *love* about this is that my lower-level kinmembers won't feel left out in participating in grand, epic content. I really hope it turns out well.

[Edit: site is still logging me out after a while, so I still end up having to type responses in Word so I don't lose it when I post]

[7heCruncher]

This was a pretty good 20-questions and for better or worse it certainly gives the player a good feel of what to expect from Helms-Deep 'endgame'....

I don't believe this is supposed to be 'endgame' we still have mordor to conquer and the devs have hinted at other areas as well.

[Elderban]

Read Q6.

There's no reason to think they're all going to have group modes. If someone wants currency they'll probably pick the Solo only one and grind that to their hearts content.

Meh. If someone who solos wants to solo them, then that's their preference.

And I am sure it will be limited to the number of times per day (or week) that you can run them, unless you have an unlock from the store of course.

[ColorSpecs]

I didn't say that we should be able to do whatever we want. You are taking my point to an extreme to make your own point.

No, I'm not. Turbine is. This is a lore-based game whose lore is consistently being subverted.

I was simply saying that in this particular case gameplay won out over a dogmatic approach to lore observation.

That's what we say about every one of them.

I happen to think that was the right decision in this circumstance.

This is also what we say about every one of them.

Each situation will be different and should be taken on its own merits.

This too.

[Taravith]

I had kept open a couple of posts on the side to quote them but I got logged out while reading the thread (?) so here goes...

I was also gonna ask whether the name 'Big Battles' was gonna stick, but I for one thinks it's adorable and I hope it will. In a genre full of absurd hyperbole and confusing lingo, it's refreshingly descriptive.

[Radbug]

Interesting stuff.

I least now I know that these are not community generated questions.

[MrWarg]

No, I'm not. Turbine is. This is a lore-based game whose lore is consistently being subverted.

That's what we say about every one of them.

This is also what we say about every one of them.

This too.

I'm not interested in mutli-quote point scoring so I shall end the conversation here by saying you are entitled to your opinion and I respect your position. However, I still hold to my own view that the right decision was taken in this circumstance and I am glad that I will be able to use my own character(s) in Big Battles.