Official: 2015 Producer's Letter

[Urwendil]

As a kin leader, I am interested in the "we will get everyone on more populated servers" part. I have a lot of questions:

Is this a merging of servers?
What happens to my kinship, and all the people in it?
Will they all still be on the same server?
Will I retain my kinship name?
I have 18 toon slots filled, will I be able to keep all my toons, even if I have 7 toons on another server, 4 on yet another, and random 1/2 toons on several others?

How is this "move everyone to more populous servers" going to work, and do I need to prepare for anything as a kin leader?

I'm seriously concerned with that part too, to the point of distress. In addition to kinships we have a way of life in our current servers with friends, familiar faces etc.

I want to know at once, is a server merger planned, which Frelorn previously stated wasn't the case? If so, will the smaller servers' populations be dispersed or kept intact? What happens to kinship names and even more importantly characters? I'm telling you, and this kind of tone is a first for me in three years: if you touch my characters, rename them, add -1 to their names, or transfer them without my consent, I am going to cancel my subscription, uninstall the game and walk away for good.

The overall style of this letter, irrelevant of its content, is distasteful to me. Rowan, stepping into the agora, interacting with the player base is gone. The new producer letter comes down from the ivory tower and dealing with us plebes is handed over to the community manager instead. So very neat indeed.

[DiogoVP]

Welcome Athena!
And thank you Rowan, good luck on your new job.

One thing I'm worried about though is: with this encouragement for populated servers to become more populated, what should we expect from smaller servers? Should we expect them to become smaller?

What about those new instances? Will they be like landscape instances or instances that you launch through the instance finder?

About those Episodic quests, my first guess it that there will be a reason for us to return to Rohan - maybe the eastfold - to aid Rohirrim with the march to Minas Tirith and, maybe, that will happen through those episodic quests? I can even see a desperate Nona trying to convice us to convince Horn not to go to the battle at the Pelennor fields, as she is too much worried about what the old woman in Woodhurst told her about Horn's fate. lol That could even explain why we will go to Osgiliath before we go to Minas Tirith, since Minas Tirith is closer to Pelargir than Osgiliath. If we went to Osgiliath from Rohan though...
Or... maybe I am daydreaming too much.
I am very excited about those Episodic quests...

And this new PvMP zone means the end of the moors? Or does it mean that we'll have two PvMP zones?

What about that update that will fix those persistent bugs? Can we expect more updates with that same intent this year, just in case you guys aren't able to solve all those persistent problems at once?

[Leixy]

My reading of "seriously investigating" is "we've heard the voices of the players; we recognize that they want this; we sincerely want to make our players happy, so we are making an effort to do this; but with new leadership and reduced a staff, we don't have much confidence in our ability to execute, so in the end we may decide that we just don't have the resources to do it, and it won't happen."

lol, you correctly recognize they gave themselves a way out. but who can tell, maybe they will, it sounds like if it does make it, that would be the July update.

[Vyvyanne]

Hi all!

I am so glad to hear the mostly positive reception to the things we have outlined for the year so far. I wanted to hop on here and address a couple of points of confusion/ requests for clarity on a few items.

Vagueness: Yes, we dont give a lot of detail in the Producer's letter for the year. This is because many of these things are still in design and thus subject to change or are simply ideas that will not be fleshed out for months to come. We will be putting feedback posts and more detailed threads on the specific features as they solidify and can be focused on for feedback individually. This letter is intended as an overview.

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid. We evaluate the type of content we build with each region for what is appropriate and feasible. So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

Osgiliath PvMP map: This will be a different "layer" to the map. This way players will be able to explore Osgiliath in PvE mode in Update 16 and the goal is to then also provide a PvMP version shortly thereafter (not on the same release date).

Music: We currently have our sound engineers looking into the issues with the newer version of the music system that we pulled out late last year. Our hopes is that we can have it fixed with or next update, but I am still awaiting implementation and testing of the fixes to see if they are affective. Once we have it in we will of course be placing it on Bullroarer so we can get feedback before it is released. More info once I have it.

EU Servers: This will simply be a move of the physical servers to Amsterdam. The service will still remain in the hands of Turbine, so we will all still have the same downtime, updates, etc in sync with one another. Better location and newer hardware should result in better performance all around.

Server Populations: We are still working through the details, but part of our efforts here are to make the transition as seamless as possible for Kinship leaders to keep the players together. The idea is to bring you together, not spread further apart. This effort also includes upgraded hardware and a move to a better location for internet traffic for the US servers. This is a large and complicated process which I am fully focused on. More details on this in the coming weeks as more of the timelines and tech solidify.

-Vyvyanne

[ShireDweller]

Welcome Athena! Thanks for everything, Rowan.

Looking forward to seeing the new stuff.

[Thorgrum]

I'm seriously concerned with that part too, to the point of distress. In addition to kinships we have a way of life in our current servers with friends, familiar faces etc.

I want to know at once, is a server merger planned, which Frelorn previously stated wasn't the case? If so, will the smaller servers' populations be dispersed or kept intact? What happens to kinship names and even more importantly characters? I'm telling you, and this kind of tone is a first for me in three years: if you touch my characters, rename them, add -1 to their names, or transfer them without my consent, I am going to cancel my subscription, uninstall the game and walk away for good.

The overall style of this letter, irrelevant of its content, is distasteful to me. Rowan, stepping into the agora, interacting with the player base is gone. The new producer letter comes down from the ivory tower and dealing with us plebes is handed over to the community manager instead. So very neat indeed.

I understand the concern. It is a very fancy way of announcing server mergers or hoping to push people to more populated servers. This hasnt been lost on some of us, when a producer is telling you they want more of us on a smaller amount of servers, which currently have lag issues skepticism is appropriate. I applaud your resolve and ultimatium as well, rarely do people follow through, Im hopeful for your sake it does not come to that.

that last part of your commentary though is harsh, even by my standards. I didnt read it that way, regardless this new producers isnt in a enviable position IMHO. A vocal minority discontent with several aspects of the current content, performance and stability issues, and frankly very good competition from other MMO's.

Im hopeful that the approach is to create more community. In the end thats how i believe lotro will flourish going forward. It didnt happen in 2014, 2015 lies ahead.

[BangoTwinkletoes]

I'm cautiously optimistic. The more frequent "episodic" content drops are a proven concept that works so good to see Turbine doing that. New 3 & 6 person instances is just the kind of content that this game needs more of but the loot & reward system desperately needs revision so that tier 1 is a viable means of gearing up for tier 2. Also looking forward to getting back my sub 40ms ping

[bucko39]

So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

While I'm glad it was clarified...this, with the fact that Turbine has continuously failed to address the loot itemization issue...means that I will be cancelling my sub and taking a break.

I've enjoyed the back and forth on this forum and have had a blast over the years playing the game. Time for a change.

Safe journey

[Beaniemooch]

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid. We evaluate the type of content we build with each region for what is appropriate and feasible. So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

-Vyvyanne

I appreciate the clarification. I'm sad to hear there is no raid on the horizon, but the answer was clear and I want to thank you for that. Now we can all make our choices as to if this is important or not. I know for me it is.

[Beorthnoth]

Well it doesn't surprise me there will be no new expansion this year. As for what is stated in the letter, nothing there exciting for me. I will say I am surprised though that there moving the servers back to the EU. That will be nice for the EU players.

A word to the wise- do not depend on anything in this letter. With Turbine's past they have said they'd be giving us this & that & didn't deliver. So I wouldn't be getting to excited until you see it actually happening.

Not so nice for us EU players who now have alts on bot EU and US servers. How is that going to work?

[DobbelB_EU]

I understand the concern. It is a very fancy way of announcing server mergers or hoping to push people to more populated servers. This hasnt been lost on some of us, when a producer is telling you they want more of us on a smaller amount of servers, which currently have lag issues skepticism is appropriate. I applaud your resolve and ultimatium as well, rarely do people follow through, Im hopeful for your sake it does not come to that.

that last part of your commentary though is harsh, even by my standards. I didnt read it that way, regardless this new producers isnt in a enviable position IMHO. A vocal minority discontent with several aspects of the current content, performance and stability issues, and frankly very good competition from other MMO's.

Im hopeful that the approach is to create more community. In the end thats how i believe lotro will flourish going forward. It didnt happen in 2014, 2015 lies ahead.

I also read it as being cautious, not as being in a ivory tower. The content of Vyvyanne's clarification post clears something up, that forum post is telling me more than the producers letter. I would add the content of it to the original letter.

[Cambruin]

Yeah yeah, producer's letter and all that, but what's that about Rowan leaving? Who's Vyvyanne?

[infinitewhimsy]

Hi all!

I am so glad to hear the mostly positive reception to the things we have outlined for the year so far. I wanted to hop on here and address a couple of points of confusion/ requests for clarity on a few items.

Vagueness: Yes, we dont give a lot of detail in the Producer's letter for the year. This is because many of these things are still in design and thus subject to change or are simply ideas that will not be fleshed out for months to come. We will be putting feedback posts and more detailed threads on the specific features as they solidify and can be focused on for feedback individually. This letter is intended as an overview.

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid. We evaluate the type of content we build with each region for what is appropriate and feasible. So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

Osgiliath PvMP map: This will be a different "layer" to the map. This way players will be able to explore Osgiliath in PvE mode in Update 16 and the goal is to then also provide a PvMP version shortly thereafter (not on the same release date).

Music: We currently have our sound engineers looking into the issues with the newer version of the music system that we pulled out late last year. Our hopes is that we can have it fixed with or next update, but I am still awaiting implementation and testing of the fixes to see if they are affective. Once we have it in we will of course be placing it on Bullroarer so we can get feedback before it is released. More info once I have it.

EU Servers: This will simply be a move of the physical servers to Amsterdam. The service will still remain in the hands of Turbine, so we will all still have the same downtime, updates, etc in sync with one another. Better location and newer hardware should result in better performance all around.

Server Populations: We are still working through the details, but part of our efforts here are to make the transition as seamless as possible for Kinship leaders to keep the players together. The idea is to bring you together, not spread further apart. This effort also includes upgraded hardware and a move to a better location for internet traffic for the US servers. This is a large and complicated process which I am fully focused on. More details on this in the coming weeks as more of the timelines and tech solidify.

-Vyvyanne

Well that is good news after all. And an actual post addressing anything is even better.

[BelamanthDE]

This effort also includes upgraded hardware and a move to a better location for internet traffic for the US servers. This is a large and complicated process which I am fully focused on. More details on this in the coming weeks as more of the timelines and tech solidify.

When you renew the hardware, do you think there is the chance to revive the lotteries, which were fried by lightning just after they were revamped?

[Benegon]

Hi all!

I am so glad to hear the mostly positive reception to the things we have outlined for the year so far. I wanted to hop on here and address a couple of points of confusion/ requests for clarity on a few items.

Vagueness: Yes, we dont give a lot of detail in the Producer's letter for the year. This is because many of these things are still in design and thus subject to change or are simply ideas that will not be fleshed out for months to come. We will be putting feedback posts and more detailed threads on the specific features as they solidify and can be focused on for feedback individually. This letter is intended as an overview.

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid. We evaluate the type of content we build with each region for what is appropriate and feasible. So we might do a raid again some day, but Osgiliath is not the time to do it.

Osgiliath PvMP map: This will be a different "layer" to the map. This way players will be able to explore Osgiliath in PvE mode in Update 16 and the goal is to then also provide a PvMP version shortly thereafter (not on the same release date).

Music: We currently have our sound engineers looking into the issues with the newer version of the music system that we pulled out late last year. Our hopes is that we can have it fixed with or next update, but I am still awaiting implementation and testing of the fixes to see if they are affective. Once we have it in we will of course be placing it on Bullroarer so we can get feedback before it is released. More info once I have it.

EU Servers: This will simply be a move of the physical servers to Amsterdam. The service will still remain in the hands of Turbine, so we will all still have the same downtime, updates, etc in sync with one another. Better location and newer hardware should result in better performance all around.

Server Populations: We are still working through the details, but part of our efforts here are to make the transition as seamless as possible for Kinship leaders to keep the players together. The idea is to bring you together, not spread further apart. This effort also includes upgraded hardware and a move to a better location for internet traffic for the US servers. This is a large and complicated process which I am fully focused on. More details on this in the coming weeks as more of the timelines and tech solidify.

-Vyvyanne

Thanks for the quick reply. Lots of information in here and it is nice you cleared some things up.

[NaktiesKarys]

Well, it looks like developers are hanging a sign: "Solo casual players, get the ##### out of Lotro". Of course, some will go to find other, more solo-friendly games.
Forced fellowship content with zero solo option - confirmed officialy
Extremely hard (in Esopus language - "challenging") content - confirmed officially
Nothing soloable - confirmed officialy.

Solo players are no more needed, they are almost pointed to the door. Nice move...

[Frelorn]

When you renew the hardware, do you think there is the chance to revive the lotteries, which were fried by lightning just after they were revamped?

Sadly due to many circumstances, the chances of the lotteries coming back are pretty much non-existent at this point. From my understanding they would basically have to start from scratch and build the system over again which requires the work of multiple groups and quite a bit of time.

[Thorgrum]

I also read it as being cautious, not as being in a ivory tower. The content of Vyvyanne's clarification post clears something up, that forum post is telling me more than the producers letter. I would add the content of it to the original letter.

The clarification post is most welcome. There are individuals here with a lot personally vested into lotro. I view it as entertainment but from time to time I do try and extend empathy to others, its a monumental task for me but here we are.

A lot happened today, Rowan moved on, a new producer was introduced and a vision for part of 2015 has been given. Lot of waves to ride, in the end I just want to get to the black gate and see the ring destroyed, thats always been my objective and i think its going to be super cool. If there are only 10 people with me scattered over 15 servers, so be it.

Caution is always prudent and rarely a hindrance to good judgement.

[ElanorFb]

Wow forced server merger? So instead of crawling over 5 people to get to the npc it'll be 10. Eh, ok. But it sounds like this change will be a full time project to pull off. Kind of a nightmare really.

Maybe the episodic stuff will be for solo, otherwise looks like a year of festivals only for me.

[Richardrobins1986]

I am more confident since seeing the clarifying post by Athena.


now the inportant question,

Rowan baked me fresh cookies every Tuesday, can I expect Athena to continue this?

[Grego28]

It seems

[Brandon_Blackbird]

Wow forced server merger? So instead of crawling over 5 people to get to the npc it'll be 10. Eh, ok. But it sounds like this change will be a full time project to pull off. Kind of a nightmare really.

Maybe the episodic stuff will be for solo, otherwise looks like a year of festivals only for me.

Where does it say forced server merger? I missed it.

[Mistermorriss]

Welcome!

Just adding my thoughts:

Really happy to see what the episodic is. Really interested to see what the new instance(s) is/are. Hope the musicians get their wish. Hope it becomes people to change servers. Can't wait to meet Faramir!

Unlinke many, I've had a great year playing and I'm looking forward to 2015 even more.

[Beltharas]

Hi all!

Group Instances in Osgiliath: We are specifically referring to a cluster of instance content for 3 & 6 man fellowships that is neither a Big Battle or a Raid.

No raid is disappointing (even though expected), but I really appreciate the clarification. Thanks!

[MessyR]

I see people getting excitied about instance clusters, yet the word "cluster" was not mentioned, it was a very vague reference to group content. New pvmp map might be interesting but as for proper group content we will see, the last raid content we had in the lobely mountain was dire to say the least and the last instance we got was meh at best.

Time i guess will tell.