June 12 Developer Live Chat Notes

On Thursday, June 12 there was a live Developer chat/Q&A session on Twitch. It included Sapience (Rick Heaton, Community Manager), Rowan (Aaron Campbell, Executive Producer), HoarseDev (Matt Zimmitti, Lead Systems Designer), Jinjaah (Trevor McEwan, Designer), and Todd DeMelle (Art Director).

Note: These are very close paraphrases, not exact wording. If you want to know exactly what was said you can listen to the recorded chat here. I also took out joke questions/answers because this was already taking a huge amount of time to write up as it was!

Why is so much gear undye-able?

We work with the systems team to make sure as much as possible is dye-able. It’s a love/hate relationship with dyability because it makes things difficult. The main criteria to make things dyeable is that a majority of a piece has to dye a single color. It can be limiting. We choose to make some pieces not dyebale if it’s based closely on a culture, for example the Rohan based pre-orders with a white horse on a green field.

What lead to creation of Essences and socketable itmes? How is this intended to impact the game?

Everytime we have a release there’s a ton of gear put out (some of it that people want and some of it that people aren’t really interested in). We figured the best way to put out gear that people want is to let them choose it. It’s not going to completely get rid of itemization. Different rarities will give more sockets to put Essences in. Currently Essences cover 17 different stats and there is 5 types of socketable gear. It’ll give lots of opportunity to fine tune your characters. Also people can use it to backfill for changes made to how stats give mitigations.

Will we be able to have ‘sets’ to switch in and out of or is the system not yet robust enough?

If you really want to min/max you can and you can have different gear customized for different purposes if you want. Update 14 is more of a ‘soft launch’ for the system, not all of the features and everything will be added in. Eventually you’ll be able to get the Essences from endgame, skirmish vendors, random drops and even festivals. But at first we’ll be trying it out in smaller pieces.

When is the Treasure Hunt going to be turned on this month?

Next weekend (June 21 and 22)

Would you add in some kind of separate or additional storage for crafting items that is shareable across your characters?

We wouldn’t be able to do a wallet type system because once something is in the Wallet it is no longer an item. We’ve considered making a new type of storage but for now we have Shared Storage. If people really want to have crafting receive its own special treatment then we can definitely look into it. We definitely have plans to do more with personal inventory and shared inventory.

Catapults in the Ettenmoors?

It was mentioned as a cool idea but right now there’s no catapults ready to go out into the Ettenmoors. We’ve definitely talked about it internally and think it would be cool to add more strategic play to the Ettenmoors. We just need to evaluate how we want to do it and how it would function.

What additional details can be shared about Beornings?

If people go onto Bullroarer, they’ll be able to see references to Beornings in menus and such but they are not out in Update 14! We can talk about the three specializations you can choose. The three specializations are tank, damage and a sort of support based on off heals and crowd control. The tank line is all about becoming a big bear, absorbing damage and mitigating damage and protecting your fellows. The damage line is about managing time between human and bear forms to optimize damage, getting damage over time rolling when building up wrath and then cashing it out. The support line uses a marking mechanic, with either offensive or defensive marks that alter skills in different ways. Beornings have no power. Instead once they enter combat they start building up wrath and then once they go into bear form that wrath starts draining away. We’re also still taking in feedback about trait trees and making sure all traits and lines are impactful.

What other parts of Gondor can we expect to see? Will we see more Western Gondor? When will we see Minas Tirith?

West Gondor is only the starting point. Next still will be Eastern Gondor with Pelargir which is under siege. Then Osgiliath and then rounding out next year with Minas Tirith.

What kind of server related improvements are being worked on?

We’re definitely looking at ways to join with other players and looking to take advantage of higher output hardware. LOTRO is not a young game so more is needed to invest in it.

Possibilities of expanding the Gift of the Valar to go to level 75?

We consider it. Right now we’ve got really great early and late games. There are various opinions on ideal play speeds. We still need to sort out some “starting at level 50” hitches. So it seems like a good place to be for now.

Why start Beornings at level 50?

The challenge of a game that started out huge and continues to get more huge is that with the Beorning if we went back and started at level 1, players wouldn’t be able to play the class for another year and a half. There’s already a huge amount of work on it as it is since it is an advanced class. Sure it can do all the roles of tank, DPS and support but it is light armour so it’s best for people who already have the game down but want to be able to get to end game faster.

New creep classes?

Jinjaah is the one making Beornings and he is also the one most invested in PnMP so we’ll see how it goes.

How are you going about improving Epic Battles?

There are lots of small changes in Update 14, especially around solo/duo combos being smoothed out. We’re also changing the contribution of initial traits to get you going better and also giving you 4 trait points to start with. We’re also changing agro mechanics so if you attack a mob that isn’t engaged with an NPC yet, it will attack you.

Thoughts on level caps and how we’re getting 2 raises this year?

Creating an arc that feels compelling and gives you space to grow your character are the priorities. Ultimately if the feedback is that 2 level raises in a year is too much, we will push back the second level raise. So go to the official forums and give feedback on how you feel about this first 5 level increase of the year.

Any group content plans?

Short term, there will be new group content options in Epic stories and new group content on the landscape similar to Limlight Gorge in the Great River, and of course Epic Battles. Looking later in the year, we don’t see a traditional raid cluster but we aren’t abandoning group content altogether.

Any plans to improve/add music system?

Nothing formally on the calendar. We’re working closely with the sound team though. The sound team though just got a new workspace allowing for acoustic recordings, mostly for scoring use. Right now they’re working on getting a harp in for Update 14 for Dol Amroth since it’s known for its harp music (insert reference to Harperella here).

What thoughts on changing prices of Hobnanigans rewards?

We really wanted to experiment with having really rare rewards, things that are hard to get. They can be super rewarding for those that get them and as time goes on we can lower those rewards. But sometimes you just need to experiment with rare rewards.

Updates for kinships?

Update 14 includes an increase in characters for the Message of the Day. We’re also working on giving kins stuff to do together, like we have some ideas for weekly deeds a kinship can do as a whole together. So supported goals rather than just goals kinships have to put together on their own.

Any plans to scale older raids and instances?

Love the idea but not going to put anything on the plan right now.

What are you doing to attract new players to the game?

Web-based advertising aimed at people who don’t already play.

Any plans for smaller Hobnanigans fields?

No but if you put in some feedback we’ll think about it.

Will we be able to extract set bonuses from existing gear and slot it? (Basically deconstructing old gear into Essences)

No. For the time being we’re keeping Essences and set bonuses separate. The future might have socketable items with set bonus type things. But for now we’re trying to do basic, vanilla socketable items.

Since Hytbold is older are there plans to raise the daily limits?

That sounds completely reasonable.

Are there plans to change Epic Battles to have more predictable rewards?

We’re putting in a system that pays attention to what you’ve already gotten so you don’t just get 12 of the same thing. It will need continued tweaking in future updates but we’re working on it.

Level 100 PvMP gear?

Typically we offset new PvMP gear about an update or part of an update away from the level increase. But we’re thinking of instead just releasing it with the update this time. We haven’t made a final decision yet though.

1v1 Hobnanigans?

We’ve tested it and it’s not as fun as you’d think.

Are the new regions going to have daily repeatable quests?

There will be tasks, new styles of deeds and repeatable reputation quests in Western Gondor.

How will we get 1st Age LIs?

We’ve got 1st Age LIs but still tinkering and deciding on how to acquire them.

Are you planning on offering additional character slots per server?

Yep!

Could you add an item to help find people (friends) in the Ettenmoors, like a flare?

We could look into flares or battle cries kind of thing.

How do you think the Essence system will effect PvMP?

It will definitely mess stuff up for a bit, no doubt. If something ends up being a really big problem we’ll step in but otherwise we’re going to just see what happens.

Any thoughts or plans on changing LI System?

We think about it a lot and it’s a part of a larger debate about design and what the game means. Can’t give more details than that. Any changes would be a massive undertaking so can’t make them lightly. Definitely lots of thoughts though!

Gender of Beornings?

Men and women of the Race of Man. We’re also looking into being able to customize how you look as a bear. Beornings in bear form will definitely not all look the same.

Thoughts on scaled Freeps being farmed in the Ettenmoors?

Report people who are intentionally rank farming. We’re working on trying to buff scaled freeps to be more powerful.

With the new Essences, will they be all over the game?

The first batch you’ll be able to find them from levels 50 and above with various tiers. Theyll only be available for 5 armour piece types. Eventually we want to have Essences and socketable items available from level 10 and up.

How do Essences relate to LIs?

They are simpler and less grindy than LIs in this dev’ opinions. We’ll see how it goes first and go from there.

Dresses and festival rewards please!

We’ve been trying to come up with a good balance of festival rewards that are sustainable. We went from having the tunic/pants combo and dress and combined them into one robe that was more gender neutral. We can definitely think about approaching dresses and more festival cosmetic rewards.

For those purchasing the Update 14 content, is it all one quest pack or separate zones?

It’s all one quest pack, Western Gondor.

How do you remove Essences?

We’re going to have a ‘relic removal scroll’ type equivalent available in-game and in the Store. You’ll be able to find Essences easily, it’s more about customization than rarity. Essences aren’t bound, but socketable gear is Bind on Equip. You won’t feel it necessary to get Essences back.

Instead of revamping the Gift of Valar, what about another item that levels you from 50 to 75?

We’ll think about it. Right now it’s still kind of in its infant stage, and still working through lots of feedback.

Will there ever be a time when scaled Freeps can earn PvMP points?

Thinking about it!

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This developer chat gave out a lot of really great new information, especially about Beornings and the new Essences item system. We’re really excited about Developer Chats like this and look forward to more in the future. It looks like there’s tons of great stuff planned for 2014 and they’re taking feedback very seriously.