LOTRO: 2015…EXEC PROD, YOUNG ONES!

What a day for LOTRO yesterday was: REP ITEMS gated, new Exec Prod and Producer’s Letter for 2015 (half of…) Read on for my analysis which as always wanders way off into old anarchic British comedy (Young Ones) and even a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln, so same same…yet somehow different while being the same…

REP items…without further ado…they done it! So that’s a done…

So as anticipated they have staked rep items to levels. They have done this quicker than I anticipated but looks pretty much the same as was first implemented before xmas.

So without shedding more tears, moving on to the other major LOTRO news:

New Executive Producer:

Athena Peters

FORUM name Vyvyanne

Funny as the first Vyv I thought of was Ade Edmunsons’ from the Young Ones! And His name was even spelt almost the same in the ‘Bambi’ episode:

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE spoof: where Vyv, after losing his head on the way [a classic scene, ending where Vyv’s body kicks his own head down the tracks in anger!], tries to smuggle in a pig* (which he describes as a ferret* named “Bacon Sandwich”) as their mascot. They also meet Mike’s friend Bambi, the fawn from the Disney classic who is now grown up and has “lost a lot of fur” and is “walking on two legs,” as Mike points out. Bambi is the show’s host (a play on Bamber Gascoigne’s name), but refuses Rick’s request to let the quartet win.

*I so much want a ferret in game…even settle for a pig which I could pretend is a ferret!

And the 2015 Producer’s Letter was published: 

Hello all! I’m Athena “Vyvyanne” Peters, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online.

Thank you for welcoming me. I am really excited to be exploring Tolkien’s world and all the adventures that have and will take place here!

2014 was a great year for LOTRO, and we hope you agree! Our focus for the year was expanding our story into Gondor, improving Epic Battles with Pelargir, and introducing a new class – the Beorning. Our progress in these areas sets us up for ambitious goals in 2015.

Our story continues in 2015 with both Osgiliath and Minas Tirith! Although there will be multiple updates throughout the year, these major locations will be the focus of our largest releases. Each expands the world of Middle-earth even further, and puts us in view of the Ephel Dúath and Mordor itself.

Major 2015 Initiatives:

Legendary Items: With the Osgiliath update, you will be able to Imbue Level 100 Legendary Items. An Imbued item continues to gain experience and will no longer need to be deconstructed to advance. These items are already in internal testing! There are many details still to work out, but you should expect a developer diary on the topic early this year.

New Fellowship Challenges: As we push into the heart of the War of the Ring, this is the perfect time for us to renew our focus on group content and instances. Expect new instances in Osgiliath, along with additional Roving Threats and group content on the landscape.

Quality of Life: We have been working to identify your most persistent bugs. You can expect a renewed focus on resolving issues that may be small but troublesome, to improve overall gameplay experience.

Episodic Content: We are currently in development on a new type of quest content that will roll out like an episodic TV show, a little at a time, as you follow a new friend across Middle-earth seeing familiar places in a new light.

Server Populations: Based on your feedback, we’re taking measures to get everyone onto the more populous servers, so that finding parties is easier and festivals and live events are more fun. We are working on both improved server transfer tools and upgrades to our environments to improve playability. Also we will be moving our European servers back to the EU! More details on this coming soon!

PvMP: The team is also seriously investigating a new PvMP map in Osgiliath. This landscape would tell the story of the Battle of Osgiliath, and the layout of the city (split by the Anduin) is perfect for smaller and more tightly focused conflicts than the Ettenmoors. This would make the perfect platform for gradual improvements to the PvMP experience, overall. We’ll provide additional updates on this initiative as we get deeper into 2015.

And that is just for the first half of the year! Stay tuned for more detail on all of the above and more on what will come along with Minas Tirith as we get deeper into the year. As always we look forward to your feedback and suggestions as we take this journey together.

We look forward to seeing you in Middle-earth as LOTRO enters its 8th year!

Happy New Year!

Vyvyanne

My Opinion: 

LI’s Imbued: me likes the idea…indeed any change to LI’s is welcomed at this stage…it saddens me that I will still need to use the system until lv 100!

Fellowship Challenges: bring it on…indeed bring it on EVERYWHERE…why not introduce some of these challenges in all the areas?

Quality of Life: OH YEAH SO MANY OF THESE …just… just…fix EVERYTHING!

Episodic content: Cant wait for this..then will have to wait again and again 🙂 Something new…keep pushing the envelope 🙂

Server Pops: well it has to be done…8years old! EU servers to EU makes sense but will actually create more issues for me unless as planned I also make the trip back to EU with family this year 🙂

PvMP: not tried this corner of the game yet…one day (following Malaysian Gamer closely for his feedback and may be tempted given time to join the fray on LANDY!)

That’s only ‘alf a year! Which is a ‘ye’ or an ‘ar’…but both are positive

YE(s)

AR(rr) – Arrr! – This one is often confused with arrrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. “Arrr!” can mean, variously, “yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr! More: Talk like a PIRATE Day: SEPT 19…

So I am HAPPY…If I was a Pirate my timbers would be shivering…

Vyv also posted the following in the FORUMS:

‘It is about trying to find what you the community of LOTRO need to improve upon your game experience and how we can get that to you with the resources at our disposal. It is a living document which we have released merely the frame of, the details will come out as we work with you down the plan throughout the year.’

Listening to the community is one thing but I do hope that they can also share some of their creativity (remember they are creative professionals) and I really think their interpretation of the Tolkien World in ‘Game’ form should not solely cater to the demands of the crowd…[been here before: …ATOMIZED...]

‘WE” do not always know what we want…indeed I think any game designed with this methodology will surely only deliver a boring mediocre product.

I want a designer product that I can pick up, that is the game I want to play, but also be surprised, or shocked (in a good way!) and end up exclaiming “AMAZING, it does this/that too!”

I suppose the trick is to keep some of the people happy…

‘You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time’

purported source is John Lydgate, 15 century poet monk!

More famous quotation:

‘You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.’

Abraham Lincoln

WE the people do not really know what we want! You LOTRO game designers go and give us something to PLAY in 2015!

And then we will go NUTS like these HAPPY FOOLS: