Producer's Letter - May 2015

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Index to all News postings

News(2 C, 42 P)

Producer's Letter

Originally posted 21 May 2015.[1]

Hello again residents of Middle-earth!

I hope that you are enjoying Update 16: Ashes of Osgiliath as much as we are. The flowers of Ithilien are as beautiful as the destruction of war-torn Osgiliath is haunting.

Now that Update 16 is out, we are turning our attention to the next suite of work before us and I want to share some of those exciting developments with you. Our major content initiatives for the remainder of the year are:

  • New PvMP Map: It is true, we are currently working on a new PvMP map which will take place in a version of Osgiliath. We are designing this space now and it should be going through its first round of feedback with the Player’s Council in the near future. It will also be getting extensive Beta feedback on Bullroarer when ready and released this summer.
  • Adventures of Bingo Boffin: Also set for a summer release is this new episodic quest in which you will follow the trail of a new Hobbit friend Bingo Boffin as he traverses Middle-Earth. Each week a new episode of the quest will unlock showing you where Bingo is off to next.
  • Minas Tirith: For the late Fall World Designer Chris Pierson is already hard at work carving this shining example of Middle-Earth beauty from stone…errr…ummm…code…a nd laying the ground work of an exciting and surprising take on the Siege of Gondor that will be unlike anything you have seen before. We are really excited about the plans, but won’t spoil them here.

In addition to our new content, we are kicking off a series of major service upgrades for The Lord of the Rings Online which should be completed by end of September of 2015. Let me outline the details of those changes.

  • New Store: At the end of the month of June we will be transitioning to a completely new store that features more payment options, one click buys and a cleaner interface. As part of this transition, those of you relying on certain alternative payments will lose access to those payments beginning June 12th for a short amount of time. Within a month of that date, however, we should have a new store online that will provide many more payment options than we have had previously. We are also taking advantage of this opportunity to update and streamline the in game store to be a better experience all around.
  • New Servers and Datacenters: We spoke about this Turbine wide upgrade at the beginning of the year and had expected to have it done by now, but weather and other obstacles set us back. We finally have some progress and we can safely say that by the end of September of 2015 we should have the servers moved to our new datacenters with upgraded hardware and Operating Systems. The US servers will operate from our new datacenter in New Jersey while our EU servers will move back to Europe and reside in our new datacenter in Amsterdam.
  • Transfer Systems and Server Merge: To support the move to the upgraded server hardware we will be implementing an improved server transfer service that will run from the game launcher rather than a website. Once implemented, server transfers can be account or character based so that all your account level items including marks, Mithril coins, etc. can be transferred. We are also adding functionality that will allow Kin leaders to disband their Kin on one world and then recreate it on another maintaining status and achievements earned by that Kin over its lifetime. More details and breakdowns on all of this to coming in the next few weeks as we move into final phases of development and testing.
You will have 3 months past the date of the launch of the new service in which to continue playing on the smaller worlds while planning and or making your move to a larger server. After that point your characters will always be available to be transferred to one of the remaining worlds, however you will only be able to log in to the remaining servers. More details on all of this as well as detailed instructions on how to move will be provided in email, in-game mail as well as website and forums in the months to come.
  • Other Features: There are a number of other features we are still developing and are not at the point of talking about yet for the remainder of the year. More on all of these things as they come closer to fruition.

So as you can see it will be a very busy few months. We are really excited for these changes and what they mean for the future of Lord of the Rings Online and we hope you are as well!

More from me and the team soon,
Athena “Vyvyanne” Peters
Executive Producer

Answers from Frelorn & Friends

Some questions were about the Producer's Letter and various other topics were answered were answered in the same thread. Some of the questions have been rephrased or had unnecessary content removed so they are more readable.

Q: Any word on balancing? - frost702
A: Overall balance is also something that is being worked on. - Frelorn[2]
Q: Don't suppose we get any forewarning which servers will be merged into which? - gildhur
A: Yes, you will. As soon as we have the final details and a dates, we will let everyone know ahead of time so they can begin planning and organizing where they might move to. - Frelorn[3]
Q: Since free transfers won't be until September (unless I'm reading this incorrectly), do you have an ETA on when paid transfers will be back online? - mrfigglesworth
A: They should be back on now. Please let us know if you are still having issues. - Frelorn[4]
Q: Will the old PvMP map be playable after the new map becomes available? - companyslacker
A: As of right now, yes. - Frelorn[5]
Q: Will there be any restrictions for the number of transfers to any particular server? Is OK if everyone transfers to Brandywine for instance? - companyslacker
A: We will have a full in-depth FAQ for transfers when we are closer to the service going live that will answer this and many other questions. - Frelorn[6]
Q: Any chance or re-purposing one of the old servers for open world PvMP? - companyslacker
A: Not likely. - Frelorn[7]
Q: So are we to understand that by the end of September 2015 when the servers have moved to the new datacenters, that Turbine will then AT THAT TIME publicly announce the list of servers which are slated for closing? - HeirOfNumenor
A: No, the plan is for the announcement and the start of transfers to happen before then. - Frelorn[8]
Q: Will the original servers stay and the newer ones go? Some of the oldest server have low population but have the strongest kinships. - greatlord365
A: The decision is not being based on server age, but population. - Frelorn[9]
Q: What will happen to Ettenmoors? Will it still exist alongside the new PvMP area, will it be removed altogether, or will it be changed into a 'normal' questing zone? - Fatty
A: As of right now the plan is for the Ettenmoors to stay and have Osgiliath be a separate zone. With the populations being condensed into a smaller number of servers, we feel this is a good option as the PvMP populations will be far less spread out. Having 2 areas will hopefully allow for whatever playstyle you prefer in your PvMP. - Frelorn[10]
Q: Is there any chance to see free transfers from closing servers up before September? Will we have a chance to transfer for free or with some discount like 50% before that date? - Fumanciu
A: Free transfers are the plan. When we announce the servers and turn on the new service, it will be free for a set time for all players. - Frelorn[11]
Q: Any chance on more ranks out in the Moors? - vetteboy20
A: This is something the team is looking into. - Frelorn[12]
Q: What will you do for players who have capped out their character slots on a closing world, but want to transfer them all to another world where they already have characters? - Laire
A: When we turn on the new transfer tools, we will also be making more character slots available to all players as well. We don't yet have the exact number set, but when we put out the Transfer FAQ, it will have that information as well. - Frelorn[13]
Q: When Turbine says "announce the servers", what do you guys mean, exactly? Does that include announcing which servers will be closed and thus unable to be transferred to?
I think that list is needed from the start to avoid the case of, say, someone transferring to a server that then ends up being closed because of low population. Otherwise, unless you allow folks in that case to do another free transfer, you're screwing people who transfer in good faith and would end up having to pay for another transfer to be able to continue to play.
A: I thought that we have been pretty clear about this, but lets see what I can do. At some point in the not so distant future we will announce the servers that will be remaining open, and the ones that will be eventually shut down. When that time comes, transfers will only be allowed to those servers that are remaining open and will be free of charge. The ones that we will be closing down, will have transfer to them turned off.
We have not yet made the server list available in part because without the new tools and free services yet available, players will still have to go through some part of the process again anyway because right now you can not transfer over account items and a few other things that will be available with the new tools. And on top of that, we do not want to promote an early land rush to the servers that will be remaining because they are still on the old hadware/in the old datacenter and could cause a negative experience for everyone when the servers get overcrowded.
I hope that clears up a couple things. - Frelorn[14]
Q: Why announce an 'update' to the store instead of just adding new payment options? - Rufkin
A: We found a new store partner that would give us more flexibility and options, while improving upon some things we knew needed some love. Overall we hope this is going to be good for all involved. - Frelorn[15]
Q: Are costs in the store going to increase? - Rufkin
A: I will answer in bold so as to not cause any doubt: We are not going to raise any of the prices for anything with this transition. The cost you see in the store now will be the same cost you will see in the new store. - Frelorn[16]
Q: Any word on what is going to happen with the player music system and when or if anything is going to be done? - Emere
A: Check out this thread. - Frelorn[17]
Q: Could you explain a bit more about how these Episodic quests work? - Silmelin
A: The way Episodic quests work is that each week a new quest in the series will become available. You can join in at Quest 1 at any point and play up to the latest released quest, but just like a TV series, once you have caught up, you will have to wait until the next week to find out what happens next. - Vyvyanne[18]
Q: Will we have to either purchase a 'season pass' or purchase each quest to play the Episodic content? - Rufkin
A: It won't be like that. I'll have a Dev Diary explaining what's up with 'The Ballad of Bingo Boffin' as we get closer to its release. - MadeOfLions[19]

References

  1. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter
  2. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7371973#post7371973
  3. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372001#post7372001
  4. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372034#post7372034
  5. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372055#post7372055
  6. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372055#post7372055
  7. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372055#post7372055
  8. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372488#post7372488
  9. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372490#post7372490
  10. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372491#post7372491
  11. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372493#post7372493
  12. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372494#post7372494
  13. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372503#post7372503
  14. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372521#post7372521
  15. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372526#post7372526
  16. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372526#post7372526
  17. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372545#post7372545
  18. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7372823#post7372823
  19. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?569037-Summer-LOTRO-Executive-Producer%E2%80%99s-Letter&p=7374366#post7374366