LOTRO Reporter Podcast

Cari and Layanor have mail. We have three letters this week, talk about Hobbits to Isengard and Hobnoingans. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor 27.81 moors fangorn kindred 2 leafs away from second legendary weapons scroll chicken hockey Cari Did some Lowbie Leveling Did some questing in the Westfold News Hobnonigans Were Live May 9-11 https://www.lotro.com/en/hobnanigans Taking the Hobbits To Isengard https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said Are there any plans for bulk relic combination Not for U14 as far as he knows, no real plans. It’s something that comes up and has been discussed by the devs before, but there’s no definite plans for it at this point. Any plans for store purchase mounts to be account-wide There are a lot of discussions about it. It’s not something that’s easy to do in terms of value proposition because when something is account-wide then the value goes up and then they need to think about how much the price should go up, how much will people pay, etc. They do talk about account-wide options but he doesn’t know whether they’ll ever convert them all to account-wide. Siege weapons for the Moors were under consideration, are they still Yes. Anything new you can share about the Spring Festival Yes, they’ve got some new stuff coming. He won’t say much beyond that, because there were some discussions and he’s not sure what got added and didn’t get added. Any plans for chicken play to return to the Moors He’s tried on a number of occasions to convince someone to go back over that quest – it was an April Fool’s Day quest – and see if they can’t do something with it. It’s really low priority, but he will keep pushing. He plotted and schemed for what seems like forever to get Hobnanigans back in the game, so he never says die when it comes to things involving chickens. Especially when it involves chickens getting kicked or pummeled or stabbed. Question about culled content, space combat panel They discovered awhile back that players were using the LUA scripting to pull information from the game that they were putting in there for future updates, so they decided to have fun with that and put crazy things in there that weren’t ever going to happen or might have happened under radically different names, conditions and circumstances. So the space combat panel was a red herring. And one that worked, apparently. Can you tell us what the horseshoe does It does absolutely nothing that we think it does, and everything he’s said it does in the past. The first thing it ever did was it changed one sentence in one quest in the epic storyline immediately after we get the horseshoe if we have it equipped. That was its original purpose. Since then devs have continued to add to it, but he doesn’t know of anything lately. He will say that if you’re participating in the snowball fights, we should definitely wear our horseshoes. It does impact that slightly. Suggestion to turn on all festivals at once for the winning server He says the thought of that is really scary. He runs that by the ecommerce manager just to see the look on his face. No, he thinks that if he suggested that, the engineers and server teams would freak out. But the marketing guy was writing something in his book, and he’s afraid to ask what. Did You Know Rep Items from the new crafting instances are used for the Helmingas Clipped Ears Damaged Furs Shattered Hatchets Torn Skins 3-Mans Monday’s at 9PST 12 EST. Will be on youtube and twitch replay. Canceled Community Weatherstock June 14 Band Registration is Starting Soon Letter from AmAvocet: Hello, folks! I wanted to tell you about the time I was put in jail (or "gaol," as Tolkien would spell it). This was back when horses were items you carried in your pack. I had accidentally sold my new Bree-steed.

Layanor talks with a past member of the LOTRO Players Council. We talk about how the players council work.  Initial reactions when skill trees and epic battles were introduced We even talk about creeps traveling outside of the Ettenmoors. Audio Version:   Contact Information Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter: @lotroreporter Facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the screen when you visit the site. YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com www.twitch.tv/mmoreporter Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac Layanor  Twitter: @Layanor

Layanor is back and we talk about Update 13.1. His love of deeds, and pants. Of course we talk about pants. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor Moors rank is at 25%. Took 3 months I think. Possibly a lot longer :P Finished off some deeds in west rohan Finished the Epic book and working on Fangorn rep. Half way thru friend. In Rohan I finished the Helmingas reputation deed. Actually worked on my War-Steed Pretty much have me First Agers where I want them Cari  Working on my LI’s Did some Lowbie Leveling News   Bullroarer Client Installer Now Available https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?547565-BULLROARER-PC-CLIENT-INSTALLER-Now-Available   Update 13.1 Release Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7159042#post7159042  Auto-Fellow There's a new "Auto-Fellow" option on the right-click menu in your friends list. If you mark a friend as "Auto-fellow" and they mark you as "Auto-fellow", then when one of you logs on, if the other is logged on and eligible to be in a fellowship, you will be automatically followed up. There's a limit to how many friends you can mark as "Auto-Fellow". Automatically add tasks to quest tracker control. There's a new option on the "UI Settings" tab: "Automatically add tasks to quest tracker". This option (set by default to true) controls whether you want tasks to be automatically added to your quest tracker when they are bestowed or advanced. Inventory Sort Button Added a new "sort" button to the bag 1 toolbar in the inventory. This button (after a suppressible confirmation dialog) will sort all your items, floating all empty space to the top (so that as you get new items, they are separated from your existing items). The sorting algorithm used is the one used for the "auto" sort in the vault, and it has been updated to correctly sort by level items of the same quality and type.  Champions got a whole truckload of changes  Made some changes to the area near the wall of Isengard, intended to make 'The Breaking of Isengard' less literal.   Taking the Hobbits To Isengard https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said What can you tell us about Beornings that you haven’t told us already Rowan – The best part about Beornings for him right now is the massive amount of information and research he’s gotten from the Player Council regarding them. Sapience – Yes, there’s already been an interesting thread about Beornings in the Players Council. Rowan – One thing he can say about it, and he thinks he’s alluded to this in his producer’s letter, but they really view it as a mix of a race and a class, which makes it a unique thing, because of the racial characteristics that are specific to it, and the skills that they want to pair with that as well. Sapience – Thinks that’s great because there have been questions about “Why are you calling it a class?” when it’s kind of a race, so that’s a great answer. Because Tolkien said he’s a man, but he’s also this other thing that is a little bit more than a man. Rowan – The other part that they’re thinking about right now – part of the pitch for it – and this isn’t confirmed yet, is to start it at an advanced level, like level 50. Sapience – Thinks this plays well into the “I’d like to play it through Moria” comment he made earlier. Will mail in the wild ever become something available in store It was developed especially as a VIP perk, so he highly doubts it Rowan – That’s kind of what they’re thinking, because the Beorning homeland is kind of between Dale and the Misty Mountains, so the Misty Mountains seem like a reasonable place to start. Is there really a LOTRO "jail" to send troublesome trolls Yes there really is an in game jail GMs can send you to. There is actually a jail. Like you cannot get out of it until they release you. No maps, no ports,

This week Cari is joined by Ilaadrien, and Rorrg. We talk about the players council, and get a special musical interlude. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Ilaadrien (E-La) Scraids Rorgg Entwood grinding on 2 toons, starting a third Weekly crafting Cari Finished up what I wanted to do of the Anniversary Festival Did some Lowbie Leveling News Player’s Council Announced https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?547180-Introducing-the-2014-LOTRO-Players-Council 2013 Players Council NDA Dropped https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?547387-2013-Player-Council https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WopjmfLnsg4&feature=youtu.be Just a focus group a really early focus group but a focus group. Taking the Hobbits to Isengard Questions https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said&highlight=hobbits+to+isengard What do you think was the most positive aspect or influence of working with last year’s Players Council Multiple attachments in email was pretty good. That and probably just really helping to bring the concept of working with a core group of players to the company as a whole. He thinks probably their best achievement is that DDO now has a Players Council, there is an additional year for the LotRO council. And frankly they are seeing really positive things internally coming from this, in terms of the quality of feedback that they’re getting from the group, and expect to get from next year’s council. A smaller group of players like that lets them have more open communication with that group, which helps things too. A lot of people don’t know, but Rowan actually was involved with the formation of the first council before he went over to DDO. Now that he’s back, he’s already jumped in with the 2014 group, who are already hard at work even before they’ve officially announced them. So he thinks that’s one of the biggest achievements – that it’s proven its worth and value internally, which results in really good things for the players externally in the long run, even if some of the things aren’t seen straight out. Question about checks and balances on the council That is not anything the council even represents. It’s way outside its goal and purpose and to have something like checks and balances and veto powers are so far outside the realm of the concept that they aren’t even a consideration, honestly. Any news on the lottery system YES! The previous lottery system no longer exists, and will not be returning. However, he’s supposed to be having a sit-down later this week with a couple of engineers to talk about bringing in an entirely new system. One that works better and functions more like a lottery and less like a raffle. It won’t be out anytime soon, but as long as the scope doesn’t get too crazy they are talking about building a new one. The old system was terribly named because it was more of a raffle – you’d enter and then the system would go in and pick a winner from those who entered. Instead of like a lottery where you’ve got a number and then people who are assigned numbers, and if the two match, you have a winner. There is a slight possibility based on discussions so far that it may function more like a lever pull, but the whole lottery thing is just a really broad discussion at this point. But a discussion will be taking place on what a new lottery should be, how it should function, etc. Also keep in mind the lottery system exists completely outside the game. Comparing the two it could be argued, how are hobbit gifts any different from the lottery? The only real difference is that with hobbit presents you can get extra pulls for a cost, whereas with the new system you would not be able to buy more pulls. With the old system another big issue was that when they’d post a higher valued item, they’d inevitably get a ton of entries, so people’s chances of winning would plummet.

Cari and Layanor talk about stuff, and things like Update 13 and how she gets lost in game. Audio Version: What We Did in Game   Layanor  Helped my girl rank a little bit on her warg I am now 19.21% Farming OD diseases wing Way of the smiths Got my girl and I two first agers each. Cari Finished the Epic Story on Ali of Landroval. I have all the books done on her. Ran some 3-Mans with Rorrg. Did a little Anniversary Festival Stuff  News The 2014 Players Council invites have gone out. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?544825-Apply-for-the-2014-LOTRO-Players-Council/page2   Downtime April 23, 2014 https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7148385#post7148385 Scheduled Maintenance: Wednesday, April 23 from 5:00AM to 10:00AM Eastern (-4 GMT) The LOTRO Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com and all related sites will be offline for maintenance on Wednesday, April 23 from 5:00AM to 10:00AM Eastern (-4 GMT). Thanks for your patience, and we'll see you back in the game soon!   Hobbits to Isengard Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said How do you feel about server merges They don’t talk about them, haven’t talked about them, aren’t planning on them, don’t believe they are needed.   Will Fashion Maven ever return They are looking at other ways of awarding the title so that someone doesn’t have to be lucky enough to be seen and get rewarded that way. The hope is to make it a rewardable title through a code, and make it a prize through various screen-shot contests, or some means other than being lucky enough to be seen by a GM.   Sapience takes everyone on a tour of the tag and freeze-tag fields in Northern Bree by the festival grounds. It’s a lot of fun. There are a couple of locations where, if you get enough people into the area it will trigger the start of a game of tag, or of freeze tag. You should check it out. Tag is normal tag. In freeze-tag anyone who is touched by the person who is “it” is frozen and has to be thawed by another player. Tag is at 25.4S, 50.9W in Bree-land, and freeze-tag is at 26.2S, 49.6W in Bree-land.   Question about being able to obtain “extinct” titles and rewards such as the ones from the old Eregion unlock event He actually spent a great deal of time yesterday working on this very thing. He sat down with Rowan the other day on this, and he has to have a conversation with HoarseDev to get it all set up, but they have been going through the back catalog of things players can’t get anymore, or that were only offered for a very limited time, back around the Angmar and Moria days especially. Titles, cloaks, they even found a couple of mounts and a few other things that were offered one time, or offered in an obscure place and not everybody got. They’ve been looking at ways of going back and finding ways to create codes for those, and to do giveaways and contests for them. Maybe even make some of the stuff part of Extra Life this year. So definitely yes, that conversation is ongoing and there is an active plan being worked on. He thinks he came up with something like 35 different items already. Some of them shouldn’t be too difficult to convert, some of them will be kind of difficult to convert, but they are working on it.   Question about the quieting of the ents quest bestowal problems The quests might not be intended to work the way people expect them to work, with the delays and randomness and everything, but he also knows that the dev who wrote them – jwbarry, and QA are looking into some of the reports they’ve been seeing since it went live. But any changes that get made as a result of their investigation are likely not going to come until 13.1 which is still a ways out. They are aware that there may be some confusion with the way quests bestow, which aren’t necessarily bugs.

This weeks show, Cari is off on a adventure to the bars again. That means we have another show of man talk! We talk about the new update, Moors, and how Yellowcab killed Strider with a level one huntard. Audio Version:     Sponsors: Doghouse - Code: MMOREPORTER at doghousesystems.com to double your ram Audible - Go to audibletrial.com/mmoreporter to get your first month free! Contact Info Website: mmoreporter.com Emaill: mmo.reporter@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/mmoreporter Twitter: @mmo_reporter Twitter: @harryhol Twitter: @layanor Twitter: @mmobill Voicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the page. Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork

We have a very special episode with three very special guests. You will remember them from previous episodes. Why is that bush shaking? Get Off My Lawn!!!! Audio Version: April Fools!!!

Cari is gone this week, dealing with trauma from hosting alone last week. Layanor leads the show with Braxwolf of LOTRO Players, and Rorgg, a theater actor that happens to love the game. What we did in game: What We Did in Game Layanor I moved! So I did nothing... Braxwolf Got LM to 92 Got captain (95) through 2nd EB Played in LOTRO Players Adventures, hunter level 35 Rorrrrgrrr Finished gearing BW champ Lots of skraids Got Landy Warden through HD content. Beyond Bossfights - Mini Bossfight If your game doesn't start until the end, why did you even bother designing anything else? The people who realize your early game is a weakly designed timesink will leave. The people who prefer that first third will be disappointed that the game at the end is not what you trained them to like and leave. People who like alts and midgaming will be annoyed that most of the "coolest stuff" is too distant for them and leave. And worse? The rushers will see right through your "replayable content" and still leave. Endgame is the worst thing that ever happened to MMOs by Brianna Royce Over the years the quality has really been steadily rising to the point where we have some brilliant narrative and exciting storylines in many MMOs today. We still thrill at completing a quest to kill the dragon or save some poor townsperson who was unlucky enough to get kidnapped by orcs. The real issue is a simple one – our ability to consume that content as players has gotten to the point that most content is done by the players nearly immediately after it’s released. … The thing that is tough as a game maker is that players are going through the content we make so much faster then we can make it that we’re constantly in a state where our players are looking for stuff to do. The Sandbox MMO by John Smedley Does LOTRO suffer from a lack of end-game problem? If so, should the problem be solved with more sandbox content, or more end-game content? (if not, which one would improve on the existing game?) Turbine has experimented with different types of end-game content to help cater to solo and small group players. Are Epic Battles and repeatable quests viable end-game content or are raids and PvP the only end-game content capable of holding players’ interest? If you're looking for a new PC, then check out doghousesystems.com and use the coupon code MMOREPORTER to double your RAM! Go to audibletrial.com/mmoreporter to get a one month free trial. Contact Information: Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter: @lotroreporter Facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the screen when you visit the site. YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com www.twitch.tv/mmoreporter Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac Layanor  Twitter: @Layanor Braxwolf: Twitter: @braxwolf blog: braxwolf.com (Beyond Bossfights Podcast available on iTunes or Stitcher) LOTRO Players: lotroplayers.com Rorgg: @Rorgg Rorgg’s play plug: Brighton Beach Memoirs in Elgin IL -- late June  

Cari is flying solo this week. She's got loads of news like cosmetic pets, a new class, and the end of another LOTRO Fansite. The chatroom was awesome thanks for helping me out. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Cari Kin Party Wor...

Cari and Layanor talk about the Taking the Hobbits to Isengard notes, and pestering Turbine. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor 6% into new rank Cari Not a thing been in MO for the last 5 days   News Taking the H...

Cari and Layanor talk about the Producer's Letter, Hobnobbigans, and mail. Audio version: What We Did in Game Layanor 5% away from Rank 13 Cari Leveling a Captain - Level 18 Leveled my Champ a couple of levels Finished a couple more of the Epic Books Volume 1 News Letter from the Producer https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?543150-A-Letter-from-Executive-Producer-Aaron-Campbell Update 13 (and LOTRO’s 7th Anniversary) are coming up soon (He said it! Not me!- Sapience). There is a long list of new features with U13, but I want to highlight some of the key items and the great folks that are working on them. Epic Book: We’re going to Flooded Isengard! MadeofLions has put together an epic experience, where you finally get to experience life as an Ent. North Downs: This is a vast and classic region. Budgeford is digging in to modernize and improve the space, much like she’s done in the past with Moria. Fangorn Forest: Quickbeam needs your help! JWBarry has led the charge to build out new quests in Southern Fangorn, including a special friend you might earn. In addition, mail will now support multiple attachments. VIPs will be able to open mail in the wilderness through your mail alert. Inventory is getting entirely new management options. And we have a new prototype of Hobnangians that we expect to release later this year. Bullroarer should open this week. Automated Character Transfer is Available https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?543502-Automated-Character-Transfers-now-available&p=7113220#post7113220 https://store.lotro.com/en/lctt/item/lotrocharactertransfer/ 1 24.95 3 69.95 6 134.95 With this new transfer system we will no longer be able to accept Turbine Points for payment of character transfers. As of right now, we will still allow players to submit requests for transfers through the support website and choose Turbine Points as a payment method. This option will only remain available for a very limited time, and may be removed at any time. If you would like to use your Turbine Points to transfer a character, please submit the request ASAP. Special Offers: All 11 Quest Packs https://store.lotro.com/en/special-offers/ 79.99 for the Pack Hobbits to Isengard Notes - Brandywine https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said&p=7112956#post7112956 Will multiple mail attachments (coming with U13) add to postage cost It seems likely, but he will ask the engineer working on it and get back to us When will player council applications open up The plan is to open them on March 14. The Player’s Council has been great about making suggestions, so the application will be changing a bit based largely on their feedback Any teases you can give us about the inventory option additions It’s an inventory revamp not an itemization revamp, it will be focused on your bags. He’s seen the revisions and says they’re really cool. When U13 gets closer to being put up on Bullroarer he will ask the engineer to sit down and walk everyone through the revamp on livestream so they can see it for themselves. Will the new inventory help with cooking It will not change how and what will be stored, it will just enable you to rearrange your bags. For example, you can make them all into one big bag if you want. So it will not really affect the way items themselves are handled. It’s the functionality of the inventory, not the items in it. Discussion of aggro range – it increases as a character goes to levels higher and higher above their own, so that it becomes more and more difficult to stay alive. That isn’t true for chickens, though, because they are meant to go to dangerous places. What about the official global chat channels Official global chat channels is one of the things he keeps pushing whenever he sees an engineer,

Cari and Layanor talk about matchsticks, teeshirts, and pants. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor 5% away from Rank 13 Cari Leveling a Captain - Level 16 Leveled my Champ a couple of levels Finished 3 of the Epic Books Volume 1 News Pando Media Booster Possibly Has Been Hijacked by Malware https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?543107-Pando-Media-Booster-Please-read https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7108756#post7108756 http://w www.reddit.com/r/lotro/comments/1yshdq/warning_the_original_pando_media_booster_software/ Once you have successfully downloaded and installed LOTRO, there is no reason to keep pando active, or even installed. The game will update using its own launcher. You can safely remove pando without impacting your ability to play or patch LOTRO. How Many Character Slots Would you Pay For https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7106938#post7106938 Sapience has asked for hard numbers of how many slots you would like. Respond to the forum. Gift of the Valor is back for a Limited Time https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7106453#post7106453 Feb. 21st – March 6th Schedule for Taking the Hobbits to Isengard has been released https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?537901-Take-the-Hobbits-to-Isengard! New Lord of the Rings Game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ebNhO_cns Did you Know Not much of a did you know but If you drag your entire game over to a second drive, your game will not run well. Or at all! Community Tales of Arda Website http://toarda.com/ Minas Tirith with 420,000 matchsticks http://www.matchstickmarvels.com/index.php/the-models/minas-tirith Tee Shirt http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IEOD56U?ref_=sr_1_3&qid=1393209703&sr=8-3&keywords=not%20short%20a%20hobbit&pldnSite=1 Some Concern’s about Sauron’s Battle Plan http://www.dorkly.com/article/51050/some-concerns-about-saurons-battle-plan Contact Information Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter: @lotroreporter Facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the screen when you visit the site. YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com www.twitch.tv/mmoreporter Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac Layanor  Twitter: @Layanor

Cari and Layanor talk about fashion. We have a guest in the Community News section, and we talk about the Turbine Layoffs. Listen now: What We Did in Game   Layanor Power leveled, friend of the show Rorgg 9% away from rank 13 Killed 1000 Weavers for tier 2 deed Gathering things for the Kinship Festival Cari Ali of Brandywine to level 95 Leveling a Captain Asked Twitter what I should do next. Captain Burglar Spider (Reaver) News Turbine Hit with Layoffs http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/02/12/turbine-goes-through-new-layoffs/ Thank you Amlug Hannah Foyle Scareycrow RockX Aubergine Verical Vastin And some QA’s I’ve seen numbers from 15 to 95 people laid off. Hobbits to Isengard - Lauralin https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said&p=7100177#post7100177 Question about bugs As soon as you see a bug, make sure you bug it right away and, most importantly, give detailed instructions to the developers on how to recreate the problem. He doesn’t currently have any information about the status of specific bugs Are all the servers running on same hardware Contrary to what many people think, a “LotRO server” is not a machine, it’s a series of machines. For example it may be 8 different PCs, a load balancer, databases and various other hardware. But all the servers have pretty much the same hardware and are pretty much equal. Is the Turbine de-fragger tool still around and can it be used on the current build The Turbine defragger doesn’t exist anymore and he greatly discourages using it. If you still have it you should not use it, you could destroy your install. Will the people who are on the Bounder's Bounty plaques be able to choose which character they want displayed in the future When they started sorting out what was going to go on the Bounder’s Bounty plaques it was discovered there was going to be a group of 1,400+ people needing to respond with which character they wanted on the plaque, and that was going to take way too long to organize, so instead they went with the accounts that had the highest count, and which of the characters on that account contributed the most. Are there any plans to have any discussion based on the feedback to the Producer Letter threads on Housing, Inventory, etc The point of those threads was to get an idea of what players were looking for, see what the consensus points were. Even taking into account all those threads on English, German and French forums, at most it is the opinion of maybe 300 people, not a significantly large portion of the player base. So when they seek player feedback they do so through multiple venues, and they look at multiple sources of suggestions and input to see where the consistency lies across all sources of feedback, rather than focusing on one particular forum thread and taking that as the definitive answer to what the players want. When is U13 coming It is scheduled for March, probably toward the latter end of the month. He doesn’t have a date yet but when he does he will let everyone know. Are there plans for any other bare-chested cosmetics There was a joking discussion about bare-chested elves at one point, but no, there are no current plans to add more bare-chests. Although he won’t rule it out. He doesn’t usually get a heads up on the art that goes into any update, so he can’t really say or predict whether any particular cosmetic will end up in the game. Any plans for crafting in homesteads It’s been discussed, but he doesn’t know if it will happen, in what form or when. It’s a discussion that’s been happening as part of the larger housing revamp Can we please get more than 17 character slots This is a suggestion he’s made in the past, and he will pass it along again.

Cari and Layanor talk about 42 questions, hobbit loremasters, and mail attachments. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor afk in the moors a lot. Cari A little bit of leveling 94.5 News LOTRO inducted in the 2014 MMO Hall of Fame Class http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/210468/Guild_Wars_Lord_of_the_Rings_Online_and_Wizard101_Make_the2014_MMO_Hall_of_Fame_Class.php LOTRO Answers Your Questions https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?541661-Ask-The-LOTRO-Team-%E2%80%93-Answers-to-your-questions-%E2%80%93-February-6-2014 They answered 42 questions LOTRO has given us the the answer to life the universe and everything :) Rocky Mount North Carolina Meet and Greet March 28 https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?541974-OFFICIAL-Rocky-Mount-North-Carolina-Player-Meet-and-Greet-Friday-March-28-2014 Official Florida Player Meet and Greet April 5 https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?541521-OFFICIAL-Orlando-Florida-Player-Meet-and-Greet-Saturday-April-5-2014&goto=newpost Update 12.3 Patch Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?541772-Update-12-3-Official-Release-Notes Hobbits to Isengard Notes Gladden https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said&p=7098530#post7098530 Why do we have another double XP weekend The majority of players enjoy these events, it’s great for leveling up alts Based on what some of the players were commenting on in chat, Sapience says next end of beta event they will need some sort of streaming cataclysmic Bree event that all players can watch. Who is the Gandalf of the dev team He says HoarseDev has currently got the best beard Why is it “Welcome Back Weekend” He says the name should be updated/changed. It’s just an effect that they turn on from time to time because the majority of players really like the extra XP gain. It’s one of the more popular things they do. Why is XP boost free and XP disable not Great question with a really simple answer: The point of the game is to advance, and the relatively small by comparison number of people who actually use the XP disabler, to enable that across the server and stop everybody by force is not an option, since most people are trying to level their characters. More discussion about lag. He says that integrated graphics cards will really hurt your performance. For those on 64 bit systems that have a good size chunk of memory turn your texture cache up to max. It will help you preload things faster when moving between zones. Things you can turn off to help ease the load on your system is 3D portraits, also cloaks, mounts, banners – the more unique elements you have onscreen with the higher the settings, the more lag you will experience. Will turning off floaty damage help with lag Yes, floaty damage, floaty reputation renown, infamy, if you turn that off it will help a bit. Anything you can do to ease the load on your computer having to draw up stuff, the better your performance will be. Why are there no hobbit LMs A lot of classes are restricted by race because they try to stick to what makes sense within the lore. However there has been discussion about opening the classes up more to other races. Nothing definite yet but it is being considered. A hobbit storyteller is a lot closer to a minstrel than a lore master. There’s a big difference between someone who tells a story, and someone who uses the old ways to produce weather effects and things of that nature like a lore master does. Question about getting devs in the event RockX, Jinjaah, HoarseDev are all devs he’s for sure planning to get in on one of the streams. In fact he’s thinking of just doing a stream that’s not an event one, just he and the devs answering questions in real time. Sort of like a dev panel, instead of streaming the game.

Layanor is back and we talk about a whole bunch of stuff. Listen now:   What We Did in Game Layanor 18% away from rank 13 Cari A little bit of leveling 93.5 News No Pax East Party or Booth This Year https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7087932#post7087932 LOTRO will not have a booth, and we won't be having our usual party, but I'm looking to put together something for LOTRO fans to meet up and talk about the game. It will be more along the lines of what I've done in Orlando and Buffalo recently than our previous invitation only parties. I'm also looking at possibly doing something along the same lines fairly soon in Florida and/or possibly North Carolina. So if it all works out, we'll be looking at as many as 3 opportunities to get together with fellow players, in a lot more places than usual. Community Update http://youtu.be/qQNA1FOWZM0 New promotion Screenshot of the week - Details are Coming Taking the Hobbits to Isengard Withywindle https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?539143-Hobbits-to-Isengard-Q-A-with-Sapience-notes-on-what-was-said&p=7093241#post7093241 What is your personal opinion of the LI system Doesn’t have any particular problem with it as it is, but he knows that the team is looking into some stuff. He just got back the preliminary outline of the 20 questions that players submitted, and that question did get answered and it’s something the team is taking a look at. Should we be worried there will be no expansion this year Considering that in the past they’ve done only one expansion a year and no other content, and this year they’re doing 4 content updates and no expansion, they are just responding to a lot of players have been saying over the past year, “How about we take a break from expansions and give us some really great content, flesh out the world, go back and fix some of the older stuff, revamp a few areas, and kind of just focus on improving the game instead of constantly expanding it.” So that’s what they’ve done. Could we get a little info on housing He’s going to hold off until the 20 questions are published because there were some housing questions that got answered there. He says you’re going to be really happy with the answers. Various people asking about future plans for the game All you need to do is read Kate’s letter, she really lays out what’s happening in the first quarter and gives a good overview of what to expect overall. When 20 the questions answers be posted He just got them back, needs to go over them for typos, etc. and then put them up for translation. As soon as all that happens they will be posted. Probably mid next week. If you could session play anything within LotR content, what would it be Probably Sauron at the destruction of the ring, to see it from his point of view. Will there be more raids coming Currently no plans for raids, and he doesn’t see that changing from week to week, at least not for this year. He just saw that this question was answered by the team in the 20 questions, and that is the same answer they gave. No instance cluster raid type content is planned for this year. Are there any real-life meet and greets coming up He is trying to put some together with some players, there are some discussions in that section of the forums. Right now it is looking like early April in Florida in the Orlando area, late March in North Carolina on the Eastern part of the state, and in the Boston area around the Pax timeframe. He will keep everyone updated in the forums as his plans solidify. Does anyone in the office speak Sindarin or Quenya He doesn’t know specifically the numbers but yes, and it’s more than one person. He does not. Do other staff members attend Weatherstock You would probably be surprised at how often staff members have been in your raid, your kin, your fellowship and you haven’t known it. They do not give out info on their personal accounts,