Summary: Chris, Cari and Layanor - Chat about 20 questions with the devs, stuff in the Turbine Store, and LOTRO's future. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- Rank 12 Tried bfe2 again Went to do Moria and Lothlorien Dailies Cari - Attended one of the Pre-Weatherstock Concerts Been Posting 31 days of LOTRO Pics on the Facebook Page Did some Rested XP leveling on a few alts. Quested some in the Wildemore Chris - Almost finished Wildemore Most of the quests in the North West are done. Finishing up a few straggler quests. News 20 Questions with the Dev Team http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?517321-Twenty-Questions-with-the-LOTRO-Dev-Team-July-2013 Q7: It has been said before that adding a new Freep class isn't on the cards, but why is that so? Is there simply no feasible placement for a new class given the roles of current classes or is it more a case of prioritizing time, resources, etc? A7: Creating a class from scratch is a big endeavor. Our current class revamps should, in theory, have several beneficial byproducts. First, we are cleaning them up, top-to-bottom. They will be more rewarding and builds will be more defined. They will also be easier for us to maintain. While I can’t say that a new class is in the works (there isn’t) the revamp will make it a lot easier to consider one in the future. - Zimmitti Q14: Will Chicken Session play ever be extended into new areas, as the game expands .. Possibly with a new skill or 2 to enable better survivability ? A14: I had actually forgotten all about chicken play! I still have the Trollshaws quest in my log...waiting. Waiting. Someday I'll finish the journey. This question is a good reminder; we can't promise new chicken play content, but I promise to look into it! I would actually love to make some new sessions to explore the newer content from the eyes of a chicken. - Lauren Q15: What is Turbine's process for tuning landscape/quests/instances/raids to an appropriate level of difficulty. Especially considering the huge gulf in the level of equipment within the player base. On group content do you have an ideal class composition in mind when you tune the content? A15: For landscape, there’s actually an old rule for soloable gameplay of how many monsters an average player should be asked to fight for a quest. 1 signature, 2 normals, 3 swarms. - Lauren A15: For instance or skirmish content: Lots and lots of playtests and iterations. Difficulty is intended to increase as both tier and group size increase. We attempt to tune tier 1 to be beatable by our Palantir players, tier 2 by bullroarer, and then challenge for live. The reason for this isn’t because players on live are better than Palantir or Bullroarer players, it comes down to the groups being better because they’ve been playing together as the same group for years. Small Fellowship we tune to need a tank or a healer, but try to avoid requiring a trinity, even within challenge level difficulty. Fellowships we aim for a trinity plus 3 others. We avoid trying to build 6-man content that requires multiple tanks. Raids we attempt to design and tune to encourage 2 tanks, 2 main healers, 2 captains, and at least one of each class. One of the biggest tricks is to be aware of the numbers when it comes to equipment and gear but to not be overly bound by it. Introducing chaos, and requiring communication and coordination by increasing the number of dynamic elements involved creates a far more challenging and satisfying fight than simply raising the health and damage. - JWB Q16: Given player concerns about the license and Turbine's relationship with Saul Zaentz/Middle-earth Enterprises, can you say anything about LOTRO ending in 2014 as some have predicted? A16: We plan to support LOTRO for many more years to come. We are very fortunate in that we enjoy a great relationship with Middle-earth Enterprises.
