RingLeader is Jeffrey Steele by the way.
White is Jeffrey Steele
Blue are question askers
Summaries of questions are in Green
And Red is Patience
<RingLeader> First of all, thanks so much to everyone for taking time out of their day to come and see us!
<RingLeader> It's quite overwhelming to see all of you
<RingLeader> And very exciting to talk about our game to all of you!
<RingLeader> I look forward to answering your questions where I can, and hopefully sharing a bit of my off the top excitement about LOTRO!
<RingLeader> So off we go!
<jincey> thank you so much for being here
Quests
<jincey> Seraph asks: How are you handling quests and storylines. Inevitably these kinds of games have a story arc which all the players can participate in, so what direction are you taking this? Tell us more about the storyline? What kind of quests and missions will there be?
<RingLeader> We have so many kinds of quests in the game
<RingLeader> Under it all, we have woven an Epic Story that your are part of, that involves Angmar and the Witch-King
<RingLeader> And that story is wound up in the overall story of the WOTR
<RingLeader> We have large, instanced quests that allow us to immerse you in characters and places, and a lot of fun drama
<jincey> Can you please give just one example?
<RingLeader> We have group and solo adventures, to carry and ferry items of value, visit far hidden places, aid NPCs, etc...
<RingLeader> Sure...hmmm -
<RingLeader> ::hoping patience does not hit hit with that bat::
* Patience scrolls back with narrowed eyes.
<RingLeader> We showed a quest at E3 that involved helping a Ranger retake wethertop from a group or Orcs, sent there By Sauruman
<jincey> nice!
<RingLeader> You have several objectives: Keep him alive, take back Weathertop, and discover some remnant shards of the stones that held the Palantir of Weathertop
<RingLeader> On the other extreme, we have a quest in the Sire where you help the locals deal with pesky frogs run amuck
<jincey> folks, Jeffrey will NOT answer your PM's, so please stop pestering him
<RingLeader> Or a quest to deliver pies to a neighboring town w/o getting it nabbed by a passing hungry hobbit
<RingLeader> As examples...
Notable Characters In Game
<RingLeader> OK, next question?
<seraph> Well Jeffrey, I see you just mentioned Saruman back there
<seraph> Furious5k asks:Can we expect to see only a portion of the cannon characters from Lord of the Rings or will we, with a bit of looking around, be able to find all or most of them in the game?
<RingLeader> And mispelled him as well ::blush:::
<RingLeader> I am a notorious bad typist
<Four-O-Nine> welcome to the fold RingLeader
<RingLeader> Well, you will see a great deal of the characters you would expect to find in Eriador
<RingLeader> And some that have travelled into the area
<RingLeader> Certainly the Fellowship, and many of the folks you might expect like Bombadil, Farmer Maggot, Barliman, Black Riders...
<RingLeader> Sharkey and his men
<RingLeader> I could go on and on, but suffice it to say you won't feel lonely for your favorite characters...
Ents
<jincey> ents? will there be ents?
<RingLeader> At the appropriate point we will have ents, yes...
<lisa> that's jincey's question
<RingLeader> In the old forest, you'll also encounter the Huorn, living trees that are also a bit of a handful!
<RingLeader> Yes, we will - I am not sure if we've posted the concepts of the Ents yet - but they are waaaay cool!
Zones?
<JPB> Keebs asks: Will most zones feature a SWG-esk sandbox style where you can walk everywhere, or the usual hill-as-walls maze style?
<RingLeader> The basic goal is for this to be a real world for you - you can walk as far as the eye can see
<RingLeader> Of course, there are some areas that will be naturally impassable
<RingLeader> no mazes tho
<jincey> we had wrong-window-itis
<RingLeader> LOL
Crafting
<jincey> Vincen has a question about the Crafting system: Is there anything defining about the crafting system as of yet? Will crafting have a big part of the community, or will it really take a back seat to most gameplay?
<RingLeader> Not a back seat at all - we're very excited about crafting
<RingLeader> While it will not be a class in of itself, Crafting will offer 9 professions
<RingLeader> You will have the harvesting, refining, and creaton that you would expect
<RingLeader> And many many kinds of recipes that draw on ingredients, some common, some rare
<RingLeader> Then, you can move on to "Mastery" of your craft, and then you will have the ability to add special ingredients and increase your chance of creating rare items
<RingLeader> So crafting, like many things in LoTRO, has an easy path and a mastery path
<RingLeader> We want it to be fun for more casual players, as well as the hard-core...
<lisa> un momento
<seraph> That's good to hear, we've already had several ask us what the game will be like for folks new to gaming.
<RingLeader> Fun, fun fun!
Music
<seraph> Our next question:
<seraph> <[KODA]_Decay asks: What kind of musical score is in the game? Who is the composser? And how will the background music change through out different zones of the game, will the music be on a continuous loop, or will it become more interleaved into what actions you are performing at the time?
<seraph> Kind of a large question, but you can see where he's going with this.
<RingLeader> We have an amazing in-house audio group that does our SFX and much of the music. Several of them are accomplished, professional musicians in their own right
<RingLeader> The music in the game will follow themes, some based on the overall LoTRO theme, some related to location, and some related to the events unfoldin at a particular time
<RingLeader> The music also responds to combat and other dynamic events.
<seraph> Along that same vein, can we expect to hear any of Howard Shore's themes in the score?
<RingLeader> We have our own audio systems that we have been developing for years and allow us a lot of layering and flexibility
<RingLeader> No music from Mr. Shore...
Economy
<jincey> Ceilidh asks: What general principles of the game economy can you share with us?
<RingLeader> Wow, now that's a small question
<RingLeader> Well, where to start...obviously, as in any online world, the economy is important and complex...
<RingLeader> We ant the players to be able to participate easily, but still have a system we can monitor and manage so as to protect the player experience
<RingLeader> Some basics: We have gold, we have vendors, we have secure trades
<RingLeader> We also have actions and probably the ability to trade/sell items through in-game mail
<RingLeader> As we have crafting, we have harvesting nodes throughout the game that we will need to balance continuously
<RingLeader> In terms of general principles, we will launch with a basic infrastructure and set of systems...
<RingLeader> Then we'll watch what you all do with it and do our best to help continue to manage a healthy economy....
Gold Sellers
<jincey> Vincen asks a follow-up: What steps will LOTRO take to battle gold sellers who profit in RL from virtual currency trades. Recently they have becoming more and more, and ruining games for all players.(important question with economy)
<RingLeader> We're very aware of how big an issue this has become in the MMO space.
<RingLeader> We certainly do not condone this behavior in any of our games
<RingLeader> There is no iron-clad way to completely control this abuse w/o making the actual game environment too restrictive to be fun for everyone else
<RingLeader> That said, we have increasingly robust tools, teams and processes to try and ferret out the worst offenders
<RingLeader> Who we then ban from the game, as we currently do with Ac and DDO
<jincey> that's good
<seraph> definitely a good thing to hear.
<jincey> ready for next?
<RingLeader> You bet!
Kinships
<jincey>odinseye asks: Can you tell us any of the proposed mechanics that you will be implementing for kinships or kinship leaders to make the kinship experience more entertaining or enriching? Also, have you been able to come to a conclusion on whether or not kinship halls will be in game at release?
<RingLeader> Kinship tools will begin with the basics - you can create a Kinship, invite members, manage memberships, and there will be loot sharing mechanics
<RingLeader> We are not currently planning Kinship Housing for launch, but this remains something we'd love to see happen ASAP.
<RingLeader> Kinships play a bigger and bigger part in our Elder Game, so the functionality will continue to expand over time
<RingLeader> So it is not a question of if, but when
<RingLeader> We are also working on raids which will be a blast for kinships
Player vs. Player Content
<jincey> We've had *several* folks ask how PVP will be integrated. What can players expect from the PVP system, when and where will PVP be available? Please give us all the details!
<RingLeader> LOL...all the details
<jincey> or a few?
<RingLeader> The bat will connect if I do
<jincey> one or two?
<RingLeader> heheh
<jincey> lol
Patience's Impatient Interjection
<Patience> Just want to jump in here for a second
<Patience> We'll be releasing more information on raids soon. One of our developers is working on an article for the website giving more detail.
<RingLeader> Patience is trying to say that I almost blew her big story...
<lisa> lol oops
<Patience> lol
<Patience> I'll get him back for it later. Carry on!
<RingLeader> OK
<jincey> lol
Back to PvP
<RingLeader> So...what wasthe question? Ah yes, PVP...
<RingLeader> Seriously guys, we're not trying to make you all crazy
<RingLeader> PVP is such a hot button issue we want to make sure we are crystal clear about all the details when we are ready
<RingLeader> The system will begin at launch, and then expand from there
<RingLeader> It will allow players to fight each other, but within a mechanic that is respectful to the IP, and makes sense in Middle-earth
<RingLeader> There will be roles to play for High-level players, newer players, and for Kinships...
<RingLeader> As much as I know you will now all hate me - that's all I can say for now
<seraph> That's good to hear. A lot of people (myself included!) are very interested in the PVP aspect and enjoy it about MMO's.
<RingLeader> But it's gonna be COOOOL!
<RingLeader> Me 2
<jincey> you have folks gnashing their teeth
<RingLeader> :::hides:::
Another PvP Question
<jincey> Arvi0n asks will the kinships we able to have "war" against each other? And will they be able to forge in-game alliances
<RingLeader> Kinships will be involved in the Conflicts - but this is somethig that will have to be left in shadow for now...sorry
<lisa> ok
Jeffrey Steele's Favorite Part of LOTRO
<lisa> Goblin asks: What is your favorite aspect of this game?
<RingLeader> Oh man, I only get One???
* lisa laughs
<lisa> well, take a stab
<RingLeader> Hmmmm....
<lisa> We've stumped you
<RingLeader> I have to say that playing an MMO with all the cool stuff I love about MMOs, but in MIDDLE-EARTH, and in service of people and struggles I read about as a kid, is really cool!
<lisa> so nostalgia
<RingLeader> I love participating in the richness and variety of the adventure we're making
<seraph> If it helps to clarify any, we've had several already ask what sets MEO apart from other MMO's?
<RingLeader> In some ways, but more like nostalgia as wrapper for real fun gaming
<seraph> or rather, Lord of the Rings Online.
<RingLeader> Part of it, yes
<RingLeader> So at 1000k feet, what sets it apart is that it immerses you in a deep, rich world, and one that you know already!
<RingLeader> And it is a mature, next-gen MMO that is really accesible to all kinds of players
Beta! When will it start?
<seraph> Next question, one we've been seeing a LOT so far...
<seraph> For as many people curious about PVP and Crafting, EVERYONE wants to know when we can expect to see the Beta open up! Can you give us a hint when we can look forward to dipping our toes in Middle Earth Online?
[b]<RingLeader>[b] Beta will most likely start late summer, though we have not set the start time yet, as we want to make sure we are incorporating what we are learning from our Alpha
<RingLeader> Rest assured, Meghan and team will be feeding you all info about Beta often!
Announcement
<jincey> Hi! We're chatting with Jeffrey Steefel today, and due to the large crowd, we've moderated the room, silenced except for ops and the guest. If you have a question, please PM an op (but not Barliman) to submit it. We will ask as many questions as we can. Hopefully Jeffrey will have time at the end of the chat for open floor discussion. Please remember to abide by our rules here, which can be read by typing !guidelines.
Getting Defeated in Combat
<Four-O-Nine> Link5935 asks: What happens when you are defeated? Do you instantly go to a nearby town, or do you lie on the ground for a bit so you can be "revived", or how the process of being defeated will work? In other words, can you give us any more details on how reviving characters from a defeated state will work?
<RingLeader> For now, we have opted to keep the defeat mechanic very very simple.
<RingLeader> Upon defeat, you are sent to a "place of safety" (nearby spawn point) and you need to rejoin your adventure from there.
<RingLeader> The penalty is fairly low, which we think is a good thing
<RingLeader> That said, we have the capability to do many other things, and depending on what we learn during Beta, we'll make any needed changes.
Game Development History
<lisa> Goblin wants to know how long the game has been in development
<RingLeader> Turbine began developing the game at the beginning of 2003, and we have been developing it as a self-publisher from Jan 2004....
Naming Policy
<jincey> Criterium asks: How will naming policy be handled? Will there be a filter to prevent people naming their characters with offensive names etc? And also will people be able to use special characters not usually used in names such as !#$ and use capslock?
<RingLeader> We will have a banned names list as well as bad word filtering
<RingLeader> We will most likely restrict many special characters for the same reasons other games do
Naming Policy (Revisited)
<jincey> Furious5k asks: Have you decided how you will deal with the presumably large numbers of players who will want to use the canonical character names (eg. Aragorn or Strider). Will you disallow them and all close Aproximations (i.e. Arag0rn)?
<RingLeader> As of this time, we will not be allowing players to use the iconic Tolkien names for their Avatar name
<jincey> oh wow
<jincey> that should cause consternation
<RingLeader> Well, you can imagine the potential issues if we have multiple "Aragorn"'s running around
<RingLeader> As you encounter them in the world as NPCs that have vital info and items, this could be a major griefing opportunity
Graphics and Req. Computer Specs
<seraph> well Jeffrey, I haven't seen anyone ask this yet, but I'm curious
<seraph> What sort of high-end graphics options will be available to gamers with the latest hardware, and conversely, what about gamers that DON'T have the latest gear? For those of us with aging computers, should we expect to need to upgrade?
<RingLeader> Turbine has a well-evolved graphics engine that supports many levels of quality
<RingLeader> While you will get the most stunning graphics at the highest level, there are many lower levels of detail that yield very nice effect as well
<RingLeader> The engine scales everything: Textures, rendering settings, shadows, reflections, LOD, etc... based on the setting you choose
<RingLeader> And you do not need the latest rocket to play at the highests levels
<RingLeader> I purposely have a machine at home with a GEFORCE 4400 that I play on to make sure I can still ahve a great experience on a lower-end machine....
<RingLeader> Rest assured that we want to make sure a wide audience can enjoy LoTRO
Roleplaying Servers
<RingLeader> Next Question?
<jincey> Irondur asks: Will there be RP servers?
<RingLeader> We have not yet determined if we will maintain seperate-focus shards...this is still in discussion...
How big will LOTRO be at launch?
<jincey> Eorlingas wants to know: How many different places can we see in the game?
<RingLeader> Wow - there are so many....
<jincey> and a follow-up Gilmacar asks: I would like to know how far north and south the game will go.
<RingLeader> OK, first
<RingLeader> So you'll be able to visit BIG places like Rivendell, The Shire (including all the towns you remember), Midgewater Marshes, Misty Mountains....
<RingLeader> Smaller areas like Weathertop, The Old FOrest, Maggot's Farm, Bombadil's House...
<RingLeader> Thorin's Halls, Angmar.... Staddle, Hobbiton, Brandywine Bridge, Prancing Pony, Estledin
<RingLeader> Bilbo's Stone Trools
<RingLeader> Trools
<RingLeader> Trolls
<RingLeader> arghhhh
<jincey> anything beyond mordor? to the farthest east?
<lisa> trools
<lisa> i like those
<RingLeader> I could go on and on
<RingLeader> As for the size of the world, we are covering much of Eriador....dozens of SQ KM
Playable Evil Races
<Four-O-Nine> Furious5k, Guest2 and several others have asked: Are there plans for any expansions that offer the chance to play "the other side of the story" i.e. "the evil characters" (orcs, trolls, easterlings, etc)?
<RingLeader> :::wry smile:::
<RingLeader> Let's just say that we dream of that often....
<RingLeader> I swear that with these few things, like this and PvP, we won't be coy much longer
<RingLeader> Clearly, the battle between good and evil is central to LOTR, and we all want to participate in all of it!
<Four-O-Nine> gotcha
Fish and Chips, Even you couldn't say no to that
<jincey> Seriadaco asks a fun question: Will there be fishing in LotRO?
<RingLeader> We hope so...there are a boatload of mini-games we have in mind - it will simply depend on time...
<RingLeader> IMHO, the further we get after launch, the more social activities the community will want...this is a natural evolution as we all get to know the world....
Tea or maybe something a little stronger
<lisa> ok
<lisa> i have one question
<lisa> that's surreal
<lisa> TristramHaven asks: Will Hobbits in Middle-Earth drink tea or coffee?
<lisa> It's a brain teaser, I'm sure
<RingLeader> The libations available are still being worked out....
<lisa> Good answer
<RingLeader> ::bows deeply::
Reparing Items
<jincey> Lomen asks: When items degrade can they be fixed? If so is there a limit to the durability, a point where it can no longer be repaired?
<RingLeader> Items degrade and can be repaired. Right now, they do not become totally unusable, but after time, it may be better to get a new one
<RingLeader> This is also the kind of this we will tune during Beta
Player Events
<jincey> Paintballer1305 asks: What kind of support will the development team give to members of the community who run player events?
<RingLeader> Interesting question
<RingLeader> We love our players who take on these kinds of roles in the community and we want to help wherever we can
<RingLeader> We're building a sizable Community team in-house that will be here to work with the community
<RingLeader> We're making sure we have some tools for players, like multi-group management, and Kinships that will help
<RingLeader> And I imagine of dev cycles themselves will one day be influenced by what players are doing in our game
Fast Travel
<Four-O-Nine> Chumbar asks: Can you explain more about travel and how it will work?
<RingLeader> Travel is easy - you walk!
<RingLeader> Seriously, we have fast travel in the game, which will be a series of horse stables that you can use as nodes in our travel network
<RingLeader> You will be able to travel fast to any place you have previously reached
<RingLeader> Clearly, exploring is fun, in-game marathons are not
<jincey> next?
<RingLeader> Yuppers
Instancing (Truesilver = Me)
<jincey> Truesilver asks: On the subject of instancing, various sources say 10% - 20% of the world will in fact be instanced; If I wanted to group with another player would they have to be at exactly the same point in all the quests that I am, or what?
<RingLeader> Not at all...
<RingLeader> There are cetainly some instanced quests (minority) that require you to be a certain level to enter them
<RingLeader> But in many cases, you simply "follow the leader"
<RingLeader> There are a VERY few "world-changing" instances that you may have heard about that will require you to all be at the same "story-level" but these are few and far in between
<RingLeader> And designed to not happen to players that are far apart in level
Lineage
<jincey> calibur asks Can you elaborate on Lineage and how it works?
<RingLeader> Ah, Lineage...
<RingLeader> We are still determining how much actual impact your lineage will have to gameply. After you select your race, you can select your Lineage (Brandybuck/Tokk, etc...)
<RingLeader> This will impact some of your character appearance choices during chargen
<RingLeader> We originally had the idea of having lineage impact gameplay, but this seemed in practice to be a bit problematic as it means choosing yet another thinga biout you in the beginning you hae to deal with forever
<RingLeader> There may be some specific adventures/triats that you experience as a result of your lineage - TBD
<jincey> ahh ok
Price of LOTRO
<jincey> Squall[CHeM] and others have asked about the cost. What will the pricing scheme for LOTRO be? retail version, monthly fee, additional fees, etc....
<RingLeader> We are not yet set on the pricing model(s) for LOTRO
<RingLeader> There is much afoot in the industry surrounding these issues, and we are wathcin like all the other companies to see how things evolve
<RingLeader> Whatever we decide, it will be driven by what we believe is the best possible solution for a healthy, growing and evolving franchise
Ship Date
<jincey> so when is target date for this to hit?
<RingLeader> We're not talking publicly about ship date yet
<jincey> ballpark?
<jincey> this year or next?
<RingLeader> The bottom line is that I have support for us making sure we ship a rock solid AAA game
<jincey> that we can all understand
<jincey> ok folks, i know we didn't get to half of the questions, but we'll send them to jeffrey to answer later for posting here at torn
<RingLeader> ::had to duck deep to avoid Meghan's bat:::
<RingLeader> I would love to see them!
<jincey> LOL
* Patience hides it behind her back.
<RingLeader> ROFL
<jincey> we are going to open the floor for everyone but first
<jincey> I must thank Jeffrey and patience for coming in today
<lisa> Thank you very much!
<RingLeader> Thanks so much for inviting us!
<jincey> and i have to thank all the folks who came to see this
<jincey> and the mods who were sweating behind the scenes taking the q's ; )
<jincey> lol
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07-11-2006, 03:12 PM
LOTRO ...
Linear Mode
