<[Turbine]Orion> Hello all! I'm Allan "Orion" Maki, I handle a lot of the monster play aspect of the game as well as many of the other aspects of game play and content. Glad to be here this evening.
<Scenario> Good evening all! My name is Matt "Scenario" Elliott. I am the Lead Worldbuilder for LOTRO. The World Team is responsible for landscape and dungeon development with bits of content and systems designed sprinkled in the mix.
<Denour_Turbine> Evening everyone, my name is Andy "Denour Gillis and I am one of the Game System Engineers on The Lord of The Rings: Online. I have worked on systems ranging from Auction to Mail, Reputation and more recently 'scaley' things. I can answer more system related questions and technical questions.
<Tens_LOTRO> Hey everyone! This is Ryan "Tens" Bednar, and I’m here to answer all of your questions about Book 12, The Outfit System, and Haircuts in Middle-earth.
<TurbineMeghan> Hi everyone! Thanks for coming tonight.
I'm Meghan "Patience" Rodberg, Community Manager for Turbine. I like cake.
<[CM]Liquilla> And I’m Liquilla, Community Liaison for LOTRO Europe
<Satine> And I'm Sam "Satine" Russell, the Senior Community Manager for LOTRO Europe!
<jasnai> will there be any other new instance like ettendeep?<[Turbine]Orion> We want to make sure that first, the Ettendeep is called The Delving of Frór. Second, it is not an instance, it is a public dungeon available once the Ettenmoors is in control of the Free People or Angmar's Army.
<[Turbine]Orion> We want to see how this goes before we promise any other areas like this.
<nem> Hiyas, im wondering how the new stats on mobs above level 50 will impact the balrog , thorog and other level 50+ raid targets.<Tens_LOTRO> Post 50 stats are something that we’re definitely keeping our eyes on.
<Tens_LOTRO> We have 2 big concerns there:
<Tens_LOTRO> 1. We want to ensure that our existing level 50 content remains challenging to players.
<Tens_LOTRO> 2. We want to ensure that our post 50 advancement is satisfying.
<Tens_LOTRO> So, yeah, we’ll be doing our best to strike a balance between those two things.
<Fredol> Hello, with the new PvMP oriented Armour Set in book 12 we will have 3 of them available, is there any plan to introduce 6-8 pieces jewellery set for end-gamers?<[Turbine]Orion> We never intend to restrict what we can and cannot do with our sets. So we will not say that there will never be a jewelry set that exceeds the current 3-piece set.
<Eona> Hello ! Will monsterplayers have the same chance to create an individuell character like the players of the free people one day and will it be possible to play an evil humen like angmarim or haradrim ? Thank you very much.<[Turbine]Orion> Never say never. Of course, there are still no plans in the works to support the evil side of the conflict.
<Ethion> <Sindell> Will there be any use of underwater in the future?<Scenario> We do not currently have any plans to enable underwater swimming. We still have plenty of use for normal swimming, however.
<adamo102> Do you plan to add the cool feature of walking with weapon in hand? Like sheath/unsheath weapon keyboard shortcut?<Tens_LOTRO> Sheathing is something we actually looked into for Book 12, but unfortunately we hit some tech hurdles that we couldn’t overcome for this update...
<Tens_LOTRO> But it’s something that we’ll keep on investigating as time permits.
<Vhamp> Are the skins for the PVMP armour the final skins, i am asking this as i would be dissapointed to see them being the same as the Helegrod armour skin?<[Turbine]Orion> Yes, these are the current final version of the armor pieces for the initial player side rewards.
<Anonymous11> When are you going to introduce the Shaman in the Ettenmoors?<[Turbine]Orion> Though the name of the class is still in flux, we have the basic skills and abilities, the advancement path and appearances etc... The class is currently on internal testing servers and should be ready to go for Book 13...if testing goes well. If not, we'll hold it back until it is ready.
<Kajousek> Hello, could you please add some items low-level crafters can make which would be useful for all levels? Eg. grinding stones fro weapons made from tier 1 and tier 2 materials.<Tens_LOTRO> We can certainly look into it.
<nem> Are you looking at balance in ettenmoors regarding burglars and loremasters? currently they are very hard to kill.. (burglars specially)<[Turbine]Orion> Burglars and Loremasters are not specifically being looked at in the Ettenmoors. What we are looking at is the impact that diminishing returns had in the space. We believe that the impact was not as great as intended and will be putting an aggressive update into internal testing soon. With the hopes that this will be released to public test servers for Book 13.
<jeffers727> will combat-in-water ever not look rediculous?<Scenario> You try fighting a boar in water and how you look!
<[Turbine]Orion> Have you ever fought in the water...it looks goofy. If the question is, "Will there ever be smooth transition of animation and combat in water?" the answer is: we have no plans at this point in time.
<Mich-666_> All heil to Mighty Scenario, God of Creation! We all love your cryptic messages about upcoming content, so can you please present us with the gift of your infinite knowledge and hint us what location can we humbly expect in Book 13? <Scenario> Ah my wonderfully bloated ego! Honestly, I'm afraid I don't have too much more to give in the hints department.
<Scenario>
<Zenu> PvMp question: I enjoy my class, loremaster in pve, but will we see any changes to skills that are available for players in ettenmoors, I mean skill changes restricted to pvp only so they wouldn't affect pve? I find playing my loremaster in ettenmoors a bit boring because I'm just cc'ing there and dmg is mitigated heavily because of the high resistances..<[Turbine]Orion> Any time that we change skills for the sake of PvMP we are certain that there is no change to the PvE version of the skill.
<[Turbine]Orion> There are no plans to introduce player skills that can only be used in PvMP. If that ever happens, we will be sure to give you all fair warning before they are implemented.
<[Turbine]Orion> If we ever make changes to existing skills we'll also let you know well beforehand.
<BuBiMan> Hello, will it be possible to sell items to an NPC not only through the NPC window? It's terrible to scrol through the window to find the items I want to sell<TurbineMeghan> Tens is slow again.
<TurbineMeghan>
<[Turbine]Orion> Tens says he will look into it
<TurbineMeghan> He's having some IRC problems, sorry
<[Turbine]Orion> He forgot how to type.
<TurbineMeghan> Yeah, that.
<Exca_> Portal had the lovable companion cube, could we maybe see something similar in LOTRO, like say, a companion rock?<TurbineMeghan> You know, we do what we must because we can.
<[Turbine]Orion> The cake is a lie!!!
<Denour_Turbine> the ring is a lie!
<TurbineMeghan> We'll have to build an Enrichment Center first. Maybe in the Shire.
<Mich-666_> Regarding monsterplay: it is nice you are adding new traits and skills to monsters in B12 but rank you need to get them costs too much infamy noone can ever gather in their lifetime. Are you planning to lower these infamy costs for ranks?<[Turbine]Orion> We took a long hard look at the numbers there...and it was not as extreme as never in a person's lifetime. It was more 8 hours a day for 365 days a year for 5 years. We felt that was a bit extreme. This number was based on the current acquisition of infamy and renown while within raids. We have made significant changes to amount of infamy/renown earned within raids for Book 12 and will continue to refine these numbers.
<Maathim> Hello. Exactly what will the hair cut system provide? Can you just change your currect hair to something else or will there be brand new features?<Tens_LOTRO> Well, first and fore-most, the hair cut system will provide, of all things, hair cuts!
<Tens_LOTRO> But, in addition to that, there will be more hair styles available to races...
<Tens_LOTRO> And players will be able to choose two details for their character's faces.
<Tens_LOTRO> (which is 1 more than you can select currently)