Merric had a chat with Turbine’s Adam Mersky and Aaron Campbell. Merric was able to ask many questions submitted by our listeners but due to time limits, he was not able to ask them all. The discussion is about 30 minutes in length and I think you will really enjoy it!
Topics include discussing Isengard, the instances coming with Update 5, Legendary Items, PVMP and more!
We want to thank Aaron and Adam for their time. We appreciate any chance we get to speak with Turbine employees directly!
This interview was recorded on Monday, September 12, 2011.
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September 13, 2011 at 10:38 am
Thanks for doing the Q&A session. Some interesting details there. In hindsight I can see now that I phrased my own question badly. Oh well… still a good show even if I didn’t get an answer to the question I should have asked. .
September 13, 2011 at 10:48 am
Wow! I really enjoyed that interview. Excellent job moderating, Merric, and, as you said, the gentlemen were very generous with their answers. Hearing that the region is on par with Moria as far as quests and region-size is a bit of an eye-opener. Moria seems so incredibly massive. I know that some of it is artificial, in that paths are deliberately crooked and overlapping, but I didn’t get the sense at all from what people in beta were saying that these new regions were approaching that scale. Of course, I haven’t really spoken to that many people about it, either.
My excitement for this expansion has yo-yo-ed a bit. This interview definitely served its purpose. I think my anticipation has hit an all time high.
Thanks again, Merric!
September 14, 2011 at 11:05 am
You’re welcome.
I have to say we couldn’t have done it without all the great questions from everyone. 
September 13, 2011 at 6:58 pm
It sure sounds like they might be planning some type of fellowship finder. Maybe instance join will become some type of dungeon finder.
September 13, 2011 at 7:05 pm
That would be nice. I wonder if they introduce a Dungeon Finder (like WoW’s), if it will be cross-server.
September 13, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Part of me is wondering if its on the U5-U6 timetable.
We’ll see. ; I do hope its only server-wide.
September 13, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Really nice interview. It sure sounds like they were alluding to additional pvp features…Arenas/Warfronts more Orvr maps etc. And also maybe a dungeon finder tool (finally!). I’m glad Turbine is finally bringing Lotro some of the mainstream MMO features.
September 13, 2011 at 8:33 pm
Thanks for the interview, everyone! Just a note though that I’m really very unhappy with: Please, gentlemen, please shave. Please, do not grow a beard. Unless your name is Gandalf, facial hair is something that should happen just above each eye.
Seriously, though, thanks very much! I didn’t realise that this expansion was similar to Moria in size and scope. I’m also excited for update 5 and hearing more info about next year. Squeak!
September 13, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Looking forward to listening to it.
September 13, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Nicely handled Merric, a great interview.
There are always complaints prior to an expansion but the amount of negativity being bandied about is definitely out of proportion this time round. Tons of quests, phasing, new landscapes, new people, new tech… I think the majority of players will be very pleasantly surpised with RoI. It has (or will have) something for everyone.
I’m also pleased to hear Aaron talking about continuing to bring new options to the player base. Some will be hits and some will be misses as he says, but to stop innovating in this space is to whither and die so hats off to them for being assertive and positive in their actions.
Really looking forward to the 2012 overview later in the year!
J.
September 14, 2011 at 10:27 am
Great interview guys, thanks so much for this! Its cool to hear we might be getting more of a road map towards the end of this year, I for one would really appreciate a ‘head up’.
I think you hit the nail on the head J.
Whilst Turbine are by no means blameless, the way people have gone crazy (in a negative way) over this expansion is a little excessive. I wonder if peoples minds are now already made up by the polarized nature of the ongoing debate, and their experiences of Isengard will now be tainted because of this.
When I first went into Beta (once I got over all those loot boxes in the Eyes and Guard) I was impressed by how large, how well detailed, how carefully done things were. How cool the settlements were (esp Galtrev), and on the effort that had gone into gear itemization, cosmetics, and the mechanics, the class revamps are superb (but different!).
Then I look at the main forums post NDA and suddenly a whole host of complaints hit, ironically not particularly in the Beta forums. I honestly hadn’t considered it to be ‘small’ until people started saying it was based on the maps, then it becomes of bit of an obsession. My gut reaction was it isn’t, but I think many will now be heading into Dunland with a negative cast, I hope not!
September 14, 2011 at 11:00 am
A lot of it has been silly… There are people who just sit and focus on the one big “dunland” map, without bothering to look into the zones within that and, more importantly, how much there is to do in them.
There also seems to be this expectation that Turbine should have just done all of these class and item changes anyway, so why should it be listed as an expansion “feature”? I don’t really get that, as I wonder if they’d have invested this much time and energy into it for a normal update at all.
The point is that I’m sure it’ll be a fine expansions. I’m sure there are people who won’t like it and they’re entitled to their opinion as it’s “true” for them. That said, a lot of the furor seems to be from people who saw a couple of feature lists or focused on some one thing they really care about that isn’t coming or saw a picture.
There are things I wish it had (skirmishes?), but overall I don’t see this as anything worse than say, the Wrath of the Lich King expansion… particularly if you buy it as a package on the Turbine store and get all of those upcoming instances to boot.
Sorry about how long that was lol
September 14, 2011 at 11:42 am
Well, personally, I do agree that the class changes shouldn’t be touted as an expansion feature. I probably shouldn’t compare apples and oranges, but RIFT is constantly balancing their classes and revamping skills, etc. I know it’s a new game, and that they’re doing a lot just to please their playerbase over there, but I think class changes are something that should be done as maintenance, to address issues. If these changes are fixing problems, then it shouldn’t be (and actually isn’t) something we should pay for.
September 14, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Yeah, I guess I don’t really disagree on that front either. I think in RIFT’s case they have more to prove yet, it’s a new game, etc. as you mentioned. But who knows, they be doing that for years and really show everyone up lol
September 14, 2011 at 4:05 pm
yeah, no disagreement here either, perhaps I should have excluded it, but even so, with the update 5 instances, this will be a very cool expansion.
September 14, 2011 at 12:32 am
I hope you post this..
You are *beeping* awesome my friend ;D
September 14, 2011 at 1:30 am
Thanks Merric & CSM, it’s nice to get finally get some answers to some questions the community has been asking for a very looooong time.
I really like that they are finally pushing the content development forward story wise. I really felt like we barley moved forward at all story wise since Moria was release, with all of the old content being revamped/updated what seemed like every update. Sound like they are really improving in a lot of area’s.
However I must say, hearing them say that they are happy with were Legendary Items are at, and there wont be any major updates to the LI system (for how long?) pretty much just sealed the deal for me. I don’t believe I will be sinking time into the game now other than just playing it for the book story quests. I can’t bring myself to run the same old Legendary items game for the 3rd time, not to mention doing it on alts.
- Smoki
September 14, 2011 at 7:02 am
Interview was really nice. I’m sad i’ve missed the Questions thread cos i really wanted to ask when they plan to open transfers into Crickhollow…
Anyway, are guys in CSTM thinking about a transcript of the interview?
September 14, 2011 at 8:04 am
We typically do not do transcripts simply because we’ve found no easy way to do it. I’m afraid I simply do not have time to listen and type out the entire interview by hand.
September 14, 2011 at 10:45 am
So what about just point out some main things, which are new or surprised even you.
September 14, 2011 at 11:04 am
I understand some folks would rather read and I am sorry this isn’t in your preferred format but our podcast is audio only. The questions all came from you so if you want to see what was asked, you’re welcome to follow the link to that post.
September 14, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for putting this together. I definitely like the short, direct question style, and glad you didn’t dwell on any specific topic for too long.
Choptober sounds like a scary place in Turbineland.
September 18, 2011 at 8:13 am
forgot a question.
when will there be new hobbies?