The past few months I have been completely boggled by the path Turbine has been taking with the LOTRO Store.
I’m all for trying new things and different ways to get get our interest to buy. Every store everywhere is essentially doing the same thing. The goal is get me to buy and I’m not adverse to buying things that I want/need. I will happily hand over my cash for something that will make my life easier, prettier or more enjoyable.
Lately though it seems, at least in this writers eyes, that something really wonky is happening with the LOTRO Store. Not just the high ticket items like the Hobby Horse Turbine was testing the waters with or the raise in some prices after Rohan. Those are changes I expect with a store, try something a little zany and adjust prices. That’s typical store behavior.
It feels more like general day to day communication seems to have broken down in some fashion.
Unannounced Sales
My first thought goes to unannounced sales. I mean good sales that people would love to hear about and would take advantage of but Turbine didn’t announce it anywhere. We’ve had a couple examples of these that luckily we’ve caught due to diligent store users such as a complete crafter sale, war-steed color pack sale, and monster class sale.
It is completely possible these types of sales are simply human error. They were missed in the announcement or they were not supposed to be on sale at all and were turned on accidently. These things happen and I’m not damning Turbine for making mistakes if this is the case.
But unannounced sales hasn’t been limited to the in-game store. Just before the new year there were huge 50% off sales on the LOTRO Market and Steam that I didn’t see a mention of anywhere. Earlier this week there was a 50% off sale on LOTRO items from GameStop which again didn’t seem to make any announcements.
I’m completely baffled why Turbine would have sales that they don’t tell their customer’s about? I looked in the forums, on the announcements, twitter, Facebook, and in their weekly e-mail but didn’t see anything on these sales. I don’t know anything about business or marketing but it seems a half off sale would be worth at least mentioning.
Items Added / Removed without Notice
I’m mostly talking here about Turbine adding new items and then I guess expecting us to just find it for ourselves. A perfect example of this would be the new store exclusive steeds added with Update 9: Victory and Dol Baran. They’re added to the store, have the benefit of cosmetic options for war-steeds and no one is told they exist! We had the horse models in game at the only real clue to finding these.
We sometimes get store release notes that would show us new items but they seem to be a bit scarce and scattered in their frequency.
I want to know what’s new and if I need it and if it can be dyed pink. Is that too much to ask?
Closely related would be items that are deemed as limited time items that have no announcement or timeline shared of when they will be in or out of the store. One such example is the Bone Set of war-steed cosmetics.
I don’t have a problem with limited time items. It’s a little silly for a digital product but I have enough understanding to know that it’s a marketing strategy that tends to work to get immediate purchases. That’s fine if they want to do this.
The problem is communication of these limited time offers. To our eyes this item appears to be popping in and out of the store at random. One day it’s there and then it’s not and it is completely up to the players to notice when it is there to spread the word.
Perhaps these types of things are marketing tactics or trial programs Turbine is trying but as a consumer all I can say is this is frustrating. Expecting players to notice and share is one way to try to make us more attentive to your store, but I think the true outcome is people just missing buying the items they wanted and being rather annoyed when they realized the item is gone.
Removal of In-Game Sales/Special Items on Web Site
This is a new one and one that may be reversed with next week but it certainly fits the bill of being a step backward in customer communication in my opinion.
This week Turbine tried something new and is encouraging players to get in game to see the sales. Again, I’m not faulting them for trying new things. There probably is some underlying business reason I don’t understand as to why Turbine would think making their players go through extra effort to see the sales is worth a try. They’re even asking for feedback which is good to see they value our opinion of their little experiment.
This is the most crazy thing I’ve ever heard of. I can’t think of any other store who would just put up a flier saying that “We have stuff on sale, come on in to check it out!”.
Also it was rather unfortunate this week’s sale included cosmetics which made for pages and pages of content to click through. Merric was likening it to those $5 DVD bins you see at Wal-Mart where you have to sit and dig through the random assortment of items to see if there’s anything of interest to you.
PRO TIP: There is a “list” option in the store that will show much more than the 4 items at a time which was helpful for this sale. It’s located in the upper right corner of the store window. Also I would sort them by price as like items are typically priced the same so it would do a pseudo grouping of items for you to page through. I’d then find all the hats together and all the cloaks together, etc..
Update: QuartermasterU has stated the page will be reverted next week.
They’ve also change the Store Exclusives Steeds page to just a list of the steeds they have created. It doesn’t indicate which of these items is currently for sale in the store.
As I said, I’m sure there has to be a business reason for this but to a consumer it just looks like laziness. Like they don’t want to bother updating their site any longer so they’ll just add some static stuff and be done with it.
Suggestions for Improvement
I am neither a business person or a marketing person so I likely don’t understand the grand scheme of Turbine’s plans but I can give my opinion on things I as a customer would like to see improved.
Improvements to the store is needed if your true goal is get us to browse it aimlessly looking for goodies.
- It was actually pretty snappy for me last night while I was looking for the sale items but that has not been my experience overall with using the LOTRO Store. It needs to be as responsive as browsing any other online store.
- It should show everything regardless of race/level/etc. of the character logged in. Make it an option to toggle on and off the show everything. Items not applicable to my character can be greyed out but it should still be shown in case one of my alts might want it.
- The search feature needs to be improved. I can type out the exact name of the item and have it not show up in the results.
- The sales listing needs to replace the general information that was on the web site. Instead of an endless listing, give us categories and links to browse those categories.
Improvements to the web site would be welcomed.
The web site is a gateway for players to still feel connected to your game when not in it. Maybe I am an anomaly but I’m typically not browsing around my.lotro.com when in game. I’m playing when I’m in game. Share with me what’s going on in the world when I can’t be in it!
Like-wise, when I’m in game I want to play. I don’t want to be browsing around looking for deals. I’m not the window shopper or aisle wanderer type shopper even in real life. I go into a store with a list, walk directly to what I want, pay for it and leave. I’m like this in LOTRO as well that I shop like “oh I need this now” and buy it. The only time I may spend time browsing a bit is a determine your discount sale where I want to get items I need but want it to add up to a minimum amount for the sale price.
- I truly think it is worth your time to put up a page of weekly sales. In our small site poll a few week’s back over half of the players said they wait to buy things on sale. Making us find the sale items is not going to help.
- More communication of what is coming in and out of the store. Let us know what’s there to buy and when it will be going away.
- Regular Store Release Notes or some sort of index of what’s been added / changed for reference.
- Lore-book updated with store items and their functions/prices included.
- Utilize the launcher announcements for store sale listings.
- I’d actually love to see it go further and connect to the in-game store out of game. Let me just give you a little wishful thinking: Give me options to send Merric a gift from my account to his. Encourage community sharing. People do this on Steam all the time!
I was under the impression that the LOTRO Store was a major component of generating revenue for the game. Why would it not make sense to take the time to communicate these things?
January 11, 2013 at 11:57 am
Goldenstar, I am in complete agreement. Wonderful post.
I think the situation with the store underscores the main problem Turbine seems to have in general: lack of complete communication. Changes are made without notice, and issues that players bring up continually go unaddressed. Even on the occasions when they deem it acceptable to reveal or explain things to the players, the information they give tends to leave one without the answer being sought.
Specific to the store, however, I am at a loss to explain. I read players’ comments in various formus griping about Turbine putting so much emphasis on the store, items being over-priced, etc. If Turbine is really so concerned with making money in the store, shouldn’t the store receive priority? The better the store works, and the more informed players are about its content, the more likely they are to spend money.
January 11, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Great post and agreement on all points. If it weren’t for you guys, we players would have lost track of stuff long ago. Thanks to you we kind of keep a handle on “what’s in store”.
Merric’s analogy to the DVD bin made me laugh
January 11, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Hear Hear! Wonderful Post!
My best suggestion for a great store would be an out of game store. That would cover a lot of issues people have with the store as you are not running a (potentially) graphically intensive game and then try to browse a store running in that same environment.
In that case you would log in with your account select which character should receive the item (account-wide items could be sent to all, if necessary) and then they would get it either as an in-game mail or auto-applied when logged in (in the case of extra storage etc).
This way I can do all my shopping at a different time than game time (at work
). There can be better marketing around the website (if they develop it) and you could still have the in-game store for immediate purchases (like oops I meant to buy… and now I really need it).
I know it is asking them to spend money on maintaining the website, but then they really don’t have to upgrade the LOTRO in-game store as often (or really fix it) as I would be perfectly happy with an out of game alternative.
January 11, 2013 at 12:30 pm
There is a saying I have, “Never attribute nefariousness to something that can be adequately explained by human stupidity and/or incompetence.” I think there is a healthy dose of both within this situation. I don’t think a huge part of what happens with the store happens by design. I think a lot of it is likely due to disconnects between sales and technical teams, programming issues, and good old experimentation.
I think a lot of people assume there is a highly skilled, highly professional, extremely cunning team of marketing people who sit around a boardroom table and plot store stuff all day with a wicked glint in their eyes, but I really doubt that. More likely there is a small group of people, most with little or no marketing or customer service experience, who struggle to meet deadlines and demands, and who have constant battles to try to improve things with limited resources and limited freedom, within a climate that views them as lackeys who should not question or complain too much.
I’ve been saying this a lot lately, but I think LotRO is in trouble. It looks to me to be a game plagued with problems, delays and limited resources. I worry a lot about its survival. I’ve been playing for 5+ years, and I’ve never felt so uncertain about its future. I hope I’m wrong, but they really seem to be scrambling these days, much more so than I’ve ever seen before.
January 11, 2013 at 12:37 pm
This was a very good post. I agree with you on pretty much everything you said , especially the stuff just randomly disappearing from the store without notice. For example I play lots of alts and large portion of my gameplay is the leveling up/questing content. So I am almost always working on unlocking some class deeds. The other day I go to the store to buy one of the skill deed accelerators and all they had was a 5 pack or 25 pack. No singles? I’ve bought the single before so I was a bit stunned. That was messed up. I also agree on the increase in cost they added . Being a lifer I get something like 500tp a month. Most of which goes toward buying xp accelerators for alts. I never feel like I’m getting my moneys worth though. I hope they take some of the items,like xp accelerators , and drop they’re price a bit. Even to the level they had the sale the other day for , I think it was a 5 pack for 400tp or something. At that price I spent like $40 bucks worth and rocketed my champ from 28 to 85 in a few days.
January 11, 2013 at 4:29 pm
They removed the single use deed accellerator? That is news to me as well. ARG Don’t they get how stuff works? I know where I live every grocery store has pop for sale at the checkout line. They’re more expensive than purchasing them in bulk, but they’re singles, they’re cold, they’re convenient, and people can grab them almost without thought and leave. People are also attracted to them because they can purchase them for $1.75 instead of spending $3.00-$5.00 on a six-pack. I’m also pretty sure they’re wildly successful since like I said all the grocery stores are doing it; not to mention that gas stations/convenience stores have been doing it for even longer.
But I guess why try to sell impulse purchases when you can try to hook people on big purchases. Except that in most cases big purchases don’t sell as well as smaller ones that add up.
January 11, 2013 at 12:51 pm
STO has a store tied to their launcher that will apply things to the character of your choosing, as long as it’s been logged on within a certain amount of time.
TSW has a store that can be accessed via the website.
Only reason that I can see for not having a webstore for ingame items is that their website would likely log you out halfway through a transaction and any attempt to restore your list would be empty or stuff from last weeks sales.
I’m the kind of person that has to force myself to go shopping and when I do will only go to specific shops for specific things and only detour if something catches my eye.
Without any kind of hook or lure the TP store is not something I will ever spend time flicking through as it takes so long to load a single page of only four items locked to a set characters class and level.
I feel like I was burned a bit by the recent steed vs cosmetics thing as I bought the steeds not knowing that the cosmetics were there.
The removal of information about the sale contents is just another step away from the customer base. Maybe not as big as the cockup of the in/out RoR/hobbit instance cluster but a step away all the same.
Compared to codies turbine never seemed quite as good wil customer relations but they are getting worse at maintaining the few avenues that they have.
January 11, 2013 at 4:31 pm
“Only reason that I can see for not having a webstore for ingame items is that their website would likely log you out halfway through a transaction ”
LOL, it’s funny because it’s true.
January 11, 2013 at 12:57 pm
I have also found myself troubled by the recent direction that Turbine seems to be taking with the store. I was disheartened greatly by the limited selection of horse cosmetics that came out with Rohan and then shocked at the insanely high prices that Turbine expected us to pay for even the simplest of cosmetic changes(Here I am looking especially at the fact that they charge around 400 tp for four measly colors that doesn’t cover both the color of the horse and it’s armour.)
I am also troubled by the way that more features and additions to the game like the barter wallet and the experience disabler are finding there way into the store instead of being released as free additions to the game as things of that nature usually are and were in the past(At least if you were V.I.P). I am all for business’s making all the money that they can but there is a difference between charging your customers and milking them for all they are worth and I am worried that Turbine is heading in that direction. I hope that I am wrong, there is still much in the game to enjoy but trends like this worry even casual minded players like me.
January 11, 2013 at 1:30 pm
Yeah, I don’t agree at all with what they are doing. Do they generate revenue by the number of individual characters that log in or something? I didn’t mind using the store (even as VIP) as I can’t afford the time to grind away at events and raids in order to get certain things. I have too much going on, and if there was something I wanted, I didn’t mind spending the scrap for it. I did however like being able to quickly see what was on sale, buy it for the characters that need it and go on. I have some alts that don’t get touched for weeks, even month’s at a time and would hate to miss something good for them.
January 11, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Great points, Goldenstar. Everything you suggested as an improvement is on my list as well. Particularly, the ability to see all items, regardless of the character logged in. If you have a lot of alts (or even just, I don’t know, one), you’re probably not logging in to each one to check out merchandise every time you shop. That’s just obnoxious. Personally, I also have characters in mind to create in the future when I’m able to purchase new classes and I’d love to see items that I can then purchase or just keep in mind for that future character.
A complete out-of-game market would be a very smart move as well. There are lots of folks who will browse Steam sales during their lunch break or what not, even though they can’t log in to an actual game.
January 11, 2013 at 2:17 pm
I don’t know what you expect Turbine to do about Gamestop and Steam. They are seperate companies. They do what they want. In fact Turbine probably doesn’t want to advertise those sales because they get a smaller percentage of revenue from the sales through 3rd parties. I would guess the LOTRO Market sale at the same time was meant to compete with Steam.
I agree it is frustrating but having seen first hand how hard it is to build an ecommerce store that integrates with another complex system (MMO) I have some sympathy for Turbine.
January 11, 2013 at 2:26 pm
In the past they have at least linked to it on twitter and facebook and that is what I was expecting. Like they did with the previous 50% off sales (I think it was the black friday sales?). The LOTRO Market is theirs though and they didn’t even mention that. I’m not saying what they should and shouldn’t do, just very odd they’d have these offers and not even mention them.
January 11, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Yeah, on second thought it does seem like a complete PR and Marketing failure. They either don’t have the staff to do it properly or they are prioritizing other areas.
January 11, 2013 at 4:33 pm
“Yeah, on second thought it does seem like a complete PR and Marketing failure. They either don’t have the staff to do it properly or they are prioritizing other areas.”
I think you hit the nail on the head.
January 12, 2013 at 8:41 am
Wasnt one of the post RoR layoffs a PR focussed position?
January 11, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Perhaps they let too many Quartermasters go during the recent layoffs and are stretched thin trying to get sale listings on the website…
January 11, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Spot on Goldenstar.
In my opinion, Lotro’s store management and customer communication is baffling at best.
“Log in to find our what’s on sale this week” makes me laugh. The in-game performance of the Lotro Store is so poor, that I find it painful to use even when I know exactly what I’m looking for. I find the idea that I would ‘browse’ their excruciatingly slow web store laughable.
The unannounced removal of store items grinds my gears.
Oh dear, you got me started…
January 11, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Goldenstar, it really shows that you put a lot of work and research into this post and I agree on every point. Thank you once again for all your efforts to keep us informed.
January 11, 2013 at 3:47 pm
They could just be experimenting to see the success rate of different approaches. Steam has done a lot of experiments with unannounced sales and heavily advertised sales, and doing large discounts and small discounts different levels of advertising, and stuff like that. They learned a lot about how to sell games effectively and make an optimal profit. Turbine could be doing the same thing.
January 11, 2013 at 4:17 pm
I definitely use your site to track store sales as much as any other factor. The fact that I need a fan site to do this certainly supports many of your current issues with the store.
I have a love/hate relationship with the store. When I’m doing well financially, the store is a ton of fun. When money is tight, I don’t play LotRO, because the store has become such an integral part of the game…even as a subscriber.
Keep up the great work keeping us informed, and this op on the store is certainly one of the best I’ve read.
January 11, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Lately I just come to CSTM when I want “official” news from LOTRO, but Turbine really should do the same kind of work as you do. I mean, it’s their job, after all.
The “Get in game!” page with a menacing warrior seemed almost rude to me. I had a couple minutes before lunch and decided to check the LOTRO sales without actually getting in game but they decide I don’t deserve that information.
January 11, 2013 at 4:22 pm
I think every company has a few (dozen) “let’s try this and see if it works” moments.
Remember “New” Coke? Or Crystal Pepsi? Or the Cadillac Cimarron?
The F2P/microtransaction model for MMO is still relatively new, and maybe this is Turbine’s way to finding out the most viable ways of generating revenue. Not to excuse their mis-steps, but given that the LOTRO store is petty much here to stay, Turbine needs to find a way to make the most money that they can, and if it means trying different models or strategies, then try it, and if it doesn’t work, go back to what does.
January 11, 2013 at 4:40 pm
I personally liked Crystal Pepsi.
You’re right, it is new and I don’t think there is any expectation by most people that the store will go away. But when’s the last time you saw a major retailer not advertise a sale? Kroger, Macy’s, Dillards, Sears, etc. don’t just do announcements that say “Hey, stuff is on sale, come in the store and see!” They’re very particular about what’s on sale, what time of year it’s on sale, and about getting that word out. I know Turbine is new at this, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to take a hint from businesses that have been around for 50+ years.
January 11, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Something I noticed was that in the Beta store for Rohan there were a couple of outstanding cosmetic outfits that I bought and was looking forward to in the expansion but when it launched and I got to the point where I wanted to buy them they weren’t there. Also the store twitter page hasn’t been announcing much for quite a while. I’m a follower on twitter and I check my LOTRO tweets daily and there has been nothing for some time now. Anyhow, I work in retail and am a Department Supervisor so what you point out in this piece are several marketing fopahs that would get me in hot water if I did them! Thanks as always!
January 11, 2013 at 5:08 pm
There are other faults with Lotro Store imho, both with communication and technical:
- Items are organized hierarchically, yet every time i open a category I have to wait several seconds (and it’s not always clear where something is placed)
- Some items have to be bought one at a time because they are tiered. An additional problem arises where there is an offer which gives you a discount which scales with the expense, since you cannot buy the “tiers” together
- You cannot buy the 6th inventory bag. You buy “an additional bag”: since many players are ex-VIP with 5 bags on their toons, they would be very surprised to see nothing and then understand that they bought the 4th bag! It should be well written on the item description
- VIP players still cannot buy quest packs. Is it so difficult to add a warning when trying to buy, instead of hiding them “for our sake” ?
January 11, 2013 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for writing this Goldenstar! I have been so angry with the way Turbine has been handling the store that it has actually caused me to stop playing for 2 months now…(except for my weekly Creep youtube show). They need to get communication and stop taking advantage of players for me to be able to enjoy the content. The increase of the store prices across the board combined with combat changes that make my champion sad have really thrown me away from the game. Turbine needs to either fix the current issues or get a new big gameplay thingy with the next resonably priced expansion if they want me back into the game.
January 11, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Great post, well done.
I love that the explanation given AFTER the 4 pages of unilaterally negative feedback about their change was that they wanted to be “less in-your-face” with the sales… Oh, if they only understood that we, as players, want the store to be less in-our-faces IN THE GAME…
“The players want the store to be less obtrusive.”
“Okay. We’ll make it so they must log into the store on every single character they play, individually.”
“Sounds good.”
When I read the bluename’s original post, announcing the initial change, the first thing that went through my head was, “The intern that posts their sales to the web site must have left.” Since the change is being reverted next week, I guess they found a new intern.
January 11, 2013 at 9:55 pm
I agree with this 100%. Plus a Kin mate of mine found a change that I had not heard of (does not mean its been there for a while and known about, I can be slow at times.) where you can only get recipes for crafting by buying a complete book for the tier that contains every non single shot recipe for that tier. Problem we have with it is that its a flat cost whether you need 1 recipe or all of them.
January 12, 2013 at 1:38 am
Shaking my head in disbelief that they’re sabotaging their own store willingly, because this is what they’re doing.
Not announcing sales is weird.
Not announcing new items added to the store is just …
Dear turbine: take a look at how other mmorpgs with ingame store designed their interface, now look at yours.
Great post Goldenstar
January 12, 2013 at 3:54 am
Holy moley!
I have DETESTED using the LOTRO in-game store due to its horrible lag and slow response time for ages. I just found the following tip in the LOTRO forums and decided to give it a try. It’s like the difference between night and day! The store is now super responsive! I suggest giving it a try if you’re having the same problems. Hopefully it will be as successful for you as it was for me.
-Run Internet Explorer
->Go to settings (the sprocket/gear in the top right)
->Internet Options
->Connections tab
->LAN settings
Uncheck “Automatically detect settings” and click OK.
(The default state of internet explorer causes the store to be extremely slow.)
January 13, 2013 at 12:05 pm
Thank you. This one change has made a _significant_ improvement to the Lotro Store’s in-game performance for me.
January 12, 2013 at 7:34 am
I think it’s absurd to find that the ‘Lotro Store Sales’ page on the website no longer has sales… just a big flier telling you do go somewhere else to look. Really?? -1 Internet for the person who thought of that.
January 12, 2013 at 8:40 am
Only benefit this is having for the store is people will be talking about it more.
Downside is that most of the talk indicates that people feel that their ingame time is better spent doing stuff that doesnt include the store.
January 12, 2013 at 9:25 am
Sales at Steam, Gamestop, etc are not intended to save us (the CURRENT customer) money. Turbine’s hope is that having a sale displayed on the front of Steam will get them NEW customers. Promoting these sales to current customers is the last thing Turbine wants to do. Not only do they lose the opportunity to later sell that expansion to the current customer at full price, but they also risk losing a full priced sale of their NEXT expansion at launch – every expansion they have offered in both DDO and LOTRO has been available for half-off within 2-3 months.
The rest of this stuff – undocumented discounts – appears to be a ham-handed attempt at advertising by forcing players to load the store more often to check if something is on sale.
January 17, 2013 at 11:18 am
I agree on some level… However, it also prevents anyone getting any word of mouth out. I have friends that I’m sure I could convince to invest $10 into this game for $20 or more worth of content that are not current players. Instead, I’m given no chance to do so.
January 12, 2013 at 9:58 am
Absolutely. Every single one of those points is totally valid. They need to focus on a store revamp with a small and dedicated team. They need to provide details of sales and new items both in and out of store. Improve the performance of the store. Set a sale page out with obvious categories and a nice clear index of general sale items. Set up a web page on the community site which displays the same information. Use the launcher announcements. And all of what you said. I hope they listen.
January 12, 2013 at 11:22 am
This is an amazing post and should be printed out and pasted on the office walls of every individual in Turbine’s marketing and Store departments (which could be just 1.5 people, who knows?). I understand that they want to try different things with the Store, but from a customer’s perspective, a lot of what they do (or don’t do) is head-scratching, to say the least.
January 12, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Couldn’t agree more, GS.
January 12, 2013 at 2:38 pm
Thanks, Goldenstar, for an excellent post, thoughtful and well-written.
For me, this latest store experiment puts me off so much that I decided to not “get in game” at all until the next sale comes out, properly documented in a sale post as usual. It really did tick me off that much!
I hope they get their act together, and sooner rather than later.
January 13, 2013 at 5:15 pm
I just tend to think, Turbine has to show number of players using this or that, taking part in festivals etc. even if a player does it once or just take a glance and leaves (e.g. 1-2 mins festival dailies). Hit was recorded, that’s all what’s needed.
It would be really sad story if true, and wouldn’t bode well for future of LotRO.
January 13, 2013 at 6:00 pm
I logged in my level 71 no-Rohan burglar yesterday and saw there were 134 items on sale. Maybe they figure you’ll spend more time looking at the sales than you would playing. Hmm…
January 14, 2013 at 3:41 pm
The store would not even open for me today. I let it sit for twenty minutes and nothing happened. The store is so slow that I rarely open it.
January 16, 2013 at 10:00 am
Excellent post, Goldenstar. At the VERY LEAST, Turbine should be more widely promoting sales on content (especially if Steam or other vendors are having sales on content). I usually discover discounts on zones from a buddy of mine who is freqently check into my.lotro.com, but, like you, I RARELY go on my.lotro.com.
January 17, 2013 at 11:17 am
The store has always had fundamental design issues. They’ve been fixing them slowly, but it doesn’t seem like a priority. It’s simply a pain to find things and they’re often not organized in any (to me, anyway) logical way.
My biggest problem is still the stuff that this article only mentions initially… I know we only need to rehash this so many times and I appreciate that the article is not strictly about those issues. But marking-up digital items and then acting like we should be thankful for a sale is sickening.
I’ve not been able to pinpoint why I’ve barely played this game since before Rohan came out, despite getting the ultra version of the expansion. And I think the whole store thing is what finally just did me in — but what does Turbine care, I’ve already invested hundreds into this game and am no longer using server resources. I’m arguably the perfect customer.