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Former Employee Spills the Beans

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  • rodarinrodarin Member EpicPosts: 2,611
    What crippled Lotro happened before release.

    NOT having both sides playable in the openworld was the first major mistake. The whole excuse that the creep side were just mndless drones never flew with anyone with a brain. It was simply Turbine wasnt big enough to handle this title the right way from the get go.

    Also no mass PvP zones. Moors in its day (the first 3 months of release) maybe some of the best PvP experiences and battle ever seen. But whining and crying and complaints ruined it within 6 months and it hasnt been really any good since. But it turned into a community within a community where it was mostly life time subs who all knew each other and most played both side.

    The game simply never lived up to te vision of what many thought it should. It did get better in some ways but much worse in others. At this point it is bsically on auto pilot. Yeah they release new content but its so easy and so quick to get through it is little more than a 3 day diversion from the usual grind of whatever skirmish/instance is getting farmed.

    I still pop in every month or so and spin around on a couple guys but the 'accomplishment' aspect of the game disappeared a long time ago. While there are technically 'accomplishments' within the game theyre not really a challenge just something based on how much time you spend in the game. There really isnt anything to play 'for' other than to waste time or 'enjoyment'. Which at this point other games fill that void much better.

    But that is the issue with every MMO out there, they all just another game. And none are trying to be 'special' because special is too expensive and too much of a gamble and all the developers are too scared to spend money on awesome things not knowing if they will ever get it back.

    Besides F2P is doing fine for anything even remotely playable. And the 'new' battle zone arena hunger game type instances are where its at. Which is ironic since Moors would have been a perfect environment for whats going on now. Except in a 'traditional' MMO  eliminating players and having a last man standing wasnt the goal.
  • olepiolepi Member EpicPosts: 2,814
    Sovrath said:
    Originally posted by olepi

    It's kind of a running joke that the government is wasteful, and that private industry is much better at containing costs, etc.

    I was on a high-tech project that had over 200 people for 3 years work on it, before it was canceled. We estimated a loss of $800 million dollars. Teams in the US and Europe worked for years, before somebody realized it just wasn't going to work.

    Waste, mis-management, unrealistic goals, failure to follow progress, rivalries, executives jockeying for position. This happens all the time.

    Was this a "game" project or just something else in technology. Because "wow" what a massive waste! And didn't anyone realize it wasn't going to work? Even at the halfway point?

    Or, was it just research? Because that at least would make some sense.

    Not to necro the thread, but I realize I never answered this.

    The project was a piece of hardware that included multiple chips. I work in the chip industry. We had teams in Munich, London, Chicago, Phoenix, Paris, and Austin.  I quit after realizing it would never work, but the company continued on for another year before deciding it would never work.

    Multiple chip teams, CAD teams, software teams, and many many layers of management. All for nothing,

    And that's not even the biggest failure for this company!

    ------------
    2024: 47 years on the Net.


  • flizzerflizzer Member RarePosts: 2,454
    Po_gg said:
    rodarin said:

    Lifetime subs turned out to be the best investment ever in the history of MMOs. say what you want but lifers are really the ones populating that game right now. They also helped bump up sub numbers as well I am sure. But they basically pay you to own the game. I have more TP than I will ever spend, unless they start putting out paid expansions twice a year.

    Lifetime subs crippled Turbine long term.  It was a short term vision for the game.
    Nope, it was simply a different era with different mindset... you can have lifer offer in the f2p world (STO for example is a pretty nice deal, without "hurting" Cryptic's pocket), but for LotRO the many LTAs became a "dead"weight after the switch - and on the other side, as @rodarin says, it became an awesome deal for the lifers (for those at least, who stayed)

    At first Turbine tried to "strip" their stipends (expansions, convenience services) but since in their model everything is account-wide and a one-time purchase, they couldn't keep the pace... and also diminished their sub numbers meantime, with almost no subscriber benefits left after a couple of years. But LTAs stayed, since they have the game fo' life :lol:

    I think somewhere around Helm's Deep Turbine "accepted" the situation, and started to raise the value of sub again, which is of course great for the LTAs (no content purchase needed since beornings, most lifers are sitting on piles of 10-15k TP or more), but that's just a side-effect, it's aimed for the actual, month-to-month subscribers.

    Agree that first line (was stated several times before), LotRO's LTA was the best investment ever - and it's still getting better as time goes :wink: 
    Have to agree with the great deal us lifers have with LOTRO.  I remember hesitating for weeks, mulling over whether it was worth it, before I bought the life time back in 2008.  Best MMO purchase I have made possibly. Ive taken extended breaks from the game and have had Turbine Points pile up for me.  Now without formal expansions, I have tons of points to spend on anything I want or just cosmetic items.  Even years later I love coming back to the game and playing again.   No doubt I will be in game until the last orc is gone.  
  • JaedorJaedor Member UncommonPosts: 1,173
    Yeah I certainly wish I was one of the lucky folks who've won a LTA over the years. Back when it was offered, I was too new to the game to feel like it was a good investment, but now I wish... :)
  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
    I think the only real obvious picture to be painted is that f2p is NOT something developers want,it is something to fake success and pretend it is a good viable option when in reality it is their ONLY option.

    Also noted is strife within a business,we just went through this with SC and most seem to favor no cover up everything is all roses when anyone with have sense would know there is always strife within.

    The people at the top making usually too much money,favor corner cutting in game design if it means spending less and more profits and bonuses for themselves.It should NEVER be a secret to anyone that greed is  everywhere and instill's lying,manipulating and putting on a mask/fake face.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

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