Blaster
Well-known member
So why am I posting about a LOTRO dev interview? Basically because I feel like DDO's dev team could learn from this example and hopefully do something similar in the future.
Recently LOTRO's lead systems designer, Allan "Orion" Maki, who is also a former DDO dev, did a three-hour interview with LOTRO streamer Bludborn, and one of the biggest takeaways for me was his openness and honesty, and the fact that he took accountability for decisions he and his team have made that may not have been well-received by LOTRO's player base. (Calling the player reception to their latest update, U39, as "fair", meaning not "great" and not "bad" but in the middle, and taking personal responcibility for issues players have with LOTRO's most recent raid.)
He also admitted some long standing systems were bad (such as mounted combat) and they would like to make tweaks to them, since they cannot be outright removed from the game. And while he does not bury the game's previous leadership, he is willing to say that currently the dev team is having to course correct and fix some of the development issues caused prior to him rejoining the game a couple years ago. (Basically, mistakes have been made, and they are doing what they can to correct them while at the same time setting the development path forward for the coming years.)
While I like Cordovan and his talks with DDO/SSG personel, but it's good to see interviews like this conducted outside the SSG bubble. (That's not to say Bludborn was asking no-BS hardball questions, but he was willing to bring up player concerns that SSG PR might not bring up to a SSG dev for the sake of keeping positive spin on everything.)
As for DDO mentions, Orion would like to bring the "henchmen" system over from DDO to LOTRO; henchemen being hirelings, to which he might not know the name of because he doesn't work on DDO or because that might have been what the system was called back when he worked on the game. He also mentioned that Severlin has tried to get LOTRO to do flying mounts, but because that would contridict the lore LOTRO is working with, Orion rebuffed the idea.
In any case you can watch the full YouTube VOD below or read a summery made by players at the LOTRO forums at the links provided.
Recently LOTRO's lead systems designer, Allan "Orion" Maki, who is also a former DDO dev, did a three-hour interview with LOTRO streamer Bludborn, and one of the biggest takeaways for me was his openness and honesty, and the fact that he took accountability for decisions he and his team have made that may not have been well-received by LOTRO's player base. (Calling the player reception to their latest update, U39, as "fair", meaning not "great" and not "bad" but in the middle, and taking personal responcibility for issues players have with LOTRO's most recent raid.)
He also admitted some long standing systems were bad (such as mounted combat) and they would like to make tweaks to them, since they cannot be outright removed from the game. And while he does not bury the game's previous leadership, he is willing to say that currently the dev team is having to course correct and fix some of the development issues caused prior to him rejoining the game a couple years ago. (Basically, mistakes have been made, and they are doing what they can to correct them while at the same time setting the development path forward for the coming years.)
While I like Cordovan and his talks with DDO/SSG personel, but it's good to see interviews like this conducted outside the SSG bubble. (That's not to say Bludborn was asking no-BS hardball questions, but he was willing to bring up player concerns that SSG PR might not bring up to a SSG dev for the sake of keeping positive spin on everything.)
As for DDO mentions, Orion would like to bring the "henchmen" system over from DDO to LOTRO; henchemen being hirelings, to which he might not know the name of because he doesn't work on DDO or because that might have been what the system was called back when he worked on the game. He also mentioned that Severlin has tried to get LOTRO to do flying mounts, but because that would contridict the lore LOTRO is working with, Orion rebuffed the idea.
In any case you can watch the full YouTube VOD below or read a summery made by players at the LOTRO forums at the links provided.
