Lord of the Rings Onine - Players Start Petition to Force Standing Stone to Acknowledge Poor Servers

System · August 2020

Lord of the Rings Onine - Players Start Petition to Force Standing Stone to Acknowledge Poor Servers

Yesterday it was reported that Standing Stone Games is yet again having trouble with server stability, and Lord of the Rings Online was adversely affected. Players have now started a petition in an attempt to get Standing Stone Games to admit their infrastructure is poor, and that they are going to do something about it!

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RexKushman · August 2020

That they only managed to get 300 signatures should be evidence of the actual problem. The player base is incredibly small and unless all of these people are spending like whales every month I can't imagine the game is actually making money anymore.

Times running out for this one.

xpsync · August 2020

RexKushman said:

That they only managed to get 300 signatures should be evidence of the actual problem. The player base is incredibly small and unless all of these people are spending like whales every month I can't imagine the game is actually making money anymore.

Times running out for this one.

Meh, i usually pass on those things no telling where your data ends up. However in this situation, if i was a big fan, devotee, yeah it'd be hard not to sign.

mrneurosis · August 2020

I am a long time lotro player who returned just a month ago and yes game is in trouble. It already has a very small player base and they are on verge of losing them too.

lotharic · August 2020

Stick a fork in it. Lotro is done.

They've had instability and rubber banding since launch. Back when they had lots of revenue they never invested in fixing those problems, and now there isn't enough of a player base left to justify the investment.

Mendel · August 2020

Another internet petition complaining about a game company? Has any of these petition things actually amounted to anything? Or gotten results?

I guess it successfully wasted people's time reading about this petition.

Theocritus · August 2020

RexKushman said:

That they only managed to get 300 signatures should be evidence of the actual problem. The player base is incredibly small and unless all of these people are spending like whales every month I can't imagine the game is actually making money anymore.

Times running out for this one.

Those are probably people that got the lifetime sub when the game first launched.

Amathe · August 2020

I hate to see this one falter, as the gold standard for fantasy stories.

Sovrath · August 2020

RexKushman said:

That they only managed to get 300 signatures should be evidence of the actual problem. The player base is incredibly small and unless all of these people are spending like whales every month I can't imagine the game is actually making money anymore.

Times running out for this one.

Maybe it's really evidence about how little people really care as they can always just come back when it's fixed.

I mean, I'm a player and I'd never sign that thing. Why?

Because it's in every company's best interest to have good products and services. They aren't just sitting there and "hitting the tv to fix the picture."

Clearly this is an issue and they are aware. And I don't have to make them acknowledge anything as I don't need that to feel good about myself.

It will be fixed when it's fixed. In the meantime, people can do something else.

Also, looking at steam charts the 30-day average is 876 players (889 on now ... will be 890 in 20 minutes). Since there are people who play this who don't' use steam I'm willing to guess it's double or triple that. Maybe even a little more. I mean, if Dark Age of Camelot can muster 1500 people I'm sure this game can do that if not more.

So it seems that the majority of people aren't fretting.

cmacq · August 2020

My wife has been playing this game for 10 years. I just asked her if there were folks in the common areas. She says lots it's one of the reasons things are running slower. Don't think this game is dead yet....

Samhael · August 2020

cmacq said:

My wife has been playing this game for 10 years. I just asked her if there were folks in the common areas. She says lots it's one of the reasons things are running slower. Don't think this game is dead yet....

Apparently those players aren't signing that petition though.
Honestly, I'm not sure that a petition would do anything. From what I've read, it's self-evident that the servers aren't in good condition. What's the point of trying to get them to state the obvious? Why not instead make a petition to actually *do* something about it... (not that that would make any difference either)

MightyUnclean · August 2020

Players have been saying for years that SSG is just phoning it in. I can't think of another gaming company I have personal experience with that is as unconcerned with communicating to their player base. The game has been screwed up for weeks on and off, and they don't even bother to tell us why. If the game had much of a future or was very profitable, I believe that they'd be a lot more invested in keeping their base happy.

Erinak1 · August 2020

MightyUnclean said:

Players have been saying for years that SSG is just phoning it in. I can't think of another gaming company I have personal experience with that is as unconcerned with communicating to their player base. The game has been screwed up for weeks on and off, and they don't even bother to tell us why. If the game had much of a future or was very profitable, I believe that they'd be a lot more invested in keeping their base happy.

So, as someone said above they are obviously trying to sort it behind the scenes, since no company wants a bad product but their forward showing image does seem to have a very "meh" attitude about the whole thing. Even the message they did eventually post seemed to brush the whole things off as a minor occasional problem, not making the game physically unplayable for large periods of time. The problem is clearly not with LOTRO/DDO but whomever owns the servers they are using but I do feel like the developers could put forth more of a show of caring, rather than one or two robotically phrased messages a couple of times a week like they have better and more important things to be doing than speaking to us lowly players. The game has plenty of players and the activity during events definitely seems to have an effect on server performance. On your final point, Turbine/SSG have always had poor communication, and the game lasted just fine. The plans they have spoken about obviously point to the game being around a lot longer.

Cuddleheart · August 2020

In my opinion this is one of two things:

1. It's an issue with the third-party data center and they are not permitted to go into detail due to stipulations in the contract.

or...

2. LOTRO knows when I'm going to dust off my account every few years and stops working just to spite me.

Reincarnation · August 2020

I think SSG has honestly put the issues on a back burner not really caring how it affects their gaming clients. People have left in droves. IF it is money that they can't afford, I suggest selling lifetime for one week only at $400 and take all the funds to fix it properly. I would buy at double the price for my secondary account just to help them if that is honestly the case. I know I as well as others are really tired of them saying they will "look" into it for months now with a bad end result.

Vorthanion · August 2020

Petitions are pointless. You want them to make changes, cancel your subscriptions and stop buying stuff in the cash shop. Companies only respond to lost revenue.

Hariken · August 2020

The whales are keeping both LOTRO and DDO alive. I used to know so many people that played both games and non do anymore. I was even in a great guild in LOTRO way back. Full of plus 30 in age people that loved the lore. All those people are long gone some playing ESO now.

Ungood · August 2020

Since the issue seems to be the data center they are using, and no doubt they are using that service because the price is right for them. As such, chances are there is not a damn thing they can do about any of what is going on, even if they (SSG) will take the full blame, not the data center that we know nothing about.

In any case, with that said, I always get a chuckle when people say "You want change, stop spending money" yah.. because, because cutting their income will get them to spend money they don't have.

Anyway, not sure what the solution to this kind of drama is. I mean, I play DOO, and it's running sorta-fine-ish, nothing like what it seems LOTRO seems to going through right now.

But I would say, if the game just kinda shut down like that for me, I'd be booting up some other MMO, and seeing why I left them in the first place.

maskedweasel · August 2020

Reincarnation said:

I think SSG has honestly put the issues on a back burner not really caring how it affects their gaming clients. People have left in droves. IF it is money that they can't afford, I suggest selling lifetime for one week only at $400 and take all the funds to fix it properly. I would buy at double the price for my secondary account just to help them if that is honestly the case. I know I as well as others are really tired of them saying they will "look" into it for months now with a bad end result.

Welcome to the forums

ShaniaReborn · August 2020

Good luck to the 300 petition signers. The good news is, Amazon Game Studios is making a new LOTR mmorpg so hopefully LOTRO can hang on until the new game comes out. I hate to see any community without a game to call home. I remember when SWG shut down. It was a long wait until SWTOR came out.

FrodoFragins · August 2020

Erinak1 said:

The plans they have spoken about obviously point to the game being around a lot longer.

Their plans will eventually be broken when they are forced to truly be maintenance mode. I'm curious if LOTRO is actually subsidizing DDO at this point as I think DDO may just be a labor of love for them.

FrodoFragins · August 2020

ShaniaReborn said:

Good luck to the 300 petition signers. The good news is, Amazon Game Studios is making a new LOTR mmorpg so hopefully LOTRO can hang on until the new game comes out. I hate to see any community without a game to call home. I remember when SWG shut down. It was a long wait until SWTOR came out.

Amazon is making a middle earth MMO - I'm not sure it's a LOTR MMO. Just as their show is in no way a LOTR show.

Theocritus · August 2020

LoTRO and DDO have both been on shutdown watch for a couple years now...It wouldn't surprise me if alot of their people have already been let go.

nekoumori · August 2020

I'm just as frustrated as the others about the server instabilities, but I have to question what the point of this very casually and informally worded petition is.

This was the statement released by SSG after the server crashes last month:

" The cause was outside the scope of code and bugs, and solving these issues required (and requires) substantial restructuring of our server infrastructure. We have completed the first wave of those changes, and will continue to work on and hone these improvements in the coming weeks to make the experience better for our players."

According to it, SSG has already acknowledged the issue and is planning to change the infrastructure. So what is the petition asking for exactly?

Also, just sending them a signed letter saying "Do something about it" doesn't actually get things going any faster, but an actual investment with specified conditions and purpose does.

Ungood · August 2020

Theocritus said:

LoTRO and DDO have both been on shutdown watch for a couple years now...It wouldn't surprise me if alot of their people have already been let go.

Actually, The Devs for DDO and LOTRO, were technically all let go, Turbine let them all go, because it opted to stop making or maintaining MMO's, A few of them got together, pooled their money, and made SSG, where they bought the rights to DDO and LOTRO, to keep their jobs keep doing what they loved.

So, real truth, DDO and LOTRO have both faced extinction.. more than once actually.

Vorthanion · August 2020

OG_Zorvan said:

cmacq said:

My wife has been playing this game for 10 years. I just asked her if there were folks in the common areas. She says lots it's one of the reasons things are running slower. Don't think this game is dead yet....

Yeah, maybe in the Festival areas. Even then I wouldn't call it "lots of people". Everywhere else? Nope. Game is broken, and it's breaking the commitment of an already tiny population even further. Gonna be hard to pay to fix stuff when there's nobody left to give you money to do so.

That's what happens when you wait too late to address a dwindling player base. Either put money aside when things are going well to reinvest in your product or milk it till it dies and shut down. Goes to show that whales may be good for maintenance mode, but they can't fund revamps or large and meaningful expansions.

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Lord of the Rings Onine - Players Start Petition to Force Standing Stone to Acknowledge Poor Servers

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Lord of the Rings Onine - Players Start Petition to Force Standing Stone to Acknowledge Poor Servers

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