The lord of the rings online™ european free to play launch delayed

[Grimdoin]

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/news-announcements-434/425918-lord-rings-online-european-free-play-launch-delayed.html#post6449911

[Erunaneth]

Heh, so much for the Helegrod raids lots of people were planning for the weekend.

[Rhyaehar]

I shouldn't, but....
Told you so

[BSili IronMight]

Theres usually delays so its no surprise.. :P.. i'm all for them releasing a non broken version.. :)

As for Helegrod raids.. the instance is still there so I mean could still go and have a bit of fun :D

[Sasco]

More time to get the alts out of the starting zones :)

[Haleabor]

I can't view this at work....can someone do a synopsis (and I mean a proper one,,,not a sarky one!!)

Thanks

Hal

[Grimbos]

Turbine says: it's delayed, and we're working round the clock. No new dates are being given, nor are they providing any info on the subject, but reading between the lines indicates that CM are having trouble implementing the lotro store aspect into their own billing system.

People are having a field-day bashing each other. on one end you've got the people who say: HURRAY FOR CM, They're saving our hides by protecting us from Turbine's crummy coding!

on the other end we've got people saying: EPIC FAIL! Codemasters are shite!

and it's been going on for 26 pages since....

EDIT: oh, and the community liaison officer is cracking jokes about the 16bit nintendo their servers are running on...

[Hirion]

That can be done very briefly, Hal:

"Codemaster's F2P is delayed"

Beyond that all you're missing from the announcement is the total lack of any information on why or even the slightest assesment of how long the delay will be; that and a few stupid out of place quotes on how excited they are that LotRO is going F2P.

[Haleabor]

Thanks ....

[Hirion]

EDIT: oh, and the community liaison officer is cracking jokes about the 16bit nintendo their servers are running on...
Personally I would have loved to explore the new content this coming weekend, but other than that I'm not truely upset that it's delayed.

However, and as many others have mentioned both here and on the Codemaster forum, I'm dissappointed with their closed form of public relations.

One of the community liasons had been active in a thread last week promissing to give the date for access and then vanished for six days, with total 'radio silence' on anything; and when they finally get out of the bushes again they fed us a weak public announcement that really doesn't inform but that's just full of empty fluff - and all they manage to do is to follow it up by cracking jokes...

Again, I'm not upset at them for the delay, but I am happy that I haven't given any money in subscription to Codemasters for 3½ year or that form of public relation to their paying costumers might have considered me not to any longer.

[Haleabor]

Well I am upset... a) I booked Friday off work especially and b) I sold my left nut, and risked getting an even bigger thumbprint on my forehead by telling my wife to go out on Saturday so I could run the Raid.......

Grrrrrrrrr

Hal (Angry thereof)

[Daphne]

Hal, Hal ... haven't you heard the old adage yet ... 'never play on a patchday'!
Especially if it turns out not to be the patchday in the first place then!

[Grimdoin]

Ahh well... at least now I have a bigger chance my new gaming rig will arrive before f2p :P

[Ajim]

Same here!

[skelsamu]

nice now i can go on holiday knowing that p2p has been delayed;p
and not tinking about new content.

[Raedwulf]

Means I can go do something useful with my day off!

[Grimdoin]

Here you go:

Following our announcement on Wednesday regarding the delay of Free-to-Play in Europe, we can now provide you with a further update as to its status. It’s not good news I’m afraid. We are currently anticipating a delay of more than a week, potentially launching around the end of the month, and are still not in a position where we are able to confirm an exact date.

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/news-announcements-434/425918-lord-rings-online-european-free-play-launch-delayed.html

[BSili IronMight]

oooohh... some live events :D

Well least we won't have a broken version and perhaps we'll launch in a better position with less bugs than the US version...

[Hirion]

I guess I'm as unsurprised as I was suprised when they actually named September 10th the launch date - in the past 'Autumn' just barely missed the end of November....

At least the excitement can be shelved away for now - considering it might potentially be close to three weeks 'till we get to explore at yet another piece of Middle Earth.

[Hirion]

Looks like the patch has been further delayed. Earlier it was end of the month, but in todays announcement it is a few weeks yet...

[Rhyaehar]

Surprise surprise..

I'm taking bets on the date Turbine's announcement will appear that they're taking back control of the servers.

[Hirion]

I'm beginning to suspect that this is no longer a technical issue. It's either an organisation/economical issue (CM >< Turbine) or a legal issue (difference in legislation across Europe), because although they might have challenges translating the game to the European servers and clients, this is something bigger; moreso judging from little hints dropped by DNote on the Codemaster forums that they're in trouble not of their own doing.

For the latter, it's not the first time Codemasters have done advertising for something they then had to withdraw. I for one recall the Ring-competition they launched the game with in the Collector's Edition. They then had to hold the competition, having realised only when about to draw the winners that what they were doing was illegal in several of the countries they were doing business. They then changed the setup, with people having to recieve an additional code by mail and then reapply, and viola! The long list of winners incidentally only had winners from the UK. I've always been convinced they just claimed all were in and only to then pull domestic winners, leaving the rest of us out, and keeping their asses scot free from liabilities.

And I suspect the new business-model might conflict with this or that country's laws.

[Derigar/Tarinas]

My money is on EU laws and red-tape proving to be a massive hassle they didn't see coming- as Hirion pointed out, it wouldn't be the first time this has blindsided them and if i recall, those issues took close to a year to resolve (very badly, think they officially had to let everyone in certain countries be part of the lottery as opposed to those who bought the relevent package). More specifically, i could easily imagine Turbine and CM arguments about profit splits compounded with EU red-tape as being the crux of the problem.

Easy to see conspiracy theorists jumping on the bandwagon that Turbine have been employing delay tactics to force a breach of contract, but realistically this would be industrial suicide. Equally, it seems unlikely that issues integrating the store system into the codemasters payment system would be causing issues after this much time has passed. Ah well, at the end of the day its all just idle speculation, what we really need is pitchforks and wildly unrealistic theories. With this in mind, i propose the following theory:

Warner Brothers is filing a lawsuit against Turbine for refusing to make the boss of the next raid a 20ft glowing Bugs Bunny.

[Rhyaehar]

I wouldn't be surprised if the next raid involves obtaining the Handgrenade of Antioch to destroy the Monster guarding the entrance to a new part of the raid.

But foolishness aside, if it were EU law being a problem, I would be surprised. This setup is roughly equal to a lot of other MMO games, such as GuildWars. These offer free access to the game, offering micropayments to unlock new features. If this would be problematic under EU law, these games would not be able to operate for their current lifespan.

[Escalon]

I have to agree with the non-technical side of things. Although my own suspicion had been with Turbine planning to take the European distribution over, I've recently come to remember that Turbine lacks the knowledge and clout to do so properly (various DDO troubles).

That said, perhaps the problem is in the changing of models from one to the other? Fulfillment of contractual obligations to the customer may be in doubt in a switch from a strictly subscription model to a hybrid model, and I'm sure some law-making body out there has to disagree to some extent with the "We do what we like, when we like" attitude the software industry is so familiar with here in the US.

[Derigar/Tarinas]

Caerbannog?! We do not speak of such things!
Although saying that, Turbine did put the legendary white rabbit into one of their other MMOs;
http://asheron.wikia.com/wiki/White_Rabbit

[Escalon]

Although saying that, Turbine did put the legendary white rabbit into one of their other MMOs;

What MMO doesn't have a reference to it? I still remember being chased by the vorpal rabbits in Ultima Online! :twisted:

[Raedwulf]

Caerbannog?!

And there's yer proof, see? We've already got the Caerog, haven't we? So it's only a matter of time before the Caerbunnog - the huge white chalk rabbit!! :x

[Hirion]

No point in arguing this as there already IS a white rabbit in LotRO albitt not in the outdated version of the game we have; however it's there in Eredwaith waiting for us...

[Erunaneth]

Darn...I was hoping to come back from holiday to better news. :/

[Grimdoin]

Well we get free travel, XP bonus and a small influx of new players. Sure no new content but who needs that anyway after being deprived of it for almost a year? :P

[Hirion]

And a server collapsing under its own weight on a daily basis... :s

[Silirien]

I'm taking bets on the date Turbine's announcement will appear that they're taking back control of the servers. You already did. I hope I'm getting a dress and don't have to cook a steak for you.

But foolishness aside, if it were EU law being a problem, I would be surprised. This setup is roughly equal to a lot of other MMO games, such as GuildWars. These offer free access to the game, offering micropayments to unlock new features. If this would be problematic under EU law, these games would not be able to operate for their current lifespan. Guild Wars offers unlimited access to content you payed for once plus microtransactions for stuff like name changing, additional storage, additional character slots, fluff outfits and so on but their store is completly automated but yes what GW offers is very similar to what's planned for LotRO, so it shouldn't be the laws.
From what I recall Codemasters "store" it always required human supervision, maybe making this automated is problematic for them. Just a guess.

[Haleabor]

I personally doubt it's game related... everything they say (including the update on the Welcome Back today) looks like they are ready to push the "software" button immediately. It must therefore be either Legal or Business Model related.... and by legal I don't mean EU law I mean Turbine/CM legal.....

Hal

[Escalon]

Guild Wars offers unlimited access to content you payed for once plus microtransactions for stuff like name changing, additional storage, additional character slots, fluff outfits and so on but their store is completly automated but yes what GW offers is very similar to what's planned for LotRO, so it shouldn't be the laws.

The only problem I see with using Guild Wars as an example is that it was always using a non-subscription model. LotRO is changing from a subscription model to a hybrid sub/non-sub model. This brings up questions about contractual liability between Codemasters and it's customers that GW didn't have to deal with.

The other possibility that Hal brought up is also quite possible. It may be a licensing or other contractual problem between Turbine and CM. I know some people in-game have been spreading the idea that Turbine may be deliberately trying to force a breach of contract, or some other legal loophole between Turbine and CM (malicious or not) may exist that is making it more difficult than it need be.

/me sighs and wonders if there will ever come a day when the customer is kept in the know regarding these sort of things.

[Hirion]

I'm not sure one can infer from Guild Wars to what's possible for Codemasters and thus rule out that Codemasters might have run into some legal issues. Things like the physical place of the servers or what busines license they have and whether they've been ahead on securing whatever paperwork they needed done in advance.

In any case, whether it's legal or whether it's an internal turf war with Turbine, I really cannot believe it to be purely technical any longer.

[Grimdoin]

Well US servers have been patched to Patch 1 yesterday and receiving a hotfix for the patch 1 today. Surely there are some technical issues. And given the state the servers were in during the WBW I really hope some infra work is being done as well.

Other things Codies might be doing with Turbine is preparing a fix for the Loyalty TP rewarding as that still is a mess on the other side of the pond. Also rewarding TP for the new Rep deeds was killing server performance and implementing another technical solution for this (a new table in the database, other indices, a standalone process to actually grand the TP instead of realtime processing) could also be possible.

All in all I am still in doubt. So many things could be improved over the US release that I could imagine Codemasters pushing for it. On the other hand numerous things could cause any kind of legal issues.

Guess we'll have to sit this one out :D

[Sasco]

All in all I am still in doubt. So many things could be improved over the US release that I could imagine Codemasters pushing for it. On the other hand numerous things could cause any kind of legal issues.



Now your just teasing Grim, Codies pushing for something to be fixed...before they have it live?! :+

[Grimdoin]

Actually that would not be the first time... We never for example got to lose stuff with the Shared Vault ;)

[Grimdoin]

Oh and I don't want to become too positive but:
+ WBW has been cancelled; I would do that if F2P is coming Soon(tm)
+ CM put up an advertisement for hiring a French GM today
+ patch 1 and hotfix 1 are live in the US today
+ Dressing Room available in the Store
+ another Billing System Maintenance next Thursday

All in all I think things are looking good and we will have the F2P next week! Not taking bets on this. Although I do like steak :D

[Hirion]

+ CM put up an advertisement for hiring a French GM today
Maybe they just found it easier to relate to their customers if their GMs speaks a different language - such as a French GM running the troll event on Laurelin yesterday? :D

[Grimdoin]

Sure, but I would not be bothering if I was about to lose the license to the game ;)

[Derigar/Tarinas]

Unless its a sign that codemasters are secretly an undercover french spy team, and the hiring of new staff is the sign that the French are ready to invade England?

Or another way to look at it - the fact that there was a French GM running around Laurelin and shortly afterwards a public announcement that they are looking for a new French GM suggests alcohol was involved.

[Rhyaehar]

The French and alcohol? No way!

[Raedwulf]

Why single the French out? I've seen you try to drink, for a start... :P

[Silirien]

Why single the French out? I've seen you try to drink, for a start... :P Because the bastards refuse to learn civilised languages ;)

(my apologies French people!)

[Hirion]

Because the bastards refuse to learn civilised languages ;)
I saw that! *curses Silirien with an ancient curse of his French huguenot ancestors* :evil: :D

[Raedwulf]

Because the bastards refuse to learn civilised languages ;)

(my apologies French people!)

And this from someone who speaks Polish & mangles Dutch! :P Besides which many of the French do speak English. Reluctantly, perhaps, but nevertheless... ;)

[Haleabor]

Hmmmm

http://www.misadventuresinlotro.com/2010/09/more-eu-lotro-news-or-decpiphering.html#more-121726

Hal

[Hirion]

Yeah I use the Dev tracker on the Codemaster forum to spot any updates; and I think the mere fact that Dnote a.o. havent done the least to deny it being an business/legal issue rather than a technical one is quite telling by now. I don't expect them to answer any wild theory out there, but flatly ignoring this one over and over and over, makes it stand out the more.

[Fanna]

At least FTP is going really good in the US. 1 million players, double the revenue and three times as many people online at any given time compared to before.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/07/lord-of-the-rings-online-doubles-revenue-since-going-free-to-pla/

[Abarax]

Come on, come on! I'm a skinflint here! :D

[Fanna]

They were supposed to tell us this week when the release date is but a post today pushed it up to next week...

Fanna

[Raedwulf]

Blimey! Was that an Abarax I saw? :shock: Does that mean you've reinstalled the game, Lazybones? ;)

[Abarax]

None other, but...no. I left my discs at my mum's when I moved out, so I'll need to get them.

Or I'll just download it all and destroy my broadband bandwidth :)

[Fanna]

And here we thought you were just having technical issues ;)

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/lotro-free-play-discussion-1330/438280-response-community.html (http://community.codemasters.com/forum/lotro-free-play-discussion-1330/438280-response-community.html)

[Grimdoin]

Well I'm happy to see the legal issues have been resolved and we can look forward to an 'imminent' release!

[Escalon]

I'm glad the contractual issues have been resolved, however I'm not so sure about using the word 'imminent' with regard to the launch and then saying 'we might be able to announce the dates sometime later this week or early next week' in the same sentence; reads a bit like Soon(tm) to me, and not much different than what they said about last week's delay.

Here's hoping 'imminent' was a correct choice of wording :)

[Fanna]

Here's hoping 'imminent' was a correct choice of wording :)

Everything is relative :)

[Abarax]

So if Refer-a-friend is going on Monday, does that mean that's when FTP comes in...?

Also, that's pretty improper use of the word 'imminent' by Codies!

[Hirion]

Also, that's pretty improper use of the word 'imminent' by Codies!
Considering Codemasters' communication policy the last five weeks that one even makes the top 100 of misinformation... The Future is Now; War is Peace...

[Raedwulf]

Considering Codies communication policy over the last 3.5 years, that's prompt plain-speaking! :wedon't haveanappropriatesmiley:

[Haleabor]

Read into this what you will ......

Oct 28th 2010, 09:57 GMT
Preview Event Extension
We have been able to successfully run all of the tests that we wanted to during the Preview Event so far, which now enables us to take the next step towards launching Free to Play on the live service.

We will be bringing the Store down on Nimloth, the Preview Event world, at midnight (00:00am UK time) (GMT+1) on the morning of Thursday 28th October. This will enable us to clear the Store and prepare it for the live service launch coming soon.

Nimloth will stay online with the Store closed until Free to Play launch, this will give everyone who has registered and downloaded a chance to login and participate.


Hal

[Raedwulf]

Like I said in your Hele thread, probably a couple of weeks, maybe three. I'd be surprised if it was less, unless they're feeling really confident about the data they've gathered. If it's more they're just being useless again - with what's been learnt in the US added to what they've picked up here, they ought to be able to resolve any potential issues within that time-frame.

[Grimdoin]

I've been toying around on Nimloth since monday evening and it's been running pretty smoothly. When I logged into Laurelin yesterday to play some I got almost instantly annoyed by the small hickups and lag which occur every now and then. The preview server feels alot more snappy to play on. Don't have insight on the number of players actually on but alot of areas were heavily occupied so it remains difficult to compare. We'll have to wait and see how the new servers will perform.

The store seemed a bit slow on monday but yesterday it was even a bit faster then the one on Crickhollow (US) whose client I've run simultaneously to compare performance. This could be due to latency I have to the servers hosting the store. An external company is facilitating it to both Turbine and CM be it with different api's.

Layering helps alot in crowded places but I still feel it's a sad excuse to compensate for failing technology.

My guess is a release next thursday; everything seems in place and working. Delaying it further will only cost more money.

[Haleabor]

Well I don't know about numbers actually "in game" but yesterday at 6.30 pm I joined the queue for the game world at 6753 .... I know that this is way above the server capacity... but it shows the interest and potentially an indicator of the Lotro community size (x10 maybe) - the author accepts no liability for wild speculation

[Grimdoin]

Waiting for 3 hours in a queue to join a preview server is a good indicator of how bored players currently are :D

[Haleabor]

Ahh...I missed this one..

Hi guys,

It's unlikely that we'll have a standalone patch for launch however the intention is to make the Free to Play client available for download in advance so you can all get ready. Of course if any gremlins decide to tinker with things then we'd have to squash them first...
__________________
Satine.

which means that there's sod all hope of the launch happening for at least a week

Hal x

[Grimdoin]

I didn't realise we would need a new client. Ahhh well... I seeded only 45GB this week, more to come I guess :D

[Haleabor]

and just to clarify .....

Hi all,

When we launch you can either:
1 - Download the new F2P client
2 - Patch up from your existing client installation via the launcher
__________________
Satine.


Hal

[Derigar/Tarinas]

Not sure about validity, but Eurogamer claim the date to be November 2nd
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-29-euro-lotro-free-to-play-relaunch-dated

*edit
Apparently they were telling the truth and jumped the gun, official announcement from Codemasters just went up
http://community.lotro-europe.com/news.php?id=10853&pagename=news&type=news

[Abarax]

Goddamit, I had to go and spend £9 on a month, didn't I? :(

[Grimdoin]

Finally...