Well today has certainly been an interesting one for LOTRO. On one hand the NDA has been lifted and on the other we have been informed that the Riders of Rohan expansion has been delayed to October 15th. Well this really does not come as a major surprise, as there were some major issues with the beta and launching with a bugged and glitchy product would have been a mistake. However, while the usual suspects praise Turbine for this “brave decision”, I would like to point out that other software developers manage to have several beta tests, fix the bugs that it highlights and still meet their launch deadline.
I don’t think there was a single big issue that scuppered the initial launch of Riders of Rohan. It really come down to the fact that there were just so many problems with the current build. Lag issues, quests that weren’t working, random log outs, flawed game mechanics to name but a few. It was noted by several players that the beta played more like an alpha and although things did improve with each revision, the expansion in its current format was not fit for purpose. I’m sure the blogosphere will be swamped with images and videos in the next 24 hours. I don’t feel the need to say anything further than what I said in my previous post “Preparing for the Riders of Rohan“. Simply replace the hypothetical tone that I used and replace it with one of first hand experience.
Now Turbine have attempted to pre-empt the ill will this delay will cause, by announcing that a “gift” for those who pre-ordered. On September 5th those who have paid in advance will receive 500 Turbine points and a bag of consumables. Whether this is sufficient to cushion the blow and keep people sweet remains to be seen. For those LOTRO players who are also wider gamers, the change in launch date simply means more time to focus on Guild Wars 2. Let us hope that Turbine puts this time to good use and really does iron out the bugs, as there will be zero tolerance for any problems when the new launch date comes round.
Riders of Rohan has a lot of potential and mounted combat is definitely fun. Personally, I have a lot going on at the moment so this delay isn’t a big deal for me. A couple of years ago I would have been one of the first to whip up a restless lynch mob and participated in the “drama”. Have Turbine dodged a bullet? I’m not so sure. Most people will see beyond the rather lame “We delayed because we care” sound bite. Once again it comes down to the fact that the fan base love the franchise and will cut the developers some slack. However, it’s not as if there are any comparable Tolkien based products to jump ship to, so Turbine do have their customers over a barrel.They need to remember that goodwill is a finite commodity.
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As an beta tester.. I for one applaud them.. they listened to what we had to say… if it would have been released in the state it was the uproar would have been too much…
it just needs some Polish, and there was not enough time.. it’s going to be a great addition to the game…
once they get the polish on it.. it’s going to rock…
can’t wait for the next round of beta, when they fix some of the small things that needed done…
Why applaud failure? They failed to meet their own launch date. That’s hardly worthy of praise.
I do not dispute that RoR will be fun when completed. I enjoyed what I experienced in the beta in-spite of the flaws.
However, why should this fact absolve Turbine of their inefficiency? Other developers meet their deadlines.
I think you are expecting too much from the developers themselves. Allow me to address your points.
You say they failed to meet their deadline, well, who said it was a deadline established by the developers themselves? Or even Turbine? Since Turbine is now a subsidiary to Warner Brothers for all we know WB could have said we want this expansion on this day, ignoring any reasonable timelines that Turbine may have presented to them. Being from the IT world, my best guesstimate is that WB said they wanted the expansion by X and Turbine said they needed until Y to achieve that goal so they settled somewhere in between. As most development companies encounter, some issues arose in the development process and the product was not 100% by set completion date. Frustrating? Yes. Unheard of? No.
Many, many other developer studios fail to meet their deadlines, both public and internal ones. That is the nature of the game industry. Chastising one company because they do not meet their self established deadline when it is the norm to not do so is unfair. I agree that as a consumer it is not fair to us nor is it a good business practice (even though the average gamer will not stop paying because of this), but to take exception here when other more major titles and releases have suffered more severe delays (see Blizzard, Valve, EA).
The one problem I see with Turbine’s release delay compared to other game studios’ is that LOTRO has a good portion of their player base on subscription plans. This delay may or may not affect renewals for another month or so. I know my subscription ends on Sept 10, even though I purchased the $70 version of the expansion I was going to plan on trying out the new expansion before seeing if I wanted to renew during the school year. Now I will either have to renew before testing or wait until I have extended amount of downtime (I would like to test the PvMP mostly so a subscription would be necessary). If anything, as a paying customer, this would be the most infuriating part. No amount of Turbine Points can make up for the time lost as a VIP with the new expansion.
And I will end my rants here and hope you have a nice day and rest of the week!
I have worked in IT for nearly two decades with some of the biggest companies around and I certainly acknowledge all the points that you make. As you pointed out there are often internal differences within companies that compound matters.
However, there is one fixed point in an ever changing universe and that is the simple fact that the average customer doesn’t give a damn as to what the problems are. They are totally indifferent to them.
Is such a stance reasonable or fair. You could argue that it is not.
Is it a reality? Yes.
Plus this is not exactly Turbines debut when it comes to moving deadlines and generally screwing up.
All I meant was it was glad they listen to the Beta testers and did not release it.. in the state it was in.. it would have been a hot mess…
Indeed, there was very good feedback from the testers and this information should prove invaluable to Turbine. Let us hope they can fix as much as possible in the time that they have.
I do not think the player base would tolerate another delay and there will certainly will be no excuse for major flaws after October 15th.
I think Turbine were stupid to publish a release date so far ahead of release. They should have just said this autumn or winter, then announced the date much closer to release when they had a better idea about how polished the product was.
I couldn’t agree more.
It is also a complete farce that on the forums Sapience is implying the decision could be harmful financially – yet they still decided to delay because they are ‘powered by fans’ – The reality is they had no choice and from a business sense releasing such a buggy product on the original date would have been more harmful to the company’s integrity than delaying it.
Turbine is on the cusp/downward slope of making some very big mistakes. Since they’ve been around, they have frequently delayed releases, changes downtimes (often in the middle of downtime), and back-pedaled on many things.
LOTRO is starting to get “old”, and they are in a race to release content before the fan base realizes (and no longer accepts) that there will be better graphics and systems elsewhere.
Let’s face it – they are living on borrowed time, with a captive audience. As Roger said in a recent article – it’s not like there are Lord of the Rings MMOs floating around out there as alternatives. Personally, I love the game dearly, and RoR looks fantastic. As a consummate explorer, this world is my favorite of all time.
I have worked in IT for nearly two decades as well, in various capacities (most often Sys Admin roles), and every recent job I’ve held usually regards ITIL to be a rather important and standard framework to govern releases and customer service. Turbine obviously doesn’t fall under this framework, as I’ve personally witnessed poor customer service and a horrible ticketing system. I think the closest they come to ITIL is Sapience’s “Soon(tm)” release management system. I feel sorry for community managers/staff that have to field the throngs of frustrated MMO addicts.
In the end, it’s about service. We are paying (in time or money) for a product, and the service behind that product. Even hardcore Tolkien fans will only put up with so much crap before moving on to something else.
Turbine – Powered by Fans (so give us what we want!)