Lord of the Rings Online MMO News, Guides, and Features at Ten Ton Hammer

Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle, Ten Ton Hammer: Jeffrey Steefel is a 20 year veteran of the games industry, serving in an executive capacity at 7th Level, Sony Online Entertainment, and There Inc. before coming onboard at Turbine. But before all of that, I kid you not, Jeffrey Steefel was Jesus. This is probably the most fascinating thing I’ve found in all my researching of bios, but Jeffrey actually played the part of parts in an off-broadway production of Godspell in 1988.

So I guess my first question is: how different is your current position from your previous life as an actor, singer, and entertainer?

Jeffrey Steefel, Exec. Producer, Lord of the Rings Online: I thought you were going to ask how different is my current position from being on the cross. (laughter) In which case I would say: some days, not all too different. Significantly different. I’ve always been interested in technology, but we’re still entertaining people, we still have a tremendous audience, and in the case of LotRO I’m still telling stories. In that respect it’s not all that different, in other respects it’s night and day.

Ethec: And of course the big news this week is Book 7 which finally takes us into Lorien.

Jeffrey: Yes, absolutely, that just launched yesterday (March 18, 2009).

Ethec: That’s phenomenal, I know it’s been a long road through the mines of Moria to get to this point. So congratulations on that; I remember it was just about a year ago on a rainy day in Birmingham at Connect ’08 when Mines of Moria was announced. So congratulations on getting to this point.

Jeffrey: Thank you. This is definitely a place we’ve been wanting to get to for a while.

Ethec: So my first question about Book 7 is the changes to the Book 7 experience. A number of re-organizational changes - minimizing travel times and consolidating quest hubs, that kind of thing - were made in the starting area for elves and dwarves in Book 7. Why was Book 7 the right time for these changes?

Jeffrey: I think we’ve been seeing a number of things. First of all, the community is maturing, the game has been out now for going on two years and as the game continues to grow and the audience continues to grow we are getting a broader audience. We’ve got new people coming to the game who can benefit from something that pulls you even more into the early parts of the game, things we didn’t quite do when the game launched. We also have the benefit of learning from everything we’ve done in the last two years.

On top of that, the whole industry, the genre of MMO, going through a slight transformation over the last couple years in terms of what players want and what kind of experience someone wants when they first come into the game. So there’s a combination of making some things better, just in general, because we can. And also just making it even more facile and accessible in the early parts of the game for some of the newer players that are coming to join us.
Ethec: Book 7 content, aside from the Waterworks of Moria, which is the new raid, and the occasional sortie to break the muster of the orcs at the gates of Moria, the content in Book 7 seems kind of restive compared to some of the books we’ve seen in the past. Is that intentional? Is this meant to be a break from the tension of Moria?

Jeffrey: Yea, I think it’s a combination of things. Yes, certainly, we feel that there’s been enough challenge in Moria for players to get to this point. And there’s the sense in all Middle Earth and in the Lord of the Rings story that you get through all of this long travail through Moria as the fellowship did and you get to this relative sanctuary. First in Galadriel’s Garden and then eventually into the really secure area of Lothlorien and eventually into Caras Galadhron. And it’s also consistent with the tone and feel of the books around this place - this is a heavily guarded place, this is a place that has a good amount of secrecy to it, and that breaching the walls of Lothlorien is something you do only as a trusted person. Once you get there, you get to rest and rejuvenate, and be with the elves of Lorien. It felt appropriate at this particular time for players to do that. There’s still plenty of conflict and challenge at the borders as you mentioned with the orcs, and some of the things that take you back into Moria.