by: Tony "RadarX" Jones

Keeping up with the Official Forums can be cumbersome and who really has time to troll through hundreds of dramatic posts for that one nugget you occasionally find? I do! Join us as Ten Ton Hammer examines all the important threads this week and keeps you up to date.

So without further delay, we bring you this weeks Troll Report

Need/Greed Threads:
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Community Manager Patience apparently tired with moderating multiple threads on the same subject designated this as the official "Need Before Greed" system thread. This debate has been raging since the system was announced earlier this month. It's mostly angry people concerned they can't roll on every item and Turbine enforcing a play style on them while others praise it as fairness for everyone. Most of them don't realize the system is pretty much set in stone so arguing about it is pointless, but it's entertaining to watch.

UI Changes in Book 10:
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Wrinklor announced a very interesting UI change coming down the pipe. They will be adding the ability to resize certain parts of your UI. Now I understand standardizing portions of the UI provides uniformity and eliminates confusion, but it also has a tendency to annoy people who like to tweak things like remapping keys, moving windows, etc... Yay for resizing!

Ore Node Ratios Need to be Fixed:
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And the Prospectors rejoiced. What is this about? There are basically two types of nodes you can mine. The standard metal kind and the "rare" which provide the precious metals. Now Metalsmiths need a 3:1 ratio of normal to rare metal but harvesting has been providing it at about 1:2 so you can see how they'd be annoyed.

Game Ban = Forum Ban
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I just have one word for this thread... doy? You got banned from the game, of course they will ban you from the forums and why would they not? You can't play, why should you be there anyway? You are no longer a customer, move on. I'll admit it is interesting to note that Turbine admits publically a game banning does link up to a forum banning. Most other MMO's I know of seperate those two.

Lifetime Memberships $299:
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The Lifetime Membership program opened itself back up to current players! This unique deal allows you to drop a one time fee and never pay a subscription fee every again as long as LOTRO is around. I'll admit $300 is pricey but if you plan on staying awhile (20 months to make your money back) then it sounds well worth it. Be sure to check the program out.

Lorebook going in Game:
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The very unique Turbine run Wiki called the Lorebook is currenlty inaccessible within the in-game browser of LOTRO. Aylwyne stated this is something they would like to add and are attempting to get the Lorebook to fit properly inside the window. While it won't make it in this update, perhaps they'll sneak it in next time?

No Global LFF:
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People want to be able to LFF (Looking for Group) across the game. Now if you came from other games this might not seem all that bad but Turbine sees it as extraneous and immersion breaking so it's not something you'll see in the game...like ever. Instead of focusing on global channels, perhaps some work on the LFG tool instead?

Post 25 Poo Review:
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I made my feelings clear in this thread, this was NOT a review. It was very angry rant about the end game, by a self proclaimed, jaded MMO player. If you are looking for a review with brutal honesty, game experience, and written like a blog this is the review for you. Hopefully the reviewer will be returning to LOTRO eventually..

Armor Dye Revamp:
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It's...armor dye. It makes your stuff different colors. Why are we alreaday talking about revamp? Sure it's one of those things that lets you differentiate yourself from other players but from a mechanic standpoint, it appears to be fluff. Fluff tends to be a money/time sink and that explains why the dyes should be expensive and rare. Some players in this thread had some interesting arguments and it's worth skimming through.

Best of Threads

The following threads fit into two outstanding categories. The first of these is the best Dev response of the week from Turbine employees regarding...well anything. The second is the most overused topic of the week meaning there have been 20 threads beating the subject into the ground.

Best Dev Response of the Week - Ettenmoors Q&A:
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This is easily the Dev response of the week, but not because it’s some unbelievably insightful answer, but just the sheer effort of an individual developer. In the Ettenmoor’s Q&A thread, Orion answers questions after question sometimes posting back to back.

Orion, you might need to reassess what you are doing posting like this. You are making game developers look bad by being things like “helpful,” “knowledgeable,” and “sympathetic.” Are you trying to change the way the community views Turbine?!? An extremely impressive performance by an apparently passionate developer, let’s hope we see more of it.

Most Overused Topic of the Week - Endgame Mechanics:
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Complaints about the End Game have been rampant with the recent Shores of Evendim expansion. Look, you blew through what should've been 3 to 4 months worth of content in 5 weeks, congratulations. Enjoy your boredom and sleep well knowing there is no MMO out there that could possible satisfy your level of playing. You’d easily be 70 in World of Warcraft with the same amount of time.

No lectures about moderation are forthcoming, just maybe have some realistic expectations from a game. Until they add difficulty levels in MMO’s, which people will inherently find reasons to complain about, most of these people are going to be unhappy.

That will do it for this weeks Troll Report, be sure to join us next time and leave the forum trolling to us.