257 replies to this topic

[Elderban]

In their "Off-Topic" section...

50 page thread discussing Guild Wars 2 ... gone.
Year old thread discussing SWTOR ... locked. "There is no longer a need for this thread or any on this topic." - Sapience
Thread talking about a 1980's game possibly becoming an MMO ... locked. No reason given.
"Lord of the Rings Online VS Guild Wars II. Opinions." ... locked.

About the only thread that hasn't been closed (yet) is the one discussing Diablo III. But, I guess since it's not an MMO, they might not care.

[Darmokk]

And look at all the new traffic here today.

[Elderban]

And now they deleted my thread asking what happened to the GW2 thread AND gave me not one, but TWO infractions for it.

Yeah, I'm done with LOTRO.

[The MMO Troll]

Well, in Turbine's defense, I can see them being a bit annoyed about all the talk of other games on their LOTRO forums... even if it is in Off-Topic. Especially Guild Wars 2, which Turbine clearly sees as a direct threat.

Yes, I realize it may seem ironic, me defending Turbine on this, but really... It is their forum, about their game. If they don't want folks talking about rival MMOs, I honestly don't see a problem with it.

Sure, it makes them look really defensive, especially when other MMOs don't have such problems with discussing rival games in Off-Topic, but let's face it: Turbine clearly isn't as secure in their position as other MMO companies are. WoW isn't going anywhere, nor is Rift, SWTOR, Everquest 2, etc, so they can be more tolerant of discussing rivals on their forums. I would think LOTRO would be as secure as some of these other games, if not moreso, but from Turbine's actions it appears that is not the case.

Darmokk, on 14 June 2012 - 18:07, said:

And look at all the new traffic here today.

Yes, when Turbine clamps down on the LOTRO forums, things always get more lively around here. It's a good thing for us, and I'd like to say "Hi and Welcome" to all the new posters!

[Darmokk]

Elderban, on 14 June 2012 - 18:14, said:

And now they deleted my thread asking what happened to the GW2 thread AND gave me not one, but TWO infractions for it.

Yeah, I'm done with LOTRO.

They always come in pairs these days.

[The MMO Troll]

Elderban, on 14 June 2012 - 18:14, said:

And now they deleted my thread asking what happened to the GW2 thread AND gave me not one, but TWO infractions for it.

Yeah, I'm done with LOTRO.

Bummer. Sorry to hear they brought down the hammer on you.

Darmokk, on 14 June 2012 - 18:20, said:

They always come in pairs these days.

Giving ten individual infractions takes too long to get to a full ban, so why not speed up the process by dropping two infractions per post? Sounds like Turbine is efficient in at least one department.

[montyburns]

Exactly the same happened to my good friend RiceandPea's account. He got triple infracted for questioning the bearded fools reasoning for closing the GW2 thread. As he was only 1 infraction off a ban he thought he would finish the job by PMing the the prick telling him to 'go **** himself and his bullshit excuses'. Not very subtle admittedly, but he says it was well worth it.

[Elderban]

Oh I'm sure I've been placed on "moderated" status, but I really don't care. Turbine is shooting itself in the foot, and they're ultimately doing themselves in.

I have already told my kinmates I am done with LOTRO come RoR, and also explained as to why, so I will be moving on.

Hopefully GW2 will be out before September 5th.

[The MMO Troll]

Elderban, on 14 June 2012 - 19:20, said:

Hopefully GW2 will be out before September 5th.

I expect it will be, based on the most recent BWE. Ran really smooth, I had no issues at all, and I am expecting an August release for GW2 at the latest.

montyburns, on 14 June 2012 - 19:12, said:

Exactly the same happened to my good friend RiceandPea's account. He got triple infracted for questioning the bearded fools reasoning for closing the GW2 thread. As he was only 1 infraction off a ban he thought he would finish the job by PMing the the prick telling him to 'go **** himself and his bullshit excuses'. Not very subtle admittedly, but he says it was well worth it.

Sounds like it was worth it indeed! Sometimes, taking that one, last step is worth it if you get a good slap in for your trouble.

[Elderban]

Found an interesting link...

Quote

According to the U.S. Government Federal Trade Commission, consumers have the legal right to return software for a full refund (or perhaps in-store credit) if it is defective, or does not work on their computer, or if it did not perform as advertised, or if they simply decide that for any reason they were not completely satisfied with the product.

And more info at:
http://www.resources...m/docs/item1290

[Elderban]

The MMO Troll, on 14 June 2012 - 19:28, said:

I expect it will be, based on the most recent BWE. Ran really smooth, I had no issues at all, and I am expecting an August release for GW2 at the latest.

I hope so.

I was part of the beta as well, and only experienced one bug the entire time I played (which was most of the weekend).

But after it was over, I went back to LOTRO to play PvP, and was met with tons of lag, skill issues (one time it took about five seconds to get a skill off, by the time I did, I was already dead), bugs, etc.

Playing in the GW2 beta seemed...refreshing. I'm looking forward to it.

[Podraig]

Was in the beta also very nice only 1 bug I found with my own storyline where the instance would not activate but overall I had a blast, what was really cool was I played for nearly 12 hours over the weekend got to level 8 on my necromancer and still only had 1% of the map explorered which kind of blew me away, how big is this world?

The human city was massive, don't think I have ever seen a city that big in a mmo, really was a city not some group of house's in a field.

[MrsAngelD]

I found this site a while ago and have been lurking for sometime...I just want to say I have never received an infraction on the LOTRO forums, but I have had my fill of their para-military style of moderation. I'm done with them after them closing a GW2 thread for no reason.



[edit]correted typo[/edit]

[MarkJ]

I believe this is a direct result of Turbine losing players. Isengard was really a lackluster addition to Middle Earth, their pre-order sales for RoR were horrible and they had to add in a boat load of enticements just to try and boost sales before Q2 ends, Diablo3 sold over 6 million copies in a week, GuildWars2 had an outstanding Beta preview, all that adds up to Turbine losing a lot of money and a lot of players.

Negative posts and topics on other games are being cracked with the hammer over there.

[frodofraggins]

The MMO Troll, on 14 June 2012 - 18:20, said:

Well, in Turbine's defense, I can see them being a bit annoyed about all the talk of other games on their LOTRO forums... even if it is in Off-Topic. Especially Guild Wars 2, which Turbine clearly sees as a direct threat.

Yes, I realize it may seem ironic, me defending Turbine on this, but really... It is their forum, about their game. If they don't want folks talking about rival MMOs, I honestly don't see a problem with it.

I'm sorry, but they only prohibit religion and politics in that discussion area.  They've definitely overreached.  If they changed the rules of the subforum then so be it.  But selectively removing threads regarding rival MMO's without changing their own rules is a bit much.

[The MMO Troll]

frodofraggins, on 15 June 2012 - 07:33, said:

I'm sorry, but they only prohibit religion and politics in that discussion area.  They've definitely overreached.  If they changed the rules of the subforum then so be it.  But selectively removing threads regarding rival MMO's without changing their own rules is a bit much.

Turbine doesn't have to follow their own rules, they have established that many times in the past. For example, many of us have been placed in 'Permanent Moderation Status' on the LOTRO Forums. Note: Not banned, but muzzled, and in many cases those who have been silenced in this way haven't received any infractions. I have zero infractions on my account, and yet I have been in Moderation Status for six months, and only last week did Celestrata PM me about it. The only reason she did that is because I was adding a notice to all Moderators reminding them of my Moderation Status, that I have yet to be told why I was in that status, and that I would continue to add that notice to every single post I make on the LOTRO Forums - each of which they had to read, although they never let any through in these six months - until the Moderation Status is dropped.

Last week Celestrata PMed me, stating that if I stopped adding that note to the Mods from my posts, and changed my signature to something more 'normal' (it was something like "MNMMH MMGHMMH MNMMMH MMMGHMMN!", if I recall), then we could discuss removing the Moderation Status. As you'll note, my signature and the moderator notes do not break any forum rules, and yet if I wanted to be free from their frankly unjust Moderation, I had to follow her directions to even discuss the matter.

So, in short, Turbine's forum rules do not apply, should they not wish them to. If Turbine doesn't want a topic discussed on their forums, then they will close and/or remove posts on that topic, even if it doesn't break their stated rules. That's just the way it is, whether it is fair or not.

[montyburns]

I have to agree with TheTroll, I can understand why Turbine wouldn't want discussion of a competing game. But it's always the underhand bullshit that seems to pervade every aspect of Turbine's interactions. The not being upfront, but instead throwing out excuses that even a half-wit can see through. Sapience said the GW2 thread was locked for going off topic, ie discussing GW2 tactics in a 'what do you think about GW2' thread. That was clearly complete and utter nonsense. He closed it because it was popular, and because everybody was talking it up, and everyone knew it. If they had shutdown all game threads and said, please don't discuss other games here because we feel talking about competing products isn't appropriate, I suspect people would have at least some respect for them, if not for allowing the discussion, then for being up front with their reasons for it.
As usual though, they chose to invent a crappy excuse. Sometimes, It's not so much what they do that annoys, it's how they choose to go about it.

[thordsvin]

Sapience also said they (ArenaNet) have for this type of discussion. Which was scheduled to be closed within hours of his actions. Subtlety is not a strong point for Sapience.

[The MMO Troll]

thordsvin, on 15 June 2012 - 08:38, said:

Sapience also said they (ArenaNet) have for this type of discussion. Which was scheduled to be closed within hours of his actions. Subtlety is not a strong point for Sapience.

I wonder if Rick was assuming Guild Wars 2 Guru was the official forums for GW2, since they have been around so long? It would not surprise me if he's not up-to-date on the official forum situation with GW2. But then again, Rick could easily have been being dickish, too. It's really hard to tell with him sometimes.

[thordsvin]

The MMO Troll, on 15 June 2012 - 08:46, said:

I wonder if Rick was assuming Guild Wars 2 Guru was the official forums for GW2, since they have been around so long? It would not surprise me if he's not up-to-date on the official forum situation with GW2. But then again, Rick could easily have been being dickish, too. It's really hard to tell with him sometimes.

I guess it is better to assume, atleast when it comes to Sapience, a lack of knowledge. Part of being a CM is talking to the public about things you know nothing about because the person who does know something about the subject is willing/able to discuss it publicly.