Three days ago, it was reported on Massively that Turbine, publisher of such popular games as Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, the classic Asheron's Call, and the highly anticipated upcoming Infinite Crisis, was undergoing yet another round of layoffs. The story was originally reported on Gamasutra as near as I can tell, and it seems these were mostly targeted in the Lord of the Rings Online division. Many well-known and well-liked developers have been let go in these layoffs. This isn't the first time since Warner Brothers' acquisition of Turbine in April 2010 that Turbine employees have been let go. It has happened a number of times, particularly as Turbine's game servers have seen their populations in slow decline over the last several years. Several expansions to their popular Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online properties have attempted to keep the players of these games interested but unfortunately these expansions have often included changes in the games which have significantly alienated players and caused mass defections. The recent release of very unpopular expansions to Turbine's flagship titles such as Helm's Deep (LotRO) and Shadowfell Conspiracy (DDO) have been incredibly unpopular, and as a player of both games, I have to say the drop in players is palpable everywhere as a result.
A lot of people have blamed Free-to-Play, the general state of the United States' economy, and stiff competition in the MMO market with recently released games such Guild Wars 2 or Neverwinter, old staples like World of Warcraft which continue to innovate, and newly anticipated titles like Elder Scrolls Online. While I am certain the economy and competition might play some small role in Turbine's decline, the true culprit in my mind is the poor management of Turbine's properties. As a deeply-invested player in Turbine's games, I can highlight one of the terrible management decisions which have affected the player base in significant ways over the last year. Bear in mind this is only one example, and it is not even the worst, of horrible customer service and management response to a bad situation. Also, I'd like to say that I don't bring this up because it has affected me personally in an overly negative way; I'm not just bringing up a pet peeve or getting up on a soapbox. I am pointing it out because this is one of the things that I think almost all MMO players can relate to in a meaningful way.
Following the release of the much-anticipated Shadowfell Conspiracy expansion pack for Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) in August of 2013, a bug appeared in the game which affected the way raid loot (for non-MMO players, this is generally the best loot in a game) was distributed. Without going into detail, it significantly decreased a player's chances of getting an item he or she might want from a raid. Turbine was quick to apologize for the bug and include it in the list of known issues, but it went unfixed for months. Once the bug was finally corrected, Turbine apologized to players by means of granting any character who had run any of the higher level raids in the game since the bug had appeared at least once a "raider's box," which was a barter item that allowed a player to choose from either raid loot crafting ingredients to make existing raid weapons better (a mechanic that already existed in the game but required farming raids) or a choice of any base item from one of the two "endgame" raids in the game. It was a mollifying olive branch which many players initially respected. But the release of these raider's boxes too was bugged, with many allegedly eligible players not receiving their boxes. As a result, Turbine decided to once and for all put the issue behind them by issuing a raider's box to EVERY existing character on EVERY server. This meant every player, even those who had never earned more than a few levels or run a single raid, were instantly granted their choice of one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and while they would be required to level up to a certain "minimum level," as is common in such games, in order to use the weapon, they would never even have to run the associated raid. Some characters who had already received their box as expected, received two boxes. The implications for this were dire, the most important of which was that it effectively killed one of only two endgame raids for DDO. There was no longer any purpose to running the raid for practically every character on the server, as most characters had no need for more than one weapon from this particular raid. The terms "Pay-to-Win" and "Free-to-Play" have become often synonymous with each other in the current era of Free-to-Play games. This was effectively "Free-to-Win." This is not to mention the sense of resentment felt by many players who had run this raid countless times to earn their weapons the old-fashioned way.
As I stated before, this is only one example, purposefully chosen because it was not a huge hot-button for me and because I felt it would be fairly well-understood for the disaster it was by players of any MMO. There have been many other problems, some of them quite egregious. I've been more of a DDO player than a LotRO player, but both games have been hemorrhaging players after the release of two disastrous expansions. And I don't need to look at server population statistics (although I have where available) to know that. It's obvious just by logging into the games. Log in to any other popular MMO and you see hundreds to thousands of players in many instances running around the main public areas, going to and fro and causing the well-known and infamous phenomenon of "public area" lag; it's an annoying but generally healthy sign of a game that is doing well (for the moment at least). The primary public areas in DDO and LotRO are fast becoming ghost towns. Back in the beginning of 2010 for example, you might have seen anywhere from 10-12 instances of the Marketplace (one of DDO's most important "gateway" public areas) during peak hours. Now there are hardly ever more than 2.
As a long-time player of Turbine games, this is actually somewhat emotional for me. I've made friends through their games, many of whom I've spoken to in real life over the phone and many of whom I still keep in touch with through Facebook. I've also played these games with my already close friends and family, including my wife. But it is clear to me that the management team Warner Brothers has put into place at Turbine is completely out of touch with the player base, and the game designer company, in my humble opinion, is spinning out of control. I believe the only hope for the company at this point is acquisition of Turbine by a private firm owned and operated by gamers or gaming enthusiasts who are in touch with gamers. But I don't hold much hope for the prospect. I really want to be wrong on this one, I really want Turbine to somehow right the ship. But for now, I am bidding these games adieu. Logging in no longer brings me joy, just a sense of emotional pain and sadness.
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