If someone is happy with LOTRO now - don't read further - this is my complaining, I don't want to upset anyone.
Yes, it will be one of those gaming good advices
sadly 90% times the usefulness of those advices is questionable. The worse version of those advices is that it is adviced by managers from other studio of an MMO you don't play because of their great ideas, then they come and give their advices free of charge.
I have nothing against good changes - SSG made a lot of those actually, but those are ordinary devs, doing great job. But then comes those "professional" advices which can kill any game.
How making players angry will push them toward endgame?
isn't better to find out why players don't play endgame and have content around that? Or change what is hindering them? But when you tell them why as a player - you are called "entitled", but when some managers give them advices who have no knowledge about the game - they are the professionals?
it seems like the only and "professional" advice from gaming industry available is to cut the content, give it for free to players who don't like it even.
So first SSG was pulling out one expansion after another, then after good advice they gave it for free - I don't see the logic. And I'm not there anyway.
the same with festivals - LOTRO used to have the best and funniest festivals, so as a popular feature, SSG decided to enlarge it, but then those certain players came and demanded endgame content because they don't like funny events as serious players, so they added boss fight into an existing event, then the next time they added new rewards for them, the next time they removed one existing festival - as "too many of them" - where is logic in that?
Or maybe someone told them that is it "professoinal" to have an event with boss fight?
I'm sorry to complain - but that is out of desperation. That is the problem of MMOs - they can change to worse for you and then you can complain anywhere else but on their official forums and reddits.
I'm sorry if someone here is one of those endgame players - but I just wish all groups could have fun in MMOs if it is possible, so if there are funny events and they are popular - why change it to an event of a group who don't care about events?
Another one - they added daily/3 days/weekly/3weeks to festivals, in order to have dailies with enough of rewards they made it grindy, so I wouldn't play festivals anyway, maybe they spoiled for me anyway. I think that was another reason why they removed 1 festival - less players played festivals for some reason.
Someone should write list of the most horrible MMO management decisions. But maybe MMO groups would start argue over it.