Lord of the Rings Online raised a lot of player eyebrows when it made monster play PvP free for everyone, which naturally meant there were plenty of questions from players about the mode, prompting Allan “Orion” Maki to fire up a Q&A livestream.
One of the questions asked about whether this business model shift would mean that more resources for the long-latent mode would be provided. Maki confirmed that if player engagement with the system increases, then there is a “very real possibility” that more updates and changes to PvMP would be coming, including more monster class updates.
Maki also confirmed that PvMP will continue to be limited to the Ettenmoors area, citing griefing as a primary reason for the limitation. He also mentioned that adding monster play to Treebeard is still under discussion among the devs, talked about vague ideas for new creep classes, and took a moment to share some of the original development thinking behind monster play.
Finally, Maki acknowledged that the mode needs a lot of work done in terms of balance. “We’re trying to get some groundwork effort in so that we can make the changes that are necessary to get things moving in the right direction,” he confirms. “We originally designed the entire system to be completely out of balance so that you needed about six creeps for every freep; it was a design decision made 15 years ago.”
