It does seem as though Standing Stone Games has been talking about a “kinship refresh” for Lord of the Rings Online for years now, doesn’t it? It’s right up there with the 4K UI overhaul, in terms of “most talked about and most delayed” projects. But now it looks as though we could be seeing at least the first part of kinship improvements this summer with Update 45, even if it’s background work.
Whatever SSG is brewing behind the scenes, it’s almost assured that the wish list from the community is far, far more than the studio could actually deliver. So while I keep my expectations for the kinship refresh low, it’s not going to stop me from voicing ideas for how to improve this social system.
Right off the top of my head, I think that kinships need to abandon the level system. Having gone through this on one of the legendary worlds where we had to wait several months to gain access to kinship housing, it was outright ridiculous to time- or level-gate important features. This is a relic of the past that seriously needs to go, especially because it hampers new kinships from forming.
Now, I wouldn’t be opposed to kinships being granted a certain number of kinship trait points that they could allocate toward certain buffs or bonuses, as long as no kinship could have all of them.
Next, kinships absolutely require an in-game calendar system. LOTRO is already quite packed with developer events, but add on the many community and kinship events, and it’s hard to keep it all straight! A calendar system wouldn’t only keep everyone on the same page but also (hopefully) allow for event sign-ups.
From past developer conversations, I’ve gotten the impression that one of the holdups for the kinship refresh is that it’s tied to many other systems that are also in the works. One of these is the group scaling system, which may allow teams to up-level or down-level to get everyone at the same spot in order to do content together. I think that’s a fabulous idea.
I don’t know what could be done to allow for more kinship-friendly housing options, but that’s an area where a refresh could touch. Even if it’s simply giving players more tools to host events and activities in their kinship halls, that would be a vast improvement.
Oh! Who wouldn’t want a bigger and better kinship storage chest with a variety of permissions and tabs? Groups love to pitch in and contribute — if they have the option to do this with less fuss. It’s been suggested that the chest should have a viewable log so that everyone could see what Bob the Hobbit took out of there yesterday, too. Bob is greedy.
Connecting new or solo players with a kinship should be a priority for any MMO, and yet LOTRO lacks an in-game feature to advertise and search for kinships (outside of shouting it in general chat). Even a dedicated kinship advertisement channel that newbies would automatically join could be an assist in this regard, but I’d prefer a searchable form.
I’ve seen the suggestion to allow for formal alliances between kinships, and I think that’s a terrific idea. The studio could stack useful tools for these partnerships on top of the kinship system and thus encourage kinships not to be isolated social islands.
And while it’s not as sexy as some of these bigger ideas, giving kinship leaders the ability to set better permissions, more ranks, and officer structures are key to organizing larger guilds. More detailed kinship notes and the ability to read the chat from before you logged in would be wonderful as well.
This is, of course, only scratching the surface of the kinship system’s potential. What other ideas do you have — and how feasible do you think these are for SSG to include in this MMO?
Every two weeks, the LOTRO Legendarium goes on an adventure (horrid things, those) through the wondrous, terrifying, inspiring, and, well, legendary online world of Middle-earth. Justin has been playing LOTRO since its launch in 2007! If you have a topic for the column, send it to him at justin@massivelyop.com.
