What about the armor sets you mentioned?

The epic armor sets are nice because people have been asking for a way to have a collectible mechanic -like get the gloves, breastplate and leggings- and if they're all from the same set they give you extra benefits and powers.

So they're analogous to the armor set concept in Diablo II?

Yep. And we're also doing updates to the classes with every update. So, this first update in June we're doing the Champion. And we're going to do the Hunter and the Captain next. And then this fall we'll do the Burglar, the Lore-master, the Minstrel and the Guardian and so on. So we're continually updating and refreshing those classes, giving them new skills and abilities.

That was actually where I was going to go next, updating and refining the character classes and class skills…

Yeah, absolutely. And that's why - people always ask us what the endgame is for the product and I don't think that there is an endgame. Of course we have things like PvP and we having things like raids and we have things like collectible armor sets. But for me, an "endgame" suggests that there's an end to the game. And with an online game we're committed to adding new content to these games, and that's part of what we see as an opportunity for episodic entertainment.

Do you see these content updates continuing to be free additions of online downloadable content or do you expect future expansions to be sold via retail?

You know, we'll see both. Definitely, both of them. The free online content is a great way to help compensate people for the time and love that they're putting into the world and their character, but down the road we definitely need to go back to retail because we're going to be having some big features. In fact, this Fall, we're looking at housing and housing may or may not be an expansion pack. I think we're still uncertain whether or not that's something we'll charge for separately. But giving people the ability to have a player house is obviously a huge addition to the product, a whole other region is going to be coming out, a bunch of new upgrades and new systems. So, that kind of starts feeling like it's worthy of an expansion pack.

But we genuinely want to make sure that we're delivering on free content, so Book 9 is coming out with Evendim right now. Then we've got the Summer Solstice Party coming out a month or so after that. Then Book 10 is coming out free. That's got a ton of monster play upgrades to it as well as a new monster to play. And so that's all going to be free content as well. So then we're going to get all the way to October before we even contemplate our first charged upgrade.

In terms of subscribers, what kind of start did you actually get off to and how has it turned out, compared to your expectations.

You know, I don't know. I hung up my crystal ball a long time ago. I think trying to guess at subscriber numbers is one of the toughest things you can ever do. We're really thrilled with where we are right now. We don't give out numbers, but I think it's safe to say that we're probably the second largest Western MMORPG out there right now. We're doing a great job of adding new players to the subscription service all the time. The sales have been really strong and we're really encouraged by where we are and you know, we haven't beat World of Warcraft yet. (laughs) We're gonna work really hard to get there. The community has been terrific, the reviews have been awesome, so we're just really appreciative of the support that we've gotten and we look forward to making a better game every day.

The game has been out for about a month now. Not in terms of numbers, which I understand you can't discuss, but in terms of percentages have you got a sense of retention as far as people sticking with the subscriptions beyond the initial month?

Yeah, we have. We've just run a couple of billing cycles now. Obviously, the first 30 days are going to be free so we have to run through a couple weeks of billing cycles. So far, our retention rates have been extraordinarily high. Much higher than anything we've seen before and it's due to the product, due to the fact that you've got a great chance to play with other people - the Founders (players in the open beta) have been a terrific asset for us as well. The conversion rate has been very high, that is people who go from a paid retail client to a monthly subscription. I'd say that the industry average is, maybe, 70%; it might be 75%. We're significantly North of that.

What would define a long term success for Lord of the Rings, in your mind?

I'd say that today the benchmark is probably products like EQ and Ultima Online, so I'd say a decade is probably long term.