We Want More Beards!

posted this on February 20th, 2012.
Categorized as cosmetics, Game Ideas and Suggestions, Just for Fun, Thoughts and Musings.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/more-beards/

With Turbines announcements of armour reaching the Store, and the whole ants nest that ensued on the forums, it got me thinking of what I actually use the store for, and what I would willingly pay hard earned cash for to enhance my game play.

I have bought a few cosmetics in there, when they are on sale. I have bought shared storage and wardrobe space, and a couple of character slots. I’ve bought relic removal scrolls, skirmish mark reset scrolls and enhaced Reputation. Think I may have got a few jewellers recipes on there when I wanted to make a Sabretooth Cat, when we first made our Loremasters.

The thing which sets Lord of thhe Rings Online apart from many of the other MMOs out there is its elaborate cosmetic system. Especially now after several updates, you can wear pretty much anything that comes your way and dye it in a myriad of colours. Your characters can start to be really unique. And cosmetics sell.

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LOTRO past, present, and future: Part 3, Rohan and Beyond!

posted this on January 26th, 2012.
Categorized as Game Ideas and Suggestions, Thoughts and Musings.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/lotro-past-present-and-future-part-3/

Welcome back to the final instalment dear reader, you did well, its almost over now!

I have gone over the Store, which I believe will grow and grow, make no bones about it there will be things to come which will frustrate and annoy players. With the level cap on the rise again, watch this process as a point of development. On the flip side, 2011 brought some good things with regard to frequency and quality of content, and some major changes to mechanics, itemisation, and rewards which should facilitate clearer itemisation and instance design moving forward. The system is now a durable one which holds the basics for long term adaptation and development. Yes that is easy to loose sight of admidst the communications mess, store rage, and bugs, but on the whole the actual game content I enjoyed a lot, but the delivery and polish needs some work.

Content going into 2012

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LOTRO past, present, and future: Part 2

posted this on January 26th, 2012.
Categorized as Game Ideas and Suggestions, Thoughts and Musings.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/lotro-past-present-and-future-part-2/

Yesterday I talked about the store. Doubtless with the news yesterday of the new Riders of Rohan expansion and further updates earlier on this year,  including a new region, and Sapience’s store placation, there will be more warm fuzzy glows around. This does not, however,  mean that tied to all that there will not be further additions to the store and game which people do not like, or cause and out rage. Tempering our knee jerk reactions will be key, as these two things will come hand in hand from now onwards, the store and game will drive each other. Things will not go back to how they were, but I’ve been here 4 years now… I think they are fine, the Halcyon days of LOTRO are just that… a mythical utopia. I have friends who are new to the game and Dunland is their Moria, in a few years, they will be complaining that the Gondor expansion sold out and was buggy, whilst the next round of players is wide eyed at their first experience of LOTRO. To be fair, I even remember original 2007 and Beta players complaining voiciferously about Moria in the way I see ROI being moaned about now.

Today I want to briefly recap LOTRO in 2011, and the new systems, currencies, and functionality, and what that means with regards to the game moving forwards.

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LOTRO past, present, and future: Part 1

posted this on January 25th, 2012.
Categorized as Game Ideas and Suggestions, Thoughts and Musings.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/lotro-past-present-and-future-part-1/

Firstly I must apologise for the length of this article. It fact, it’s so long I have split it into three posts that I will release each day to ease the burden on you dear reader! I have been thinking about this, adding to it and editing over a period of a week or two, so it has ceased to become news, possibly even legible, and morphed into more of a review or summary, or perhaps just a vague collection of words and thoughts on LOTRO and its current state and issues as it stands and moving forwards into the future.

Changes to joining a Crafting Guild

posted this on October 12th, 2011.
Categorized as crafting, Game Ideas and Suggestions, Games Guides and Advice, Thoughts and Musings.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/changes-to-joining-a-crafting-guild/

Tedwise demonstrating the art of Home Brew

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The Martial Champion ROI updates (Solo attempt Video)

posted this on September 14th, 2011.
Categorized as Dwarf Adventures, Game Ideas and Suggestions, Games Guides and Advice.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/the-martial-champion-updates/

I thought I’d do a little post and video about my thoughts on the Martial Champion in Isengard, based on my experiences on the Bullroarer BETA server. For starters let me say, the class is in great shape, it has never been cooler to be a Champion!

I should state to begin, that I am an EU player, and as such was not able to copy over my live characters, however, thanks to the eyes and guard tavern and its goodies bundles and auto-levelling, I was able to investigate the level cap thoroughly. I went through a few variations, and found a few bugs which I duly submitted, so I wasn’t just messing about! I did try out both the Fervour and Ardour stances as well, and yes, they are both great. Fervour feels pretty much the same as it always has, with some really nice additions and tweaks to inject a little variety in a Champ rotation. In addition Ardour… well for a start it now has a reason to exist, so that is something. In fairness, I didn’t play with it enough to make a detailed judgement, but it now clearly has a very specific and useful role, especially in landscape questing/skirmishing, though I can also see it being a cool alternative for different play styles in raids and FS content, though I still think for it to be truly utilised, LOTRO is going to need some kind of dual-specing system so we can switch out of combat without a bard, because AOE is rarely much use in a raid boss fight, and the retraiting hassle may just not be worth it.

However, what really blew me away was Glory and the Martial Champion traitline, in a very big way, and quite unexpectedly.

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The Greatest Reputation Guide in the World – Tribute

posted this on September 14th, 2011.
Categorized as crafting, Game Ideas and Suggestions, Games Guides and Advice.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/the-greatest-reputation-guide-in-the-world-tribute/

With the Isenguard release day looming and twiddling my thumbs as I resist tinkering on one of my legion of ats, my thoughts turned again to Reputation, and just what it takes to get to Kindred with the various factions you meet in game. The goal for my alts is to get the World Renowned title and Steed of Eriador, as well as the Ambassador to the Elves, and the Elf Lords Horse, which is its reward. Adam and I have got there on Ganin and Azaghar, our Champ/RK duo, and are pretty close on our other 65′s. I get the distinct impression that I went about it the hard way, and so have compiled everything I know about gaining reputation, as a future aide de memoire, and also for others. I’ve gone through every faction currently in game (except the Eldgang of the Rift, as this does not contribute to either horse and it is a specialised area off the beaten track for many players), in the order that they appear in my character Reputation log.

Ganin on the Steed of Eriador
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Update – Echos of the Dead Delayed on EU Servers

posted this on March 22nd, 2011.
Categorized as Game Ideas and Suggestions, Games Guides and Advice.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/update-echos-of-the-dead-delayed-on-eu-servers/

Codemasters announced this morning :

“Due to last minute technical reasons, the release of Update 2: Echoes of the Dead has been delayed momentarily whilst a fix is applied. We will announce a new launch date shortly. Tuesday’s maintenance window will be postponed until later this week.”
We were due to get this update today but it sounds like we won’t have to wait long. Our guess is that the Update will go live on Thursday, keeping the usual schedule of maintainance.
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Your Task if you choose to accept it……

posted this on March 10th, 2011.
Categorized as Game Ideas and Suggestions, Games Guides and Advice.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/your-task-if-you-choose-to-accept-it/

Task board in Annuminas

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Naming Guide for Pets

posted this on March 7th, 2011.
Categorized as cosmetics, Game Ideas and Suggestions, Games Guides and Advice.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://thekhazadguard.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/naming-guide-for-pets/

I really enjoyed writing my general naming guide for in game characters, and a guide for Lore Master pets has been on my mind for some time. Not only do I like to have my alts with appropriate names, as my LM has progressed I like my pets to also have an appropriate name. Having two Jewellers myself, and Adam also having two Jewellers, we have tried to collect the full set of cosmetic appearances for our pets. At level 25 we only have the Raven and Bear usuable, but we do have all of them ready and waiting.

Now I’m not being dictatorial about this, name your characters and pets whatever you like. I’ve seen bears called Bungle (the bear from the U.K kids TV show Rainbow) and Eagles called Sam (come on, you all know the Muppet Show, right?) tortoises called Nornuan and bog-lurkers called Bogbrush. I’ve even seen Captains Oathbreaker Shades called LookAtMeImSeeThrough. I’m fine with this, if thats your thing. This is just a little guide put together for those of you who like knowing you have aproprate Middle Earth names, and would maybe like a few suggestions.

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