Goldenstar posted this on May 24th, 2010.
Categorized as book 10, book 13, Hobbit Rage, horse routes, travel, volume I.
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This past weekend I set myself to the task of working on Volume I and I found myself very frustrated in Forochel (Book 13). I am only talking about the travel issues I’m having so don’t worry, I won’t be giving away spoilers (unless you consider travel routes spoilers I guess).
Here’s the deal. I have never taken Goldenstar into Forochel. Forochel was introduced in April 2008 shortly before Merric and I had taken a break from LOTRO. When we returned to LOTRO last summer, we went straight on to Eregion as we were level 50. We skipped that region entirely.
What this means is basically I have zero reputation with the Lossoth of Forochel. They were not even on my reputation list until I did the first epic quest line turn-in in Forochel. Since you start out as an outsider with reputation I am completely barred from using the faction based horse routes until I can get acquainted with them. That means getting through all of outsider and through neutral status before they’ll let me use some of their dumb horses.
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Merric posted this on May 17th, 2010.
Categorized as General, Hobbit Rage, Opinion, radiance.
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I was going to save this post for my last concerning Radiance, but since this week’s Tell the Community Team brings up the subject in the form of a poll, I thought I would go ahead and start discussing my thoughts on it and open it up to you all as well. I also encourage you to vote on the official thread as well, because without you doing so, Turbine has no idea how you feel.
So the theoretical solutions that Turbine provides us are as follows:
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Goldenstar posted this on May 3rd, 2010.
Categorized as Classes, Hobbit Rage, Opinion, race.
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Many of us have been playing LOTRO for a while now. You may or may not have a level 65 (some of you have multiple 65s). We love our characters but it’s also natural to have that “grass is greener” thinking of how cool some other class is or how you wish you had the racial abilities someone else selected.
The question I’m posing is:
What if Turbine offered you a sort of do-over and could select your character but still keep your level?
To clarify, I would basically trade Goldenstar in for a different class or a different race and still be level 65. There are multiple questions that could go along with this question.
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Goldenstar posted this on April 28th, 2010.
Categorized as achievement, Hobbit Rage, Opinion.
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There are many ways to be a success in an MMO. Each player can have their own definition of what makes their character successful in game. It is not always defeating that end boss in XYZ dungeon.
We discussed on the podcast in the past about all the different types of “end games” people enjoy in LOTRO. From completing crafting tiers to completing deeds to simply leveling alts; everyone has different goals that drives them. Completing or perhaps just hitting big milestones of these personal achievements mean a lot!
Today I’m thinking about my own personal game and wondering “What are my top three achievements I’m most proud of?” This of course will be a “as of today” type listing as I have no intention of quitting any time soon and I can only assume I will find new goals to reach for and complete!
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Goldenstar posted this on April 26th, 2010.
Categorized as grouping, Hobbit Rage, Opinion, raids.
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I purposely waited a couple days before starting this post because the other night I was very irritated and felt it would of come across as a little mean. I’m not trying to be mean, just vent some of my frustrations. I’m not a hard core raider and I realize that our kin and friends of the kin aren’t raiding kinships. I don’t think just because we’re not considered “raiders” excuses people from being responsible team members.
This post is about raid moochers. You know the type. People who come to raids unprepared and feel positively no remorse that they’ve made you wait 30 minutes for them to buy potions, get quests or craft some food. What is worse they just show up and expect you to give them the potions and food they require.
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Merric posted this on April 21st, 2010.
Categorized as General, Hobbit Rage, LotRO News, Opinion, turbine, Warner Bros.
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So as most of you know, last night it was announced that Warner Bros. has acquired Turbine. But what does this mean to us: the gamers, the bloggers, the podcasters… the fans? Initially I felt a sense of dread and in my mind I saw a huge, red wall of bureaucracy coming down between the channel of communication that we as players and also as a fan site have been able to establish with Turbine. Will there no longer be interviews with Developers? Will their activity on the forums be curtailed? Will they be as open to the players and fan sites as they have in the past? Will PAX be a completely different experience from now on because of Warner Bros??
But then after a while, after taking a breath, I realized that there was no reason to panic and that maybe this is a good thing. I mean Warner does own the movie rights to “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”, they have also purchased other gaming studios such as Snowblind, (the assets of) Midway, TT Games, and Rocksteady Studios; and the world hasn’t ended for those people. In fact, this could open up a lot more resources for Turbine than they have had in the past such as voice acting talents, artists, open up new jobs and even might allow them to be more lax about what they can and cannot use in the game (such as names and places). And who knows, with the weight of Time Warner behind them, maybe we can finally see some LOTRO themed T-shirts, posters, action figures, or other items that can be purchased.
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Merric posted this on April 21st, 2010.
Categorized as Classes, General, Hobbit Rage.
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The other day Goldenstar and I were talking and the subject of my altoholism came up. I had mentioned how I didn’t need to keep any of my old crafting materials and she stated that I would need them if they ever released a new class; which got me to thinking, “Will we see another class in LOTRO”?
I’m sure there’s a lot of choices that go into designing a class for an existing game, such as trying to make it fill a role that is lacking in the game (tank/healer/dps) while making it attractive yet balanced compared to other classes. Now as far as LOTRO goes, I’m not sure what kind of class could be added, but I’m interested to hear what people think might be good idea. Do we need another healing class? What about another melee DPS or Tank? Or do we need another support class like the Captain and Lore-master?
Personally, I’m not sure what I would choose if I were a designer for LOTRO. I guess most people are usually looking for a tank or a healer to complete their group, but I would guess that healer probably wins out on what most groups are lacking. I’m not sure how I’d go about designing the class, but I think keeping it “lore appropriate” while making it “different” than the existing healing classes are definitely key points for me. I personally don’t want a re-hashing of the minstrel or another “magic user” ala the Rune-keeper, but I’m not sure where I would go in this case. How about you?
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Goldenstar posted this on April 20th, 2010.
Categorized as dungeon, Hobbit Rage, Opinion, playtime, raids.
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I found this very interesting post on my.lotro by Deusdictum going over the last three years of his playtime in LOTRO. Merric and I should totally be friends with Deusdictum as we have a lot in common. We were married in August 2006, we had a baby in early 2009 and she was 6 weeks premature. Deusdictum most likely shares our family schedule and lack of playtime woes.
I did find the post very interesting though to see how he’s always planning on getting to end game and not really able to attain. He then returns to leveling alts; hoping to prepare them for end game with the next expansion. It’s a vicious cycle. One we know well.
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Goldenstar posted this on April 16th, 2010.
Categorized as decorations, Hobbit Rage, housing, maintenance, Opinion, suggestion.
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Finally a topic that I can whole heartily jump into and really give you my detailed thoughts on! I love LOTRO but I very much love stupid little side fluff objects that MMO developers give us to play with. It’s a passion of mine and player housing definitely fits in this area.
First I want to point you to the articles that spawned the “jumping in the discussion” title of this post. You may want to read them yourself!
- Last week’s Tell the Community Team where the question asked what players would like improved and the response was strongly focused on housing.
- Fionnuala had a blog posting about her thoughts on housing.
- Massively’s columnist, Justin Olivetti, addressed housing in his “Road to Mordor” article.
- This week’s Community Team question where question two asks specifically about how you would change housing lock-out and escrow.
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Merric posted this on April 14th, 2010.
Categorized as General, Hobbit Rage, new player, quest.
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So, the other night Goldenstar and I are waiting to do the dreaded escort quest and we happen to see a number of people in this area of the Lone-lands running around killing goblins. Sure enough as we actually get close to the NPC to turn in the pendant and start the quest a hobbit runs up and starts the quest. He and several others follow him and off they go. No sweat, they were there first I don’t mind that they took him, just that I’m going to be sitting there for 10 minutes or so waiting for him to re-spawn; but that’s not their fault. That’s just how long it takes.
Now interestingly enough as we’re waiting there a hunter from the previous group runs back to us and starts standing around. “Interesting,” I think to myself and I start to get a little agitated. A minute or so goes by and another hunter shows up. Then another. I call out to Goldenstar in the other room and I tell her that she should just turn in the quest (I was able to turn mine in before the Hobbit got there) and start it off. But then I start thinking. Is this really what I want to do? Do I really want to be that kind of guy?
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