The Lord of the Rings Online

[shirenuファクトリー]

Let me just store this here so I can keep track of my progress...

[19:55] <shirenu> Rohan Expansion Content: 4295 TP
[19:55] <shirenu> hm i have 2427...
[19:55] <shirenu> daamnn i still need 1868
[19:56] <shirenu> that's 125 slayer deeds
[19:56] <shirenu> ....

  Oh god there's no way I can grind this hahaha

[shirenuファクトリー]

I forgot I had taken a screencap of Amp's nice new steed




Also, cracked me up when I was considering playing with Gilheron again for the first time in forever, and he had this SHOCKED expression on his face in the character selection screen like he KNEW what I was thinking

[tenkei]

had to take a break from Angmar, so desolate and hateful... went back and did some fellowships quests that I can pretty much run solo now love strolling through giant hordes of elite mobs cus they're level is inconsequential. LIKE A BOSS

[Amplifier]

I haven't played in a few weeks, and the fact that I'll need to spend hours farming & cooking when I log back in, is a huge deterrent. 3 hours just to make some bread so I can actually play my guardian, no thank you. They really need to overhaul the crafting system, it's just killer.

Also: feels bad that shirenu can play LOTRO on nicer settings than me..

[shirenuファクトリー]

^ You could just buy food from the auction house, too Yeah sure it costs, but last time I heard you weren't short on money there

And daww it shouldn't kill you, after all, I did buy this laptop to be my gaming laptop and it'd be pretty sad if I couldn't do anything with it

[tenkei]

yeah i've been buying food from the AH in amp's absence D: lol

[nachdenki]

For those of you missing some expansions, now it's your time!

Get Moria, Mirkwood AND Isengard for $19,99 (excl. tax)
http://store.turbine.com/store/turbine/en_US/pd/ThemeID.28979900/productID.253909400

Also another reason to take a look at lotro again is the recent update.
You can read about some details here http://www.lotro.com/en/news/developer-diaries
New loot system~

[shirenuファクトリー]

Oh yeah the updates, small and bigger, are pretty sweet. Remember for instance, when you had a quest for picking things up and you'd have to run all the way to those items before being able to pick them up? Well, now if you right click them, your character will automatically run over there - it's not perfect, sometimes my character gets stuck on something and I have to manually move her. But when it works, it makes stuff faster, and no more "YOU ARE TOO FAR AWAY FIWUIF"

And YES, new loot system - no longer having to run over to the corpse, but instead the loots are 'stored' into this loot window. Quest items are automatically picked up. You even have an hour to make room in your bag before the loot items disappear from it.

Also, Bree-town has changed. I don't wanna spoil all of it because it's cool to run through it, but it no longer feels like a ghost town if you happen to quest there when not many others are online. Mood-wise that was a huge improvement to me

I was going to enjoy more of the Yule festival, but unfortunately I'm going through a computer change and don't currently have it available to use >o<

[nachdenki]

^ nice, didn't hear about the bree changes yet I already miss the open world/sky areas anyway ;_;

Currently I'm still stuck in moria, but that also got changed a lot according to the developer diaries / change log~ ... can't tell much because I still feel somewhat new to it anyway although I am done with it soon I assume.
I really like the instant travel goats in the area I am at currently.
Costs nothing, is fast and the goats are at relevant places so you get quests done and stuff sold more relaxed and quick, even more important when you solo because you don't always have to rush through hordes of mobs or fight them all on the way back

Also not to forget about the new travel option to quest NPC locations, there is a somewhat interesting article in the developer diaries for people interesting in coding games 
But it can save you time as well~ it's just not available for all locations and it costs TP because you need to get traveller's writ at the shop

[shirenuファクトリー]

I really like the instant travel goats in the area I am at currently.
Costs nothing, is fast and the goats are at relevant places so you get quests done and stuff sold more relaxed and quick, even more important when you solo because you don't always have to rush through hordes of mobs or fight them all on the way back

That sounds pretty amazing. When I was doing Moria with Sulwing, I spent so much time cursing just trying to get to a quest spot and back. The enemies are EVERYWHERE and if you get lost, it's awful (which is realistic, but still... after a while it just becomes a nuisance lol) And some of the travel distances were ridiculously long so that even on a rental goat it took forever to get where I was going! ...If some of that stuff has been fixed, that'll be awesome when I finally go in with Mirlith!

[nachdenki]

Time for an update.

Helm's deep expansion is going to be released soon (Nov. 18th).

FIGHT FOR ROHAN'S SURVIVAL
Unearth the depth of Gríma Wormtongue's treachery, unravel a mystery weaved through the war-torn Westemnet, and defend the fortress at Helm's Deep.

EXPLORE WESTERN ROHAN
Rohan's once-serene fields are fraught with gruesome evil among roaring fires that burn the pillaged lands. Heroes are needed to stand against fell deeds in these treacherous times.

ENLIST IN EPIC BATTLES
War thunders across Middle-earth! You and your fellows must charge into Epic Battles of unmatched scale and scope to save the lands of the Free Peoples. Your choices have consequences that shape the nature of each battle, but also yield amazing rewards for the worthy.

REVITALIZE YOUR ROLE
Choose your path to triumph and power with new class Trait Trees and roles that are more true to the legends of Middle-earth than ever before.

From what I read, this time the expansion is also needed for the epic quests.
As usual pre-purchase gets you some in-game bonuses already now, base and premium differ in a few items.

Since I'm stuck in Moria still I hope the game itself gets some interesting changes as well again (the minor changes like UI, graphics, old map redesign etc. that surprise you every time you log in )

[nachdenki]

The new latest major update got us a skill revamp.
I don't understand it yet and it scares, kills the fun for me right now but from what I read before in the developer diaries it makes fighting better (especially for my main class the rune keeper..)

At least I escaped from Moria now, though some epic quests still gets me back in there but level-wise most quests are too low there now and some other quests got me to some other areas now.

Also, don't think anyone logged in again yet but just in case I unlocked the kinship storage 

[shirenuファクトリー]

Awwhh yeahh damn, I should log into this thing again... Just fearing all the updates, just got back home from Santaland so the last thing I want to do right now is spend hours updating something! I've spent the past 5 weeks without my precious computer, I want to use it!

[shirenuファクトリー]

I haven't been playing this game pretty much at all because the new quests (especially mounted combat) weren't very interesting to me... So I decided that for the time being, I'm retiring my main character Sulwing from adventuring and will just have her travelling around the world enjoying the sights and sounds... :3 A little bit role play-like, but not serious. I still love the game world so much that I can't uninstall or give up this game until the day it officially dies, I think.

Another great thing about this decision is that I will  be able to use all my various steeds on a journey like this. In the newer areas I almost feel obligated to use the war steed, riding which is definitely something to get used to. And he's not pretty like my steeds collected over the years. LOL There are cosmetics for war steeds, but right now I'm too lazy to figure out anything new.

This is how Sulwing shall be spotted these days It's Spring Festival, so I thought using the ale steed was appropriate And yup, Sulwing started her journey from Thorin's gate, then heading south.




EDIT: Oh yeah the good thing about the new skill system is that I have more room in the skill area now, so I can have more than one steed/goat there

[shirenuファクトリー]

YEAH SULWING IS BACK QUESTING AND ADVENTURING!!



I uploaded a few photos here: http://minus.com/mlAfG0159xQcf

First... Mounted combat: What a pain in the ass it can be, but I've practiced and got a little better at it... I imagine it's not as bad for ranged classes, but do you know what it's like to a Champion to try to get near enemies that are constantly running around like bunnies on caffeine?! It's nuts. Stryfe used to lol at my bow making so little damage compared to Hunters, but that bow on Sulwing is like 50% reason I'm able to put in any damage most of the time when mounted.

I'm still basically unable to beat the patrolling bosses with their allies, idk if it's because my traits or equipment sucks or I simply don't get enough hits in because they're constantly running away, but I can't beat the damn leader before I die. Well, I was able to defeat some smaller bosses like this, but there's one crew that has managed to kill me three times (twice from earnest attempts and once by me accidentally bumping into them and them attacking me). And I've died more times from random patrols that I had no intention of fighting because shit, they just run around so fast that they can seriously just surprise you and if you aren't mounted at that point, you might as well give up and die right there cuz there's no way you'll make it.

So it's some challenging shit, but not impossible. Ugh, if I can level up my own skill, I might end up LIKING it. But right now tho, it's a little too chaotic o-o Sometimes it takes me forever to just select the correct enemy to fight cuz he's running about so fast that I can't right-click him in time.

I quite like the story content in the Rohan area, too, even if most of the quests are the same ol' kill this destroy that loot that type. Note that I haven't been to the Movie Famous areas of Rohan yet with King Theoden, but they've managed to create some interesting characters and stuff here anyways.

YEAH! SO ADDICTED, I'VE BEEN

[shirenuファクトリー]

Oh yeah, a while ago already I went to Weatherstock - it's a concert/band competition at Weathertop in Lonelands. Created a new character just for it. Was amazing to see so many people in one place!



Pretty bonus pic


I'm finding it a challenge to kick the butt of some enemies so I just keep wondering if my equipment is that bad or what, it's a bit depressing. There are these Moria goblin warriors in this one overtaken town in Entwash Vale that for some reason do a LOT of damage quick, to the extent where if I get attacked by more than one at a time I need a prayer circle cuz bitch might not make it.

Also there's a cloak I really want, but the barter items for it are crafting products and I never see them in the auction house. So that makes me sadcakes.

[nachdenki]

For anyone who wants to pay to win there is now a Veteran Status "item" in the lotro store.
It turns a char into a level 95 character. For character with level 51+ this item is cheaper.
There is now also an item for each job that completes all tiers of crafting.

Just saying~ if you got some money to spare on a game but don't have the time to level you up you can now experience end game without grinding.

The level one is actually tempting because I might not play this game much anymore and have enough turbine points (costs 2995) but I would just be stuck on a different level and miss out the quests and story part.
I'm also only stuck because of the reputation thing. I got a no-exp item just to be able to do the reputation item collecting quests for the "men of dunland" endlessly but it's too boring so I only do it a few times a year for a few minutes.