Lord of the rings online

The purpose of any game is to have fun, I think. I got a bit tired from grinding Turbine points, so NaktiesKarys went to the Spring Festival: time to grind those valuable Spring leaves and Flowers for news steeds and maps.  And here goes the impressions (Kinship questions – at the bottom, please read).

The Maze: offers two quests, one to find wandering Elves and other – to display misleading signs (that’s why Elves are lost). I ran through the maze and it was kind of quick. Earned Legendary item experience and some Leaves. Comments: these quests are looking good and promising (well, as long as you can navigate the maze). Enter the maze quest was tricky: you enter and have 14 minutes to exit, when exit – receive 1 leave…and NPC tells you could try to make it within 10 minutes. I did not take the second part of the quest – too risky. Comments: take on your own risk, even it’s not too worthy. Race: this time I won, even if I slipped into the mud twice. Comments: probably a must, Turbine did listen to players’ opinions (previous races were almost impossible).

Bree flowers’ quest: consists of few parts. First part: get Violet (near Bree), then some other near Michel Delving and third one – near Duillond. Second one: go to Prancing Pony, Burliman awaits, then bring vase to the Cat lady’s house. Oops, vase did not belong there, go to take the vase, ask neighbour (there is only one nearby – you won’t miss), bring some sweets – quest completed. Third part: a timed quest. You got one hour to get as much flowers as you can. I started with Bree and it was some competition there. Found some 116 Violets (those grow best near Bree) as well as other flowers.

Why to collect flowers? Just for Jester steed, I do love to be completionist. However, this steed requires 300 flowers: 100 of each kind. Bree is done, have to grind Shire and Ered Luins flower patches.

Shire activities involved Brockenborings, collecting clovers and then delivering stuff. Only one or two leaves were awarded. There is a challenge to drink some Green Beer and go on fence (if you drop, you lose). Since you are heavily drunk – it is difficult to finish this quest, I abandoned it. Party tree activities are mostly up to Ale/Inn leagues. Did not take them.

Ered Luin activities: mostly in Duillond, local cave (somehow called “Garden”). Involves Shrew stumping: toop hard to complete, since there may be 20 players trying to stomp one Shrew. I did not make it any time I tried. Comment: worthless quest, maybe worth trying when/if you are alone there. Making boots quest was easier: speak to NPCs, coillect materials (all all nearby, just 1 category a bit further), bring to NPC…and then may repeat daily quest one time for the first time.  Comments:surely reccomend, it is probably the best Ered Luin can offer.

At the end of the day I had some 21 Spring leaves, 116 Violets and God knows how many other flowers. Had 3-4 days to work in the Shire/Ered Luin and Jester steed may be mine. Then I will need to grind for some more flowers (I do need every steed!) – after that I will abandon flower gathering.

Leaves grinding is very limited and it would be hard for me to earn them within Festival time. I need some of them: 80 for two steeds, some 40 for maps of Middle earth. Maybe I may find some time interval when SHrew stumping has less competition (current is just insane and makes it impossible to finish).

Kinship question: got one beautifull proposal, just what I need…but not on my Withywindle. A very big pity, I wish I could migrate all my toons (NaktiesKarys, Vytautaz, Dunedanmule, WoneF) here – but it would be way too expensive. There are many Kinships that are big and nice and offers help for newcommers…just they do not like to respond.

I would really like to join some Kinship. It does not have to be big, it may even not have Kinship house, all I expect is a friendly cozy atmosphere. I will need help with Angmar/Moria. I may offer help in crafting Weaponsmith production, making one toon as a Kinship’s mule (but have to give all the stuff to Dunedain of the North kinship before that), protecting those of lower levels in Eregion, Evendim, part of Angmar and Moria, maybe even in Misty Mountains/Forochel. We could even do some deeds together.

Hope I am not asking for too much. Any reccomendation would be of great value.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/spring-festivalfirst-impressions/

Lord of the rings online

Vytautaz continued to fight in Evendim. Was one time killed (bad idea to fight 2 stone giants at one time…especially when they do stun). Kindred with Wardens of Annuminas reached, some TPs gained.

Turbine introduced Spring Festival. It goes mostly in Maze near Bree and, of course, at each login player has a huge notification without ability to turn this off. Currency of the festival are “Spring leaves” and they are given mostly by quests done in a maze: to place misleading signs, to find wandering Elves and to travel maze while drinking strong Beer. Other quests are located in the Shire and I am not sure about their awards.

Turbine has made some wise conclusions: this time, they offer some steeds to purchase and even steed cosmetics: now, players would really want to earn Festival currency. Other items include various house decorations, including valuable Dwarven beer. I think, developers listened to players’ opinions: player may want to play and earn tokens if he could exchange them to steeds or something interesting. I wonder, if there is any hidden deed like “Purchase 20 kegs of Beer, receive title and 2 Turbine points”. Downside is that most quests are in the maze (I do not like mazes) and are very time-consuming. I wish there were more innovative quests with “Springs leaves” rewards.

However, things will become clear when my NaktiesKarys will revisit Festival area and check things out. If there are new steeds, I need them. If there are deeds that may reward me with TPs, I need them.

DunedanMule has left the Kinship. Now, only one toon, my main, remains in the Kinship. I am waiting for any fresh ideas about new Kinship that may not be too big, just have a friendly atmosphere and be able to help me with Angmar/Moria. I could offer some weaponsmith services (what could be better for a Dwarf than to craft things at Superior forge?) as well as protecting new players should they travel in risky region like Angmar, Eregion or even the begining of Moria.

Was approached by one Kinship: they thought I was experienced since they do need officers. Well, I am not so willing to be an officer, since my own knowledge is very limited. I’d better be a simple Kinsman in a small, yet cozy, kinship.

And so the day has ended. I had lots of fun in Evendim and fresh thoughts about the festival, also 531 Turbine points out of 695 needed (Lothlorien quest pack). Things are going good in Lotro.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/lotrospring-festival/

Lord of the rings online

Had very little time to play Lotro – but still Vytautaz continued his adventures in Evendim. 90 quests finished, another level of reputation reached. Quests were going very good, I just went and killed any enemy (even those I did not need, but one should have fun, right?). Monsters were kind enough to drop Mathoms as well as Wardens of Annuminas reputation items.

I am already thinking about Lothlorien and its rewards (some 200 Turbine points and big grind for reputation). New content is always good, I will gladly consume it as quick as possible.

When Vytautaz will finish almost all things in Evendim, it would be high time for him to visit Eregion. Angmar is really not an option:too little soloable quests, too much stress.

And so the day ended, I left satisfied with 506 Turbine points (190 TPs remain to be grinded). Life is good with Lotro.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/questing-in-evendim/

Lord of the rings online

After a long sleep – Vytautaz is back to the game (my main once…now just an alt). This time he went on foot – riding skill for him not purchased – to sunny and green Evendim. I took every quest I could, selling almost all quest awards.

First steps – of course, that maze-farm in Ort Barton, where farmers need to plant scarecrows, fight some rats, mud the pigs, carry chickens and other usefull things. Since it almost bloodless quests (only few times did I need to kill some evil creatures) – it’s ok. And experience is ok too, I made one level by sorting weed and mudding pigs.

Fighting outside farm was a good one. Sometimes I was 2-3 levels above my social enemies. Used bracing attacks, “sudden defense” a lot of times – these are Champion’s best friends. Killing Tomb robbers was really a good thing: first 120 kills requires very little attempt. You just do quests, kill and defend – and at the end you have like 30 Tomb robbers to kill. They were kind enough to drop Mathoms and Tomb-raider sachels (+30 to reputation with the Wardens of Annuminas).

Quests were doing great, Evendim is a very good place for questing. And so was Turbine points flow. Evendim quest pack now starts to pay dividends for investment I made once. I can make 80 Turbine points without trouble. Way more than that if I invest some time and patience.

Some quests (“ride to Esteldin”, ‘go to Angmar”, “visit Trollshaws”) were rejected: these would be good for the end, when all other quests are finished. Used Arnorian coins to get some stuff for Vytautaz: new cloak and leggings, if I get enough coins – breastplate too. “Nothern star” armor gives +strenght if player has at 2 or 3 pieces of this armour equpped.

Overall I had a very good time, have some 476 Turbine points right now and need some 220 TPs: some would be from Vytautaz (especially reputation with Annuminas), some would be from WoneF (maybe Shire/Ered Luin deeds).

I started to look for a new Kinship. What I really need is some not too big, but old Kinship that has a friendly atmosphere and could help me a bit with Angmar and Moria.

And so the day has ended, life was good and shiny. More Evendim adventures await…and then up to Eregion!

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/lotro-dividends/

Lord of the rings online

NaktiesKarys rode through grumpy Moria and ended his journey in some Lothlorien camp. It’s finished with Moria. Epic quest book will not be finished due to stupid “session play” which is impossible to finish. “Kill 2 mobs out of 20 attacking you at one time” is doable only with IDDQD.

There were some debates on Lotro forums concerning this. Most users in forum were against, some – for “session play”, yet developers found “vast majority” for. I interfered too: please, give player a choice. Let us say: if you choose “session play”, you will be Gandalf’s chicken and will be forced to go to spie on Sauron…but if you make it alive, you get 1 million xp for you, 1 million xp for legendary item and “Eternal Hero” title. However, current “session play’ is a pain and I would avoid it at any costs.

Observation: Turbine did some great job with UI. Now, in “House–>maintenance” you have a slider bar and can pay for 19 weeks in advance. I do like it very much. Very good job, Turbine, it’s really helpfull and I hope most player would enjoy it. My rich grinding toons paid for all 19 weeks in advance. Of course, you can pay with mithril coins (i.e. real life cash) too.

WoneF went to Archet to grind for some TPs. Things were going good: spider slayer (adv.) finished, Brigand slayer finished, Bree-land adventurer (15 quests) – finished. To make things better, WoneF paid for house maintenance (1 week) and DunedanMule – for 19 weeks. WoneF trolled a bit. Player asked about kinship, if some would like him. I trolled – “what’s the use of kinship?”. Player answered it was about groups and another one IMed me – like it was about quality armour, jewellery, support. I re-trolled: armour, jewellery can be bought in Auction House, information is in wiki/google and for groups we have LFF chat. What’s the use for kinship then? Answer was: friends. I replied: yes, but friends may be outside kinship…

When logged as DunedanMule – noticed my toon was demoted from Officer to Kinswoman. Weird. She was supposed to serve as a mule: bringing Kinship things to our House chests, giving them to kinnies and serve as walking vault for Kinship.

Despite of this – day went good. NaktiesKarys had all chats turned off, so there would be no complaints like “I feel ignored”. WoneF earned TPs and I need some 390 Turbine points to Lothlorien quest pack. Yes, it won’t pay off (only ~100 TPs in return), but still some fun.

And so the day has ended. I am leaving Moria behind: done with all doable quests, have to wait untill Lothlorien. Things are just…mediocre…with Lotro.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/leaving-moria/

Discussion about Hobbits’ presents is still going on with some new thoughts, like “if Turbine sees mithril coin sale is not up, they will abandon wheel of fortune”. Some players are suggesting not so intrusive game, even according to the Tolkien. I do hope Turbine will listen to these – I call them wise – suggestions and make something monetizing and non-intrusive.

NaktiesKarys was Desperado in Moria. Initially thought of doing slayer deeds – yeah, I have a good spot full of Morrovals! Arrived to that spot: well, not so many of them: one outpost with 3 morrovals, then after some travelling – 2 of them and on the other end – 2 of them. Wait a second, I have to kill some 300 (240 for advanced deed and 60 for simple deed completion)? Then how much would it take? Retreated. Tried to look at quests, but had nothing good left. Water-wheel where I must go through sewers, fighting local worms and finding seemingly non-existent spare part. Questing in Foundations of Stone where having map is worse than non having and most passages are full of social enemies – no, thanks, it’s too hard to find even the simpliest things there.

I had no options left. Asked Kinship – almost no answers. Asked in regional chat – silence. Asked in Advice chat – silence. There were tens of players around an still nobody wanted to speak. I bought some book of CHampion, read it, received 20 TP and rode my goat. Many kinnies were around, yet no offer of help from them. Some were doing quests which I have already done.

Switched to WoneF, did one deed, earned 10 Turbine points; then went to Silverlode, paid for house upkeep, tried Hobbit present and logged off.

Day was a very dull one. No help from others, almost no reliable advice, all chats dead – there was nothing I could do. There were tens, if not hundreds, TPs waiting for me as Slayer deeds…but they were so grindy, especially dragonets, gredbyrg ones. No place where I could just stand and kill. And almost no fun: all that was good ended.

I left a bit grumpy and dissatiesfied. I do want to consume content…but there was none, Kin was of no help and I had nowhere to go to. Time to grind TPs on alts

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/morias-end-v-2-0/

Lord of the rings online

Day started with simple option to resize alerts and especially Hobbits’ present.  This “wheel of fortune” is something I do dislike. Lotro experts can call it lore-breaking. Maybe Turbine will do something about this.

Naktieskarys quested in Moria, sometimes having hard times. Finished Martial Champion trait (had to go to Thorins hall). Epic quest was doing good…untill first “Session play”. This was something too hard: I hard to play for other NPC, have no quality armor, potions, only few usable skills…and of course, stay alive. One session play was to survive Orc assault and I found myself in a tiny room, surrounded by some 20 Orcs. Of course, they killed me, session failed. One quest involved “get without being seen” option and then, when the road is clear, to make NPC get to you unnoticed. At least something fresh and good.

I know I had no chance of survival. Used all I had to stop named monster and even killed his two bodyguards…but to fight 20 Orcs with half-dead Dwarf was impossible. Kinship offered no help with this except “try harder” advices. Overall, I am having some hard times with getting help from Kinship. There are many times that my calls for advice are left ignored.

I refused to take many quests – they seem too hard for me. Once again I have no doable quests, only grindy deeds (like kill 240 monsters). If I find suitable place, I will grind for TPs…and then switch to alts.

However, all these problems do not make me ragequit. I can see some Turbine/game problems, I can see how passive community is, but this can be corrected. Turbine will make conclusions from negative feedback and maybe will c hange Hobbit presents. And maybe my Kinship would aid me somehow someday.

Things are not that bad in Lotro.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/ragequits-and-presents/

Lord of the rings online

Finally, an update. It took some time to wait and then – voila, updating, upgrading, playing.

Update. Launcher has been updated – I think, it was simplyfied and I did not like this. Required download of some Miscrosoft program (not a problem) and took less time to update than I anticipated.

Hobbit presents are introduced: each day a player can turn “wheel of fortune” to receive some presents. Most of them are low-level things, usable for vendors only. Unfortunately, no option to decline such present or sign off. User interference changed – messages about loot, mail, Legendary items level up became bigger and more cartoonish. I did not like these two things.

Housing has been revamped and now, after some months, inactive houses will be abandoned so that new players could use them. Finally, “ghost towns” will cease to exist and new, live, towns will start to live. Very good and usefull update.

Some armour things had their names changed. SInce it’s cosmetic, it’s ok.Some legendary weapons were considered to have “too high DPS”, so they removed and compensated with experience points. My opinion: it was not needed, since it is legendary weapon, it should be more powerfull. One quest in Bree-land was lowered to help newbies: maybe it was not neccesery. There are some quests player should think: I too was killed many many times when trying to kill Midgewater Queen…but finally I did it without being killed.

Turbine increased use of Mithril coins: now more services are available for them. Maybe it is their long-term tactic: to make user purchase Turbine Points or Mithril coins…and then purchase anything for mithril. You want open golden Hobbit present if not VIP? No problem, 8 mithril coins. Want to revive soon – it’s ok, if you have mithril.

Laila’s market opened in Bree and it would sell dyes (if I understood developers correctly). Somehow -presence of mannequins- I suspect it would be one more “mithril coins only” shop. Since I do not use dyes – I care little about this. Some folks on forum complain about it as complete Lore-breaker.

New content is introduced, some mount Legendary items are updated as well as high-level content. This is something I can’t say a thing, but new content is always good and wellcome.

Forums are alive once again, players are discussing Hobbits’ presents: one part is strongly against spinning wheel, another part thinks free stuff is good at any cost. I wish Turbine made 2 options: 1) get old UI back and 2) sign off Hobbit presents. reason:personally I do not need them at all.

Playing Lotro: NaktiesKarys cursed Foundations of Stone: very hard to navigate, as usual nobody to aid. Map of no use. Quests are doable, not too hard, killed only one time when had to fight some 5 lvl.60 enemies at once…but inability to navigate is bad. Result: do not taking quests from there any more.

Went to do epic quests, received some stuff, some xp and the quests were not very hard, sometimes an annoyance, like “search all nests and in one someday find something you will”. Later found a ‘golden vein’ – Iron Garrison outpost that gives tasks, rewarding with their own tokens. Finish repeatable quest, receive token. And 5 tokens mean “Sturdy iron key” to open lootboxes. I am going to grind there untill I open at least one box to see what was inside.

My toon is still lvl.63 and still in Moria. WIll have to do all the epic quests here and maybe finish some local ones. Then – it would be high time to grind for TPs with my clones. Lothlorien quest pack awaits!

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/lotro-11treachery-of-a-white-hand/

Lord of the rins online

Main news: Lotro is preparing for Update 11. Promising to introduce Hobbits presents, new stuff for VIPs, revised mounted combat and other usefull things. Today game would be on a loooong maintenance.

NaktiesKarys fought in Moria. Quests were going great, there are many of them and experience I received was enough to grow to lvl.63 even when I outlevelled any enemy by 2-3 levels. Received lots of Legendary item experience too.

Quests were very different: to collect goat droppings (Gandalf, if it is your command, I promise I would make you clean every dropping in all Middle Earth without your magic!) and receive reward – Petrified Goat Dropping to lighting alarm fires or fighting huge trolls. I had to hunt spiders, worms, repair Water wheel and even to realise how beautifull is the river outside Moria. I did enjoy these quests. I also enjoyed the fact I am Kindred with all Iron Garrison factions.

To be honest – I do wish to finish every quest in Moria both for experience and fun. Of course, sometimes Moria reminds me our mutual…dislike. Some territories are designed to be very hard in navigation, some are more user-friendly. My Kinship was surprised with me in Moria at the begining…now they are surprised if I leave it.

Now I am questing in Foundations of Stone – big maze full of angry mobs. Legendary quest took me directly to Mirkwood: too early, I suppose, I have some other things to do.

However, I am levelling too fast. I’m level 63 and it is quite good for Lothlorien and Enedwaith – also, normal for Mirkwood. Even if I had that much TPs, I would outgrow any region too soon.  I do need to grind Turbine points (have >200 right now, need at least some 500) and purchase Lothlorien quest pack. No, it won’t pay off, but at least it would offer some fun.

Things are going great for me in Lotro, once again I am addicted to this game and love it.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/great-lotro-preparing-for-update-11/

Lord of the rings online

The day was spent in Moria, 2 of its regions. One region was entirely about Morroval: kill them, destroy their nests, challenge their Queen, slay their slingers, then go and finally kill her Queen + her guards. Action took place in mountains, so it was too easy to take the wrong path (which I did several times).

Second region was Waterfalls, I just got stuck there with unedning quests and rewards. Kill toads, kill spiders, test the water, kill some Globnagas, then their leader, find Water-wheel…It was instant running forwards and backwards. Few times I ran into dangerous situation and hardly managed to escape.

But experience flew like a river. I made it to level 60. My Legendary weapon got fully upgraded – had to go and barter for a new one. It was some kinf of new experience: destroy previous weapon, get xp back and use all xp on a new weapon. Added some tier 2 add-ons to weapon: hope it will serve longer and act way better.

Later I returned to 21st hall just to relax…well, and only to find I had more quests there. Did some of them. Was a bit sad to do quest where one brave and rational Dwarf got killed by Orcs. He was avenged, but who will replace the brave Dwarf?

Overall it was a very positive, immerisng day in Lotro. I managed to do things alone. When in need, I got a kinnie who helped me to kill one big Orc with 13.000 hp. I did not feel lone, abandoned and lost. And the experience – it’s just everywhere, come and take it.

I’m quite happy with the way things are now. Soon, I will have to purchase Lothlorien quest pack (and well, grind, grind grind for TPs…). Things are going well with Lotro.

http://mmoblogg.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/lost-in-quests/