Originally posted by Asteriveth

I think you are confusing hobby with addiction.

To keep within the story, the use of a smoking pipe is important to LOTRO. Making it a skill based hobby is a bit much. I for one don't want my children thinking that the use of tobacco is a fun game to get better at.

But its perfectly ok to run through the woods murdering everything in sight, and then getting rewarded with not only experience, but also cold hard cash.

Gotcha.

Originally posted by Aethaeryn

As someone else said. . smoking is not a hobby.  It is something someone might do while they are enjoying a hobby. . but when people have to leave work for 5 minutes to stand in the rain to smoke or they will "freak out" and not be able to function. . that is not a hobby.

 

Having said all that. . there are inns. . stand in them and smoke.

 

Also given the setting of Middle Earth it makes sense to fish since there are not super markets.  I bet a lot more people did fish in our "world" before there were so many stores.

And what you and some other people dont seem to get, is that there are NO ciggerettes in Lotro.

Smoking =/= ciggerettes, and yes, smoking a pipe can easily be considered a hobby, especially considering the type of smoke available in lotro.

Originally posted by Asteriveth

I think you are confusing hobby with addiction.

To keep within the story, the use of a smoking pipe is important to LOTRO. Making it a skill based hobby is a bit much. I for one don't want my children thinking that the use of tobacco is a fun game to get better at.

Parenting is your job, not the game's.

That being said, I'm not sure there's enough reason to make it a hobby. There are already a variety of pipeweeds that you can smoke in the game that give differnet animations. Adding more onto this would seem redundant, I think. Not to mention, there are some better candidates for hobby status - the tavern revelries idea that was suggesed some time ago in the main forums is a fantastic idea. With the new instance system, something like this would be even easier for them to implement.

Originally posted by Asteriveth

I think you are confusing hobby with addiction.

To keep within the story, the use of a smoking pipe is important to LOTRO. Making it a skill based hobby is a bit much. I for one don't want my children thinking that the use of tobacco is a fun game to get better at.

You could always try, you know, having a mature discussion that will prepare them for life ahead of them, instead of pretending it's an issue that doesn't exist.

That whole parenting gig.

Drugs are ingrained in human society whether people like it or not. Teaching your kids about them takes away the novelty and the discovery aspects of it, which, believe it or not, makes kids less likely to want to use them.

That requires a little effort on the behalf of the parents, though. Can't expect that.

Sure make it a hobby. And add a random chance to perma die with that toon every day ;). Jokes aside I don´t mind that as a hobby. 

I haven't really read through every post and excuse me for that.

But i think smoking would be a cool emote or possibly a temporary buff, possibly something that helps regenerate mana and health?

Yes that may sound odd to some people but have you ever kicked back and smoked a pipe or a hookah? It chills you the hell out. Speaking in turn of hookah I will sit down with a few friends kick back light up a coal (the fire source for the shisha (what you smoke)) and you get very relaxed after a few drags. Pipe tobacco has kinda the same effect, just not as much as the hookah would.

And for you nay-sayers most games on their lable say something along the lines of "use of alcohol" so why doesn't some anti-alcohol start bashing every game for that?

Either way emote or consumable I think it would be a great addition for the role playing feature of this game.

Originally posted by Giraffosaur

Either way emote or consumable I think it would be a great addition for the role playing feature of this game.

It's in there as a consumable, now, it just doesn't have any positive/negative effects.  With the exception of one type which is used to rez fallen players.

there's /smoke, which is a generic smoke with a pipe animation.  The consumables create different shapes and colors with smoke.  a farmer can grow different types of pipeweed, and can even crossbreed certain types.

So in case anybody should misunderstand, smoking is certainly available as an RP option.  It doesn't really need expanding to do alot of the things people are asking for.  LotRO just needs, IMO, to put a little more life into the towns.  More dynamic townsfolk gatherings, etc.

All that said, yes indeedy, LotRO could certainly use more hobbies.  Fishing is cool and all, but the best thing about it is the grand title:  Lord/Lady of Streams.