Torches, lags, philosophy

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

Anniversary festival is there, so it was time for my toons to work. SSG listened to players, adding torches, so we could walk like Bree guards (I pray to all gods that no neo-nazi scum would use these…). There is also deed: use torches 150 times, get instant item. Xantipe, Stormsong started using…

Meanwhile server was lagging heavily. Looks it cannot handle 500-800 players at one time. Especially little areas that are crowded, like Anniversary firework area in Bree. Everything lagged, so it was hard for me to play. Employed Stormsong only, so that she gets cat, mount and as many crystals as possible. Strategy is old: 2 x fireworks (4 tokens), 1 x letters (2 tokens), once in few days – gifts (some 3 tokens). And Stormsong needs hundreds of Anniversary tokens…

Chat also witnessed discussion on philosophy. It started as innocent question – “When is the last day of Curator?”. I told that for our world every day is first and last. Other player joined, soon we were discussing what does word mean. If we call day – night, and night – day, could we say “It was a sunny bright night”? Probably no, since night cannot be sunny. Then it turned to Curator, me asking by whose authority this Curator – curates something?

Discussion on philosophy lasted. Even managed to talk (shortly) to one player who keeps blocking me. Kudos for him to telling about this openly. I did not even try to re-convince him. His choice.

Yet those philosophies were really cool. Refreshing.

This week I do hope to grind festival tokens. Idealistic goal – some 300 tokens, so that I get mount, cat and few crystals.

Weekend has ended, quite refreshing in Lotro.

Burnouts and Hytbolds

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

First, we have new Bilbo adventures – 10 missions for 495 Lotro points. Almost 50 points for one pointless quest – SSG really goes below bottom. How much would be Gundabad if it has, say, only 200 quests? Lucky, they gave store code to get these for free, I used code…probably never to use Bilbo missions. Server had different opinion, crowds gathered near Hobbit.

Zantipe continued to rebuild Hytbold. Even with speeding up reputation (Kindred to 2 factions, Ally to rest) things does not go quick. And there is little opportunity to try something other. Kill orcs to get levels and then run into Virtue cap? No, thanks. Log other toons, run same over-boring dailies to get few scrolls, apply scrolls, return next day? Boring. E ven /World does not need any help with questing.

I thought about other MMO, but heck, tried too many. All the big names: Everquest, Evequest II, Guild wars 2, Final fantasy XIV, Rift, Terra, Secret world legends, SWTOR. Some lesser ones like Runes of Magic and probably Neverwinter (or Archeage?). Age of Conan, where my half-nude Tempest of Set was running. None had the feeling of “well, this is my second home”.

Feeling bit burned out. Maybe Festival would allow to get Zantipe few levels + those valuable crystals…

Name calling

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe…well…ran another set of the same quests in Snowbourn. Defense of Walstow (2 quests), mines with Goblins (2 quests), Stangraf rat killing (1 quest).

And then – our famous /World chat. It all started as innocent talk how one player could name his kids, lore-wise. Discussion quickly evolved into calling children Melkor, Sauron, Ungoliath, Azog Defiler, Grima Wormtongue, Frodo Ninefingered, Lhaereth and so on. /World’s probably best experts joined and we had lots of fun. Poor kids, can’t imagine some Azog Defiler going to visit Ungoliath and have party with Dulgabeth and Black Blade of Lebenin…

Our chat, when it’s not politics/religion and Lore-snowflakes, can be so refreshing, so full of joy and laugh – one could easily forget all real life problems. If only this happened more often…

And so, name-calling day was over, really nice one in Lotro.

Cruel /World and Hytbold

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Lord of the rings online

Zantipe quested, doing easiest quests in Snowbourn. I could finish other ones one day, right now – I must focus on easiest way to get Kindred and rebuild.

Chatted in /World, joking about wise Orcs and that best way to insult Orcs would be calling him “One who does not read books” (on philosophy and law). Everything was good untill one yelled he added me to his ignore list, “along with Stormsong”. Some people just can’t understand sarcasm…

“Oh cruel /World, have I done anything wrong to thee?” – asked I and left.

Meanwhile I am on half way to Kindred with Sutcrofts, with enough tokens to rebuild everything. Now it’s only a matter of reputation which can be grinded.

The day was over, kind of good in Lotro.

Hytbold: Sutcrofts 1/2

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe, the only active toon, started working with Hytbold. Ally reputation with Men of Sutcrofts reached, now working towards Kindred. It’s some 5 days of work (5 quests * 1200 reputation each…6000 reputation a day) untill I reach Kindred.

RIght now everything I could rebuild in Sutcrofts district is done. I logged off yesterday with extra 120 tokens. 5 days later, with few hundred tokens, I would be able to rebuild all Sutcrofts district and star working towards others.

Absolutely no other activity, except some random chat in /World. Sometimes feeling too tired…and awaiting Anniversary. Then, my few toons (Stormsong, Xantipe, Zantipe…) would have to grind every crystal they could.

Cows and Thanes

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

My adventuring on Zantipe the Beorning goes almost perfect. I quest in Rohan, I read every text. Witnessed Meduseld, how grumpy it became under Grima the Evil. The only light of hope – Eowyn, this brave Shield maiden of Rohan. Of course, a bit comic Minstrel, Gleowyne, who just got drunk after being expelled. He’s a minstrel, all he can do is sing songs, and now his songs are no more needed.

Quests brought me to Walstow, to prepare its defenses against Orcs, then back to Snowbourn, this majestic city…only to witness stubborn ruler unwilling to evacuate. Yes, Snowbourn has good walls and even some defenders that could slaughter many Orcs…yet sometimes trade space for time is the only option. Fortresses may be rebuilt, men can be mobilized. But you can’t mobilize corpses of those, who died with such bravery.

And then…and then either Wildermore or Fangorn. I chose neither. Fangorn is uninteresting. Wildermore – it’s still too early for it. I decided to go to Hytbold. My favourite Sutcrofts district needs to be rebuilt, so started working on reputation with Sutcrofts. Invested into stable rebuild, then some fences – only to be able to get one piece of Beorning armor.

Rest was up to Stormsong: teleport to Snowbourn, ride to Hytbold, barter remaining Beorning armour, transfer it to Zantipe.

And with this armour was I able to run one hard quest – defense of Snowbourn. Lots of Orcs, then one man of Mordor with his terrible attacks, these almsot one shot me. From third attempt – finished. Now it is Hytbold alone that interests me. Hytbold and getting more levels.

World chat – well, still can’t forget this Mad Cowbell Cow, then some other jokes. From time to time /World can be really refreshing (when it’s not into politics or religion).

Side note: awaiting Anniversary festival. Stormsong, Xantipe need those Anfalas crystals, Zantipe needs xp and Anfalas crystals. So, much job ahead.

Story time

Tags

Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe swiftly ran through epics. Up to Rohan it could be “yes yes next next finish”. What was interesting – Nona and Horn story. Same history, absolutely different approach.

And then – my favourite Rohan. A region where I do read quest texts. And my beloved quests where I have to choose. First one – assasination mystery. Three suspects, each has motifs and some kind of innocence. I was to jail one, even though nobody had realistic motifs. Finally chose guard who had so conveniently “lost” his weapon…one that was used to kill local herbalist. And then it was easier one, a couple romance story. Girl, her beloved and then her father who forbids their love, because girl’s fiancee is a simple peasant. No doubt, I lied to father about his daughter meeting wealthy rider from Edoras and leaving here. Love first, superstitions – second. Then we have guards (one who likes to guard Reeve and one who is rumpy because of combat) and sense defense of Helms Deep approaching.

I do like Rohan. There are so many interesting stories, it is there and in Wildermore that we follow Horn and Nona, it is there we see the shadow of Grima. Other regions do not have this level of immersion where you do care.

Right now – questing in Cliving, then would have to help other towns, all the time grinding reputation and deeds. Yes, will need all reputation at Hytbold to rebuild it as swiftly as possible.

Kinship asked how do I feel about Beorning. Feeling good, it’s quality class, yet have to master Bear form.

And so, my adventures in green Rohan with these great stories continues. Feeling really happy there.

Dunland, finally

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

Finally, Narmeleth-Amarthiel is done, rewards received (and trashed). Some quests in Dunland and then…

Then captivity in Isengard. Just wonderfull how Saruman the unwise lets his prisoners run with armour and weapons and kill his own Uruks. Of course, this famous “Kill 10 rats” quest…

Isengard captivity ended, I escaped at the cost of Acca’s life. Falcon clan (almost) dealt with. And then – ill fated Theodred’s attack on Isengard. Very unwise attack, yet it happened, prince was dead. My ex-boss Morflack was met on the battlefield, yet he escaped.

I am skipping some Nan Curunir landscape quests. Sorry, right now I am not interested in them, must follow Epic quest line. And yes, so far – skipping Epic, vol. 2. Completely uninteresting, especially with all this forced fellowship content.

Side note:Wildwood region gets positive feedback from players. Those who quest emphasise that we finally have some normal region – no snow/mountains (Forochel, Misty mountains), no ugly landscape (Angmar). Well, Moria is not for everyone’s taste, I really disliked it.

And so, my questing continues, getting closer to Kindred with Theodred’s riders – life is good once again in Lotro.

Volume 1…

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Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe, my grumpy Beorning, continued running Volume I quests. Boring, texts – never read, rewards thrown away. Go there, ride here, oh what a luck – travel over there, return and repeat. Preparing to travel, so please viti Hobbit for honey (Michel Delving), then somke Dwarf for moulds (Thorins hall), then to Angmar to finish one almost instance, then return to quets givers, ride to Rivendell…

Boring. Really, really boring. Lucky me, today finished almost all Vol.1, book 15 quests. Narmeleth became Amarthiel, Mordirith and Mordrambor are dealth with, could finish it…

…And run into forced fellowship Volume II books. About Fortress of Nazgul. I just have to wait untill Epic brings me to Rohan so that I could resume normal, non-boring quests.

/World chat is sometimes interesting with its jokes about Lore. Or it may be pretty lame with senseless trolling “writer X was a racist” (of course, without proof, who needs proof? I dislike X, so X is rasist).

Today we have update that makes new instances harder. Another unwise move from SSG. yet, who expects anything wise from them?

Beornings, ices, grinds

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Forochel, Lord of the rings online

Lord of the rings online

I am really sorry for abandoning this blog. Well, Stormsong was grinding scrolls, untill it became a total boredom. Something I have to do because I have to do. Increase power of weapon just to increase power of weapon, get tokens just because cannot trash them all (Gabillaka, I mean you!).

Kinship, as always, was wise: run other toon. And yeah, it was my Beorning. And my beloved green Rohan. Many quests done, texts read…untill it became clear I miss epic.

Oh dear, resume this boring grumpy Volume I that sends you to Angmar, then partially Trollshaws and North Downs. Same boring landscape, uninspiring quests. Lucky me, epic brought me to Forochel.

And there it began. I listened to locals. Killed every single monster I met. Used all reputation items, turned in task items. Today, after some time of grind, I have done all normal deeds in Forochel. “Normal” – excluding Roving threats and treasures. Epic has me to return to Rivendell, then witness Narmeleth’s transformation and her demise.

My path is clear: follow boring Epic (“yes-yes-next-ok-finish-trash reward-repeat”) up to Rohan. In Rohan, I would fell free and alive again.

World chat saw me ranting about Sauron, Wargs-philosophers and even Nazguls in service of Bree mayor. /World can be so refreshing sometimes…untill some weirdo runs into discussions on races, colours, elections…

My days in real life are grumpy (un-needed quarantine that does not protect and eventually does not work, since it cannot work). Yet my days in Lotro are good – I am kind of busy one.

And my blog returns to life…