Four and Seven, untill Thirteen

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

Stormsong was the only active. Hultvis dailies that reset on fourth and seventh day of week (hence the post title…). Yesterday finished one half, today will grind second, receive 9 scrolls. Will log Hunter, finish one part, tomorrow – another, will receive 9 scrolls.

Everyone is preparing Third age LIs, maxing them. It is most likely (99% probability) SSG would act as SSG does and almost equal third age trash to maxed First ager. We are promised to “compensate” rare crafting ingredients, most likely – First age symbols. Would it be autoconversion? Or some barter? Nobody knows. SSG communication, as always, is almost at the bottom.

My future looks bit grumpy. Legendary items would be nerfed and grind would be much, much worse. Current LIs, no doubt, would be superior to new ones. One day, no doubt, we would be forced to lose our LIs and get worse new ones. Gundabad content – I would not be able to run it, unless SSG gives it away for free (100 Lotro points, I guess, is realistic price: 50 for reputation, 50 for deeds). Kinship would be running, I will always stand aside. “Sorry, do not have this qp”.

And so the day has ended. 13th marks a grumpy period for me. Bright side: end of dailies in Hultvis. Dark side: end of quality LIs, cannot participate in content and am too weak for Tier5 challenge instances.

Sambrog, Wildwood

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

Stormsong was the only active. Still doing these worthless missions in Wildwood. Grinding reputation, geting tokens this way.

Managed to help one kinnie with Great Barrow instances. All three in a row. I was efficient, kinnie finished Great Barrow and things were done.

Next week we have Gundabad and now we have what they call “trailer” for Brawler class. Primitive video that folks already call “Dragon ball-Z”. Some little grumpy guy making few punches, then effects like guy uses beam weapons, then guy uses ray shield and stands ahead of allies. Any kid would make better.

And I feel grumpy about Gundabad. Most of people (never expected Lotro players to be that rich, like 10.000 $ a month!) will have it. I will not, most likely – I will never will. Not purchasing for money – sorry, dear devs, you lack any communication, I am not happy with LI nerf you prepared, I am not happy with tens of times bigger grind for LI. And by the time they allow Gundabad for points, it would be essentially irrelevant. So, I would be (thanks to developers) left light years behind, my only option – to invest hundreds of euros into cash shop.
Sorry, not gonna happen. And to think developers had a chance to make Gundabad purchasable by anyone and really worth of it!

Kinship probably won’t be happy, since I would be missing all new content. This I do care about. All “content” of Gundabad – no, I don’t care. Blah blah, let’s retake, blah blah, let’s go underworld, blah-blah let’s talk…It’s all about “yes-yes-next-finish” approach. The only thing that interests me: reach lvl.140 as soon as possible, warg pens or “Blood of Azog” missions – doesn’t matter. Level 140 –> safe travel in Minas Morgul lands –>deeds finished –> LP received.

Everything other in new Lotro content just does not matter.

One week before the loss

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

No, end of the world is not there, Lotro isn’t sailing West. It’s just Legendary items: at October 13th, players won’t be able to reforge any LI. Lucky for me, almost all my toons gathered third age legendary weapons, upgraded to lvl.60 and now just wait.

Stormsong just quested in Wildwood. Finished almost all slayer deeds, especially when dailies demand lots of killing. Even managed to do 10 dailies for each faction. Result – trash items that I trash and barter currency I will not use.

Why do I do this? Just for Lotro points and reputation. Wildwood is such boredom wtihout civilization (no vaults, horse roots, crafting facilities). Quests are pure boredom, rewards are trash.

I will finish Wildwood deeds, will grind reputation and then forget this region for good.

Meanwhile must get few third age LIs for my Minstrel. My days in Lotro are now … just grey.

Wildwood and legendary revamp

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

Legendary revamp is near, news are not good. There is almost no difference between lvl.60 Third age weapons and imbued, fully upgraded lvl.100 First age weapons. Naturally, everyone gathers third agers, dropped by any orc. I even keep some “empty” third age LIs – who knows, maybe would get some new currency. And experienced players confirm: what you get for LI, is not enough to rebuild same weapon. SSG is just spitting at us at will. No respect towards work of players – days, months of work, money invested, time consumed. “Get off, noobs, f** you” – tells us SSG. Naturally, almost all players are grumpy. What we all agree: this game has great lore, this game has [mostly] great community, this game deserves good developers. Not ones who spit on everyone, except whales.

Stormsong and Xantipe grinded scrolls. Now it’s pure madness with this grind…but it will pay off.

Stormsong tried Wildwood, this forest region near Trestlebridge. Well…it is blank region. Woods, mountains, more woods, some mountains. No stable routes. Orcs, brigands, then some evil roots and evil fauna. Absolutely no stories to follow. Absolutely no NPC to get attached to. Absolutely no rewards one could go for. What we do have – two factions, each with their daily quests, so that you grind and grind and grind. The only practical rewards are return to Trestlebridge skill and Return to Traders Wharf skill. Everything else is just “click-yes-ok-kill-finish”, I do not bother to read. And why should I? Blah blah, kill brigands. Blah-blah, go there. LP outcome is extremely low, some 45, while region costs >1000 Lotro points.

Days of grind and grind. Only light in the dark was chatting in /World and aiding one player. Other than that – it is 500 shades of boredom.

In Hultvis we trust

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

It was Hultvis quest reset day, no instances raiding in Kin, so I ran those bi-weeklies. Minstrel was as always, on top. Good dps, sometimes one-shotting monster. Hunter almost always went into melee combat, which is just wrong. However, results are that today I will get those 9 scrolls on each toon. Yeap, Beorning would be closer to quality weapon.

Meanwhile news on Legendary items are not that good. Evenually we would be given chance to exchange LI into some tokens…but not enough to build LI of same quality. Feel free to grind for years or better – visit shop.

SSG causes everyone to feel grumpy. Everyone of us spent lots of time and efforts in building dream LI. Grinded instances, spent gold just to have that perfect. Now we are given a little part of what we have. Not fair, dear SSG.

Good news, they make exchange look at levels, not quality. So, you can exchange lvl.100 non-imbued third age LI and receive almost same amount of stuff as for imbued top-level first age LI.

Miss Propaganda was little active. Cursing Glod-daemons (i.e. gold-spammers) and promising them the worst tortures for neariest thousands years. Some discussions about Lady Lhaereth titles and that’s all.

My days would become counting ones: Thursday and Sunday. 9 scrolls a week on one toon and that’s all. Perhabs would craft some LIs on other toons. And await LI revamp fail that is due in November. Untill then – bit boredom.

Empty days

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

An empty days. Gundabad is overpriced way too much, just like Mordor. I cannot purchase it and when/if it would released for Lotro points, it would be obsolete. Seems like the only solution is to wait for discount, no matter when it comes. Truth to be told, nobody knows if it would happen: official statements are nothing more than propaganda.

/World was so disappointing. Somebody got upset by Stormsong’s talk about Mordor. You know, that great land of freedom and equal opportunities, ruled by loyalty and wisdom and no doubt, known for its Warg-philosophers +book-reading Orc society… I got some angry talks, then went into IM. Well, it wasn’t my intention to upset anybody, never was. I also received some harsh words about overpriced content. Yes, not going to buy because it is overpriced at some 50%. Then I receive “work more”, “you pay more for cinema ticket”. It’s not about cinema, dear friends, it’s about overpricing. If burger is worth 2 dollars and you are asked 22 – and you may afford 22$ – you may ask “is this burger worth 22 $”.

There was also nuo Featured Instance/School runs. Hultvis dailies were on cooldown, so I just wasted one.

Forums report that SSG treats all Legendary items almost equally. There is just a tiny difference between fully-maxed lvl.100 imbued firsdt age LI and lvl.27 non-imbued third age LI. Yet another wrong approach, so typical for SSG.

I feel saddened. Game developers are really bad. Non-whales are treated like trash. Content is heavily overpriced and there is highest delay in mmo history of deploying content for in-game tokens (LP, in this case).

Today I will do all 6 Hultvis runs. Earn my scrolls, even if they won’t matter. Then make a pause untill Sunday. And wait untill next phase of Hultvis bi-weeklies.

Feeling so sad and grumpy in Lotro. Nothing but bad news.

Gunda-bad

Tags

Gundabad, Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

And so, after long wait we have a chance to pre-order Gundabad. Prices resemble Mordor inflated ones: basic pack is some 45 euros, top one – over 150 euros. All you get for basic is region, Brawler and XP tome. Three months of subscription to get…tadammm….XP tome.

I expected (as one kinnie thought) basic price to be around 20 euros. Was willing to pay that. But with typical SSG greed – no, thanks. Of course, we are promised that Gundabad would be for LPs at May 2022, after 6 months of mockery. Why not December 2032? Or February 2042?

To add more ‘spice’, no word on Legendary items’ future. “We will add later”, i.e. probably never.

But of course, whales ruined everything. I saw people who mindlesly purchased top edition. Not that they need some pet or weapon aura – just they have so many money they can spend any sums and won’t notice it. “Thanks” to them we have worsening situation each day.

I felt grumpy. Was ready to purchase, to pay cash – but sorry, SSG asked too much. Then those whales and question how my own Kinship would react to it. Nope, I won’t purchase Gundabad. By May (which year?) it would be obsolete for me.

However, Kinship is really active now, we run Stairs, all tiers, we run Featured Instance (all tiers too) and each run gets me valueable Embers and Anfalas scrolls. At least some relief in these days of darkness and lack of any hope.

Awaiting Gundabad

Tags

Gundabad, Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

So today Standing Stone Games announces pre-order of Gundabad expansion. And maybe what awaits us in another phase of eternal war between Dwarves and Orcs. It’s preorder for those, who may spent cash; for those unwilling – feel free to spend half a year just because you do not have, say, 200 $ to trash.

I feel bit nervous. Legendary item revamp is ahead – and it may mean either quality system…or even worse grind. Their main idea is good: no more “every Orc drops legendary item”, gone is “I grind 10 legendary weapons, deconstruct just to get 2 needed legacies”. This makes more of legendary feeling. 4-tiered runes and 2-tiered capped currency means only word: insanity.

But as wise kinnie said – let us give them, developers, some trust. This day will decide many things.

Meanwhile Stormsong grinded Hultvis dailies. Xantipe grinded too. Result is that Stormsong has maxed legendary weapons, Xantipe has bow fully maxed (sword awaits) and my Beorning has a chance to almost fully max his axe (carving awaits). Other toons are left for mercy/hate of developers.

Another thanks to developers: they are giving quest packs for free. Just use code at store, get stuff. I got two regions – and my Stormsong rushes to Blood of Azog quest pack.

First note: impossible to describe precisely because of Dwarven names. You know, travelling from Bulkhungramzdytugfraghar to Gharthartwertghart via WrathrunKizinhur. There are many quests, slayer deeds almost autocomplete. Many orcs, goblins and wargs to kill (good!). Worse is, Dwarves treat you, hero, as “Outsider”, so first reputation grind is wasted on getting Neutral. Locals also have Missions, but too little of them and they may be really hard even for quality toon. Azog map minus is terrain – sometimes you see road on the map, but there is no road in reality – feel free to travel in circles. However, this does mean I have stuff to do.

Kinship is now actively running Stairs, this week will run Featured Instance. Everyone needs scrolls/crystals. Everyone is guessing what awaits game after Gundabad. We are really thankfull SSG gives away content, which is good to attract new players/wake up those who slept. If only they do not screw things with LI revamp – well, then I may consider purchasing content. As a token of thanks.

Falconers, appretiations

Tags

Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe did some Missions, finished one deed, chose Hero box…only to receive trash rewards. Virtue items (trash), XP tome (trash), reputation tome (trash). I keep them, maybe would ask for power-levelling and be able to use that.

Stormsong did one daily, finished, received 3 more Anfalas scrolls. Level 83, yes, but would be helpfull.

Xantipe was inactive.

Meanwhile had some really good talk on Stormsong. First – about Hobbit Appretiation day in Mordor. How all Mordor hails its citizens- Hobbitses and Sauron makes party, and Orcs go to the Shire to bring presents and even Wargs study Hobbit philosophy.

Then things went a bit another way. Someone asked about Lore behind Falconer’s tower. Of course, it is old Mordor legend. About battles there, how Lord Sauron’s army faced humans and humans were defeated. And only a small group of warriors stood. Many Orcs did they slay while Sauron watched, but eventually all group, led by one Falconer, was killed. And Sauron talked to His troops praising bravery and courage of Falconer. He ordered a tower to be built and Orc guard of honour placed, to commemorate brave and honourable enemy.

And today Hultvis bi-weeklies restart, so I could run all of these, for the sake of 9 scrolls on each toon each two days. Another day, anothe grind…

Legendary grind

Tags

Grind, Lord of the rings online, Lotro

Lord of the rings online

Stormsong and Xantipe were the only ones active. Both did dailies in Hultvis. My Huntress earned 9 scrolls which were quickly invested into last needed legacy. Well, out of 170 scrolls I need…a bit less.

Minstrel (Stormsong) performs better in terms of dps. Xantipe sometimes gets almost killed (!), while Minstrel just nukes. Would have to solve this with kinnies.

Kinship started advertising campaign – and it’s high time for that. Meanwhile irn /World one player asked what video he should record on Youtube. What Miss Propaganda to tell? Of course, famous Mordor (with Her Ladyship Lhaereth the Beautifull, Queen of Middle Earth, Heiress of Sauron, Protector of peace). Since player was of lower level – Evendim with beautiful landscape, then Forochel with aurora borealis, Eregion with night rainbow. And, of course, my favourite Rohan, where beautyfull landscape coexists with approaching war and where there are so many stories. I added that other regions depend on player’s roleplay choice: Hobbit, say, may want to show the beauty of sleepy Shire.

My legendary grind is new reality. Try to max up legacies on Xantipe as much as possible, then use scrolls from the shared storage. Not funny, not interesting, just the way to save sanity when legendary grind would be replaced with worse legendary mega-grind.

Grinding day was over. Period.