LOTRO Goings On

Yep, If Steam isn't available the Mithril Edition is the best bang for your buck. And you only need to sub for a month to unlock traits, swift travel and all the bags. Just make sure you create and log into every toon you think you might ever want to play during that month.

I've recently gotten back in to this game after playing it for a bit awhile back. I really like Turbine games and DDO was fun, but my schedule just did not mesh well with finding groups and that game isn't a heckuva lot of fun to hopeon and solo for a bit before/after work. So I'm back in LOTRO.

I've got a 14 hunter on Landroval, but I started Chabor the elven loremaster this morning because I was in the mood for a caster. I'm liking the class so far, but haven't really done any difficult quests with him either.

Loremasters are awesome, but they kind of suck till about 20+ when they start getting more skills. I finally crested past 20 with mine last night after re rolling her sometime last year and I'm now a bit more stoked to keep playing her. That said, if you need a group for anything, just ask. I'm happy to help-- though I have odd hours because I work when most people are getting home for the day. ^_^

At 45 you can do your epic class quest (even soloable if you don't mind grinding skirmishes for marks); wielding a 2h staff in one hand, a 1h sword in the other, and with an eagle as a pet with a really solid reliable flank, is, to paraphrase Rabbit .... sooooo good.

ShynDarkly wrote:

At 45 you can do your epic class quest (even soloable if you don't mind grinding skirmishes for marks); wielding a 2h staff in one hand, a 1h sword in the other, and with an eagle as a pet with a really solid reliable flank, is, to paraphrase Rabbit .... sooooo good.

Oh man. That's gonna be awesome.

Is Eldain still the kin with the most Goodjers playing in it? Or have you guys moved on to another one?

Tend to join the GWJ channel on Landroval, but never been on when anyone else was, so tend to drift otherways, lone plains style, especially as recently I've been more on the Moors as an Uruk. That said, three kins I can wholeheartedly recommend, Council of the Secret Fire, Servants of the Secret Fire and The Lonely Mountain Band. Council and LMB are very active, LMB a bit more RP and event based than the Council, and run the weekly Ales and Tales events, as well as the annual Weatherstock festival; if you're interested 9-10ish est most mondays you'll find Ales and Tales somewhere or another, pop along and see how you feel. Servants by comparison are potentially a little less active, but are one of, if not the by now, oldest guild on the server and run by a really friendly group of folks.

My Loremaster's been sitting at 25 like a rock and I'd love some help getting her up to at least 30. Around 27 I usually head down to Oatbarton in the southern end of Evendim, which is a long, rough trip but there's a huge cluster of low-30s quests there that require little to no combat and are good for about one and a half additional levels. Make sure to talk to the lady at the foot of the tower in Ost Guruth because she starts a quest line that eventually sends you that way. Every little bit of XP helps.

Yesterday I grinded my way through enough hillmen to get my Champion up to level 45. Headed to the gate of Moria and found another great grinding area: there's a big cave full of lizards that'll threaten to attack but if you keep moving they won't bother you. If they do, they're not hard to pick off one at a time and give decent XP. There are also some other relatively easy quests in the area that grant a large chunk of XP and some pretty incredible weapons, including two that are better than the legendary I got through the quest chain. Of course you can level up the legendary and the next step in the quest chain wants me to get it to level 10, so I'm sure that'll change soon enough.

If you're desperate to squeeze out every last XP, there are new flyers posted around Bree that start a short chain of easy quests that reward you with a selection of premium boost items, including one that gives you 6 hours of +10% from all sources.

LobsterMobster wrote:

If you're desperate to squeeze out every last XP, there are new flyers posted around Bree that start a short chain of easy quests that reward you with a selection of premium boost items, including one that gives you 6 hours of +10% from all sources.

I was wondering what those posters were, but didn't have time to investigate. I figured they were some kind of Wanted Poster, a la Red Dead Redemption.

LobsterMobster wrote:

My Loremaster's been sitting at 25 like a rock and I'd love some help getting her up to at least 30. Around 27 I usually head down to Oatbarton in the southern end of Evendim, which is a long, rough trip but there's a huge cluster of low-30s quests there that require little to no combat and are good for about one and a half additional levels. Make sure to talk to the lady at the foot of the tower in Ost Guruth because she starts a quest line that eventually sends you that way. Every little bit of XP helps.

I have a 22 Warden ATM and have no real experience grouping in this game, feel free to add me, Galdaer.

I have tried the instance finder for Skirmishes, but have not had any matches found so it spits me into one alone with the bonuses. I would try one of the Great Barrow instances, but I have no idea how long they run and I tend to think about trying one when I am a little pressed on time. How long do you think it would take for a first run?

Is it easy to transfer characters to different servers?

Got a goat last night! My second goat, since my 21 Burglar found one buried in a crate during the last treasure hunt. This new goat I purchased for about 5 gold in Moria, with my 46 Champion. It's awful. 100 health, 32% speed increase, very expensive... but it works in Moria, and I guess that's really the key. I also got my second legendary (a class item) and upgraded my legendary mace, "The Golden Thwomper," to 12, so at least the DPS is better than the spear I traded out for it. Which is good, because absolutely nothing else about it is even on par. Guess I'll keep working at it, but I'm going to back off Moria for now and go run quests in Forochel for a while. Truly a beautiful place, particularly at night.

Natus wrote:

Is it easy to transfer characters to different servers?

I don't think that's possible.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Natus wrote:

Is it easy to transfer characters to different servers?

I don't think that's possible.

Quick google says it might be possible...

LobsterMobster wrote:

Got a goat last night!

Nooooo.... Not only do they give that goat to you for free if you complete the first chunk of quests in moria, it still sucks! (IE, same stats) Next time, if you don't mind about a days worth of a bit of mindless XP/Rep grind, Thorin's hall offers a 62% speed 250 morale goat from being Kindred with them. That's how I got my goat for Moria.

Natus wrote:

Is it easy to transfer characters to different servers?

It costs money, and its doable. You will have to search the site for it.

Findaer wrote:

I would try one of the Great Barrow instances, but I have no idea how long they run and I tend to think about trying one when I am a little pressed on time. How long do you think it would take for a first run?

It takes about an hour, minimum on The Maze for the Great Barrow which is the first of 3 instances. Not recommended if you're short on time. That said, toss me on your list and next time you're on, just ask. I'll be happy to run it with you either with my LM who's more at level or on my 55 minstrel. (My chars are in my gwj profile)

Aendiev wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Got a goat last night!

Nooooo.... Not only do they give that goat to you for free if you complete the first chunk of quests in moria, it still sucks! (IE, same stats) Next time, if you don't mind about a days worth of a bit of mindless XP/Rep grind, Thorin's hall offers a 62% speed 250 morale goat from being Kindred with them. That's how I got my goat for Moria.

Well... crap. Oh well, live and learn. Not like I needed that gold for anything else, or that I broke the bank on it.

Aendiev wrote:

It takes about an hour, minimum on The Maze for the Great Barrow which is the first of 3 instances. Not recommended if you're short on time. That said, toss me on your list and next time you're on, just ask. I'll be happy to run it with you either with my LM who's more at level or on my 55 minstrel. (My chars are in my gwj profile)

Thanks, that would not have worked when I was first thinking about trying it. Maybe I am just noob, but I am sure I have seen the gwj profiles somewhere, but I am at a loss for where to go to get the Lotro names and such. All I get is the name I see by everyone's picture, organized by those who play Lotro.

So I tried playing this a while back as a Minstrel, but I was too addicted to LoL to really care and I logged out for a while and came back and they changed all my skills! Rerolled on Landroval as a Warden and loving the crap out of this class and game, though I am not so addicted that I don't play other games (which is good). My only social experiences have been run-ins with other people doing the same area as me and they have been so kind and helpful that it makes me realize how hit or miss a community like LoL can be. Hopefully I can get my tanking ability up enough that I can be useful in fellowships as small group stuff is what I would like to do eventually.

Landroval in particular has a really nice community. You almost never see stupid, non-thematic names and people are generally happy to help. Every now and then a newbie'll hand me a big pile of resources to refine for them, and the fact that they actually trust a stranger not to run off with their stuff speaks to the feel of the server.

Warden's a great class and you can effectively tank if you know what you're doing. In the 20's you'll get some gambits that restore health and increase your defense. Learn them well. I love the look of javelins, too. Wish my Champion could use them, since the bow looks kind of out of place.

I need to re-download this game and get back into it. Now that it's right there, on Steam, in my face, I have no excuse. =P

EDIT: I'm reading through the lotro-wiki now, trying to re-familiarize myself with the classes and such and help figure out a game-plan before I jump in. I'm slowly starting to get the hang of crafting thanks to my time spent in Fallen Earth, so I hope that will help the transition to LOTRO.

I came back to LOTRO this last week to get my MMO fix. Waiting for some others on the horizon and I never got through Moria. Am now level 60 and going through the Epic Vol. II book and man is it a lot of running around. Go here go there now go back here again and then go there again and while you are there kill these things and after you do that, go back and kill those things you just ran by! Argh! Such a MMO!

I don't have any long term plans for LOTRO, I just don't have the time to get into it and do instances or raids. Still if I am playing I need to learn how to use legendary items and reputation and perks/deeds again. There's so much to do!

The running is pretty epic in this one. Very old school MMO design. I gotta say if it wasn't for the lore and setting I would've quit a long time ago. But the interpretation of the ME is pretty cool for LotR fan. Just being able to "go" to places that were hinted at in the books keeps me playing.

Moria's quite impressive but yeah, nothing worse than getting a new quest that takes place in the location you just were.

Well, a few things worse than that but it still sucks.

RichyRambo wrote:

The running is pretty epic in this one. Very old school MMO design. I gotta say if it wasn't for the lore and setting I would've quit a long time ago. But the interpretation of the ME is pretty cool for LotR fan. Just being able to "go" to places that were hinted at in the books keeps me playing.

My thoughts exactly. This is why I'm giving up on Fallen Earth (for now, at least); Tolkien's Middle Earth is such a rich setting, that even a video game representation can make for a perfect environment for nice, long adventures. It's a place where I don't need explosions or huge battles every 30 seconds to be engaged; I can enjoy the quite moments between the action just as much as the action itself. That's why I'm hooked.

It's quite a delight to spend some time in The Shire after you've been hanging out in The Secret World.

Jaedor wrote:

It's quite a delight to spend some time in The Shire after you've been hanging out in The Secret World. :)

I've spent many hours in the fields of Hobbiton, farming (literally).

The Steam Starter kit is half off in the steam summer sale.

Anyone know if the bonus mount and trinket are for all your characters or just one?

All characters, forever, account wide. Its a great way to get started with the game if you're thinking about it.

Aendiev wrote:

All characters, forever, account wide. Its a great way to get started with the game if you're thinking about it.

I almost feel guilty riding my steam horse past level 75 accounts at my low level. So fast!

Aendiev wrote:

All characters, forever, account wide. Its a great way to get started with the game if you're thinking about it.

That it is.

Oh the wife and I played before it was f2p and a little after(she liked it more than I did, or was more willing to put time in. I had l4d2) but I always petered out in the teens. So this would be more of a getting back into it sort of thing.

Giving this another spin until I can rake up the money for Guild Wars 2. Forgot I had a 40 something dwarf on Landroval from a few years back. Starting fresh though and am giving a Loremaster a try to see how it fits.

Is it just me or is there some information overload during combat? All the buffs/debuffs/sounds (there's a weird ding during combat sometimes that I can't tie to anything) is a little much to keep track of.

Datyedyeguy wrote:

Giving this another spin until I can rake up the money for Guild Wars 2. Forgot I had a 40 something dwarf on Landroval from a few years back. Starting fresh though and am giving a Loremaster a try to see how it fits.

Is it just me or is there some information overload during combat? All the buffs/debuffs/sounds (there's a weird ding during combat sometimes that I can't tie to anything) is a little much to keep track of.

I suspect the weird ding is the 'Flank' proc from your pet, which opens up various abilities. Despite the name, the position of you or your pet doesn't matter. There is also a visual cue around the enemy that goes with it