LOTRO Goings On

That's a pretty slick price. Worth it for the TP alone.

LobsterMobster wrote:

That's a pretty slick price. Worth it for the TP alone.

Just bounced one to my sister-in-law who'd been a basic free player and had pretty much exhausted Lone Lands; made her day.

Yeah, I'm gonna grab that one for the TP and if I last long enough to use the quest packs all the better.

So hoping to hit the Great Barrow with my group of *very* casual first time mmo players any suggestions as to what level we should all be at? Is 20 too low?

Most of the GB runs I see are around 25+, sometimes with one higher level character as an anchor. A group of 20s is fine for most of it but some of the bosses might be hard to manage.

Your group could always take advantage of the 100% XP boost through the 30th to level up a little first, and if you're doing this on Landroval I could come help out.

If its Landroval and you run into problems Richy, also feel free to scream at Icaria or Bladebryt if either are online; higher level loremaster and burglar respectively who are no strangers to providing crowd control in GB.

Thanks for the offers, we'll see how it goes in the next week or so!

LobsterMobster wrote:

That's a pretty slick price. Worth it for the TP alone.

I'm really a n00b to LotRO and have a lvl 20 (I think) Minstrel humming to himself somewhere. First, is there an online guide of sorts that you all would suggest perusing, and second, would the Mithril Edition benefit an on-again, off-again, here today, gone tomorrow player like myself?

Thanks!

One of the big things the Mithril edition has (in addition to the TP, which you can spend on things from the cash shop, everything from quest packs, cosmetics through potions etc) is a set of quest packs called Path of the Fellowship, which will unlock all the quests in the zones that were traveled through by the Fellowship in the books, and effectively give you a bunch of zones and quests that could keep you busy until level 65 or so. You can buy those zones a la carte as you progress anyway, but they'd cost you considerably more than the Mithril download.

For a lot more information, and far wiser words than I can provide I'd recommend visiting the Middle Earth Network and the wonderful Casual Stroll to Mordor which features many guides and links to other veritable treasure houses full of information.

EDIT: Link to CSTM's thoughts on the Gamestop deal

ShynDarkly, thank you so much! I'm very tempted by this deal. Odd that I have the LotRO urge when I just re-subbed to WoW again (or is it..?) Could also be that awesome War of the Rings game I just lost. In any case, thanks!

Shyn covered it. Mithril Edition is probably the best package out there if you're interested in getting into LOTRO but aren't sure you want to invest a lot of money yet.

Yep, agree with the others. At one point I added up all the real money value of the Mithril Edition and it was about $80 US.

And...bought! Thanks for the input. So...what is the best use for Turbine points, may I ask? I really have no idea what to purchase, as a casual player.

Natus wrote:

And...bought! Thanks for the input. So...what is the best use for Turbine points, may I ask? I really have no idea what to purchase, as a casual player.

You can save them up until something strikes your fancy, but here are the highlights:

- Riding skill (95 TP per character)
- Extra shared storage (including wardrobe storage if you like, which lets you store items to equip cosmetically).
- Wallet upgrade, which allows you to store faction and festival currency in your wallet instead of an inventory space, and is account-wide.
- Take a look at extra inventory bags. You get a total of 5 on any character made while you have an active VIP subscription, which are permanent, but if you don't plan on ever subscribing they're worth the investment.

Stuff NOT to get:

- Mounts, which are overpriced and no better than mounts you can get for free during festivals.
- The first two racial dance emotes (/dance_elf, /dance_elf2, /dance_dwarf, /dance_dwarf2, etc.), which you can learn for free during most festivals.

Come to think of it, it's generally wise to look up anything not marked "store exclusive" before buying it. They sell a ton of stuff for points that you can get by other methods, of varying difficulty. I'd recommend you swing by one of the skirmish camps (they show up as clusters of blue markers near major towns on your minimap) and see what's on offer there.

LobsterMobster wrote:

- Riding skill (95 TP per character)
- Take a look at extra inventory bags. You get a total of 5 on any character made while you have an active VIP subscription, which are permanent, but if you don't plan on ever subscribing they're worth the investment.

Agree on everything Lobster mentions, although in the case of the two above, if you subscribe for 1 month and then cancel before they take for the next month, any characters you create (and I think any existing characters you log into) you get the 5 bags and keep them post subscribing, and if you can get to level 20, there's a VIP quest to avoid having to pay for riding skill (but does mean no personal horse riding til 20). I think it also removes (it definitely increases the cap) the cap on the amount of gold you may possess at any one time.

Well if you get the Mithril edition it comes with a horse so the riding skill is the No.1 purchase IMHO. It makes the time in game much less tedious when trucking around. I went for pretty much picked up everything else the guys here recommended as well.

I'm really enjoying just being a lore tourist, made it to Weathertop last night! Whose runes are on that stone I wonder? Whose abandoned campsite is this? Fun stuff.

Shyn wrote:

if you can get to level 20, there's a VIP quest to avoid having to pay for riding skill (but does mean no personal horse riding til 20). I think it also removes (it definitely increases the cap) the cap on the amount of gold you may possess at any one time.

The skill you get at level 20 seems to be slightly different than the "riding" skill, and is more limited. That may have been a glitch or something but with my characters I could ride whatever mounts they'd already gained but couldn't gain any more mounts until I bought the skill (while premium).

But yes, increasing/removing your gold cap is an excellent use of points. It's surprisingly easy to make gold if you have patience and know what to do.

Spoiler:

It is remarkable how much tier 1 farming produce will net on the auction house. Yellow Onions and Mushrooms usually go for around 100s-150s per stack of 100, but if you can post during a shortage you can get 200s to 300s. I once sold a stack of 100 mushrooms for 500s.

Mounts, which are overpriced and no better than mounts you can get for free during festivals.

The one exception is that they sometimes offer horses which are +68% speed (+62% is the normal, less for the early mount) and 250 hp (200 is usual, I think).

Here's a question... Lotro is 5 years old now, D&D Online is even older. What projects are they working on for the next gen game? Have they said anything?

Robear wrote:

Here's a question... Lotro is 5 years old now, D&D Online is even older. What projects are they working on for the next gen game? Have they said anything?

Asheron's Call 3!

absurddoctor wrote:
Robear wrote:

Here's a question... Lotro is 5 years old now, D&D Online is even older. What projects are they working on for the next gen game? Have they said anything?

Asheron's Call 3!

I would actually like to see this but I doubt it'll happen

Hey Richie, drop me a line on PM if you want. I'm looking for a reason to get back into the game. If you need a decent ranger I'm your man. Just finished Weathertop about 6 months ago and put it down for a bit. I'm right in line and ready to help you out, if you're on Landroval that is.

That Mithril Edition looks good, but I'm not sure I'll play that far unless I can get a regular group going. Please help enable me.

Edit: Too late. I just enabled myself with the ole' credit card.

TheWanderer wrote:

Hey Richie, drop me a line on PM if you want. I'm looking for a reason to get back into the game. If you need a decent ranger I'm your man. Just finished Weathertop about 6 months ago and put it down for a bit. I'm right in line and ready to help you out, if you're on Landroval that is.

That Mithril Edition looks good, but I'm not sure I'll play that far unless I can get a regular group going. Please help enable me.

I'll have to look you guys up, too, though I think my Minstrel is stranded on a non-GWJ server.

What classes are most in request in LotRO? For WoW, healers and tanks are always in demand. Same here?

TheWanderer wrote:

Edit: Too late. I just enabled myself with the ole' credit card.

That's how it happens. However, I stopped myself from the Diablo3/WoW-for-a-year purchase from Blizzard, so I think I came out ahead. I think.

Robear wrote:
Mounts, which are overpriced and no better than mounts you can get for free during festivals.

The one exception is that they sometimes offer horses which are +68% speed (+62% is the normal, less for the early mount) and 250 hp (200 is usual, I think).

I should probably clarify that. No better than some of the mounts you can get for free during festivals. Right now you can get a horse for 2 horse tokens, 40 anniversary tokens and 1 deed of ownership (which you can buy for a few hundred silver) that has the +68% speed and 250 hp. Also it shoots fireworks out of its butt while you ride it. The mounts you find in the envelopes around Bree are just as good, sans the uh... explosive diarrhea?

Natus wrote:

What classes are most in request in LotRO? For WoW, healers and tanks are always in demand. Same here?

Minstrels are the traditional healers and are always high in demand. Rune-Keepers can be specced for healing and are remarkably good at it, but they're new and scary and require discipline (if a Rune-Keeper gets bored they might start tossing out offensive spells, which will temporarily kneecap their healing potential).

Lore-Masters can make friends pretty easily because they can toss out debuffs and stuns and can remove some status ailments.

Burglars are surprisingly popular as they can initiate fellowship maneuvers and can do a lot of damage as long as they have someone else drawing threat.

If you want to tank, go Guardian or Warden. Warden's very flexible but a LOT more complicated due to the Gambit system.

If you want to deal damage, try a Champion or offensive Rune-Keeper. Rune-Keepers can probably deal damage more quickly but are much more fragile. On the other hand, a Rune-Keeper can switch to a healing role on the fly and can revive other characters.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I should probably clarify that. No better than some of the mounts you can get for free during festivals. Right now you can get a horse for 2 horse tokens, 40 anniversary tokens and 1 deed of ownership (which you can buy for a few hundred silver) that has the +68% speed and 250 hp. Also it shoots fireworks out of its butt while you ride it. The mounts you find in the envelopes around Bree are just as good, sans the uh... explosive diarrhea?

Unfortunately the Firework Laden Steed is only +62% and 200hp and it'll set you back 500 silver for the deed. (Can you tell I just bought one? I thought is was gonna be 68%, but I couldn't resist fireworks randomly shooting as you ride). So if you want the the +68% boost, the Lossoth Steed from the Invitation collection daily is the way to go.

Be warned, it feels like they cranked down the RNG on it dropping with the anniversary extension.

Natus wrote:

What classes are most in request in LotRO? For WoW, healers and tanks are always in demand. Same here?

Pretty much, especially since the instance (aka dungeon) finder tends to enforce the holy trinity, and, cue gross generalization, the DPS classes (champion, hunter) tend to level faster in LotRO than the others. Things I see in demand, minstrels and rune keepers (the two healing classes) and guardians (plate tank). I've never had much problem getting groups as a warden on another server (although its a class that's not available in F2P unless you buy it separately), so I think tanks are still very much in demand.

There's been a hefty uptake in minstrels of late, as after their revamp, their dps is pretty impressive, although when they are in dps mode (warspeech) they are limited to self heals.

And now that I have them, how do I get into these "quest packs"? Is there something I have to trigger in the main Epic questline that is part of free to play, or just check a guide as to the recommended level, head to the appropriate zone, and then start to ask around?

You will just have access to the quests in the pack when you get to the appropriate zone. If you didn't have the pack you'd see a ring with a Turbine symbol indicating that you can purchase a pack that includes the quest at the store.

Ex of locked quest:

IMAGE(http://casualstrolltomordor.com/files/2010/07/ScreenShot000001.jpg)

RichyRambo wrote:

Unfortunately the Firework Laden Steed is only +62% and 200hp and it'll set you back 500 silver for the deed. (Can you tell I just bought one? I thought is was gonna be 68%, but I couldn't resist fireworks randomly shooting as you ride).

My mistake. But yeah, fireworks.

Robear wrote:

Here's a question... Lotro is 5 years old now, D&D Online is even older. What projects are they working on for the next gen game? Have they said anything?

Rumors were, a Harry Potter MMO for quite a few years now, given Warner Brothers corporate synergy... but I haven't heard anything lately.

When do the anniversary festivities stop?