Lord of the rings online

We had our developers’ interview online. Tried to watch – sorry, no info. “Yes, we have been thinking”, “Oh well, could be a possibility”, “Sure, will revamp”. Legendary items are to be revamped (promises!), battle pass – “maybe yes, maybe no”, then some chat about “why to come to Lotro” and PvMP. No realistic info, just “I know, but won’t tell”.

Folks keep saying SSG would revamp Legendary items in September, with Gundabad. And that new system would somehow work with the old one. Could be. Could be not. I do not keep much faith in SSG – they are so eager to promise…and then step back.

Instead, they managed to chat ban one kinnie. His crime was writing “test” in Kinship chat. After some chat with support he was un-gagged with no explanation. Gold scammers keep spamming and too little action taken – legit player gets gagged for “test” word (all he wrote was “test”).

Which leads me to one thought: SSG should deal with existing problems first. Revamps may wait – do make game playable. Hire mode chat moderators. Fix holes that allow gold scammers to post. Reduce lag. And only then go for, say, housing revamp.

Meanwhile Zantipe still greats everyone with “Happy Goblin [method of killing] day”, from hanging to strangling – Beornings do hate Goblins after all. Orc slayer finished, Bandit slayer basic – finished, advanced – already half a way, Beast slayer under way and only Oathbreakers remain…problematic. I also turn in task items to reach Kindred with Dol Amroth as soon as possible.

With Oathbreakers done, I would be free to go to Central Gondor and reach Kindred with Pelargir very soon. Then – once again, finished all deeds I can…and move further.

I am happy with Lotro. Kinship is active, /World has some action – life is nice.

Lord of the rings online

Life is finally offering good news. First, my Kinship is once again active. Running Fall of Khazad Dum most of time. Then, running Stairs tier1 and 2, while we can run Tier2 twice a week.

My Stormsong was more than happy to provide heals (not too effective) and dps. Runs were smooth, everything went as planned. I deconstructed most of loot to get valuable Embers. Yes, we are active again and will be so. Stairs run every day – it’s just nice. Even if I do not need anything from Stairs – it’s all about being friends, being Kinship.

Zantipe has finally settled with equipment. Kinnies were really helpfull in explaining, so now I have few items equipped and most – trashed. Another nice news, I finally know most of my statuses.

And to make things better, Lotro haters’ community announced their forum goes to Void on October. Nobody could survive long with hate only, with curses on all developers, all community managers.

Now, I feel alive in Lotro – again. I can run Stairs on Stormsong. I know what equipment to choose on Zantipe. With better equipment, I am better at grinding on Zantipe.

Oh yes, my vacations start next week, some travels planned, so – bit less time for Lotro, more time for real life.

Lord of the rings online

Well, Western Gondor done, dailies not an option – have to resume grind. Killing Corsairs in their camp untill I had only 40 left…and no patience left. Then, some animals too as long as they are easy to kill and are not Bears. Oathbreakers and Orcs would be a challenge: ghosts appear at night only and Orcs have only one little settlement.

Roving Threats are not an option, even my Minstrel had hard times dealing with them. Melee class would be just slaughtered.

Good news – Kinship prepared some info for my Beorning Legendary items and equipment. Would have some time to read and do what they tell. What I really need is quality equipment: do not care much about LIs, since I have enough crystals and even some Anfalas scrolls. I need right legacies. And more Anfalas scrolls (since LI revamp never gonna happen and grind for it would never stop).

So – grind days are ahead. Not too optimistic, but – “life is life”.

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe tried to rn Dol Amroth dailies and failed: my toon was just slaughtered by group of pirates. Nothing helped. I left, cancelled…and understood I was in the middle of nowhere.

Asked in World chat. One kind player responded and helped me to get rid of some trash equipment. Kinnie asked another kinnie and I saw correct legendary item. One screenshot – and I know what to do. Except that LI is meant for fight in Bear form and I fight in Man form only.

Now, it’s all about jewellery (trash most, use some). Nadhin equipment is of zero value: essences are too weak if compared with quest given armour. Unless you want to concentrate everything into one status. Otherwise essences are just trash.

So, I prepared myself for ignoring guard dailies and since now – grinding slayer deeds. Need to finish what I can (except Tarlags Crown and treasure chests). Must reach Kindred with Dol Amroth, barter Return to Dol Amroth skill. Then, time to leave Western Gondo behind and leave to another part.

Meanwhile developers are feeding us. With propaganda, of course. They are testing LI revamp and it would be better blah blah blah. We all know no improvement on Legendary weapons is going to happen. Either way, it would be a headache, removable by visiting shop. Developers had clear solution: LI advances with combat xp, no Anfalas stuff needed. Want to advance quickier – feel free to get LI runes. Instead of simple solution developes choose something clunky and grindy.

Then, we have “housing update”, full of promises that would see the light “before Gundabad”. Since too little players care about housing – it matters less than developers imagine. Revamp housing totally, make it relevant and see how players rush to your housing.

In short, developers are trying to make us believe them, by making false promises. Guess there are only few who may fell for it.

And so my day of dis-satisfaction has ended. Day has been…so-so in Lotro.

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe, my Goblin-hater, quested in Western Gondor. Skipping quest texts, they do not bother me. Mostly trashing rewards, they are not upgrades of existing equipment. Observing how reputation grows without any extra efforts, like Task boards.

Some deeds autoadvance. Some exploration deeds are finished. Corsair slayer will soon be finished, so many of them in Gondor.

I met Jajax one more time. This time – his revenge on captain Abedec. Get into camp, kill his aids, kill Abedec, report to ruler of Dol Amroth. Also, joined city guard, got some Library tokens…and now can take Dol Amroth dailies. Grind reputation for the sake of grinding reputation.

Equipment becomes headache. I have tens of pieces of armour/jewellery. Statuses differ too much, not sure which to pick, chat is of no help. Received Heavy Nadhin armour, but if I fill it with Tier7 essences, would get worse results than with current non-socketed armour. Wait untill Ithilien essences? Legendary weapon is another headache, too hard to get normal advice on it before imbuing.

But so far I must finsh all doable deeds in W. Gondor. Get Kindred, get “Return to Dol Amroth” skill, maybe barter some Anfalas scrolls. And then, move to remaining uninspiring locations.

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe, my Beorning, finally finished quest line in Morlad surroundings, moved to another region. Running backwards-forwards. Kill brigands, burn their tents, recover NPC’s sachel and letter, then speak to NPC, only to be redirected to Corsair camp. Fighting local, one NPC dies, surviving one seems to have found peace with himself.

Ok, my boring NPCs, time to move on…and then, I meet famous Jajax. At least one story in all Gondor: Jajax the pirate. Yes, the begining of his adventures with only his crew killed by some captain. Now it’s up to me to team up with Jajax and revenge. But not before I earned his trust by killing his men and drinking heavily.

Other quests were boring. Speak with this, run here, kill that. Except of Jajax, nothing interesting.

/World saw some discussions about New Zealand post stams with Lord of the rings. I asked if Beorn the Great was pictured there – “if yes, I’d buy 100 stamps”. No, no Beorn – so no stamps for me. Later we ran into short discussion about Goblins, one player complaining that beornings kill all the goblins. We had some refreshing talk and jokes about that. Sometimes global chat can be really good.

For my Beorning – it’s time for mindless quests. Never bother to read, kill/explore, move next. Attention to our poor friendly Jajax only. Reach Dol Amroth, run dailies, barter armour, finish all deeds I could – and move on, to over-boring Ithilien, Anorien, Wastes.

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe was the only active. Yes, Gondor. Yes, not reading quest text and just killing/exploring. Nothing matters me here. Some NPC does something, sends me to other NPC who says something, then I rally entire 3 Archers, NPC says something, I receive reward (trash) and xp. Ok, time to take another quest same way.

Finished all quests in Morlad area. Had to kill Orcs, then got to deal with Corsairs, fight one evil Dead, confront Azruthor…and then finally go to next area. Yeap, only to witness NPC near cart, see other NPC stabbed and being redirected to kill brigands. Ok, will kill brigands today, retrieve some stuff brigands stole from NPC. I do not care much, it’s boring Gondor after all.

Meanwhile folks talked about incoming Lotr-series. Posted some twitter images and went into lenghty discussions about lore. A pity we do not have other Lotr mmo, only new series.

And so the day has ended. Gondor. Boring Gondor with no stories.

Lord of the rings online

Zantipe, my “I hate Goblins” Beorning continues his questing. Slayer deeds in Westemnet were really boring: herd creatures, wargs, then crabain and boars. Of course, not bears, since I am Beorning and am not to kill my…relatives, eve if they turned to evil.

Boar slayer was quick with 30 minutes slayer deed accelerator. Had to grind some after accelerator expired. Then all realistic slayer deeds were over. I decided to move to Gondor.

Which is quite good. I skip all quest texts, anyway they are boring. I care not about rewards, since all of them are temporal. There are no quest lines to care about. So – all I do is “yes yes next next finish”. Go there. Investigate this. Kill that. All this stuff.

World chat was full of talks. Sometimes we started long, almost-roleplay conversations about lore. How Beornings turn to bear and back, how do they live. Even Mordor and its inhabitants were discussed. There were enough people to talk with and share lore-type thoughts. My Beorning feels really nice to talk about forests (“Your forest is your life”), protecting innocents and fighting Mordor (especially Goblins). This was really refreshing, even if I met some “dark side” followers. And when I asked about equipment, immediately got invite for Pelargir run – just not sure if I am eligible for it now.

World may be so refreshing and with quality talks. Sometimes it is silent. Sometimes player asks anything, only to receive no answers. And when it comes to discussions about lore and game – it becomes really cool and refreshing. Nobody even talks about cooking Hobbits or “Sauron was a good guy” (ehem…dear Stormsong :D).

My adventures in Gondor starts. It would be just killing, exploring, grinding Lotro points, avoiding civil war (i.e. no killing of bears), throwing away almost any equipment. It also would be configuring legendary two-handed axe and some “carving”. It should be relatively quick, all these Gondors.

And so weekend has ended, quite intensive, yet good in Lotro.