Lord of the rings online

Absolutely nothing. Log in, trash Hobbit presents, log off.

Bloxd

My little village is finally finished. 10 houses, so – 20 citizens. 900 blocks of wheat. Nearby there is an Andesite mine, so would have to build some settlement (town?) there. Anyway, there already is a road, yet no name or design decision.

I am lucky to face river, wide enough to support ships (up to 5 blocks wide). Nearby there is huge Elm forest, so probably – chance for a little town.

My civilization expands, even if no granite has been found. I lack some trees as well – but when discovered, trade route excuse would prove anything. All I need now are some visitors to my lobby.

Lord of the rings online

As usually – log in, take Hobbit trash presents, check Regional…

And regional had some players. Then I noticed somebody was talking nearby, so joined discussion. We shared some thoughts, joked about Morgoth, things were starting to get normal…

When one player left, another left…I was left alone. No, they did not show up later.
A pity. I thought to have first normal talk after a long time.

Bloxd

My Diorite city is absolutely finished, every single house and shop, every road and road-sign. Once city was set up, I started creating mines. There is one Imperial with 1 warehouse (and they pay well)…and one belonging to Miners’ Guild, they have 4 warehouses and pay low. Corporate greed, you know. Also, there are two harbours: one for Diorite only and another – for all other commerce.

To support some 200 people, first village is set up with some messages about harvest. There would be (probably) more villages. As well as additional river harbour. Just to support trade routes, should there be any.

I opened my lobby, with all security precautions. Little visitors, but at least some kind souls appeared and enjoyed my builds. Unlucky for me, they were not eager to explore, but maybe explorer-rp types would appear later.

—

And so weekend has ended, almost good in Lotro and Bloxd.

Lord of the rings online

As always, nothing to do, nobody to socialize with. 40 minutes in regional chat with no answer; 40 minutes in LFF seeing nothing. Lotro at its best.

Bloxd

Diorite town builds slowly. I managed to make blueprints, then build some streets with bank and shop. Unfortunately, town was too far to harbour, so no option to place big mining site of diorite.

Luck was on my side – there was a big plot near main town. So I placed mine there, soem side structures and an Imperial decree. Well, the Emperor declared all Diorite was his and it should be sold to Empire only. Exceptions only by Imperial decree. Result – I have mine of diorite which would probably expand deeper.

Main challenge is my city hall. It should be big and nice, serve as center for community. Next challenge is harbour – need to make both mines (Andesite + Diorite) connected to it, place warehouses etc. Remaining structures would be standard houses, 1 shop and 1 market. Too easy for me.

And then I would have to set up supporting villages (citizens need something to eat after all). Maybe – quarries to mine much needed coal and stone.

Only then would my Diorite town be formally finished and maybe lobby officially opened.

Lord of the rings online

Nothing new, nothing to do. Empty as always.

Bloxd

Diorite town, called “Alba” saw its first street completed! Since Andesite is nearby, all houses are from Andesite, streets being paved with Smooth stone. Now to build remaining houses, including always problematic town hall.

So far my cities have no cultural structures, like library, theatre, school, university. I am not sure about separate theatre in Middle Ages, but rest should exist. Just when I tried simple theatre, it turned out to occupy almost 32 x 32 block size. My cities are not that huge. So, solution must be deviced.

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I am secretly (and in vain) waiting for some regions on heavy discount in Lotro. A chance to play and be busy, even if skipping local stories. While in Bloxd, I just need to finish this town…then maybe unlock lobby and see what happens.

Lord of the rings online

Today we will have update. Corsairs of Umbar, various instances; Elderslade missions would be converted to Delvings; some minor changes also. None of it will affect me.

Today I thought about Lotro and that I would like the only promotion – evil Gundabad to be on really significant discount. Would be something safe to do, even if map of little use and surroundings are mostly ‘so-so’.

Bloxd

Entire evening spent in the desert. Levelling up terrain as much as I could. It should have been 87 x 87 blocks, but I expanded a bit. Diorite mines would be close to river – you know, easier to export. To my luck, Andesite is also nearby.

Now it’s all about planning, typically with Excel. Place streets, commerce structures, Town hall, marketplace. Plan building materials. Then – separate planning of harbour. All this require lots of work. Physically building is least concern.

So far I avoid only one thing: religion. One day worship buildings would have to appear. Of course, Gothic church style. These are the last I want to build.

—

Lotro life is none, nothing that could fascinate. Bloxd means lots of carefull realistic planning, but this does fascinate (well, I have no illusions: my lobby would be rarely visited, and visitors would be 5-11 years olds).

Lord of the rings online

We still have developers’ question if we would reccomend Lotro for a friend. Well…mostly – no. As a chance to temporaly play, witness lots of epic things – yes. But then would come grind and grind, unreachable regions and cold, toxic community.

Bloxd

Finally, I paved a way to my future Diorite town. I thought it would be huge, entire 85 x 85 blocks…only it would be really medium size. The only hope is to place mines near harbour, so that town can expand. Yet – absolutely no ideas how to plan my town. I need to place houses, shops, city hall, mines, miners’ houses and make it feel that it is a rich city, thriving on exporting Diorite.

But on my way to Diorite I finished a small fort and some notes about my colonists’ misadventures (poor humans being attacked by some wild animals and forced to defend themselves).

—

Lotro is really stagnant, absolutely nothing happens there. Bloxd means only one thing: carefull planning of a city, then surrounding city with villages, quarries etc.

Lord of the rings online

No action. Log in, take Hobbit reward, throw it away, check Regional (empty), LFF (very little activity), log off.

Bloxd

My building mania continues. Even if I was really stuck. I had mountains that no normal creature would pass with lots of materials. Nor can my boats flow against current where it is too narrow (say, 3 blocks width when boat is typically 5).

I scouted there and here – no solution. Finally, I came to one. Direct road from resort, then build a small village (8 houses, 16 people). Each house has some 120 blocks of wheat seeds (you know, to feed everyone around). Then road took turn and went directly, only to stop at the forest. There it would take another turn and lead directly into Diorite mine.

So far my colonists set up one house with 3 beds and 1 watchtower. Luckily, pines are plentyfull, so they can build whatever they want from pines. In forest they are to march some 400-500 blocks, so would set some camp (“we heard animals howling at night. Road may be dangerous” wrote they).

Diorite town is to be prosperous. Just because I like diorite and it is from diorite I would build my grand imperial castle. So, I need big town with supporting villages and maybe even harbour (to export diorite). Next to it would be andesite town, prosperous (to a lesser degree) too.

—

Real life is still one big problem, I can’t deal with my thoughts and idea you can hate somebody “just because”. In Lotro I am merely a guest, no activity fascinates me. Grind same delvings over and over? No, thanks. Re-run same regions on other toon? Not funny. With no other activity it feels like my bloxd lobby – empty.

But at least I can build my medieval society in Bloxd and populate it.

Lord of the rings online

No activity. Sorry, this game looks pretty empty.

Bloxd

I had little ideas on how to make majestic castle within Middle Ages style and within restricted materials (i.e. based on what my citizens know). So I just flew to oversee what may happen next.
Mountains are too high, nobody would be able to carry tons of equipment. Fortunately, little river was nearby, at it’s end – autumn forest. So it was there that my resort was founded.
Some 10 houses, all build from wood. Big marketplace, mostly selling forest good. City hall of stone, decorated with green clay blocks. Looks quite nice. Autumn forest is declared to be non-touchable, it’s too beautifull.

Question is where my citizens move next. Surroundings are totally non-impressive: just grass and deserts, no new materials. Since resort is on the high hill – bringing resources to it should be hard. So, no ideas, but at least I have cozy little town.

My online life is stagnant. My real life becoming a bit of nightmare with no solution.

I need any fresh idea. Like – something I really missed in Lotro; some fresh resources in Bloxd. Or maybe even alternative to Bloxd. Anything goes, as was told in famous musical.