Category Archives: experience

Some more videos before ROI

There’s going to be a new expansion for LOTRO on September 27th called Rise of Isengard. You can read more about it here. I already pre-ordered it and will be leveling all my characters up to 75 when it comes out. Not sure what other plans I have after I do that. I loved making my burglar videos starting level 40 in the Ettenmoors. I might do the same with this expansion. Going out at 65 when all the creeps are at 75 might be interesting again for me.

So before the expansion comes out I am finishing up all my videos I made. Check my previous post with all the links to my previous videos. I have uploaded 3 more videos after that post. I’m still working on 2 other videos which will show me getting Rank 9. It took a long time and I did it outside of a raid or group. I didn’t get into many 1v1’s because I liked going after the gankers at the rez circle. There were a lot more action at the rez circle these past months for some reason. I ranked a lot faster because of that.

I played mostly with bad gear but still found a lot of fun. I wasn’t the best at 1v1 but willing to try my best. I loved being able to help others when they were being ganked. I also had fun trying to help out small groups or raids when I can. I have 2 more videos I’ll be posting in a few days showing me getting rank 8 and 9. I probably won’t be pushing hard for rank 10. I’m going to relax and have fun. Lot of players are way too serious sometimes and I can get so many to run after me leaving their friends to die. I just laugh about it and I’m sure they are happy to kill me.

 

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My lotro videos and intro

My lotro videos and intro

Hello everyone! I thought I should write something on here especially because I am making some lotro videos I would like to share. I’ve been playing this game ever since it came out. I played in the open beta. I liked playing on creep side for years. I play a spider. I got it to rank 10 but stopped due to rl issues and bad changes in the game for pvmp. I am a very casual player. None of my characters have any gear from mirkwood instances. I haven’t even stepped into one of those group instances. Not because I can’t but because I have other stuff I like doing.

I do bring out my characters in the moors sometimes. Getting better gear will help out so it is something I will need to do in the future. I am having fun with my warden. I feel very comfortable playing solo or in groups with him. My hunter is mainly a group or raid player. I can’t solo with him yet if ever. My minstrel is also a group or raid player. I also bring out my lower level burglar in his 40’s to the moors to have some fun. This is where I am starting to create videos of his adventure in the moors. So if anyone want to check them out here are the links to the first 2 videos.

 
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Posted by on April 19, 2010 in experience, videos

 

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My Adventure in Lotro

My Adventure in Lotro
Lot of changes and updates to LOTRO after all these years

It’s been a very long time since I wrote about LOTRO. I thought I should update on my adventure in this virtual game. Recently the game came out with the first paid expansion called Moria. It brought 10 more new character levels and a huge area to explore in Moria. This post isn’t going to be a review of this expansion or the following update, book 7. I want to write about my experience in this game and how it relates to real life.

I started in this game playing with my best friend. We played and supported each other for a whole year. I enjoyed the PVP side of this game a lot more then the PVE side. Since Moria came out things have changed in friendships and groups. I have joined two Kinships since my last post and both have had some great moments and some drama. Recently some of my new friends I made in the game have decided to leave the game or leave the kinship I’m in. This new update, Book 7, has brought changes in the PVP side that doesn’t match my style of play too. I found myself not logging in as much due to these changes and missing my friend and the new friends I had.

I still play LOTRO but not as much as I did before

With all these new changes I am going to take a break from the game and try to work on my business, life and new friends. I already lost my best friend to this game which I really feel bad about. I never knew a virtual game could make people so emotional and change lives so fast. Maybe I’ll have some time to make a real review about the new updates to this game. I still really feel this game is good and the updates have made some things a lot better.

 
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Posted by on March 22, 2009 in drama, experience

 

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LOTRO, Real Life Changes

LOTRO, Real Life Changes

I used to play a game called Lord of the rings online every day. My friend and I would play together and share stuff in the game with each other for almost a whole year. I really got hooked with the PVP, Player vs Player, where I can play a spider and fight other people. That has changed with the last update. It made the creep side a bit too easy and the freep side is struggling now. Not much fun when there are no fights. Maybe in the future it will get better but I’m taking a break from it.

The PVE side of this game doesn’t give me much hope too. The kinship I am in lost some good friends I had so all I do is log in for the raids so I can help out. I already lost a great friendship to this game and I’ve lost some of my new friends as well. The Kinship I am in just isn’t the same without those people I got to know these past months. I never would believe a virtual game can be so emotional and make things so difficult in real life. A break from it will be good and lot of other people have decided to do the same. I bought a lifetime membership to the game so I’ll be back just hope everything gets better.

 
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Posted by on March 22, 2009 in drama, experience

 

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Revisiting Lord Of The Rings Online Part 2

Revisiting Lord Of The Rings Online Part 2

This is a continued post about the updates to Lord Of The Rings Online since today. Click here for Part 1.

On August 20th, 2007 the second free content update was added called “The City Of The Kings” which features book 10. Watch the trailer here.

The book 10 quests start in Evendim and occurs mainly in Annuminas. I haven’t started on this book but the quests look challenging and interesting. Annuminas has plenty of hard enemies and instances for the higher level players. Other quests have been added throughout the world for all levels. This new update also changed the user interface. Players can resize the controls and icons to fit better on their screens. Some of the classes got more skills like the captain and hunter. This update seems like it gave some needed stuff for the higher levels but not enough to satisfy some.

Players can now play as a chicken in a separate session. You have different quests to do and you can gain a new cape and some destiny points. As a chicken you can walk among the other players but you can’t attack or talk to them. A chicken starts at level 1 and can not gain any experience. This is actually a fun little side part of the game and I hope they expand on this idea for the future. Trying to run in places where wolves and bears try to kill you is hard! At least a chicken can evade and run really fast to get away.

You can play a chicken in LOTRO now

Reputations have now been added to the game which allow players to gain some nice rewards. A player can do quests for a particular group to gain points. These points will gain favors and rewards which can be bought or traded. The amount of stuff you need to collect is a lot and becomes a big grind to get more reputation. I find the hobbit reputation the hardest due to very rare drops. More vault space for your items have now been added for a price at certain levels. This was a needed addition but they still need to add more bag space either from crafting or buying them. With all these quests, players need more space to hold items.

Crafting has also been updated with jewelers making earrings and bracelets. I hear that jewelers are making lot of money from these new recipes by selling stuff at the auctions. Scholars can now track their resources which was was very much needed. So this update gave some nice stuff for crafting including plenty of new recipes to find.

Monster play had plenty of changes implemented. All the keeps can now have defenses like boiling oil. This could have been a great idea but in my experience it isn’t working as it should. It kills too many people all at once when it should at least slow the attackers down. The creeps had some of their damage increased and health increased. It actually makes ranked creeps a bit better at fighting freeps. The biggest change is that they allowed players to play as a troll and a ranger. Now this could have been great for some great battles but the trolls seem like they are just too powerful. The trolls have massive AOE attacks which scatter the players. The rangers on the freep side can stealth and kill creeps with one shot. The rangers can be handled if they have no backup. The trolls can be taken down easily with a really good group of players. Before this patch the freeps could easily take the map when they wanted to. Now they can only take keeps with good tactics and less creeps around. This patch needs to be fixed so it becomes a bit more balanced for monster play.

LOTRO gets some new session play characters

In my opinion this update introduced more bugs and less needed content. Some of these bugs were awful and easily should have been seen on the test server. Having a whole building disappear with lower graphics on is one example. The game is still fun and the higher levels have some new content but I am hearing that they are getting bored. I have paced myself and don’t have plans of getting to level 50 any time soon. So for me this game is still entertaining enough for me to continue playing. The next update might happen in October or november. I’m hoping they will add more quests for us solo players and better stuff for the players at level 50. They better fix monster play or this part of the game might not entertain players anymore. I give this update a 6 out of 10. The bugs and poor planning with pvp really brought me down. The next update looks promising with player housing! Fun Fun!

 
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Posted by on September 4, 2007 in experience, new content, review

 

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Revisiting Lord Of The Rings Online Part 1

Revisiting Lord Of The Rings Online Part 1

I’ve been playing Lord Of The Rings these past months and got my main minstrel up to level 44. I have another minstrel at level 42 which I don’t play anymore and a captain close to level 30. I’ve been playing mostly in monster play on the monster (creep) side as a weaver (spider). The creeps fight against the free peoples (freeps) who can only come out in the ettenmoors after level 40. I thought it was a good time to report on the updates and playability of this game.

On June 13th, 2007 the first free content update was added called “Shores of Evendim” which features book 9. The books are epic quests which roughly follow the main story from LOTR. Watch the trailer here.

Lotro has a new area called Evendim

Evendim map was opened up above the shire with new monsters and quests to be done. Some of these quests are hard and you need to be over level 30. The salamanders are a fun enemy to fight against because they can blow fire. The deer in this area can attack as well so be careful! The worst part of this area is the huge lake which takes up a big part of the map. Fastest way to get across it is to swim very slowly. They really should add a boat or something to get across this lake. Also this update brought in a very hard quest called “Thief-taker’s Bane” which really needs more than 1 minstrel. Most of the players who finish this quest really hate it but It’s a good challenging quest compared to some others. This is a fun addition especially for the level 30 to 40 people looking for solo quests.

Each class can now get unique epic armour from drops and the first 24 person raid was introduced in the Misty mountains called Helegrod. I Am not high enough to try this raid but I’ve heard it can be rough. Some have complained about the lack of epic drops in other areas outside of raids. I don’t know if I will try a raid when I get my character to level 50. I only raid in monster play right now.

There was some much needed changes to the crafting professions too. Farming is now more profitable and is needed for the cooks. Before this patch cooks would be able to buy all ingredients from npc’s instead of regular players at the auctions. Now this has changed for the good. Farming is now profitable and cooking is not as easy as it was.

The music system in the game got better with two additional instruments. A drum and bass can be bought to play music. They also added a way to play abc notation from a file. This brought in some fun for regular players who couldn’t play as well as others.

My spider in Lord of the Rings Online

Monster play had some changes happen on the creep side and some incentives for the freep side. A major change was to the spider who now can spit poison making it a range attacker. I actually created a spider of my own around this time and have been playing one ever since. I am now rank 5 on Elendilmir server and rank 4 on Firefoot server. Ranking a monster player can only be done by killing freeps.

My personal opinion of this update was that is was needed for more solo quests but it brought in some bad bugs which needed to be fixed. I still haven’t finished the book 9 quests yet so still need to do more with this update. This update also brought some new enemies to kill for level 40+ players which is desperately needed for this game. I give this update a 8 out of 10. I liked it and was entertained for a few weeks and I still have stuff to do in this area.

 
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Posted by on August 31, 2007 in experience, new content, review

 

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Riding My Very Own Pony In Lord Of The Rings Online

Riding My Very Own Pony In Lord Of The Rings Online

I have a pony now for my minstrel in LOTRO

I just reached my first and second goal in Lord of the Rings Online. My first goal was to reach level 35 so I can buy a pony. Elves and men can buy horses but dwarves and hobbits can only buy a pony. There are 4 type of styles available: Bay pony, Blonde Sorrel Pony, Bloodbay Pony and the Chestnut Pony. I bought the Bloodbay pony for 4 gold and 220 silver but I thought the color would be black but it’s brownish color. The picture icon is the only one that looks black but it’s not. I’ve read in the forums about other people thinking it would be black so I think it should be fixed by giving us a black pony or changing the icon’s color.

Some of the ponies I can buy in Lord of the Rings Online

I love the fact I can ride around anywhere and go faster than running. Also I get through some mobs I wouldn’t even try to outrun. If a person gets hit too much on a horse then they will fall off. I have found out that using the regular horses from the stable master is a bit faster than your own horse. But the big advantage is that I can get into areas where a stable master horse can not go. The pony is well worth the money and I only had to grind a bit to make enough money. I already had 3 gold and some silver when I reached level 35 just from doing most of the quests solo.

Johnson has his first pony in LOTROMy minstrel is now at level 35 with a new pony

I have been playing this game with this character for a month a couple hours a day. I do most of the quests solo and a few of the group quests I found I could do by myself without looking for others to play with. The new content coming out on June 13th will have a lot more solo quests with a brand new area. In fact right now they have opened a new preview server, Roheryn, which has all the new updates they will be adding this month.

I’ve played in the preview server and the upcoming changes look very good. The best part is you get an instant upgrade to level 30 on the preview server. The new area is very well done and very challenging for a level 30+. I’m hoping to write more about this update later after I play some more.

The biggest problem I am having in the level 30 range is I can’t do much soloing so I must group up. I’ve been grinding out for experience for some levels because all the quests are way too hard for just me. The new content coming out this month will address this issue. All the quests will be in the 30+ range! That is a welcome addition for me.

I have just reached my second goal yesterday but that’s for another post! Just be aware you might find me in the ettenmoors protecting the hobbits in their village from the evil monsters!

 
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Posted by on June 6, 2007 in experience, review

 

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LOTRO: The move to middle earth virtual world

LOTRO: The move to middle earth virtual world

On April 24th, the Lord of the Rings Online officially launched. Everyone can go to their local retail stores and buy the game to play online. April 29th was the end of the 5 day extension for late preorders and now everyone playing has actually paid for the game. I bought mine at fry’s and so glad I knew I could get $10 off if I bought the preorder before. I had to ask for it or they wouldn’t have given it to me. I hate when that happens!

Having fun killing enemies in LOTRO with a friendA real life friend and I played in the game LOTRO
Johnsono and Johnimli playing and fighting with Geekwen and Geekwing.

I felt it was a good time to go through my experiences I have had since my last posts. My friend and I started from the very beginning of open beta with new characters in a fellowship. I have to say the quests in bree and the shire are the best and doesn’t take a lot of running around. This is true especially for the bree area where the quests are in a small area and can get you to level 10 easily. The dwarfs quest with the gears take so long to run back and forth which really gets tiring just to get to level 10.

There are also some fun unknown quests to get titles like the pie-eating champion. For this title you need to get to the festival grounds in bree which can be seen on the map north of bree town. The contest can happen anytime in the day but never at night. I just waited at the table near Humbert Sandheaver until he started the contest. Then I just had to eat six pies before time ran out. There are couple of more deeds I didn’t know about mentioned in the PC gamer magazine TD posted about here.

LOTRO has a pie eating contest to get a title

I have my main minstrel character, johnsono, who plays on the elendilmir server. He’s mostly going to be a solo character like I was before in closed beta. Already have my first gold and going for my second gold. Already got my prospecting to the master level. My second character is a captain and It’s a fun character which I will level up in the months to come. The other characters on that server is a lore master, guardian and another minstrel to play with my friend. A minstrel and a guardian plays well together especially when they know what they are doing.

On one quest called, Rescue By The Moonlight, the minstrel and guardian team finished it with the minstrel sacrificing his life at the end for the guardian to finish the quest. The lore master and guardian failed miserably half way into the quest and still haven’t finished it. I probably could do a bit better with the lore master by practicing more with his skills. I usually let my bear do most of the fighting when I solo so in a group I have to change my strategy.

Starting a kinship with a friend in Lord of The Rings Online

We also started a kinship to try things out. You must have 6 people in a kinship but they don’t have to be all 6 separate accounts which means you can add your alt characters. It’s a good way to talk to your friends without using /tell or forming a fellowship all the time. We also just bought some headsets to use the voice chatting option to coordinate attacks. Many times I wasn’t able to type fast enough before we were defeated or trying to tell the guardian to be careful of a mob nearby before going in.

For right now I am still having fun doing the quests I have already done in the past. My main character just got to level 18 so I’m in no rush. I have a full month of playing before I get billed first. I am planning to go with the $9.95 special founder price but if I make more money I might try the lifetime $199 price. No other MMO game has interested me except for guild wars just because there is no monthly payment for it. Maybe I’ll try that game in a year. I still like my offline games like command & conquer 3 which I just got. I am very competitive against the computer but not so much against other people.

 
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Posted by on May 1, 2007 in experience, review

 

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