LotRO Log 11 May 2007

Been spending the usual amount of time in Middle Earth this week. I reached level 18 last night with Abellio and assigned some new traits I acquired by finishing some quests in the Old Forest.

I do enjoy playing a lore master, plus side is I have a few very hard hitting “spells” if you will, along with a blinding flash skill that stun’s an opponent making it easier to handle crowds. The ability to draw power out of monster’s is cool too and the ability to transfer power into health is handy after a hard fight.

The bad aspects are that I only can use a staff as a weapon, limiting options but then opening up opportunities on the Auction House since only other lore masters are competing for them. Also, my bear doesn’t follow very well at all. He easily get’s lost or confused with these question marks spinning around his head like he is mentally challenged or something. It get’s very annoying everytime I walk through a doorway and he get’s stuck there…at least the power requirement to call him back is small, but still…The other thing is that I can only wear light armor, I know this is because I get my own personal tank, but maybe making it a deed or something would be nice, at least getting the chance to wear medium armor would be cool.

I was talking to my friend Dagfinnr and game and told him this was my last character I was starting since now I have my original character, Sean the man burglar lvl 17, Floss the hobbit minstrel lvl 20, and Abellio the elf loremaster lvl 18. I was having the feeling of deja vu completing some of the same quests especially in Bree and Buckland 3 times now, making it not quite as fun and more like the endless grind feeling of WoW.

I am not sure if this is very well known, but there is an option to spend your destiny points on perks. The perks are temporary, and a lot of people save them for Monster play. Since I am not concerned with Monster play at this time, so I found the first perk which is available at level 10 called Accelerated Experience, you can use it 5 times and costs 250 destiny points. It grants you enhanced XP, temporarily increasing the experience you gain for defeating enemies. Nice to know and use if you run out of enhanced XP.

My friend and I are considering starting up a kinship. One with limited rules and minimal requirements. I am trying to come up with an original and catchy title. I am taking suggestions, trying to stick with one or two words possibly. More to follow.

LotRO – Weekend Adventures

Just a quick summary of the happenings over the weekend. I reached level 20 playing my minstrel, Floss, gained the ability to equip a shield and to revive people who have been defeated. I can finally call myself a real healing class.

Because I have a severe case of gaming ADD or altism as it is called by Kinless, I logged onto my loremaster, Abellio, and proceeded to complete numerous quests in the Elf/ Dwarf starting lands. I quickly became bored in that area and made my way to Bree-Land and picked up quite a few quests there as well joining a few fellowships to complete the harder quests. My friend, Dagfinnr helped me out on one of those adventures, watching a level 22 guardian taking on these level 13 mob’s was almost comical. After reaching level 13 with my loremaster I decided to back and work on the epic prologue quests. I started a fellowship for the quest To Avert A War and with 4 of us, 1 being a minstrel, we easily defeated our foes. We stuck together for about an hour or so then we disbanded, I still need a couple more quests to get to the point where I seek out Strider in the Prancing Pony, that is when it gets fun.

I decided to go with the vocation of Tinker giving me the ability to create jewelry, collect ore, and be a cook. I enjoy having the ability to gather resources off the land. Not sure if it is just the aspect of being self-sufficient or what. I managed to create a couple copper rings, amethyst rings, and a necklace, selling most of them on the Auction Hall and equipping the rest.

I wanted to discuss the way this game handles the trait system. I like how this is done because it is seems to me that people have much more choice when it comes to making a talent build so to speak. There isn’t a cookie cutter template out there for people to conform to. Because there are so many quests and deeds to get done it opens up the door for more uniqueness for each character in the game. Also, I like the title’s that you can get also.

I have all but given up on farming with Sean ever since the patch that nerfed it last month. I just don’t see the point in trying to level my farming skills if all it is going to is drain my funds. I understand why they patched it, but like tobold has said there has to be a balance found just like in the other professions you don’t lose or gain much more than a few coppers when creating items. My friend Dagfinnr has sold quite a few pieces of heavy armor on the auction hall for a nice profit, but these items aren’t easily made either, if it weren’t for my ability to boil leather for him he would probably not be in the same situation.

This brings me to another subject I found very cool. The fact that almost every profession out there is reliant on other players for resources. This automatically encourages interaction between players, just like in the real world. Having a total of 3 characters I am playing pretty much all the time each with a different vocation also opens up other possibilities.

I quit the kinship I joined a while back in beta, mostly because I am not ready for a fulltime commitment and that the kinship I joined was focusing on endgame raiding. I am more of a casual player by nature and I like playing the game on my own time. Real life takes precedence. I play because it is fun and I enjoy gaming with people I know and others I don’t know but might become friends with.