Lotro Troubles and Other Adventures

Technical difficulties have kept me from Middle-earth, but I'm hopeful that my fresh install will solve my crashing problem.  I've kept in touch with my Kin via our website, but I'm anxious to bash some fresh orc skulls soon.

In the meantime I have a few milestones in other games.  I just cleared normal difficulty in Diablo 3 with my barbarian.  This isn't my first clear, but I play my main Monk with a friend that has been busy with multiple jobs lately.  The barbarian has a great feel too it.  The reverberations of your abilities and the mess you make of hordes of enemies is very satisfying.

I also hit summoner level 30 in League of Legends after over a year of casual play.  I'm a person that avoids pvp in MMOs, Eve Online aside, but I really enjoy a good contest.  Fighting games are fun, but the added element of team play offered by MOBAs really sucks me in.  I even spend a lot of time watching pro tournaments and such.

Hopefully next week I'll have a tale of goblin skewering and elf song (reading The Hobbit for the first time to get my tolkien fix in the mean time.), but until then,

Happy Hunting!

-Kup

Festival of the White Lady

My Kinship holds a festival every year on Landroval, and this year's theme was Eowyn's Faire, celebrating strong women.  We marched in formation throughout Bree stopping at landmarks as our band performed and we danced and set off hundreds of fireworks.  The turnout was incredible and the enthusiasm and support from the community made for one of my favorite moments in gaming to date.

Newbie Blogger Initiative Final Challenge

I hopped onto the blogging horse due to the Newbie Blogger Initiative, but have not kept up with any of these challenges because truth be told, I didn’t notice them until today ><. However, this final challenge really sums up the spirit of the entire event.

Ravalation, Diary of a Gamer Girl - Currently covering Lotro, Swtor, and Mass Effect, which are wonderful choices, this blog is full of beautiful screenshots and entertaining commentary. Her appreciation of these games really comes through in her writing.

Gaming for Introverts – I’m more of a homebody than an introvert, but Pamela seems a kindred spirit. She is currently playing Diablo 3 and waiting for Guild Wars 2. She has a very rich writing style, and her perspective is genuine and relatable.

Horrible Ball of Fire – I’ve always enjoyed reading stories of Eve Online, and the tales of Hasugo Numani are getting better with each entry.


Please give these folks a read, and I'm including the full list of newbie bloggers after the break.

Legendary Lore-master

I ended up following the epic quests around through most of my forties, and I started Volume 2: the prologue to Moria as soon as I turned 45 per the advice of some kinmates.  These being level 50 quests provided some challenge, but they are doable with a little care, and the rewards, including your first two legendary items, are well worth it.

I found the base of the legendary item system, leveling up your weapon, using points to rank up it's special attributes, to be simple enough and fun, but I think the real complexity and grind will come with deconstructing and such once I am actually into Moria.  I'm reserving judgement until then.

I was also lucky enough to finish collecting all of the pages for my first three legendary traits with all of my running around, and I used the need to level up my new legendary items to grind out the stuff I needed to complete my legendary class quest that I also started at 45.  I spent some skirmish marks on the last round of items that required boss kills in some level fifty instances or a chunk of gold on the auction house.  I've been enjoying the eagle, but I completely understand why some folks don't use him.  For now, I think he is a strong choice, but I think that once I have more AOE capability I will find Ents Go to War much more useful.

All this excitement aside, by far the most fun I've had has been the night I spent in Goblin Town with some very helpful and skilled Kinmates.  That place is sooooo huge, but full of challenge and intrigue.  I highly recommend delving its depths if you ever get the chance.

Until next time, happy hunting!

-Kup

P.S.  I think I'm going to start taking screenshots with fraps, the lotroclient seems to go to an extreme with compressing them.

Dwarven Detour

I decided to catch up on the epic story before hitting Forochel too heavily, and this eventually brought me to the  Misty Mountains.  I didn't expect to enjoy this zone, but it has a lot of character despite being a collection of snowy peaks and valleys, so I have remained there killing goblins and snowbeasts.  I've been told that the questing here has some level gaps so I will return to Forochel once I happen upon one of those.

Knights of the White Lady has monthly Kinship meetings on Sunday evenings, and I was able to attend my first one this past weekend.  It isn't an extensive or rigid affair, a time to gather and enjoy new outfits, furniture in the kin house, discuss upcoming events, promote new members, and recognize particularly helpful folks.  I found that it's real value lies in the face to face (virtually :) ) connection that comes with all of us gathering in the same place just for the sake of it.  It is a bonding experience and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I'm off to collect legendary book pages and pick out an outfit for the Spring Festival!

Happy Hunting,

-Kup

Aeldrin, Warden of Annuminas

Evendim was amazing!  Beautiful scenery, interesting content, intelligent quest progression, and very satisfying rewards made for one of the best leveling experiences I've ever had in an MMO.  I easily reached kindred with the Wardens of Annuminas, obtaining the title of the same, and had plenty of rep items left over to give to kinmates.  As my trait slots open up and my character customization and development progresses, I'm enjoying the loremaster more and more.  I've reached level 41, and I've unlocked the deeds to gain pages for my first legendary traits.

I still haven't spent much time actually playing with my fellow kinmates, though they continue to be a great group of people to chat with and get to know. I'm entering a level range with a lot of options and one in which I've noticed kinmates frequently have alts in, so I am determined to just break my solo/independent habits and just jump into something with a group soon.

On the leveling front, I plan on heading into Forochel.  From what I've gathered, it has solid solo leveling progression and pretty scenery. I enjoy both of these things.  Eregion will follow to wrap things up before I head into Moria, but I do have the Misty Mountains available for the next time my kin heads into Goblin Town for some group fun.

This is an exciting time for my character, quests are getting more epic (particularly the epic story quests huehue), and legendary traits and items are just around the corner!

-Kup

Knights of the White Lady

Mae govannen interwebs!

I was accepted as a recruit into the Knights of the White Lady Kinship on the Landroval server in LOTRO today.  I'm excited to be giving LOTRO some serious effort and time and equally excited to get to know this group of people.

I also grabbed the Rise of Isengard expansion for half off today.  I know, how could I pass that up.  I will definitely be finishing up the Lone Lands and moving on into Evendim with my three days off this week.  I'm not sure where to head after that, but I'm sure my new Kin can help me out there.  I don't really feel the need to go VIP at this point as I have a lot of content unlocked from past years purchases and Turbine points to spare, so it looks like I can easily get all the way to 75 on the content I have.  I don't have any interest in PvMP, and not having rest xp isn't noticeable to me.

I'm focused on my Loremaster, Aeldrin, for the foreseeable future, but I went ahead and started a Captain, just so he could participate in festivals and maybe hang onto some crafting materials.  I'd probably be romping through Moria by now if not for the distraction of the anniversary festival, but I've had my fill of fireworks for a while.

Next time I promise screen shots and my first time impressions of the new and improved Evendim.

Happy hunting,

Kup