LoTRO: Exploring (again)
stargrace 
As I mentioned yesterday, Turbine is offering a few “free” days of game play (Lord of the Rings Online) for people who had accounts previously – and I completely forgot that I actually don’t qualify for it, because I played the 10 day trial and then the 1 month of free game play but had not actually paid for a subscription. Not about to let that hold me back, I subscribed this morning and before too long jumped into game with Kasul to explore what I didn’t get to see the first time around.
Now keep in mind (yes, stressing the point here because apparently some people still don’t get it) that it was not because I disliked the game that I stopped playing. Only so many hours in a day (main factor) only so much money to be dedicated towards subscriptions (secondary factor). The secondary factor has eased up a little, and I’m working on time management still. With friends playing (Kasul, Tipa, Malfi to name a few Nostalgians) I had been wanting to play again for quite some time. It just never seemed to work out.
I had logged out in the midst of a bunch of dwarfs, after picking up their quests – as had Kasul. One kill managed to net me level 5 easily enough, and after we meandered our way through more quests we each dinged level 7. We ended up in Celondim (I believe that’s where it is) where I was introduced to crafting and decided that I really like this game – a lot. Then I realized there’s also housing. I know this is all stuff that I should have already realized, but I don’t typically research games a great deal, I’d rather just play them and explore (like I have been) so if I sound like a complete newb here, well. That’s what I am.
The best part of playing (aside from playing with friends of course) is my new hat. I love this feathered hat. I mean, I adore it so much. It’s completely awesome.
I’m still getting myself acquainted with the interface again, what commands do what, and I picked up my new skills and am getting into the habit of learning which ones to use and when. Nothing has taken very much time to kill, so a lot of my skills go unused. Then again I’m typically also in a fellowship (I think that’s what the groups are called) so with the added person, things die, fast.
I know this introduction is not filled with very much information, but I decided to take a break for lunch and write about the experiences so far. I’ll keep posting as I adventure. I’m having a lot of fun though (as I thought I would) and it’s great to get back into it again and give the game a proper go this time around. There are still other games I’d like to play, but I’ll have to figure out a way to work them into my schedule, and still play EQ too. So many games, and just not enough time for them all! How does everyone else deal with this? Especially when people (friends) are scattered across multiple games all at once.
I didn’t get a whole lot of time to game yesterday, I spent most of it working on an article for MMORPG.com, and the rest of it sending interview questions out to the folks at Wizard101, and a few EQ2 players (brigands and swashbucklers) for upcoming articles for Beckett MOG. When I finally did manage to log into EQ for a little bit before bed, I saw there was a guide event going on. Having been a guide myself for EQ2 I love seeing that things are still active, even if it’s not as active as it would have been in its prime. I think a lot about getting back into it – I miss it. I miss role playing as a guide. But, I don’t think I honestly have the time. So for now thinking about it is all I can do.