November Update Thoughts #LotRO
stargrace 
First of all, please don’t forget that TOMORROW is the last day I’ll be taking names for the 2010 Gamers Secret Santa. If you want to partake, be sure to email me! Compared to last year this years participation numbers have grown by leaps and bounds and I’m incredibly thankful and excited for everyone who has decided to partake.
Now, on to the good stuff! Yesterday was the November update for The Lord of the Rings Online, and what an update it was. I absolutely LOVE the changes to the vault / chest systems. As a crafter and a player with four alts being able to organize my belongings into tabs that I can name is incredibly handy. No, LotRO is not the first game to implement this feature but it’s typically reserved for guild banks (WoW and EQ2 both allow you to name the bank tabs). I now have tabs for crafting raws, recipes, gear, etc. There are 10 tabs in all as well as an ‘all’ tab that allows you to scroll through each of your named compartments. I spent an hour organizing each character as well as my shared vault.
The changes to crafting I could go either way on. Number one the UI is HUGE. It actually blocks too much of my screen when I am on my farmer and I have to adjust it in order to harvest from the fields below me. I also do not enjoy the fact that VIP’s who are already paying to play the game are bombarded with the store screen at every possibility. I understand that the company is there to make money, but if a player is already making those purchases I’d love to see them exempt. More motivation to become a VIP and all that. I do like the double layout, so that I can see my crafting recipe list at the same time that I can see what those recipes make. I just wish it were smaller. I realize you can shrink your UI down but it’s just this one aspect in particular that I find gigantic.
Tasks. I was disappointed with the task system. You will find bulletin boards all through towns, typically level appropriate. If you can interact with it you’ll see a quest ring icon on your mini map and the base of the bulletin board will also sparkle. You must be within 4 levels in order to accept tasks from one, and as has already been stated the jist of it is to pass over your vendor fodder in exchange for xp and faction.
Except in my humble opinion, it’s completely not worth it. At level 42 I received barely 1,000 xp – which is pretty much nothing when I gain 6,000 xp for doing some quests. 4,000 xp for doing a skirmish daily. You gain 300 faction which IS very nice but not at the cost of losing your vendor fodder. You can only do 5 tasks a day, and if you want to do more you have to pay 50 turbine points each time to refresh them, for a max of 5 times refreshed (granting you 30 tasks a day). I like the fact that you are unable to simply purchase items from the broker in order to level up – but on that same hand find the rewards a little lacking. Another issue is that the boards do not tell you what level ranges they provide tasks for, and you need to be within 4 levels in order to accept them. At level 40 and 42 none of my characters were able to accept tasks from Rivendell, although they were able to get them from the camp in Misty Mountains.
The barter wallet is there but again lacking. While most of my skirmish tokens were automatically added, none of my fall festival tokens were inside the wallet, nor were some of my other tokens. This is a great idea in concept but I wish they had of refined it a little before adding it to the game.
There were numerous other changes that took place as well, but those are the ones I had that directly affected my characters. Has anyone else explored the November Update yet? What are your thoughts on the changes?
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
