November 2010

November Winds of Change #LotRO

stargrace November 10, 2010 1Comment

November brings a lot of changes. Not only do clocks go back, winter rushes in, and I of course pick up yet another cold – but in LotRO there are alos a lot of really neat changes being implemented. I’m pretty dang excited.

The barter wallet – It’s still in the early stages, but much like EQ2’s currency window that was added last month, this will store all types of skirmish marks and anniversary tokens. There is also word of it expanding to all barter items in the future, but for now I’m happy that I’ll be able to free up some much needed inventory space.

Crafting changes – While personally I’m not pleased (nor will I be taking advantage of) the fact that you can buy your way through craft experience via the LotRO store I AM excited about the other changes. The entire crafting window has been re-designed, allowing you to view recipes on the left and the craft window on the right. The changes to the store include not only xp but crafting ingredients. This may sound like a horrible idea especially if you don’t have the money to spend on turbine points – but for me personally, I’ve just stopped being preoccupied with what everyone ELSE is doing. If I don’t want to purchase my way to end game and would rather earn it, then that is how I’ll do things and I’ll take pride in that. How everyone else decides to level up has no baring on me and my play style. More power to them. Farming is also changing. You’ll gain back a whole lot of inventory space (woohoo) and it’s been simplified. Seed count has gone down, among other things.

Class consumables – Unlike food, tokens, and potions these will be exactly as they sound, consumables that give bonuses specific to your class. They are both crafted and available in the store. It should be noted that while you CAN purchase items in the store, the crafted version is almost always better. You’re not forced to use the store.

New Dyes – Scholar made, there are 10 new dyes for cosmetics being added.

New Mounts – These are new reputation and meta-reputation mounts being added, and they’re REALLY nice looking. Since earning reputation is such a big deal in LotRO, I’m really looking forward to these.

There are other changes happening but those are the basics. My Minstrel reached 41 last night and spent a good deal of time working on older (ie: faction) quests and working on mastering expert tailoring / metalsmithing (which I completed). The important part is I’m really having a blast in game, and I’m excited about future levels. Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

An Evening Working Factions #LotRO

stargrace November 9, 2010 0Comment

I finally mastered expert tailoring and metalsmithing. I’m caught up (some what) with my crafting now, working on the first round of artisan (T4) before also attempting to master that. Prospecting is going well and I’m on T5, harvesting being far easier to work up (or so it seems to me at least). I’m just a little bit away from level 41, and instead of making any real progress on the epic ‘book’ chain I decided it was time Toargo and I worked on clearing out some of those older quests from our journal. We headed back to the Trollshaws and even though we may not have gotten a lot of experience or upgraded gear we did get a lot of faction and coin from completing those quests. Faction (as I am learning) is quite important in LotRO. Problem is I’ve been out leveling my quests and haven’t been working on faction in a very dedicated manor, so while I am Ally with a few, I’m not Kindred with anyone. In fact knowing me, the first people I’ll become kindred with will be my tailors guild, hehe.

Those creatures pictured above are my new favorite things. I just LOVE the colours – I want one for a pet.

My apologies again for a lack of substantial posts this month, but with real life and NaNoWriMo taking up 99% of my days there’s not a whole lot I can do about it quite yet. Safe travels, no matter where you find yourself!

Level 40 and Beyond #LotRO

stargrace November 8, 2010 5Comments

I have to admit, reaching level 40 was a little bit of a let down. I purchased one new skill and then set off for the skirmish vendors who sold me a handful of gear upgrades (my cheapest method of obtaining new gear) – and that was it. I had been looking forward to something more, I have no idea what it was but I didn’t feel satisfied. This weekend was spent avoiding NaNoWriMo and taking care of some real life things instead of delving too much in game. I did work on my crafting for a good portion of yesterday evening and I’ve finally almost mastered expert (T3). Then it’s on to artisan. Each tier you master requires more points to master the next one, I think I’m up to 720 so far and I’m not looking forward to the amount of supplies artisan is going to require. Thankfully crafting (and harvesting) is not difficult per say – and I had a nice relaxing time of it.

I’m also really enjoying the Misty Mountains which is where I’m questing now. I have a thing for snow capped zones (it’s already so close to Christmas, I’m so excited) so the zone itself appeals to me on very basic levels. What didn’t appeal to me was the group of players who decided to rush past me on their mounts to kill ahead of me including the mob I was after. Ah well, when situations like that occur I typically just think that they must need it a lot more then I do (because I wouldn’t be as rude as that) and I let them have it. I don’t mind waiting for it to respawn.

I’m looking forward to delving into more content, and maybe even eventually reaching Moria and beyond. We’ll just have to see how it goes!

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!