LotRO

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty

stargrace September 16, 2010 1Comment

The Lord of the Rings Online, and Vanguard, are two of the best looking games I’ve played (of course, always in my opinion). With LotRo going free to play I decided to poke my nose in lately. I picked up three 60 day cards for $15 each and decided to VIP my account until early next year, mostly so I could earn the ‘free’ turbine points while I’m a VIP. Pictured above is my level 29 hobbit minstrel, Lysthia. I play on the Landroval server, so if you happen to be around be sure to add me to friends.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

The Sky is Falling, the Sky is Falling!

stargrace June 4, 2010 5Comments

Turbine announced today That The Lord of the Rings Online would be going Free to Play by this fall. Now, there’s a lot of posts out there about this news already, and you can read everyone else’ opinions on it for the next little while no doubt. There are good points, bad points, and all the ones in between. Personally here’s my stand on the matter.

I’m excited about it. Why? Well, for a few reasons. Number one would have to be: yes, I do have an active LotRO subscription but I very rarely ever get to play, and I really don’t feel as though I get my moneys worth of play time out of the $15 I spend every month. In fact once my billing cycle was up I had made plans to cancel the account until I felt that I had the time to dedicate to it. I own all of the expansions, and don’t even have a level 30 character yet. I love the game, but the amount of time I have just doesn’t match up.

Going free to play allows me to drop the subscription and pay when I have the time to play, and when I reach the content I want to access. I don’t even consider this model exactly ‘free’ to play, because there’s still a subscription for those who pay monthly, and you’ll have to pay to access content and other goodies (don’t know all of the details yet as this is still a ways off) and those who have life time accounts will also gain a bonus. You can read all the details on the lotRO web site. I enjoy tripple A titles going F2P – although I realize the name has a LOT of bad connotation along with it (lower game quality, etc) I have heard that the model has worked for DDO, and I am anxious to see how it pans out for LotRO. Obviously a decision like this was NOT made lightly, and I trust the company to do the right thing for them. Notice that I said for them, and not for me. Despite what we all like to think, companies have to look out for themselves first. It’s just the way they function.

I’m looking forward to being able to spending a few hours here and there in game instead of trying to think of a way to warrant spending $15 for an entire month. I think that in this gaming age with so many people all over the place and playing multiple games, having optional payment methods is a huge deal. How many of us actually play just one game any more? Moving to a free to play model is going to allow me to actually play the game more then I currently do, and that excites me without having to worry about stressing over the cost.

I realize this is not true for everyone, and I know everyone else has their own views, but for now, I’m happy. Whether or not this actually works for turbine will still have to be seen, but until it goes live I don’t quite understand why there are some out there hoping it fails before it even gets off the ground.

Exploring Esteldin

stargrace March 27, 2010 1Comment

This weekend was another welcome back weekend for the Lord of the Rings Online, and while I don’t write about the game all that much – I do still have an active subscription, and every so often manage to find the time to log into game and play. I teamed up with a friend who plays a Champion (in both class and personality of course!) and we were off. My minstrel managed to nudge into level 29 and I started getting all excited about the fact that I may actually reach level 30 some day. Leveling has been slow for me, understandable since I play so rarely.

We both also headed back to Bree to pick up our level 20 mounts that we had never purchased. These cost 200 silver, which is not an issue any more. The mounts may be termed “slow” but anything that is faster then walking is pretty fast in my books. We had a blast running around chasing random mobs while mounted, and of course the ability to name them is neat. One more little thing to make the game feel more personal, which is something I always really enjoy.

We have been neglecting our chapter quests lately in order to quest down the smaller chains which is great for gear and money. I am sure we’ll get back to it before too long but it’s really nice to have an option of what to do.

Crafting. There were so many ore nodes to mine around Esteldin it was fantastic. Of course now my bags are full of the stuff and I need to actually work on the next step which is using all of it. Not to mention the spring festival is going on right now and I haven’t even looked into it yet. There’s just so much to do, it’s great.

Little Minstrel Continues On

stargrace December 19, 2009 2Comments

I’ve been having a blast in the Lord of the Rings Online these past few days, things are a LOT smoother then I remember. I started off three days ago at level 19, barely remembering my way around Middle Earth, and now I’m sitting at level 25, and still exploring through the lone lands. There is a bonus to experience while the Yule festival is going on, but even without that, the experience is flowing nicely. One thing I love about questing in the Lord of the Rings Online is that the quests actually flow together. You don’t finish all of the quests at one hub and wonder where you’re supposed to be next, each quest leads to the next area, and you’ve got a clear path on where you’ll find encounters your level. I find that in WoW I’m all over the place, without the faintest idea of where I should be for my level without looking up some sort of guide. Now, this could also be seen as a bad thing, after all maybe that’s too much ‘hand holding’ in a game, but if I don’t WANT to follow the quest path, I don’t have to. I can wander off and explore, or go harvesting, or craft. There’s other things for me to do.

The quests themselves are a little lack luster, your typical kill X number of bears/boars/spiders/orcs/goblins and return them to an npc, broken up by periods of instancing. Rewards have been good enough to keep myself and Hampooj (Guardian pictured beside my Minstrel above) geared without feeling as though we’re going to die any second. Although we have died, plenty.

This is the furthest I’ve ever gotten in the game, and I’m having a lot of fun this time around. I’m not sure exactly why, nothing has changed since other times I’ve played, but as long as I’m enjoying myself I suppose it doesn’t matter. I guess one factor is that I’m exploring places I’ve never been before (in game at least) and while the quests may feel the same as every other MMO out there, I love looking at new sights.

Tomorrow I plan on spending most of my time in EQ2, as I am preparing for my Troubador to finish her mythical. That will make my 3rd completed mythical (Illusionist and Mystic already have theirs) and I’m excited. I just need leviathan and my Veeshan’s Peek kill to complete it, which should be easy enough. Of course she’s well behind in achievements so who knows if I’ll ever manage to hit 200 on little Goudia, it’s not something I’m actively working towards at this point in time.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend no matter where you find yourself. Only one week until Christmas! I can’t believe it’s snuck up on us so fast this year.

Happy Gaming!