Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG

[Eönwë]

And then, in true Bullroarer style, my character bought a hobbit club and went to fight orcs in Golfimbul's hole:







And on another note, today Kuru and I shared some Anniversary festivities. He'll be posting about that in more detail at some point soon.

[Kuruharan]

As Eönwë said we had a little kin celebration.

It started well when we discovered that I can't type.

Then we had fireworks!

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

I thought I had some pics of us playing music to fireworks, but apparently I was pressing the wrong button.

[Eönwë]

Just wanted to mention that it's the Spring Festival, for those that are interested.

Also, has anyone played the chicken quests? Because I only just discovered them now, and playing as a chicken is actually quite fun.

Also, our house is locked due to no-one paying the maintenance (I only realised when it was too late and I had no kinhouse teleport).

[Benjimir]

LOTROcon 2012
Join with fellow LOTRO fans, for fun, frivolity, and fellowship! Bring a Kin or bring yourself, as we see what life is like under that bright shiny object in the sky!

July 20, 21, and 22
Cedar Point, Ohio


RSVP NOW!
www.LOTROcon.com

About
LOTROcon is player organized gathering of Lord of the Rings Online fans. This inagural year's event is being held at Cedar Point, the historic amusement park on the shores of Lake Erie. LOTROcon is a social gathering, with a light mix of activities, and a heavy focus on simply having fun among our own. Individuals are welcome to come and meet other, and represent their server. Those who are part of Kinships are encouraged to represent their kinmates.

Where:
Cedar Point
Located on the north shore of Lake Erie, in Sandusky, Ohio. 1 hour west of Cleveland, 1 hour east of Toledo, 2 hours north of Columbus. Cedar Point features something for virtually anybody.

When:
July 20, 21, and 22 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

What:
Enjoy roller coasters, live shows, crystal white sand beaches, vintage arcades and games, to water parks, resort hotels, and boat excursions. In between, visit with LOTRO players from across the servers and country! Break bread at the Dinner of special Magnifice and Second Breakfasts. Compete in the first Bullroarer Classic or Thorin’s Hall Clash. Gather with your fellow players or Kinships at the gatherings and Kinmoot!

Agenda:
Friday, July 20
10 a.m. Cedar Point Opens - Friday is a travel day for most, so we keep it loose. Enjoy the park, have fun!
8 p.m. Dinner of Special Magnificence - Tomo Habachi, Japanese Steakhouse. Gather with the earlier arrivals for dinner and the show!
10 p.m. - After party. TBD based on group.

Saturday, July 21
8 a.m. until 10 a.m. Second Breakfast - Perkins, Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point.
1 p.m. Bullroarer Classic - Mini-Golfimbul, Challenge Park, Cedar Point.
6 p.m. Thorin’s Hall Clash - Bumper Car Frenzy, then dinner
7 p.m. Kinmoot - Dinner and talk of all things LOTRO, Kinships
12 a.m. Afterparty - TGI Friday’s, Hotel Breakers, Cedar Point

Sunday, July 22
8 a.m. until 10 a.m. Second Breakfast - McDonalds, next to Breakers Express
10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Cedar Point, in groups and otherwise.

RSVP:

Those wishing to attend, are asked to RSVP with the LOTROcon website.

http://www.LOTROcon.com

[Benjimir]

Also a note.

We have a series of events friendly to those who play or want to try playing LOTRO, as well as visitors from other servers. Take a gander at: LINK

[Kuruharan]

I figured that I would comment since nobody else has, but there is a new expansion coming in less than/about a month.

I like some of the changes I am reading about in it (and I'm liking how the story in it seems to finally be focused more on what Tolkien actually wrote).

Its just kind of a pity that the model of game LOTRO is based on is becoming obsolete, especially compared to Guild Wars 2.

[Kuruharan]

The Riders of Rohan expansion brings LOTRO back to a level its not had since Shadows of Angmar as far as enjoyability. Overall its a lot of fun to play.

There are a couple of issues I have experienced myself. The biggest has been lag...I've had quite a lot of it, especially in mounted combat. Other people have not had as much lag but for me it has been a real problem.

Also, Turbine has tried to implement some dynamic questing like what is present in Guild Wars 2, which I commend them for trying. However, LOTRO is definitely beginning to show that its an aging game in the way it struggles to accommodate some of the newer features. I don't know if an MMO has ever made a transition from one engine to another to give itself a new lease on life, but I hope the big wigs at Turbine have something like that on their agenda if they want to make it to Gondor and beyond with LOTRO.

And now the funny screenshots...

FRODO LIVES AND HE IS ME!!! BWAH HAWH HAWH HAWH!!

One does not simply walk into being Boromir.

How Boromir views the rest of the Fellowship.

I am also Sam.

[Eönwë]

So, with a special thanks to Oddwen who helped me through the wastes of the Trollshaws, I have finally got the Cloak of the Cluck! Here is Gabiluzbad with those two noble chickens, George and Billina. I regret not taking pictures of the travels in some of the more inhospitable places, but I'll be sure to do so when I attempt Free Range.

[Kuruharan]

Just as a head's up for anyone who may be interested, but the release date for Helm's Deep has finally been announced. It is November 18.

[Kuruharan]

I was having a chat with Eonwe ingame yesterday and we discussed the possibility of having a kinship run of the HD epic battle instances since the instance auto-levels the players to 95.

I told him I would post today to see if there was any interest.

[Kuruharan]

Hello, I thought I should pass this along.

LOTRO is suffering the inevitable fate of a MMO that is losing steam. Servers are going to be closed and the players on them will have to transfer to other servers to keep playing.

There is some info here and here.

On the plus side, there is a new PvP map opening up tomorrow.

[Kuruharan]

Coming very late to this particular party, but I was rereading this thread on another forum today where one of the former Turbine employees raises the curtain a bit on LOTRO behind the scenes and the former employee posted the following and it was so hilarious given some of my early complaints about the look of the game that I thought I'd come post it...

Originally Posted by Aylwen

Oh god the armor. I have no idea why it looked so awful, especially in SoA, or how any art director could look at these designs and say, 'great work, ship it!'. Running around at lower levels I really felt like I was being trolled by the game. You know there's a problem when the cosmetic system-allowing you to cover up your hard-earned gear-was one of the most universally popular systems ever released for LOTRO. In WoW my little mage wore her PvP armor with pride. In LOTRO it was like being forced to wear that awful sweater your aged aunt gave you for Christmas every time you went to school.

[Kuruharan]

Lord of the Rings Online has been sold from Turbine to a new developer called Standing Stone Games.

See here.

This came out of nowhere and has taken the player base completely by surprise.

However, while there is a general sense of worry and hand-wringing since things like this rarely mean good things for the future of a game, there is also a seemingly widespread sense of optimism since Warner Brothers and Turbine were running the game into the ground.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Lord of the Rings Online has been sold from Turbine to a new developer called Standing Stone Games.

See here.

This came out of nowhere and has taken the player base completely by surprise.

However, while there is a general sense of worry and hand-wringing since things like this rarely mean good things for the future of a game, there is also a seemingly widespread sense of optimism since Warner Brothers and Turbine were running the game into the ground.

Standing Stone Games, a newly-independent studio staffed by people who have been working on DDO and LOTRO for many years.

I'm going to check with my moles to find out who exactly these staffers are. It would be nice (however unrealistic) if they moved back toward the old Middle-earth Online (MEO) model that Turbine abandoned so they could emulate WoW. Not sure how many of you were pre-Beta, but there was a whole different game being planned previously.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I am a level 14 and I am currently staying at Tom Bombadil's house. This game was not made for the casual movie fan. The Shire is so pleasant, I don't want to leave, but I want a horse and I have to go to Bree to get one. One more level and I'll be able to get a house, which is exciting. The Old Forest is definitely spooky and scary. I really wanted to use my hunter power to transport me back to Hobbiton, but I persevered and now I have met old Tom Bombadillo! Oh joy. Where is everyone else in the game? Surely much further than I am? I started as a hobbit. Do you get a different beginning of the game if you start out as another race? So many questions.

Anyway, I'm on the Arkenstone server now, so I should be able to play with you guys.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

I am a level 14 and I am currently staying at Tom Bombadil's house. This game was not made for the casual movie fan. The Shire is so pleasant, I don't want to leave, but I want a horse and I have to go to Bree to get one. One more level and I'll be able to get a house, which is exciting. The Old Forest is definitely spooky and scary. I really wanted to use my hunter power to transport me back to Hobbiton, but I persevered and now I have met old Tom Bombadillo! Oh joy. Where is everyone else in the game? Surely much further than I am? I started as a hobbit. Do you get a different beginning of the game if you start out as another race? So many questions.

Anyway, I'm on the Arkenstone server now, so I should be able to play with you guys.

What's your character's name?

In any case, I agree. I think the Shire and Breeland are really well done, especially when you're at the appropriate level - I won't spoil anything, but I was also really impressed with the Barrow-Downs.

As a F2P player (and also someone who hasn't sunk that much time into the game), I decided try not to level up too fast (and therefore make the free areas boring/unplayable), so I'm only level 33 on my main character (and I don't think I bothered transferring the others). And yes, your race does determine starting location.

[Kuruharan]

I thought that some of the log in artwork had a particular look.

Now that I know this, I'm surprised I didn't think of him sooner.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I've been playing about once every two days and really enjoying the game. Just wanted to know when you guys usually played. I am a high enough level now that I can probably do fellowship quests with you and I wanted some help in the Great Barrow, even though I've been hanging out in the Lone Lands recently.