LOTRO:More Doors Opening…

Good news from TURBINE (not as oxymoronic as I thought!): Its official LOTRO is going to MORDOR, the land of shadow!

NAKT was the first to bring it to my attention 🙂 : https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/5185802/posts/1095437140

SO I jumped over to LOTRO PLAYERS to confirm: http://lotroplayers.com/2016/07/22/turbine-planning-something-big-for-mordor/

AWESOME 🙂

Good news wakes me from my LOTRO snooze…

I dug up my old Mordor Brewery idea and decided that they would would like to celebrate by whipping the slaves of Núrn into overproduction of the finest special edition beer ever fermented in a MMO – I do wish they would do more brewing in LOTRO! So here it is:

SORT PORT (Danish translates to Black Gate)

The Darkest Stoutest pint ever conceived of, so dark that it glows blackly in the shadows.

Ingredients: Mount Doom roasted barley and volcanic rock flaked barley, and so pale a malt, it’s almost ghostly, complete the mash. Common yeast and the most pungent hops round off the brew. Additionally some of the unfermented wort is soured in the sulfurous doomy airs to be forced back into the beer just before bottling, carbonation was found not to be needed, it has a peculiar chemical perculation or its own!

This really is a pint where we can say it is, ‘Warts and All!’

Something BIG is coming …Hurray for LOTRO and oh my I must get busy…my highest leveled Char is Tsukuld my lv85 RK!

 

 

 

LOTRO: Gettin INTO LOTRO again…

Exploring a new area with my RK GREAT RIVER has not turned out to be such a good idea, yes I do suffer from bouts of completionitis so now that I have begun I will continue… well until the grey mobs and lack of challenge, same same same rotations ad infinitum and, generic questing make me look elsewhere or yet again take another LOTRO break!

I enjoyed a couple of the quests, there are always some gem lines and moments that entertain. But they are few and far between. Instead of immersive play the questing reinforces your rail-like progression, the lack of choice and minimal impact you have. The lack of choice is simply shocking and I had not really given it much thought of late. There are no instances where making a decision will branch the story in any shape or form. The eventual outcome is always the same. The order of events can sometimes be altered but again it all comes together in a planned denouement that is inevitable.

NPC cannot be interacted with unless as part of the design, there is no idle conversation, no snippets of irrelevant gossip, no red herrings. Questing can be a brain dead exercise in ring chasing, NPC conversation can be glanced over and frequently completely ignored. The quest chains are generally linear in nature, minor branches add fluff but lead nowhere.

Orc camps are orc camps they have orcs in to be killed, they react as all NPC’s have reacted since Bree. Oh look a cave, I bet I go there and do something and upon completion I will be sent back in to do something else!

I cannot toast the obvious traitor the first time I meet him and save a 2 hour detour, making a mistake and toasting an obvious traitor that turns out to be innocent does not lead to being chased out of town and having to earn forgiveness to enter, whereas not toasting would have been quicker you miss out on some quests. There are not multiple ways to follow a quest line with multiple endings depending on your choices.

There are no real surprises and the hand holding of the quest narratives can be quite demeaning!

I don’t want to pick any more flowers on the hills, I want to be able to bake the NPC a cake or donate a weapon instead, and depending on how much the NPC appreciates my gift I can expect differing quests with differing rewards.

It all simply drives me to despair… Tsukuld ends up harvesting grass… now where is his pipe!

LOTRO: ANORAKS!

4 days to go and promised DEV diaries still not available…Awaiting translation(?)

The talked about price of 1995TP is has upset quite a few people, I wont be rushing to get the expansion as I have yet to get a character within the last 4 expansions…

I will again try to get busy this weekend with LOTRO either with Tsukuld in Great River or Opopa in the Shire, I am way behind with the BINGO story line 🙂

Oh and if you want a NERD anorak like above:

http://shop-tokyo.jp/?mode=f414

 

 

 

 

LOTRO: Andang dang gan an dan’agan!

1 YEAR VIP GIVEAWAY!

Andang dang gone and done it again: http://pvmpandang.com/2016/03/15/1-year-vip-code-giveaway/

I keep looking for incentivisation to get playing LOTRO again. Each weekend I promise myself to get up early before the kids and wifey rise and do some quality LOTRO’ing but each weekend I sleep long and rise with my sons who simply never let me play LOTRO, they have developed from simply taking over to jump around, head off in search of water and swim to logging me off quickly and loading up Youtube or Netflix instead! So nowadays I am relegated to my mobile gaming (CoC) or the ipad (Marvel Contest of Champions) while they control the PC… My dreams of having sons to play LOTRO with fade with each passing day… By the time they become GAMERS, which I am pretty sure they will do, they will laugh at LOTRO and want to play their kinds games whatever those may be!

And I find without the satisfying meaty session of weekend LOTRO I am uninterested in grabbing a mini session (about an hour) each morning before work as I used to. I have tried and find that I log in and then wander around, lost and unfocused.

Poor Tsukuld, RK with endgame action just a fiery stone throw away… will he ever get there?

Opopa, the one legged hobbit and creative writing inspiration languishes awaiting a new set of armour, sturdies (hides east of esteldin) simply too boring to harvest…

Tsudryt, the orange captain on Landy, future acting sensation as comedia d’art and LOTRO gaming fuse.

Tsuhelm, namesake, first LOTRO character languishes in obscurity on an empty windfola, to be transferred to another server, to which, unknown.

My kin, The Family, from what I can tell, is super busy on Laurelin and I would love to get back into the action with them, Saturday morning fun with the big players coming to help are really missed. I could never fit in the weekend afternoon Family organized activities mainly due to time difference and parental activities!

A number of other factors have also aligned themselves to hinder my LOTRO gaming, the family moved back to the center of Buenos Aires, small apartment and the PC ended up becoming the center of family entertainment; more a TV than anything else. It is also located close to my wife’s smoking perch on the mini ‘balcony’ whereas before she would smoke further away from the PC, but being so close the rest of the family also gravitates to her and it is not so much her interference to my LOTRO gaming but the impossibility of playing with my son’s constant interruptions.

I have also become more engaged again at work, by choice and necessity, so less time to blog, my pain in the butt supervisor sits beside me, so that is also restrictive to creativity! My TL with whom I am on good terms is further away and more relaxed/forgiving of my creative endeavours! And working harder at work is more tiring especially when family duties await at home, kids n wifey to entertain, I cook half of the time and wash up 90% of the time, so when I am finally able to rest I am knackered…

And then the thought of a laggy LOTRO, I do hope its all fixed now after the new hardware went live!

But I am sure I will be back one day. Tedious CoC and undemanding Marvel Superhero bashing does not make this GAMER happy.

Offers to play FFIV (its FREE for 14 days) and GW were not taken up for all of the above reasons plus my wife’s computer won’t run em!

So until I have my own gaming rig and oh ever so important gaming space I will just keep trying to get back into the flow… Obviously winning a VIP helps…even writing about the chance of winning a VIP helps 🙂

Thanks Andang…for everything you do for LOTRO players…

Even reminding us ‘ex’ LOTRO players to try and come back…

Maybe I will even start blogging again…

 

LOTRO: Withy transfer…LOTROzone!

 

I got LOTRO to work after just a little fighting with Windows 7 permission issues! I used my old install on the secondary harddisk of my wife’s repaired computer… she now has a full TB of new HD to fill with photos! I can upgrade to windows 10, should I do so?

So I completed the transfer of all my chars from Withywindle to Laurelin without a single issue (or not found as yet!) My kids were instantly all over me wanting to jump, swim and ride mounts around. I was completely at a loss at what to do! So I headed off with Tsukuld to the yule festival, I got there only to be mugged by my sons again… so I am back in LOTRO but have yet to do anything at ALL!

And finally… in response to HAFFLE who WON a HOBBY HORSE (!!!!) in this year’s Yule Festival.

‘Haffle, Haffle, give me your answer bro
I’m half crazy jealous of ur hobby horse…
It won’t be a stylish journey…
I can’t afford the time to get one…
But we’ll look sweet
Upon the seat
Of a hobby horse built for two!’

 

 

 

 

TSU’s gaming wrap for 2015…

Well obviously I will start with LOTRO…

It has been announced that LOTRO in 2016 plans to increase the level cap  to 105… as well as getting to ‘THE BLACK GATES!’

http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/letter-executive-producer

Yeah an odd number that but stretches that finishing line for my RK Tsukuld to 20 levels away…

I have just moved from expansive ‘quinta’ with swimming pool to tiny inner-city apartment. Kids will be getting full time education next year, wife may be able to start working again and maybe at last this will turn the family direction in a positive way… Argentinian inflation and economic woes have stymied our comfortable dream! Now no more hour n a half commutes to work… I can walk in 30 mins 🙂 No more rising before dawn to grab an hour of LOTRO before 3 hours of travelling, 9 hours of working, to return to family duties and eventual sleep (if lucky!).

I hope to have more time for gaming and life in general. The kids will miss the pool this summer but will be able to join clubs (kung fu starts tonight:)), visit museums, get out and about and meet people. Me, myself and I as well!

So my wife’s computer has now been repaired to be picked up soon. LOTRO to be installed and played again…yippee, Withy has now opened server transfer… my kin is active and busy by the sound of it on Laurelin.

CoC my commute diversion since latest update has got more grindy…th8 and playing is mostly like running through mud… it still has its moments but am far from interesting in playing… more an idle thought lolling in the background.

My kids have got me into MARVEL Contest of Champions on the ipad (gift from my mum :)) …fun to gained from basic fighter… has rekindled my interest in Marvel superheroes… my comic collection, inheritance in trust for the kids, locked half a world away in my Mum’s attic, pined after. Am tempted to also install MARVEL HEROES MMO on the PC as well, to be played with the kids right, who am I kidding…the wife! LOL

And EVE… what of that glorious space game that instigated me to create a second blog… I hope to get back into space at some point, let’s see how my new found gaming time goes.

I also have an invite to join HeadBurro in GW which may just run on the new improved computer…

Anyway, in these festive times here are some tunes to celebrate the higher level cap:

U2 Elevation

Red Hot Chili Peppers Higher Ground

Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder

Cypress Hill – I Wanna Get High

Erma Franklin-Higher And Higher

Marvin Gaye – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

 

May be treating myself to a new BMX this Xmas… (its been 10 years since I last had one) …so I can hop to work…

BMX bunny hopping…HIGH!

 

And 2016 is already just around the corner…

Who knows where the time goes – Fairport Convention

 

 

LOTRO: Withy transfers R GO!

Its been an age but finally I can move my Withy characters to Laurelin.

Clear as day…

Kin should be moving en masse so I should be able to get crafting help for my poor hobbit Opopa.

Opopa can then continue his adventures with BINGO…I am so far behind that it will probably take until 2017 to catch up and by then I hope Tsukuld will have reached level cap… which will be the first time I have ever done that in an MMO…

So this weekend I hope to be back on the LOTRO trail…

If my wife can get her newly fixed computer fixed again in time!

 

LOTRO: Server Status!

So Bingo arrived and I have been focusing a lot on Opopa, my hobbit burglar on Laurelin, I have been neglecting this poor hobbit for an age… and now I have started the Adventures of Opopa fan-fiction I have ideas that require me to get him moving…so there will be more OPOPA stuff in the future which can only be a good thing…keep reading… I created an index page: https://tsuhelm.wordpress.com/the-adventures-of-opopa/

The wonder of doing an ‘e-book’ is you can change the cover from moment to moment!

Opopa will not so lonely any more…as Tsukuld will probably be moving with his kin to Laurelin due to server mergers. Or closures as some pedantic commentators persist in calling it…why not call a glass half full of lovely beer a dirty smelly glass of disgusting evil liquid…why don’t ya…? Negative trolls you are all! Tsukuld has started exploring the Eaves of Fanghorn, and as all forests should be he keeps losing his bearing, exacerbated by not spending more time there…

Who is that geezer?

Tsudryt wrapped up the Trollshaws wolf slayer deed on Landy: 14’ish wolves a day and finished 1 day earlier than predicted.

Good job Tsudryt and Harold!

Crawlers next…

My original char Tsuhelm (and his extensive support staff!) on Windfola will have to move to one of the remaining US servers… as yet I am clueless as to which I will choose…as all he does is collect Hobbit Presents at the moment there is no rush!

Tsuhelm the carefree hippy!

LOTRO: Merry Pippins Found In Rohan!

Tsukuld had a productive morning in ROHAN… 

After waiting 20 mins while my wife’s computer loaded the newest version…LOTRO 16.2 has arrived 🙂 There are cosmetic weapons to be had…at last! But first wrapping up Entwash was the priority. And that required me to climb on Tsukuld’s little war pony… it has been ages since he had done this and he was a little clumsy to begin with… in retrospect may have been easier on foot as I don’t think any of the horse thieves were actually mounted!

Horses protected, I lost 2 I think… them orcs will be making salami tonight. (Did you know some authentic salami is made from/includes horsemeat?)

I was caught slightly unprepared for the 85 ding! A shame and Book 11 forward done as well… I must clear up some of these EPIC quests as they are starting to fill up my quest tracker…

So another trait point earnt… Entwash Vale completed…

I ended up handing in TASKS and deconstructing LI’s… always tedious…

But LOTRO is fun at the moment, I am starting to get my hunger back…

I think I will go out for some Pizza for lunch to celebrate with, maybe with salami on top!

LOTRO: Who is Mr. Mysterious! It’s a Mystery!

Tsukuld actually almost wrapped up Thornhope and Entwash Vale…almost:

I found Mysterious Old Man surrounded by dead smoking bodies, he sends you to kill a Captain Zan in Thrug-unur (goblin camp). Now these little gobs and wargs are quite tough and Tsukuld had to be careful not to attract too much attention to him, I wandered to the center of the camp hoping to find Zan to be disappointed, he is on the periphery… hiding in a tent, he came out of the tent and starting singing and dancing:

Captain Zan I am goblin not a man…
Wham! Bam! I am not a man!
I am Captain Zan, a goblin!
Lets do the Zan Wham rap…
Wham! Bam! Bang for zang!
You cant tell me that I’m not a man.
Do! You! Enjoy what you do?
If not… Just Stop!
Don’t stay there and rot!
Enjoy what you do!
I do, I bang, I zang!
Cos I be Captain Zan!
And now I kill ya!

Of course he got burnt to a crisp by Tsukuld…

So warg teeth pulled and goblins killed for the landscape quests from the camp and Tsukuld headed back to My Mystery!

And this guy is witty! After wrapping up the ‘FANGS A MILLION!’ quest he say, “…Nevertheless they prove that you have either slain a number of Wargs or that there are now a great many toothless Wargs on the loose.” (LOTRO writer(s) rep points heading your way!)

Almost done, almost level 85, but time for work…

Who is this mysterious old man? It’s a mystery…

Stay tuned…