Still making a hobbit of it.

Kate and I started playing Lord of the Rings Online about two years ago.  I’m only aware of this because, last night, Kate dinged her second character to level 60 (the current maximum level), I was there to take the screenshots, and then I went in and started browsing the screenshot directory from the very beginning, and we had a lovely pictoral walk down memory lane.

I was poking through the blog archives this morning, looking for something else entirely when I stumbled across the post “Making a hobbit of it” from September of 2007, in which I talked about our decision to play LotRO together, and my initial ‘briefing’ on the game.  I’m pleased to see that most of the tips and observations on gameplay are still true (and pretty good), with the awesome stuff just getting better.  Not all the characters I mention in that post survived to 2009, but “the most potent pair we have” are still inarguably our main characters — despite his being level 60, I spent most of my play time yesterday on Geiri, and I still have a laundry list of stuff I want to do on him.  That’s good, fun game design, as far as I’m concerned.

So what’s the current tally of toons?  Let’s see:

Doyce

• Geiri Kinshield, dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, level 60 Guardian, miner, jewelcrafter, and a damn fine cook.
• Finnras Delain, man of Gondor, level 60 Captain, combat-librarian.
• Emyl the Undying, dwarf of the White Mountains, level 35 rune keeper, wandering drunk.
• Tyelaf, man of Dale, level 28 hunter, explorer.
• Finir, dwarf of the Lonely Mountain, level 24 minstrel, scholar.
• Kaetlyn Delain, woman of Gondor, level 24 Warden.

Kate

• Tiranor, elf of Mirkwood, level 60 Hunter, woodcrafter.
• Tirathien Aerlinn, elf of Lothlorien, level 60 Minstrel, tailor.
• Tirawyn, woman of Rohan, level 29 Captain, weapon smith.
• Tiradis, elf of Mirkwood(?), level 24 Champion, explorer.
• Tirra, hobbitses, level 22 burglar.