One of the more interesting bits in the Lord of the Rings Online MMO is the fact that the events within the game are taking place roughly within the timeframe of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I say “roughly”, because some of the stuff you experience happens well in the past. The ‘starter zone’ […]
Tag Archives: LotRO
Star Wars: The Old Republic — The Question of PvP
A few days ago, Fogsong wrote: Star Wars: The Old Republic. My LoTRO guild is debating whether to go with a Player vs Player (PvP) server or Player vs Environment (PvE) server. We are caught on the horns of dilemma – we want to be able to quest and experience the story but also [want […]
LotRO: Rise of Isengard Release Day
Also known as “Thank god I lagged out, or I might have never logged off.” Okay, here are some thoughts, in no real order. I had a busy night last night, so I didn’t even approach my computer or start the patch upgrade until about eight pm, which process was not helped by the fact […]
LotRO: Rise of Isengard Patch Notes – My thoughts.
My first thought: as a player with a lifetime subscription, the fact that the latest expansion abbreviates to “ROI” is just… amusing. Maybe you need to be exposed to marketing and management speak a lot to appreciate it, but yeah… funny. Anyway. Here’s the stuff in the patch notes that caught my eye. The caps […]
The Play’s the Thing: A New Holiday Acting Event for LotRO Thespians
Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online has popped to the top of MMO news many times, most recently due to its switch to a Free to Play model similar to the one that revitalized Dungeons and Dragons Online. That switch has been extremely profitable for Turbine, and the fans of the game (both newcomers as […]
Tanking Vows (So You Want to Tank, Part 3)
So we’ve got to part where we decide if we’re going to cowboy up and do this tanking thing. Below are the tanking vows, all of which we’ve already talked about. We never really say them to anyone out loud, and no one really knows about them. Except us. I, the Tank: Will, before all […]
So You Want to Tank (Part 2)
You came back. Okay then. Let’s talk about the real challenges of playing a tank class. First thing: the challenge is not in the skills. The actual mechanics of playing a tank aren’t any more difficult than any other class; you can easily grok the basics. A successful tank, expressed in the most simple terms, […]
Cry of Vengeance can Bite Me (LotRO)
We interrupt our regularly scheduled Tanking Part 2 post to bitch about Cry of Vengeance. I’ve said this before in the CSTM Captain Roundtable, but it bears repeating: Cry of Vengeance is the #1 “looks great but is actually terrible” skill for Captains and, in my opinion, In the Game.[1] Here’s what it does: When […]
So You Want to Tank (Part 1) (LotRO)
First off, let me dissuade you. There are some necessities that come with taking on a tanking role, and they are not for the faint-hearted. Or sane. Or the responsibility-adverse. “What’s that you say about responsibility?” Let me explain. It started like this: Back in the black-and-green days of text-based MUDs, people tried to figure […]
“So fast, the bowstring smokes”
The first character I ever created on Lord of the Rings was a hunter. I didn’t know much about the class other than the obvious things one could infer about the class based on the description an the LotR IP itself, but that didn’t slow me down — making up a ranged DPS class as […]
Raiding for a New Raider, Part 2: Good Manners
When I first starting playing Lord of the Rings Online, I was struck by one really consistent element among the playerbase: there were a lot of people out there who (proudly) stated that they’d never played another MMO before LotRO. And that’s awesome. Don’t think for a moment that I would have it any other […]
(LotRO) Salves are Evil and Worthy Only of Disdain
Heh. Got your attention? I actually have a two a few other posts I plan to write today, but I wanted to quickly address a theme I saw in the (fantastic and insightful) replies to the last post. The suggestion was to bring along Disease, Wound, Poison, and Fear salves as well as the potions […]
A new raider’s raid-readiness Checklist (LotRO)
(Disclaimer: I’m not an uberleet raider in LotRO by any means, but I do run raids and I do know what you need to do to ensure some fun and success while raiding… even if I don’t have time to raid every other night right now.) “All right, I’ve my radiance gear!. Where’s the raid?” […]
So What can Two People do in a Moria six-man?
… pretty much anything they want. (Click for bigger.) A few notes: No, this wasn’t challenge mode. We certainly didn’t have the DPS for that. There’s a way to snag the devoted without doing the challenge if you’re super careful and moderately crazy. No one can tell me Overpower-mode guardian’s can’t tank six-mans. I mean… […]
Someone’s Working Through Some Issues
From “Conversations With My Wife As We Play LotRO”: A Disturbing New Trend In Faction Reputation
What not-game am I not-playing, here?
Yesterday I was pondering a couple of recent gaming purchases I’ve made. Annalise. Diaspora. 3:16. Trail of Cthulu. Like that, you know: table top roleplaying games. And somewhere in my ruminations of same (thinking about what game I’d like to play and/or run next), my mind wandered, as it does, to other topics, one of […]
This weekend…
We painted our house, introduced Kaylee to classic musicals… And killed a friggin’ BALROG. If that picture doesn’t adequately convey the power of the Ancient Maiar compared to humble mortals… then I can’t help you. Rawr. There was much shouting amongst our merry band of heroes. Next up: a giant turtle, nesting within the waterworks […]
LotRO – a set on Flickr
Kate and I have taken all the screenshots from the last two years of playing LotRO and put them up on the Flickr. With comments. It’s probably about as interesting as a slideshow of someone else’s vacation, but it makes us happy, so there. LotRO – a set on Flickr.
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 […]
LotRO: They can rebuild it. Better, stronger, faster, and dude… way f@*#ing cooler.
As I mentioned on my other blog, Kate and I decided a week or so ago to try out some new characters in Lord of the Rings Online (our MMO of choice) so that we could explore the changes/improvements to the ’starter’ areas in the game. Kate likes playing elves (*shudder*) and I like me […]
Machinima: Order of Middle Earth
I’m a big fan of machinima made from games that I’m playing. My only MMO at the moment is LotRO, and while the game is great, one of the things I’ve missed from WOW is the amount of great machinima movies that the player base produces. (Lots of crappy ones also, but there’s so many […]