PC Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) - Mines of Moria Expansion

[Michael Dorosh]

Ok, I just visited the LOTRO forums after searching around online, and I've initiated a transfer request for my Level 36 Hunter to see if he can't come and play in Landroval - hopefully we'll see some of the Gamesquad types there sooner or later. I'll keep an eye out for the Kings Beyond the Wall crowd in my travels. I was last seen in Evendim myself - after also roaming the Misty Mountains, I took my anniversary tokens into Rivendell for barter for gifts, and ended up with a quest to the Rangers - seemed easy and a nice break from fighting snow creatures.

[Palantir]

...ended up with a quest to the Rangers - seemed easy and a nice break from fighting snow creatures.

A nice thing about the game is just that, if you get tired of seeing nothing but snow or blackness there are ton's of quests and interesting things to do elsewhere.

When we got to Moria it was one spooky place, shadows & darkness at every turn & hard to see very far. But I thought my setting might be off having seen screenshots of the same area: they were, my ambient light settings were too "low" for Moria (set ok for other areas but not here). I increased them and I could see "everything." Kind of a bummer actually when I did that, just like up in Forochel (the blue fog bug), the cool uneasy atmosphere/mood I first encountered was now not as gripping. So I went back in and tweaked the settings until I got a nice balance of being able to see what I needed to yet, keep the gloomy feeling. (Although if I get with a fellowship I'll up the settings to see what they see!)

If you remember the old FPS game "Thief" the same thing happened to me. My settings were initially so low that I pretty much crept along everywhere in deep shadows for most of the game (not a bad thing for a thief!) It was one of the hardest I have played. I finally came to a cavern that was totally black & I died so many times I knew something was not right. I found the settings and upped them and the "lights" literally came on in the game. By then having fought thru all that darkness I was like- this game is easy. And, the ambiance was destroyed. So in Moria to keep that "black pit" feeling I keep the settings on the "darker" side.

I've initiated a transfer request for my Level 36 Hunter to see if he can't come and play in Landroval

Thanks for the heads up, I posted a warning to all the Landroval players you were coming.

A lot of players don't like Evendim (Everswim) but it's one of my favorite areas. Being a LOTR fan & knowing the back-story makes questing & fight here that much more enjoyable.

FYI- the latest info is that the next area added to the game will be Southern Mirkwood from the Old forest Road southward to include fighting for Dol Guldur (Sauron's old fortress/city now under control of the Nazgul). More giant forest spiders, bandits and undead to fight in the streets.

Sounds like fun!

[jayedub7423]

Seeing as how they are having a free week of play I decided to reinstall an play some. I decided to try out the new warden class, and I am loving it. I still like my champion, and I realised that I am not a fan of my captain.

But I am having alot of fun, so there is a chance that I might go ahead and reactivate my account, we shall see.

[Palantir]

I decided to try out the new warden class, and I am loving it. I still like my champion, and I realised that I am not a fan of my captain.But I am having alot of fun, so there is a chance that I might go ahead and reactivate my account, we shall see.

Hope to see you around.

The Warden is the uber-solo class (for now) from all that I have read having good attack & healing abilities. I leveled mine to 18th before deciding it was just ok: but I liked the Hunter enough to start a second one to solo with.

I really liked my Burglar up until about 40th (it was fun soloing him) but my style of play as a "stealth" burglar in most groups is too frustrating. I think a burglar = sneaky/hiding etc but before you can do any of that the rest of the fellowship has already charged ahead into combat. Guardians & Champs aren't known for patience when mobs are near. I may need to read up more on Burgs & retrait him and try again.

[Michael Dorosh]

Thanks for the heads up, I posted a warning to all the Landroval players you were coming.

Hey, I never told you my username, so you might not know it's me.

While I am waiting for the transfer, I decided to try out a new Hunter in Landroval. It took me about 3 hours to get through the Intro Quests again and Level up to 8. A damn server hiccup and CTD robbed me of my UNDEFEATED title! But I will stick with the "THE WARY" title I got for going undefeated up to level 5. His screen name is GAMESQUATTER if you should happen to see him running around sometime, though I don't expect to see him in Evendim anytime soon, if I continue to use him. The lustre has fallen off of him already after being robbed of that lucrative title...

I was impressed, however, with the quality of the chatter I noticed when I was off in Chetwood and Combe Lumber Camp. People were talking to each other on the chat line in complete sentences, and capitalizing words and stuff. They kept referring to RP which to me is "Regimental Police" until it dawned on me they were referring to "Role playing", which made me recall your comments here. Convinced me the move to the new server will be a good thing.

A lot of players don't like Evendim (Everswim) but it's one of my favorite areas. Being a LOTR fan & knowing the back-story makes questing & fight here that much more enjoyable.

I started a discussion in another thread a while ago about where people would most want to live in the fictional Middle Earth. I originally said in Bree, but I'm starting to lean toward Evendim now...I also like this area a lot and find myself returning often. It's compact, there are two population areas with Buy/Sell features that are easy to get to quickly, and there are plentiful quests in addition to great scenery (growing up near the Rocky Mountains, I have a fondness for mountains, evergreens and clear-water lakes, what can I say). That whole Statue-of-Liberty thing is too cool - I hope they unlock the door someday because I'd dearly love to climb the stairs and look out from the top.

FYI- the latest info is that the next area added to the game will be Southern Mirkwood from the Old forest Road southward to include fighting for Dol Guldur (Sauron's old fortress/city now under control of the Nazgul). More giant forest spiders, bandits and undead to fight in the streets.

Sounds like fun!

I hope that at some point, they have a massive release - say, when they get to Gondor or Rohan - that will unleash an area as large as Eriador. My concern with that, though, would be in how long it takes to code or even envision it all (hopefully they are already working on it, if such a thing is in the planning). I'd hate to think we will only get the rest of Middle Earth in bite size chunks, one little area at a time - even if they are "free" releases. Not that I'm complaining - I'm still not levelled up enough to enter Moria, and I've never even tried Monster play or done much with crafting (did do a bit of farming and some fishing). So there's still a lot to experience with my investment as is.

I was not a fan of the Old Forest so I'm not sure I will like Mirkwood, but the Old Forest did get better once I realized I could actually navigate while in "map mode" quite reasonably...

[Michael Dorosh]

By the way - Don Maddox has graciously created a new forum for LOTRO here:

http://forums.gamesquad.com/forumdisplay.php?f=265

[Palantir]

By the way - Don Maddox has graciously created a new forum for LOTRO here:

WHAT!!!!
(heading there...)

[Michael Dorosh]

Hey,
Combat Traps- it's a class trait as you know and should be able to be slotted if you have an opening. You should have 4 class slots at 35, don't know why you cant slot it.

Because I'm an idiot.

I was rereading the manual tonight, and I have been oblivious to the fact - since I got the game in September - that you need to "equip" traits with a Bard. I have had a backlog of traits waiting to be equipped - I was assuming that the traits just automatically kicked in. The combat traps is the only one that is kind of explicitly noticeable by its absence. Page 67 discusses in detail how to equip them - so I went to Bree and did so, and equipped and headed back to the Trollshaws and am astonished how much more powerful I am with a bunch of traits equipped.

[Redwolf]

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