Lord of the Rings Experiment

[LotRO] One ring to bind them all…

Somehow I can’t think of a better phrase to sum up my recent conundrum with Lord of the Rings Online. What type of conundrum? Well, this might be one of those long stories so you might want to make yourself comfortable, get something to drink, etc.

I’ve been thinking for a little while about giving Lord of the Rings Online another go for some reasons. The first one is since I’ve left Everquest 2, I’ve been having a severe case of decoration withdrawal. So much in fact that even a limited housing system like the one in the LotRO sounds better than any. The second reason is because I’ve been checking some blogs like Lotro Fashion, Landroval Style and Brazokie’s Blog Space and I’ve been pretty much drooling over the outfits. Now, like a former wise clannie in Lineage 2 would say “In real life I don’t care about my appearance but in game I am a metrosexual.” LotRO to me is one of the best games for that kind of… uh… I dunno, philosophy, I guess? Anyway, the thing is the game has a ton of cool looking outfits and a pretty good system to show them off while still wearing your mismatched gear with uber stats. And if I am going to be killing X orcs for their middle toe nails I might as well do it with style damnit!

What finally pushed me to do it was a promotion on GameStop/Impulse that I found out at the Frugal Gamer. It was the Mithril Edition for 50% off and considering its contents it just seemed one of those bargains that you can’t resist. That discount is already gone but you can still get it for about $20.

The LotRO Experiment Part 3: I’m rich! I’m rich! … Ok, I am not.

Before getting into the usual rambling about LotRO proper, just a heads-up. This little project will be put on hold for a few days, at least. There are a few other games I want to catch up (and have I been sorely neglecting them) so my plan is to do it in the next couple days. I will see if there is something interesting to write about it then it there will be something here.

Also, this weekend Tinkerfest, a once in a year event, will start in Everquest 2. That is another reason for putting the project on hold. Depending on how Tinkerfest goes, I might resume this project only when the event ends, on August 8th. Again, if I find anything interesting to say about it then it will be posted here.

Alright, with that said back to the dusty roads of The Shire.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead about Lord of the Rings Online quests and other stuff. If that bothers you, don’t read further!

The LotRO Experiment Part 2: The Shire Odd Jobs

WARNING: Spoilers about the game’s quests ahead! So don’t read any further if it bothers you.

When we last left our hero*, he had just returned to the Shire. That after a brief encounter with a Black Rider, being captured by bandits, trying to protect (and failing) a village from said bandits, resulting with the death of the guard captain and the whole village going down in flames. If that wasn’t bad enough he also witnessed a ranger joining the forces of Mordor. Granted, said ranger was previously stabbed by a Black Rider while trying to rescue him and the other hobbits. But who is counting, right?

Hopefully this time he will have some actual heroics to brag about. Or at least not have anything go down in flames around him or rangers turning to the enemy side after being stabbed.

Of course, the search for ways to earn TPs continues as well.

* Hero here is being used in the broadest sense of the word.

The LotRO Experiment – Part 1: One dagger to stab them all!

It was a chilly night in the shire. Inside my office it wasn’t much better but it didn’t bother me. I had opened it six months ago to offer my services as a private eye. Since then my jobs have been all small ones, nothing too complicated. Bakeries who thought their clients were cheating with pies from rival bakeries, lore-keepers who lost their pets, taking care of 10 rats… All properly taken care of and archived in the quest log for future reference.

While I smoked my pipe, reminiscing about the time past, a woman came into my office. She had the looks that would drive any other hobbit female in the Shire mad with jealous. Her face was elegantly framed with blonde hair, her blue eyes had an exquisite gaze about them. Then there was the woman’s hair foot, carefully trimmed and brushed, like the owner was used to a life of nothing but luxury.

She walked calmly to my desk, dropping a large beige envelope on it and- Ooops! Wrong introduction! Sorry!

*clears throat*

So, the character was created and some stuff happened. That stuff may or may not have involved work as a private investigator and hobbits femme fatales. Read on to find out the details!

Oh, yeah. There might be spoilers about quests and stuff too! So, don’t click on the “Read More” if that bothers you.

The Lord of the Rings Online Experiment – Introduction

Recently I decided, on a whim, to play a bit of Lord of the Rings Online. I had tried it before during beta and a trial later on with a friend. In both times it never really captured my heart enough to actually want to subscribe to the game. Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO from this point on) however has switched to a “free to play” model for some time now. So I decided to check it out again and if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t be losing anything more than my time. If I liked it but found myself not playing it for long periods of time for a reason or another then there would be no worries about wasting money because I wasn’t playing.

As I delved into LotRo again I found that the game’s “free to play” model wasn’t exactly what I expected… But I also find something interested, that might be unique to Turbine games that made me think about starting this little experiment.