Argh, where am I going to find the money to buy another mmo expansion I’ll play for a month and burn out on.
I was thinking about this today. Much depends on how many groups there are. If there are enough for two groups, then we could split up into the “run around the shire collecting eggs and chickens and mail” group and the “hit the instances” group. Or maybe everyone will just want to hit the instances. That’s doable too. We’ll have to see who pops on.
I hear there’s positions available in the back alley.
Hey guys. On a bus (posting from a PSP!) and won’t likely make it home in time to group up. Hope everyone has fun.
Well we finished up to the start of Bree tonight. Most everyone logged off at the Prancing Pony or thereabouts. Shire is basically done, though I’d probably suggest everyone finish out their quests there for next week - as that should take everyone to 13-15 for next Monday.
Am Cecildoc by the way.
Alright I finished all the quests I had available in the Shire and more than a few extra that I picked up and did just about all the deeds I had available there to boot - that brought me to level 15 which seems a good number to aim for next Monday.
Also managed to get my level 15 Warden shield, such a thing of beauty. Encamped outside the Prancing Pony for next Monday.
Alright, I’ve grabbed Mines. Anyone need some buddy keys? I believe Thornwise is already 15 (though I’m not sure what chapter he was in - something in the lone lands, I believe) so I’ll start work on an alt.
CSL, are you sure that cleaning up those 3 or so Shire quests that were still on us would put us that high? I"m only level 11 now.
I had far, far more than three. I went through all the quests I had left after we had gotten to Bree - which was about a dozen - though I dropped some of the lower end ones that didn’t have any good rewards, and continued through their associated quest lines (the Odo Leaf Farm, stuff around Brockenborings, the rest of the mail quests in the Shire, etc) which got me to 15. I was already almost to 13 after we finished so it was only two levels or so.
I’d assume that going back and getting most of the lvl ~10 quests around the Shire that are easily soloable will get you to lvl 13-15 in about two or three hours.
Last night was great fun with the East Coast group. Looking forward to doing some Bree questing next week.
I’ve really enjoyed myself the last few weeks, but it’s doubtful I will play additional sessions during the week to get levels for the casual Monday night group. Hopefully I can still get a couple more sessions in before you all outlevel me.
Sidd, I don’t know how it is on the early East coast group, but quite a few people this week hadn’t played any during the week, and it turned out fine. So far I’ve only played on Monday nights, and that’s one of the reasons this idea appealed to me so much. And I think there’s quite a few people who are participating who feel the same way. So I don’t think you’ll get left behind as long as you keep playing on Mondays with us.
When I logged off at 2AM EST last night the vast majority of the kinship was registering as 13 or 14 in the list. I saw nobody at 15 and only a couple at 11/12, so I think as long as you’ve made it to level 13 (or even a high 12) at this point you’ll be fine for advancing with everyone into the Bree-Land quests.
There are dozens of solo quests all over the Shire if you’re looking to tack on an additional level or two in an effort to get to 13. Most will give 250-500xp even with crappy rewards, so you can level fairly quickly all the way to 13 or 14 doing them. I honestly would not recommend advancing beyond 14 for the Bree-Land stuff to begin with as at 15 or above it’s going to go green on you in the early parts. Although I suppose if you’re a tank it wouldn’t hurt to have the extra hps/skill that comes with the extra level, as you’ll be taking most of the hits anyway.
Oh, and running around doing the various deeds, be they exploration deeds like the towns and farms or kill deeds like wolves/bats/goblins will net you not only XP but also some nifty trait rewards in a lot of cases.
The way Tom originally set this up was for a 4-hour block of play. Since most of us have only been playing 3 hours Monday night, it seems fine to make up the time during the week and play catch-up. I finished at level 13 last night and will almost certainly be 14+ by next Monday by going back and soloing some of my skipped quests. If you play less than everyone else consistently, it will show up as an ever increasing gap. But thanks to alts, hope is not lost for those looking for a group. I currently have 6 untagged alts between levels 9-13 on Nimrodel. If someone is falling behind, I could always drop back to an alt and help out. Throughout my MMO career, I have usually been the one lagging behind everyone else due to limited playtime. If I can help someone avoid that fate, I will.
Had a lot of fun last night. Getting a chance to do fellowship quests that I missed the first time has been great. Still getting used to the burglar and playing in a full-size group. Definitely more challenging than my previous experience. I just gained the skill that allows me to initiate fellowship maneuvers. Anyone with experience doing those want to give some suggested combos? Most pickup groups I have been in usually just spam Red.
Anyone else having cash flow problems? I couldn’t even train all my level 13 skills due to lack of coin. I never had this problem when I played before.
Whoops. I was way out of line on my memory - Thornwise is actually level 27. I do have a champion that’s level 12, though. I made my hunter a human, and my champion an elf - I did things aaaaaallll backwards.
Big time. Slainte is BROKE after making repairs and training skills. I didn’t even have 5sp for a horse back to MD, I had to run. Some of that is due to crafting expenses, but mostly it’s due to the fact that when I’m playing I’m only playing in groups, which means I only loot every 3rd or 4th kill, and sometimes not even that if we’re really moving fast. If I were soloing on the days in between the Monday Madness nights I’d be converting a lot more loot to cash. This may become a more pronounced issue as repair and skill costs rise sharply after level 20.
I created a Hunter alt named Ariondel originally to provide Slainte with boiled hides for crafting, but now he’s actually funneling cash to Slainte as well. My alt will outlevel Slainte fairly quickly I’m betting, and hopefully be able to make up any cash shortfalls I may have later on.
If we fall behind, we’ll just have to form two groups, one at around lvl 15 and another for the around lvl 11-12s!
Bear in mind that if you can do some additional questing in the Shire for next Monday you should at least temporarily get flush with cash (relatively). I got to a peak of around 200S before I used just about all of it on skills and the bard.
Alright, it’s Monday again. I plan to be on. Anyone else? We had just enough for one full group last week so I hope we do at least that well this time.
I sponged enough coin from one of my alts to get my skill training up to date. Russmon is now 14 and sitting outside the Pony.
I’ll be on for sure.