1741

I’m still on Nimrodel with:

  • Nairb: lvl 65 Man Loremaster
  • Kormli: lvl 65 Dwarf Minstrel
  • Porkbelly: lvl 40 Hobbit Guardian
1742

I’ve got a number of Nimrodelians, but am usually found on one of these currently:

-Balkadus: lvl 65 Dwarf Minstrel
-Melliwyn: lvl 65 Human Burglar
-Kelzibet: lvl 39 Hobbit Hunter
-Brekosi: lvl 25 Dwarf Guardian

I’ve played a lot of LotRO, but still consider myself somewhat of a noob. But if anyone needs a hand with anything give me a shout.

1743

I have:
Mummy 65 captain- my main raiding character
Eviebelle 65 minstrel
Eafe 65 warden
Wilbur 64 hunter (my first ever mmo character)
Finley 45 loremaster
Peder 39 champion
Hameish 13 burglar

However, I only play twice a week because I enjoy my raid group. The game is dead for me otherwise. They’re just stripping and cannibalising the corpse for the FTP and disregarding anyone who might actually want to play new content any time this year.
I’ll also forecast that Enidwaith will be a bath tub sized expansion like Mirkwood and will be completable in a week.
Seriously, we’re meant to be excited that we can do instances that we’ve already done umpteen times?
At the moment my raid group is still bashing our way through Barad Guldur though we don’t know why. The final armour lowers your stats and power regen dramatically with a tradeoff for having more hope. The best thing you can hope to get is a doormat for your house. Wheee!

1744

No doubt. I’ve lost a lot of interest in LOTRO raiding because they’ve pinned everything on this radiance/hope mechanism, but then turned around and screwed it up. I run Moria instances to get tier 1 rad armor, leave Moria to continue levelling in Loth and Mirkwood, each of which saw new hope armor sets that often have individual pieces that are worse, stats-wise, than the original Moria set. Makes no sense at all.

And don’t get me started on their DAoC-stolen LI system. For the game being an MMO, it’s amazing how much time you spend alone running instances to level those weapons and the relics you need for them. The game was much better before Turbine released Moria IMO, but at least in 2009 they were releasing content.

The one thing the game has going for it over other MMOs is the community, at least on Nimrodel, but I suspect the F2P crap will be the end of that.

1745

I hear you. The skirmish instances were advertised as some sort of ‘popcorn’ sized bit of fun. And then they decided that the only way to level up a single weapon was to have you do 200 skirmishes.

I’ve run SG quite a few times and have seen a symbol of Celebrimbor drop three times… Don’t get me started on the whole 2nd age weapon grind.

1746

I’ll certainly jump on the bandwagon for grumping about the lack of new content this year, though I lack the disdain the rest of you seem to have for the radiance and LI systems. I think that’s mostly because I don’t raid in LotRO.

The LI system is flawed, but I actually enjoy it as an alternate form of character advancement. Where some people find the search for the perfect LI tedious and annoying, I enjoy the thought that I might find a better one.

As for radiance, as a non-raider, I’m indifferent. I can appreciate the intent behind the design, but I recognize it shows a lack of understanding of the average raider’s mindset.

1747

I have 3 Nimrodel charatcers:

–Kaliante 63 (Monday night groupings)
–Kammy 39
–Kalianta 27

I haven’t played the latter two much because I stopped finding QT3 people to group with. I’ll keep an eye out for your 39 and 25 characters, Durbain.

I also have a character on Landroval (Aryanne). My plan was to try to hook up with some of the people who have posted about a GWJ kinship, but my schedule hasn’t seemed to match up too well with the characters I put on my friends list.

Kal

1748

I’ve got one of each class on Nimrodel (yes, nine toons) ranging from 63 down to 20.
Russmon - 63 Burglar (Officer in KoQt3 kin)
Fheirin - 43 Hunter
Malibu - 37 Warden (Officer in KoQt3 kin)
Ironbar - 36 Champion
Trisaran - 33 Runekeeper
Zaera - 27 Captain
Agosto - 25 Loremaster
Snoromir - 20 Guardian
Fearlis - 20 Minstrel

The Qt3 kin is admittedly not a very active kinship at the moment but I am hoping for a resurgence once the F2P change hits. If anyone wants an invite, let me know. I believe the raiding folks are in a different kin.

1749

I have started playing again, too. I am on Landroval. My 50 minstrel (Oghier) is basically a tailor-bot now, as I am having a pile more fun playing my Loremaster (Aramur), currently 34th level.

Just riding around and looking at the sights is great in this game.

1750

The search for an LI isn’t the awful part. Leveling up the legacies is the part that is soul destroying.

As for radiance, as a non-raider, I’m indifferent. I can appreciate the intent behind the design, but I recognize it shows a lack of understanding of the average raider’s mindset.

I never intended to be a raider, but all of the end-game content is hidden in raids. It felt like never being able to read the last chapter of a book, knowing that it existed.

1751

I’ll try to make the 7pm Monday nite start time, but might be a wee-bit late. Gotta drop the wife off at the car dealership, they’ve had the van today to fix a few recall issues (07 Odyssey). It closes at 7 so should be back by then. My minstrel’s name is Sesuadra (last name Jenjiyana, had to be consistent in ripping Tad Williams off).

1752

I jumped into the F2P beta because I never gave LOTRO a fair shake and I have to say I’m incredibly impressed with the world they’ve built here. From the architecture to the landscaping, it’s really first rate. I think my only complaint would be the somewhat wooden character animations, but considering they share this same problem with every MMO that isn’t WoW it’s mostly a non-issue.

So, anyway, my gushing out of the way, I’m curious if there’s a quick and dirty guide to acquiring a horse early in the game? I bought myself a horse/training off the store with my free 1000 beta points but when it launches for real (and I don’t have free points) I’d love to get myself a mount ASAP.

Also, slaying things with my lute is great. Every game needs lute-slaying.

1753

At level 20, you can buy a starter horse. It costs about 220 silver, and it’s a bit faster than running. At 40, you can get a regular mount. That costs 4 gold, and you have to do about an hour of questing to get the riding skill. These mounts come from Hengstacer Stables, north of Bree Town.

There are a huge variety of faction- and festival-based mounts as well. All of them require level 40. As far as I know, they all run at the same speed as the regular mount.

1754

Minor correction to Oghier’s posts: the regular mount is obtainable at level 35.

Here’s a nice guide on how to obtain a mount, and on what the differet mounts look like:
http://www.statesmanswatch.com/lotro/horses01.html

1755

I dropped 220s on the level 20 starter horse - complete waste of silver, you don’t notice any difference.

I believe the Hunter buff is faster.

1756

The mount is a tiny bit faster, but it’s hardly worth it. Unless I was going a long way it wasn’t worth the three seconds to mount up.

1757

That money is also taken off the price of the 35 horse, too, so for characters that don’t have access to the hunter’s buff, it’s a good deal.

1758

Thanks for the help, guys. I think I’ll be opting to buy a mount from the store at level 8 if that option is still available at F2P launch.

1759

When does this go Free to Play for all the servers? I cancelled my sub awhile back, but would love to return once it’s free and see what my accounts have access to.

EDIT : Checked the site, “Fall” is all they’ve commited to so far on F2P.

Looks like returning former subscribers get the shaft. We’re considered “Premium” players, but don’t get a whole lot more than the free players get. I’m curious how they will handle the bag limit, gold cap, trait cap, destiny point and other limitations placed on Premium accounts for those characters who all ready have more of those items than Premium allows. I’m also curious what happens to the extra characters (above 3) on a former subscriber account once it goes Premium. Honestly, having spent $10 a month for two years and purchased the base game and both expansions I feel like I should at the very least be able to keep and use everything I’ve earned, from my gold to my bags to my destiny points.

1760

Hi Slainte, long time! As far as I know, the only way to keep all of your gold and bags/inventory is to pop for one month that overlaps the beginning of the free-to-play era. Then when you cancel your subscription and downgrade from VIP to freebie you will keep the gold, bags, and inventory you had. The other restrictions will apply if I correctly remember the FAQ I read.

Kal