Remember…

Even NPC’s need to loot the corpses!

LotRo: Alt-itis

I am not sure why I do this, but I do, in every MMO I play.  I’m sure a good shrink could tell me exactly what this means but, I have no clue.  Perhaps a fear of commitment?  So I make my first LotRo character.  He’s a Champion.  Some Melee DPS action going on.  I’m a huge fan of me some melee.  And I am diggin him.  I’ve got him fishing some, crafting some…he’s going places. 

At level 12 when I’m roaming around Bree, I see this little Hobbit floating around the crafting area and he looked TOTALLY AWESOME! He had some stubby toes and a bear face looking hood and two cool looking pot-sticker weapons.  I inspected him to find he was a hunter.  I need a Hunter.  Thus my hunter was born.

I am really digging my hunter.  He’s awesome and most things are dying at my feet without hitting me at all.  He doesn’t look super cool yet but I know he will with a bit of time.  At this point in the game I’m selling most of my harvested items for some decent coin.  Trying to work up to a house before I start my crafting.  I’m soloing everything pretty decent with my hunter but, groups are providing a challenge.  It kind of stinks that I can’t really heal myself.  It would be good if I could do some damage and heal myself.

Hello Lore-Master, how are you today.  I’m not too far into my lore master.  He’s still in the brand, new, noob area.  But, he’s got his crow and a heal and a real good nuke.  But while my bird was peckin’ away at some wolf some Hobbit next to me keeps screaming.  I’ll be fighting a mob and from out of no where I hear a “AAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!”  So, I stop to check out this Minstrel.  Now he looks pretty cool.

My Minstrel is pretty awesome.  He’s got a cool little lute he’ll break out and play at mobs.  “Hey mob!  Gonna kill you, wrote alittle song about it.  Wanna hear it?  Here it go.”  So far I really enjoy him.

And of course, I’ve also made a Warden (didn’t care for him by at level 3) and am about to make a Burglar.

I do want to make a few points about LotRo: 

First was my download time.  From Turbine I was hitting 700 – 900 kbps.  That is some awesome speed from a game company to my house.  Here at work, I’m downloading the High Res version and holding steady at 2.3 Mbps.  Very nice!

Second.  Lag in game…or lack of lag in game.  I’m in a fairly populated server, with my settings at a decent level.  I as of yet have hit any thing that resembles lag.

Last.  This is my second favorite starter area’s from any MMO (first being EQ2’s RoK noob section TD).  If you start reading the quests, you can’t stop.  If you are familiar with LotR you’ll know exactly where you are in the plot.  It gives you enough leash for you not to realize you’re being led around the zone while totally being lead around the zone.

So far, my experiences have all been positive and I am feeling very emerged.  I’ll keep you posted.

LoTRO: The Timing Is Right

For the first time in quite some time, my weekend had quite of MMO happening.  My month of Everquest was up and my wife and I decided not to resub.  Don’t get me wrong we had a blast but, maybe a taste of the game is all we need to satisfy our EQ craving.  I don’t think we did too bad.  Levels 1 – 30 in a month of a little more than casual play isn’t too shabby I don’t think.

I left Vanguard as well.  I am slightly disappointed I didn’t ride it out for a bit longer to get my Shaman up a few more levels to finally get his pet. I can list my reasons but, I’m pretty sure I’d just be making excuses.  For some reason, I just couldn’t get into the game.  Pretty sure, me not getting into the game, was all my fault.

Great, now I don’t have an MMO to play.  I mean, I don’t have to play MMO’s but I like to have one locked and loaded just in case I need to one.  What to do, what to do.

It’s weird how my brain works sometimes and how I associate things.  So, via numberous blogs and Massively, I see DDO is going F2P.  I know some players are complaining about it but, it today’s tough economic time, I think it’s a “except change or loose the game” kind of situation. And a change like this, good or bad, is getting DDO mentioned everywhere (for a change).  Even my grandmother called and asked me about it (she’s very hip for her age).

With that, I started humming a tune of “Turbine smart, mart, mart-mart-mart” and hit up their website.  I checked out DDO and signed up for their F2P beta.  I then wandered over to LoTRo’s  website.  I’ve said it before, from what I’ve played (which has been limited to the trial) I really enjoyed the game.  I’ve never just been in the right circumstances to play it.  Either I’m happy with the MMO I’m playing, or I’ve been broke or something.  But, I see on the website that I can pick up Mines of Moria for $10 and pay $10 a month.  Hey that’s pretty sweet.  And, I’m not playing any MMO.  Time see’s pretty good.

I must say, that I am a bit concerned with higher levels.  When I hear multiple, old school Everquest players tell me the game gets way too grindy,it makes a bead of sweat instantly appear on my brow (ooooooo magic).  But let’s be honest here.  As fickle as I have been on my MMO’s lately, do we really think I’ll last that long?  I guess we will see.

VG: Noob Days Are Gone

It’s all a matter of setting a goal and attaining that goal.  That is what I did last night.  I logged in, and got a Temple group…did I say group, I meant Trio.  A trio of healers at that.  2 Shaman and a Disciple. 

I scouted the area yesterday and a trio of healers had me a bit worried to say the least.  It was a happy surprise to find we pretty much steam rolled in a very quick fashion will little or no problems.

The Temple it self was a nice area.  Full of mobs and quests.  We ran across people doing diplomacy quests in there.  I found the middle of a dungeon to be an odd place to do diplomacy at but, for some reason I have a feeling that it offered a really good story line to it.

What Big Eyes You Have!

That concluded my adventuring quests.  I know that diplomacy and crafting is suppose to be some of the highlights of Vanguard, I have decided to skip those aspects of the game, as I know my time is limited.

When leaving the starter area, I was given all 3 continents as a option where to go.  I figured as a Vulmane, Thestra would be as good of place as any and one of the guys from my group agreed to go there as well and show me the ropes.

Per his advice, the first thing we’d want to do is get some mounts.  After 2 griffon rentals (griffons are awesome) and 15 minutes, we finally made it there.  15s to get a starter mount is pretty sweet.  But, considering the distance we had to travel, I am thinking a mount is a must in the game.

He also got me over to what he said was a good place for the level.  It was nice to find a guide ini the game.  I made sure I added him on my friends list and he had me join a brotherhood just to see what it would do.

I Shall Call Him Mini-Me

I had to look it up this morning…

The Brotherhood System
Brotherhoods are a method for you and your friends to gain experience for each other, even when some of you are offline.

Features

·         All experience you earn is split amongst the members of the fellowship, even members who are offline.

·         When you are in debt or have lost experience, your experience will be devoted to repaying your debt/loss before you resume contributing to the brotherhood.

·         Brotherhoods are completely independent from groups; you can be a member of both at the same time.
Limitations

Brotherhoods can have a maximum of six members.
You must be within five levels of every member of the brotherhood in order to join.
You must be within a few meters distance to invite a player to your brotherhood.
If you leave your brotherhood or are removed, you may not join another one for four hours of online played time.
Members who are offline do not receive their experience until they log on. (Be careful when using the system to level up rarely-played characters, as their skills will fall behind, thus they will be very weak for their levels!)

That actually sounds pretty sweet.  Now to find the housing and level up to get my pet.

SWTOR: This Must Be Shared

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/49937.html

HOTTTT!!!!!!!!