Are you on the Landroval Server?  Are you seeking to join or transfer to a Kinship?  Look no further than the Keepers of Ayrshire!  We are a group of mature (yet quirky) players that emphasize camaraderie above all else.  Other Kinships may claim to have the “most helpful players,” but none can come close to the Keepers.  The players are experienced gamers who have spent years playing various MMORPGs.

So what exactly can the Keepers offer?

• Casual Playing Experience:  No one will ever, ever ask you where you have been.  You can be gone two days or twenty - real life always comes first.
• Helpfulness:  Need new level-appropriate gear?  Want to finally conquer that pesky fellowship quest?  Working on your Legendary Traits?  Whatever your needs, you will be amazed at the willingness of every Keeper to lend a hand.
• Active Roster/Leadership:  The Keepers are made up of players of all ages.  The officers are long-time LOTRO players who are active on a regular basis and know the ropes.  It is extremely rare for a member to log-on and find no other Keepers playing the game.  There are Keepers located all across the globe.
• In-game Events/Raiding:  While events are slower for the moment with the release of Moria, the Keepers normally have a fairly active calendar.  Epic Book runs, Class-quest item runs, Rift Raids, RP events, Kinship meetings, etc.

So contact a Keeper today and find out how you can start your new and exciting membership in the best Kinship on Landroval (no offense to all others intended)!  Fill out an application on the Kinship forums at the following link, and we hope to see you in the game!

http://cghunter.com/keepersboards/ubbthreads.php

Incredible.  Absolutely breathtaking.  I finally reached the other side of Moria last night, with the help of a Kinmate.  Guardian’s Promise is really a very useful skill, particularly when one is a more casual player.  Some of my kinmates made it a point to run to Lórien at level 50 or 51 (right after Moria came out).  I wanted to take things slowly so that I could savor Lórien once I finally got there.  Well worth the wait.

I am very, very excited to see the entire region.  To speak with the Lady Galadriel and walk through the “heart of Elfdom on Earth.”  Even now, though, the whole place is truly stunning.  Excellent job, devs!

Christmas Eve!  Truly the most magical day out of all the 365 days of the year.  Christmas Day is the best, but the sense of anticipation in the air on Christmas Eve makes this day far more magical.  I hope that this post finds each of you well for Christmas.  May your day be filled with magic and your New Year happy from beginning to end.  I think the words of Kermit the Frog express my feelings best today:

There’s magic in the air this evening,
Magic in the air.
The world is at her best, you know,
When people love and care.
The promise of excitement
Is one the night will keep.
After all, there’s only one more sleep ’til Christmas.

What a pleasant and unexpected surprise!  I have never been very interested in crafting.  As a player who has a wife and children (plus a VERY full time job), crafting was one of the in-game activities that went by the wayside.  This is especially true because Dwarf-Iron Ore is so hard to come by, meaning that I was stuck on that tier of weaponsmithing.  Tonight, though, I received a crafting XP token that gave me automatic proficiency in the Artisan tier!  Huzzah!

I feel guilty accepting the token, though, since I do not believe that I had any crafting bugs.  I thought that the XP tokens were only intended to go to those who had experienced the bug.  Well, I suppose the devs know exactly what they are doing.  :-)  Thank you for renewing my interest in advancing my crafting proficiencies!

I have a wonderful Elven home at 1 Twinfall Path.  As you can see from my player profile, I thoroughly enjoy the housing element of this game.  For these reasons, I was very excited by the pictures I saw of the Yule Festival decorations!  I can hang evergreen and red-ribbon trimmings around my Elven home!  That will be amazing!

Unfortunately, my chances of actually getting a Yule Festival decoration are slim to none.  I am a casual player by necessity - two small children, a job, and a wife.  So far, I have only received a tater and coal.  I will simply have to hope that my luck improves before the end of the Festival.  In all fairness, though, the Yule Festival decorations would probably be taken down after Christmas.  So now I only have 12 days - not likely to happen in that time if my current luck continues.  From hearing most people talk, I probably only have a 1 in 10 chance of getting a Yule Festival decoration with any given box.

Ah well - c’est la vie…

Ainuril had business with the orcs.  The orcs in the Waterworks, however, were a different experience altogether.  As he discovered, these orcs had become infected with some type of disgusting fungal infestation.  Rather than weakening the orcs, however, this infection seemed to have strengthened them - giving them the ability to heal themselves during combat.

When first he spied an infected orc, Ainuril drew forth Aglar ned Ainuril and noticed it glowing brilliantly.  This sword, which had been discovered in the depths of Moria, had served him well.  The sword now revealed to him that these were indeed orcs, infected as they might be.  The blade had ever glowed when orcs and goblins were near - a sign of Elven craftsmanship.  Ainuril struck deep into many foul orcs that night, retrieving several legendary objects from the fetid clutches of the dead.

Congratulations to the devs on the fantastic idea to create this website.  I know that there have been myriad posts on the forums from people requesting such a site, but the Turbine developers have come through yet again.  I have been extremely impressed since I first started playing LotRO with the responsiveness of the devs to player requests.

I will probably not be very active in posting to this journal, but I thought I would give it a try (at least once).  It would be fun to post RP information for Ainuril (my main and usually sole character).  We shall see what transpires!  Oh yeah - join the Keepers of Ayrshire on Landroval!  http://cghunter.com/keepersboards/ubbthreads.php