A new entry just one day after the last one was posted? Is it true? Why yes it is!  I hope I don’t bring about the end of time by doing this.  On a more serious note, I hope everyone had a chance to look over that article I linked in my previous entry.  If not, go back and look towards the bottom of the article and click on the link to The Elendilmir Freep PvMP Guide.  While you do that, I’ll wait here… Done?  Okay now onto the meat of the post.

The first thing I wanted to accomplish in the moors was to fill out my map.

The main reason I wanted to fill in the map was simply for Intel purposes.  With the map filled in I would be able to find group members more easily, see the general tide of battle without having to enter the Ettenmoors, and also getting a glimpse of the type of terrain I will be dealing with when combating the creeps.  I would like to note that when I say a general idea, I mean you can’t completely judge how the fighting is going by just seeing who controls what keep.  The most dangerous assumption a Freep can make is to see all keeps/outposts blue and a think the creeps have been beaten back and holed up in Gramsfoot.

Going into more detail, I believe the riskiest scenario a Freep can be in is when the map is completely Red or Blue.  While there are a few unconquered territories open, there is always the chance the creeps will band together in order to overthrow that keep/outpost.  Creeps seem to have more incentive to flip Freep controlled territories, so once they do you have a general idea where the enemy is located.  Do remember though, the enemy is intelligent so they might pull off maneuvers that are much unexpected.  Unless you are in Glan Vraig, you are always surrounded by danger.

Time to close up shop for tonight, but I want to leave you the reader with one thought.  When I was heading out into the Ettenmoors to fill out my map, I was not only scouting the terrain.  I was also looking to see what were the chances that I would seriously get involved with PvMP.  The short time I have spent in the Moors I ran solo, small group, and with a raid.  Looking back, I whole-heartedly thank those Freeps I have grouped with.  It was by fighting beside them that made me realize just how fun PvMP can truly be.  Therefore, I give one huge THANK YOU for taking along a newb.

If you do decide to try out the PvMP side of the game, don’t just spend one day there.  Think of it like a PUG, some days you will have awesome groups other days nothing goes right and you end up with a massive repair bill.  The same concept applies here.  Head out to the moors for 30 minutes to an hour a day for a week.  By that time you will have a much better understanding of how things work, which Freeps are very helpful and which tend to let their ego get the better of them.  Till next time readers remember, it’s still Wednesday somewhere in the world… I think.  I gotta start punching these out sooner.

Well, I just can’t ever seem to get a good rhythm when it comes to this blog.  Well, after another disappearing act I have returned to hopefully write something interesting.  If it’s not interesting, I recommend hitting the local tavern and then try reading it again.  Repeat until it becomes funny or you pass out and wake up in Misty Mountains.  (Disclaimer: Author is not responsible for loss of property or body parts for waking up in a VERY unfriendly place.)

I’ll be starting a new series of posts based around PvMP.  Why around PvMP some may ask?  Well, now that I’m at the current level cap of 60 I’ve decided to partake in many elements of the “end game”.  This includes instances, raids and a bit of PvMP.  The perspective of PvMP will be of one who does not have much PvP experience with such a combat system as LOTRO’s.  With that, I wish to go over what kind of experience I have when dealing with player versus player conflict.

As I explained in an earlier post, the only MMO I truly stuck with for a good amount of time was FFXI.  FFXI, at the time I was playing it, was mainly a PvE focused game.  PvP didn’t come until much later when they released Ballista.  Ballista was a side game that only opened up in certain areas, and once open was only available for a limited amount of time.  The mechanics of the game is a bit of a mix of soccer, treasure digging and an all out brawl.

The combat system in FFXI was set up mostly for PvE situations.  Some of the abilities were converted to be used for Ballista, but for the most part the situation came down to stripping shadows as quickly as you could while trying to keep yours up. (A Shadow was buff that would absorb all the damage from a predetermined amount of hits.)  Of course, other jobs were better at doing this then others so there was always that inherent advantage.

The only reward for all of this was bragging rights.  There were no buffs, armour, conquered territory awarded to the victor, just the feeling that you were able to beat another player in a head-to-head challenge.  What does this all mean?  Bah, there I go again on one of my long rants.  Well, at least this will give the readers an idea of where I come from now that I’m finally getting into PvMP.  I hope that I won’t have to bore you with too many more of these.

I don’t know how exactly to go about writing these articles or even what type of form I should.  No matter what form this project finally takes on, I hope that by putting down my experiences here it will allow someone to learn a bit more about PvMP.  Not only that, it will give people a glimpse from the perspective of a fresh Moors recruit, a view that might enlighten not only those who have a slight interest, but those who are veterans to PvMP.  This way the newer recruits will be a bit more prepared or better utilized by veteran leaders.

I’m probably biting off more then I can chew with the scope of these articles, but what the hey!  Nothing ventured, nothing gained is the motto.  In closing, I will leave you with where I started it all.  The Elendilmir Freep PvMP Guide, which is an awesome read to get a gist of the mechanics of PvMP.  Till next time!

About Time

Well, now that I have reached level 60 it’s time for my obligatory “reflection” post.  Seriously, I’m bound by contract to write this, or else I’m going to wake up with a drake head in my bed…  I’ve been gone for a while, so that explains the lack of updates.  Lag was getting pretty bad on BW and with finals fast approaching; I thought it would be a good time to take a little time off from LOTRO.  Seems a bit funny, how the last post on this blog is my “made it to 50″ post.  Blah, there I go again babbling.  It’s time for the reminiscing!

It was very fortunate that I brought some friends with me when I returned to play LOTRO.  Having previously played in the open beta, when I decided to return and stay I brought with me two friends.  If I had not done so I don’t think, I would have stuck around.  However, one of them is the reason I failed to obtain the undying title… Multiple times.  Aw well, I still have several slots to try for that title.

Exploring was the most enjoyable activity I was able to do while leveling Bravovida.  All the little things that make Middle-earth come alive are amazing; look at the hobbits at Bree-town north gate for an example.  I still have a lot of ground I haven’t covered yet.  The Southeastern corner of my Misty Mountains map is still not filled in.  What can I say, I hit M, look at the map and look at any areas that either seem devoid of POIs or might look interesting and head off.  My top three areas I have been to would have to be Lothlorien, The Shire and Forochel.

All three locations have that certain atmosphere about them.  The Hobbiton and the Golden Wood have something special about them, something that makes you feel “safe” in an otherwise dangerous world.  Maybe the quests give off this vibe.  After slaying thousands upon thousands of orcs, globsnaga creatures and spiders, it felt good to be able to take a breather and cap out doing quests that don’t involve violence.  Though considering my singing voice, I might have accidentally driven a few forest animals to jump into the Anduin during the tree whisperer quest.  Those who have done the Golden Wood quests know which one I’m referring.

Forochel is on the list not only for aesthetic reason, the northern lights at night is a remarkable sight, but also for efficiency sake.  Questing in that region was probably the quickest I’ve ever experienced in LOTRO.  I don’t know if this was due to all the quest mobs being in close proximity to each other, or the mobs were in great quantity reducing legwork for gathering items.  Even working on building my reputation for the Lossoth of Forochel was not very difficult.  Maybe this is another reason I enjoy Lothlorien so much as well.  Both regions have the majority of quests give reputation for their respective factions.  This is a much more enjoyable grind then just killing mobs in a “rep dungeon” for barter items.

I leave The Shire for last, simply because this region is special and many people will agree with me on this next point.  The area is very well done; it captures the essence and much of the look that I had imagined when I had read the original Hobbit back in elementary school.  After having coming from the Race of Man starter instance, which was not the happiest way to start a game, The Shire really did seem like another world.  Going from burying the dead to trying to stay away from nosy hobbits can be quite a culture shock for someone.  Even the NPC dialogue you can catch every now and then as you run by gives the sense that the land is free from the taint of evil.  Instead of mourning the dead, hobbits mourn the finishing of a pie.

Overall, the leveling of Bravovida itself was very painless.  Now, readers have to understand that this is coming from a former FFXI player.  The nature of FFXI from when I was playing was you needed a group to do everything…EVERYTHING.  Levels 1-10 were soloable; the other 65 levels usually required a full party of six.  The penalty for dieing in FFXI was a reduction of your hard won experience, and yes, it was possible to lose a level if you ended up dieing enough.  Usually, all it took for one of these deaths is a simple mistake such as a bad pull, DPS pulling too much aggro or the healer going linkdead in the middle of a fight.  This usually meant staying even longer into a party then you originally wanted, and even once you leveled you still wanted to make sure you had a bit of buffer into the next level just in case of “incidents”.

So once I started playing LOTRO and found out it was completely possible to solo your way up through the levels, it was refreshing for me.  Even better was the fact that if I made a mistake and bit the dust, the penalty only involved a high repair bill.  This meant I avoided the horror that is capping my level on the same character over and over and over again.  However, the ability to solo your character so far does have its shortcomings as well.  Group mechanics for random pick-up groups tend to really be hit or miss.  Kind of like playing Russian roulette, you find yourself wondering if you will be able to complete an instance or get through a certain fellowship quest.

However, I’m also lucky in the fact that more often then naught I ran with good PUGs and even met a lot of interesting and friendly people.  Whether it was teaming up to ease the pain that is deed grinding or just hanging out and striking up a conversation out of nowhere, the majority of the population in LOTRO is very friendly.  Of course, you always have the exception to the rule but usually it is easy to avoid those individuals.  Then again, those individuals are integral to the experience since you cannot interact with other people and expect it to stay drama free.  It is sort of the nature of the beast if you will.

This phrase may be overused, but it is truly bittersweet to reach the current level cap.  There is an old saying it’s the journey that’s important, not the destination.   I believe this holds true for Bravovida since now the only way to improve my character is through various trait grinds.  This is the bitter part, since I’m not looking forward to killing hundreds upon hundreds of a mob.  Luckily, I haven’t been too bad in keeping my traits somewhat leveled so it shouldn’t be so bad.  Another grind I need to do involves my reputation with the various factions of Middle-earth.  I’m much further along in this regard when compared to virtues so I’m not too worried.

Now don’t get me wrong, as this isn’t some post complaining about a lack of things to do once you reach cap.  Quite the opposite, since what I look at what’s left there is sill a plethora of things to accomplish.  I still haven’t completed volume 1 or kept up-to-date with volume 2 in the epic storyline.  Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t since this will give me a break in-between all the grinding.  There is also the music system, something I really enjoyed working with since the Open Beta that I haven’t had a chance to really mess with lately.  This is of course the sweet part, knowing that even though I can’t level anymore I can still progress in some way.  Even if it means I must grind, though that won’t be as enjoyable as doing the epic books.  The Ettenmoors, radiance gear, finding nice looking armour, the list of things to do is still quite long.

Heck, I even have empty character slots that I could fill.  Now mind you, I’m not much of an alt-man.  This also stems from my time in FFXI, where you had to pay for additional characters.  In that sense, it did not make much sense for me to roll another character just to redo all the content that my main had accomplished.  In addition, there was no real incentive to roll another character since I could try out all the classes on my main due to the “job system”.  Aside from storage, and this is also where I picked up the term “mule” as it relates to MMO standards, it seemed like a nicety that just didn’t justify its cost.  However, I will admit I do like to dabble in other classes.

What can I say I’m a dabbler.  It is always nice to take a break from one play style and see how the “other side of the fence” fares.  Comparing once more to FFXI, re-doing many of the quests to level an alt is similar to having to hit all the “leveling spots” in FFXI.  Though the key difference is, while in LOTRO you can turn in quests to give nice chunks of exp, FFXI had you assembling a group and establishing a “camp”.  From this camp, you would designate one character to “pull” mobs in so you could kill them for the necessary exp.  Yes, I do much rather prefer the questing presented in LOTRO to the other system.  Especially since you can just pick up a few quests, complete some of them for a nice bit of experience and return to finish the others later.  FFXI had you dedicated a huge chunk of time in finding a group and then actually having to stay a while to get a payoff for your character.  This seems to make leveling an alt a bit less painless for a casual player.

I do want to clarify one thing though.  Even though it sounds like I did not enjoy FFXI, it had me hooked for a very long time.  This was for one simple reason, the story.  I could handle all the grinding, the exp penalties upon death, the forced grouping as long as I was able to enjoy the story.  It was so well written and it managed to suck me in right away.  I do regret not being able to finish all the story arcs for the game, but I had found myself dedicating less and less time as I started advancing in my studies.  That is when I decided to try LOTRO in the open beta.  It was a casual friendly game, but it also had a storyline to follow.  Being based on some of my favorite books is what sealed the deal for me and made me subscribe… That is, after I had returned to FFXI after the open beta for a bit to give it one last hurrah.

If you have managed this far into the post, I’m glad to say that it is almost over.  Not only is this a look back on my experiences in LOTRO; but also a brief glimpse into how I ended up here from FFXI and how LOTRO compares to the one MMO that has managed to capture my attention for such a long time.  With the eventual raising of the level cap coming within the year, this will not be my last “reminiscing” post.  Though the next one will be much shorter since it will only cover from 60 to whatever the new cap is instead of from starting from the beginning.  With that in mind, I will simply say this in closing.  As long as there are new areas to explore, new stories to follow, interesting people to meet, Bravovida’s story will never end.  If it must end, then it will close by looking at how wonderful an experience this has been and me being glad I took it.

Okay, I may have taken the title from a quote from The Outsiders.  It’s a good book and the quote is appropriate for the situation.  Ta da!

After all that work I’ve been putting forth, I’ve finally hit level 50.  Though it’s now the old level cap, it’s still a major milestone for me.  Not only that, but I also managed to work up a level of rep with the Council of the North.  Just had to farm up 120 Bone Amulets to get it. -_-;

Not only that, I also managed to get my legendary weapon and champion to level 20 and reforged them.  My “Tight Grip” class deed is also finished.  Huh, it’s nice to be able to make all this progress.  If I keep this up, I may just hit the level 60 level cap before the next expansion.

Well, today was the day that I managed to do something worthy of a blog.  After finally getting motivated long enough to actual do some good farming in Sarnúr, I finally gained another level of rep with Thorin’s Hall.  However, that is not the only thing that I managed to accomplish.

Bravovida, and my two LIs also gained a level each.  Levels everywhere it seems…  Although, all of this rep grinding is starting to get old.  I may end up working on deeds or.. actually I may break out my lute and try doing some music.  It has been a long time since I last had a chance to do anything with the LOTRO in-game music system.  Which is a big shame considering how innovative it is.

Whatever I decide to do, I’ll have plenty of time to do it this weekend.  After my classes tomorrow, I’ll have a three day weekend.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a lot accomplished in that time.  I at least hope to cap out some of my factions.

Well, after having been gone for a week for a wedding I have returned.  Well, I took a few days to recover from the actual wedding and stuff since I was exhausted on my return.  However, now that I’m back I immediately put my nose to the grindstone and finally achieved Kindred standing with the Weaponsmith’s Guild.  Though, after seeing the price on the new recipes and the shear number of them made me flinch a bit.  After having done some reading on the boards; I decided to hold off on buying the LI’s and just grabbed the component recipes and Peerless Thain weapons.

Tomorrow I’ll return to grabbing some more Dourhand Banners for TH rep.  Maybe I’ll be finished with SoA content when book 7 is released. *looks at to-do list* Err… maybe not. >.>;

Title: Out of Town
Description: I’ll be out of town attending a wedding. I won’t be able to log on during this time.
Start Date: 2009-02-02
End Date: 2009-02-07

Well, I haven’t been able to long on for a while.  Getting everything ready for a trip coming up.  Only thing I have to really post is a shameless plug for some ideas I added to the suggestions forum.  If you like them, please feel free to support them.

Camping System

Multi-passenger Mounts

Till next time.

Well, it was officially the second day of classes.  I’m already starting to feel a bit sluggish, guess I’m not used to the having to get up early thing yet.  Grah, I knew there was a reason I always signed up for late morning/early afternoon sessions.  Any who, I was too tired to write a post last night so I’m making up for it with one today.  I won’t be on today, I’ll probably be resting a bit.

Well, now I’m officially a friend of the Men of Bree and The Mathom House.  Luckily, I had already managed to grab enough mathoms from everyday questing to get the rank up for The Mathom House.  Men of Bree, I had to work a bit for.  I went into the Rep Dungeon for the first time ever.  I must say, it’s pretty packed in there with mobs.  Which isn’t a bad thing when they all drop the items you need to build up you reputation.  It didn’t take me long to gather up all the items I needed.  Friend standing with The Mathom House didn’t net me anything major, except maybe the fireflies.  However, Men of Bree had some nice rewards.  I got a few new furniture recipes, the Virtuous Man trait which now completes all 9 of my racial traits, and the repair anvil recipe.  Not a bad haul just from one faction.

After that, I went back to Armsman duty and made some weapons for a kin-mate.  The new crafting tools paid off and I was able to crit the items without wasting too many resources in the attempt.  The next set of Rep I’ll be going after will most likely be Thorin’s Hall and The Council of the North.  I have a lot of the rep items for the council, but I only have neutral standing with them…  So until I build it up to at least acquaintance, they are gathering dust.

Well, tomorrow my friend Lilbo should be returning from his trip.  So depending on how it goes, he’ll either jump online right away or go AWOL for about a month.

Well, I’m off now to finish up The Silmarillion.  Till next time.

Hola everyone, and welcome to my own version of the wall.  Please feel free to sign it, comment on it or what have you.  While you here, feel free to read any of my previous posts.  Guess it’s time to see what this wall phenonemom is all about.