Cor Pethroni

Hey, it's about time I mention the third kinship I'm involved with, and let all you readers know you can join! The folks over at the LOTRO Reporter created a new kinship on the Brandywine server called Cor Pethroni. It's Elvish for "Ring Narrators." Perfect for what this kinship is all about - we're full of LOTRO bloggers and LOTRO blog readers. So, if that fits you, you're welcome to join up. My character is Sharrien, an Elven huntress (yes, technically a "hunter" but I thought I'd indicate gender in my chosen class). I'll be on every Tuesday from around 7 to 9 PM Pacific Time in case you want an invite; just send a tell. However, there's a host of others that can recruit you as well. Check out the my.lotro page I linked above for who's an officer - they'll be able to conduct your hazing... er... entrance ceremony.

While I won't be able to be on very much, many of us will have more time, so it shouldn't be a ghost town. Come on in. We don't have any big agenda or plan except to connect to our readers and each other in-game as well as in the blogosphere. But don't let our casual nature cause you pause. Perhaps you can be the one to organize some events, instance runs, or other group content.

Falling Behind

I've not been able to make the last few Massive Hobbits events due to other things being scheduled during the play times. This Saturday again finds me busy. And I'm starting to fall behind - especially since the group is moving to Book 3.4+ and I haven't even started Book 2 yet. Not that I think they wouldn't mind catching me up, but I just feel less motivated to play when I know I'm behind. And that's sort of where I've found myself with Jaxom on Elendilmir.

Perhaps I'm suddenly moving away from being hardcore casual to just casual. With a new job, my time is even more limited now. I have a host of activities I used to fill up my excessive free time and now I need to make the choice of which ones are most important. It would seem from the outside that LOTRO would be high on the list but even high on the list doesn't change the amount of time in the day. I also want to get into the habit of regularly writing fiction, which I've dabbled with on and off for years now to no finished projects. Indeed if I could discipline myself enough to push a piece or pieces off for potential publishing, that would be fantastic. That means a lot more time spent writing rather than playing.

There's some other life choices I need to make soon, which I won't get into here because it's not important for the gaming side of this. Regardless, I'll be blogging less, and playing LOTRO less. the idea of having two kinships (three with the blogger kinship The LOTRO Reporter has been discussing.) is out of the question. I'll have to stick with my first. I just cannot devote the time and effort (I'm a big believer in helping the kin as much as possible). I'm already torn about missing so many Massive Hobbits events.

A Blogger Kinship

The LOTRO Reporter has come up with the idea of forming a LOTRO blogger and readers of LOTRO blogs kinship. They have a poll up on their site for which server people would be interested in. Go ahead on over there and vote if you're interested in such a kinship. I know I'm a fan of the idea. Not sure how much I'll be participating since I really want to get back to Jaxom on Elendilmir (poll is leaning towards Brandywine or Landroval at the moment), but it's a cool idea, similar to Massive Hobbits except there's no choose my adventure part of it.

New Experiences Reveal Social Gameplay

This is a "sort-of" continuation of my Conflicted Kinsman post. I've realized that I'm currently having considerably more fun with Massive Hobbits than on my main. I decided to stop and consider why that might be and I've come up with a couple reasons.

First, Jaxom is at the end-game and yet is not participating in much of the end-game content. For example, he's currently off deed grinding out Trolls, Giants, and Bears in the Misty Mountains. That's pretty much a solo affair for a level 60, but not a very fast activity either. In other words, somewhat boring. Now, you may argue here that I could indeed participate in the Moria content if I wanted. And you'd be right, to an extent. But more on that in a bit.

Second, my play with Massive Hobbits is structured differently than my play with Jaxom. In fact, I'd consider it an opposite style of play. With Massive Hobbits, the premiere front running activity are the group nights. The activity in the mean time is to prepare for those (or crafting, as Kabbage has been preoccupied). With Jaxom, there is no set schedule of activity, and he mostly solos and will group when the opportunity arises. It's all spur of the moment.

Back to the argument that Jaxom could be having more fun. I think the overarching theme with that is missed opportunities. When I was leveling Jaxom, I was also going to school and was mostly lagging behind my kinship. Real Life (TM) got in the way. Oddly enough, it was the same case with going from 50 to 60 - except there was no excuse, per se, for me to not play as much or level as fast. I just didn't. Essentially, I missed the opportunity, largely, for playing in a more structured environment with Jaxom. Kabbage, on the other hand, got lucky and found structure that fits my play style.

None of this is to say that I cannot change my behavior with Jaxom. I could very well insert some structure into my play, and even a bit into the kinship. Perhaps I've never felt the need, or maybe the freedom to do so. Now, getting a second wind in LOTRO, and with a slightly different style, I do.

The point of all this is to do more that exhort my experiences, but also address the intangible, yet all-too-real social aspects of MMOs. The biggest difference, beyond the superficial play-style, between Kabbage and Jaxom is the social experience. This is not to say I'm more or less social with one or the other, but by the unique nature of individuals, the group is different. There's different personalities, there's different dynamics, and this leads to a new experience. It's purely a result of the people involved. Add a different dozen plus people and you will get a different experience.

Deeper than the alternate structure and play style is the social fabric of the group. It's ultimately this that will decide if a person will stay with an MMO or not. Sure we will use legitimate excuses like "combat is repetitive", "quests are poorly written", etc, but these only get in the way of the social game. MMOs have a greater challenge to not only get the game mechanics right for their own sake, but also for keeping their players within their created social circles.

It's perhaps easier to see this by looking at the opposite of an MMO - a single-player game. Let's take Oblivion, a fantasy RPG - something that can be argued as a good comparison to LOTRO. Both are strong on story, with the edge going to Oblivion because of it's single-player nature (a statement I ask you to take as granted because arguing it here would be tangential and make this post overlong), both are fantasy RPGs, etc, etc. There is no social gameplay in Oblivion. Replayability is in exploring different classes, perhaps different content. On the whole, not bad for a story-driven game. LOTRO does have social gameplay which essentially adds another dimension to the game.

Think of the potential to stick with a game as one would consider three-dimensional space. A point would give you one "unit of gameplay". You play it, you're done. Absolutely nothing new a second time. A line would give you, for the sake of argument and easy math, 10 units of gameplay. You can replay it ten times with there being a bit of new content, but you're still experiencing a lot of the same thing. A coordinate illustrates this well with one number always being the same on the line (0,0); (0,1); (0,2); ...

Let's move into two dimensions with an x and a y axis. Now your coordinates change in both numbers, but many times you see the same numbers for either coordinate. This is like adding more replayablity, more options. Instead of 10 units of gameplay, we now have 100. How about three dimensional space with an x, y, and z? We're looking at 10,000 units of gameplay - exponential growth. That's like adding the social game into the mix of other game mechanics. What's the difference between 10,000 and 100? It's gives us so much more gameplay that the only way the other game mechanics can factor is if they destroy the social experience.

Alright, let's take a step back from the esoteric. Simply put, the social experience rules an MMO. Where I once was experiencing burn-out, I'm now very much into the game. I'm doing all the same content and yet I'm finding new adventure. Why? Because it's a new group of people. Plain and simple.

Massive Hobbits Week 2

Another week has past. Massive Hobbits are still getting fatter! Too much pie... wait, there can never be too much pie.

Anyway, this week the readers over at Massively voted us to do the rest of Book 1, culminating in the Chapter 11 instance in the Great Barrows. Turns out this quest was made considerably easier since most of us had last done it. Signature mobs throughout instead of elite. That meant Sambog's master elite status was greatly diminished. We owned him. Or rather, Bombadil did. Did you know he's a Rune-Keeper!?!

And that brings me to my next point: I made a video of our little escapade through the dank tombs of fallen warriors - as promised. So, if you're wondering why I call Tom a Rune-Keeper, just check out the video and you'll see. Or, if you've done the instance, I bet you can guess. But that's not all! There's bonus material too - an outtake. Poor old Kabbage, hardened Burglar, had his wits muddled not by brew, but by a prancing, dancing, dandy... er, Tom. Luckily he got the brunt of the jokes rather than Kabbage.

I definitely look forward to next week's adventure. Book 2 might not be on the docket since it starts with a level 26 quest (solo). Man, there's a big gap between the two. I think I might suggest waiting for the kinship. Not sure where the revamp to this part of the game is in terms of release (Orion was only just talking about it) but Book 2 does get a facelift. And perhaps we'll get to do a Rivendell run since that was number two in the vote.

Besides the grouping, Kabbage has also been burning as fast as he can through the Jeweler craft, leveling to make some appropriate level shinies for himself and his kinmates. Really, I have to comment on the wonderfully generous people in this kinship, sending on mats to Kabbage and even making him some armor. I really appreciate all the sharing.

Happy adventuring!

A Conflicted Kinsman

I have a problem. I am now a part of two kinships on two different servers. And they're all a great bunch of people. I has assumed that I would probably go back to my original kinship on Elendilmir once the Massive Hobbits adventure was over in a couple months. (I still log into Elendilmir from time to time as it is.) However, like I said, Massive Hobbits are a great group. I would feel bad leaving them all. So, what's a LOTRO adventurer to do when he's got two adventures going on at once?

Massive Hobbits Week 1

Looks like a week has come and gone since the last check in with Massive Hobbits. Well, not quite, but the next write up has been posted over at Massively. Do head on over there and read the wonderful narrative about Gibbi and his friends.

I unfortunately could not participate on Sunday when Massive Hobbits invaded Breeland. By the looks of the vote thus far (don't forget to vote on the next adventure), we'll be finishing up Book 1, although I'd love to see us make a Rivendell Run as well, since that won't take as long as the Book 1 questing.

Kabbage has been attempting to level his Jeweler profession in order to supply the kin with some nice jewelry. He'll be hard pressed to keep up with the leveling curve, however. I've been spending a lot of time during the week just gathering mats and crafting. We'll see how that works out. I'm not one to beg for mats from my kinmates, but if any of them read this, they're more than welcome to send Kabbage copper and silver ore. And any recipes too.

Last on the agenda is finding out where everybody is at for Book 1 and catch up. I really should run through the prologue in the Shire first, so it looks like I'll be putting crafting on hold for a bit.

Happy adventuring!

Kinship Contest Complete

Looks like the kinship contest has been finished and the winners are in. Were my predictions and pessimistic comments true or was I full of it? Let's find out...

What did I predict would happen? That a kinship created purely for this contest would be the winner. That it would be filled with characters created for the sole purpose of winning the contest, and completely defeating the purpose of a kinship. What really happened?

The overall winner was Order of Middle Earth on the Brandywine server. The kinship was created on 2/25/2008. Clearly not created exclusively for this contest. Neither were the second and third place kinships, the Old Timer's Guild on Gladden and Lords of Evening Twlight on Meneldor respectively (I wonder if that's a purposeful misspelling of 'Twilight').

Strike one for Jaxom...

What could be the case is that existing kinships were used to leverage/power level new players for the express purpose of gathering lots of points. Is that the case? That's impossible to find out. We just don't have access to the date when certain characters were created if their player is anonymous. If they're not anon, we can guess by scrolling through their character log, looking at the level up section, and going all the way back to the level 2 level up.

Strike two for Jaxom...

I of course didn't look at every kinship on every server that won... the MyLOTRO site takes so long to load pages for me that it would be time prohibitive to check them all out. Let's call that:

Strike three for Jaxom...

I'm out on all accounts. Indeed, the contest was a success, and while I still believe that that power-leveling new characters probably happened, if kinships were created only for this contest, they didn't win. I've thus eaten my own words. Congratulations all you winning kinships! And congratulations Turbine for being successful despite my cynicism.

Relating to Your Mates

This is an unforeseen follow up to the kinship post today. Suzina, over at Kill Ten Rats, posted some interesting thoughts on kinship relations, this time looking at the phenomenon of new vs old. That is, what sort of gap is there between the newer players in the kinship and the older players.

For myself, I don't play regularly, so I struggle to even keep people's alts straight, let alone who's a new player in our kin. I try my hardest to be friendly to everybody who's on, even if I have no idea who they are. Heh. I'll usually ask, do I know you by another name or are you new? Of course, if I'm not ever on when they are, they might have played a month with us before I even met them, so then they're not really new are they?

I find myself relating to what Suzina posts but also not. I joined my kinship in beta, right when everybody else was new to the game. So there is the "old crowd" that I've known for a long time. Then there's the newer folks who I don't happen to share so many fond memories with. Not their fault, I just haven't gotten to play with them as much. But when I think of my kinship, I picture the oldies, even the one or two who don't play anymore. I have to wonder, is that a bad thing...

Not really, unless I make it a bad thing - like I look down on the "newbies" etc. I do think our kinship does do a good job in general welcoming new folks into the fold. Our kinleader is amazing at helping them feel at home by grouping with them, assisting with quests, passing on crafting items.

As a bit of a side note, many of the "core" kinship members, those that started in beta, came from StarWars Galaxies (like Suzina's group). With the new Bioware StarWars MMO, I know a lot of them will be headed that direction when it releases. And I think I'll be following them. I certainly won't stop playing LOTRO, and I don't think many of them will either (lifetime subs and all) but it really illustrates how strong a kinship can be in an MMO, and why belonging to one where you feel that kind of loyalty and connection will help your experience in any game, LOTRO included. To reemphasize the last post: find a kinship, but find one you can connect with. A kinship is merely a tool, it's the people that make it alive.

And if your kinship can overcome the new vs old barrier, more power to you - you've created a true community, not just a collection of avatars.

One Kinship to Rule Them All

No, I'm not going to rant about the ill-thought-out kinship contest again. Actually, I am curious as to what that's looking like - if my predictions are true or it actually shaped up to how the devs envisioned. But anyway, I want to talk about the role of the kinship as a fun-inducing game mechanic.

I think one of the strongest parts of LOTRO is the community. Turbine has noted that our player base tends to have a more 1 to 1 ratio between males and females (not sure on the specific ratio, but guys still lead). It also tends to be older. Therefore, I think the LOTRO community is generally more mature. What does that mean for kinships? Well, a kinship is an integral unit to the community. Having the same group of people available to you and in close contact (via kinchat) is an invaluable tool towards enjoying the content. That's not to disembody the kinship as a group of real people, but like every game system, it's a means to your enjoyment.

Is the kinship necessary, however, to "getting the most" out of LOTRO? Many have argued indeed joining a kinship is the best (and maybe only) way to experience the game to its fullest. Why is that? We have to go back to the state of the community - it's excellent. So, by that logic, it's not necessarily the presence of a kinship in a player's experience that improves their gaming, but rather the presence of good people. I use that term losely to mean people who exhibit quality relationships with their fellow gamers. We can debate the precise definitions of all this elsewhere. Suffice to say, a kinship can be helpful or harmful, depending on the people within.

Here's where I really get into my point: what makes up a good kinship? I will be modeling much of my opinion based on my own wonderful kinship, but don't think what I say here is the only definition of a quality kinship.

First, the people need to be open. If you're not a people person, if you don't like talking, if you're not sociable, why bother with the social part of the gameplay? Just be the lone wolf out there, Turbine makes it easy to solo most of the game. And you can PUG when necessary, if you really want to. Then again, one might say go back to single player RPGs, but I don't want to be mean. Hehe. Seriously though, a good kinship is one that is accepting, open, friendly, etc. That doesn't mean the kinship has to take anybody into their ranks (lots of friendly kinships have recruitment requirments). It does mean that once within the group, the new player is as much a part of the team as the old.

Second, the people need to be sharing. This is another aspect of being open, but it goes one further. You're in a kinship to help each other with the game. It is a social group, but it's also part of an activity. If all your kinship does is chat, then you're not using the most of the tool, nor really giving each other any additional gameplay. Certainly there are purely social kinships out there that are a blast to hang out with, but I think the better kinship endeavors to help each other with quests, crafting, deeds, etc. You don't have to have a strict regimen of who helps whom and on what day, but it's the willingness that counts.

Third, the people need to have some semblance of organization. A good kinship needs, if it wants to participate in more organized content like raiding and instance runs, needs to have organization that reflects this desire. If the structure of the kinship is muddy, than chances are the same people aren't going to make a raid any clearer. When the kinship plays together, even in a less formal setting than raids, there should be a cohesiveness to their play - they ought to play well together, work off each other, communicate, etc.

I think these three things are a good starting point for a successful kinship. This is the type of kinship those that insist on joining one are members of. I think LOTRO is lucky to have a good number of these groups, but there's also lemons. No game is free of the leeches, the rude, the selfish. Take an average workplace and you will see the same general breakdown. People come in all shapes and sizes, so when picking a kinship, don't be afraid of floating from group to group, if it's possible. I got lucky on my first shot, but that's an exception. Be serious about your kinship scouting. These are real people, and a real group you're going to be associating with. And the key is fun. If the kinship is not fun, regardless of all other considerations, then it's time to find something new.

Good luck out there and happy adventuring!

Your Friends or The Game

Why do I play LOTRO? To answer that, I have to first go back to why I play games. That's easy though, I love getting sucked into the worlds the games create. Why is Mass Effect so awesome to me? It does a very good job at creating a world you feel connected to. Why do I love Lord of the Rings Online - because it does a great job at linking me to a world I love so much. I started playing LOTRO because of the IP connection. From there, I discovered it was a good game. But what about now - what keeps me playing?

Honestly, I have to point more towards my friends than the game itself. No game can sustain interest forever, and nearly three years with one game is a long time (August 2006, closed beta). But in the process of playing LOTRO I gained some friends. I was extremely fortunate in running into the kinship I'm a part of. When I haven't logged in for a while, I don't feel guilty for not playing. It's not my monetary investment. That paid for itself already. It's not the game that I'm missing, or I would have logged in. It's the people. I feel like I need to keep in touch, let them know I'm still alive, kicking, interested, etc.

The best moments in LOTRO have been playing with my kinship. My first memory of grouping with a bunch of them was going through the Great Barrows. Such a blast, especially since previous PUG runs weren't successful. And every point thereafter where I would play with a kinmate, the game ceased to have any of it's faults. Well, that's not quite accurate. The faults were there, but they didn't matter, because what I was currently doing was fun. And it was fun because I was doing it with another player who I enjoyed playing with.

MMOs are more than just games, LOTRO no exception. They are venues to hang out at. I wouldn't continually go to the billiards hall and shoot pool by myself, even if the first few times were fun. I would go over and over again because I was hanging out with my friends. The same holds true for MMOs. There's the activity, then there's the society. It's the latter that holds our attention indefinitely. People are an endless resource of activity, and when you find people you like, your friends, it doesn't matter what you do, so long as your doing it together.

LOTRO is fun primarily because of the people I play with. It's secondary that it's a good game. Any MMO that can create the easiest system to play with friends will ultimately be the winner, so long as the activity within doesn't detract from the "hanging out". For example, let's say an MMO had City of Hero's/Villians sidekicking mechanic, arguably one of the best ways to bring friends together, but there was absolutely nothing to do except maybe kill things. Even playing with friends would get old rather quickly. So, there's a limit, a balance to this issue. No game will be endlessly fun, but a game must have a "reasonable amount" of fun in the first place in order to build the foundation for playing with friends.

So, is it the friends or the game that keep you playing? Maybe both? Which has more influence?

Fellowship Quests

Turbine has put up an official article talking about fellowship questing. My most favorite moments in this game have been when I was in a fellowship that has successfully completed some challenge, mostly comprised of my kinmates. There was one PUG group that tacked the Twisted Heart questline in Evendim. After some poor organization, I took it upon myself to "chew them out", basically saying if we couldn't handle what we were doing then, there would be no way we could handle the finishing instance. And we managed to complete this quest. It was an epic win if ever one could be called epic.

Even though I don't do fellowship content very often, mostly because of the timesink involved and the fact that I'm interrupted fairly often during my gameplay, it's probably my favorite content. And it's the content that best reflects the spirit of the IP. The Lord of the Rings is all about companionship, friendship, and coming together to face overwhelming odds. If this game truely wanted to capture that flavor, we'd all be playing in static fellowships. That's of course impossible to orchestrate in sustainable subscription numbers, so we get what we get. But don't ignore the fellowship content. Rarely have I come across a really bad PUG (mediocre, yes) and every fellowship experience with my kinship has been wonderful, even the failures (such as Friday's wipe on 2.5.5).

Kinship Contest

I love contests, and when I saw something about a kinship contest, my curiosity was perked even more. There are some awesome kinships out there, but of course my own holds a special place in my heart. We might not be the largest, we might not be the most organized. We might not be a lot of things. But what we are is a family of sorts - and that's a bit of a rarity among online groups, in whatever form. (Not saying here that other kinships aren't close.) A contest where the group of friends I've come to know could win something? Score!

Then I got to reading the details and my enthusiasm departed. The contest earns points for kinships who gain new members and when those members gain levels. Only during the contest period. That makes sense, but my problem isn't with the contest itself, but the unintended consequences.

First off, this contest will encourage the creation of kinships whose sole purpose exists to win the contest. The players don't join because they see some value in the group of people they're going to be playing with. There is no connection beyond earning the reward, half of which is simply bragging rights.

Secondly, the contest encourages rapid leveling of characters - in other words, power leveling. It encourages playing in a manner that ignores the value of the content used to level instead placing greater value on the destination. Certainly we see this already, but it's never manifested in a mechanic purposefully designed towards rapid leveling.

In other words, I see superficial relationships (kinships) as a possible result. This is not to say that the contest will be approached in other ways that doesn't exhibit the behavior I mentioned. However, the optimal methods to reaping the reward isn't using the traditional kinship mechanics (by mechanics I mean motivations for the creation and sustaining of kinships).

So what are the rewards for this? A kinship house and 6-months rent if the kinship doesn't already have a kinhouse, or a years worth of rent if they do. Plus a badge on my.lotro. Bragging rights in other words. I have no problem with the rewards. I'm obsessive about getting titles in the game and those are bragging rights after a fashion. (Not that I change my title much. Had "Lord of Fangs" for quite some time.) And the kinhouse reward is pretty sweet. But what use are such rewards, especially the kinhouse, if the winning kinship's sole reason for existence was to win the contest?

The forum thread announcing and discussing the issue goes back and forth between positive and negative reaction. It also has a few dev responses to the negatives. They mention that even small kinships with active members can gain many points. That's true if your small kinship has players below the level cap. My kinship is mostly comprised of players at the cap, at least those that play regularly. Furthermore, we're a pretty close knit group, rarely adding new members beyond our own alts (many of which are at the level cap as well). The dev's points are valid in a small subset of the population. Like I said, the most effective and efficient way of winning is to behave in the manor I mentioned above, which I would consider "not intended". And there will be a group of players who will do this - there always are, especially in gaming.

Nice idea, good intentions, unintended consequences. I hope I don't have to say "I told you so."

Skumfel Run

Yesterday some of the kin went to Skumfel, myself included (after some lengthy discussion of where we did want to go). The place has bugs, lots and lots of bugs. We had a full group for part of the run, but one of us had to leave so it was only five for the next part. We didn't get to the lower section because many of us didn't have the requirements met. Lower usually means worse, and I can't imagine what's worse than a pile of rotten flesh and bones lorded over by a gigantic spitting bug.

No wipes, so that was good, but we did lose our minstrel once. Only death though. He said it was his fault but I don't know precisely what happened. Otherwise a successful run. We did it on normal mode as far as I can tell because there was no drop for radiance gear. Either that or it's in the lower section that we didn't get to. This is my first time in the place so I wasn't completely cognizant of what was going on.

Which sort of leads me into a bit of a side topic. I'm an awesome solo player with my class. I know what I can do, can't do, what skills to use, when to use them, etc. Why do I excel at soloing? Because I've had practice. It's how I play most often. But when I get in a group, I'm much less competent. I felt like a sore thumb despite our general success. There was a moment where I had a poison DoT on me and I didn't even notice. Not until I was at 1/3 of my morale. I wasn't even watching the chat either, and two people had said I had a DoT that needed dealing with. I hit up a potion and our minstrel healed, but the fact that it turned out alright isn't the point - the fact that it happened is. Now, what's the best solution? How did I get good at soloing? I need more group play practice.

As a captain, my role in groups, aside from buffing, isn't always the same nor always clear-cut. Depends on the fight, depends on what other classes are there. Honestly, I'd rather just take orders and hit what they tell me to hit and watch what they tell me to watch. Funny that, because the definition of a captain is the one who gives the orders. And I was the only one using voice chat (they all could hear me though) so theoretically, if it weren't for my inexperience, I should have been the one calling the battle. But I have trouble seeing everything that's going on. My class roll requires that I do most of the time. I'm uncomfortable not knowing how to play my class the best in group settings. I feel like a noob sometimes. Here's hoping I get more practice in and can improve my game.

Urugarth Run Complete

For the first time I've gone all the way through Urugarth. The kinship had a semi-spontaneous run this evening (plus one member from another kin that many of us have played with before). I said I'd like to tag along because I had deeds and never did quests in Urugarth or Carn-Dum. Well, I got all the boss slayer deeds done, finished the orc and troll slayer deeds, but have a couple more Urugarth-specific ones. These deeds also gave me one more max quest in my log. I'm at 47 now with about 30 of them occupied.

The run was fun, but long. We started around 6, 6:30 and ended a little after 10... so about 3 and a half to four hours. Took a small break in the middle. Quite a bit of fun getting that stuff done. I'd hate to do it too many times. I'll go again if there's ever a group again and I'm available because I still have uruks, beasts, and marching orders off orcs for more deeds as well as more quests. My silly completionism. I'm not really pushing to get these quests done though. If they don't get done, I won't be upset. Now, I'd love to say I got all the moria quests done...

A Veritable Plethora

Today is the big day, as you all know. Book 7 is released. I'm currently about half-way through the patching process. I didn't use the pre-patch method and I usually don't mind waiting for the client to patch itself on release days. There seems to be a veritable plethora of posts today. You can find many of these posts using the combined blog feed linked on my sidebar, but Kill Ten Rats has also posted some about LOTRO. Three posts to be exact. Two of them are commentary on issues they see in the game, particularly with the instances and the changes to those instances. The third is an outline of the instance progression, containing spoilers.

As I haven't played through any but one of the instances, I'm not able to comment well on the issues within them, however I did hear they were fairly buggy and had some exploits. However, as Kill Ten Rats points out, one person's exploit is another person's creative thinking. I have to err on the side of the development team however, as it is their definition that ultimately counts. They are the ones defining the game, and while the player base is experiencing that definition, everything is ultimately in their hands. I think we as players get too caught up in an entitlement mentality at times. And here's where capitalism comes into play. If we as players don't like what we're experiencing, we go elsewhere. So the development team's job is to strike that balance - guiding the game where they think it needs to go but in a way that the players like. This doesn't change who is in control, however, who sets the agenda. The developers choose to listen to the players because it's good business, but that doesn't mean they're any less responsible for the direction the game goes.

Okay, now it's time to get personal. I have a goal of getting the radiance gear from these instance runs. I haven't done many so I'm not experientially familiar with the timesinks involved. I only know that by educated guessing and second hand conversations. Despite my goal, I'm conscious that it's unlikely that I'll experience this content in full. I just don't play often enough and don't have the patience for what's involved in getting groups together. I prefer to group with my kin because it's relatively painless and I don't have to work hard to do it. But getting a static group of six players together for six hours minimum for one of six instances is hard. It's not hard because the content is necessarily hard. It's hard because it takes time. Game time is part of free time and free time is a luxury. Most of us have to ration it, myself included, despite my current unemployment. I have to face reality hear and realize I'm not the type of person this content was designed for. I'd like to be the type of person, because I'm really am a completionist, but when it really comes down to doing the deed, I just don't have the will to make that time commitment. Quite frankly, there are more entertaining and fun things I could be doing with my time, some of which don't even involve LOTRO. So while I'm a big fan of the game, I think I'll use my time to push for completing the epic storyline. I love story so that's where I should focus. Gear, instances, what does it matter? I'm experiencing Middle-Earth am I not? Is a 36+ hour gear grind really Middle-Earth or just a game mechanic for those of us with more time and the personality to push through such things?

And with this realization, I also have recognized that I'm not doing the activity that I've gotten most enjoyment from - grouping with my kinmates just because we want to do content. Many of my recent play sessions have involved solo experiences, and those are not the most memorable moments by and large. Where I find most joy is playing with my friends. So, I'll drop the goal of getting the radiance gear and put in it's place play with my kinship. If they're doing instance runs for gear - sure, that's what I'll do, but if they're doing the epic story, that's what I'll do. It's a game for goodness sake. Play it, don't work it. Right?

Thursday Progress Report

Well, this is looking like a regular post. I did an update to my personal LOTRO gaming last Thursday and it just so happens that I'm updating again on Thursday. Maybe I'll make it a regular Thursday feature, maybe not. Most likely I'll just post interesting things that I did in-game the day after it happens.

So yesterday I logged in finding myself at the Orc-Watch in the Redhorn Lodes. I looked around at my quests and decided I didn't want to do any of those. I'm feeling a little burned on Moria, so, taking my own advice, I decided to change up my activities. Instead, I went out to the Misty Mountains intending on clearing out the rest of the Goblin Town quests plus one quest to kill the Thunder Lord giant.

I did this giant quest first, barely able to solo the guy, who was an Elite Master. I managed to only take on one other giant while I was killing him and I didn't need to fire either Last Stand or Strength of Morale. It felt good to accomplish this.

Then it was off to Goblin Town with four quests. I finished the GT exploration deed, Bilbo's Buttons deed (got to Honesty tier 10 with these), and all but one of these quests. Turns out that I can't solo this guy because of the troll that's right next to him. Total of three mobs. I died trying. Oh well. But hey, maybe one of my kinmates wanted to help me. And that was the start of an epic adventure through GT and a couple other zones in Middle-Earth clearing out the last quests in the Misties, the North Downs, and Forochel.

My kinmate pulled up his level 60 champion and I wept at my relatively woeful DPS. But that's what I needed. I had to burn through the mobs before they burned through me. And that's what we did. I can now say that the Misty Mountains are 4 deeds away from being 100% complete - Bears, Trolls, Giants, and Worms. Granted, I'm only on the first part of trolls and giants so I have 6 really. It'll be a while because both these mobs take forever to kill solo.

We then headed to the North-Downs for an epic duo of Master of the Black Tide. This quest involves clearing out the tent atop a hill in Dol Dinen full of orcs and trolls. Any mobs in the tent will aggro you if you attack the boss so you can't just go straight up and kill him. We had to clear the tent. And we did, bloody carnage we did. It was amazing. I wish I had the presence of mind after the battle to take a screen shot. Bodies of trolls and orcs littered the floor. I was totally amazed we got all the mobs down before respawn. It got a little hairy for a moment when we got five adds, two of which were trolls, but we made it. It was glorious. Kudos to my champion kinmate who made all the difference. Epic. The Northdowns is all the Fornost quests away from 100% complete.

And lastly we finished off my last Forchel quest which puts that zone four deeds away from 100%: Grims, Sabertooths, Worms, and Dwarves.

All in all, a wonderfully productive evening, even if I got no other reward from it (except the coin) that I would immediately use. And of course the company of a friend. I have to say mate, your willingness to help me on these quests and deeds that you didn't even have is a testament to your quality as a person. Thanks again for all your help.

Thursday Progress Report

I'm making headway post-60 in Moria. I don't spend too much time logged in. I usually take one trip out, one trip back for questing. Lately this has been in the Redhorn Lodes. I have a couple small fellowship quests I'll see about recruiting a kinmate to help me with. I've pretty much ignored all the fellowship quests thus far. After I've cleared out the solo quests in Moria I'll put more effort into getting into fellowships for the group quests.

I have 3 of 7 pieces of Sublime Dawn-Rose jewelry. I got two rings and a necklace that my kinleader crafted for me as a level 58 gift. She did that for all the kinship. Very nice of her. Great to have her as a kinleader. The two rings I bought on the AH. They go from 2.5 to 4 gold. I try spend around 3 to 3.5 gold. I got the rings first because they gave me both will and vitality which were my lowest stats. Earrings are next, followed by bracelets. That should give me a good balance, though my agility will be pretty high. But that's okay. I like agility and might the best. Agility helps increase my crit ratings and a higher might will increase my overall damage. Both together give me high damage super crits. I average about 1100-1200 on a Devastating blow crit at the moment, on even to level 58 mobs. I'm not sure how that stands compared to other captains, but I'm happy with it.

I'm also looking at clearing out deeds I have sitting around in Eriador. First on the list are deeds that improve currently slotted traits. Right now that's Discipline and Wisdom. The other three are at rank 10 already. Next are traits that I might use, depending on the situation. Ones I could swap out. After that just comes the rest of them, purely for a completionist, check the box, tic of the accomplishment. Some of these I might require a group still, such as going into Carn Dum and Urugarth. Those will probably never get done... although I don't know how many people are still running CD and Uru. Certainly some for class quest items. People still need slime, and that's found in CD. With fewer people doing it, it's not on the AH nearly as much, meaning the price is higher and more people will have to run CD to get the item rather than purchase it.

I'd like to finally finish Garth Agarwen, notably the Red Maid and Ivar, and get those quests out. I'd also like to run the Fornost instance since I haven't been in there yet and done any of those quests. Yes, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to questing. I love to see all the stories and content that's available. If I wasn't so slow leveling and casual I would have gone to the Rift and Helegrod, even if it turns out I don't like raiding. (Honestly, I probably would. I do enjoy group content, just not the finding the group part of it).

I think the only part of this game I won't experience will be the PvMP side. Not my thing. So, I'll be a completionist to a point. Ettenmoors deeds, well those are out. But the rest of the game is fair game, as long as I can find people to do the content with me if I require more than one. All in all, things are looking good. I'm going much slower now, but that's okay. I don't want to burn out of content. I don't think that'll be a problem though.

Kinship Cloaks

I like the idea of having kinship cloaks available to equip. Unfortunately, implementing such a system seems much more complicated that is immediately apparent, particularly to me as a layman and non-programmer/designer. There's a lengthy discussion/debate on the forms about kinship cloaks with the developer known as "floon". He makes great pains to explain why the current technology in LOTRO prohibits a kinship cloak system as envisioned by the OP without serious performance trade-offs. Some appreciated and accepted the insight, some didn't understand. That's normal. In any case, it's an interesting debate worth skimming through. I recommend using the Dev Tracker feature of the forums to find floon's statements in this thread.

Honestly, I can accept what floon has said. Because I realize I know less than he does - considerably less - in how such a system might work. Certainly I can conceptualize with the best of them. I'd like to think I have a robust imagination. There is mention, however, of a system that could work without straining the game's resources too much. Anything is better than nothing so long as it's well designed. It would be more limited, but I could go with that.

Then, of course, is the question of would I actually wear a kinship cloak and furthermore, would my kinship even bother? Well, if my kinship really wanted to have their own kinship cloak, I'd wear mine because I appreciate and support my kinship. But, in all honesty, I love the fact that I can customize and color coordinate my character. A kinship cloak might clash - and while I'm a guy that doesn't care too much about clashing, I do have at least a small semblance of visual design sensabilities. I suppose I would probably just recolor the rest of me to fit my kinship colors. No biggie.

A Little FG

By FG I mean Fil Gashan, one of the six-man instances (this one in the Flaming Deeps) where a coin drops for one of the radiance gear pieces. I went three times through but didn't roll a win for the drop. Oh well, I have a long time yet to do all these instances and I just got the captain gear I have on now, which isn't bad at all. However, traited right and with all the radiance gear, one of the hunters in our group (who was also leading us through looking for a rare pocket drop) had 6,300 Morale. I, as a Captain who is supposed to have the option of off-tanking, had 5,096 Morale. That's a little odd, but like I said, he was traited out for a high morale build. If I were going for a high Morale build I could probably get close to 10k with all my radiance gear. Just a bit of a difference.

It was fun, doing one of these for the first time. We were doing it on Hard Mode which meant we had to avoid killing a certain type of mob. This necessitated suiciding twice and having our Minstrel rez us after running through in an orc disguise so we didn't kill something we weren't supposed to. I'm very glad there's no death penalty repairs if you're rezed by a Minstrel (or Captain).

I got sucked into the group by chance. One of my kinmates was involved in trying to get the group together. And I'm glad I did. Captains are usually always appreciated by the other players for their mere presence. Our buffs ya know. (The morale numbers I mentioned above were buffed stats, by the way). All in all, a good time. I wish I could have stayed longer to get the coin for the radiance piece myself, but alas I had to run. Real life was calling.