Just a random video I made with some Lord of the Rings Online combat. Enjoy!

I’ve been having a blast in the Lord of the Rings Online these past few days, things are a LOT smoother then I remember. I started off three days ago at level 19, barely remembering my way around Middle Earth, and now I’m sitting at level 25, and still exploring through the lone lands. There is a bonus to experience while the Yule festival is going on, but even without that, the experience is flowing nicely. One thing I love about questing in the Lord of the Rings Online is that the quests actually flow together. You don’t finish all of the quests at one hub and wonder where you’re supposed to be next, each quest leads to the next area, and you’ve got a clear path on where you’ll find encounters your level. I find that in WoW I’m all over the place, without the faintest idea of where I should be for my level without looking up some sort of guide. Now, this could also be seen as a bad thing, after all maybe that’s too much ‘hand holding’ in a game, but if I don’t WANT to follow the quest path, I don’t have to. I can wander off and explore, or go harvesting, or craft. There’s other things for me to do.

The quests themselves are a little lack luster, your typical kill X number of bears/boars/spiders/orcs/goblins and return them to an npc, broken up by periods of instancing. Rewards have been good enough to keep myself and Hampooj (Guardian pictured beside my Minstrel above) geared without feeling as though we’re going to die any second. Although we have died, plenty.

This is the furthest I’ve ever gotten in the game, and I’m having a lot of fun this time around. I’m not sure exactly why, nothing has changed since other times I’ve played, but as long as I’m enjoying myself I suppose it doesn’t matter. I guess one factor is that I’m exploring places I’ve never been before (in game at least) and while the quests may feel the same as every other MMO out there, I love looking at new sights.

Tomorrow I plan on spending most of my time in EQ2, as I am preparing for my Troubador to finish her mythical. That will make my 3rd completed mythical (Illusionist and Mystic already have theirs) and I’m excited. I just need leviathan and my Veeshan’s Peek kill to complete it, which should be easy enough. Of course she’s well behind in achievements so who knows if I’ll ever manage to hit 200 on little Goudia, it’s not something I’m actively working towards at this point in time.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend no matter where you find yourself. Only one week until Christmas! I can’t believe it’s snuck up on us so fast this year.

Happy Gaming!

The Lone Lands recently went through a revamp in the Lord of the Rings Online, and I was pretty excited about it seeing as I was just coming up to that zone. My little Minstrel was sitting at 19, and I had completely forgotten how to play.  Never a better time to start!

By the time all was said and done, I was sitting half way through level 21, and had also picked up new songs and skills, as well as a bunch of new gear. The most exciting part (for me) was that I finally get to make use of my appearance slots. I had saved up my plumed hat from a low level quest specifically for this moment.

My minstrel has been paired up with a guardian for most of her adventures, which has been a pretty good combination. Of course they’ve also made multiple changes to the game as of late, so things are a lot easier then they once were. Thanks to the rest experience we both had saved up the two levels pretty much flew by. On the other hand, there’s also 65 levels in game now, and since we’re only sitting at level 21, it’s still a long way off.

There are Yule Festival events in game right now too, when I logged in I managed to get a title for it, even though we haven’t made our way to the actual events yet. Those will come tomorrow, maybe. I haven’t the faintest idea of what’s actually going on in game, but I’m excited to find out.

I play as Lysthia (though I do have three crafting alts) on the Landroval server – I’m in Casualties of War if you’re looking to say hello. I’ve got a three month subscription as part of the Mirkwood promotion that I picked up, so hopefully I’ll be able to find the time to actually play. So far this is the furthest I’ve ever gotten in LotRO, and I’m excited about leveling up more. Being able to actually use my mount that I have would sure be nice.

During the week I have very little choice in what games I play. I need to write about certain ones, or I need to prepare for an article, or I need to familiarize myself with it. Where I used to play video games for fun as a hobby, it turned into work, and thus I have been slightly less inclined to play on the weekends because of this. I am sure that would be true for anyone in my position. One thing I’ve done to ‘entice’ myself on weekends to still find the things I love in games is to make sure there are a few around that I play ‘only for me’ and not for work. Dragon Age, Sims 3, the Lord of the Rings Online, and a few other games I have fit into that category.

I spent pretty much all weekend playing Sims 3, and I had so much fun. The game is so involved compared to the older versions, and I giggled and laughed over their antics. I also went out to EBGames (after some groceries and other chores of course) and picked up the latest expansion, World Adventures. I installed it, and then barely touched it because I was still having so much fun completing the goals in the first game.

While I was at EBGames, I also found a collectors edition copy of the Lord of the Rings Online for $10! Wow, what a deal. This comes with the original game, the Mines of Moria expansion, a map, a small bag with ‘the one ring’ inside, a poster, a soundtrack CD, an art book, and a few other goodies. Even though I already have a LoTRO account, I’m tempted to start this second one up and close down my first one (my highest character is level 19, which I am fairly confident I could reach again). Maybe I can find a friend who would like the first account and they won’t have to purchase the game (or Mirkwood, as I’ve already bought that) and they can just take over the billing, who knows.

In any case, it was a great weekend, with lots of gaming but not the usual games I play. I did get some more EQ2 time in, and worked on a few achievements as well as finishing off the Chronomagic quest from Sunday which was Acadachism. I didn’t get the three final aa that I need, nor did I work on NaNoWriMo at all, which means today I’m well behind. Hoping to take care of that as soon as I post this entry.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Ellithia is sporting the Shard of Love headgear that dropped for us earlier this week – and that’s been the extent of my time in EQ2, which hasn’t happened in literally, months. I haven’t logged in. It’s not that I don’t have things to do in game, because I certainly do but I just don’t have enough time lately to do everything I want to do. Isn’t that always the case?

EQ2 is always my home base, and I’ll always return there. Especially after I glanced through this HUGE list of patch notes that are currently on test. Wow. Some pretty amazing stuff is finally getting fixed. This has been a very long time coming. Earlier this week I also transferred my 80 swashbuckler over to Antonia Bayle, so I can get back into boxing. I had closed my second account for a little while but decided that 12 alts was simply not enough, so I’ve got both accounts once more.

Vanguard is my home away from home. It’s the game I play for pleasure with a few friends when we all happen to have time, and I really love the game. The problem is it’s not one of those duck in real quick for a minute or two games, so it looks like it gets a lot of back burner time.

Aion is what I’m playing a lot of lately, mostly for work. I play during the day, when it’s quieter then normal and I can’t say I’m hating it. Leveling is slow, quests are grindy but it’s beautiful and still new, and I’ll be sticking with it.

Torchlight and Dragon Age are still on my play list as well, but I’ll probably be playing those more on the weekend when I’m not busy with other things. The weather is getting much colder and it’s almost time to hibernate for the winter. No doubt my adventures there will be fun as always.

NaNoWriMo is eating up a lot of time. I’m just over 12k words right now (although I completely slacked yesterday and didn’t do any writing – today I should be making up for it) and I’m excited about my story. It’s something that I’ve been meaning to write for a very long time, but simply never got around to. Now that the motivation is there I just need to stick with it for the month of November. I’ve also been very excited watching all my friends work on their stories, and the inspiration and motivation that bounces off of one another is fantastic.

There are five games that are on my “dang I wish I had more time” list currently. These are the Lord of the Rings Online, Fallen Earth, Wizard 101, EverQuest and Dungeons and Dragons Online. Thankfully DDO is free to play, so I don’t exactly feel like I’m missing out by NOT playing right now. The Lord of the Rings Online recently extended their special Mirkwood promotions until mid November, so I’ve been debating whether or not I want to get in on that and plurge on a life time just because. It’s one of those games I’ve really enjoyed playing but just can’t seem to find the time. Fallen Earth I managed to score a 15 day trial for, and never logged in – sighs. Wizard 101 is something I should be playing a lot more of next week, fingers crossed. EverQuest currently has their closed beta ongoing for Underfoot – and if I could convince a few of my friends to play with me, I’d probably be there a lot more. I really love EverQuest, always have, even 10 years later. It’s just not fun for me to play alone.

After the list of “I wish I had more time” games, there are a few games that I wish I could simply afford to take a peek into every so often, even if I don’t have the time. These include Warhammer (I loved the game, but lacked friends to play with), Free Realms, and Champions Online (which I played a few times but honestly never got into it, I was right about it simply not being the genre for me). Of course there’s those games I’ve tried but never stuck with (and I’ve tried them multiple times), EVE and World of Warcraft. I even bought the latest EVE game and never actually installed it (it went on sale for $5 if I recall) because I just don’t have the time right now to learn another game. I’ve played WoW off and on since release, and I just think it would have been neat to make it to the level cap at least once. My highest level is 50.

Don’t get me started on all the free to play games out there that tickle my fancy.

There really is just not enough time for everything.

Lord of the Rings Online has a promotion coming starting the 15th of October and lasting until the 21st where all closed accounts are being re-opened, and there are some special deals you can take advantage of as far as pricing and the new digital expansion. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in middle earth the past few days, exploring with a friend who has never played before.

Our little hobbits inched their way to level 14, and continued working on our epic quest line. Book one chapter five is where we’re sitting at, and we did a little crafting yesterday as well. It was nice to make items that we could use. We didn’t do a lot of side quests, so money is getting pretty tight. After I purchased my three new skills for 17s each I was down to 5s and couldn’t even afford to repair. I know if I spend a little time farming or working on side quests the coin would be easier to gain.

We also got lucky and managed to find ourselves a few pieces of amazing gear as loot from random encounters, I won myself a cloth hat (purple, whatever rank that is – rare I think?) that looks almost exactly like a witch hat (or a wizard 101 hat if you talk with Toargo who mentioned it yesterday) and Toargo (a guardian) won himself a very nice earring. We also managed to gear ourselves out a bit with some fancy gear from quest rewards, new weapons were made by Toargo but those were quickly replaced with quested items.

The game is much like I remembered it, a lot of questing, and a LOT of running around. We spent far more time traveling yesterday then anything else. It’s fun to play with friends, and even more fun to be playing with someone who has never experienced the game before on any level. It helps make things fresh and new although the highest I’ve ever gotten in game is level 17 so I certainly haven’t experienced all that much myself yet either and I’m looking forward to more.

Wednesday! Thankfully this is a short week and it’s going by quite fast. I hope everyone has been enjoying the week thus far. Happy gaming!

I love gaming. I never seem to have enough time to play everything I want (especially when I’m restricted by work) but I do try to get a few hours in here and there when I can. I’ve been debating picking up the $200 life time subscription to Lord of the Rings Online, I enjoy the game a great deal and I don’t think it’s going anywhere. Would I play it enough to justify $200? I think over time, yes. Short term maybe not but a life time is a long time especially if you look at how much money I’ve spent on my EQ and EQ2 subscriptions over the last 7 years. It’s something I’m still thinking about in any case. While I think about it, I have the account active for a month at least and a friend who had wanted to try the game out decided to pick it up too. As we all know games are wonderful but the one thing that makes them even better is having friends to play with and if not to play with then at least to talk to. I don’t always want to group up, but I do always enjoy a good conversation.

So it was that I found myself with little hobbit Lysthia, a minstrel, exploring around open fields and taking in the comments from someone who has never played the game before. Their main comments were about how beautiful the game was, and how it would take a little getting used to in order to maneuver around.  The game is very similar in play style to EQ2 (so far at least) so they shouldn’t have too much trouble as that was their game of choice for the past few years.

Today is turkey day here in Canada, so a happy thanksgiving to you all! I’m going to enjoy the day by gaming, gaming, and more gaming – with a little laundry tossed in there just so I feel productive. I hope everyone else has an amazing day, and I’m looking forward to doing more exploring in Norrath, Telon, Wizard City, and Middle Earth. Now, does someone have a few extra hours they can lend me?

Lord of the Rings Online is free to play (for those who have inactive accounts) from the week of August 18th to the 24th (or so my email told me yesterday morning). I decided to patch it up and take a peek, as one of the (many) games I love to play but simply don’t have enough time to warrant paying monthly for only two or three sessions. Plus it’s very similar to games that I’m already playing and paying for monthly. Anyhow!

I patched, logged in, and received in game mail telling me that there was a summer festival going on, and I should rush right there and take advantage of it. Which of course I did. I forgot how to actually get anywhere in game, so I decided to walk. It was a long walk. I did some harvesting along the way (and completely forgot what tier I was on, or what any of it was used for) and checked through my quest journal to see if I recognized anything at all about my level 17 rune keeper any more. Which I didn’t. It’s been a little while.

I did make it to the festival, picked up all of the quests in the area, one involving a whole lot of drinking. Wobbled around the dance area, found lost objects for one of the hobbit, and then decided to call it an evening.

I enjoy the free weeks that Turbine constantly throws my way, even though none of them have enticed me to re-subscribe to the game. It’s nice to be able to dive in for a short while without a cost – if I had of thought about it at the time I’d have signed up for the lifetime membership way back at release. Ah well. There’s still just not enough time to play everything I want.

I love my job, I really do. Being able to write about something I enjoy as well as something I’m passionate about is a great gift that I try to make sure I’m aware of constantly. On my web site, I write for me and I love talking about my adventures, thoughts, friends and anything else that happens to cross my mind. The only time any of this is difficult is when it all seems to happen at once. These days there are so many games out there, that I simply don’t have enough time to play everything I want. It’s a shame, because I’d really love to.

EQ2 is my ’steady’ game even though I’m barely playing it these days (it’s due to being crunch week and no other reason) it’s the comfort game that I know inside and out, and I like that comfort factor. However. It’s not the only game I want to play and certainly not the only game I am playing.

I’ve been having an incredible urge to continue playing EQ, which I have waded in and out of for quite some time now. Problem is I don’t enjoy playing EQ alone (where as in EQ2 I have no problem wandering around on my own) and it’s difficult for me to make friends (especially when I waver to and from games). I have my 81 necromancer that I’m considering leveling a little, she’s fairly close to level 82. I’ve always wanted to hit “end game” in everquest, and with the expansion NOT raising the level cap in November, it may very well be a possibility.

Vanguard is another one of those “if I only had more time” games. I seem to be in a rut with my blood mage, and I’m slowly running out of areas where I can just dip in for an hour or two before calling it quits and feel as though I have gotten anything acomplished.

Last month I won a free copy of Age of Conan, I think I found the time to play once during the month that came with the game, and then it sat neglected. For some reason it just does not appeal to me as much as I wish it had. It may be because I’m not really a melee person, and it felt uncomfortable. Either way, it’s one of those “I wish I had more time” games – along with many others.

Lord of the rings online – I really enjoy this game, a lot. It’s familiar, it’s beautiful. I want to continue playing but for now my account lays dormant because once again the greedy time monster has taken all of my time away, and I just don’t have any to spare or to warent spending a monthly subscription for it.

So what AM I playing? Well, my current play list includes EverQuest II, Vanguard (barely), Free Realms (barely), World of Warcraft (please don’t shoot me, it’s easy to dive into for an hour and feel like I actually acomplished something), Wizard 101, Aion Beta, and some DDO.  I want to be able to devote more time to EVE, but that learning curve is so far over my head I may as well actually be playing from another planet. I’ve been having fun in Aion, but again – not enough time to play everything I want to play, and to get work done as well as real life things (plus I can’t actually sit at my desk for too long before I start to get sore from health issues).

While I am excited that there are so many games out there (don’t even get me started on console games and finding time to play those too!) there are certainly moments where I wish the selection were smaller. Am I the only one?

Turbine has another promotion going on right now in celebration of LotRO turning 2 years old. Old players will find their accounts active for a week, there’s 25% bonus experience in game, you can purchase a subscription at a discount price of $9.99/m (if you purchase one of their plans, 3 months or more) and there are also gifts to be found in game by means of ‘tokens’ that drop from mobs. I love promotions like these, and Landroval was bustling yesterday during the day with all sorts of players. On one side it was great to see, on another side, the lag was not great to see. I can only assume Landroval is far more populated then the server Nostalgia moved from, since I don’t remember having lag before. It’s short, and in spurts. It doesn’t hamper my game play any more then being slightly annoying as I run through Bree, and it seems to be limited to the big cities.

I played the rune-keeper for a bit yesterday along with Kasul who is still waiting for his character to transfer over. Word reached that Tipa’s characters made the trip successfully, so his should be up very soon. It’ll be nice to have everyone on the same server again.

We completed a few chapters of book one, volume one, inching ever so closer to where we were at before in the series, which was book one volume one chapter 11, the portion where we’d need a group to complete it. Tipa and Malfi will no doubt be dragged into that one to help out.

After it was decided that we’d do our level 15 class quests, mine was already starting to lighten up in colours as I was level 17 by then, but it made me trek out to the Lone Lands and I didn’t want to walk way out there when I’d not yet received the quests that had me adventure that way.

The quest was fantastic, I had so much fun doing it on my rune-keeper. You speak to an NPC outside the Forsaken Inn (I believe that’s the name, if it’s not dead on please forgive me) and get ported to the top of Weathertop. This is a HUGE mountain just North of the lone lands, and when I got there a thunderstorm was raging. I had to take my rune-keeper around and select a number of stones and then watch them each get hit by lightning. Mother nature at her best or some such story. After I’d carefully selected my three stones, orcs began attacking me. The atmosphere was intense, the sky would be pitch black as rain came pouring down and then suddenly everything would be illuminated bright as day time as the storm grew in height and then BAM an orc would charge me from the darkness.

After a time I received the messages that my three stones had been hit by lightning and I should go back to each one and see what remained. Back to the npc who ported me to the Inn and I received my weapon as well as a new class trait that lets me focus on my lightning skills with crits.

I headed back to Bree and turned in 5 iron tokens I’d gathered while adventuring and received a scroll for a weapon smith that allows a one time creation of a purple (not sure what the classification is actually called, heroic legendary etc) weapon! Neat. Most people were talking about how they’d received food from the gift-giver and naught more.

It was starting to get close to dinner after that, so I decided to break there. The rune-keeper is almost 18 and then it’s just one more level to catch up to Hamal once he moves over. Hopefully I can squeeze that in before our next game day the following week. We’ll see!