Ravric: Troll's Teeth

First, check out Disseminated's post containing a new first for our humble blog: VIDEO. There is a deed in the Lonelands that requires you to kill level 24-26 elite trolls from the Balt-Olog clan. To complete the deed through both stages you need to kill 180 of the fat beasts.

I set up my first event with my guild Council of the Secret Fire to just try and have a good time grinding together. I was a little worried about whether it would be fun or tiresome because normally the grinding activities are done solo.

It was a lot of fun. We started with four or five people from the guild, and we had our core group including myself, but players started rotating in and out depending on how many they wanted to kill, etc. The best part was we also had a burglar in our group, a person that can make fellowship maneuvers. Fellowship maneuvers are very powerful events that require the coordination of every member of the group to get the most juice of the event. Basically when a fellowship maneuver pops up every person in the group can pick 1 of 4 colors, and the order which those colors are picked creates a certain fellowship move. It is almost like a simple mini-game within the overlying game.

It felt to me that this was a taste of what Public Quests coming in Warhammer Online would feel like. As you stayed longer throughout the Public Quest you would begin to develop more of a relationship with others that stayed longer, however, new blood would continuously be coming in. So, I think even if you are doing a repetitious activity, this style of play keeps it fresh.

I look forward to more activities like this once in awhile. It makes grinding things out a lot more fun.

Moondog: Smiting Trolls in Harloeg

The foul abominations were running amok down in the swamps of the Lone-lands. Sure, they didn't bother anyone there, but it was clear they were gathering in preparation for an attack on the civilized realms!

Luckily Ravric mustered Councilmen Moondog, Lorthalin, Ferimgard, and some local allies to go clean up that mess!

Ravric: Gwarg

While waiting for a decent group for the rest of Book 2, I decided to work on some Deeds. The particular deed I wanted involved killing the wargs all around the Lonelands. This was a pain because unlike most of the other kill-deed mobs, wargs don't have a specific spawn point and can be found throughout the Lonelands. Since I ran a lot I also indirectly worked on my deed that required me to kill craben.

It really didn't take that long, but I find I have to do deeds in spurts otherwise the grind of them really gets to me. This is the last deed I think I am going to make sure I get before heading away from the Lonelands and focusing on North-Downs and Evendim more. Some are easy, but I really wouldn't use the deeds right now. I was pleased to complete this one in the morning light.

Ravric: Upgrades

I just hit 30th level! I am very glad because 20-30 feels like a bottleneck. I don't know if it was self-imposed because I stuck mainly to Lonelands with some North Downs mixed in, or if it is a flaw in the game. I was starting to really slow down again at 29 until I decided to head to Oathbarton, a hobbit outpost in south Evendim region. I was level 30 before I could believe it.

I think that Turbine, at the least, needs to find a better way of having players want to go to the different regions. I know that the books help, but if I had not known about Evendim from Moondog and my kinship, I would have never thought to get there until I found some hidden quest chain or something.

Level 30 came with a few nice upgrades. Moondog gave me a new armor for Maiden. Her morale skyrocketed, and altogether she is a much more useful pet. I also received two excellent new skills that make me feel like the Captain Kingshit.

The first is Revealing Mark. The Mark skills are useful, for sure. Noble Mark is especially good for pulling as it does damage to the enemy. Revealing Mark is just awesome. It gives me (and anyone else attacking the marked creature) morale for damaging the enemy... in the amount of near 20% of my damage. I am doing about 60-70 damage per hit now, and I receive back about 11-16 morale. My survivability skyrocketed there.

The second is Blade of Elendil, which is a decent attack skill that buffs me so that I could cause an initial damage-over-time skill (Light of Elendil) if I keep whacking the creature. The great thing is that it is another chain in my combo. So now I start with Battle-Shout, use Devastating Blow, then Blade of Elendil for some pretty decent damage.

The other thing I have been diligently working on is the Fishing Hobby. My guys has 80 Fishing skill right now, which is nice because I am finally getting fish that pay off the worms cost. Most fish at the low levels go for 1 copper, but I am getting ones in the 13-25 copper range, which still sucks but at least its a little something. That is also on top of the trophy fish which give 1.38 silver (approx.)

For reference, worms cost 3 silver (300 copper) and some change. A normal humanoid mob that I kill will give me about 3 silver. So fishing is not worth the cost of time right now, but it is a nice break. I can also chat with my wife while doing it.

Ravric: Heavy Lifting

After slaying dozens of glowing, evil spiders under the goblin-held ruins of Minas Eriol, the fellowship of Moondog and Ravric felt the time of the goblins in Minas Eriol was soon at an end. Next stop: dead goblins in Barad Ichiant.

With Moondog's violent, musical muscle the elite goblins were being mowed down like weeds. The lighting effects in Barad Ichiant were wonderful and spooky, and also gave our character's a little dread. The way to the Goblin Leader was frought with peril because a goblin sniper took a potshot at Maiden and she ran off directly into the maze-like camp. A minute later 20 elite goblins came back running towards Moondog and me, and our combine might was not enough to vanquish the goblin horde's gibbering fury. After regrouping and explaining to Maiden that the kind of agro she gave us was only done normally by Champions, we made it safely to the Goblin Leader. And killed him. Dead.

We then hopped a few fences to bypass the remaining goblin guards, and made our way north to Ost Laden, where supposedly the refuged Eglain of the Free Peoples had an ancient artifact of such worth and power that all the problems of the Lone Lands could be due to the this one thing. According to one of the refugees, it was their greatest find.

The keep of Ost Laden was filled with goblins of similar power to the ones we had just faced. Finding the artifact was relatively simple. It was a statute of such enormity that Ravric could only run after Moondog. He could not even help loot the dead bodies. Of course as all things must go, Moondog and Ravric became lost and soon found themselves under the Lornspan bridge staring up at where they were supposed to be. The movement of the statute was causing bits of it to chip off, and if they didn't get the statute to the informant by the end of the day, it would be ruined.

Moondog realized that the way was probably cutting through more hordes of goblin in the eastern reaches of Ost Laden, and soon through the blood-misted haze we saw our informant standing under some trees. He took the statue, ran off, and we were left feeling a little bamboozled.

We ended the blood-filled night peering into Mithenrost, a corrupted dwarf stronghold across the Lornspan, before returning to safety.

Moondog: Gone Fishin'

Moondog, being a good Hobbit. Likes most of all 2 things... Food and Not Moving. So here we combine these two traditional pass-times by fishing. But Moondog cheated a little bit... He did move. Here's the filmstrip from his fishing trip, starting in the Shire.

Here we are in Bywater. Found a nice mossy rock away from the dock where all the other Hobbits were casting their lines. Found me a real swell goldfish here.

Found another place just across this quaint stone bridge. Some less clever anglers can be seen across the way.

Found a nice pool right smack in the middle of the Brockenborings market. Was hoping to bag a Koi but no dice.

So then I headed north across the Greenfields up through Oatbarton and found a niiice quiet beach (except for the Salamanders!) way up near the source of the Brandywine River.

Fishing in the Lake is better than fishing in the river of course. So on up to Evendim!

Borrowed the bow of a rowboat and joined this lass in a cast or two!

Finally decided to head even further north for some ice fishing in Forochel!

Ravric: Momentum

Book 13, an epic update, just came out, and the excitement and furvor of the Free People's bled into the mind of this humble author. Too many times did I forget to press the lovely screenshot button to tell the tales of Ravric, Captain of the Free Peoples.

Prior to the update, only the lowliest caste of people fished for the realms, but now these bottom-dwellers had figured out a way to get adventurer's to feed the masses. A progress bar and trophies. Ravric too was swept up in to the fury of draining the waterways of Eriador of all fishlife, and managed to deplete the pond near Staddle of goldfish, minnows, and pounds of lost rusty daggers. It was all but certain that the hundreds of murderers in Bree-land dumped their blood-stained weapons into the Little Staddlemire, daily.

The developers at Turbine really did well with the simple "hobby" of Fishing. It follows the progress bar of similar MMO's, but it is the small things that make the feature so well done. First, every pull (done at the correct time) will net something... even if it is just a 1 copper Ball of Gunk. Second, you can fish everywhere (some other MMOs forbid you to fish in higher level places until you get better at fishing). Thirdly, and best of all, are the graphics. As you fish you begin to see fish swimming under your line, grabbing your hook, and even leaping out of the water. The more fishing going around the pond, the more lively the graphics for the whole waterway. All-in-all, I consider this feature (that I once thought was a waste of time on the developer's parts) a success.

Ravric's travels took him from east of Bree-land to north of Bree-land, the North Downs. Whereas the Lonelands were lands poisoned by the Enemy, the North Downs were simply won by warring orcs and goblins. The largest human settlement of Trestlebridge, guarded in part by a huge wooden bridge spanning a deep chasm. Ravric's journeys mostly focused on fighting the orcs just north and northeast of Trestlebridge. Ravric slowly made himself northward towards where the accursed ghosts lay, but luckily, he found a small cadre of refugees in Amon Raith to keep company with through the night.

Storytelling - Book 2, Chapter 1

I returned to the Istari's temporary tower, unsure if I would be worthy of his task. Gandalf had been so sure his colleague would benefit from my help, but when I had first met Radagast he regarded me with disinterest. I hoped he would still be awake.

Radagast's purpose in the Lonelands was to determine what evil was corrupting the land. Of course the orcs and goblins were turning the ruins and areas they camped into cesspools, but Radagast was convinced some dark, ancient evil was darkening the soul of the land.

His first task for me was to check on some bog-prowler nests, and retrieve some of their moss. He continually referred to the freakish looking things as shepherds - tending to the trees. I don't think the gnarled trees in the blood-colored swamp really needs tending. Radagast innocently claimed he wished the bog-prowlers no harm, but I was going to slay any of the freaks where they stood if they attaked me. Who am I to argue with an Istari?

Maiden and I easily found the nests after killing a few orcs on our way to the swamp. Thankfully the bog-prowlers were all out hunting in the pre-dawn morning, and we only had to deal with a few overgrown bugs. I was surprised that there were no guards to the nests. Maybe Radagast was more correct than he believed. Maiden was little help when it came to rooting through the nests full of bog-prowler excrement, rat carcasses, and other decaying organic matter. She said that "it was not the job of a Herald."

Of course in an Istari's mind if he could get one adventurer to muck through shit, why not get two. I don't know how much ale it took to convince a stubborn dwarf, but I met Thorinnog, a dwarf guardian. He was well known in the Lone-Lands, however this was the first time our paths had crossed. Thorinnog greeted me with a soiled hand, which I returned in kind. We dug through some nests side by side, and he seemed to feel he was finished with the task before I. I needed just a few more samples of the moss, when Thorinnog told me he needed to see a man about a job and ran off. I felt our fellowship had ended, and had a hard time deciding whether I would again band with the skitterish dwarf.

Radagast greeted me kindly when I returned. The old man either did not smell my odor, or was polite enough not to care, but I dutifully handed over the small pouch of less-than-fresh moss. He seemed to just look at the pouch then toss it aside. I don't know whether he saw with his wizadry, or mucking through shit was just another initiation to help the Free People's cause. Still, I had seen the corruption of the land with my own eyes, and I knew there was work to do.

I didn't mention to the wizard the bog-prowlers I killed... two of them just because they looked weird and I didn't like them. Maiden did smirk a bit as Radagast and I discussed the completed quest. We are going to have a "talk" when we make camp.

Ravric: Meet Kate on the Run

I have only been playing Lord of the Rings Online for a short time, but Disseminated has been playing the MMO since beta. His main is Moondog, the minstrel of small stature apparent in the many posts. Disseminated also has quite a few alts (alternate characters), and one of them is Kaetlyn Austyn, burglar on the run. The Lost (television series) fans should readily know who this character "portrays."

Kaetlyn was heading to the White Hand camps situated around Weathertop and asked for some company. Ravric was in the nearby Midgewater Marshes slicing apart goblins and stealing relics of a bygone age, so it was a quick hope across the Weather Hills to meet her. Maiden was a little jealous, and raised her overarched eyebrows more than once, but Ravric helped out the situation, mightily, by not crying like a girl.

We fought our way through Bleakrift, a White Hand command point. The orcs obviously had some intelligent backing because the ingenuity of their defense - rope bridges causing defensible choke points - was well above an orc's station. Kaetlyn helped readily with her backstabbing and ease of creating Fellowship Maneuvers.

We fought our way to the orc captain Uzorr, and the coward ran back to his tents to wake up his guards. A few came out but between my captain yells, Kaetlyn's excellent use of stuns, and our combined steel, the orcs were quickly vanquished. I also had killed enough crebans (evil crows) to make a feather pillow for someone at the Forsaken Inn. All in all, not a bad day for the Free Peoples.

Ravric: Sightseeing on the Lonely Road

The inn, when I logged in, was full of hustle and bustle. There must have been at least 10 players just standing on the steps of the inn. I also got this weird error message from an icon of a broken chain saying that due to server strain, I would not be getting to see everything my graphics were capable of (mostly draw distance, I believe). That went away fairly quickly.

I had the Book 2, Prologue quest to go meet Radagast further down the east road, and I gained another one to meet the Eglain, or the forsaken men who got pushed out of their Ruin-Holds due to the White Hand goblin or orcs invasions. Along the way I caught sight of the great ruins of Weathertop.

I finally got to Ost Guruth, a Ruin-Hold with its own stable (basically a major quest hub in comparison to the Forsaken Inn). I got a couple new quests, and the problems seemed to be more of the same as what I heard from Forsaken Inn, but compounded. There were goblin and orc camps all over Weathertop. The swamps to the east were filled with dreadful creatures. And the wargs had come. I really liked the way the non-epic quest stories were moving. In Bree-Land most of the quests were all about local problems: brigands, wights in the barrows, etc. But now in the Lonelands, we are fighting The Enemy. I finally got to Radagast, who had taken over the one standing tower in Ost Guruth.

He said "Hmm... Gandalf sent you. Well you are clearly a noob and cannot start Book 2 yet." I was only level 20 when I met him. He then chose to stare at me for 5 minutes, before I realized the ancient Istari wanted me to leave until I was more prepared (level 21). At least I got the Stable travel point at Ost Guruth.

I then decided to check out the area north of the Forsaken Inn, west of Weathertop. It was filled with White Hand goblins, and crebans (large evil ravens). Far north, I finally fought a few orcs for a Forsaken Inn quest that wanted to take their battle standards and sew it into a baby blanket or something.

Just west of Weathertop (and probably on the other side as well) there are two goblin camps. I think the area is mostly meant for a buddy-play group because it is nearly impossible to get into the camps by pulling one mob. I was doing okay, but I must admit I am again unhappy with the old and worn usage of traditional mechanics that Turbine used. Things respawn once killed. This is not the problem. The problem is that things will respawn nearly on top of you without warning AND immediately attack. At least in WoW, the mob would be in a type of "stasis" for about 5-10 seconds or until attacked.

Basically I went to a sub-camp, killed the two goblins guarding it... went to go poison their food, and while doing so two more goblins respawned nearly on top of me and immediately attacked. I just feel it is a little too unforgiving, and since they chose that respawn style a grace period to gtfo would be useful. Something I will have to get used to now that I am getting in to tougher spots.

[soapbox]One of the things I pray for in future MMOs is the immersive feeling that you are accomplishing something. Right now MMOs fail at this feature. Guild Wars on paper came close, but shied away in the end. Tabula Rasa almost gets it, but you never feel like you are winning. Warhammer Online gets a little closer with RvR changing the landscape, but I am talking more about PvE. It just rips away immersion when you kill 100 goblins in a small camp, and they remain there... and "warp" in. I just feel that if it was a core focus (instead of being lazy, and I'm sorry but warping in mobs is lazy) of development, something beautiful could arise without the sacrifice of gameplay.[/soapbox]

Ravric: Into the Lonelands

I hit level 20 this afternoon while grinding orcs for a deed (and a quest). Level 20 is nice for a Captain because they can wear heavy armor and start to use banners on the ground (instead of heralds). I also got to customize my Herald, and Billdo decided he didn't like the armor I bought. A salty swordsmaid did, and now I have a new Herald who deems to call herself only Maiden. Maiden and Ravric get along nicely in the cold Loneland nights.

The Lonelands are due east of Bree-Land, and whereas Bree-land is full of crops and green-ness, the Lonelands are scrublands and desert. At least, from what I have seen. I took a saunter in to the Forsaken Inn, basically a whole community in one building, to find out the goings on of the land. This was a nice relief from running all over the actually forsaken Bree to merely repair items.

It seemed that the most pressing issue was that White Hand Goblins had overrun Minas Eriol to the southeast of the Forsaken Inn. This had completely stopped trade as the people of the land, that I talked to at least, were merely gypsies who scavenged the ruins of the Second Age. The shit they sold bought them food and underclothes from Bree, and the goblins had come up in their shit.

I did like what I saw when I did the first few quests, which involved killing a few goblins and rummaging through piles of shit for shit for the gypsies. There were wargs and wolves that used stealth, and the goblins themselves used varied tactics. It was all quite fun, and I cannot wait to start Book 2 this week.

Ravric: Wight Giggin'

The repair bill for the foolishness the session before was about 20 silver, and I still came out 10-15 silver ahead. So, it wasn't horrible. I was being stupid though, but hopefully Disseminated will help me with the quest tonight.

I mostly just killed wights and barghests in the barrow downs. I did get to level 18 thanks to the experience bonus, and so spent most of my time in the southern barrow downs, where its a little harder. At level 18, I got my first Tactics skill, which is a 30 minute buff. This one raises my chance to parry by 3.5%.

In the southern barrow downs, there is my first true dread causing enemy. I think going through Book 1 of the story quests, I did face a dread enemy once in awhile (especially Book 1, Chapter 11, where you go down into a "more evil" barrow. The wight is a Noxious Barrow Wight, and they cause Dread, Fear, and Disease. Dread is like a "balance" mechanic in that it takes away your max health, ups the damage you take per hit, and lowers the amount you get healed. Fear is a damage over time effect, and Disease mostly lowers attributes for a few minutes.

I should be finishing up my first pass of deeds (the second pass deals with a level 40+ dungeon) in the Barrow Downs fairly soon, and then I am heading back to the Old Forest.

Ravric: Nighttime Running

The first thing I did was to see what the net profit was for last night. My repair bill was 10.7 silver, a bit high only due to the fact that I died (Turbine seems to again hang on to an old and worn mechanic of requiring you to pay more if you die, which, in my opinion, only serves to slow down gameplay - not make it more exciting). I did however make a nice sale of wight bones, grave dust, and other manner of merchant trash for 60.53 silver. So a net gain of about 50 silver was not bad for one short night's work.

Then I went to the local bard at the Prancing Pony to check on my Traits, as I did want to equip the skill Uppercut I had completed last night. I swapped in Renewed Voice for Captain of War because I felt the reduced charge on Battle-Shout was more beneficial than a 5% reduction in attack speed (when the buff was up). Plus I got +10 Might, so that was helpful. It did suck that equipping the Racial Trait cost 22.5 silver! Whereas a Captain Trait and Virtue Trait only costs 1.25 silver. That cut into my nice 50 new silvers.

The next thing I did was finally check out my vault, where I could keep my stuff. I had been carrying around my crafting items and materials, almost unnecessarily since I did not craft much. Plus I had been keeping some recipes for later crafting advances and a ring Disseminated made for me that I would not be able to use for 3 levels. So I put all that away; taking almost half of my available storage space.

I looked at my quest log, and decided to go for the closest one: Shadow of the White Hand. In this quest chain, I have been seeking out information about Sharkey's Men, who are basically uber-bandits united under the iron fist of Sharkey (before they were just common thugs). According to Ranger Saeradan, an inside man will meet me outside Bree at night to give me some notes on Sharkey's Gang. A short jaunt north of Bree, I find my man hiding in a copse of trees.

In this quest, he basically starts talking to me and some of Sharkey's Men appear to kill him. I did not expect this, being a little lazy, and then I got turned around, failed to attack who I wanted (stupid facing wrong direction), failed to pull enough aggro, and just generally failed the quest when the informant was killed. Not a huge deal, EXCEPT I forgot who gave me the quest and when you fail a quest sometimes it just rips it from your quest log so you have no clue how to restart it. I find this tedious, and a waste of time... and so started my Nighttime Running. Run to the wiki, run back to Saeradan, run back to the trees. Great fifteen minutes of running.

A second try allowed me to easily defeat the three brigands that appeared, and Billdo did exactly what he should have without me telling him to... get in the face of archers. I came back to Saeradan, and he basically shrugged and said there were worse things to the North. And, could I go kill them please.

One great thing that came out of the quest was that I became an Acquaintance with the Men of Bree. The Men of Bree are a kind of fraternal order dedicated to protecting the Bree-Lands. Before, they neutrally regarded me, and I could not enter their lodge. But, now I could enter their lodge and have them all ignore me in there!

I should have just ended the night there on a high note, but I decided to go to Brigand's Watch and try and save the daughter of the blacksmith I talked to the night before. I died twice, failed the quest three times, and mostly ran in to a self-imposed wall for not trying to group up with anybody. Hopefully, I killed enough Brigands to pay for my forthcoming repair bill.

Ravric: Down Dawn

It starts before dawn at the Prancing Pony in the human-run town of Bree.

A few other players were already on, and the tavern is a good meeting place. There was no entertainment happening in the tavern, and Ravric, Human Captain of the 17th Level, had the dead to kill.

It is a quick hop to the west of Bree to get into the graveyards of the Barrow Downs. The sub-zone is full of living dead (I don't think the term undead is used), and amazingly enough they are still of bogeyman-like legend to the people of Bree. I summoned my trusty Herald, who should really be a Standard Bearer but will forevermore be thusly named Billdo. And we went to killing the dead.

Verily, Ravric and Billdo did slay many of the dead that night. However, it wasn't until I started collecting trinkets from the individual barrows (read: grave robbing for a weaponscrafter that needed shinies for a sword handle) that I was overwhelmed and had to retreat. The aggro or threat range (the zone where an enemy will start to attack you) is great for the open areas of the Barrow Downs. But, once I got close to an actual barrow, I had to be much more careful. It's not the melee-type Wights that hurt... it's the archers. Although Billdo fought valiantly to my aid, four Wights were too many and I had to retreat to Tom Bombadil's home.

I fought my way to the Southern Downs just as dawn was breaking.

I left the Barrow Downs just as a group of people came to enter one of the dungeons, and I completed my quest (after slaughtering a few boars on the way back to Bree). The quest giver was the most ungrateful person in Bree. Not only is he a complete idiot (losing swords for his clients), but he asks me to go gather materials for him at practically no charge. I wish that was it, but the whole quest line deals with him and a dwarf in Bree who is standing about 200 yards away. Needless to say, the "blacksmith" grabbed the trinkets and boar-hides I had risked my life for and said that he needed my help again. A Captain's work is never done.