Adventures in Dolby and Technicolor

Hobbit and Redhead posted this on December 30th, 2009. It has 3 Comments »
Categorized as Captain, Classes, Rune-keeper.

Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2476

While grind­ing out the quests in S. Mirk­wood (how sim­i­lar in pat­tern they are to those in Ere­gion) I’ve taken a break to try out two new-for-me classes: Cap­tain and Rune-keeper. On the whole, I am enjoy­ing both classes and the con­trast they make to my main.

Hith­erto I’ve only played tank roles. Cap­tain’s sup­port and jack-of-all-trades role is reward­ing, and Rune-keeper’s instant death strikes are, well, more sat­is­fy­ing than I realized.

This post’s title refers to the huge change in sound and visu­als that come with Cap­tain and Rune-keeper. Man, can my man Calen­bor shout! And—BZZT-ZAP!—there is no spe­cial effect too campy for Fig­galin. Stones for everyone.

A vetting by Berephon

Hobbit and Redhead posted this on November 19th, 2009. It has 2 Comments »
Categorized as Captain.

Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2414

My new Cap­tain’s name, Calen­bor, was vet­ted today by Berephon in the forums!

As a “green­hand” Cap­tain on Wind­fola, feel free to invite me to fel­low; Bree-land is prac­ti­cally empty these days (espe­cially judg­ing by the amount of sil­ver ore in the Bar­rows, usu­ally heav­ily over­mined). You can call me “Caleb” or “Cal”, if you like.

I decided to roll up a Cap­tain: fel­low­ing with Cap­tains as Gloimli, my Guardian main, taught me their extreme worth in groups. Eas­i­est time I ever had in some of the hard­est Moria instances was run­ning with two Cap­tains at once. I’d like to make some one else’s fel­low­ing that enjoyable.

In keep­ing with Calenbor’s sup­port­ing role, I took up Tin­ker. Noth­ing like good kib­bles and some shiny gee­gaws to really buff up your fellows!

It’s morphin’ time!

Hobbit and Redhead posted this on November 13th, 2009. It has No Comments »
Categorized as Editorials and Thoughts.

Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2401

Lotro­Life has out­stand­ing screen­shots in NEW SIEGE OF MIRKWOOD SCREENSHOTS CHAMBERS INSTANCE (all caps, really?). I am look­ing for­ward to see­ing the Eye of Sauron for myself in that instance.

But there is some­thing famil­iar, some­thing nag­ging about the poses of the com­bat­ants. I sense some­thing; a pres­ence I’ve not felt since

The waiting game

Hobbit and Redhead posted this on November 12th, 2009. It has 1 Comment »
Categorized as News.

Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2389

Hob­bit is a ter­ri­ble waiter. Red­head can be as patient as and old majes­tic oak, but not Hob­bit. What to do while pass­ing time before Siege of Mirk­wood opens? Fin­ish Vol­ume I, of course! Which I am inspired to do by Blue Kae’s post (super screentshot).

Red­head long ago has been at Book 14 wait­ing for kin­mates to catch up. Hob­bit is at Book 9. Can I catch up to Red­head and fin­ish before Decem­ber? The pay­off at the home­front will be large: I see some tasty home­made treats in my future.

Daydreams of Arda

Hobbit and Redhead posted this on November 11th, 2009. It has No Comments »
Categorized as Editorials and Thoughts, News.

Shorthand Link: http://mmeow.net/tw2379

Lately I have often caught myself day­dream­ing of Arda, specif­i­cally, the Arda of Turbine’s LOTRO.

This is espe­cially notice­able at work where I lis­ten to in-my-head music through­out the day. LOTRO has so many mem­o­rable musi­cal pas­sages. The Shire is prob­a­bly the best region for music, but few regions are weak.

I also day­dream of places and peo­ple. Today I found myself tour­ing the Shire, vis­it­ing south­ern Evendim near the Brandy­wine, fight­ing wolves as a female Hob­bit (the “ugh, ugh” sounds they make stick in my mem­ory), and rest­ing in Lothlorien.

Some­times my day­dreams are so vivid, they are dis­tract­ing. I have to remind myself I’m at work, not enjoy­ing my new Cap­tain, or explor­ing Ere­gion, or raid­ing with friends. But I wish I were.

I’m not sure what other MMOs are like, but that Turbine’s LOTRO digs deeply into my day­dreams is a good sign its stay­ing power.