Renkosi's Guide to the Siege of Mirkwood

I’ve been progressing pretty far since I last posted. I’m now back in the Lone Lands, after a few forays into the North Downs, and having pushed my way through the barrow quests. I’m now picking up people for fellowships with ease since there seems to be shortage of minstrels on the server I play. I’ve also been finding that the explorer career is good for making money One and a half gold so far!  So all in all things are looking good. I haven’t yet joined a kin and thats got me wondering, do you even need to join one?

The thing I’ve noticed about kins is that the people who invite you to join them are either doing it over the IM having never met you, or by people you’ve only just met at the beginning of a fellowship. All the people I’ve been on several quests with, and who are in kins, never seem to be recruiting. Maybe thats just a comment about me, but I want to be in a kin with people that I’ve played with and gotten to know a little. Well until that day I’ll continue to join random fellowships…

I ventured out to the Lone Lands for the second time yesterday. I had collected a few quests while exploring Bree that wanted me to deliver letters to people in the Forsaken Inn in the Lone Lands, so i thought well why not. Sure it sounds like a real dive of a pub, but the game seemed to want to get me onto the next area and I could have done with finding some harder enemies for the XP. Looking on my map i saw it was a good 10-15 minute run, so i forked out for a horse ride. Renkosi got me started on the horses.. little did i realise how quickly they drained your cash. What you do get while on them though is a real appreciation for the different envionments as you ride along: seeing the lush fields of Bree turn into a barren desert is quite nice. 

Once at the Forsaken Inn you realise that the Lone Lands are quite a bit different to the Shire and Bree. The quests are nearly all picked up in just a couple of places: I must have picked up about eight the first time I walked into the Forsaken Inn. Coming up to level 20 this was what I was after, the opportunity to make a lot of XP with as little running around as possible, and lo and behold all the missions were centred around this one area to the southeast. Reconning I could probably handle some goblins, wolfs and boars: I decided to go in alone. I must have died about five times… Those ruins are tough. I was even trying to be careful and just pick off a few at a time, but some of the wolves sneak up on you, and some of the goblins have bombs! I saw a level 21 minstrel struggling through reasonably far by himself, while I ran behind trying to get his attention long enough to form a fellowship, before he also died. But that time I managed to hold on and get into the centre of the goblin camp, compleating several quests as i went and earning a bucket load of XP before I fell down a chasm and got bitten to death by a massive spider. Ahh well, by that point I had compleated enough quests to ensure when I talked to the folk in the Forsaken Inn I had reached level 20! Yes shield use, more songs, and costumes!

Ok this was a little stupid, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m not very good with my lefts and rights and easts and wests.

I picked up a mission where I had 30min to get a beer from Ered Luin and bring it back for someone in Bree. Right, far to the west of Bree it said.. so of i went. I should have noticed the road was called the great eastern road.. I didn’t.. I sould have noticed that the next land to the east was the Lost Lands not Ered Luin.. i didn’t. I was just crossing over to Trollshaw after about 15min travelling when I thought.. bugger where the hell am I. when I was promptly clubed to death by an ork.

Don’t do what i did. Look at a map. Check which was is west. Stay alive.

Roleplaying isn’t always everyones cup of tea, but I say give it a go. True, I first tried the roleplaying server because I knew people in it, but I was initially pretty skeptical expecting everyone running around being beardy and talking in Olde English. The truth is that although there are some people like that, the majority of people just play as if they were themselves in the world of Tolkien. This is all a little strange at first, but before long you start to realise just how much more it involves you in the story and with your character. Soon your not just a fat bald hobbit champion, but a fat bald hobbit champion with a penchance for fried mushrooms and exquisit hats. And so it continues.

Playing a hobbit I initially started to play up to the popular image (i.e. eating all the time, smoking, and complaining about having to get wet), although I soon started to empathise a lot more with my characters position. Is it really nessessary for everyone to point out my height? Seriously, I have developed a massive virtual chip on my shoulder. I’m slowly cultivating a real character based on the way people react to the way I play and the way I dress in-game.

There is plenty outside of the roleplay however. When I play with Evanna (aka Renkosi) we mainly communicate over voice chat, where we don’t roleplay. Neither do you roleplay when you communicate in the instant messenger (ie a /tell). Roleplaying is in the way you move your character around, the emotes you use, and the things you “say”. I don’t know what other people think about it, but for me the roleplaying is now just another level to the gameplay you need to experience to fully appreciate the game.

Not all of us out there will be entering into Moria straight away. The monsters are bigger and harder then anywhere else, so expect to have to be around lvl 50 to venture into the deeps. But the release of the new expansion is most definitely good news for those thinking of jumping into the game. Not only is this the first of what Jeffrey Steefel executive producer of LotRO said he was hoping would be an annual expansion to the game (so additional content is still coming out), but also lots of those people who have been playing for a while will be starting up new characters in the two new classes (so plenty of people in the starting areas to form fellowships with).

I’m pretty sure my level 15 Hobbit Minstrel won’t be getting to Moria any time soon (I’ve hardly adventured beyond the Shire!), but with free expansions planned for Moria I expect it to be even bigger and better when I do arrive. Incidentally, those Dwarfs better make good pie. Because with all the walking its going to take to get there; I’m going to be hungry.

-Jimogo