The Ranger (Part 2)

Highlights: Resolina enters Minas Tirith and dies there

December 4th - 10th

(Pictures were unfortunately broken)

Moria Monday Rush: Things got pretty crazy around this Monday for we did every instance (and Halls of Crafting), except Forgotten Treasury. We learn that Yualiel's "Invincible" title was actually from a level 58 class quest. We learned that Elaelin seems to do the opposite of what her class is, wheither it be minstrel or champion. I wasn't around for either Fil Gashan or Sixteenth Hall since all three of my characters are done with those two instances. In fact, Resolina only needs 4 trolls in Forges and Fanrel needs about 30 wargs in Grand Stair. Hatric still has quite a few deeds scattered here and there. Erestendir somehow got himself on fire with Ultimate Inferno from Halls of Crafting throughout the whole shindig. For the first half I thought he was using some new level 115 runekeeper ability from the fires of Mordor. Fanrel definitely called it when I answered Elaelin's call to who was going to kill themselves at the end of Dark Delving.

Mordor Wednesday: I questioned whether or not it was worth it going into The Court of Seregost and Dungeons of Naerband. Amusingly, The Court of Seregost gives you some awesome rewards for even a level 105 T2 3-man instance that takes up 10 minutes of your time. Sure the new patch will make it so that the bosses and the chests are locked to the specific kind of instance for 24 hours but getting on average 3 Anfalas Scroll of Empowerment and perhaps even a Anfalas Crystal of Remembrance is pretty good. Elaelin was nice enough to give me hers so that I could start building up my weapon's 7th legacy. I couldn't quite decide on which specific legacy to choose from so I defaulted to Cutting Attack Damage.

Spreadsheet Friday: I waited until around 9pm to see what the group would do that night. I don't remember what the kin ended up doing but I had a great night watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

SLOTRO: The kin has decided to get a group of characters together and cap them a key levels. For level 20, they ran Barrow-Downs. I haven't exactly asked but I still don't know what the "S" stands for - slow? super? silly? stoppers? Saturday? I'm not usually available Saturday mornings and wouldn't want to start yet another character but I know there is around 10 players participating.

Old Anórien: One thing I had to keep remembering is that Minas Tirith isn't the whole zone. It isn't exactly part of Osgiliath inside East Gondor and there is an "After Battle" version of Minas Tirith that is part of the March of the King pack. No, Pelennor Fields and Talath Anor are also included in this quest pack. Even though the running around might have gotten annoying at times, I was emotionally attached to this area like I was with Osgiliath. How should I split these pictures up?

People: When you are wandering around town, you will meet a ton of people mentioned on your travels, like that one dude from... and that other one from the forest. Ok, so I'm really bad at names. Still you sort of become invested in knowing where these people come from in Gondor and what's driving these people into such a battle. Forlong is one name I'll never forget. I also love the two hunters from Blackrock Vale. Not that farmer though. Should have left that farmer and sheep to die in the fields.

The drummer reminds me of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat

Locations: I'm not going to delve into every spot and every deed. A lot of the locations are dead zones where you read a plaque or visit a guy standing in front of a door. Every now and then you can actually go into a tavern or a nice instance. Eventually you will run into that one area that is breath-taking (and it is usually via a quest).

Fun Fact: When my family would take trips across the United States, my crazy uncle would stick half his body out the window screaming and waving his arms at the cars behind him as we went through a tunnel.

Activities: There was a time I thought the quests would never end. This isn't your standard 'do 5 quests' visit. You will do a ton of things like...

Step in some muck
Receive a threatening letter
Throw a chicken off the side
Have a hobbit picnic
Help a couple hunters shoot arrows at a fake Mûmak (which you can buy in the store)
Meet Shadowfax
Tell soldiers of your grand adventures
Find hidden caches (perhaps with the help of a pet squirrel)
Play with some boats

Forlong's Activities: These guys are a hoot. They have you running around all sorts of places. You find them over at the Marry Swine Merry Swan. You have to find the mark on the column where the old Master of the Burg swung at Forlong's head. You gather a ton of knick-knacks to see if it is possible to carry such a large load. You also go into Forlong's room to retrieve the picture of his two girls on his locket. At one point he asks you to retrieve an old relic of the Black Serpent in The Houses of Lore. Now that place is awesome! If you ever visit the place, make sure to look up at the ceiling. There are some glowing lights that spin around in one of the chambers. i also heard a clock in that room but had no idea where it was coming from. More pictures below.

The Steward's Activites: So I knew the steward of Minas Tirith was bad news the moment I met him. Even a hobbit told me that. I can't believe I didn't realize Resolina was still looking into the stupid sphere. We were fighting the orcs. The ram broke the wall. Then... Gandalf died? That wasn't in the script. Completely thrown off there. Then I did some running and I died. Let's just say I had to go back to my home and do some reflecting on that part.

Is this your first time in Minas Tirith? For the last time, no it is not. They really need more voices in Minas Tirith. For the majority of the time this week I've been trying to get the dailies done. Here's a quick review:

North Gate (10 minutes) 6 quests - 8 Minas Tirith Silver Pieces, 11 Builder's Tokens; swift travel, private instance, poor conversion rate
South Gate (14 minutes) 7 quests - 9 Minas Tirith Silver Pieces, 12 Smith's Tokens; no switft travel, private instance, higher chance to get lost
Pelennor Fields (15 minutes) 3 Warbands & 1 Quest - ~10 Minas Tirith Silver Pieces, 1 Builder's Token; chance to get auxiliary items, poor effort:reward ratio
Osgiliath (18 minutes) 6 quests - 30 East Gondor Silver Pieces; 500 given through East Gondor quests when 800 required for all pets (though the pets are just alternate colors to ones given through Bingo's questline and elsewhere)
Cistern (15 minutes) 5 quests - 7 Minas Tirith Silver Pieces, 10 Burgsmen's Tokens; larger area to explore, some objectives are competitve
After Battle 1st Tier (10 minutes) 6 quests - 30 Minas Tirith Silver Pieces; most are objective items to collect
After Battle 6th Tier (15 minutes) 9 quests - 45 Minas Tirith Silver Pieces; excludes moss quest and many objectives are hit-and-miss
Conclusion: The hard truth is that Minas Tirith Silver Pieces do not trade for scrolls. This means I must rely on the three Old Anorien repeatable quest areas for around 6 scrolls (counting conversion rates) each day.

2017-12-12