White Rider (Part 1)

Highlights: Resolina enters Gondor, buys a new house, and has a new outlook on life

November 9th - 23rd

Spending Spree: So Turbine SSG had a big suprise for us. Follow in Frodo's Footprints: 30% Off Mithril Coins and Quest Pack Sales! It only took them 16 weeks. Of course, this had to happen the day I went to see Thorin: Ragnaorcs, I mean, Thor: Ragnarok. That movie blended so much humor from Guardians of the Galaxy into the Thor saga. Then they released Mordor for Black Friday sale. With only 3 characters (plus a banker) and not being VIP, I'm pretty frugal when it comes to Turbine, I mean, LOTRO points. I had to make sure I had enough for everything. Warning Math Ahead:

  • There were 6 packs worth 795: Western Gondor, Central Gondor, East Gondor, Old Anórien, and March of the King marked down to 556. The regional pack Far Anórien was marked down from 1995 to 1396. That brings 6765 down to 5082.
  • I bought 2 packs of Mithril Coins x 25. The cost came down from 500 to 350 lotro points. With the 50 free and the 3 times I received 15 coins from the lootboxes, that gave me the exact amount of 145 mithril coins to buy a stately house. I'm not going to give you any details right now for my houses for they are currently under going renovations.
  • That brings the total count of 8244 to 3162. Then buying Mordor for 2495 points, that brought me down to 667 points.
  • There was also 85% off Helms Deep, Riders of Rohan, and Rise of Isengard expansions for their Black Friday sale, 25% increased bonus for crafting experience, and 50% off Housing Decoration Sets. I got excited there for a moment until I realized how many points I had left and that the housing sale only pertained to bundled packages.

Computer Upgrade: Many of you know that I've spent quite a bit of time trying to upgrade my computer. I already had to miss out on one of the Spreadsheet Fridays because of my 5am wake-up call that following morning but now I had to miss another one to see if my new motherboard was going to work. Watching the worst Tranformers movie of the bunch that night didn't help. Finally after a weekend of checking the hardware, hooking up a new hard drive (because SATA not IDE), installing Windows 10, and installing drivers I finally got it working. Now it isn't going to work well until I can get a more permanent solid-state drive. This is your standard dying hard drive that a friend got rid of.

  • I went from an E5200 2.5 Ghz (2008) with 4g of DDR2 RAM to 6100 3.7 Ghz with 8g of DDR3 RAM

Moria Monday: The Forges of Khazad-dum, The Sixteenth Hall, Fil Gashan, Skûmfil. When we first started, we had an unusual group composing of 3 hunters and 3 minstrels. One of the minstrels, I believe Blondzilla, used a cowbell of all instruments against our foes.It kind of reminded me of that SNL skit: Moar Cowbell! A few members switched in and out for eating or meetings. Blondzilla managed to do the minstrel quest in Skumfil. There we even got the spider deed done from the fast-dispensing Spider Vending Machine. Blondzilla taught Fanrel how to use the Pibgorn.

I would like to bring out that I tallied up all of our Moria Mondays. Out of the 16 weeks, I went 13 times. The results:

  • 5 times: Dark Delvings, Fil Gashan, Skûmfil, The Grand Stair 
  • 4 times: The Forges of Khazad-dum 
  • 3 Times: Forgotten Treasury, The Sixteenth Hall
  • 2 Times: Halls of Crafting, Dâr Narbugud

Chicken Run: Earthlynn posted on Lotro Twitter about her one year Streamiversary where she would be going for the Crosser of Roads from 10AM to 10PM that Sunday. As much as I wanted to be a part of it, I did not want to spend any more time away from Gondor. I think it was around 2pm when the kin stumbled across an army of chickens crossing the road.  

Western Gondor: My overall experience of Western Gondor was pretty refreshing. I already had a nice preview from doing the epic but doing the quests made it that much more enjoyable. Before my trip, I decided to change my appearance from the sunset red to marshmellow white. I would no longer be Resolina the Red but Resolina of Rohan. Here is a list of what I encountered:

  • A man offered my first summons on my way through Blackroot Vale just south of Path of the Dead.
  • The town there had cute little goats!
  • I didn't understand why I was stopped from jumping over the rock wall that surrounded the first town.
  • I didn't really feel the need to ride a war-steed around the area. Using a normal steed made exploration much more enjoyable.
  • I saw the spookiest spiders in Nimrond Cavern and fought off some ravage bears. 
  • Chased after but failed to catch a White Stag. 

     

  • Lamedon was a big zone with very little to explore through the quests. Most of the quests involved the affairs of one's family life.
  • I spotted corsairs dancing and sleeping like they owned the houses they razed.
  • I saw a giant turtle. Not as big as Nornúan.
  • Then I stumbled across Jajax. He thought I couldn't down six drinks. He sure didn't know the ways of the dwarves, hobbits, or even those elves south of Caras Galadhon. Challenging to a drinking match with his crew was pretty smart. Who knows what crazy stuff I would demand in a negotiation while drunk.
  • Word came to me in Dol Amroth of the problems happening in Tarlang's Crown. I took one step towards that place and was overwhelmed with trouble. I would have to save that place for another time. In the meantime, I would just have to enjoy this beautiful sunset over the enemy's encampment near the southern beach (I just wish I took a better screenshot). Let the knights practice fighting those training dummies all they want. It did make me wonder how those dwarves in Moria knew when to sleep. I guess a little bit of sunlight makes it through those halls.

      

  • I met a strange lady from Tadrent. She remembered the craziest things from her husband: "Rossaran once told me that to cut the vein tying the head to the chest is to bleed the enemy dry. I believe that Captain Tabadam of Makham Mijann is that vein, and you are the blade."
  • Turning in those tasks put a lot of hair on my weapon but not enough reputation for Kindred (only 300 per turn-in).
  • They did a glorious job making the Dol Amroth dailies entertaining, engaging, and brief. Without the need of any gear, there was plenty for me to loot through the housing vendor. Though I felt a bit ripped off buying a couple of swans. They have so many that they could have just given me one for free.

    

 Bonus: 25% Mark Acquisition that weekend allowed an extra push to the big battle rewards. It allowed me to get 650 marks and 125 medallions from a single big battle. That is way more than I'd ever get on my own. Yet, I still don't know how that war machine wound up in the river. Oh and Esquire Ozifor Flowstone, Esteemed Warrior in the Conquest of Gorgoroth is one long title to have floating above your head.

 

2017-11-23