Woses Forest

Highlights: Yule Festival starts, Resolina gets lost in a forest and reaches level 115

December 11th - 17th

Monday Madness: Black Serpent, Ruined City, Wastes Roving Threats. I think the kin is running out of deeds in Moria. I know I am. So instead, we decided to change the format this week to whatever we felt like running that day. The quest chain: Wrath and Ruin changes things up where the 6-man instance pops up inbetween both 3-mans. Unlike Ashes and Stars in Osgiliath where completing Chapter 4 (after doing both small fellowship instances) give you a trait point, this quest chain gives no such rewards. The Ruined City was the box run. Sadly, we discovered how much more rewarding and quicker it was running Court of Seregost instead of the featured instance of the week. Then I suggested we do the last Roving Threat zone I have not completed: Wastes. I skipped ahead to find the one in the northeast section. It was the troll, like the evil troll from Mirkwood, who was the hardest to kill since it decides to increase its damage the longer it fights.

Did we remember the fire extinguisher? Oz is on fire again.

 

Premium Wallet: If you recalled, I was barely scraping by in points when there was a decoration sale. Sadly, I made the mistake of picking some flowers in Wastes. Both my bags and vault were getting too full. I made the decision of using 995 lotro points out of the 1,200 I had to buy the premium wallet. I don't regret that decision at all. There are a lot of things I could have saved if I had the upgraded wallet sooner but then again... I don't have a need to be keeping old stuff with me anyways. Does anyone have a use for Vile Bronze Coins or Khuzdul Tablets anymore? The one thing I do enjoy is how there is a spot for taxidermy items. That would have been nice to have while going through Moria. At least I don't have to worry about where to put my Lothlórien Gold Leaves.

Festival: The winter festival began on the 14th. Elaelin was so psyched in getting the Snowball Arena for the kinhouse... and whatever other houses she might own. Personally, I had a few years to catch up on. There are three grim pets I've been wanting all year. Summoning all three gives you the Keeper of Grim Company title. Although most of the collection titles aren't too interesting and very hard to get, you can see a large list of Collection Titles on the wiki. The Mordor essences are also a good bonus. Though the elk is a great edition, I don't find it too interesting with those giant antlers blocking your riding view.

I wondered what the swans looked like in the lotro store.

 

Spreadsheet Friday: Glittering Caves, Silent Street, Quays, Pelargir. To start things off, Bizinga and Fanrel paired off with another member in the kin for 3-man Glittering Caves. Then the kin helped Resolina finish off Wrath and Ruin in Silent Street and Keys Quays of the Harlond. Then the group came together for Pelargir. I guess since Fanrel was with the group, we were unable to complete the instance with a platinum rating, missing our chance for Faltharan's Steed. That's ok. I'm starting to think it's a myth alongside the Skeleton Horse and Hobby Horse.

 

Anonymous Sunday: The group decided on going into Mordor for doing the dailies and a few other things. They dragged me along with them so I could get some of the Rare Mordor Chests. The first couple chests had level 110 equipment since I was still level 114. But the last couple chests matched my level 115! I wasn't really making the cap level my goal since I still have yet to "enter" Mordor. Still it was quite nice for Elaelin to craft me some gear with some light on it. We did run Naerband which is much, much easier to handle since the patch. I'm surprised for a cat person, she didn't know about the fancy cat from Osgiliath. Hopefully she can finish Bingo's questline for all the other wonderful pets for her collection.

Kitty made a friend.

 

Riders of Rohan (Anórien)

Talath Anor: Without the knowledge of the books, I had no idea what was about to come. I kept getting these little hints of a mysterious forest between the lands of Rohan and Gondor. I remember vaguely of a forest filled with spiders and woodland creatures as I ventured to Minas Tirith the wrong way for the stable point. It wasn't until after I met the mother of the kid with the strongest arm before I put the pieces together of the statues, drums, and forest.

    

Taur Drúadan: This forest is old, very old (first minute). What madness is this? This feels much worse than the Old Forest. I feel like I'm on a hiking trip up Mount Witney! There's these strange people and the Rohirrim are just sitting around. What are you waiting for? No, it's cool. I met up with Meriadoc Brandybuck and his new friend (that's totally not a girl). I met up with a bunch of old friends that I haven't seen for four years. More people I have to admit to not remembering their names. I cut down some vines and was nearly scared to death by a ghost deer. The pathway to the beacons made Dol Amroth's stairs look like some steps you'd find to a basement. And that's only half the region!

 

          

Beacon Hills: Here I am thinking the forest was dark. The Dawnless Day must stretch across all the land. This place doesn't see any light either. With all the forces of Rohan stuck in the forest, it was up to me to try and help these little people with their mercenary problem. Maybe mercenaries isn't the right word. How would you define people with a code of honor that somehow includes profiteering at any cost? Pirates! No wait. Thieves. That's better. Of course, I wasn't exactly at my best. I fell down a hole in a quarry, hired an army of sheep for the cause, and got my leg stuck... twice. Then I had to go find an old man that got lost wandered through the marshes.

        

The Battle of Pelennor: Once Rohirrim forces made it to Pelennor, it was time for action... for real this time. I will admit that I was kind of looking forward to this moment but I really didn't know how they were going to do it. It didn't feel like I was in a battle. Sure war was happening all around you but I got tired of trying to desperately find something to kill! Some of the sequences were nice. I personally liked that sequence with Mithrandir while escaping Osgiliath. I just wish there were more sequences like that. Instead, I got sub-par sequences (to the best of their ability) of what was awesome in the movies. Things happened and I guess we just had to move on after it was all over.

 

Summary: Logically the zone makes sense. The Woses wouldn't have horses or have any sort of stable connection with the other men. The reflecting pool would best be placed there. They fit to the mountain and have a different dialect. The only way to see the beacons from Gondor is to build them on top of the highest peaks. From a gameplay standpoint, it was a nightmare. The only way to get to the quests the fastest is to set the milestone to the Woses home. The War-stead of the Rohirrim camp is so massive that it gets very confusing to find each of the quests. Taking into consideration the addition of the instances and battle, Far Anórien is stretched thin with all the included content. My biggest problem is how they setup the reputation and barter system. I don't think you get enough for Ally standing with the main quests and some daily quests provide barter tokens while others only give you reputation. Doing the main quests gives you enough tokens for the memorial and pet. Doing all the dailies gives you just enough for 1 tapestry (out of 8) per day. It is a gruelling (also spelled grueling) process.

 

2017-12-25