There and Hopefully Back Again: An LOTRO LP

Me name's Ansa. I'm an Hobbit of the Eastern Shire. I'm no fancy hobbit, like those Baggins, Brandybucks, or Tooks. I'm a Hobbit of the Earth, I am. I never much wanted anything. Just a coney or two for a nice stew. Maybe a pie should me luck hold out. It was just that luck that I found me self on the wrong bleedin' stretch of road at the wrong bleedin' time. I got swept up in something. Something I didn't want to know nothing about. 'Ere I sit leagues and leagues from home. Wondering if each new day will be me last. How'd this happen to a know nothing Hobbit of the Shire? Well, let me tell you...

This is an LP for Lord of the Rings Online. By way of a little background, I've played LOTRO on and off since a few months after launch. Since SWTOR was released, It's been more off than on, but the new expansion, and the Hobbit movie has rekindled my interest. I considered writing a LP of that experience, as it's locked behind 75 levels of content, but one of the best parts of LOTRO is its loving devotion to the source material and the realization of Middle Earth. Nowhere is that more evident than in the Shire. No experience in Middle Earth is complete without experiencing it, so that is where we begin.

I don't plan to talk too much about the mechanics. LOTRO plays like WoW or most other mmos. I chose to go with a Hunter, mostly for ease of travel. The hunter earns the ability to transport herself and her party around the map, and it's invaluable at higher levels. I've also developed an affinity for dps classes of late. This is an odd development for someone who only used to play the healer. I will be playing on Landroval, the best server in LOTRO. THERE IS NO ARGUMENT HERE. If you're on Landroval, feel free to add me to your friends list, and maybe make a cameo in the LP.

On with the story...





As I was saying, I was out hunting one night, for me Gran. I don't usually hunt at night, but she was annoying me and I needed some time to me self. I'm wandering up the road, when what should I encounter but a bleedin' bounder. I hate them, Bounders. Always telling me to move along and to watch me language and "I'm no longer welcome in the Green Dragon." Well Bollocks to them.





What's this? Can I fight? Well Mr. Bounder that is one thing I excel at. Just ask the patrons of the Green Dragon!





A brief interruption in our tale to look at one of the true innovations of LOTRO. I don't know if Turbine did it first, they probably didn't, but their implementation of the Cosmetic Tab is still the best I've found. Not only is every article able to be hidden, but there are up to seven slots to choose from. Even better is the fact that once you put something in a cosmetic slot it binds there until replaced. The item can then be moved from your inventory, back into storage, or even discarded. It is a great way to enable expression without infringing on bag space. LOTRO has enough inventory issues, but we'll get to that. I have decided to go with this lovely blue tunic and matching cape. It really isn't IC, for Ansa, but it will do for now. (You also get an idea how long I've been playing by all the items in my inventory. Upon character creation I easily fill a bag with all the pre-order, veteran, and other reward junk.)





Before I could find out exactly who he wanted me to fight, we were interrupted by this procession of rich bastards. Truth be told, Samwise is ok. Bought me ale once. Wanted to know about Rosie. I made something up. Still, it's more than I've ever gotten from the other two. They was acting all cagey. Dodging the Bounders' questions, when all of a sudden the night grew cold and a foul wind blew down the road. Samwise and his betters scurried beyond the fence into the darkness. The Bounder and I just looked at one another, when what should appear but something out of me worst nightmare.





He was askin' after Baggins. I'd have told him, but I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. Whatever it was, it had me paralyzed with fear. I 'ave to give the Bounder some credit. He managed to point the nightmare toward Hobbiton. He only had one more word for us before he rode off.





We didn't hang about. The bounder and me scrambled along the hedge row into the abandoned farm beyond. After fighting through some really big spiders we ran into a trio of larger, and frankly hairier men.





Before I knew what hit me, the world went black. An' I woke up in a dirty jail cell. Not for the first time.





For some reason, they left me with me weapons, but anytime I moved close to the bars they just stepped back and laughed. I think I was a game to 'em. What happened next didn't amuse 'em so much. This tall, dirty, and disheveled man cut them down. He looked like he hadn't seen a bath, or a bed in months. He was a man after me own heart.






We escaped the frying pan of the jail to the literal fire which blazed outside. The nightmare from earlier was menacing another man. By the time me savior got the gate open it was too late. The dark thing stabbed the man and fled, figuring his work done for one night. We rushed to the man. He wasn't dead, but it didn't look good. Me man said his name was Strider, and we should come with him. I ain't one to argue. Little did I know where we would end up...




Thus ends the tutorial. I won't go into as much story detail as the LP moves forward, as that would just be overwhelming, and probably uninteresting as well. The LOTRO epic story progresses along with the story of the books. At times it intersects, at times it goes off into tangents based on appendix lore, or extrapolation of other story fragments in the books. With the release of Mines of Moria, the developers created a method by which you take control of members of the fellowship or other important characters in Middle Earth. I plan to mostly follow the epic path, unless it makes character sense to branch off.
If you have any questions, requests, or comments, please let me know. Feedback is always great.

As to not disturb the narrative, I plan to end each post with my own appendix of snark, or maybe a nice picture, or any other random happenstance from my time in Middle Earth. Enjoy!




I used to be a Ranger until I took a torch to the face.

We rode through the night over hill and dale. I must of fallen asleep as I awoke in a strange place. Now I’ve traveled most of the hills and forests of the Shire but rarely have I crossed the Brandywine. I don’t want nothing to do with those Tooks in Buckland. It’s common knowledge the Old Forest has made them all daft. Where was I? Right, the village. Where ever I was, I was far from any place I’d call home. It was pleasant enough, I guess, if you like men, which I don’t. Thank you very much. Eventually, I learned the village was named Archet and it was north and east of Bree, but at that moment I hadn't the foggiest where I was. The hooded bloke what saved me was nearby. He called himself Strider. Odd name that, and that other fellow what took the sword to the shoulder went by Amdir. They was Rangers out of the north. No, I hadn’t heard of them neither.




Amdir didn’t look so hot. Strider told me to ask around for some Kingsfoil. I was gonna protest but one look in those eyes quelled any desire to do so.


Mechanics Digression



I want to say a few words about the graphical improvements the game has undergone over the years. The game world has always looked good. The attention to detail and love of the game world is unparalleled in mmos. There are mmos that look “better,” but I have not encountered one in which the land is the most important character in the story. In the last year or so, Turbine has worked hard to release high resolution textures and direct x improvements to improve the look of the landscape, and even the characters. (While the look of the npcs has improved, I wouldn't consider it one of the game’s strengths, likewise for the player avatars.) As for other little improvements, the developers have subtly changed Archet to give it more personality. For example, the woman looking out of the dormer in the above screenshot. (On a related note, it’s a struggle not to post full size screenshots. I don’t think the scaling does them justice. Middle Earth is gorgeous.)



One of the other major improvements recently introduced to the game was the elimination of looting. The change was introduced the Riders of Rohan expansion, and originally only applied there, but as of Update 9 looting has been eliminated game-wide. Instead of looting corpses, you now have a loot queue in which you can hold up to 50 unique stacks. Not only has this made questing more efficient, but it has eased the premium on bag space. It’s nice to just roll into town and empty the loot queue at a vendor. I’d love to see more games embrace this mechanic, as the whole junk loot concept is outdated at this point,especially as every game moves toward secondary currencies in the form of tokens, marks, or any other barter item.




I ask about for Kingsfoil, but nobody ever heard of it. I concluded they’re all pretty dim as every good hobbit knows Kingsfoil. They also kept askin’ me how things are up Staddle way. I’d never heard of the place. Frustrated and annoyed, I decided to go out into the country meself. But, before I could leave the guards made me prove I could handle myself. Of all the… I’m not some round belly Proudfoot. So I put on a little show; even closed me eyes on the last shot.




As partial as I is to the Shire, I’ve come to learn that there is a lot of beauty in the world. A lot of ugliness too, but we’ll get to that later. The rolling fields surrounding the village was a sea of wildflowers. I wanted to run and skip through them, but there was wolves about, and I’m not much the skipping type, at least not anymore.





Up the hill, across the field, near some ruins I found the Kingsfoil. As I was harvesting it, I heard some queer noises coming from atop the ruin. Being an inquisitive Hobbit, I took it upon me self to investigate. At the summit there was this strange banner.




I tried to get a closer look at it, but when I approached this hideous man jumped out from behind a pillar and began to yell. He came at me with a knife. With no time to string me bow, I drew me hunting knives. He was big, but he was slow. There was no way me little legs would outrun him, nor could I jump down. He had me trapped.





I tried to wound him, honest I did, but he wouldn't stop. I guess I got careless and nicked him in the inner thigh. He collapsed to the ground, dropping his weapon. Blood poured from the wound. We both knew it was fatal. I tried to apologize. I didn't mean to, but he forced me. If he just let me go, if he just…I don’t know…something…anything. I was still wary of a trick, but the brigand just lay there, clutching his thigh. He began to cry, and babble something about his mum. A wolf howled nearby. His eyes grew big. He bade me come close. I did. I felt guilty. It was his bloody fault, but still, it needn't have happened. He said he was cold. I didn't know what to say. He rolled his head toward me and whispered. “The sky…so beautiful…so…” His gaze faltered and the light of his eyes diminished. He was dead. I’m not ashamed to say it now, but I wept. I wept over this strange man what tried to kill me. Even after the tears dried, I knelt next to him in guilt and shame. I considered trying to find his mum, to give her coin. I wanted to do something to assuage my guilt, but there was nothing to do. Eventually I left him there atop the ruin, a feast for crows. He was the first man I killed, but not the last. No, not the last by far…


Appendix of Snark:




Shouldn't you be trying to kill Cloaca Mahoney? What? You're not a partridge? Never mind then...

Yes, do it!

LOTRO is a great game, and the f2p version is functionally the same, unlike say, SWTOR which handicaps you. You get the starter areas, Breeland, Shire, and Ered Luin. After that, you have to purchase quest packs which activate the quests in the subsequent zones. The nice thing is that you can buy them a la carte. You could purchase the Lone Lands, but not the North Downs, Evendim and not the Trollshaws, etc. The epic quest line, which starts in each prologue is free. Even if you don't purchase the zone, you are still able to get and do the epic quests.

The other nice thing is that you are able to earn Turbine points in game. I haven't gotten to this yet in the LP, as I'm still in the prologue area, but you earn turbine points for completing deeds or certain quests. It's technically possible to earn enough to unlock zones, but it would take you awhile.

I haven't been as online as I would like, but if people are going to be on Landroval, and want to play, drop me a PM. I'd love to run around Middle Earth with you.

If there are enough people playing together on the same server, we could form a BF guild, which would help.

Jaakusan most mmos are as multi-player as you want them to be. There are a lot of people who play them as single player games. Short of raiding, and some of the skirmishes, there is nothing you need a group for. Most of the time I play them as a single player game with a chat room. As for lag, there is little to none, even in the most crowded areas. Each zone has layers, if there are too many people, you get put on a less crowded layer. I also have all the graphics settings turned all the way up. If you have loading or lag issues, you can always reduce them some, or at least reduce the rendering distance.

I think the Turbine views dwarves as androgynous. According to the lore, female dwarves aren't easy to distinguish, and both have beards, so really you could play a female dwarf, she just wouldn't look as "feminine" as the other races.

That's not the case in LOTRO. In LOTRO, the elves and dwarves share a starting area. The only giant underground space is Moria, and that's a whole other kettle of fish, and awesome in it's own way.

It's not the right thread to debate this, and I didn't look it up in the actual novel, as I don't have time at the moment, but just looking at the LOTR wiki it says: "Dwarven women were alike in manner and voice to their menfolk. They were typically unbearded but did grow their hair long often braiding it in intricate patterns and decorating with simple yet functional pieces."

So Jackson may have altered it slightly, or made it more explicit than in the books. (Which is probably the thing he does the most in translating it from page to screen.) Turbine interpreted it in a similar manner. With the exception of some monster design influence, LOTRO is definitely beholden to Tolkien's work, not Jackson's.

The debate is probably up there with whether or not the Balrog has wings.

If people can get in game today I will form the kin. If people won't be around, I will wait until after the holidays. I'm fuzzy on the exact in game mechanic but I think we would need five characters in within 24 hours.

As for the name, I was thinking something along the lines of "The Company of the Broken Flagon." I'm open to another F-word there, that was the first one that popped into my head. I want it to pay homage to Broken Forum without explicitly stating it. I'm a bit nuts about immersion in that regard.

You can transfer through the Turbine store. If you have enough points, it won't cost you anything. Or you could create a new character as it sounds like most everyone is going to be low level.

You can, though it isn't cheap. It's $24.95 or roughly 3000 Turbine points.