Middle-Earth Sight Seeing Tour

Out of all the expansions and coming out this month (WoW, EQII, LOTRO), I find that I am the most excited about LOTRO. For some reason I can't seem to get hyped for the EQII expansion...I"m at level cap now and it just seems...I dunno more of the same. They had some nostalgia, but to me it isn't quite enough, if they added Halas, Erudin, Highpass, and Kithicore maybe I'd be more excited. I'm still going buy and play it of course.

Just knowing that hopefully soon (if I ever reach level 50) that I'll be able to see the Walls of Moria, Holin Gate, The Endless Stairs, The Bridge of Kazadum, and above all Lothlorien makes me a giddy little fanboi. I'm trying to get my girlfriend into at least Lord of The Rings (she seen the movie, which is really, really good but the book is better) so she can understand why I'm so excited to see all these places.

To that end I'm putting together this little Middle Earth Sight Seeing Tour of all the places in the book that took my imagination away.

I'll start from the beginning with the quaint backdrop of the Shire and journey the long road to timeless beauty that is Rivendale.

Enjoy!!

The Shire (Hobbiton)

Ted Sandyman's Mill

The Party Tree
Bag End

The Sackville-Baggins'

The Mathom House

The Green Dragon

Gildor's Camp

Farmer Maggot and his dogs

Buckleberry Ferry

Brandy Wine Bridge

Buckland

Crickhollow and Fatty (Fredegar) Bolger

The Hedge

The Old Forest Gate

Floating in Solusek's Eye

I started the night off in LOTRO trying to grab a quest for a new shield for my Guardian in the Lone Lands (Ost Guruth). Now I'm kind of EQ1 old school so I kind of like some travel in my MMO's but boy the run from Bree to Ost Guruth is a pretty good jaunt. As I'm trying to save money for a mount I had to make use of my own two feet, it was all good though making that journey makes me feel more connected to the world.

So I get to the quest giver in Ost Guruth and he gives me the quest which turns out to be a level 20 quest (I'm currently level 15). I'm like whoa! because the shield itself is is a level 16 shield, and even the Lore Book says the quest is a level 15 quest. Oh well I'll probably try and get to level 16 or 17 before I give it a shot.

Afterwards I jumped on to EQ2 to help Lady Caladwen with her alts (she two boxes) deity quests. This time it was the Wizards turn so it was the Solusek Ro quest line, so off to Lavastorm and Solusek's Eye we went. Now I've never been a fan of either Lavastorm or Solusek's Eye, too many Heroic mobs wandering around in Lava Storm, and Solusek's Eye is just too darn big even with the teleporters, mainly because when/if you die near Nagafen's Lair you don't respawn anywhere near where you died, you spawn at the beginning of the dungeon and then have to make the long trek back to where your group is.

In any case most of the mobs were gray to the Wizard with a few green giants here and there near Nagafen's Lair so the run down was fairly quick or as quick as you can be in Solusek's Eye. We get there and the Wizard gets the update and then we have to walk on this barely lit invisible path into the middle of a fire pit!. So we slowly make our way across and there is this idol which I'm assuming one needs to click on but the quest isn't very specific it just says to "pray". So the Wizard walks around a bit and falls off the platform! Lets just say toasty. So she respawns aaaaall the way at the beginning of the zone and has to make the long trek back to us. While she was away I noticed that the path was no longer illuminated so basically I was floating in the air over a molten lava pit! Needless to say I didn't move an inch until she got back. When she got back she touched/prayed the idol and we killed the mob that spawned, headed back to ButcherBlock and presto! a brand new Imp pet for the Wizard!

We were going to do the next quest however it's listed as a level 75 quest which is odd considering the cloak is only a level 67 cloak. The Wizard is currently level 61 so we may wait a bit before attempting the next step. All in all a pretty good night.

Time to quit blog slacking

I've been away for a long time but I'm going to give this one more go. I'm not sure why I can't get my blog groove going, but I think if I just keep writing it'll come easier and easier.

Where am I currently in the gaming/MMO world? Well right now I'm splitting my time between Xbox 360 (mainly Madden 08), Warhammer, LOTRO, and EQ2. So where am I on these games hmmm lets see...

Warhammer Online: Currently I just hit level 10, I've never really been into PvP but I'm finding Warhammer to be very intuitive, easy to join in the fray, and pretty darn fun. Like a lot of casual players out there I too have noticed that the easiest way to level is through scenarios, in fact I can do a level in one sitting it seems. I do know that I'm wanting to try out the open RvR instead of scenarios so we'll see. Overall a pretty fun and engaging game.

Lord Of The Rings Online: I deleted my old Guardian, as I didn't like the way he looked (despite a hair cut change), spent too much money that I couldn't afford a mount, and felt the need to level him as an armorer...eh he was only level 20 no biggie. I've already got my new Guardian up to level 15, though I feel bad that while I do have Moria on pre-order I won't be seeing the Mines for quite awhile. For the most part I love the look and feel of the game, it's straight forward game-play and of course the lore.

EverQuest 2: Currently I have a level 80 Paladin (136 AA'). I've found my desire to log in and play to be pretty low right now despite my girlfriend playing the game daily. I found after hitting the level cap, and having decent (not great) armor, getting my epic, and no desire to raid or go to instances to get better gear, that there really isn't much for me to do. I don't craft (zzzzz), and I don't really do the alt thing. I think when the expansion comes out I'll play more considering they're implementing a system where I can solo (or duo) and turn in tokens and buy upgraded gear.

All in all I have a lot of MMO's things going on right now so hopefully I'll be a more active blogger!

SoS

Now that SOE has put back in the glowing glyph for the Mark of Awakening my girlfriend has decided that she must have this. We soon made our way to the Sanctum of Scaleborn to finish a section of the MoA questline, as well as push our way through some of the Claymore series.

I've read before how some people find the Claymore series...especially the SoS parts to be something of a time consuming drag. I think I now see what people are talking about. It's not so much that the quests themselves are too terribly difficult (especially for a pair of level 77 and 75 Paladins), but it's the nostop constant back and forth, to and fro that is done within the zone completing certain tasks. This is mainly caused by going deep into the dungeon only to have to fight all the way back to the original quest giver, killing the same mobs you just killed to get the updates the quest giver asked for, only for that same quest giver to send you right back to whence you came from for the next step in the quest.

Needless to say I've seen far more of SoS than I ever thought I'd see of any one particular zone. I think if maybe SOE cut the number of quests in that zone by a third that would have been the best balance of time and difficulty spent in that zone. As it is while it's not too difficult it is just a tad too long time-wise to spend in one zone for only one section of a quest for my tastes. Fortunatly we took the whole day Saturday to complete all of the SoS parts and now it's on to the Nest and the Halls of Fate.

Which leads me to one entertaining part of our adventures. The next day we go to the Barren Sky to continue on the Hoolook Class Hat. This step asked us to free a certain Hoolook from prision by killing certain types of Aviaks posting guard on Prisoners Isle. Well Caladwen (my girlfriend) and I cleared the entire island and got no indication on whether 1. This Hoolook had been freed by our efforts and or 2. That the Hoolook was even on the island to be set free in the first place. So we killed a few more Aviaks and decided to go to the Hoolook hideaway on Whisperwind Isle. Sure enough as we rounded the corner there he was looking at us with his two large feathered owl eyes 'hooing' at us with a book over his head. A /bonk on the head of Hoolook was in order. Of course the next day when we came back he wasn't in the hideout and we then had to go rescue him from his prison cell.

Finally I'd like to congratulate Caladwen for finishing her crafting epic (level 80 Alchemist), earning her self an awesome looking cloak, and a neat earring that gives her a 45% speed buff. Because of this I've had to buy a stack of speed totems just to keep up with her in the dungeons we've been visiting recently, as well as putting up with the fact that she's a higher level than me (despite starting 6 months behind me), faster than me, and can float (she's one of them snooty High Elves). I think she's starting to give me a complex ;)

Curse you Splitpaw!

I was reading through eq2.wiki the other day and noticed that I was missing a taunting spell for tanks that you can get from Splitpaw (it's a level 20 spell but upgrades itself at level 50 I think). So I headed there and completed the three quests I needed for faction and viola! I got the new spell, and it only took me an hour since all the mobs where grey.

So my girlfriend wanted to take her two-boxing alts there as well (42 Wizard and 50 Warden) just to check it out. So I put on my armor and off we went. We made it to the quest givers who gave us the quest(s), which apparently scale to level. So I mentored my level 74 Paladin, and her level 50 Warden down to the level 42 Wizard and accepted the quest, easy enough. However when we went to zone out to the instance it said that the you must be at least level 45 to enter, which of course the Wizard is not quite 45.

I read up on this and it says that the zone scales from level 20 to 50. So from what I can tell the zone can't entirely distinguish whether we are mentored or not. I did notice that despite being mentored that my quest was level 60 and the Warden's was level 50 so maybe it knows where you are based on the quest level and not whether you are mentored or not. Oh well it's still lame...guess we'll have to wait until the Wizzard is 45.

Afterwards I spent some times in the Fens grinding some more faction quests. This time I had to run 5 different quests killing 5 uncommon updates per quest (so thats at least 25 uncommon updates). Needless to say it took me awhile to finish it. Whew! thank goodness that's over with, though I did get a good lampshade tutu looking girdle belt out of it.

- Amonost

Faction Time

I spent last night running through Fens doing quests to build up some faction with the local Iksar, and Sarnak tribes so I can try and buy a few pieces of armor from the faction vendors there. Since I predominantly solo or duo with my girlfiend my armor selection will probably be limited as I'm not in raids too terribly much. Hopefull this Battle Priest armor will carry me for awhile.

I just saw the Paladin Epic (Mythical version) and all I can say is wow. Some of the Paladins on EQ2 Flames and the regular forums are not all to excited about it, most seem to think it doesn't help them be a good tank enough. I personaly feel that it helps with tanking yet keeps within the spirit of an EQ Paladin (a healing off-tank), so I have no issue with this weapon at all. I know that I may never ever get my hands on the mythical version, though I'm trying to grind my way up to 80 so I can at least try and get the Fabled version.

Finally I can't decide if I want to mess around on the PvP servers or not. My girlfriend and 3 other guildmates have joined a PvP guild. The only problem is they all want to be evil and I just want to play a Paladin...I dunno maybe I should expand my horizons a little, I'm not much of an alt-aholic yet the few times I did play on the PvP server I did have fun. I guess we'll see.

Until next time!

-Amonost

Can o Worms

I had to think long and hard about how to broach this subject. I already know that Raiders feel they have an inalienable right to their Uber Loot. In fact most have a strong case supporting this sentiment. Bear in mind by no means do I want to take their Uber Loot away, they can keep it and be happy, but don't all of us want to be happy?

The problem is I want Uber Loot too, but sometimes well quite frankly I don't want to Raid. Sometimes I don't want to coordinate with others, and sometimes I don't want to play 4 hours straight and lose every roll on my class armor only to have to come back next week and do it all again. There is also this little problem of being in a medium size casual guild, granted this was my choice but it goes more in line with my playing style.

My question is, why is raiding the "end game"? Why can't soloing be the end game? Why can't crafting be the end game? Is raiding far and away sooo much harder of gameplay than other aspects of the game that it's the only way one can earn the Uber Loot?

Let's say for example that raiding isn't the end game, that all raid gear is crap, that infact crafting is the new end game. For instance, say that the only way you can become a level 80 Armorer is to first be a level 80 Adventurer. Then lets say that the only way you can wear Fabled armor is to make it yourself. Then the game is designed in a way where it takes you 4 hours to "possibly" make one piece of armor, if you fail then you have to wait 24 to 48 hours to make another attempt. I bet you that most of the higher level players will be saying that Crafting is the "End Game" (as crafting in of itself is a game mechanic), simply because the Uber Loot comes from crafting and not raiding. I'll also bet you that while some (not all) high level players will now be a crafter so they can earn/attain their Uber Loot.

(Note: I'm not advocating that crafting be the new End Game, it's just an example, flawed as it is.)

I jumped on PvP for the first time the other day and while looking at my spells I noticed that it had a box I could click and it would toggle the information from PvE to PvP. My spell had two different stats one toggle was for what my spell damage would be against a regular mob, and one toggle for what my spell damage would be against a player, and I thought to myeslf, "That's it!!". What if you applied this same mechanic to raid mobs, or heroic mobs, or solo mobs. What if equipment was designed with a double (or more) use? One for raiding and one for group/solo content.

Here's an example:

Sword of Solo:
Damage (against Group/Solo targets): 75 - 200
Damage (against Raid targets): 65 - 190
Delay: 4 seconds

Effects: When target attacks this spell has a 5% chance to cast Ward a Solo.
Lasts for 45 seconds.
Wards the caster from 1000 damage from target.
This effect does not take affect on Raid targets.

This sword is great for Soloing but not quite as good for Raiding, and while you could use this sword for DPS in a raid, it would be better if you picked up this:

Sword of Raid:
Damage (against Group/Solo targets): 65 - 190
Damage (against Raid targets): 75 - 200
Delay: 4 seconds

Effects: When target casts a spell this spell has a 5% chance to cast No Fear of Raid on the entire Raid.
Lasts for 45 seconds.
All players near player are immune to Fear affects.
This effect does not take affect on Group/Solo targets.

Now this sword is great for Raiding, and pretty good for Soloing, yet I would more than likely still use my Sword of Solo if I was doing Group/Solo content.

So here is the deal. Instead of one "End Game" you now have two. If people like to Raid they can do so and still aquire Uber Loot that is awsome in raids yet still performs well in group/solo encounters. Yet if the Raider wants to be more effective when soloing then it would make sense to see about aquiring group/solo specific equipment.

If people like to group or solo they can do that as well...get Uber Loot that owns solo/group encounters, but if they ever raid, more than likely while their current (Solo) weapon will work fine enough, they may want to upgrade to raid specific gear.

And of course I wholey advocate that aquiring this Uber Solo Loot be something diffcult and time consuming (but fun) as this would only be fair to all the dedicated raiders who spend weeks upon weeks trying to aquire their gear through raiding.

I'm trying to think of the effects this system of loot would have on the world of MMO's today as we know it. Would people still raid if they could get an Uber solo version despite being as difficult and time consuming as raiding? Is raiding an enjoyable game mechanic in of itself or do people only do it because that's the "only" way they earn better and better loot?

Just some food for thought

-Amonost