Almazar
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Posts by Almazar
LOTRO Reporter Experiment – Completing the Shire!
Aug 16th
As most of you know, I like trying to play the game in different ways. Many of you will remember the Skirmish Experiment and the failed Deed Experiment. This time, I’ve decided that I’m going to try to level a character (A Burglar called Almaburg) through the beginning of the game by completing everything that there is to do in The Shire. I mentioned this before when I discussed reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy again, and was encouraged by the response. It’s taken me a while, but here I go.
What do I mean by completing everything in The Shire? I am going to complete all the Quests and Deeds available for the region, as well as attempt to level my Cooking and Farming (What else was I going to pick as I went through the shire? Weaponsmith?) as far as I can without leaving the Shire.
The Looking Glass
Aug 16th
This video is once again by Luna the Burg, who is probably the most prolofic LOTRO Machina maker out there. This is Part 1 in a series of videos that follows the path of the fellowhip. Enjoy!
Do you have a Lord of the Rings Online movie that you would like to share with the world? Send an email to lotro.reporter@gmail.com with the link!
See you in-game!
Happy 50th Episode Casual Stroll to Mordor!
Aug 14th
It is with great pleasure that I wish a Happy 50th Episode (and 1 Year Anniversery) to A Casual Stroll to Mordor. For those of you who may not follow this site and podcast (I know there are a few of you hermits out there!), CSTM is a great source for LOTRO News and Information.
Both Merric and Goldenstar, the two co-hosts (who also happen to be married with an adorable little hobbit of their own) have a great chemistry together and have put together a really great community of bloggers. They are also wonderfull members of the LOTRO podcasting and bloggin community, often giving advice and tips to new bloggers and podcasters.
So please join me in raising a glass to Merric and Goldenstar, as I wish many more episodes!
LOTRO Reporter Episode 50 – Grade A Smack Heads!
Aug 14th
This week, we discuss Adarel’s article about why Boss Drops are a good idea, we talk about the Beta Stress Test, the 3rd and 4th parts of the Developer Diary on instances, and the new Class Changes Beta Journals. We also have a Did You Know for new listeners who are looking to get into the game when it goes Free to Play, a segment from the guys over at Through the Palantir and, of course, a visit to your two favorite hobbits.
To round out the show, we discuss a listener email sent in by Hudd.
See you in-game!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Scheduled Maintenance – Monday, August 16th
Aug 14th
Sapience posted on the forums that the Game Servers and Account Servers (myaccount.turbine.com) would be down for maintenance on Monday, August 16th, from 6:00AM to 3:00PM Eastern time (-4 GMT for all of our non-North American players). The forums, my.lotro and the Lorebook will all still be available, there’s just a chance that you won’t be able to log in.
What are you going to do during this time? For me, I have a dirty little secret…….. Starcraft 2. There, I said it. I feel so much better now.
See you in-game post maintenance.
LOTRO Reporter Goes to PAX!
Aug 12th
LOTRO Reporter has the great pleasure of announcing that we will be going to PAX! This is the first time for both Bill and I, and we are very excited to take part in this great event. To me, it’s like a great big geek pilgrimage, where I can be surrounded by people as equality, and perhaps even more, geeky than me!
I am very much looking forward to this event, as we will be having the chance to talk to the developers from Turbine! So here’s your chance to take part: Send us your questions that you’d like us to ask of Turbine, and we will put them to the most appropriate person! We’re not sure yet who we’re going to have a chance to talk to, but we know that Sapience and Patience will be there, as well as others.
To send us your questions, you can comment here, send us a twitter message (@lotroreporter) or send us an email (lotro.reporter@gmail.com). Let us know what you want us to ask Turbine!
The other part of the equation is: How many of you are going to PAX? Perhaps a LOTRO Reporter meet up is in order?
Loading ...(Note: I edited the Poll to make the question clearer)
LOTRO Beta – The Wardrobe and The Vault
Aug 10th
One of the much touted features that are to be coming with the transition to Free-to-Play in LOTRO is the Wardrobe system. While they have created this new storage space for cosmetic items, they have also re-designed the Vault UI to be much more like the Shared Storage system, which those of you who purchased the Adventurers pack have already experienced.
Lets start with the new Vault interface.
As you can see to the left, the Vault is now one big storage space. It is no longer a collection of separate inventory chests that you purchase, but simply one large space for your things for which you can buy, well, even more space. My very disorganized Vault is through no fault of my own (ok, maybe it is). It’s simply that the system displays all of your items as one big list by default, rather than in an organized manner. What is nice, however, is the new filter drop down menu. With this menu, you can set the Vault to display only the items that you want it to. For example, if you are looking for Apprentice crafting materials, you can set the filter to only show you those items, none of the others.
I think that this is a great design for the Vault, as it will help those less organized people, such as myself, have a much easier time dealing with the massive amounts of “Stuff” that accumulates in the Vault.
The colors, on the other hand, do leave something to be desired…..
Now on to the Wardrobe! More >
LOTRO Reporter Episode 049
Aug 10th
This week we discuss the lifting of the LOTRO F2B Beta NDA, the Beta Journal controversy, the new Wardrobe and Vault system that is currently in Beta, the introduction of CarlosJuero as the newest member of the LOTRO Reporter team, a great Warden Trick from DocHoliday, the Beta Key contest and finally we have a submitted segment from the guys over at Through the Palantir (a great LOTRO Podcast, check it out if you haven’t already).
And of course, we have our usual visit with your two favorite grumpy hobbits.
You can also download the podcast directly here: Podcast 49
See you in-game!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Skirmish Experiment – The Finale
Aug 8th
What a long, strange trip it’s been. 15 levels solely through skirmishes. I decided to end the skirmish experiment while I was on holidays because I wanted to continue leveling my Rune-Keeper, but I didn’t always have the time to go in and run a skirmish, as quick as they are.
My original goal was to test out a few different ways of leveling characters and to report on my experiences to help readers of the blog figure out what would be the best way to level a character for them. I now think that perhaps this original goal was a little flawed.
First of all, I don’t think that there is a “best” way to level a character. When I first started the skirmish experiment, I thought that best meant fastest. Now I’m not so sure. With the deed and trait system being set up the way that it is, power leveling is discouraged. By power leveling, I mean getting to the top level by doing the least amount of content possible, therefore getting there as quick as possible.
Beta Videos – Hobbit/Man Starting Area
Aug 7th
We’re lucky enough to be joined at LOTRO Reporter by Carlosjuero. He’s agree to come on board and create some videos for you about the Middle Earth experience. We’re going to start off with some video about the new starting experience that are currently being tested in the Beta.
To begin, we’ve got a five part series about the Archet starting area for Hobbit and Man characters.
