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Grizanni is Internet famous!
Dec 10th
A couple of weeks ago I was invited by the very friendly crew over at The Dunedain website/podcast to give an interview about my experiences playing a warg out in the Ettenmoors. I really enjoyed talking to them!
Have a listen here: http://www.thedunedain.net/podcasts.html.
From the Forums…
Nov 8th
From the Forums is a new column where I’ll be looking at what been posted on the forums in the past week. If you find something interesting, please feel free to send an email to lotro.reporter@gmail.com
We start with a new Tell the Community Team, this time about VIP’s and Mini-Games. Pub style mini-games? Could be fun….
A thread aboutThings Not To Say in Public Chat? How novel! The trolls haven’t gotten this much ammunition in years!
Drunk Features taken a notch too far? Has the original poster ever been drunk? Seems about right to me.
Dude where’s my rested xp? It’s like, totally not there. Dude….DUDE…. DUUUUUDE! Probably played your toons too much bro.
Is Amazon seeing a rise in Mines of Moria orders and therefore raising the prise? This thread seems to say YES!
Do you have some threads that you think we should highlight? Send us an email at lotro.reporter@gmail.com.
The March for Information (to the gate and back again)
Sep 30th
I stand on the boulder in front of the Prancing Pony. There are about fifty other players there. We have gathered to make some noise, and I deliver my first virtual speech. People scant ‘Free Middle Earth’ or /roar. And while we march through Bree I wonder how the heck I got into this in the first place.
Tuesday, September 7. Twitter shows some disturbing news. I quickly log into the EU Lotro forums and see the official confirmation: Free to Play has been delayed. I am upset, and immediately see the irony. My first response to the actual announcement of F2P was one of utter disgust.
My annoyance isn’t just as a player. A week before I wrote an article in my newspaper announcing Lotro launching free to play on the 10th. It’s also the lack of an explanation that bugs me. The forum mods give no details and no new date. Calling Codemasters yields a friendly request to send my inquiries by mail.
More >
Europeans have Marched!
Sep 25th
Harry Hol was kind enough to send us some pictures of the march on the Prancing Pony. Looks like it was a great success!
See the pictures after the break!
The pain of delaying Free to Play in Europe
Sep 9th
Before I got into this journalism thing, I was a drama major. I’ve done a couple of musicals (even though I have the dancing skill of a couple of broken brooms duct-taped together) and directed plays. Theatre teaches you the true meaning of deadlines.
As I’ve told nervous actors time and time again: there is this fixed moment (let’s say Friday, September 10, at 8 ‘o clock) when the curtain rises. This is an immutable fact. Some stage hand will pull a cord and the audience will see whatever it is that you’ve worked on for all those months.
Whatever the audience sees then (and what will wind up in the reviews), is the proverbial ‘it’. There are no excuses, no disclaimers. If you don’t know your lines by then, God help you and the rest of your career. This makes theatre a rather stressful occupation.
Only once during my years in theatre did the curtain not go up. This was doubly painful as this was supposed to be my big break. Still a student, I managed to get a part in a big budget production of a show called ‘Jack the Ripper’. It would tour the Netherlands, and there were huge stars in the cast. I met one of Holland’s most famous singers (Ramses Shaffy) and managed to embarrass myself in front of him, as is tradition when a young actor meets someone he idolizes.
LOTRO PAX Overview
Sep 6th
With PAX behind me, I thought I’d take the time to share some of my thoughts about my time at the Turbine booth, and some of the things that came up in our interview with Rowan. We’ll have more information up in the next few days, but I wanted to give a quick overview today.
First, and I think most importantly, the Turbine booth was full every time we walked by. There were lots of people trying out DDO and LOTRO every time we walked by, and they seemed to be enjoying it. We met many people out on the convention floor, at restaurants, and waiting in line that were either currently playing LOTRO or were going to once the game went F2P.
LOTRO Reporter at PAX – The Meetup!
Aug 21st
Thanks to those people who are in Seattle or going to PAX for replying to the Poll! The result where pretty one sided with 90% voting YES for a meetup and 10% voting NO (We don’t like you either!).
So here’s the plan. We will be arriving in Seattle on September 2nd and leaving on September 5th in the afternoon. As I don’t want to interfere with anyone’s PAX experience, I think that the best night to have a meetup would be the 2nd. What we’d like is to go somewhere for dinner with a pub/bar area, let everyone know where and when we’ll be there, and then have some great conversation with other people who are passionate about LOTRO.
The problem with this plan is that we don’t really know Seattle. At all. So we need your help! If you know Seattle, help us pick a place to go. We are going to be downtown for the conference, so somewhere within walking distance of the Convention and Trade Center would be perfect. A typical pub fair type of restaurant would be good as well.
Here your chance! Let’s here some suggestions for the LOTRO Reporter PAX 2010 Meetup!
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!
Cor Pethroni and Lacho Calad – LOTRO Reporter Network Kinships
Jul 2nd
When we first launched LOTRO Reporter over a year ago, it didn’t take very long for listeners of the podcast and readers of the blog to ask which server we played on, and which Kinship we where in, because they wanted to play Lord of the Rings Online with us. Out of these questions rose Cor Pethroni (Elvish for Ring Narrators), a kinship on Brandywine.
For the past year, we’ve had some great experiences, running instances with listeners, and, of course, Skirmish Night!
The network grew and a diverse group started to listen to the podcasts and read the blogs on LotRO Reporter. As a result, it was time for more growth in game to reflect the growth of the network.
We are now proud to announce the formation of Lacho Calad (Sindarin for Burning Light) on Landroval, which will be a kinship geared towards players looking for a Role Playing Experience.
Cor Pethroni will continue to be the kinship for players looking for a PvE experience.
You can find the new joint Kinship site at www.lotroreporter.guildlaunch.com
See you in-game!
New LOTRO Blog and Podcast: Lotroworld.com
Jun 13th
I’m very pleased to announce that Sparthir, a constant source of entertainment (and derailment!) in the chat room during live recordings of our podcast, who also helped tremendously with the setup of the current LOTRO Reporter blog, has started his own blog, with a podcast soon to follow!
According to Sparthir’s first post, he plans on focusing his site, LotroWorld.com, on turorials and guides to help players learn game mechanics and different aspects of the game. He also plans to follow the same path with his podcast.
Sparthir is no stranger to podcasting, having created a LOTRO podcast several years ago, as well as having been a guest on our very own LOTRO Reporter podcast (episode to be released this summer).
I wish Sparthir all the best with his blog and podcast!
See you in-game!
