Did you know
Did you know…
Nov 29th
I recently discovered the LOTRO Lorebook. Yeah, it’s not exactly a new thing in the game, but it’s a new-to-me thing! The Lorebook, which is a wiki (database), with some player-created content and some Official Turbine Stuff, contains all kinds of useful LOTRO information. It can be accessed two ways: in-game by selecting the icon on your mini-map, or online at http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Lorebook_home . I find that it is extremely slow when accessed in-game, and since I always run LOTRO in window mode, I just open the Lorebook website in another window.
Did you know…
Nov 11th
There are lots of little keyboard tricks that make the game a bit more streamlined to play. I often see people asking about them in the /advice channel, so I thought I’d share with you the ones that I’ve learned about so far.
- Alt-F4 quits the game
- To link an item in chat, make sure your cursor is in the dialogue box, then Ctrl+Right click the item
- The Printscreen (Prt Sc) button takes a screen shot
- F12 removes all UI from view
- Ctrl + \ allows you to move the UI elements (such as the mini-map or Fellowship Maneouvres pop-up) around the screen
- ‘N‘ toggles names/labels on and off
- Ctrl Enter allows you to minimize the game
Did you know….
Nov 2nd
Okay, our fellowship of 5 has been notoriously bad at using Fellowship Maneouvers (aka FMs or conjunctions) effectively, so I thought I’d find out some random useful facts about them. And don’t forget to check out the great Fellowship Maneouvers Guide that is posted at the top of the blog.
1) Only characters at level 12 or above may contribute to an FM.
2) Burglars have the possibility of starting FMs using the following skills:
-At level 12: Exploit Opening
-At level 28: Trip (while in Stealth)
-At level 30: Using a Bag of Marbles along with the passive skill Clever Devices
-At level 39: Exposed Throat (a legendary trait, from the Expert’s Guide to Dirty Fighting)
3) Guardians have the possibility of starting FMs using the following skills:
-At level 36: Turn the Tables (must be used after the guardian is knocked down)
-At level 40: Fray the Edge
-At level 45: To the King (after the enemy has suffered from Overwhelm or Thrust)
4) Captains have a 10% chance of starting FMs using the skill Kick at level 44 or higher, if they have 4 traits in the Leader of Men trait set
5) Hunters have the possibility of starting FMs using Trip Wire traps at level 35 or higher
6) Once an FM has been started against an enemy, whether it was successful or not, the enemy is immune to FMs for one minute.
7) When you pick a coloured button to use in the Fellowship Maneouver, but want to change it, you simply click again on the colour you first picked and your contribution will disappear, allowing you to choose a different colour.
8) The fellowship leader can display which FM he/she wants the group to complete. This will be from a list of any FMs that he/she has completed while in any fellowship. Go to the Character panel, select Skills, then click the Fellowship tab at the bottom, and select the preferred FM. Next time an FM is triggered, that sequence will appear on everyone’s screen, which makes it easier to know who needs to contribute what when!
9) You should not move when a Fellowship Maneouver is underway, or your contribution will be cancelled. The targeted enemy also cannot move, but, unfortunately, other enemies can still hit you. Ouch!
I hope this information has been useful. Now get out there and kick some butt using your new and improved Fellowship Maneouver skills!
Did you know?
Oct 22nd
Okay, here’s a random bit of trivia. A few weeks ago as I was running around during in-game night-time, I happened to glance up to the sky and saw the Big Dipper! Imagine my surprise! However, I was informed that the game sky is actually our true sky, as seen from somewhere in England (wherever it was that Tolkien lived when writing LOTR). So, I thought that was pretty cool!
Another Did You Know: You can customize what you see on the map or on the mini-map; this option is good for when a bunch of things are clumped together and it’s hard to find what you need because it’s covered by a different symbol. I don’t know about you, but do I ever hate that! Anyway, in order to adjust the symbols on the regular map, simply open your map, click “Filter Map Notes” in the upper left corner, and make sure everything you want to see on your map is checked. To adjust the symbols on the mini-map, right-click within the mini-map’s gold circle, mouse over “Filter”, and again make sure you have everything checked that you want to see. You’ll notice that there are several additional symbols available for viewing on the mini-map than on the regular map.
Happy gaming!
Did you know…
Oct 13th
If you right click on the ring next to the name of a quest in the Quest Tracker, a small menu pops up. The different options are:
-Show in Quest Log: pops open the description of that quest.
-Unlock: moves that quest to the bottom of the list, where it can be replaced on the list by the next quest you acquire or advance. You can also Lock the quest again.
-Set Who Note: if you click this option, when another player opens the Social Panel (under the Fellowing tab) to see who is online and looking for a group, they will see the name of that quest beside your name, indicating that you are working on that quest.
-Find Others on Quest: opens the Social Panel and shows only those people who have set their Who Note to that quest.
-Set as Quest Guide Focus: you can manually set that quest to have the focus on your map. To remove the focus from that quest, you can either manually select another quest to track, or choose “Remove Quest Guide Focus” to have the focus reset automatically to the quest that is closest to you (as per its usual setting).
-Remove: take that quest off the Quest Tracker.
-Remove All: completely empty the Quest Tracker.
I have found myself using the Set as Quest Guide Focus option relatively often, but haven’t really found the other options useful. The Set Who Note and Find Others on Quest options might be useful, except for that most people seem to simply use the /LFF (looking for fellowship) chat channel.
Anyway, that what I learned about the Quest Tracker, so now the knowledge is yours to use however you want! Enjoy! ;-)
Did you know…
Sep 24th
Okay, here’s one for all you social butterflies out there. Recently it came to my attention that it is possible to keep better track of all the /tell conversations that you have ongoing in game. Before, if I were sending /tells to more than one person, it was a big pain to have to retype each person’s name over and over as I switched between them, especially those with names like Supercalafragilisticexpeallidotious. One teensy tiny typing mistake and BLAM! you’d get the dreaded “That player does not exist” message AND have to try retyping the person’s name.
As I’m sure you can imagine, this archaic way of doing things really cut into my play time. ;-) Also, my fellowship members tended to get a little, well, irritated at the way I would accidentally lose track of what I was supposed to be doing and let them all die miserable, firy deaths.
Okay, okay, I do tend to exaggerate moderately, BUT this very simple thing that I discovered is quite cool (and right there in front of my eyes all these months, but I was just too set in my ways to check it out!). In the conversation window, all you have to do is click the IMs tab and you can switch with ease back and forth between people to whom you’re sending /tells. Simply click on the person’s name and start typing to him/her.
No more wasted time trying to spell their names correctly, no more running off cliffs as you frantically try to run and spell their name correctly at the same time. And with this tab, you can see at a glance what was said throughout the entire conversation, without having to scroll back endlessly through the ‘General’ tab. It even shows you the time at which each message was sent (I’m sure this information could come in handy somewhere, some time, somehow…).
Happy gaming all!
Did you know…
Sep 18th
Hello all, I’m excited to announce that Chris has kindly added me as a contributor to this website. For the present, I will be focusing on the “Did you know…” segments, but if I behave myself nicely, eventually Chris may let me branch out to other stuff! Anyway…
I have found a very handy little option that has made my LOTRO experience so much better. The “Item Names” option puts a bright label overtop all kinds of important stuff in the game. You see, I have a VERY bad sense of direction, and I often have an issue finding the door to get in or out of a building (yes, you read me right!), and with this option activated, the door is labelled for me: DOOR. Isn’t that clever? Also, this option is really cool for noticing stuff that you might otherwise miss. Stuff such as chests, crafting items (pieces of wood, scholar items), food (onions, cabbages, etc), and small quest items that might be tricky to spot. It even displays the names of all the buildings (crafting house, inn, etc), so you can tell at a glance what’s what.
So, what is this great option?. Simply go to Options, and then UI, and enable “Item Names”. Trust me on this… you won’t be disappointed (or stuck wandering forlornly around some random building, desperate to find the exit!) LOL!
Isanni
Did you know?
Sep 8th
This “Did you know?” come to us from Isana on the Brandywine server.
If you right-click the General tab in the chat window, then click Change Text Colours, you can adjust the colour for every kind of chat that comes up in the chat window. You can even adjust the size of the text, so that things that you want to make sure you don’t miss (such as comments from the fellowship) will be easier to see.
Thanks Isana!
You can do this for any of the different categories of chat. I currently have my fellowship and /tell messages showing up with a bigger font than the rest. Really makes them pop out.
See you in game!
Did you know?
Sep 1st
Did you know that when you are going somewhere new, perhaps with some new monsters, when your screen goes a little blurry, and you “cower” (your character hunches down and you can’t move), that it’s a game system called Dread?
Dread is a game mechanic that is triggered when you go near a monster or area that is particularly scary to your character. Your character reacts to this, and they gain several debuffs, including a decrease in morale (health). There are items in the game that give you Hope or Radiance, and they counteract this effect.
See you in game!
Note: I know that this is a very basic explanation, but that is the point of “Did you know?”. If you’d like to submit a more detailed explanation, I’d love to post it! Send emails to lotro.reporter@gmail.com
Did you know?
Aug 18th
Hey Everyone. I’m back and updating again!
We’re going to have a new regular “column” from now on called “Did you know?” It’s going to focus on aspects of the game that most of you might already know, but that some of you might not.
We’ll start with something that I just figure out the other night:
Did you know that weaponsmiths can make hunter traps? The recipes for the traps are not automatically granted, but ones that you have to buy from a vendor. I bought mine in the crafting house in Esteldin. This will help out a lot with our group, as my wife plays a hunter, and I’ll be able to help her stock up before we go adventuring!
Any other places that you can buy the trap recipes? Add them in the comments!
If you have an idea for another “Did you know?” column, send me an email at lotro.reporter@gmail.com
See you in game!
Chris
