Spring Springy Spring!

The Spring Festival is now live.  I’ve just logged in and headed straight away to Hengstacer’s Farm to check out my new ride that awaits me. Here it is…

Introducing the Simbelmyne Steed! A beauty isn’t she? Costs 2 Spring Race Tokens, and a whooping 40 Spring leaves, plus the compulsory Document of Mount Ownership. This seems to be the ‘price’ trend for all the new horses in the Festivals and it seems a little bit expensive to me. But no matter, 40 Spring Leaves is an achievable target especially with all the quests, games and races available. Where you ask? Why the horse races can be found in the Horse Fields/Bree festival grounds, south of Hengstacer’s Farm in Bree Land while the other is in the Shire, just slightly south east from the Michel Delving stable.  General festival areas are in Thorin’s Ale Hall, The Party Tree in Hobbiton, Duillond in Ered Luin and of course, the Bree festival grounds. So if you have your eyes set on the mount, cosmetics or the new consumables etc, start chipping away at the festival content to get your leaves folks! I’m off to get mine..

Edit* 45 minutes later…….

Adhrean is a phreak. Probably stole the horse.

Smexy And I Know It

I am becoming somewhat of a perfectionist on my Champion, Adhrean. Virtues might not be important to some, but I personally find that it gives me that extra boost when it matters. Plus, who can complain about the Turbine Points earned from deed grinding? Furthermore, if you run a lot of PUG raid content, expect raid leaders to inspect you and if they see fit question you on why your virtues are low etc.

I’ve taken a good part of a week ( with the help of Slayer Deed Accelerators ) to get my Zeal and Discipline up to 13 from 9. Another week and I should cap it. As for my Virtue line-up, I just survive a lot better. While most of that is down to the gear I’ve got on, as mentioned earlier, these Virtues offers the added boosts.

On the other hand, my Class trait line-up changes all the time. The current one you see above is my ‘Moors and Limlight Daily set up. In Fervour, I still dish out the desired damaged and since I have the Flurry Of Blows traited, Flurry is always active in Fervour. Helpful in a DPS race. I can also insta-switch to Glory when the going gets tough, or when there’s lack of a tank while running the Limlight Dailies. For Glory, I’ve got Reprisal traited, which toggles the Exchange of Blows on for as long as I’m in Glory. This is important for the Champ, reflecting blows is always a win. But that’s just me. If you have your own set of traits and virtues that works for you, stick to it! But don’t be afraid to mix, match and explore.

This has been a feel good post. Hehe. Cheers all.

Sarumaning.

A few months back I never thought I would be able to join a ToO PUG and kick butt. Well, I’m proud to say that I have now. In the past month or so I have been grinding my virtues, Limlight Gorge Dailies, and ‘Moors Armour to get my Champ Adhrean ready for everything end game.  I think I’m about 80% done with that. So last Saturday, Shrewd, a resident of the Riddermark server gave me the green light to join his Raid on ToO Acid Wing. I think I did Ok, which earned me a follow up into Shadow Wing and Saruman right after that. Just want to say thanks buddy, without your faith in me I wouldn’t have gotten rid of the locks etc.

Our raid group just before the fight ensues.

It went well, I enjoyed the fight mechanics of all 3 wings and am looking forward to running it again.  So first time Champs, if you’re decently geared and traited, don’t be afraid to respond to PUG calls! Just go in and give it your best! =)

More posts to come today, hang tight.

WTB Game Time PST

Busy Busy Busy! Work Work Work. University is killing my freedom for Lotro, and nowadays I desperately try to make time for it but to no avail, save I forsake my assignments on weekends which I happily do without question to level my Captain Haffleheim.

Speaking of him, I cannot believe that I had cast him aside since his creation in April 2011 to level Dagenath instead. Almost a full year later, I have now taken Haff out of the closet and levelled him to 60 and he is almost done questing in the long dark of Moria, and about to hit the sunshine in Lothlorien too. Joy! I’ve been playing for a solid week or two, and slowly I start to see why Captains are highly sought after in-end game. Levelling him from 30 to 40 was definitely a slow process, as he only had two decent melee DPS attacks, and a further two more that opens up after a battle-shout, which was on cooldown for 45 seconds at the least. So you can imagine, taking down scores of mobs on my Cappy is a time consuming process, compared to a Champ who would shing-shing all the way to the grey havens and be done with it in seconds. I stuck with the program nonetheless, and with each level gained I start to get into a skill rotation groove, learn to use my Cappy Marks and Banners to fasten my damage output and most importantly learned to leave my heralds alone. For now.

The one thing I’ve noticed that helps me level fast and smoothly is the guild crafted gear. The Captain is definitely reliant on good on-level gear if you want to take on on-level content or a few levels higher. From levels 41 till 51, I have been crafting the guild set which is in my opinion, one of the best around in terms of stats. Other gear rewards are also decent along the way, especially in Moria and you could get them from quests or barter some nice ones from the reputation vendors ( Iron Garrison Guards and Miners). Once you hit 58, start running Moria instances. With Haff, I immedeately starting running The Grand Stairs daily for the Moria Medallions which in return I used to barter at the Captain trainer in the 21st Hall for the Cappy’s Hall General Armour set. These moria sets are excellent, and I know they will last till the early 70s.

And with that, I shall end this post and hope for brighter days on my cappy. It’s definitely a fun class and I can’t wait to utilize him as and end-game handyman in raid groups. Till the next post, cheers.

23rd March : A Year of LOTRO

I would have posted this sooner but alas, university assignments has kept me away. But straight to the point it is!

A new milestone has been reached, 23rd of March saw me hit a year in Lotro.  I have come full circle! And what a great year it has been in game for me. The friends, the achievements, the sleepless nights and panda eyes. It was all worth it. So to celebrate , I decided it was time to go VIP. I’ve been eyeing an account upgrade since June/July 2011 but decided to wait a little longer, to see for myself if Premium would suffice. And to be honest it did, but I now find myself favoring the VIP benefits ; 500 TP per month, Swift Travel, Shared Wardrobe, +20 Auction House slots, PVMP Freep side, and free content, which was important considering I would like to take my up and coming alts to level in different regions instead of the same old. I never bought Angmar or Forochel, so this would be a good chance to finally quest there for a change. One of the major convincing factors was the two additional character slots which would allow me to complete my army of crafting minions. Hence, I settled for the special 3-month subscription plan, which costs me RM90. Whether I decide to continue the plan after my three months is up will be solely down to how much I’m able to accomplish within the time and if i’m satisfied with it. Woot.  So with that said, meet my new toons!

First up, here’s Aldun, my Minstrel/Tinker from the Lonely Mountain.

Aldun son of Aldref

Meet Alister. Can’t tell you where or what family he’s from, cause he’s a super ninja Burglar/Yeomen.

Alister Black

My new short term goal for now is to get them to 20, acquire the riding skill, then get them into their respective crafting guilds. May the Valar grant me with more playing time.

Other things I’ve been working on in game since  VIP has been minimal at best, but it revolves around my Captain Haffleheim and the Warden Dagenath. The Great River region is where Dagenath is at currently, and I’m definitely enjoying it. Well done, Turbine. And that’s that, I’m hoping to get back in game soon. Till the next post, happy hunting!

What is it with these things? Is it swan season or something? Wait. Are those ducks? Bah. Well at least there’s dinner for Dag..