f13.net

Link (http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=254408)

\o/

That's a good thing right?  :uhrr:

It's a cheering man.

DUH. :awesome_for_real:

ooooooooooooooooh.

 :grin:

Hell yeah.  :awesome_for_real:

So, this Spring Festival, is there a reward item list anywhere?

There is normally something new each year... but the old should still be there too... ill see what i can dig up.

(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t190/tidelotro/fonz.jpg)

Oh sweet!

A List of known issues. (http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=255240)

Holy fuck, I got 3 levels from the exp. gain and am now halfway through 25.

Edit: I got two levels myself :heart:

Couple of major things not mentioned in the patch notes.

1.  Faster load times.  A LOT faster.  A SUPER LOT FASTER.

2.  Debuffs are now seperate from buffs.  One of my biggest gripes was this very thing; fucking epic win on this one!

3.  Graphics are better.  Not sure What they did, but in older areas graphics look better.  Also - the orcs in the new area are freaking eerie and look very realistic. 

Uh oh.  Might have to resub for another month.

Yeah I posted in the other thread, but I logged in to patch up and had a spare minute before going out so I killed a blue mob nearby. *DING* 17.5 --> 20.75!

Course how I'm going to pay for the gear/skills I need is another question, but I'm not complaining!

On my hunter, I went from 40 to 42! Hello new weapon and armor tier!  :heart:  :heart:  :heart:

My Minstrel went gained almost exactly one level from 54 to 55.  Plus he's more fun to play now.  He takes more damage but with Moria stuff seeming to have lost 1k hp that's fine.

I love the fast progress bar and the new super fast loading screens.

And the dreaded quest tracker is great.  I had to find a body in the elf starting area and the tracker just showed me the general area.  So I did actually have to look around, it was further off than I thought.

A few bugs seemed to have crept in the game but I'm happy; I can play my Minstrel again and have fun and the elf starting area is much improved.

I don't know if its a global change, but the lighting in Moria seems brighter. Also, gobs of new icons, or changed icons (instance shards now have a copper background, Edhelharn Token completely redone)

There is a new "Ambient light" slider now.

(http://www.digitalutopia.org/xpreq.jpg)

CHARTS!

Wait so 1-20 got significantly shorted?

Chart seems to match anecdotal evidence.  I checked one guy and he went from 19 to 22.

Here is the source. (http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php?p=3510354&postcount=14)

Yes. I find that chart kinda pointless since it doesn't show XP sums that are needed.

Bottom line is however that you need less XP to hit 60 (even if that chart seems to suggest otherwise) and that the curve has been smoothened not to have "walls."

So those of us that came late to the party get penalized?  Nice.

Yep, and it did, at around 40, as the chart shows. I only posted it , not as a basis for caculating XP, but as a visuial as to what they did to the "Curve" of it all.


What do you mean? Don't forget that they also adjusted DPS across the board. Mobs and players.

No? What makes you say that? You still gain XP the same rate as before, you just need less overall. A level 55 post-B7 has put in as much time/work as you will have at 55. If you repeat his exact steps, you will end up with exactly as much experience.

Edit: I apologize for my snappy attitude in recent posts. I've had a trying day teaching kids C#.  :oh_i_see:

Edit 2: It's actually the opposite. All the people who have capped or near-capped characters will lose any surplus XP they have that would push them beyond level 60.

Am I reading the chart wrong or does it clearly show that you now need more xp per level after 50?   

That's what I'm reacting to. 

Nope, your reading that right. Thing is, that i think its still (over the course of all levels) the same amount. Notice it takes less, at lower levels. Its the ranges themselves that have been...uh, re-a-ranged?  :grin:

Then why am I the only one that thinks that sucks?

Because the *total* amount of XP needed to get from 1-60 has actually gone down - and instead of easy levels and hard levels, it is now a much smoother progression.

Oh, and though I'm not high enough to verify this for myself yet - from what I've read, those levels where the XP requirement for that level has gone up, have had the quest XP boosted to compensate.

Edit:

Ah... that helps.  Thanks for that.

Because they're adjusting your level based on your current xp total, and the fact that the total xp from 1-60 has gone down, there's literally no way for this change to hurt you.

They also said that while some levels you would need more total exp to level than before, but they have adjusted the quest exp for those level ranges, so even though you need more, it should still be faster to level.

Whoa, wtf was up with that old 41-42 jump?  That must have sucked.

That chart needs more notation or I'm just bad at reading them.  It gives the wrong impression.


I have always wondered how these things get put into games in the first place.  Post-EQ, that is.

The important thing is that my weaver should no longer be a gimp.  I'll test this out soon, I hope.  Earning DP before Moria was still not easy for me, though, so probably I suck a lot.

Yep, and i just did that the other day.

good impressions:
*went from end of 46 to 48 and 3 bulbs
*got owned by oranges shortly after dinging -- new self-rez works!  :drill:
*unhappy to find some zones (Misty Mtns) now green and grey to me, but so be it.  Angmar now solo'able
*mobs do seem easier -- was wringing my hands about making this too WoW:tBC
*didn't try new lowbie quests.  Some wags claiming it's just "MOAR BOAR" but whatever
*people like Lorien -- matches lore, like the pace/approach.  Seems a big setup for more complicated Gondor rep someone was claiming.
*graphics seem better somehow, load times are faster

Things that make me sad:

1) new crafting quests only available in Moria.  Doesn't make sense, or they mislead us -- never said this would be only 50+ I thought.  I figured it would be like the Crafting Consignment NPC's, which you can access at any Level/CraftingTier. Sad.

2) the fucking UI.  Jesus H Schild Christ.

They nearly tripled the size of the Vitals windows for your toon and Opponents.  The argument was so you can now see better all the buffs and de-buffs.  Unfortunately, this is unsizable in height.  You can only globally resize a window in LotRO, so to shrink something it gets tinytinytinytiny... 

The UI as a healer in this game is really getting me down.  And this is a stupid change.  Yeah, it means changing my setup so the game is still playable, but that's not a good excuse.  As a healer it really sucks to have fixed windows for anything.  With Tanking or DPS you can always hotkey and /follow to a mob or other player, but as a healer you necessarily have to jump around in-game and in the UI. And fat-finger syndrom creates more risk than point and click.

Other than that, things are good.

I was kind of "stuck" at 40. Logged in to get bumped to 42. Don't think I don't enjoy the boost over that wall.

They did, rumors of it being added to lover levels abound. And the UI stuff i still do not understand, but we have has this conversation.

They mentioned it in the developer diary (http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/343-developer-diary-solving-problems-and-making-friends-part-i?start=2)

and in the comments after:

Q: The first thing I though of was why so high level? Although I'm sure there were lots of things taken into acount. It would be nice to have these for the various tradeskill levels.

A: It would definitely have been nice to hit all the tiers with these - but I only had 4 weeks, not 24.  Perhaps for a future update.

yup -- play a healer as a main and it will become apparent IMO.  Otherwise, agreed -- it's just personal taste.

My understanding with the crafting quests was it was done to alleviate the farming pressure on high level mats. For low levels there doesn't seem to be any shortage of nodes to harvest.

Is there a rough time-line for what expansions they have planned?  I take it they are eventually going to end up in Mordor?  I keep meaning to start playing this again.

Look at it this way. The game is roughly two years old and has now finished the Fellowship of the Rings. So, if it keeps up at this pace, expect Mordor sometime in 2012-2013.

with The Hobbit movies coming soon'ish the forum speculation is that likely they will have Mirkwood and the Lonely Mtn area up way before Gondor/Mordor.  People seem to think/wish that Rohan will be the next expansion with mounted combat.  No idear.

Next expansion needs the UI revamp.  Enough people are bitching about it, and now minis will yell louder, according to Soln's comment.  Me, previous game was EVE and before that WoW before the first year ended, so I'm not what you would call up-to-date on a modern UI.  I do, however, remember the WoW UI was much more customizable even back then.

Other than that, I'm not terribly concerned about what regions are implemented next.  I'd like crafting "fixed" but I seem to be in the minority here.

Here's a player estimate. (http://www.visionsofthering.com/expac_timeline.shtml)


I saw that, but mine's set in the "off" position, and it's still brighter in Moria. I played with it a bit, and it seems to work like a worldbuilding/admin command we had in AC1 - it makes all surfaces equally "luminous" (i.e. unaffected by the "actual" ambient light). Shadowing and fogging appear unaffected.

That estimate is very interesting.

linky (http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/03/lord-of-the-rings-ga.html)


Any news on this LOTRO coming to a console rumour?

I think this is the most information available. (http://www.massively.com/2008/09/29/is-lotro-coming-to-the-console/) I'd qualify it as still rumor.

So post-patch it seems the Minstrel is still not an easy and thus quick solo'able class, which is fine I guess.  /shrug   :uhrr:

However, a PUG group through Fornost last night, with the quick take-down of 3 bosses and trash, did demonstrate that groups in this game rock long, hard and deep. I have never seen the kind of power unique classes can bring to group combat in an MMO like this.  Honestly.

A full squad with a Minstrel (heals), 2 x Captains (group buffs), Champion (DPS), Loremaster (CC, minor heals), and a Rune Keeper (DPS or Heals) just tore through 3 bosses and the rest of the content.  While the content was grey to me (bosses were green) the rest of the group were at the suggested levels or -1 or -2 below.  The net affect of our buffs to the group and heals was extraordinary.  This patch increased some of the Minstrel's buffs power and duration, but it must have for others as well.  Usually in WoW or EQ2 you would see one tank and the rest of the team supporting, and likewise for anything like heals -- everything is exclusive.  With the ability of the Cpt or the Champ tanking or the RK nuking or healing it was amazing the overlap.  We still could've wiped, and we did have 2-3 individual deaths.  But 2-3 deaths over nearly 2 hrs of play is pretty damn good.  :drill:

/boggle   :uhrr:

So yeah.  My guild did the Rift (Balrog) last night and was similarly happy.  :awesome_for_real:

Pics?

I think the extensive hybridness of LotRO's classes is what I find so appealing about them. Everyone has something specific to do, but when shit really hits the fan, it's not up to that one member, typically the healer or the tank, of the group to fix it - it's really up to everyone to launch every bit of healing/aggro dropping/debuffing or whatever that they have. Everyone can do something to help out.