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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Lord of the Rings Online  |  Topic: Observations of a True LOTRO Newbie 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Observations of a True LOTRO Newbie  (Read 24629 times)
Bandit
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Reply #35 on: June 13, 2007, 11:44:40 AM

...and with great power comes great responsibility.
Phred
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Reply #36 on: June 13, 2007, 01:46:20 PM

Burglars take more skill to play, and more skill to play *with* if you are one of the other members of the fellowship. If you haven't grouped much yet, it's possible you haven't quite realised your own power, and other players haven't either.

You also need champions smart enough not to hit their aoe buttons close to mezzed mobs, which I havent found any of yet.
cmlancas
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Reply #37 on: June 14, 2007, 08:10:01 AM

Also just as bad are minstrels, in my experience. All the ones around my level think they are elite solo machines that do ridiculous damage and have infinite healing.


The life of a burglar is a lonely, misunderstood one.

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Riggswolfe
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Reply #38 on: June 14, 2007, 09:04:06 AM


You also need champions smart enough not to hit their aoe buttons close to mezzed mobs, which I havent found any of yet.


As a champion player I've yet to hit a mezzed mob except in or two situations, usually when chaos has erupted for some reason. And usually because the burgler didn't announce he was mezzing he just did it, sometimes as my swing was already queued up.

Good burglers tend to communicate that stuff "I'm going to stun the guy on the right, you guys pull the left". Mediocre ones just do it unannounced and in the middle of the fight.

"We live in a country, where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest, Yoko Ono was standing right next to him and not one fucking bullet! Explain that to me! Explain that to me, God! Explain it to me, God!" - Denis Leary summing up my feelings about the nature of the universe.
cmlancas
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Reply #39 on: June 14, 2007, 09:10:28 AM

I'll certainly agree to that. I will also submit that burglars are awesome pullers simply because they can stealth/riddle.


I think I'm feeling happier about my class choice.

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I can't promise anything other than trauma and tragedy. -- schild
Slayerik
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Reply #40 on: June 14, 2007, 09:22:14 AM


You also need champions smart enough not to hit their aoe buttons close to mezzed mobs, which I havent found any of yet.


As a champion player I've yet to hit a mezzed mob except in or two situations, usually when chaos has erupted for some reason. And usually because the burgler didn't announce he was mezzing he just did it, sometimes as my swing was already queued up.

Good burglers tend to communicate that stuff "I'm going to stun the guy on the right, you guys pull the left". Mediocre ones just do it unannounced and in the middle of the fight.

And real good ones are on vent :)

"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together.  My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
palmer_eldritch
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Reply #41 on: June 14, 2007, 11:57:38 AM

Also just as bad are minstrels, in my experience. All the ones around my level think they are elite solo machines that do ridiculous damage and have infinite healing.


The life of a burglar is a lonely, misunderstood one.


At 41, I hate trying to solo anything with my minstrel. I can kill things safely enough if they are solo (not elite, just normal or maybe signature) but it takes so long. My best damage abilities now make tiny little dents to their health bars. There are class traits which can help a bit, but all my traits slots are used to improve healing (cast time and power) and reduce aggro.

It means I'm a minstrel

I also have a level 22 burglar btw. I made a champion just so that once in a while I can log in a character whose only role is to smash.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2007, 01:13:05 PM by palmer_eldritch »
Ryuno
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Reply #42 on: June 15, 2007, 07:13:43 AM

I'll certainly agree to that. I will also submit that burglars are awesome pullers simply because they can stealth/riddle.


I think I'm feeling happier about my class choice.

I'm only 16, but I love my char so far. Admitidly i'm nearly always in guild groups using Ventrillo/Teamspeak, but so far I feel like a important part of the group. Especially with the fellowship manouvour anytime button (well every 5 mins), which is just ace on boss mobs :D
Numtini
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Reply #43 on: June 15, 2007, 07:44:07 AM

Quote
At 41, I hate trying to solo anything with my minstrel. I can kill things safely enough if they are solo (not elite, just normal or maybe signature) but it takes so long. My best damage abilities now make tiny little dents to their health bars. There are class traits which can help a bit, but all my traits slots are used to improve healing (cast time and power) and reduce aggro.

I slotted all the damage/solo traits and honestly, they don't really make that much of a difference in the misery factor. It's pretty wretched.

The one I really do like is Herald's Hammer, which doubles the strength of heralds strike. If I have to fight two, I fear one and then pop this for fast damage. It's not much, but it helps.

If you can read this, you're on a board populated by misogynist assholes.
Tebonas
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Reply #44 on: June 15, 2007, 03:40:12 PM

Minstrelism is my new favourite word now!

Evil Elvis
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Reply #45 on: June 18, 2007, 11:24:55 AM

I just hit level 11.  First impressions:

1) The UI is ugly.  WoW has spoiled me.  I just wish I could scale everything down smaller, and hide/minimize the quest tracker (w/o memorizing the key to open it).  Doing a CTRL+\ makes me wince.  Way too much going on there; too difficult to arrange all the different windows in an adequate way.

2) The quests aren't laid out as well as WoW.  Honestly, i'm not thrilled with the "here's everything you need to do, go do it" style quests of WoW/LoTRO, but that's what it is.  Considering this, it can be difficult to find where to go as the directions often suck, and the map is very sparse.

3) There's some crappy bugs with tracking lumber on the minimap.  I'll hit the button a dozen times, and it just won't show up.  Then sometimes it'll finally decide to start working.

4) I wish I could zoom out the minimap.

5) I picked a hunter.  I have a snare and a trap, but there's little room to maneuver, and none of my abilities can be cast while moving =/  WoW's hunter class really feels better.  It's more dynamic and fun.  There's alot of grouped mobs, and little room to maneuver, which makes it difficult to solo.

6) Very little weapon upgrades.  I was forced to pick up woodworking at level 9 to upgrade the crap bow I'd been using since level 5.  I like crafting being important, but not having a single upgrade purchasable or drop from a mob sucks ass.   I haven't seen any player vendors, which I think is a huge mistake if you're going to make crafted items so important.

7) Graphics aren't as nice as WoW imo, and I mean beyond just style.  Some tearing occasionally, which makes the game feel sloppy.  Player names appeared all weird until I turned off bloom.  Not much diversity in mobs.


8) The quest lore is a bit better than WoW, which is the one good thing it really seems to have over WoW.  The voice-overs and a main storyline are well done.  They were trying to do something like this with AC2, they just didn't.  At all.  Good to see they finally did something right here.

9) The dungeons I've been in haven't been instanced.  I like this.  Unfortunately, the mob spawns seem to be tied to how many people are in the dungeon, which really sucks when you're alone, but there are a few other groups inside.  This wouldn't be a big problem in AC1, where there were hundreds of dungeons... but it does suck in this game when there's only 1 or 2 in a "zone", and everyone wants to go there to do a quest.  I'm glad it's not instanced though.  It makes the game feel more alive.

10) Alot of the keybindings are similar to WoW, like auto attack, auto-loot, auto-run, etc.  This is a good thing.


I don't know.  It feels like a mix of classic EQ and WoW to me.  I'm giving it a 6 out of 10 right now.  There's a bit of polish on it, and it seems a decent enough game. Maybe if they had made it a mix of AC and WoW, I'd be more interested.
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Reply #46 on: June 18, 2007, 11:48:15 AM

A very fair assessment Elvis.

I enjoy it cause I have a decent crew of friends that play. We could play Shit Scooping Online and still make it a week or 2 just from vent entertainment.

"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together.  My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
Khaldun
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Reply #47 on: June 18, 2007, 12:05:43 PM

I just hit level 11.  First impressions:

........

2) The quests aren't laid out as well as WoW.  Honestly, i'm not thrilled with the "here's everything you need to do, go do it" style quests of WoW/LoTRO, but that's what it is.  Considering this, it can be difficult to find where to go as the directions often suck, and the map is very sparse.

.......

6) Very little weapon upgrades.  I was forced to pick up woodworking at level 9 to upgrade the crap bow I'd been using since level 5.  I like crafting being important, but not having a single upgrade purchasable or drop from a mob sucks ass.   I haven't seen any player vendors, which I think is a huge mistake if you're going to make crafted items so important.



I like having to find quests, and having that sometimes be difficult. However, the directions aren't just difficult--on at least three occasions that I've spotted, they're actually wrong--you're told to go northeast when you really need to go northwest, etctera.

Crafted items are usually worse than quest items. There are some bare patches where you may not get a upgrade, and you can't as readily check thottbot or some similar resource to find out which quest will give you a good replacement weapon or armor item for your level. One suggestion I have is to go as far in the Epic quest as you can manage at your level--the items those quests provide are usually premium for the relative difficulty involved.
gravdiggr
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Reply #48 on: June 18, 2007, 01:35:49 PM

I just hit level 11.  First impressions:

3) There's some crappy bugs with tracking lumber on the minimap.  I'll hit the button a dozen times, and it just won't show up.  Then sometimes it'll finally decide to start working.

5) I picked a hunter.  I have a snare and a trap, but there's little room to maneuver, and none of my abilities can be cast while moving =/  WoW's hunter class really feels better.  It's more dynamic and fun.  There's alot of grouped mobs, and little room to maneuver, which makes it difficult to solo.

6) Very little weapon upgrades.  I was forced to pick up woodworking at level 9 to upgrade the crap bow I'd been using since level 5.  I like crafting being important, but not having a single upgrade purchasable or drop from a mob sucks ass.   I haven't seen any player vendors, which I think is a huge mistake if you're going to make crafted items so important.

9) The dungeons I've been in haven't been instanced.  I like this.  Unfortunately, the mob spawns seem to be tied to how many people are in the dungeon, which really sucks when you're alone, but there are a few other groups inside.  This wouldn't be a big problem in AC1, where there were hundreds of dungeons... but it does suck in this game when there's only 1 or 2 in a "zone", and everyone wants to go there to do a quest.  I'm glad it's not instanced though.  It makes the game feel more alive.

3- Track lumber is a toggle skill. So you should just press it once and run around the landscape to find the branches.

5- The hunter in LOTRO is similar to a mage in other games. His role is single target burst dps. You have to realize that you are a living turret. Plan accordingly. The snare is your pulling skill so you can get 2 more shots in at max distance. The trap is there to either remove a 2nd melee opponent (who will get to the trap before the snared one) or to give you 1-2 more shots at your target before he gets to you (there's a small chance the root will break on damage). Hunter is a lot about preparation before the fight and then executing the pull. It's not about moving around in combat (especially not once you get penetrating shot and the focus skills).

6- Early in game, hunter is the only one who can use a bow for damage, so there arent a lot of bow rewards. That said, crafting is good for tier 1-2. After that, quest rewards are usually better in terms of weapons. As for player vendors, it's called an Auction House. When you get to 15, go to bree and take a look at what is there.

9- There's a mix of non-instanced and instanced dungeons. The instanced ones are pretty nice. The non-instanced dungeons are just exterior quests put inside walls.
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Reply #49 on: June 18, 2007, 02:14:21 PM

I'm honestly kind of confused about the quest direction complaint.  I haven't noticed any horribly erraneous quest information,  maybe a tad vague here or there...  But then again I graduated from the DAoC school of questing.

In DAoC  the NPC quest givers actively fucking lied to you.  All the time.  Almost every quest.  Fuck, the NPC would laugh in between giving you the worst quest directions in your life.

After that,  none of the stuff I've encountered in LOTRO really qualifies as bad.


Think of the hunter as a caster/nuker.  That's basically what he is,  but lore/canon means he has to use a bow.
Evil Elvis
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Reply #50 on: June 18, 2007, 03:19:19 PM

I know that timber tracking is a toggle.  Hand to God, I'd press it, and nothing would show.  I'd finally see some timber (but not on minimap), press the button again, and walk around the timber for a minute, and it still wouldn't show (note: I don't hit the button again yet).  I'd wander around more, and nothing would show up, and then I'd spot more timber not showing on my map.  Press the button again, and wander s'more with nothing showing.  It would just decide to work after not working for a while.  Once or twice after dying it would work right away, but a few times it just wasn't working.

About quests... I just didn't think some of the quest directions were that good, and I ended up wandering around a bit looking for the area to get to.  This happened a few times with the different humanoid mobs outside Chetwood.  Their HQ is a ways out, and I thought I missed it the first time, and ended up circling the swamp.  I spent more time later on trying to find Jaggar Jake (or whoever).  I thought that area connected to the headquarters proper.  It really didn't distinguish itself from the other area.  Maybe that was a big part of the problem; it all just looked pretty much the same.

I don't mind exploring for quests at all, it's just annoying when they tell you to me to go someplace specific, and I have a difficult time finding it because the directions are ambiguous or because the map sucks.


edit: Turns out I'm just stupid.  The reason I had a problem with tracking is that it has dotted lines that circle around it when it's active.  I didn't notice because I have it on my ctrl-hotkeys, so it's only visible for a split second.  I mistook the cooldown animation (from when you use it or another tracking skill twice in a row) as the recycle animation =/
« Last Edit: June 18, 2007, 06:49:11 PM by Evil Elvis »
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Reply #51 on: June 19, 2007, 12:06:57 AM

7) Graphics aren't as nice as WoW imo, and I mean beyond just style.

No offense, but you should crank up the overall graphics slider on the options panel. Or get some help.

cmlancas
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Reply #52 on: June 19, 2007, 06:12:38 AM

Not sure how WoW graphics are better than LOTRO, unless you're on a x86 from 1994.

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Xanthippe
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Reply #53 on: June 19, 2007, 07:54:17 AM

It's a matter of preference.

They look crisper to me.  I prefer crisp and bright to realistic and green/grey.
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Reply #54 on: June 19, 2007, 07:57:35 AM

Not sure how WoW graphics are better than LOTRO, unless you're on a x86 from 1994.

The LOTRO world is damn pretty, I must admit.

I liked WoW's style, but IMO it doesn't match to how pretty it is in LOTRO.

"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together.  My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
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Reply #55 on: June 19, 2007, 08:00:23 AM

Hmm.  I never though that the Shire was anything BUT crisp and bright.  Breeland is meh is some places, but come on...the Shire? 

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Xanthippe
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Reply #56 on: June 19, 2007, 08:02:55 AM

Yes, the Shire is pretty, you're right.  So damned much of the world is gloomy though.  I despise gloomy.

Still, compare the Shire to Nagrand.  Different styles, WoW's more cartoony (which is not to say bad).

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Reply #57 on: June 19, 2007, 08:06:33 AM

Rivendell and Elrond's home are some sort of Miracle. Or Thorin's hall. Cmon.

Evil Elvis
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Reply #58 on: June 19, 2007, 08:21:19 AM

I'm sure this is partly poor recollection, but to me it's just a reskinned AC2 appearance-wise.  I don't think it's ugly, but uninspired compared to WoW.  Warcraft has big, rolling landscapes, large capitol cities, and diverse atmospheres.  Sure, WoW looks blocky and LoTRO has a more realistic feel, but that's not really what I care about.  LoTRO does have some things I prefer though, like zones that don't instantly change in appearance once you cross a line, and a game that isn't filled with particle effects.

I've also stated that I was only level 11 when I posted that, so my opinion might change.  I warmed up to the style a little more after dropping down from Very High graphics mode to High yesterday.  I still give a leg up to WoW.
tazelbain
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Reply #59 on: June 19, 2007, 08:30:32 AM

> I despise gloomy.
I like gloomy.  Going to unpleasant places is part of being a Hero.  There is no need for Heroes in Candyland.  The exception would be if it impedes my ability to navigate.
« Last Edit: June 19, 2007, 09:29:00 AM by tazelbain »

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Slayerik
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Reply #60 on: June 19, 2007, 10:19:06 AM

I'm sure this is partly poor recollection, but to me it's just a reskinned AC2 appearance-wise.  I don't think it's ugly, but uninspired compared to WoW.  Warcraft has big, rolling landscapes, large capitol cities, and diverse atmospheres.  Sure, WoW looks blocky and LoTRO has a more realistic feel, but that's not really what I care about.  LoTRO does have some things I prefer though, like zones that don't instantly change in appearance once you cross a line, and a game that isn't filled with particle effects.

I've also stated that I was only level 11 when I posted that, so my opinion might change.  I warmed up to the style a little more after dropping down from Very High graphics mode to High yesterday.  I still give a leg up to WoW.

You musta played alliance.

"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together.  My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
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Reply #61 on: June 19, 2007, 10:57:40 AM

Rivendell and Elrond's home are some sort of Miracle. Or Thorin's hall. Cmon.

The Last Homely House is nice, but Rivendell itself is kind of meh. The color palette there really surprised me with how muted it is. I'm not saying it should look like Elfy Land, with all sorts of swirling faggotry everwhere, but it is supposed to be really beautiful and very different than anywhere else in Middle-Earth, particularly Eriador, and it just doesn't look it to me.

Thorin's Hall is almost too spectacular, actually. I'm not sure why all the dwarves are creaming in their pants to get back into Moria if they've got places like that to live in. I was thinking the place would be a little shabbier than that.

I do like the general look of the game quite a bit. Comparing it with WoW is apples and oranges--or maybe not, considering that both games have visuals that match their aesthetics in general. The game that's a visual dog's breakfast is EQ2, where there's just no consistent art direction or mood established in the game, just developers trying to scream "UPGRADE YOUR VIDEO CARD" in every way they can think of.
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Reply #62 on: June 19, 2007, 11:44:22 AM

Alliance in beta, Horde in retail.  The problem with the Horde lowbie zones was pretty much just the Barrens itself.  Change that into something interesting, and the experience would have been much better.
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Reply #63 on: June 19, 2007, 01:37:09 PM

Ok, fun experience in LOTR last night...

Broken alliances quest (instance)...We plow through the non elite trash mobs up to the point where we see 3 elite mobs, and like 3 non-elites all having a conversation. Its me (guardian, level 19), my wife (hunter 19), and burglar (friend 20)

My friend advises we wait for our minstrel healer bud to get to bree to hit a reflecting pool. I'm an impatient SOB, so I tell him to pick an elite to mez and lets do work. I have my wife put down a trap for the main boss and I body pull. I tell em to target the non-elites first (duh).

Its halfway chaos, I have multiple mobs beating on me, I quickly use my potion and shitty little self heal. By now we have the non-elites down, my bad-ass burglar friend is running out of cooldown tricks and busts out his fellowship manuever. We pwn the first elite after a well executed RED RED RED (lawl) and i am able to taunt the 2nd mob on me and kick on my (shield wall ripoff) Guardians crazy dodge/evade/parry ability, doing repeated stuns with my big shield bash.

I walk away with 100 health and a huge smile. No healer, No casualities. Good times.

"I have more qualifications than Jesus and earn more than this whole board put together.  My ego is huge and my modesty non-existant." -Ironwood
Phred
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Reply #64 on: June 19, 2007, 04:54:36 PM

A couple of things that really bug me about LoTR, not necessarily graphics but graphic related. One, why is almost every npc standing around outside their houses? Is there some flaw in the engine that they can't do building interiors without instancing them? Second, I don't remember anything in the lore about the humans and elves camping in ruins all the time. I thought Celendim was supposed to be a capitol city for the elves. Why are all the people there living in tents pitched in some old ruin?

hal
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Reply #65 on: June 19, 2007, 05:41:22 PM

Hes a roleplayer. Get him!!

I started with nothing, and I still have most of it

I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are still on backorder.
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Reply #66 on: June 21, 2007, 04:41:30 PM

I was wrong wrong wrong about LoTRO's environments.  Now that I've been able to explore around, I'm fairly impressed.
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Reply #67 on: June 21, 2007, 07:13:42 PM

I definitely agree with you. I'm not sure about Ered Luin or the dwarven starting area, but good Jesus, The Shire is excellently well done.

The music is what really brings out the environments though, imo.

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Reply #68 on: June 22, 2007, 11:52:30 AM

A couple of things that really bug me about LoTR, not necessarily graphics but graphic related. One, why is almost every npc standing around outside their houses? Is there some flaw in the engine that they can't do building interiors without instancing them?

Because it is annoying to open doors all the time.

I have never played WoW.
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Reply #69 on: June 22, 2007, 11:58:55 AM

A couple of things that really bug me about LoTR, not necessarily graphics but graphic related. One, why is almost every npc standing around outside their houses? Is there some flaw in the engine that they can't do building interiors without instancing them? Second, I don't remember anything in the lore about the humans and elves camping in ruins all the time. I thought Celendim was supposed to be a capitol city for the elves. Why are all the people there living in tents pitched in some old ruin?



Well, there's plenty of buildings with NPCs inside them.  There's craft halls, vendor halls, trainer halls, etc. Most of them just happen to be in the Shire and Breeland.

I traded in my fun blog for several legal blogs. Or, "blawgs," as the cutesy attorney blawgosphere likes to call 'em.
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