What are you working on?

[Ard]

Sapphire.  I am also a hunter, but I'm confident I won't just waltz into the Barrow Downs and find one of the mobs up AND get the shard on first kill.  Sounds more tedious than deeds.  If you happen to find one, I'll take it off your hands, how's that?

The shards drop every single kill.  The trick is finding one up, I usually find them up completely at random while doing quests.  I've got like a dozen different ones banked on one of my alts, but I'm on Windfola, so they're not exactly as crowded as Brandywine.

[Yegolev]

Hobbit stealth trait.

[Mrbloodworth]

Hobbit stealth trait.

lol, yeah i recently got this too, while not as good as a bugler, it does help in some situations.

[Yegolev]

A little sneaking is better than no sneaking.  My wife will be jealous and will ask how I got it.  I want to see the look on her face when I say "I killed over 240 spiders".  Then I will ask her to craft a suit of lv16ish light armor.

The scholar advancement quest wants me to go to the hills north of Weathertop, so I guess I'll just be leveling Dwuli (Dwarf RK) for a while (currently 16).  I am going to try to pass through The Shire without doing three hundred quests, but I'm weak.  I guess I can horse-it to Bree-town and run from there.

[Soln]

Hobbit stealth rulz.  My wife and I (both hobs) snuck through half of Trollshaws and Dol Dinen and lived every time b/c of this trait.  In fact, at 38 (?) I used it to get into a ruin in Angmar (45+) and retrieve the item for the Master Scholar quest.  Ride in, train off mobs, sneak, map out, win.  There's a pocket quest item you get I think in Trollshaws that gives stealth+3 -- keep it forever, swap it in and use it as a stealth buff.  And for clarity, neither of us are burgs.  Oh and the best thing about this trait is there is no *timer*.  You stay stealthed until something breaks it.

I hear Sylvan Shadows is as good. Dunno.

[Mrbloodworth]

I hear Sylvan Shadows is as good. Dunno.

Yes, i have it on my lore-master. Basically the same.

[Yegolev]

She's playing an elf, so all she has to do is kill a bunch of shit.

[Ard]

Woo, I finally got all my legendary trait books.  There was some serious price gouging for Lore of the Blade going on here in Windfola.  Some guy was buying them all up and reselling them for 2 gold, when most of them sell for 50 to 100 silver.  This is the one that lets Loremasters dual wield, and is pretty much THE trait to have.  I finally got lucky on a non-buyout auction and got it for 50 silver.

[Yegolev]

I started to make a character on Windfola since Brandwine doesn't want me to log in.  Came to my senses later.

[Bandit]

I had the Brandywine queue error (#5000) last night, I just relogged and it went right in.

[Mrbloodworth]

I had the Brandywine queue error (#5000) last night, I just relogged and it went right in.

Same.

[Yegolev]

I had to try several times this morning, so it doesn't seem to be due to load... unless there are a lot of people playing around 0930 Eastern.

[HaemishM]

I got that once last night, but was then able to login when I tried again.

Spearking of things I'm working on, I started on my crafting today (Explorer). I must admit, the early crafting goods are not only not crap, they were all an improvement on the drops/store-bought stuff I was using at level 10. That may or may not continue through the whole thing, but it was a nice bonus. Also, the way the crafting is handled I like. It's a nice happy medium between EQ2's overly complicated bullshit system and WoW/DAoC's more simplistic system.

[Ard]

I started to make a character on Windfola since Brandwine doesn't want me to log in.  Came to my senses later.

Don't come to Windfola, as far as I know, it's the least populous server.  I'd transfer off of it if I didn't have a bunch of crafting alts I'd hate to lose.

[Mrbloodworth]

I started to make a character on Windfola since Brandwine doesn't want me to log in.  Came to my senses later.

Don't come to Windfola, as far as I know, it's the least populous server.  I'd transfer off of it if I didn't have a bunch of crafting alts I'd hate to lose.

Can't you transfer all of them?

[Delmania]

Can't you transfer all of them?

$$

[Bandit]

I got that once last night, but was then able to login when I tried again.

Spearking of things I'm working on, I started on my crafting today (Explorer). I must admit, the early crafting goods are not only not crap, they were all an improvement on the drops/store-bought stuff I was using at level 10. That may or may not continue through the whole thing, but it was a nice bonus. Also, the way the crafting is handled I like. It's a nice happy medium between EQ2's overly complicated bullshit system and WoW/DAoC's more simplistic system.

Crafting is a unique beast throughout all tiers in LOTRO, the critted gear is always among the best equipment to have.  I can't speak specifically to Moria (51-60), but it does hold true to for 1-50.  Raided gear is a bit different and more raid centric (ie. Incoming healing bonuses etc.), while the PvP gear has more PvP bonus (crits etc.).  I am not saying that crafted gear is THE best, but it is among the best (and much easier to get). It will definitely be adequate until you start catassing a bit at 60.

[Ard]

Can't you transfer all of them?

$$

Yeah, exactly.  I'm looking at a minimum of $75 to transfer my characters, and that doesn't include my fiancee's.  I asked her if she wanted to reroll on Brandywine when we restarted, and we opted to stick to Windfola for now.

[Mrbloodworth]

Oh, i would have thought they would have done a group or account thing... I didn't know ether way.

[Ard]

Oh, i would have thought they would have done a group or account thing... I didn't know ether way.

Nope, still $25 per character, which is still annoying, and means I'm staying on Windfola until I get bored with Moria and feel like I can reroll elsewhere.

[Soln]

If you are starting out (Haemish and folks) if you can swing it I would get an alt Cooking ASAP. 

You can spend time picking up spare veg that lies around, but the Apprentice and Journeyman recipes for Cook are really reasonable.  And several of them you just source from a vendor -- you don't need to Farm them at all.  Vendor will have all the components you can buy.

You can make good quality buff and regen food at low levels that IMO really helps.  And its cheap enough that you turn out buffs for several hours with just a few silver.  This is why a lot of early quests give food as an extra reward -- help the levelling.

[Bandit]

Still working on completing Eregion completely, before I delve any further in Moria.

Went through the 3-man school instance a couple times.  I am impressed by these instances (not that I want to run them over and over though). The school basically has 3 boss battles, with 3 chests containing one purple piece of equipment (bind on acquire), and numerous legendary upgrade runes and legendary chests for deconstruction.  Probably takes about 30 minutes to do, 45 minutes if the group has never been. 

I am most impressed with group flexibility - even in a 3-man group.  First time was Captain, Minstrel, Guardian - traditional group, a bit slow going but pretty safe.  Second group was Captain and 2-hunters, a little bit chaotic with little aggro-control (I am heal-specced Captain), but got it done considerably quicker than the traditional group.

For the next week I can likely be found still in Eregion, obsessively grinding out the deeds and completing the library-instance quests/quests. 

More than likely also working on Cook Guild faction.  I would be more than happy to provide food for any RoME guildies - just let me know what tier and type (Regen food and/or Stat food - Agi/Vit/Might) - all food will be provided in superior form.

[Cheddar]

Eregion is pure genius, I ran most of the area this weekend.  I would love to try out a three man instance.

Dinged 55 and got my goat.  Nuked my legendary weapon and amongst my runes I got an item to add 30k xp to a legendary - extremely useful! 

[Yegolev]

By contrast, the fellowship quests in Lone Lands are brutal for a duo even at lv 29.  In Bree-land it's mainly just 1.11 but this gets worse as we level.  I am going to have to go around my wife's back to get these done since when I mention we need a group she says we should go do something else.

Started another alt named Fallto who is going to be a farmer-cook.  Or a cook-farmer.

[Yegolev]

I got sick and took two days off work.  I slept almost the entire first day and spent a lot of the second playing Dwuli (RK).  Basically got him from 16 to 19 by following the epic line from Ered Luin to the end of Book 1, with some level-60 help with 1.11, and doing select juicy non-epic quests.  Got bogged down in The Shire for a little while doing deeds (Buckland is too close!), but I managed to tear myself out of there before I got completely wrapped up.  After 1.11, I went with a kinsman to Forsaken Inn and did many of the easy ones, plus helped him with a couple BD quests that I passed over (Bone Man).  Also did the RK class quest which happens to be a cool Weathertop instance.  I ended the day's adventures in Ost Guruth after talking to Radagast the Brown to wrap up Book 1.  Level 19 is too young for Book 2, plus most things east of Weathertop would eat my lunch, so I'll backtrack to the Inn and do deeds and whatnot for a bit.

Overall Dwuli had a great day of XP gain.  Next, I say I will do more Forsaken Inn quests but I will probably go back to Ered Luin and kill 100 Dourhands for the Enmity deed, then take a slow walk through the Shire.  I can't help it.

[Stormwaltz]

I got to the outskirts of Lothlorien last night. Still tons of stuff to do in Moria, but I wanted to see mallorns. I visited Haldir up in his tree.

Mayda's now 58, with a 22 Second Age Staff ("Emerwen"). I'm able to survive solo fights with 2-3 orange orcs now, which - as a Lore-master - I could never do before.

[UnwashedMasses]

... then take a slow walk through the Shire.  I can't help it.

The pie has a strange and terrible call.

[Cheddar]

I am addicted to the repeatable solo quests in Dolven View - they are a blast!  Good XP for yourself + legendaries.  Each one takes around 20-30 minutes.

Genius!

[Soln]

Struggling here to hit 45 in Forochel so we can bugger off to Eregion.


So, 1 week away and I come back to die several times this weekend from lack of timing.  The "delay" factor people are always complaining about (skill queue) was suddenly really apparent.  Basically, you can't insta heal with potions in this game -- you have to queue them up.  So it takes some re-getting used to.  This kind off pisses me off a healer... I'm noticing I missing a lot of heals from just stupid things already in the queue.  Or heals taking too long.  They need to fix that.

They also need to fix the UI.  It is bad.  As in, I can't change a group window to a horizontal alignment?  Come on.  I need to target my heals faster (or just key mash).

On a brighter note, I started PvMP with my 44 last night and it was a blast.  More than 50 freeps and creeps were on for old time DAoC mosh pits at TR.  Great stuff. 

[Mrbloodworth]

They also need to fix the UI.  It is bad.  As in, I can't change a group window to a horizontal alignment?  Come on.  I need to target my heals faster (or just key mash).

I don't know what a group window is. But F1-F6 targets your other group members automagicly.

[Soln]

I mean the large rectangular window that holds a fellowship's vitals.  I know you can key mash selections, but I prefer it I could just rearrange where people's vitals are shown.  It's a big deal for a healer.  Too often you can select the wrong key.

[Cheddar]

I mean the large rectangular window that holds a fellowship's vitals.  I know you can key mash selections, but I prefer it I could just rearrange where people's vitals are shown.  It's a big deal for a healer.  Too often you can select the wrong key.

This - plus remember the healer is also the buffer.  Like I said in other threads Mini takes more concentration then any other class. 

[Azuredream]

I am addicted to the repeatable solo quests in Dolven View - they are a blast!  Good XP for yourself + legendaries.  Each one takes around 20-30 minutes.

Genius!

Maybe because I had never really done a repeatable solo instance before, but I too thought this idea was pure genius, I find myself thinking 'I sure hope I get another garnet, I really want to do that again!'

(Take note Blizzard)

[Ard]

Woo, got to 45 this weekend for the first time.  Got my first upgradeable legendary weapon, and actually got half decent stats on it, and watched the balrog put the smack down on my girlfriend who didn't feel the need to follow the simple instructions.  Fun times.

[Nyght]

Struggling here to hit 45 in Forochel so we can bugger off to Eregion

Yah, this is me. Three characters sitting low 40's. After a few months away, the patch will take my warden to 43 ( if I am reading the new exp curve correctly) and I'll start up again. For the time being, just hovering and hoping to pick off a missed piece of an epic and maybe a 41 quest or two.

And watching the forums warrior bitch. Now that is entertainment.