Paying your game

[The end is dawning near; Turbine is finally taking over all servers, so Europe and America will be merged together. This has wrought some questions and worries, but it seems like they are being answered and the merger seems to be going as smooth as such a transition can be.

   But a detail I have wondered about is the payment methods. I live down south of the U.S.; Mexico has still some real trouble when it goes to paying. I can remember a few months back that I was really ready to pay the game; instead I just got disheartening problems that made me wish not to pay ( I finally did):

• First off there was no way to link my card, since it seems like the third party was not able to offer a billing service.
• The banks themselves did not help. Reference numbers for the payment were from two to six (!) characters longer than the spaces the teller could fill in.
• Our 7-11 don’t had the game card they assured that they sold there (funny enough, the company removed the game card option about a month later after I checked).
• There was no PayPal option. After some frustrated attempts, I just emailed the guys. They sent me a link with payment option that didn’t match the one I had access to. Turned out it had PayPal as an option, but then said my region was not included (Mexico??? It is SOUTH of the US).
• There is a Latin American PayPal. Bankrupt, PayByCash never removed the option.
• Western Union tells me I can’t send money to companies. Now, that one was real weird…
• Only option: a card that overprices the game. I now pay roughly 45$ for a 60-day subscription.

   Then comes this great moment you finally get a code to play the game as a VIP, and suddenly an error occurs and you can’t upgrade your account. After checking forums and FAQs, I get the answer: it is a long known error. Luckily I tried to upgrade on weekdays, which means I got the key activated in less than 30 minutes by the customer service.

   What is the whole point of that retelling? Well, seeing that Turbine is now international and has no excuse of being “just for the US”, I think the guys at Turbine should revisit their payment options and contracts with 3^rd parties.

   When I wanted to subscribe to the LotRO VIP service, it was annoying the problems they had receiving my money I wanted to give to them. It is really weird I had so many problems, especially considering they need my money (and of all others in the world) to keep the business running. I wondered on how hard it was to get a subscription. The most annoying part though, was when I discovered the mistake they had receiving my code. Luckily customer service responded immediately.

   Considering that now Europe, not only Australia, is going to have to pay to Turbine, I really wish for a revamp of the payment systems. PayPal should be easy to use to get my subscription fee sent over, for I know it works for many other companies. Why can’t I access it?

   Hopefully the inclusion of Europe can get a look on this little issue, that is not game breaking, but I can suppose quite some have given up on their VIP account due to the troubles to paying.

   Sorry for not writing much this week, I have been really busy this week, didn’t even get to play much. Also, I am changing my publishing day to Monday.

   All Hail!]

A cosmetic guide

[At some point we are all confronted with the cosmetic system. It’s not like we all use it or use it’s full functions at least, but seeing a you character looking as if he was made of terrible rags that don’t fit oftentimes pushes you to think why can’t you make her/him look better. Usually, when getting a set together, those fit well. But, as part of our need to personalize things in our game, we usually try to make our avatar unique and special.

   LOTRO fully supports a cosmetic function, in which you can get clothing, use old pieces of armor, win some in festivals or even buy some neat looking clothes on the online store. The system is perfect for f2p, VIP, casual and hardcore gamers.

   But much of the times we have trouble on how to use the system, since it is all but intuitive. So I decided to make a small integral guide on how to use the system, covering here the use of cosmetics, the use of the dressing room provided in-game and the shared wardrobe. Hope it helps you on your quest to look good!

Cosmetic slots

By pressing C and entering into your character information, you will see that the upper part has two tabs. The right one is labeled “cosmetic outfits”. Here you’ll find your character on one side, while on the other you find a series of boxes, of which one is the equipment look and the rest the cosmetic looks. All characters have two more looks, another three are purchasable through the online store. If you are a casual player, the two you have will be more than enough. I usually don’t use more than one of my assigned slots, the second one to test some outfits.

   By double clicking on of the boxes you “equip” that look. From now on, whatever you equip on this box, will be shown as dressed on. Be it known that these cosmetic slots don’t give you the bonuses an armor could give: only the look remains.

   Also, you may have most of the cosmetics (also the equipment) not be shown on your character: on the right lower corner of each box there is a sign of an eye. If it is closed, you can’t see it.

Be it noted that you have an eye open in an outfit slot, but you have no cosmetic item slotted in it, you will see the respective equipment that your character has.

On equipping cosmetic items

Anything you can see on your character can be a cosmetic item. This means that chest pieces, capes, trousers, boots and so on are usable. Jewelry is invisible, and weapons, shields and so on are not usable as a cosmetic. This still gives you a broad chance of possibilities. Also there are some limitations on the use of items:

1)      You must be proficient with the respective armor type. Sorry Loremasters, no heavy armor for you!

2)      You must be of the level and renown to use the cosmetic equipment. Many pieces you have in the Wardrobe though can go over some of these limitations.

Before equipping, try it.

Since you can’t tell how a piece looks like without putting it on first, there is the dressing room available. If you control + left click the object you want to see, a small window will open, with some extra options you may not find on the equipment/cosmetic look panels. First off, you will have your character there, with the current cosmetic look on (A). If you select the first outfit, your character will appear in the dressing room with the first Outfit on, whatever may be on it, plus the item you are checking out.

   Right of it you will have a selection of places and colors (C). By places I am referring that the labels don’t read “helmet” or “armor”, but “head” and “chest” and so on. Each one has a dropdown menu, in which each color available, plus the natural color for the object are shown. This way you can check the look on your character beforehand, avoiding buying the object wrongly. In case of the cosmetics in the store, there is a “Try it on” button.

   Tip: If you leave the window open, you may try different outfits on the same look. This means that you can try on the pants and the shirt at the same time, to see if they match, as long as the Dressing Room window remains open. As soon as you close it, the look resets to the one selected on your character panel/cosmetic look.

   You have the option to zoom to one part of the body (B) or just reset the look to the current selected cosmetic outfit (D). To zoom back to the general view of the character, just click on the same zoom button you just used to get a closer look.

   The dressing room does not only tell you how the item looks like, but also what colors you can use. This helps you also to know what parts of the cosmetic are colored, since not everything on the armor is changed. Take as an example the new outfit of Lufere: Although I have dyed the armor in green (forest green, I think), the chest piece mainly retains its brown coloring, only painting the lines and the emblem:

This means that you should really look into how you want the look of your character to be. I tried a green look on Lufere, but in the end I thought this brown with traces of green look was not bad a t all. All accidentally found while playing with the dressing room.

If you like it, dye it

   Once you have seen how the outfit looks, you’ll have to come by the colors. There are four ways to obtain them: online store, through the Auction House, one of your characters is a scholar (they produce dyes) or a kinmate sends you those. Be reminded that the colors need some materials that sometimes are hard to obtain, so grinding will be the norm of the day. Dyes can be produced anywhere as long as you have the scholar’s glasses in the hand, no matter what tier.

In the image above you see how a dye looks like in your inventory. You shall recognize the pots from the starting ones, but there are also small bottles (the one in the middle).

   Right click on one, left click on the object you want to dye and you’ll have the color on the cosmetic. That simple.

But wait! There is the wardrobe…

For those who are VIP there is also the wardrobe at disposition. It is anywhere you can find a Vault-keeper. This little extra window places copies of your items in it.

 

As you see in the above image, you can select in the wardrobe by type of cosmetic and by color. The special thing about the wardrobe is that, once you dye the cosmetic in there, the color can be re-selected without the need to dye it again. Simply, when selecting one of the items, choose the color on the bottom part of the window:

Just select and drag and drop an you’ll have the item equipped. A little tip here: you don’t have to put it on the exact box to have the cosmetic put on your character, it suffices to drop it in the area of the look of your character.

And… voilà: the new look

Using the cosmetic system is not difficult, you just have to know where everything is and where you can get components. Usually, when I try to configure a look, I visit the following three pages:

• Cosmetic LotRO
• LotRO Stylist
• LotRo Fashion

Usually there you canf i9nd some neat ideas or specific looks/items that may work for you. In any case, let your imagination fly from here. Here’s the look for my new character Stilfred:

   All Hail!]

The many warriors

A very warm welcome my friend!

Sit down and enjoy the tea. It came this time from the far elven lands of Mirkwood. Nimreidhreth has been lately very active in entering quick battles in Moria and in Mirkwood, trying to weaken the enemy defenses. He has allied himself with many a brave warrior to accomplish this task.

   “But…” he comments in a letter sent to me “…brave does not equal effective. I have seen many a warrior fall because of their proud behavior of pretending to know all or just standing in the way. Some of the surviving warriors can even be overly greedy, taking away treasures the Free Peoples should learn to share: powerful weapons in the hands of who can’t use them because they lack the mastery of it.

Foretold and Nimreidhreth ready to set out for a battle in Angmar.

   Still I have had a successful group of battles and orcs and, above all, wargs are falling under my powerful sword and shield. Blood has been running a lot and I have been wading this filth, to rid Middle Earth of the grasp of the evil forces.”

   Moria sure seems to be much of a dark place. Orcs and what not just ruin the lands, and I hope they never reach the Shire. It is anyways resting time now, so I will have a nice cup of tea. You are invited if you want. If not, well, then travel safe and I’ll hope to meet you again.

 Until then, fare well.

[Lord of the Rings Online is about group content. Sure, most of it is soloable, but the full potential of the game is reached once you start raiding, participating in instances and doing skirmishes. Those start at level 20 (although by then you will be in one quick jump almost 24 by just skirmishing less than a half dozen times) with the Great Barrows (GB), a series of three instances in the tombs Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin were captured once, and two skirmishes, one with an attacking focus (Trouble in Tuckborough) and the Siege of Gondamon, where you defend a city of the dwarves.

   To get a group going you usually have two options: getting together with some kin-mates and friends you have found in your journeys, or just simply calling out in an LFF (looking for fellowship) channel for some. At the start the group content is pretty basic, and I do recommend a few runs of the GB to get used to your character as part of a fellowship. More often than not you will find yourself grouping with a random set of people, to which you are not used playing with.

   The best way to be coordinated during such a group based instance is to practice with people often. Usually that is what a Kinship is for. I have practiced this a bit by doing some Rift and Carn Dum runs with Foretold, but other Kins may be more active and practice constantly. Another great way is just skirmishing. But what if you get people you don’t know?

Die servants of the Enemy! Getting a few merrovails down.

   This usually has two main outcomes: the run is successful, which is what all really desire, or everyone disbands, sometimes even disgusted with each one. These kinds of situations are usually avoidable. In my experience there is a set of rules to follow to avoid having too much trouble with your group. I will give the rules I have experienced myself. Mind that part of these rules are desired to be followed by many players, so it is not like I found the perfect set of rules, but I am following the most important ones I have come to think may be crucial to a peaceful understanding while raiding.

a)      Set goals of the group clearly. Usually that is the easiest part. If you enter in Tham Mírdaim, all want to get the skirmishing marks all can obtain. In more special cases, like Moria’s Grand Staris, it has to be clear from the beginning if it is a daily run or a complete one. Also, specify the tier and level. It may be that a level 20 may survive a 25 GB, but this works better if you are warned.

b)      Declare functions. This is most important thing of all. The classes are pretty straightforward in what they do. Guardians and Wardens tank, Minstrels heal, Hunters deal damage and put up traps. But then there are classes like the Rune Keeper, which either heal or do damage. If you have two of the same, declare what specific role everyone plays. If you are the only Rune Keeper in the group and no Minstrel is available, then you pretty much have to retrait to heal. Be sure to tell the group to wait a bit before all run into battle. Then there is the main/off tank business. When my Guardian Nimreidhreth is not the only tank in the group, I usually look at my companion and ask him to be main, so I won’t take aggro of him. It has already happened to me that I tell a Warden with a ton of life to be main because I think he might resist more than me and suddenly I find the boss running about hitting healers and DPS. If you are not sure of your role, declare it. If you still end up in that position, the others will at least know you may fail; and failing is necessary to learn. But at least the group knows you are learning.

c)      New to the instance? Ask! I can’t stress that enough. When I enter a group that wants to do an instance I have never done before, I ask who can give me a quick rundown and/or instructions during the run. Some are afraid to ask, because they think they will look like noobs. I prefer to ask first, seem like a noob, but then doing in the instance as much right as possible the first run. You will look more foolish if you do something wrong because you didn’t know anything of the boss at all. I once entered a Forges run and some of my fellowship members pulled the trolls off me, not knowing that the boss healed them. Despite calls and warning, they kept doing that and, as soon as they died the first time, disbanded. So much for trying to get the challenge done.

d)     Kill first, loot later. It is annoying being in the middle of a battle and suddenly seeing a ton of objects you have to roll on. I like to have time to know what I am rolling for, especially if it is equipment or a Legendary Item. If I am busy trying to build up aggro, the little roll windows just break my concentration. Please, people, the important stuff is rolled on anyways. If you need the common objects, then solo a few missions. But on an instance you have to wait for the battle to be over. I’ll wait for you the minute it takes… rolling on what interests me.

e)      Loot what you need need. Yes, I used the word twice. It happens often that you finally find a Guardian Legendary Item that may work for you and suddenly a Minstrel has it. You can’t use it! But a normal answer is that he has a Guardian alt that needs it. Sorry, but if your Guardian wants that LI, you should play with him. At the moment I am the Guardian. Of course, if there is no Guardian on the group, all may roll for it. I do not roll on any item that is for any of the classes participating in the fellowship, even when I am sure the Hunter doesn’t need that bow either. Why? It’s courtesy. This will help us get along and have lesser clashes in between us because of one object. It also works on many other items. If you already have that trophy, why even roll on it? If you have a ton of morale restoring potions, why roll on it if the Champion behind you might need it? Lastly, if you are looking for a certain object, call for it. This way people not interested in it won’t roll. Those still interested may roll on it too, but at least the chances the ones who want it may get it are higher.

f)       Wait for the one to pull. As a tank it happens very often to me: the champ runs into the enemy, everything attacks everyone and we all die as soon as we realize that our healer is defeated. If you have a Loremaster that roots groups… let him root. If a burglar declares he wants to mezz a mob… wait until the guy is stunned. If you need aggro to be controlled… wait for the tank to make a few taunts, and then charge into battle. It will take him oly a few seconds to take ahold of the aggro. But get organized with this. A common thing we do at GS is that the main tank pulls the bosses, but the crowd in front of Igash is rooted when we have a loremaster. And it works perfectly. Everyone has a function, and some are starters, others not. If you are not a starter, don’t even attempt until you tank has all aggro.

g)      If you die once… die twice! Fellowships with unknown persons have the problem of the participating members not being used to each other, and thus coordinated enough. Failure can happen. Sometimes the champ is new and doesn’t perform well. Or the other (and it happened to me recently) is that the guys has a bad day and everything just fails. Don’t lash out. Don’t even dare to retreat. The whole group came together to finish an objective, and even if the group is not perfect, it is beyond despicable to just bail out. Unless you all declare the instance too hard at the moment, you should not bail out all the sudden. If you want to go, at least tell everyone and make an excuse. But don’t just run out of the companions, no matter how bad they are.

Not every Raid is successful. But it should be fun!

I think those main rules can help a group of unknown people to get along. It’s not perfect, and I think that is what a Kinship is for: to get to know each other when doing group content (aside of the social function). But you will be bound to do most of the content with people you may only meet very casually in your adventures. The beautiful part is that you will learn tricks and tips on how to beat the instance.

   All Hail!]

Echoes

A very warm welcome my friend!

Week has been busy for many. There was some kind of huge uproar in Thorin’s Hall, Seems like people ended up with many a black eye and some harsh comments on the event. Bad words were spilled, but I was too busy collecting maps. Also, Lufere seems to have moved a little more than usual, since his correspondence is getting bigger. Just listen:

   “My dear friend!

   Long has been the travelling, and I have decided to pay a visit to the place the hobbits call the Old Forest. It is a terrible place to be in, since I have never seen trees as those there. Angry as they are, they brought me down in short time, making me not worthy of counting as one of the few undefeated.

   Thus I decided to join a local festivity of a kinship called Dawning Eclipse, where I got to relax over my defeat. Music was played, oh so wonderful! Then the dresses and robes that were presented! It was all in all a beautiful reunion of people I hope to see in future travels even more.”

Having a good time at Dawning Eclipse’s party: Lufere and his wife

Camwen dancing to the music.

   Peace seems to have sifted a bit into Eriador, which makes me tranquil and alos eager for even more tea. Want to join me? Well, then if you have to leave, I won’t stop you, but remember that if you return, I’ll always have some tea ready.

 Until then, fare well.

Mourning the loss: looking at the rain after a defeat.

[Updates. There is nothing more exciting that waiting for new content to arrive. I am one of those players who got hooked the day Free to Play came out, so I practically only lived through the last two updates. But still, being this my favorite game and best MMO I have played, I loved the way Turbine always brought up the new content and the overhauls. Now, I am doing a short article this week, in which I’ll take a short pro/con look of the last update and why I am looking up for the next one.

   All in all Echoes of the death was, for me, a pretty well done Update. It had many changes that I felt was good that they changed. Even though I never got to play the five new instances and I have only one of the revamped classes, I was able to take a look a bit on the newer legendary system and the new skirmishes. I think it was well done, pretty much. I already spoke of the skirmishes in a previous post, so you’ll know some of the points. To remember the updates, you may read the list of changes in, as always, CSTM.

Pros:

• New skirmishes. A total of three, all based around the Siege of Gondamon style of gameplay. A few nice surprises in there, already known to those who played them as a instance that was part of the story arc. Even though with reserves, it’s nice to know that there are not only new skirmishes, but also for all to play! Yes, even the F2P guys. Enjoy!
• Legacy extractions. Legendary Items quit being totally random and now you are able to fashion one as you like. Yay!
• New cosmetic slots. Yes, you have to buy them, but those who don’t use the system won’t care anyways, and those who do won’t mind spending a bit on them. It is an extra to buy if needed and it will (hopefully) keep the game floating)
• Class revamps. To be honest, it is always nice to see how the classes are balanced to be more useful. I was already tired of the Runekeeper tyranny in healing, and the new revamp brought a bit of usefulness to my (not so) beloved Qwerqsar. Hope to keep using him soon!
• Volume II soloable. And it was a blast.

Cons:

• New skimishes. They are cool, but they don’t feel balanced at all. It seems like there are still some patches to make to have a very interesting skirmish ahead. It’s not a fail, but a heads-up to Turbine.
• No real revamp to PvMP. I know it’s not the main focus of the game. I don’t play it much either, since I started with Update 2, but to be honest, I feel like the creeps side lacks many options, specially cosmetic ones and equipment ones. Now, it would be cool to see more deep monsters and a wider variety participating in battle.
• Boring instances of Volume II. Even though I love the new soloable capability of Volume II, I can’t stand instances like Water Temple. It was long a boring, not only because of the size of the place, but also because of the huge number of trash mobs and no interesting fights. I would have loved to see a few less mobs, since the only two interesting fights were against the two insect queens and against the Watcher. I recommend using groups for that instance, or you’ll bore yourself to death.
• Anniversary event. ‘nuff said.

Winners of the Dawning Eclipse fashion contest.

   Now, when I heard of the new Update 3 coming so soon, I was wondering why we needed it so close to Rise of Isengard. But as I read through the patchnotes, I noticed that it had just a small content update and no huge changes and revamps except for some in PvMP. This is surely mainly to the fact that the real changes will come in fall, with the new expansion, which makes me more eager to be ready for my first steps towards Isengard!

Pros:

• New user interface option in titles screen and in auction house navigation. Maybe the best new change that will hopefully make the navigation a bit more intuitive. I have already so many titles on Nimreidhreth that I don’t even know what I have in hand to rename him in the future!
• New dungeons. Content for mid-level characters. Why not?
• New skirmishes. And best of all, with new ideas. Listening to Pineleaf’s interview on CSTM didn’t make the matter better, for he give s quick look on those skirmishes (he’s the expert in that) and he said some pretty neat stuff about the new skirmishes. Oh man, I can’t wait to see them!

Cons:

• Still no PvMP revamp. I know they are up to Isengard, so they better be good guys! No pressure from me though! Hehe…

   All in all it seems like Turbine is preparing for the next two huge events: taking over the European servers AND the new expansion. But as far as I have read, Rise of Isengard will be just great. I really hope so, you haven’t let me down yet, Turbine! Until then…

   All Hail!]

Old games

A very warm welcome my friend!

Sit down and enjoy a tea and a game of cards with us. I must also have some cookies in my backpack. Let’s talk and enjoy a good and beautiful night. The stars are bright. Legends tell that the first thing the elves saw when they awakened were the stars. You can imagine that the night they were born they must have seen these beauties up in the sky, in a similar night-sky we have today. I can imagine all the songs they must have created and sung that day!

   By the way, speaking of fairy-folk, it seems like my old elven friend Nimreidhreth has gone into the more vain side, since I got a request from him asking for some dyes to use on some clothes he bought in Rivendell.

   “I am tired of carrying dwarven armor. It’s like carrying rags that are a hundred times heavier. They do protect, but there is nothing I trust more than elven-craft. I thus tried to get armor worthy of my position and my race, visiting my cousins in Rivendell. The search has been fruitful.”

Nimreidhreth’s new look: a true Ered Luin Warrior

   I still see, though, that he wears some shoulderpads that remind me a lot to dwarves. Well, there is not much more to tell, we will play a little while more. I hope to see you next time.

 Until then, fare well.

[I have been looking through some of my old Tolkien stuff while entering the new page called The Middle-Earth Network, finding many interesting things I already had forgotten about. Maybe with time I’ll present parts of my collection, since there is some interesting pre-and post-movie stuff lying around. I hope that when you read it, at least for the older fans of Lord of the Rings, it may bring you some memories.

   Interestingly enough, with the appearance of the new LOTR-based card game (Tolkien Examiner announcing it), I found my old collection of cards that were created even before the movies came out. I bought it a few years ago while on a trip to meet my family in Germany. The main reasons I had bought it was because it was playable for one person and it was of my favorite book. Back then I was already into Magic: The Gathering, but with the LOTR CCG I tried to get something for myself and maybe get a friend or two play with me. The latter failed.

   The main objective of the game is to collect points. Yes, there is no need to bring the one ring to Mordor. It was more about the adventure than finding the One Ring, and you could find other cool rings you could play out from your hand. The idea was to travel with your custom made party around Middle Earth and collect the treasures (and different magic rings!) while the evil guys tried to beat you down. The system per se was not bad, although I found myself often winning the game in solitaire mode. Maybe it was because I never really got the rules fully.

   I liked the idea of retaking the party of The Hobbit and then travelling with them to Gondor. Or just get Hama, Bard and Radagast and move them to Moria to see what they discover in the deeps caves (maybe a dwarven ring!). It was kind of an open world game, that let the player experiment a bit in Tolkien’s world, even though it may not be 100% lore-accurate.

   With it came a good remake of the map of Middle Earth and two beautiful dice with an Eye of Sauron on the side of the one. The map turned into a poster, later came off the wall totally torn, while the dice got lost in my long role-playing career.

   Just take a look on some of the cards I had there on hand (please don’t mind that they are in German):

View all

Get your own

As you might see from the slideshow, I tried to get some interesting things that are directly related to the basic books. I found out that you could include every wizard into your fellowship, even Saruman (the idea was that any character, even Gandalf, could corrupt). Also, I had most of the dwarves of The Hobbit, almost none of the Fellowship, and a few of the supporting cast with many more I don’t know who they are. So I skipped those last ones.

   It was, all in all, a good game. The art was good (not as good as in Magic), the gameplay was fun and the idea you could create a party for any reason you might think (even dragonslaying!) was cool. Too bad that the follow up game, based on the movie, was terrible: I never liked the system, and putting photos of the movie into the picture boxes was for me a too lazy way to make a tradable card game that would sell big.

Games are played by all; even by the Enemy!

   I have high hopes set for the new game, and as soon as I get some coins in my hands, I will try to find it and test it. The idea of it being constructed like “questpacks” and not  being tradable just gives it another way to play it. I hope thus to have some in the next two months. Until then…

   All Hail!]