So I logged out last night of lotro with a bank account of something approaching nine gold on my main character, Indrabar. For me, this was a major achievement. I was trying to decide how to spend my hard earned wealth and had decided to buy my first Reputation horse from the lovely people of Bree since I had reached Kindred status with them.
Today, however, I log in only to find that Indrabar is only holding 4 gold and 440s. Where did all my money go? I filed a report, but chances are I was hacked. I have changed my password and am now running spybot, just in case. In my defense, I have changed my password and will simply muster my strength to get back out there and earn it all again.
At least I still have all my items. At least I hope I have all my items. I haven't checked my other characters yet. Oh help....
*runs off to check inventory*
Sunday, January 31
Saturday, January 30
Freeping: a Noob's Guide
So I've been playing lotro for almost a year now. For me, for an mmo, for something that requires paying for on a regular basis - that's a very impressive number. All this time, I had never once (except for one tiny quest to introduce the system to me) set foot in the area of pixelated Middle-earth Turbine has christened The Ettenmoors. Why? Because I would die if I did. And quickly.
The real horror of dying in the Moors lies not from signature elite mobs, or even from random arch-nemesis (in my whole year of playing, I have only run across maybe five of these. They are not fun. I usually run when I see them and don't even stop to see how strong they are). No, the real danger in the Moors lies in other players . That's right. The Moors is lotro's PvP area, or in this case, PvMP (the M stands for Monster). In the Moors, players entering the area from the rest of Middle-earth will fight (and quite likely die) as an elf or hobbit or whatever race their character happens to be. Or, players have the option of entering the Moors from the login screen as a monster. Players can choose between all sorts of nasties - orcs, wargs, spiders - lots of dangerous creepy things.
Why is this so different than every other place in lotro, you might ask? Because, when you have people vs an AI system, it's pretty predictable what the thing you are shooting at is going to do next. However, when you are pew-pewing away at another person, a certain level of... well... uncertainty comes into play. There's no telling what the person behind that Uruk-hai is going to do next.
Anyways, back to my not being on the Moors.
My avoiding the Moors ended about a week ago when I decided, since I had finally hit lvl 60 (which is almost at the level cap for lotro) to see if I could step past that barrier without being instantly ganked by some warg hiding in the bushes. Plus, with Turbine's recent change to the mount system, horses, instead of being a pickandchoosecauseyouonlygetone sort of thing, are like Pokemon. You gotta catch em all. And one of those horses lies in the Moors. It is not available for purchase until you reach something called "Glory Rank 9." I figured Glory can't be that hard to get, so I headed out to Glan Vraig, the safe point for Freeps (that's the good guys, it's short for Free Peoples) and set about asking if there were any groups out.
Within seconds I was sent an invite into a group of about twenty people. Twenty very loud, very rude, very scathing people. One of them sounded as though he was seven years old. After I died a few times (which didn't take very long, even with the group - they assumed it was my fault for dying and not the healer's for not keeping me alive....) they began to talk about me in chat, as if I wasn't still there and couldn't hear what they were saying. The seven year old proceeded to tell the leader of the group that "he had inspected my traits and I wasn't even traited to be out here, what the **** did I think I was doing out here?" (I am bleeping his words for courtesy - I was shocked that a kid would use that sort of language.
I stuck with it for about thirty more minutes before I finally dropped the group and mapped back to the safety of my hobbit-hole. Then, I sat there for a full five minutes and tried very hard not to cry.
I was in shock. In all these months, in all my hours of playing, I had never once been reduced to tears by the community of lotro. I have found the players to be mature, respectful, and on the whole very friendly. This was something completely different. This was like playing WoW or something. I logged off and went and made supper.
A few days later (I suppose I have a short memory or something) I decided to go back to the Moors. As luck would have it, I got into a much better group - no one yelled, no one cursed, and we rained fire and brimstone down onto those Creeps. I was enraptured. I lost track of time. I played for six hours straight into the night. Finally, when the group disbanded, I realized that it was four o'clock in the morning. I was surprised at the time, but then again I wasn't. I was also hooked on the Moors.
Since then I have been back out there several more times, and I have worked my way up to Glory Rank 4, or the "Man-at-Arms" rank. I have managed to get into almost the exact same group every time (apparently this is a regular, scheduled thing for them) and not once have I seen that horrible seven year old.
I still have a long way to go for that horse (which, I've been informed, is considered the "ultimate" status symbol for lotro - you have that horse, you are immediately looked upon with respect. The fact that each rank increases in size and difficulty, but hey, I am in no rush. Right now I'm enjoying the Moors, and by the time I do get that horse, I will probably keep Freeping.
The real horror of dying in the Moors lies not from signature elite mobs, or even from random arch-nemesis (in my whole year of playing, I have only run across maybe five of these. They are not fun. I usually run when I see them and don't even stop to see how strong they are). No, the real danger in the Moors lies in other players . That's right. The Moors is lotro's PvP area, or in this case, PvMP (the M stands for Monster). In the Moors, players entering the area from the rest of Middle-earth will fight (and quite likely die) as an elf or hobbit or whatever race their character happens to be. Or, players have the option of entering the Moors from the login screen as a monster. Players can choose between all sorts of nasties - orcs, wargs, spiders - lots of dangerous creepy things.
Why is this so different than every other place in lotro, you might ask? Because, when you have people vs an AI system, it's pretty predictable what the thing you are shooting at is going to do next. However, when you are pew-pewing away at another person, a certain level of... well... uncertainty comes into play. There's no telling what the person behind that Uruk-hai is going to do next.
Anyways, back to my not being on the Moors.
My avoiding the Moors ended about a week ago when I decided, since I had finally hit lvl 60 (which is almost at the level cap for lotro) to see if I could step past that barrier without being instantly ganked by some warg hiding in the bushes. Plus, with Turbine's recent change to the mount system, horses, instead of being a pickandchoosecauseyouonlygetone sort of thing, are like Pokemon. You gotta catch em all. And one of those horses lies in the Moors. It is not available for purchase until you reach something called "Glory Rank 9." I figured Glory can't be that hard to get, so I headed out to Glan Vraig, the safe point for Freeps (that's the good guys, it's short for Free Peoples) and set about asking if there were any groups out.
Within seconds I was sent an invite into a group of about twenty people. Twenty very loud, very rude, very scathing people. One of them sounded as though he was seven years old. After I died a few times (which didn't take very long, even with the group - they assumed it was my fault for dying and not the healer's for not keeping me alive....) they began to talk about me in chat, as if I wasn't still there and couldn't hear what they were saying. The seven year old proceeded to tell the leader of the group that "he had inspected my traits and I wasn't even traited to be out here, what the **** did I think I was doing out here?" (I am bleeping his words for courtesy - I was shocked that a kid would use that sort of language.
I stuck with it for about thirty more minutes before I finally dropped the group and mapped back to the safety of my hobbit-hole. Then, I sat there for a full five minutes and tried very hard not to cry.
I was in shock. In all these months, in all my hours of playing, I had never once been reduced to tears by the community of lotro. I have found the players to be mature, respectful, and on the whole very friendly. This was something completely different. This was like playing WoW or something. I logged off and went and made supper.
A few days later (I suppose I have a short memory or something) I decided to go back to the Moors. As luck would have it, I got into a much better group - no one yelled, no one cursed, and we rained fire and brimstone down onto those Creeps. I was enraptured. I lost track of time. I played for six hours straight into the night. Finally, when the group disbanded, I realized that it was four o'clock in the morning. I was surprised at the time, but then again I wasn't. I was also hooked on the Moors.
Since then I have been back out there several more times, and I have worked my way up to Glory Rank 4, or the "Man-at-Arms" rank. I have managed to get into almost the exact same group every time (apparently this is a regular, scheduled thing for them) and not once have I seen that horrible seven year old.
I still have a long way to go for that horse (which, I've been informed, is considered the "ultimate" status symbol for lotro - you have that horse, you are immediately looked upon with respect. The fact that each rank increases in size and difficulty, but hey, I am in no rush. Right now I'm enjoying the Moors, and by the time I do get that horse, I will probably keep Freeping.
Thursday, January 21
The Past Three Nights
1. I was in a room painted a strange mustard yellow color, sitting on a brown sofa that had seen better days. There were three or four other people in the room - but they were hazy - I don't think they mattered. A man came in, an older man in a suit, carrying a small cactus in a pot. This was one of those cacti that can grow tall and stay rather cylindrical - kind of like a miniature saguaro (sp?). Anyways, he set it down on the coffee table in front of me and then held a radio up to it. The radio was playing latin music very loudly, and the closer he held it the faster the cactus grew - up and up and up until it hit the ceiling. There was a vent in the ceiling but it was burning hot like there was a fire on the other side or something because every time the cactus would touch the vent it would shie away almost like it was in pain. Finally the cactus just turned and kept growing along the wall, until I threw a string of Christmas lights at it and it exploded into drips of white goo that peeled the paint off in strips. The man with the radio was very mad at me and so I jumped on a box of doughnuts and flew away. A bunch of emo kids yelled at me and told me I was horrible. Then I woke up.
2. We were opening up a farm, trying to start a new life, and our animals had just arrived. We had a goat, a rabbit, two chickens and a rooster. I was carrying one of the chickens to its pen when I dropped it and instantly, the bird died. Immediately the rooster came over and just stood by the body of the dead hen, staring at it like he was sad. Allison came up and told me the rooster was mourning for the hen. Then she pushed me into the rabbit pen. It was very muddy and slippery and I couldn't get out. Allison was standing on the walkway above me, throwing feed down at me and telling me to eat, but as it fell down the feed changed to manure and I was covered in it. Then Barney Fife showed up and shot our goat. Then I woke up.
3. I was being held captive in a hotel on the beach by a witch - a fat ugly witch much like one of the sisters in Spirited Away. There was a little girl there with me, who kept urging me to do everything the witch said or horrible things would happen to me. I ignored her, and then the witch turned both me and the little girl into stuffed animals. I remember the feeling of being turned into a toy because the stuffing came up my throat and it was very difficult to talk. Then she forgot which of us was which and she killed the little girl by ripping her into pieces. I was terrified while I watched her and have never felt so helpless in my life. Then she turned me back into myself and I managed to escape by climbing out of the window, but the road dissappeared and I was in the middle of the ocean. Then suddenly I was on a pier with my family, eating grilled fish. Then I was at my grandparents' house, in the back, with a horse someone had just given me. It was grey and kind of small but this was the first horse that I was able to ride in my dreams. Normally they are so small my feet drag the ground, but this one was only a little small and I managed to stay on. I was so happy that I stayed on the horse that I named her Anchor (strange, huh?) and then helped my family rebuild the fence so the horses (apparently everyone had gotten one) would have a safe place to stay. I was digging through the loam, trying to clear away the mess when I found some old latches for the fence from when mom used to keep her horse there. They were brass and still shiny. There were also some latches shaped like elephants, but they looked ugly so I left them in the loam. Then I woke up.
2. We were opening up a farm, trying to start a new life, and our animals had just arrived. We had a goat, a rabbit, two chickens and a rooster. I was carrying one of the chickens to its pen when I dropped it and instantly, the bird died. Immediately the rooster came over and just stood by the body of the dead hen, staring at it like he was sad. Allison came up and told me the rooster was mourning for the hen. Then she pushed me into the rabbit pen. It was very muddy and slippery and I couldn't get out. Allison was standing on the walkway above me, throwing feed down at me and telling me to eat, but as it fell down the feed changed to manure and I was covered in it. Then Barney Fife showed up and shot our goat. Then I woke up.
3. I was being held captive in a hotel on the beach by a witch - a fat ugly witch much like one of the sisters in Spirited Away. There was a little girl there with me, who kept urging me to do everything the witch said or horrible things would happen to me. I ignored her, and then the witch turned both me and the little girl into stuffed animals. I remember the feeling of being turned into a toy because the stuffing came up my throat and it was very difficult to talk. Then she forgot which of us was which and she killed the little girl by ripping her into pieces. I was terrified while I watched her and have never felt so helpless in my life. Then she turned me back into myself and I managed to escape by climbing out of the window, but the road dissappeared and I was in the middle of the ocean. Then suddenly I was on a pier with my family, eating grilled fish. Then I was at my grandparents' house, in the back, with a horse someone had just given me. It was grey and kind of small but this was the first horse that I was able to ride in my dreams. Normally they are so small my feet drag the ground, but this one was only a little small and I managed to stay on. I was so happy that I stayed on the horse that I named her Anchor (strange, huh?) and then helped my family rebuild the fence so the horses (apparently everyone had gotten one) would have a safe place to stay. I was digging through the loam, trying to clear away the mess when I found some old latches for the fence from when mom used to keep her horse there. They were brass and still shiny. There were also some latches shaped like elephants, but they looked ugly so I left them in the loam. Then I woke up.
Friday, January 8
Stopping and Looking
I finally finished the first Assassin's Creed. I consider that something of an accomplishment, even if I never ever go back and collect those hundreds of flags.
So now Desmond is posing as Ezio, and I find myself loving Italy. Well, not so much Italy, because of all the Italians (who I have nothing against, but when you are trying to escape from the guards they tend to get in your way and clog the streets and whatnot), but mainly, I noticed as I was playing this morning, that I am loving the game simply for the location -
As I was clambering about within the Duomo in Firenze, I realized that I was smiling. Why? Because with the light streaming in through the windows in lovely golden hues while dust motes floated down about my agile hero as I guided him along the scaffoldings and beams and chandeliers of the church, I couldn't help but compare it to the first platforming game I ever played: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Now, games have come a very long way as far technically since that game, but technology is not my focus. I love it when a game makes you stop, just look, and realize you are holding your breath because of how beautiful it is.
Granted, the Duomo was the first time ACII has made me do this, but my point is that this happens very rarely for me. Only a handful of games, that I can think of, have made me stop at some point or another and just look.
The video above is from ACII, the location to which I was referring earlier, while the image below is from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
Maybe Ubisoft is just good at getting us to stop and look, because another series of games (a series this time, mind you, not just one game IN a series) that takes my breath away is the Myst series:
A few games I am looking foward to playing are Uncharted1 & 2 and Red Dead Redemption. I have watched Cody, my husband, play Uncharted 1, and it was gorgeous, but the second one is rumoured to be even more gorgeous -
Also, who doesn't love cowboys???
What about you? What games have made you stop and just go "oh!"?
So now Desmond is posing as Ezio, and I find myself loving Italy. Well, not so much Italy, because of all the Italians (who I have nothing against, but when you are trying to escape from the guards they tend to get in your way and clog the streets and whatnot), but mainly, I noticed as I was playing this morning, that I am loving the game simply for the location -
As I was clambering about within the Duomo in Firenze, I realized that I was smiling. Why? Because with the light streaming in through the windows in lovely golden hues while dust motes floated down about my agile hero as I guided him along the scaffoldings and beams and chandeliers of the church, I couldn't help but compare it to the first platforming game I ever played: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Now, games have come a very long way as far technically since that game, but technology is not my focus. I love it when a game makes you stop, just look, and realize you are holding your breath because of how beautiful it is.
Granted, the Duomo was the first time ACII has made me do this, but my point is that this happens very rarely for me. Only a handful of games, that I can think of, have made me stop at some point or another and just look.
The video above is from ACII, the location to which I was referring earlier, while the image below is from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
Maybe Ubisoft is just good at getting us to stop and look, because another series of games (a series this time, mind you, not just one game IN a series) that takes my breath away is the Myst series:
A few games I am looking foward to playing are Uncharted1 & 2 and Red Dead Redemption. I have watched Cody, my husband, play Uncharted 1, and it was gorgeous, but the second one is rumoured to be even more gorgeous -
Also, who doesn't love cowboys???
What about you? What games have made you stop and just go "oh!"?
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