Wordless Wednesdays: Fangorn Forest

 

Does This Mean I Have No Life?

So I finally did it.

I cancelled my lotro sub.

And yes, I shed a couple tears before I hit that green button. Does that mean I take the game too seriously? Does that mean I have no life? Probably.

Do I care? Yes.

We can't justify paying for three mmo subs right now, and with SW:TOR still pretty fresh on our plates, lotro, being the old, worn out, flataslastweek'snewspaper game, it had to go.

So why was it so hard for me to cancel? I've waited weeks to do this. I've wanted to find a way around it. I considered using Christmas money to pay for another year's sub. I considered all sorts of things to scrounge up the money to pay for another year's sub. In the exit survey, one of the questions asked was "what can we (Turbine) do to bring you back to Lotro?" I put in that they could give me a free lifetime sub if they wanted, because honestly, there is nothing wrong with their game (or wrong enough to drive me away).

I just don't have the time (or, more importantly, the money) to keep paying for it.

I guess it is all the time I have put into the game over the years that is killing me. All the fun memories I have of running things with Squid. The friends I've made - who thankfully, have moved around with me to other games (I'm looking at you, Minecraft and SW:TOR, and yes, even you, stupid Tanks).

I think my biggest fear in hitting that green button was that this felt like a betrayal to Indrabar. She's been with me for so long, and hey, it is an rpg, after a while it does begin to feel like that pixelated thing on the screen is a part of you, and that you really did defeat Mordirith or clear out Sammath Gul or down a dragon or two.

It feels like a betrayal because there was no Indrabar in SW:TOR yet, and there probably won't be, because, as my husband once said when I was creating my character for that short stint in SWG,  - "It's not a very Star Warsy name. It just sounds, well, elvish." So, for SWG, I went with Tsuka, and Tsuka is now in SW:TOR.


Tsuka was also in Skyrim, instead of Indrabar. A psychologist might say that two personalities are fighting for control.

Yes, I know it is just a game.

Yes, I am a sane, mature adult. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have cancelled.

Just because I am an adult though doesn't mean I have to be happy about the choices we are sometimes forced to make.

 Well, here's to the 20th, and whatever changes that will bring to Indrabar and the rest of my lotro characters. Hopefully they won't all just poof into thin air. Hopefully I won't cry like an idiot again.

Maybe now I can have a real life, you know, in the real world.


If I was able, I would give Indrabar permission to punch me in the face for just metaphorically indefinitely locking her in a dark cell with no chance of sunlight or ever seeing her forty-nine horses and three goats again..

Dunedain Outfittery and the Prince of Rohan

Let me start out by saying I am really enjoying what Turbine is doing with their new book content. Either they've got some new tech or they're showing off some new trick, but either way, some of the things I've seen in the Rise of Isengard expac and the new update 5, which just launched today, are making me bouncy happy.

Preparing for battle

Mounted npc's? Yes please. Now, when do we get mounted combat? Would that even be possible, Turbine? Also, looks like they are getting more comfortable with putting lots of npcs in one spot - some of the epic solo chapters are, well, epic. Between Wulf's Cleft and this new chapter, the Prince of Rohan, I am finding the story to be much more immersive, and superbly written. I suppose with the launch of SW:TOR looming on the horizon, it makes sense for any mmo other than WoW, and maybe even that one too, to throw everything they have at their player base in an attempt to retain subscribers. I have come to the sad decision to cut off my lotro subscription in the coming months, but that is the beauty of the game being free to play, I suppose. I can keep playing, and only pay for what I want. How a la carte of Turbine.





I haven't finished the new book in Volume III yet, but I'm loving what I have seen so far. Especially the fact that Indy finally has Dunedain clothing. I have wanted that since she first stumbled into Esteldin, over three years ago.Back then, the rangers were cool. And now, Indy is about 20% cooler. I'm just wondering how it will hold dye. My wardrobe is drooling, waiting for both sets to be put in it. That is, assuming I can afford the extra wardrobe space. I might just pick certain pieces for everyone else, and reserve the complete set for Indy. She gets all the shiny things. Boot knife!!! It's only fair, you know. Okay, now I'm just rambling. I'll stop.

I can't wait to get into some of the new Isengard instances. It will probably be a while, and Indy is kind of behind on her gear, but I'll catch up eventually. It just might take me a while.

Since Squid hasn't made much of an appearance lately, here she is in her sultry new duds, beating an old goat about the brainpan with a stick.

I miss my free time.

The One Lotro Horse I will probably never get.,,,

Because as of right now it's only available in the LOTRO store for real money. About 25 bucks' worth. For one horse. For one character. Across ten characters, that's ... wayyyyy more money than I want to spend. So yeah, the Steed of Night, available in the Lotro store for only 1995 turbine points. Go buy it, if you have the money to burn. If not, just enjoy Kismet of Gladden here, who shelled out the bucks for the thing.

Perhaps there really are people in this game crazier about collecting horses than I am.

Dear Turbine

*note* I was going to post this on the Lotro forums, but somewhere in the process of writing it I lost my nerve in the face of angry apathetic devs and the ever-present trolls. Maybe if I ever find my courage I'll put it there...

I've been here almost a year, and for a while, something has been growing in the back of my mind, bothering me.

When I first started playing lotro, I was amazed at the depth of the lore, the attention to detail, the high level of immersion in another world that this game gave me - compared to other games. I quickly fell in love with the game and over the past ten months have devoted countless hours to wandering the fields and hills of Middle-earth.

However, the farther east I wandered, the less impressed I was with what I was seeing. Yes, the views are still fantastic. Yes, there is still a certain something (something I don't know quite how to describe) that will hold my attention. But something has also been lost.

Perhaps it is the lore - the quests began to seem less unique, I suppose. Perhaps it was the players - the higher in level I moved, the farther it seems I was from other enraptured, wandering souls and suddenly I found myself in the company of power-hungry players only interested in the quality of their gear or their personal stats.

When I gained Kindred Reputation with the people of Bree - I really felt as though that meant something. I had worked tirelessly, serving the people in so many ways - and finally, I was rewarded. The Council of the North, however, or the Galadhrim, or even the Lossoth - while I may know these people, know what they supposedly stand for - I do not have the same connection for them. I have not yet reached Kindred with any of those, but when I do, instead of a grand sense of achievement, I instead fear a feeling of "so what? I finally finished a long grind and can now ignore this facet of the game. Yayyyyy." Turbine, this is not how I should be feeling after leaving an area.

I will still play, Turbine. And chances are I will still love LotRO, but please, remember what you have left behind. Remember the Shire and the hills of the Lone Lands. Not all players are interested in leveling at lightning speed and running high-risk instances. I don't consider myself a RPer, perhaps I am just full of whimsy and wanderlust. There are many facets of the game you as devs have not touched for reasons totally unknown to us players since the launch of the game. Why is there still only one hobby? Why is the housing system made up of code over fourteen years old when the game is only on its third year? Why is the crafting system horribly unbalanced?

I started playing LotRO because it was different from all the other MMO's I had seen out there. Why did you feel you had to change, Turbine? Why must you become like all the others with your new content that pushes forward - raises the cap, raises the bar, the intensity, for what? Three days or less while the die-hards run everything and suddenly, they are all at level cap again and bored. Do you work just to please them while the rest of us run at our own pace? Just because we are not first does not mean we should be ignored.