Acid T2 CM

Big congratulations to my raid alliance, Innocent, for completing challenge mode of the Acid Wing in the Tower of Orthanc.  I didn't sign up last night as I was pretty tired and knew I wouldn't have the patience for that wing.  (I really don't like it and I find the challenge so silly.)  Though on our site one of the leaders was kind enough to mention the suggestions and tips I gave in alliance chat, as I was able to watch everything on my boyfriend's screen. :D  Thanks Essy! :D *hugs*

I was present for our first T2 completion and we're quite proud of the fact that we don't burg stack.  I'm also continually amazed by the champ who main tanks a lot of the bosses for us.  This fight is always particularly hard for him given people really need to go all out on aggro.  I dunno how he does it!  Anyway, everyone worked hard and coordinated well and finally got it. Grats again all. :)

The video! 

Firsts

Over on the official forums, someone started a fun thread.  It asks people to share their very first screenshot.  I shared mine there and also thought it was an excellent idea to expand upon here on my blog, especially given I have LOADS of old screenies that would never see the light of day otherwise.  Plus it's fun to look through them and experience the memories.  

So above is my very first screenshot (click for full size.)  I started Lotro off with a hunter.  Lotro was my very first mmo and after reading through the class descriptions, it seemed like it was one of the easiest classes.  I figured that was a good idea given I didn't have a clue what I was doing.  She was my main up until 65.  It was during the Barad Guldur raid that I switched my main to Loremaster.  Whilst my hunter is now a rarely-used woodworker, many deeds finished, and trophies collected, she now sits there unused in her full Great Bow set.  It's a bit sad but once I got into Loremaster, hunter wasn't interesting enough.  I'm glad I started on that class though.  It was a great one to learn how to play the game on.

I found it entertaining that most screenshots in that thread, everyone still had their UI on.  It seems it took a lot of us a bit of time before we learned that we could turn it off.  I also didn't seem to realise first-person view existed for taking pictures of the landscape.  Having my toon, standing in the shot, displaying her back was a common theme of my early screenshots. :D  Also my graphics weren't so great as I had no clue how to make them better.  My characters were quite jagged looking. (First Shire rainbow to the right!)

If you have a blog, how about sharing some of your first screenshots?  Or head on over to the official thread.  It would be fun to see! :)

One of the first Shire sunsets, UI dutifully cropped away! ;)

 

Perlino Steed

 

I checked the Lotro lotteries and noticed that my captain had won a Perlino Steed.  It's interesting looking and I like the pattern on the blanket, but given that it's no better than any other reputation horses I'll probably never use it.  That and my captain is purely a jeweler right now. :P  I would have rather won it on my main, but having it on one character is enough to satisfy my completionism I think (store horses not included!)

I do wish Turbine would get back to mounts with proper saddles.  When Enedwaith came out, people really loved that change.  The meta deed horses or Prized Grey Company horse are good examples.  The latest rep horses (Dunland, Theoden's Riders, Stangard and Easterling) don't have them.  Sorta a pity given we're getting into quite the horsey area. :P

Visiting Old Places

My RK recently reached 75 so I've been working on getting her geared up.  The LIs were certainly a challenge but I mostly got lucky with my reforges.  This is the one aspect that I dislike when a character hits the level cap, especially with Turbine still not having any way to remove relics without TP (anyone heard of these mythical relic removal scrolls dropping ingame? Any more stat tomes either? Yeah, I thought not) and the exorbitant cost of getting the relics you want through shards and gold.  The amount I spent in both of those currencies sorting my RK's four LIs (dps stone/bag, healing stone/bag) out was a bit astonishing.  It made me thankful that the other classes I have at endgame aren't near as difficult.  I suppose champ could be if I decided I wanted to tank, but that is never going to happen. ;) 

I was lucky enough to be able to take my RK to a T1 Tower of Orthanc run and have plenty of seals in the wallet so that the day after she hit 75 she had 4/6 of the raid fire set.  Our alliance did an alt run since we'd finished T2 wing raiding early that week.  Unfortunately we weren't able to get Saruman down as we were a bit too squishy.  The fight illustrated the importance of virtues for me.  She had most around 7-8, a few higher, but not the important ones.  Whilst my RK has nearly the morale of my LM, the attacks from Saruman and the poison/shadow clouds he put down hurt A LOT. 

So off to deed I go!

It took me to Mirkwood and allowed me to enjoy the sights there.  Gotta find an upside to deeds right? Turbine Points and pretty sights?  I don't think many people liked the region but I actually did.  I found the quests to be pretty mediocre but I felt Turbine got the look and atmosphere spot on.  Whilst deeding there, I ran into some lovely light and surroundings (if you can call a dead, creepy forest lovely.. all in the eye of the beholder and how you choose to look at it I suppose!) and finally took some time to take some screenies of the outfit I recently got my RK.

When I first laid eyes on the ToO T1 RK robe, I knew I had to get it.  It was one of my incentives for leveling up. ;) That and sweet RK fire dps (which is so very, very fun!) So I splurged, spent the seals, got the robe and it's definitely been worth it!  I have to resist putting it on all my characters. :P

In the Ashenslades, not long after dawn:
-Chest: Robe of Cleansing Fire (ToO t1 rk set)
-Shoulders: Disused Mantle of the Dunland Soothsayer (Dunland quest reward)
-Gloves: Lore-Keepers Gloves (Barad Guldur LM raid set)
-Shoes: Memory of the West Shoes (Ost Dunoth LM raid set) You can't see these, but I found them to be good boots that didn't clip with the robe.

 

I look forward to finishing up her virtues and getting her some Limlight jewelry as I'd much rather take her to raids than my champ.  I definitely prefer a caster class but I also really enjoy aoe destruction. :P  Champ is great for the aoe, but it generally has to get in more dangerous spots, tends to have to offtank, but its dps isn't as good as RK's and the power consumption has become annoying.  My raiding alliance always seems to want more ranged classes (especially for stuff like Shadow Wing as we're trying to crack the challenge) and dps and I've felt my champ isn't the best contribution to that.  Of course my LM is my main, but we have several in the alliance so we have to rotate.  RK would keep the caster in me satisfied yet also lets me burn stuff down and who knows, maybe one day heal. :P

 

I also couldn't resist taking some RK action shots in the spider cave in the Scuttledells.  The light was too nice and RK's have some really picture-worthy skills.