This week we talk about a new developer diary on commendations, discuss the update 5.2 patch and buried treasure event, and talk about the announced update 6 known goodies.
This podcast was recorded earlier in the day as we spent the evening at a Lord of the Rings Concert performance! For the record, it was amazing!
This week Goldenstar’s Dum Group is getting very close to the end of Volume 1. We did extra solo stuff together to prevent having homework this week. Goldenstar also reset her skirmish points using the skirmish mark tip from a few weeks ago. She also spent a lot of time in the new Buried Treasure event early this week. In horse news, she got 2 new mounts this week. A Treasure-laden pony in the treasure-hunt and a Steed of Bright Days in the lottery.
Merric did very very little in the treasure-hunt. In fact, he did two rounds on Wednesday morning and then the event shut down. He raided Draigoch and had the beast bug out again but at least it was a new bug. He has started leveling his hunter.
Town Crier
Official News
- Developer Diary: Commendations
- Update 5.2 Release Notes
- Buried Treasure Hunt
- Update 6: Shores of the Great River
Store News
CSTM News
- Treasure Hunt Guide
- How to be a Monster – Days 3 and 4
- Marrow Painted Steed
- Outfitter Specials
- Captain Roundtable
- Rockstar Video Contest Extended
Community News
Raise Your Glass
Geoff
Dear Adult Hobbits,
Thror’s death and what happened after actually make for a pretty cool story. I don’t know if they’ll have time for any of it in “The Hobbit,” but it’d be cool if they did.
Thror was indeed the King Under the Mountain when Smaug attacked and drove the dwarves out. He escaped and took his son Thrain (rhymes with “fine”) and grandson Thorin with him. As you know, they first settled in Thror’s Coomb and then in Ered Luin (the Blue Mountains). Thror helped his people survive, but when he got very old, he decided he couldn’t take being poor any longer and wanted to be king of something again. He was perhaps a little addled in the head, partially due to being old and partially due to being a dwarf. Thror tried to go into Moria, to see if he could find a bit of old dwarf-treasure, and his friend Nar waited outside. Thror’s body was thrown down the steps of Moria several days later, and his head came out after, with the name AZOG written on it. They also tossed out a sack filled with copper coins, basically to add insult to injury.
When the news came to Thror’s son Thrain, he simply sat in silence for several days before standing up and declaring “This cannot be borne.” So he called together all the Dwarven clans from all over Middle-earth (not just the Longbeards, but ALL the clans) and for the next several years they kicked the everlovin’ bejeezus out of all the Orcs and Goblins they could find, up and down the Misty Mountains. The war came to an end at the Battle of Azanulbizar (for Goldenstar “Az-uh-NOOL-biz-ar”), which was so epic that dwarves shudder whenever anyone mentions it. Azanulbizar is the place in the game just east of Moria with the big lake. Thorin got the name “Oakenshield” in that battle because his real shield was split in two, and he just picked up an oak branch and kept on fighting. Azog was finally killed by Dain (also rhymes with “fine”) Ironfoot.
This is important to “The Hobbit” because it’s Azog’s son Bolg that leads the orcs in the Battle of Five Armies at the end of “The Hobbit.” Dain Ironfoot also shows up at that battle.
I think Mazog in the game is Bolg’s son and Azog’s grandson.
After the battle, the dwarves thought about going into Moria. Dain Ironfoot, however, took one look inside the door and decided that was a bad idea. So the battle ended with Thorin and Dain becoming heroes of war, and Thrain becoming the king. As a parting gesture to the orcs, they cut off Azog’s head and stuck it on a pike, with the sack of copper coins in its mouth.
That is revenge. Dwarf style.
I hope this clears things up for you and you’ll be better equipped when you talk to the Tolkien Professor!
Geoff
Hess
Hey guy’s its Hess of Dirty Deedz from Elendilmir and I just wanted to let you guys know how awesome your guy’s podcast is! I am near to getting my 6 alts to level 75 among other things in game and the best way to pass the time while doing the same quests for the 7th time through is to listen to you guys, keep up the good work!
CHEERS!
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Recorded February 18, 2012
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February 20, 2012 at 1:25 am
Skirmish soldier on landscape is a bs update that’s LoTRO trying to get players from TOR, and so I refuse to use my soldier apart from SKIRMISHES, the reaosn it’s in the game, not as a companion.
February 20, 2012 at 8:17 am
Of course they’re trying to get players from TOR. So is WoW and RIFT and even APB.
That being said, I wouldn’t get too worked op about this. They’ve mentioned wanting to do more with soldier before. Update 6 seems to be a natural extension of that.
I just hope they actually fix the pathing for Warriors and Protectors.
February 23, 2012 at 11:43 pm
I don’t really see the problem either. Every other major update there’s some doom and gloom crutch people are going to use that will lead to “bad” players… The self resurrection mechanic was a big one.
End game stuff plays a lot differently than really any other aspect of the game. These guys aren’t going to be popping up in raids and instances. I don’t really care if people run around on the landscape with them and leveling up slightly more easily.
It might encourage people to have appropriately traited soldiers in skirmishes too lol
February 20, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Update 6 can’t come soon enough for me. Dunland ate my RK alive, I can’t get any further until my skirmish soldier comes to the rescue. I hope it comes out in March.
February 21, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Lotro is easy enough as it is, and Dunland is easily solable even with Moria-era gear on. This is the biggest problem with letting soldiers on the landscape. Instead of players learning to play better, they get a crutch they can lean on.
Leveling should teach you enough about your class so that you can contribute in groups. If you don’t have the skill to pass current solo content, you need to improve, not rely on some crutch that will be removed in group content to survive.
February 21, 2012 at 5:42 pm
A few points on what I heard during the episode:
1. It is possible that Merric got some of those outfitter items from anniversary gift boxes. Cosmetics were a common item in those boxes.
2. The Legendary Item Point scroll sounds like something I would unlikely get in the store. Those scrolls are very easy to get in game and I tend to accumulate a number of them as I am going through legendary items (as they are often generated when deconning items).
3. As for the comment on raids needing to be in the Instance Finder, that would have to be supported in Update 6. They are dumping the Instance Join panel and they wouldn’t be able to do that if Instance Finder doesn’t support raids. Whether it will find others to add to your raid is another question, of course.