Here’s the break down of the approximate cost per 100 Turbine Points for each of the bundles¹. Values have been rounded to nearest penny.

• $59.99 bundle: $0.68 for 100 Turbine Points
• $99.99 bundle: $0.63 for 100 Turbine Points
• $199.99 bundle: $0.60 for 100 Turbine Points

These double points promos are the best value you will find on Turbine Points. It is a pity it is only for their largest packages but if were were saving up to buy a bundle, this is a great sale to catch.

See the official post for details as well links to the prices for our international friends.

We are huge fans of Skype!

We use it for personal usages like calling to video chat with Baby Hobbit’s grandparents. Allowing her to see and interact with our family members in Texas we don’t get to see in person often is wonderful.

Find out more about Skype’s video chat feature on their home page!

We also use it frequently for our podcasting. Any guest you’ve ever heard on the CSTM podcast (and the one time Goldenstar was remote) was all plugged into the audio stream using Skype. You can see in Merric’s “How We Podcast” post, we have a laptop dedicated to bringing in Skype calls.

The Giveaway

The prize pack we have is a great one, too. We have three FREETALK Everyman Pro Pack. This pack includes:

• FREETALK® Everyman Wireless Headset.
• FREETALK® Everyman Webcam.

Easy to set up and start using right away this is a fantastic package for new or seasoned Skype users.

This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada. Contest ends on June 1, 2012.

How to Enter

We are using a rafflecopter widget to track our entries to this contest. You must follow the instructions in the widget and click the “DO IT” and enter to submit your entry. There are four ways you can enter to win and you can do all four of them to increase your chances of winning.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

None of the entry methods are required so if for instance you don’t use twitter or facebook, you do not have to sign up in order to participate.

How Winners are Selected

Winners will be selected randomly by the rafflecopter widget after the contest has ended. Winners will be contacted to obtain their mailing address for the shipping of the prizes. Prizes will be shipped from Skype distributor’s directly to the winners.

I’m pleased to share with you all another brand new LOTRO blog that has started. The newbiehobbit is a blog by the character named Teatro (a Hobbit of course).

Teatro plans primarily his journey of the game. The pitfalls and misadventures he runs into but also his thoughts and opinions on new content as it is released.

Check it out and add him to your feed reader to follow the adventures of Teatro!

http://newbiehobbit.wordpress.com/

Goldenstar said that she did some stuff in Bree-town won a second-ager in the Lottery and then called Merric a turd on the air. Enjoy that little spat or feel free to skip it.

Town Crier

• Update 7 Release Note
• Orthanc Titles
• Prisoner to Stangard

Store News

• Weekly Store Sale

CSTM News

• Andang Update 7 Impressions
• Pineleaf Prepares to Punch
• Skirmisher of Middle-earth Video

Community News

• Laurelin Concert – July 8, 8pm UK time
• Crickhollow Memorial Day Cook Out – May 26th 2pm EDT
• Weatherstock IV announced and bands scheduled

Raise Your Glass

Golmir of Brandywine

After a 150+ day absence from the game I have decided to re-install LOTRO. I have let my VIP subscription end and was wondering if you had any blog posts that detail what I will still have access to (characters, skirmishes, loot bags, etc)? If I resubscribe will it be like I never left (other than having to pay the lockout fee on my house)? Any information you have on this would be helpful.

Thanks,
Golmir of Brandywine

–> Downgrading from VIP to Premium

Leandor from Estel

Hi Goldenstar and Merric. I haven’t been able to come to the live recording for a long time now (naughty time zones), but i still listen to the podcast every monday on my way to work, keep up the good job o/

I am writing for two reasons. First, i wanted to share some personal experience about PvMP. I created a spider at least 4 years ago, and i let her nearly untouched for a very very long time. Each and everytime i played her, i felt so weak and crunchy, it wasn’t really fun, and i got discouraged. One can only be smashed to a puddle a goo by any player so many times before calling quit^

But with the weaver revamp in update 6, i rediscovered the class, and it’s becoming more and more fun. I started slow, doing some daily quests now and then, sometimes just an hour at night, after my loremaster time. And she started to gain ranks, new skills, and now she’s nearly rank 5, and it’s a ton of fun. I am not really a PvP player, but now i’m even starting to enjoy doing some real PvP, not only the PVE quests, and i feel like i’m starting to be useful.
So my advice is: if you tried PvP and got frustrated, don’t be afraid to try it again, maybe with some friends. Low-level monsters are really really weak, but the first ranks come fairly easily, and gaining a rank as a monster is not like gaining a level as a free player. The difference in power is way more tangible, and PvP can be a really nice experience, a break from the regular game. Plus, the weavers are just so cute, especially with anniversary outfit

Goodbye strollers,
Leandor from Estel

Adra.

Hi

First of all, I like a lot your blog ! (even if I would prefer you write it in french :p )

I’m contacting you to suggest a review, if you have the feeling for it ^^

I’m developing and maintaining a Lotro skin collection named JRR.

It is composed of freely revisited skins + a few original contents.
There are also a few addons available beside the main download.

Some skins are very close form the original release, as Durin’s folk, some others explore a new perspective, as BGM or Delving Hills.

Some skins were originally only a single toolbar : Smallbar, monsters lair short, or in a lesser way Greenleaves, which was a toolbar+minimap+player vital.

JRR is a true modular pack, where every skin is technically built as an addon, saving hard disk space by sharing as many pictures as possible and offering the end user to choose which skin will be featured ingame or not.

The JRR main download pack contains almost exclusively universal toolbar based skins (except “delving hills small” and “monsters lair small”),
addon files are not universal skins based.

Next release, planned for monday 14, will be compliant with Update 7 new toolbars design.

Here is the JRR main page :

http://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info581-JRR-AtributetoMiddleEarth.html

Here is a download link to the upcoming update 7 releases (this pack includes the addons) :

http://www.mediafire.com/?wkfwmuhm3l4lg5o

Thanks for having read me till the end ^
and greetings from France !

Adra.

Player Achievements

Reviews

• Nartharun of Riddermark
• Linladan of Gladden

Donations

• Jeffrey G.
• Ricardo B.
• Paul W.

Contact Us

• Visit our blog at www.casualstrolltomordor.com
• We welcome your email to podcast@casualstrolltomordor.com or leave us a voicemail at 520-261-CSTM (2786)
• We are available to follow on both Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus
• Please leave us a review on iTunes or Zune Marketplace and we would really appreciate it!
• Listen to us live every Saturday at 9:30 pm Eastern on Middle Earth Network Radio

Recorded May 19, 2012

By Makhiel

Your screenshots could be featured on CSTM as well! Join the Share Your LOTRO Screenshots Flickr group and submit your screenshots. Each week we will pick out a screenshot to share with the community!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

To complete this deed, you need to complete all the skirmish encounter deeds including for the new skirmish “Storm on the Methedras”.

Rewards are:

• “Skirmisher of MIddle-earth” title
• /bringiton emote

View this video on YouTube.

Let me just try to express this; this is a big deal. I’ve never seen as many players in one place at once as I have at Weatherstock events. To get more of a gist of this concert, check out our wrap up post from last year.

We are getting closer to Weatherstock IV and in preparation for the festivities, there will be a series of concerts where you can listen to one of the bands scheduled to perform at Weatherstock.

The first in this new series will be Symphonia et Gloria from the Server Belegaer, Germany.

Join in the fun and merriment TONIGHT Friday, May 18th at 6pm server time (-5 GMT) at the Prancing Pony on the Landroval server!

Each week we ask you to share your successes in Middle Earth with the rest of the community. Post a comment letting us know what you’ve accomplished this past week. We will pick comments at random to read on the podcast giving you a chance for a little shout out for yourself! Our shout-outs are only as good as the information we get so remember:

• Don’t forget to add your character name, what server you play on and, if you like, add your Kinship if you have one.
• Please keep your posts brief. We won’t be able to read full novels of your adventures. At least make it so we can easily sum it up!
• Do not be afraid to post any of your achievements. We don’t care if you just saved Archet or cleared out the Tower of Orthanc. We want to hear from you!

These shout outs will appear in tomorrow’s recording of A Casual Stroll to Mordor Podcast. You are welcome to join us live at 9:30pm Eastern on Saturday! First time joining us live? See our post on how to join CSTM’s live broadcast.

Comments for this thread will be closed after recording as this is a weekly thing. If you missed this week’s cut off, don’t fret! A new thread just like this one will appear next Friday.

The following items are on sale from May 18th – 24th. Below you will find the sale listings as well as our recommendation on purchasing.

Free Sample of the Week

Hope tokens are a required for some raids (especially the older ones). The Dums group I run with on Monday are always using Hope Tokens for their dungeon runs and Ketani has mentioned that this is something she uses for her end game raiding as well.

They can also be handy just to have around for a solo player. I’ll totally admit to eating it like candy to remove my angry red defeat bar. Sure it doesn’t fix your stats but it does give you back some missing morale which could make the difference in whatever you’re doing. (I know about dread removal tomes and destiny perks so spare me the insight. My jeweler can make hope candy cheap for my army of alts!)

Plus this week you can get it for free! Yay free candy! Put this little bugger in your LOTRO cart and use the coupon code HT7845 to get yours free.

Limited Release: Helegrod Cosmetic Gear

Now until May 31st you can pick up Helegrod raid cosmetic armor in the LOTRO store.

These items are not actual armor, just cosmetic versions of these sets to allow you to get the look.

Pieces sell for 295 Turbine Points each or 1,295 Turbine Points for a full set (6 pieces) which ends up to be around a 27% discount. There is a set available for each class but you don’t have to stick to your specific class when purchasing.

I think it’s probably also good to note that you can earn this gear in game should you and your friends venture into the Helegrod dungeons.

See all photos of the gear set on the LOTRO announcement.

Weekly Sale

Legacy Tier Upgrade

Get greater bonuses! Upgrade the Tier of any Legacy on a Legendary Item with this scroll.

Store Location: Goods & Services → Legendary Items → Scrolls
Levels: 50+
295
195

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: A Legacy Tier Upgrade will upgrade one legacy on your legendary item one tier. These items are per character and will only upgrade one legacy on one legendary item.

This is a good deal as the 100 points discount does equate to about 34% off.

This is what in-game is called a Scroll of Empowerment. There are different varieties in game based on the level of your Legendary Item but they are all named similar. For example a level 75 legendary item simply needs a Scroll of Greater Empowerment. These items are available in game from skirmish camps and barter tokens if you prefer to get it via an in-game method.

Legendary Slot Unlock

Level up and unlock an additional Legendary Item Slot in your Legendary Item panel! 2 Unlocks available! Once an item is slotted, you can then further upgrade your Legendary Items by using Legendary Tier Upgrades, Legacies and more from the LOTRO Store!

Store Location: Character → Character Upgrades → Legendary Slots
Levels: 50+
295
195

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: All characters get six slots to put legendary items in but sometimes you need more. Legendary Item slots 7 and 8 two extra you can purchase if you feel you need some more legendary items working at once. The unlock is per character, not account and is for characters level 50+.

Like the legacy upgrade, this is a pretty good discount getting about 34% off.

+25% Legendary Item XP Tomes

Gain a 25% bonus to item experience earned from killing monsters around your level range for 30-60 minutes! Available in 5 stacks of 30 and 60 minute durations.

Store Location: Buffs & Boosts → Advancement → Craft XP
Levels: 51+
65-90
52-72

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: A quicker result to the same end if you just took your time. It will only affect the legendary items you have equipped and set to earn exp. If you’re looking to pump out some relics and get your LI to 30 for the legacies, this will help you get there faster.

Scrolls of Craft Acceleration

Use a Scroll of Craft Acceleration to gain a bonus to experience earned from crafting! Affects all Cook, Jeweller, Metalsmith, Scholar, Tailor, Weaponsmith, and Woodworker recipes.

Store Location: Buffs & Boosts → Advancement → Craft XP
Levels: All
75-395
60-316

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: This is a way to skip the grind. It seems short being only 10 minutes but if you are fully stacked on material you can craft a whole lot of items in that time.  It’s a meh as you of course could do this the slow and steady way. Note that this is only for the maker professions and not the gatherer professions of Forester or Prospector.

Ingredient Packs

Tired of gathering miscellaneous crafting ingredients from chests and crates scattered throughout Middle-earth? Can’t locate a vendor? Take advantage of one stop shopping in the LOTRO Store and get back to crafting! Ingredient Packs are used in place of traditional ingredients, so stop the search and get to work on your recipes! Applies to Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Artisan, Master, Supreme and Westfold profession tiers.

Store Location: Crafting → Items → Ingredient Packs
Levels: All
25-175
20-140

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: This is a short cut if your short on in-game cash or just really hate the idea of gathering materials yourself. The items you make will not be able to be traded or sold so if you plan to make something useful for others you will have to get real materials.

Is this my new title? Not quite, for Update 7 includes a little additional treat. For when you complete all 18 encounter deeds (one for each skirmish except Survival: Barrow Downs), you complete a hidden meta deed Skirmisher of Middle Earth. This deed awards a title of the same name, which I find to be most appropriate for a devoted skirmisher.

Yet this is not all. In addition to the title, you also earn a new emote: Bringiton.

Now I am ready to take on the most notorious servants of the Hand and the Eye.

What other skirmish-related surprises did Update 7 bring? This next one came in a box – a mystery box, in fact. Inside you will find a Hauberk of Mystery. There is one type for each class of armor. I chose the leather version, which looks like this:

Not very impressive, is it? You learn the mystery when you dye the hauberk. While the panel is yellow, so is the embroidery. Dying will change the panel’s color but will leave the embroidery unchanged. Thus if you dye the hauberk Rivendell Green, you get the following:

Much better, isn’t it?

Not all Hauberk’s of Mystery have the same pattern. Otherwise, the mystery wouldn’t last very long. Three additional patterns are shown at the The Knights of Elendil blog on the Firefoot server. You will find six more patterns at Cosmetic Lotro.

Notice that none of the hauberks posted at the other sites match mine. A poster at Cosmetic Lotro says that there are 20 patterns in all. Therefore, don’t be surprised if your hauberk’s pattern doesn’t match any of these. Fortunately, they only run for 63 marks apiece so you can experiment if you wish.

May your shield protect you and your spear never break,

Pineleaf Needles

The primary topic of the blog is to reach the new player and provide content that will help those new or just getting started with LOTRO.

Ben has already begun adding some handy content to his site so check it out and add him to your feed reader!

http://middleearthinitiative.wordpress.com/

CHAPTER 5: New Blood

Twenty-four of Gondor’s newest young officers stand smartly at attention before the barracks in the first circle. A few of them are already sweating in the fresh morning light, though the air is still cool.

Ingold strides arrogantly back and forth before them, his hands folded behind his back. “Your assignment,” he barks, “has been made.” He turns sharply to face them, icily inspecting each pair of eyes. “You are charged with the defense of Ithilien, the Garden of Gondor.” He steps close to the nearest recruit, his nose mere inches from the face of a young Man no more than twenty-two years old. “It is dangerous,” he growls low, though his voice carries easily through the silent courtyard. “It is isolated. It is unforgiving. And if you do not think,” he bites, “You. Will. Die.”

Mablung stands several paces back and to the side of the assembly, his arms folded before him as he watches Ingold break in the new blood. He appears casual in his observation of the latest academy graduates, his face relaxed and calm, but his eyes are sharp, thoughtful, and stormy. Silently he strategizes, weighs options, and recalls his audience with the Steward and the high Captain of Gondor, just an hour before.

* * *

“Obviously, any sign of a greater presence in Ithilien has the potential to ring alarm bells.” Boromir stands, leaning over a large table, gazing down at a detailed map of northern Ithilien. “You must be as subtle as you can afford to be. I wish you had the leadership present to split them into troops of six outright, send them staggered across various points at the river.”

Mablung shakes his head. “Even if they had more field experience, they do not know the land yet. I am not comfortable with turning untested Men loose with nothing but compass bearings in such a place as Ithilien, and as you say, I have not enough experienced Men present to lead them back in such small groups. And there is the matter of the wains.”

Boromir grimaces, but nods. “Yes. There is no other place but Osgiliath to ford the river?”

“I’m sorry, milord, no. Unless we employ boats.” Mablung remains silent on the matter of the young Captain’s limited topographical understanding of the Anduin.

Boromir frowns. “Cumbersome.”

“Indeed, milord.”

Boromir gives the map a hard stare down, as if attempting to intimidate the parchment into yielding a plan
of action.

Mablung watches him in silence for a long moment. “Milord… if I may?” He tilts his head in deference.

Boromir waves a hand. “Let’s hear it,” he says gruffly.

Mablung’s lips quirk infinitesimally, but with a conciliatory tone, he suggests, “I would be comfortable splitting the force, I believe. Ingold may lead one half back; I will lead the other, a half-day or so behind. If we scout ahead properly, we may miss any Morgul outriders. We’ll turn off the road east of the river at our first opportunity. The wains should not overly slow us until we draw nearer to Henneth Annun.”

Boromir’s eyes meet Mablung’s. He considers gravely a moment, then begins to nod. “The best we can hope for, I think.”

Mablung bows his head to Boromir, more than a little impressed by the young Man’s willingness to accept outside council.

“Making preparations, I see.” Denethor’s oleaginous voice resonates from the archway of the marble room. He strides toward them, his fur-lined robe flowing behind him. An intricately carved staff of rich, dark ebony in his hand clacks on the stone floor as he moves. He smiles broadly, first at his son, then at Mablung. “You see, Captain?” he asks, clapping Mablung on the shoulder. “When her sons ask for provision, Gondor provides without fail!”

Mablung bows his head to Denethor, a smile pasted to his lips. “She does, milord, and for that I am
eternally grateful to her.”

Denethor nods in approval of his words. “I was relieved to hear your trip here was uneventful. Your
little… mascot… arrived safely, I understand.”

Mablung tilts his head, feigning surprise. “An honor to the child is your remembrance of her, milord. Yes, she arrived soundly and is in the care of a family friend until I can make the necessary arrangements, which are being finalized.”

But Mablung’s skill for disingenuousness is no match for Denethor’s. The Steward smiles in a fatherly manner. “Well done, Captain Mablung. Your service to this child has been above and beyond the call of duty. I hope one day she may understand what you have done for her.”

Mablung diverts his eyes to the floor, accepting the Steward’s praise with another bow. “Thank you, milord Steward.”

As Ithilien’s newest Rangers break ranks, Mablung snaps from his reverie and watches Ingold bark orders, assigning tasks to small groups of the young Men. Three and four at a time break off to gather foodstuffs, cache weapons, or tack up the horses that will be pulling the four wains they will take with them.

Fey would like the horses, he finds himself musing. What is she doing? Is she happy? …does she miss me?

The night before, he had left her.

* * *

The cozy, spacious house Mablung approaches is warmly lit as twilight creeps over Minas Tirith. Feygil trots beside him, clasping two of his fingers in her small hand. He looks down at her as children’s voices carry on the wind toward them. Her round little head swivels toward the sounds of play, her wide eyes searching for the source.

Walking beside Mab, Ioreth says quietly, “‘tis the finest children’s home in the City, funded by two of the more charitable nobles in the High Court. Their wives’ pet project, really. But the children benefit.”

Mablung’s brow creases as he stares warily up at the house’s stone facade. “You really think they’ll give a place to Fey?”

Ioreth gives Mablung a comforting smile. “I will keep her until a place opens for her. I’ve been assured by my sources that she is now first on the list. The proprietress is a good woman. It was her idea to have Fey visit, so that she may begin to be incorporated.”

Looking sick to his stomach, Mablung nods slowly. But he does not move, even as Fey toddles forward a step, toward the other children’s laughter, wafting through the open window.

Laying a gentle hand on Mablung’s broad shoulder, Ioreth’s smile is pitying. “Come, dear,” she encourages, gesturing toward the door. “We’ll both stay a while, see how she does with the other children, hmm?”

“…yes, of course.” Mablung strides reluctantly to the door and knocks.

As they wait, Fey looks up at him. “Whassat, Papa?” she asks, her hand jerking toward the door.

“What’s what, Fey?”

“Whassa noise, Papa?”

The door opens on peals of laughter and a high shout, followed by a resounding thump. The woman who has opened the door has turned away from them. “Baranor! For heaven’s sake! Take your tomfoolery with the boys outside! I’ll not have you riling the little ones just before bed like this again!” Finally, she turns to them. She is short and stout, dressed in a simple homespun dress that looks a bit rumpled. Her round face is kind, her cheeks dimpled and red, and there are prominent bags under her eyes. Her dark hair has begun to fall out of the bun at her nape. “Do forgive me! Our Man who helps with the older boys is wonderful, though a bit simple. I must always remind him that the boys’ bedroom is not the place for roughhousing!” She opens the door further, welcoming them inside with a gesture. “I am Ethuil, do come in.”

Mablung gives Ioreth a long look, then turns his gaze upon Ethuil, who appears to falter somewhat under his scrutiny. Her hand flies to her hair in an anxious attempt to pat it back into place.

“Er, yes!” Ioreth interjects, smiling at Ethuil. She steps forward and over the threshold. “I am Ioreth, I wrote to you. This is Captain Mablung, of the house Inglorion, who has taken ch–”

At Ioreth’s pronouncement of Mablung’s title, Ethuil blanches and drops into a curtsey.

Mablung’s already stony face darkens further with a frown. “Please,” he says, waving a hand. “I’ve little use for titles beyond ‘friend’ and ‘enemy.’ Just Mablung will do, thank you.”

From the look on Ioreth’s face and Ethuil’s nervous smile, Mablung suspects his request has come out rather more like an order. He grimaces in what he hopes looks like apology, and leads Feygil across the threshold.

An orphanage. It comes to this, he thinks to himself. I will leave her here. I will betray and abandon this little girl, to whatever fate befalls her. He is silent as Ethuil leads them to a sitting room.

“…well,” Ethuil begins hesitantly. “I… gather Healer Ioreth has explained that we do not have room for little Feygil right now, but I assure you, when she is placed, she will have the utmost care…”

As Ethuil and Ioreth discuss the finer details, Mablung watches Fey closely. A small basket of toys has
drawn her attention. Sitting on Mablung’s knee, she stares for a long moment, then points at the basket and looks to him.

“Papa, s’Babi?!” she asks excitedly, beginning to squirm off his lap to investigate what appears to be a stuffed animal’s ear poking out from the basket.

Mablung releases her. Hesitating briefly, he finally murmurs, “…I don’t know, Fey. Why don’t you go
and see?”

Fey scampers across the small room and pulls on the ear. A threadbare and stained stuffed donkey emerges and Fey cocks her head at it. Her small brow puckered, she mumbles, “s’not Babi…” Nevertheless, she turns the toy over in her hands, examining from all angles.

Small scuffles of feet sound at the doorway. As the two Women continue their conversation, Mablung and Fey both turn to the sounds. Two children peer wide-eyed around the corner. A little boy, who looks to be about Fey’s age, and a girl a few years older, stare back at them.

Ethuil glances toward Mab, as though gauging his reaction. “Calagon, Selawyn, you may come in, if you are quiet.”

The little boy steps toward Fey, promptly digs in the basket, and produces a small wooden wagon. He sits and begins to scoot it across the floor. Fey stares at him, transfixed.

“Are you a lord?” The little girl appears suddenly at Mablung’s elbow, her curling blonde hair falling
almost to her waist, curtaining her face.

Surprised, Mablung turns to her. He scrutinizes her curiously a moment. How did such a tiny Rohirrim find her way here…? “No,” he answers quietly, glancing aside to keep one eye on Fey. “I am a soldier.”

Selawyn’s pale blue eyes stare solemnly into his. “I guess you want a boy, then.” Her delicate face falls with disappointment.

Mablung blinks. “…what?” Suddenly, it dawns upon him. “Oh! I… I’m not here to adopt a child. I’ve come t– I brought–” He stutters to a halt, arrested by Selawyn’s gravity.

Selawyn looks at Fey, then slowly turns her gaze back to Mablung. “…oh,” she says simply, and turns to leave the room.

At a loss, Mab is silent as she slowly shuffles away. He observes that she has no shoes on her feet, but rather two thick, mismatched woolen stockings.

His heart in his throat, he turns from the doorway. His hand covers his mouth, as though to suppress the bile rising from his stomach as he slumps back in his chair.

Fey seems to be having better luck with the little boy. She has found some carved figurines with which to load the small wagon, and each time Calagon stops, she piles a few more of them on for a ride. The two toddlers giggle as several precariously positioned wayfarers tumble from the wagon. They converse in toddlerish on how to fit all their riders in. Fey’s voice bubbles and chatters across Mablung’s ear.

“…I’m very glad to hear it,” Ioreth is saying. “And perhaps we might visit further on the Houses of Healing contributing some supplies, or perhaps some small services. I shall speak to the other Elders on it.”

Ethuil beams. “Wonderful!” She rises. “Milord Captain, I do apologize, but I must ensure the smallest ones are all to bed…”

Mablung rises as well, his eyes staying on Fey as she plays. “Of course.”

Ethuil glances at Ioreth, then smiles gently. “Feel free to stay as long as you like.” She slips quietly out and bustles up the stairs.

“I suppose this is the first time Fey has ever seen another child. That is, since you found her, anyway,” Ioreth observes, smiling at Calagon, who has taken to acting the monster, terrorizing the wagon-riders while Fey attempts to steer them to safety.

“…yes,” Mablung mutters.

Ioreth purses her lips worriedly at him. “You’re positively grey, Mablung. I… hate to say it, but perhaps now might be the best moment…? She’s well distracted.”

For a long moment, he is silent, still as the statues guarding the Houses of the Dead. “…I can’t,” he whispers. “I need her, Ioreth. I can’t leave her.”

Ioreth’s brow contracts with sympathy. Glancing at the doorway, she places a hand on his arm. “You have done your duty, Captain, honorably. Your Men await your return. They need you.”

His eyes close. Broken, he turns and walks slowly, stiffly away. As he opens the front door, Fey’s fluting voice floats through the air, asking a question he cannot make out the words to.

Ioreth’s lower murmur carries easier. “…no, darling, Papa must go now. Look, Calagon needs your help with the blocks!”

Traitor! Filth! COWARD! His throat so tight he can hardly breathe, Mablung stumbles away into the night.

If you enjoyed this, please come visit Valael Valia Tiafor more!”

If you would like to submit your works for Lost Texts send a description and your story to our email. Feel free to send along screenshots to go along with your story as well!

With Update 7 we are getting a new skirmish, the Fornost Revamp, Moria Revamp part 1 and some new thing called a Star-Lit Crystals for Legendary Items.

• Official Release Notes
• PDF Version of Release Notes
• Known Issues

For more on what Update 7 will bring, check out some of these CSTM articles!

• Andang’s Update 7 Impressions
• Pineleaf Ponders Update 7
• Update 7 Moria Visual Changes

New Maps

For starters there is 1 new map (Tal Methedras (In Dunland)) and 2 revamped maps (Eriador and Rhovanion).  All three of the maps follow the new style started in Update 6 with The Great River zone.  I currently have all the new maps in a changing desktop background on my computer and I could just look them all day long.  They make it hard to actually play LOTRO because of how well they are done.  I do admit that I love to look at maps anyway but these maps are just beautiful.  I hope they continue to revamp the old maps to have the new design.

You might have also noticed that the places we have not been are faded to clearly show which zones are playable and which ones will come with later updates.  I really like the that they did this because as we continue to get more and more zones it gets harder to remember where we have been.  I also know many new players who tried to go to Mordor because they wanted to throw a ring into the fire and so this new design should help solve both of these problems.

You might have also noticed that the Brown Lands are faded meaning that we will get a full zone dedicated to the Brown Lands.  This is good news for people who have read the books and know just how big the Brown Lands are supposed to be.  Even more exciting is the fact that Wilderland shows up being faded on this map implying that someday we might be able to go to some of the historic locations from The Hobbit.  Another place to note would be the Gladden Fields which include the place where Isildur lost the One Ring.

Some minor problems I have with the maps have to do with the coding on the maps.  I found that the Dol Guldur icon and Mirkwood both take you to the Southern Mirkwood map.  This is a little bit of a problem as it could imply that we will never go to Northern Mirkwood because they consider Southern Mirkwood to be all of Mirkwood according to the map.  Another coding error is that Isenguard in Rhovanion is not selectable and seems only there to help players see that Rohan is close to Isenguard.

Some other quick notes include that Rohan is not listed on the map and instead is represented by Westemnet and Eastemnet, and that there are no faded areas in Eriador implying that we will not get any new zones south of The Shire and Breeland anytime soon.

I also found it odd that the overall map of Middle Earth is still the old style but I am sure they will be changing many of the maps in due time.  If I could make a suggestion on which map to do next it would be the Trollshaws as there is a lot of white space on that map.

Task Icons

Task Icons have been added on to the maps so that now players can find task boards easily across Middle Earth.  They are represented by a yellow feather pen symbol on all of the maps.

Doors in Bree

The doors in Bree (and according to the patch notes Breeland) have been changed to clearly show which doors can’t be opened by the player and which ones can.  Also players can now go into 4 new buildings that give Bree a little feel of Stanguard.

Two of these buildings are the old level 90 blocked doors that were found in the past.  These 2 buildings now have quests linked to them that you have to complete in order to get inside them.  I have not yet found where these quests start and so I have not seen inside these two mysterious buildings.  The other 2 buildings in Breeland are open to anyone and allow you to get an insight on both a poor house and a rich estate owner’s house in Bree.  Interestingly all 4 of the new buildings are in about the same place in Southern Bree.

6^th Bag!!!!!!!!!!

If players pre-order Riders of Rohan (RoR) they can get a sixth bag for their account.  I absolutely love this because even if you don’t fill up your bags like me and Goldenstar, you won’t have to go to the vault and venders as often to clear out your bags for another round of playing your character.  I know crafters will really like this new feature because they might be able to quest and craft without having to go to the vault in-between.

Moria Revision- Part 1

Moria is getting quests closer together, getting main paths cleared and getting deeds.  I was really glad when I heard about a Moria revision and then I found out it was just for the first half of Moria.  I actually liked the first half of Moria and didn’t know how I would like this update.

Let me say that clearing the paths and giving us a free goat is the best thing they ever did for Moria.  I no longer have to grind for rep in Thorin’s Hall just to get a goat for Moria; I now can go anywhere and not worry about being dismounted.

I was really worried about them changing the Waterworks as it is one of my top five favorite zones in all of LotRO.  Those worries all went away when I got to the zone and realized it is the same area just with better, faster and more efficient questing.  Moria is still Moria but now it is fun to play even in my least favorite areas of the first part.

I don’t know if just doing the same thing for the later 5 zones of Moria will be enough since, for me, they are much worse but for part one of the revamp it is well worth a look even if you swore to never return.

New Skirmish

Pineleaf and I got together on the test server to try the new skirmish and I think we both agree that it is a lot of fun.  Most of you don’t know it but I am a huge fan of skirmishes.  I have leveled 3 alts just with skirmishes and really can’t get enough of them and any new skirmish is good to me.  It has been a long time since the last skirmish and I am glad they have finally gotten a new one.

One thing I have mixed feelings about though is the fact that the new skirmish takes place in a level 70 area and yet it is available for level 20 up.  I love the fact that level 20-24 players will now have three options for skirmishes.  I don’t however like that they chose this skirmish for new players.  Usually skirmishes stay around the level that they take place in.   For example the Mirkwood skirmishes take place when the player would be in Mirkwood.  I think that taking players to a level 70 area in a skirmish when they are only level 20 could confuse them.  They have no idea what the story is in the skirmish and it could really confuse them and even give away spoilers to plotlines that they will not even be able to start until level 60.  While I love having new skirmishes to do at early levels, please don’t make the new skirmish have spoilers in it for the new players next time Turbine.

While the skirmish is short, it is worth every penny if you have already done the lady in the mountain quest line or you don’t care about spoilers.

Legendary Item Changes

I know I am part of a very small minority but I absolutely LOVE the LI system in LOTRO.  I know there could be some improvements and it could be made easier but especially after they increased relic forging rewards in Update 6 it has been my passion.

I have not yet tried the new Star-Lit Crystals because I have not acquired any of the crystals yet.  I am however really excited about them because they are to make LI’s even more powerful.  They can upgrade tactical ratings, shield ratings or even DPS for your character.  Even better is that they drop from skirmishes which is another of my passions in LOTRO.  I do wish that they would drop from other places so that players did not have to do skirmishes or instances to get the crystals but I am glad they are adding them to the game and I can’t wait to finally get one.

Audacity is Power-full

A big problem after they released Audacity in Update 6 was that players were running out of power from the longer fights.  It made it really hard to kill the other side when you ran out of your precious power.  With update 7 this changes as rank one of Audacity will reduce power costs by 10% and a fully ranked audacity will give players a 20% reduction in power costs.  This makes audacity an even more powerful tool to have in the Moors.  I think that this makes it harder for new players as the game has almost just become a matter of which side has more net Audacity.  Thankfully Audacity costs a lot of Commendations to purchase and so it has not become the win all skill.

I am really glad they are adding power reduction costs to Audacity now that the fights are longer and am looking forward to what they cook up next for the Creeps and Freeps in the Moors.

Final Thoughts

This is really my favorite update to LOTRO since F2P because I really can’t find anything they did wrong with it and it adds so much to the game.  There is a new skirmish, a zone revamp, a new bag, changes to PvP, LI additions, new maps and bug fixes.  I think many players have been waiting for an update that gives new content while improving problems with the current game without messing up anything new and that is this update.

This update has really gotten me excited for Rohan and beyond as Turbine continues to take us through Middle Earth and CSTM will be there the whole way to keep you a very informed citizen of Middle Earth.

Your Thoughts

What do you think about Update 7?

What is your favorite part?

Are you excited about Rohan?

Feel free to answer these questions below and also ask me any questions you have about LOTRO and beyond.

This week Goldenstar’s Dum group completes the 21st hall skirmish. Dumidum was absent as he was at the hospital were his son was being born. Yay Baby Dum!

Merric didn’t do anything this week besides whining and being a baby about hurting his leg.

Town Crier

Official News

• Dev Diary: Fornost
• Official Storm on Methedras Screenshots
• Update 7 Coming Monday, May 14

Developer Bites

• Star Lit Crystal Clarification from Sapience
• Tentative dates posted to the calendar for Spring Festival and the Farmer’s Faire:
  • Spring Festival has tentative date of May 24 – June 11
  • Farmer’s Faire tentative dates of July 19 – August 6

Store News

• Weekly Store Sale
• Reveller’s Giled Mount & Cosmetics
• Rise of Isengard 50% Off in Turbine Web Store

CSTM News

• Bullroarer Update 7 Moria Visual Changes
• Pineleaf Ponders Update 7
• Learn How To Podcast
• Writing for the Web
• LOTR Mods – Third Age Total War

Community News

New LOTRO Blogs:

• MiddleEarthInitiative
• newbiehobbit
• The Adventures of Danania, Supergirl of Lorien

Raise Your Glass

Hadhreleb of Arkenstone

hello, goldenstar (and merric)

i was checking the roundtables to see if you had done any new champion guardian or hunter ones and was somewhat suprised to see that most of them were from 2010. i seems to me that in the two years since then many things may have changed and the old roundtables seem a bit lacking based on this new criteria. new mire comprehensive and up-to-date roundtables would be very useful.

also, your android app pauses the podcasts everytime the screen times out and tapping the screen every five minutes is starting to get old; please fix this issue.

hoping with fingers crossed that i will make it into your next podcast, hadhreleb of arkenstone

Torbo

I have recently stumbled onto your site, been playing LotRO for over a year, really got excited when it went Free to Play. So I am a total FREEP, but spent some money on Points a time or three so technically a “premium” player. I really love the site but wish I knew how to interact more directly with the site’s authors and/or friends. Anyhow some comments in a recent podcast made me wonder about expansions. I bought Rise of Isengard for myself and my wife, but we missed the Moria Expansion that gave the two new classes (UGH!!!). Is it necesarry to purchase all the expansions along the way or do later expansions usually include the previous content as well? We have been able to travel in Moria having gotten the “Path of the Fellowship”. I guess I am just worried this will become an expensive past time for me and my wife if we will have to keep up with expansions too much. However I was more than willing to invest in Isengard at the time since it is one way my wife and I have found to do something together. We love to run our main’s together and frequently reprimand each other if we catch the other running one of our mains without the other. Of course a little crafting or festival running are allowed but you know what I mean. Currently our mains are only 56 kinda stuck there, but we both have some alts in the 30′s and 40′s we also like to play. Also for funsies we created a hobbit kinship on another server with our two teenage daughters. They don’t play quit as much as we do but it is fun to get us all on and do some fellowship questing. ANyhow now I am rambling sorry…

Let me know if there is an IRC channel or forum somewhere I am missing would love to keep in touch when I have free time…

Kazren

Hi,

Every Monday I download the latest podcast and listen as I drive to work (and home again usually, too) and I was so glad you decided to tape the show, even if Merric(I hope he feels better by now) was sick. It reallly brightens my day. Baby Hobbit was adorable, too.

I have to share with you that I have 1 character who has gotten both steeds and the toast emote at the Anniversary from the Envelope quest. Friday night I created a new character, my first Warden(she’s already level 29! Gotta luv her survivability), just so I could try and win her the Dusk steed and darned if she hasn’t gotten a single steed, even though I must have spent $5 buying her extra badges all weekend. She did get the toast emote, but you certainly can’t ride that! She also earned both the Firework Laden and Anniversary Steed from going to the Fireworks event every 30 mins all “night” long, but I really wanted that Dusk steed for her!

It is whimsical riding through a dangerous area and seeing a fierwork launch itself from her new steed, which she’s named Rockette!

Thanks again for keeping me so entertained and filled-in on the news and current store goodies.

Hugs from afar,

Kazren

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Recorded May 12, 2012

By katia stef

Your screenshots could be featured on CSTM as well! Join the Share Your LOTRO Screenshots Flickr group and submit your screenshots. Each week we will pick out a screenshot to share with the community!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Monday, May 14th from 6:00 – 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) to launch the latest game update, Update 7: Shades of the Past. Patch notes will be available during the downtime. For updates during the downtime, you can follow LOTRO on Twitter or like The Lord of the Rings Online on Facebook. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll see you back in the game soon!

Source: LOTRO Forums

Fornost was designed and built in a different era of MMO. It was our third instance, after Garth Agarwen and Great Barrows, and it was completed before LOTRO shipped. That era was marked by behemoth instances inspired by EverQuest (EQ) style dungeons.  The iteration over EQ was that dungeons had become instanced. Now that each group had their own play space, griefing, mob stealing, and other types of negative social play was removed from the equation. What we hadn’t realized, however, was that while Lower Guk was enormous, it was made smaller thanks to having other groups clearing out portions of the dungeon.

And enormous it was.  In fact the several times that I’ve attempted the dungeon I’ve often found myself an hour or two in, just to have the group wipe and discover that mobs had spawned back in the way of our group.  While that may not be a big deal if you are over-leveled and can cut through the trash mobs quickly; when you’re on-level it usually indicates that the group is done.  At least that was the case for my groups.  Don’t get me wrong through, I have always thought that the dungeon was very interesting and one-of-a-kind when it came to its design and aesthetics.

So what does this revamp boil down to?

• Fornost has been split into four 6-man instances.
• The level range for the dungeons is 30 – 75.
• Each instance is designed to last between 30-45 minutes.
• Each instance will have two tiers of difficulty, with a challenge on the final boss fight.
• There are three bosses per wing.
• Each space’s quests will auto-bestow upon entry.
• The instances have been broken down to match the wraiths: water, fire, earth, and shadow.

But what about entry to the dungeons?  Are there any requirements?

Except for water, each instance is gated by a one-time deed to complete the one before it. There’s no advance credit if you’ve done it before. You don’t need to find the entrance to start the water wing.

The mobs have also had some adjustments.  While on the whole the mobs remain the same, some new ones have been added to put some “additional flavour and variety” into the dungeon.  Trash mobs are no longer all elite either (thank goodness), and their AI has been adjusted to make them to make gameplay more interesting.  In contrast though, the bosses have “…seen a lot of work.”

12 is a ton to have across four related instances and we’ve done all we can to have them be different and interesting but feel related. The existing fights were used as the foundation for the new fights, we’ve just enhanced and built up the mechanics so bosses now have more than one unique skill each.

Rock then steps into the diary to talk a little bit about loot.

The big thing which stood out to us was the difference in currency rewards between our existing scaling spaces and the Isengard cluster / Roots of Fangorn. The amount of currency / hour players could get from the Isengard cluster compared to the scaling spaces heavily encouraged players to focus on running the Isengard cluster. While we want players to run the Isengard cluster and Roots of Fangorn, we don’t want to completely leave the Scaling Instances in the dust. To help address the difference, each auto-bestowed optional quest in Fornost will give Medallions instead of Marks. This should help to even out the currency gaps.

He goes on to say that there will also be a chest to go along with each of the three bosses in the Fornost wings.  They will give the normal loot such as skirmish bounties, relics, and the like.  However, the first and the third chests will also give out equipment.  Much like the other revamped scaling instances, the items and loot will scale along with the dungeon.

I for one am looking forward to the dungeons coming out.  Running 6-mans has been a lot of fun over the past couple of months and it’s really allowed me to get to know a lot more of my kinship.  So, I look forward to spending more time with them in these dungeons in the future!  How about you?

Original Version
PDF Version

Each week we ask you to share your successes in Middle Earth with the rest of the community. Post a comment letting us know what you’ve accomplished this past week. We will pick comments at random to read on the podcast giving you a chance for a little shout out for yourself! Our shout-outs are only as good as the information we get so remember:

• Don’t forget to add your character name, what server you play on and, if you like, add your Kinship if you have one.
• Please keep your posts brief. We won’t be able to read full novels of your adventures. At least make it so we can easily sum it up!
• Do not be afraid to post any of your achievements. We don’t care if you just saved Archet or cleared out the Tower of Orthanc. We want to hear from you!

These shout outs will appear in tomorrow’s recording of A Casual Stroll to Mordor Podcast. You are welcome to join us live at 9:30pm Eastern on Saturday! First time joining us live? See our post on how to join CSTM’s live broadcast.

Comments for this thread will be closed after recording as this is a weekly thing. If you missed this week’s cut off, don’t fret! A new thread just like this one will appear next Friday.

Did you not qualify for the 5th anniversary gifts given to four and five year veterans and really wish you too could have the cosmetics and horse? Today Turbine has released for a limited time the “Reveller’s Gilded Mount & Cosmetics”. They will be available in the store from May 11 – May 24, 2012.

Anniversary Gift and Reveller’s Gilded Comparison

To be perfectly clear, these are not exactly the same as the items given to four and five year veterans but admittedly they are very close. These versions have a bit more swirls and sparkles (more gilded I suppose you could say) to them.

Here’s a quick comparison of the 5 year rewards modeled by me (blue) and the Reveller’s Guilded items as graciously shared by LOTRO Fashion (red).

Be sure to check out LOTRO Fashion’s blog to see the Reveller’s Gilded cosmetics in other colors to see how it is dyed.

Another bonus for the horse is that it is a 68% speed (the five-year gift was only a 62% speed)  and has 250 morale (the five-year gift has 200) so it is not only a tad fancier but it is also faster and heartier.

Cost Options

I’m very happy to say that Turbine has listened to our cries for account wide horse purchases. There are bundles available to purchase the cosmetics or the horse or both for all your characters.

Buy Individually

• 295 for Reveller’s Gilded Party Dress
• 295 for Reveller’s Gilded Tunic & Trousers
• 295 for Reveller’s Gilded Cloak
• 1,995 for Reveller’s Gilded Mount

Buy in a Bundle for a Single Character

• 550 for complete Reveller’s Gilded Outfit
• 2,495 for complete Reveller’s Gilded Outfit & Reveller’s Gilded Mount

It is a 37% discount to buy the complete outfit set in a bundle compared to buying the pieces individually.

It is a 13% discount to buy the complete outfit with mount bundle for a single character compared to buying the items individually.

Buy in a Bundle Account Wide

• 995 for complete Reveller’s Gilded Outfit account-wide
• 2,995 for Reveller’s Gilded Mount account-wide
• 3,495 for complete Reveller’s Gilded Outfit & Reveller’s Gilded Mount account-wide

It is a 12% discount to buy the account wide full bundle compared to buying the account wide options individually.

Options are good things and I’m glad to see so many here to allow folks to get the items they want in the way they want.

3,495 Turbine Points may seem a tad expensive to get everything but it is account wide and it will depend on personal preference if this is worth the money to you or not. Personally, I’ll be saving my points for other items but I already have a similar set so the choice is yours!

In case you are wondering if a five-year veteran like myself is annoyed this is in the store, I can tell you that I honestly am not. I’m glad those who were really hoping for to get these rewards are able to pick up something very similar if they desire.

Special thank you to LOTRO Fashion for granting me permission to use her images!

The following items are on sale from May 11th – 17th. Below you will find the sale listings as well as our recommendation on purchasing.

Free Sample of the Week

I believe this is the first time we’ve seen this not only as a freebie but on any kind of special as I don’t think we’ve even seen it on sale before. If you have gotten the gifts on newer characters, you should have picked up some of these to try in one of your gift boxes.

The purpose of this item is to save you some coin in repairs as well as making it longer to go between repairs. Death actually will cause no item-wear.

These items are great when you or your team are working on completing a new dungeon, a new skirmish or a new section of a raid. Ketani lists it as a has it listed in her recommendation of store items to bring to a raid. I’ve used them before when volunteering to help Pineleaf gather information on raid size skirmishes for his guides.

They’re actually pretty nifty and this week you can get a stack of five for free with the coupon code IWRT67.

Weekend Sale

There is a weekend special this weekend where you can pick up Rose, Crimson and Red dyes for 50% off.

No coupon code necessary. No end date is specifically mentioned but typically weekend sales last until Monday.

Weekly Sale

Clothing*
*Excludes Reveller’s Gilded Cosmetics

Want to see your favorite LOTRO character in a Ceremonial Robe of Viisaus, a Sellsword’s Hauberk or a Ceremonial Tunic of Harmony? Try out those and many more this week and save 35%! Sale includes Body Clothing, Headwear, Shoulder-wear, Gloves, Leggings and Footwear – except the Reveller’s Gilded Cosmetics.

Store Location: Cosmetics → Clothing
Levels: All
150-295
98-192

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: Yay for a clothing sale! However I cannot give this a thumbs up because these are simply frilly fun items and there may be more useful things you could purchase (like what I dunno… clothes are important!). One thing I will caution you on is that some of these items are available to obtain in game either with skirmish marks, reputation or from an in-game festival (if you can bare to wait).

Be an informed purchaser and visit Darzil’s LOTRO Crafting Guide first. If it can be earned or purchased in game. Darzil’s got your info! Nothing wrong with buying what you wish in the LOTRO Store, I just rather you know that the the item you are buying is a store exclusive or not rather than be annoyed to find out later!

Note the new Reveller’s cosmetics are not included.

Accessories

Gear up your LOTRO character with a Campaign Backpack, an Elegant Elven Quiver, and Embroidered Satchel and many more accessories – on sale this week at 35% off!

Store Location: Cosmetics → Accessories
Levels: All
150-295
98-192

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: These are essentially just a different category of cosmetics so it gets the same rating and advice as cosmetic clothing. Be an informed buyer and check if the item you desire is easily obtained in-game before purchasing.

Dyes

Alter the colors of your character’s clothing and armor with hues such as Forest Green, Gold, Evendim Blue and Violet! Available in single and 5-stack uses.

Store Location: Cosmetics → Dyes
Levels: All
25-450
17-293

Dyes are pretty easy to obtain in game and there are no store exclusive dyes. Before shelling out any real life money for your favorite color, I’d check with a friendly neighborhood scholar or your server’s auction house.

Emotes

Grant your character the ability to dance, breathe fire, howl at the moon and more! LOTRO Store Emotes can be used to express a range of actions and emotions that add to the fun in Middle-earth!

Store Location: Character → Emotes
Levels: All
95-250
62-163

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: I love emotes, however they are in no way needed to help advance your character. It’s just for fun!

I will throw out there the warning that most emotes in the LOTRO Store can be earned in game either through deeds, festivals or reputation.

There are some store exclusive emotes that you cannot earn in game.

• Ground Roll [video]
• Feather [video]
• Jazz Hands
• Mount Rear Up [video]
• Mount Bow [video]
• Mount kick [video]
• Stone [video]
• Paper [video]
• Scissors [video]
• Wipe Sweat [video]

Hopefully I haven’t missed any but if I have, please let me know in the comments!

Hurried Traveller

Reach your destination faster! Reduce the recovery time on Milestone Skills by 30 minutes which allows you to use them more often. This is a permanent unlock for your character.

Store Location: Character → Character Upgrades → Travel Traits
Levels: All
495
322

CSTM RECOMMENDATION: It gets a meh only because it depends on your play style (how much you use milestones or if you’re a hunter/warden) how useful this is. The only bummer for this item is that is it only per character so make sure you buy it on the character you want to have this skill!

Writing for the web is different than the writing you were taught in school. In school, you were given structure for your essays that you had to follow.

While I wouldn’t recommend you totally throw out what you know about writing essays as it probably is a good idea your post has a basic topic that you are talking about and have supporting paragraphs but there is one thing you need to know when writing for a post on the web.

People Don’t Read – They Scan

There may be a few folks who will actually read your entire article word for word but the reality is most will not. I can attest to this in the number of questions I get on guides I write where the answer to their question is in the guide, they just didn’t read it.

In the first couple seconds of opening your article, your reader will judge if they will actually read your article. They will look at your opening paragraph and scan down the page and see if this is something of interest to them.

How do you capture the scanner’s attention?

• Headers separating your thoughts into categories to grab attention
• Bulleted lists to quickly scan details in an organized fashion.
• Stress important words and phrases with tools such as bold, italics, highlights or color (avoid using underlines as in the web world that = hyperlink)
• Keep your paragraphs short.
• Images! Draw people’s eyes to a topic by using appropriate images that enhance your story or subject

Re-arrange Your Paragraphs

Start your paragraphs with your most impactful statement. If a scanner is going to read any part of a paragraph, it’s going to be the first sentence. Especially if the paragraph is near the top of the page or the start of a new sub-header. Let the reader know what you’re trying to tell them in that paragraph and you could capture their attention to read the rest.

It’s Your Blog – You Decide

Now I certainly am not a writing wizard with all the answers. To be perfectly honest, one of the most difficult classes I’ve ever taken in school was Creative Writing which you would think would be pretty good skill to have for a blog owner.

Just because someone took the time to give you “rules” for writing on the web doesn’t mean you need to follow them all. Your content and your blog are yours and it should reflect your unique style. If something here simply doesn’t jive with you and your style, I advise to forget it. You are the boss of your blog!

For More Information On this Subject

• Writing for the Web from useit.com
• Write for the Web from Yahoo Style Guide
• Web Content Style Guide by Gerry McGovern Publications

Introduction

Update 7 brings us the first new skirmish in a year. This time, we head into Dunland where Gwyllion, the Old Woman of the Mountain is concocting some nefarious scheme against the free peoples of Middle-earth.

Storm on Methedras is a new skirmish that will be available through the LOTRO store. As with other store skirmishes, VIP players can access Storm on Methedras without purchasing it.

Please note that Storm on Methedras is currently being tested on Bullroarer. It is not yet on the live servers and is subject to change before going live.

Level Range

Despite the Dunland setting, Storm on Methedras can be run at any level from 20 to 75, which means that it will be available to your character once you complete the skirmish tutorial (assuming you are VIP or have purchased the skirmish). This means that level 20-24 characters will now have a third choice for skirmishes.

Note that the original release notes stated that the range was 70-75 but the most recent version of the notes states 20-75.

Pace

This is a fairly fast-paced skirmish and I can complete it in about 15 minutes (some speed players are stating even faster times). This isn’t to say that there is a low mob density. In fact, the contrary is the case. This skirmish includes a variable mob density that in solo runs is generally higher than that in Trouble in Tuckborough. This can be a challenge while you are clearing a control point.

Fortunately, during the counterattacks you have the assistance of Saeradan and Amlan. The counterattacks do not include standard skirmish lieutenants but they do include encounter mods who represent lieutenants of Gwyllion.

Encounters

In Storm on Methedras, the encounters operate completely differently from other skirmishes. The encounters are activated in the middle of the third counterattack at each of the first two control points. This means that the encounters will not be completely random as there will always be one encounter at the first control point and one at the second control point. Unlike most offensive skirmishes, the encounter bosses are signature in solo runs and almost impossible to avoid.

Note that one of encounters are a pair of brothers who appear together. While they are part of a single encounter, they are counted separately for the purpose of looting and completing the encounter deed.

The Boss Fight

The objectives in the boss fight are more complicated than most skirmishes. There are two levels of victory. The first level of victory requires you to defeat the drakes and keep Saeradan alive. The second level of victory requires you to keep the drummers alive and to defeat the Old Woman of the Mountain. If you complete the first level, you can complete the skirmish and spawn the treasure chest. If you complete the second level, you can also loot the Old Woman and thus gain a double reward for the skirmish.

Other Updates

Star-lit crystals are a new addition to the legendary item system. They are upgrades to rating and DPS stats on your legendary item. They drop off monsters, including skirmish lieutenants and bosses. I have yet to see on drop, though.

This update also includes an update to Fornost and Moria. I must admit that I have not had an opportunity to test these features so I will leave them to other members of CSTM.

May your shield protect you and your spear never break,

Pineleaf Needles