Status update!

Hi! I've been away from blog for a while, and now I've returned!
Here is recent update about what I'm up to;

1) Level 85

I even bragged it on Facebook LOL

Yes, that's right, I've finaaly hit level cap of 85! Now I'm at Hytbold doing notorious dailies, but frankly, it's not THAT bad as its reputation. Watching the town rebuilt by your constant effort, is somewhat moving. I've heard in order to completely rebuild Hytbold, you'll need 45 days(5 quests poer day). But hey, I'd just use Mithril coin to reset the counter :)

2) First Raid!

Have I told you I've never - maybe once or twice perhaps - been into felowship quests or group instances before 85? Guess I enjoyed playing epic and solo quests, rather than playing it with other people.
But after 85, I'd not have to. My kinsmen took me to Battle for Erebor 12 men instance, and it was tons of fun. I'll write more about it later on.

Scenery : Journey to Rohan



Are you ready to meet Rohan?

 Last post I've talked about the Argonath, and now I'm riding hard to the realm of Rohan, and I got to tell you that there are so much to see! 

Peering into far beyond before the journey, at Amon Hen

 Vast plain, many horses are not everything Rohan could offer, but the architecture, culture and even political conflicts are ready for you to experience.

The weather wasn't too good...

 Rohan adapts old Nordic/Scandinavian culture. You may recall vikings, Beowulf and so on. It's fascinating to observe the diferences between the looks of Bree and towns of Rohan.


Mead hall of Thane. Bring my mead, This man is thirsty!

Although, Rohan's situation wasn't good at all. Against the invasion of Isengard and Mordor forces with the help of Nazgul, Rohan's people were not ready to repel the attack, and as expected, that's where you come in.

Outpost of Rohan invaded by Nazgul

Hope you'd find Rohan fun to enjoy as I did. Above all, riding great lands of Rohan with fast war steed is incomparably fun!

Off you go!

Scenery : Argonath

The Argonath

 I'm very excited to post this scenery, because the main reason I rode so hard from Archet to Rohan - level 1 ~ 82 in 2 months!! - was to see Argonath. The journey was hard, but watching the magnificent statues of kings was worth a wait.

Passing Argonath behind, will be there to see it again!

 The Argonath, also known as The Gates of Argonath or The Pillars of Kings, is a monument comprising two enormous statues carved in the likenesses of Isildur and Anárion, standing upon either side of the River Anduin at the northern approach to Nen Hithoel. It marked the northern border of Gondor, as nearby down south were previous outposts, the Amon Hen and the Amon Lhaw. [from lord of the rings wiki]

Weekly LOTROshots Win!

The Winning Shot!

Casual Stroll to Mordor, one of major blog of LOTRO, picks weekly LOTRO photos among Flickr uploaded screenshots. This week, my Isengard shot is picked and up on their post!!




I'm so happy about this!! If you have time to spare, please visit Casual Stroll to Mordor and say grats!

For those of you who want to see more photos of mine, please find my flickr page!

Update : The screenshot's resolution has changed to bigger one! Enjoy in larger size!

Scenery : Isengard (with personal opinion)

The day when Isengard tour wasn't that bad

 Welcome to Isengard and the tower of Orthanc! Home of the white wizard, bane of Fangorn and the breeder of Uruk-hai.
 If you've read the novel or at least seen the movie, you might realize that Isengard wasn't a den of foul creatures as it is now. When Saruman of many colours was called the white wizard, when he was still wise, Isengard was baeutiful place to look upon.

Isengard and the Tower of Orthanc

 After Saruman's betrayal, his lust for power turned his home into a house of flame and smoke. But if you see it in diferent perspective, Saruman is not an enemy but a pioneer of technology.
 Saruman wanted to industrialize Middle-earth and he thought the time of daydreaming and past-dwelling is over. He was a revolutionist and technology leader. Although, Middle-earth wasn't ready for such rapid advancement, thus resistance was greater than he knew, which lead to his failure.

Saruman of many colour, perhaps he was a pioneer after all

If he kept his plan until 4th age, when land is at peace, people might actually greet his idea. But that's just my thought. White hand's revolution was short-ended and it was crushed under the hooves of Rohirrim horses.

The seat of Saruman

News : Update 10 Release note & Short review

The release note for update 10 have been published and it's full of exciting changes! I'll not post full release note here since it's quite extensive. Please find linked release note below for your use.

Update 10 : Against the Shadow Pt.2 Release Note
Known Issue List

I've made a short list of changes that might affect Lore-master for future reference. If you're LM, hope this might provide some help understanding recent update.

1) Critical rating = Critical hit chance + Critical/devastating critical hits magnitude
    Critical defence is also changed in order to match Critial rating's conversion, and now can be found on class equipments.

2) Area effect skill (Warding Knowledge, Sticky Tar) now shows boundary of effect area. White for friendly and red for hostile. Can be turned off in option menu.

3) Will stat now affact tactical mitigation, not power pool and OCPR. Fate affacts on ICPR/OCPR much better than before. Power will increase based on level development.

4)  There'll be no dread efffect even after defeat(yay!).

5) Lore-master Class change :
    Reduced power drain effect on Power of Knowledge
    Slightly reduced power restore effect on Power of Knowledge
    Channeling time has been reduced for Power of Knowledge from 17s to 8s (Untraited) and 25s to 16s (Traited)

6) Numerous changes on combat mount, I haven't played it, thus I don't know what's it about.

7) Currency change : Mithril Coin(travelling writs removed, and I think something more have happened)

8) Heritage rune is now applied much faster when clicked

9) 3 new Erebor instances, and some instances rescaled

10) Crafting XP reduced

News : Server Downtime - 6th, March, 2013

Due to update of recent Update 10, all server will be down through 0700 to 1000 AM Eastern (-5 GMT), and that is 2100 to 0000 AM in my timezone(+9 GMT). I'll post updated patchnote when it's out.

Scenary : Dunland Village

Busy and live village at Dunland

Scenery : Oath that never fulfiled

Oath of Mountain folks

Do you remember Oathbreakers? The dead who dwells in the mountain? During epic quests, you can find out how they've become undead, and why Isildur was so furious enough to curse them for eternity.

Scenery : Enedwaith - Day and Night

Plain of Enedwaith - Day

Plain of Enedwaith - Night

Venturing Dunland



Map of Dunland, Isengard is not far away!

 Last night, I've passed Enedwaith and rode to Dunland. Since I'm doing quests parallel to Epic storyline, I'd to do some low level quests(including grey colored quests).
Dunland was whole new area to me, as Enedwaith was, and it's awesome. Vast plain lifes and many tribemen were there, and of course, view was great to watch.

Currently I'm Trum Dreng, Northwest corner of Dunland. I've finished Bonevale, Galtrev, and Tal Methedras. After finishing Trum Dreng, I'll moving on to Starkmoor where next Epic queststory would continue.

I will post some of the spectacular scenery of Dunland soon, and believe me it's great.

Reference : Where to grind Hide?

As a tailor, main concern is to gather hide and extra ingredients if necessary, and raise guild reputation whenever it's possible.

A time consuming job it is, but if we learn to find right animals, and right place to hunt them, then time cost would reduce dramatically.

Thus, I've written down several location for hide grinding. All information are derived from other website such as LOTRO community(http://my.lotro.com) and mmorsel(http://lotro.mmorsel.com). The reason I've posting this is solely for my reference.

Scenery : Painting of Dol Guldur

Painting of the Dark Lord and the Nazgul

 Venturing through Dol Guldur wasn't vesy difficult task. Since I wasn't running proper 12-men instance, but an Epic quest instance which is relatively easy. Although foes were still tough and took some amount of time to clear each section.
 While wandering through the fort, I saw an interesting painting of the master of Dol Guldur. You can see it above.

Sad Doldur, Evil Fortness at Ashenglade. Dol Guldur looking behind

Good thing about Mirkwood, specially near Dol Guldur, is there are awesome castles to see. It feels like grim version of Evendim, too!

End of Epic Volume 2!

Farewell to Moria dwarves, It's been fun to fight with you!

Yesterday, I've finally finished Epic : Volume 2, Mines of Moria. It started with dwarven storyline, and ends with dwarves and elves joined as an alliance against the Enemy. Still doing Volume 2 Epilogue, but rather than trying to finish it, I'll ride onto Dunland now. Think I've seen enough of Mirkwood's grim.

Now to Isengard and to Rohan!

Scenery : Dol Guldur

Fortress of Dol Guldur

Dol Guldur, or Hill of Dark Sorcery, was Sauron's personal fortress and base of operations when he worked his sorcery in the wood under the name of The Necromancer. It was located in the south of Mirkwood for over twelve-hundred years of the Third Age.

Scenery : Mirkwood

Overlooking view at Haunted Inn

Ost Galadh, Fortress of Trees

Half-way through Mirkwood, though gloom and dark atmosphere is constantly surrounding player, few spots still hides its beauty.

Will be posting more about Mirkwood soon!

Scenery : Rivendell

To new adventure!

Everytime I come to Rivendell, I find myself standing in the middle of it, and watching surrounding atmosphere in awe. Lorien is beautiful place for sure, but when it comes to comparison, Rivendell was always my favorite.

The name 'Last Homely House' is certainly well-named since the place makes me feel comfortable, secure and refreshing.

If you've time to spare, why don't you visit Imladris?

Onto Mirkwood

Map of Mirkwood

 Currently venturing Mirkwood, doing Epic and quests. Mirkwood's quest level scales from 60 to 65 or higher, but since I'm 66 now, almost every quests are blue or light blue, which makes me easy to accomplish.
 Going to Dunland would make me level faster, but I want to raise my standing amost Elves up to Kindred, so I might stay here for a little while.

Caras Galadhon, the heart of Elvendom on Earth

Being Kindred with Galadhrim elves needs some quests grinding, currently I'm at ally standing and it'll take a while until I get what I want.

Hopefully I can get to Dunland - or Enedwaith if Epic takes me there - around next week.
I'll post some scenery pics of Mirkwood in the next post.

Have a good day!

Tim Burton!!

Went to see Tim Burton exhibition with my wife. As a huge fan of Tim Burton's work, I was quite excited.
Had fun watching Tim's early and recent works, and costumes used in his movies!

Reference : Lore-master virtues grind list

The infamous virtue UI. Grind 'till you're done!

This won't happen until I hit lvl80 or higher, but I'll need information regarding lore-master related virtue traits and grinding spots. If you're lore-master and needs some grinding to do, hope this post is useful. All information was originally posted on http://docholidaymmo.com

1. Lore-master related traits and virtues list

 2. Grind plan for each virtues

1) Innocence

 

2) Compassion

3) Tolerance

4) Fidelity

5) Wisdom

6) Valour

7) Zeal

8) Confidence

Snowing, again?!

Woke up in the morning and went outside to go to work, and found myself in the middle of snow field just as I would be in Forochel or in Misty mountain.

Last time slippery road made me knocked over, so today I will be more cautious.

Have a great day, to all business men and others whom are still in their bed!

Scenery : Imlad Lalaith

Elves are ready for the party!!

Imlad Lalaith, the Valley of Laughter, is where most of Lothlórien's feasts take place.

Lvl 60 in 4 years

According to my registration date, I've been playing LOTRO for 4 years.

Yet, I've never reached level 60 and beyond, and never saw outside of Moria.

After 4 years, I was finally there!