I felt this way a few months ago and was encouraged by support from fellow LOTRO bloggers and podcasters. I stuck it out and, in many ways, I was happy I did.

Still, I know what it is that I’d like to do … unfortunately, that means letting go of this site. There are too many other things I need to do and wish to accomplish, things I want to learn, places I want to go. True, MMeOw in and of itself is not preventing those things necessarily, but I spend a significant amount of time, money and energy on it. While I still love the game and plan on continuing to play it regularly (it’s almost all I play it seems!), my passion for writing about it and maintaining this site has dwindled.

I’ve really loved writing here and I hope other people have enjoyed it as well. The LOTRO and extended MMORPG community have really been wonderful toward me and this site. I’ve appreciated the kind words and help along the way. I’m probably most sorry that it’ll disappoint some people in doing this, but I think you’ll forgive me .

MMeOw was something I wanted to do because, at the time, there were relatively few LOTRO blogs out there. Now there’s quite a few of excellent ones out there, headed up by some really great people. I think this makes it a little easier to move on (please don’t read this wrong, as I don’t want to overstate my importance). I encourage anyone who visits here to check out the LOTRO Combo Blog, which links to quite a few of them. As of right now, I plan on leaving that running indefinitely; however, if anyone wants to pick up the reins on that, let me know.

If you still want to know what I’m up to, you can visit my more personal site, radish.me, or follow my non-MMeOw twitter.

Thanks!

We don’t do a great job of communicating the way the gauntlet works, so here’s what’s happening in that pic:

— You have 40 minutes from the time you kill the last two armored guards at the end of the gauntlet to kill Durchest without having to reclear the gauntlet.
— 39 minutes after you’ve killed those guards, you’ll get a warning message. Something to the effect of, “You hear the sound of reinforcements in the halls, they are coming..“
— A minute after that warning message, you’ll receive a message stating something to effect of, “Reinforcements have arrived, this is your last chance.“
— At this point you’ve had 40 minutes of free attempts on Durchest. Any current attempts will need to be finished up, after which the gauntlet will reset.

If you’ve been trying to prevent a respawn of the gauntlet, you’ll see the situation in that picture. Simply walk to the entrance (you don’t need to leave the instance, just walk to the door). You should see the front gate raise, an instance billboard indicating that you will have to reclear the gauntlet, and then the gate should lower.

This is why most groups aren’t seeing this. If you kill Durchest before the gauntlet timer is up you shouldn’t notice a thing. If you consistently attempt Durchest with everyone dying and then reviving at the entrance, you shouldn’t notice this. If for some reason you do though, walk to the entrance, let the gate raise, then lower, then reclear.

Hopefully if you’ve been having some issues, this will clarify things a bit.

The Chamber of the Crossroads itself is a relatively small area on the far eastern side of Durin’s Way. The surrounding area turned out to be surprisingly confusing, with rises and falls and a multitude of dead ends. It didn’t help that the enemies that prowled the area, particularly to the north and the east, were still particularly strong. It turned out that the dwarves were simply asking too much of her. While she could take on a single Merroval, she never was able to make it to their actual roosting grounds. Similarly, while she could take on most lone goblins in the area, they tended to form groups around the drums she was asked to destroy. It was a losing game.

Some time was also spent helping Bori, who had me running what appeared to be a fool’s errand: finding a legendary mithril axe. She’s not had too much luck yet, unfortunately.

It was decided that more time should be spent building her skills and strength. Eluveril killed a good many goblins, bats and wargs. She even managed to gather some legendary weapons, all of which were quickly identified and deconstructed. While the Frost Rune-stone she currently uses isn’t ideal, a Lightning-based one has yet to pop up.

Moria has offered a nice assortment of metals and ores as well, but in order to refine and smelt, Eluveril has to find a forge. So far, she’s not had much luck, but the Twenty-first Hall is said to contain one. This area is even further east, but the route so far has been surprisingly quiet. The halls that lead there are immense, open and bright … Not something orcs and goblins seem to prefer. Hopefully she’ll reach her destination soon.

Next time, Eluveril keeps helping Bori and advances to the Twenty-first Hall.

(My apologies for the short update and lack of images… My computer crapped out on me. All is good now!)

So what drives me to create an alt? There are a few different reasons:

• I want to play the game without out-leveling the group that I’m playing with at the time.
• I want to be able to play a different “role” in a group that I’m playing with.
• I want to try out a new game mechanic that is only available with that class.
• I’m bored/frustrated with what I’m doing with my main at that moment.

I have been playing MMOs for so long now that I’ve gotten fairly good at noticing the way in which the game “works.” Each game tends to have a pattern that it follows for efficient leveling, and if you figure out that pattern, and follow it, you can level fairly quickly and with minimal effort. There are some exceptions out there of course, Star Trek Online and Star Wars Galaxies being noticeable ones, that follow a different progression path than “leveling”, but most MMOs have that in common.

What this means to me is that I tend to out-level static groups that I play with. I’ll get on for an hour while my wife watches TV, or just pop on for a quick skirmish and oooops, another level. This is quite frustrating for the other members of the group, and it affects the group experience that we’re having. I’ll be overpowered compared to some other members of the group which makes it not fun, as they start to feel that they are not contributing.

So I’ll often create an Alt because I still want to play the game, but I don’t want to end up 4–5 levels ahead of the group.

I also find that I like to play ALL of the “roles” in a group. I’m happy tanking, healing, dps’ing or buffing/de-buffing. Both of my “main” characters at the moment are tanks, so one of my “main Alts” (now isn’t that an oxymoron!) is a hunter, so now I can experience a DPS character. It changes the way that I approach each encounter with enemies and stops me from going on autopilot as I play, which I might be known for doing with my mains every once in a while.

One of the reasons that I love Lord of the Rings Online so much is that is has a great diversity of game mechanics in the different classes. Yes, there are classes that play very similar, but most classes have some sort of game mechanic built around them. We all know about the Warden and the gambit system, but there is also the Guardian’s set of skills that only become available after you have parried or blocked an attack. There are the different tiers of ballads that Minstrels have. There are the tricks for Burglars. And the list goes on. I enjoy trying out these different mechanics, and that’s what often drives me to create another Alt.

I might also have a little bit of an attention problem. I find myself getting tired if I’m “grinding” through some content. Sometimes, however, it’s just simply that I’m tired of that class. So instead of logging on to my main, I’ll create an Alt.

Just one of these reasons is rarely enough to cause the creation of a new alt. I find that a combination of these situations leads to my alt-aholism. There are just too many cool new things to try, and you never know when a group might need an *insert class/role here.”

Hi, my name is Chris, and I’m an alt-aholic. And that’s OK.

Herein lies the dilemma. I’m not a hardcore raider, but I do like having the bits of shiny for my toons. I don’t need to be the first to down the boss or have the instance on farm status, but a girl likes some swag, you know?

Then what are the options out there for the “casual raider”? Well, you can try to form a static group with people from different kins, but you might run into some issues with figuring out the loot rules as everyone will have a different take on how to divide the loot.  Another option is to do PUGs, but honestly, when do PUGs turn out well for you? Almost never.

Seriously though, when looking for a group to raid with you can join a kin, but that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to raid with them right off the bat. Many kins these days require you submit a raiding application and then have a visual inspection of your gear and stats. The problem with this is that if you’re new to raiding (whether it is in general or on a particular character) you might not have all your traits maxed out or have the best gear. With that in mind, it is a good idea to “shadow” a kin if you’re able to. By that I mean see if you can join them on a raid or just go questing with them and get a feel for how they play and how the officers treat their members. Also find out if there is a waiting list for raiding and if they have multiple static groups that raid. Larger kins do raids at different times to accommodate alts, so there might be room for you on their secondary raid group. Check out all your options and be well informed before jumping into a new kin. There’s nothing worse than being known as the person that is a ‘kin-hopper”.  Once you’ve run with the potential new kin a few times you can better decide if you want to make it your home.

If  this doesn’t work out for you, there is one last option and it is my favourite.  Get two or three friends who will do quad boxing! Put all your toons on auto attack and auto follow and hit those raids!  The only drawbacks to this idea are falling off cliffs when you drag that last toon around the corner or having your toon run into the insta-death water.  But really, other than that it’s a fine idea. You have 4 times the chance at good loot, you get more coin and more XP. A win-win-win-win situation for everyone.

Hounding Fear.

This has been the subject of many threads, complaints, frustrations, and arguments. We’ve responded in the past to some of these threads trying to explain things a bit (feel free to hunt them down if you wish). We also made a significant adjustment to Hounding Fear with Moria: reducing the chance of it landing on you when fighting mobs lower level than you. Currently, you actually have a 0% chance of getting hit by Hounding Fear when being attacked by mobs that are gray to you.

The reason we’re responding to this (newest) thread is because the game has changed a bit: Skirmishes, specifically soldiers. We want soldiers to be able to protect players the best they can, and we also want players to be able to protect their soldiers the best they can. Hounding Fear hampers that a bit. If you’re able to heal your soldier and trying to run over to him but get slowed by Hounding Fear, you might not get in range in time to save him. Therefore…

The effect “Hounding Fear” is being removed from Skirmishes AND from Landscape.

Now, you might be saying: “Protecting your Soldier? That is your reason for removing it when there’s so many better ones that have existed this whole time!?” What it comes to is that this was the final straw. We’ve debated back and forth for a long time now about the merits and flaws of Hounding Fear: what we were trying to achieve with it, how we were successful and unsuccessful with our goals, what the consequences will be if we remove it.

We hope this change will be for the better in the short term and the long term. We feel this is the right choice to make (though, to be fair, we always make the choices we make thinking they’re the right ones). Should it have been made sooner? Maybe. Will it backfire horribly because of some unforeseen consequence? Hopefully not.

Thank you for all of your feedback. We do pay attention to your concerns and try and act upon them when we are able to (assuming we agree with you, of course ).

So things appear to be changing for the better for all you Skirmishes out there.

I honestly like this a heck of a lot better, as it’ll benefit everyone across the game. It also encourages returning and new players to see more of the world and the things that have been changed.

The event starts today and runs through January 25th.

The entrance to the Dolven-view.

The Dolven-view was a welcome sight after all of the darkness and creepy noises Eluveril had to pass. A surprising number of dwarves resided here, including envoys for two major factions in the area: the Guards and the Miners. Both had good causes, but the Guards won her over and have received most of her support, receiving several strange relics she had collected on her way over. The hope is that someday soon she’ll be able to trade for a Rune-keeper book the Guards are holding.

Goblins were a major concern for everyone there. Up until this point, Eluveril hadn’t encountered many of them. She had spied on one of their encampments, but thus far had only battled one that veered onto the main road to Dolven-view. At the dwarves behest, Eluveril ventured into one of their many camps to thin their numbers, but also to gather more information on where exactly they were coming from. It turns out that despite the number of dwarves here  in the western areas, the eastern reaches of Moria are apparently very dangerous and largely under enemy control.

A lone adventurer rides out of a goblin encampment.

Eluveril made her way south to another dwarven stronghold, the Deep Descent. Old mining tracks run throughout the area, some of which have been torn assunder by unknown forces. Luckily, nothing that big seems to be running around down there now … Instead Eluveril scouted camps of goblins, while avoiding large numbers of insects. She even ran into a disgusting, glowing worm. This area made it clear how deep Moria’s chasms can go.

A bottomless pit?

Eventually, Eluveril turned around and headed toward more friendly territory. She checked out a few of the local sights (including a pretty impressive bridge), talked with some more dwarves and had her equipment repaired.

The sound of this waterfall is deafening.

Next up, her hope is to continue helping in Deep Descent and make her way to the Chamber of the Crossroads.

I thought it would be helpful to put together a map of the flower locations (Nedorlas, Braiglad, Lenhwest, Silloth, Merillif, Dorollin, Cordofoneth, Rhosthon). I didn’t bother with coordinates, as I think this is easy enough. I’ve labeled by name, which should be helpful for those of you with a few flowers leftover.

Map the the flowers of the Old Forest. Click for a larger version.

This deed honestly drove me nuts, as a lot of the flowers are in areas you have no real need to enter. Stick it to the Old Forest by completing this, which is a reward in and of itself.

We have found the issue with all of the legacies costs not decreasing as the legacy tiers up. It will be fixed in the next major patch (not tomorrow’s). There was a problem with rounding off that caused the numbers not to change as they should. This will correct all legacy costs for all classes.

If you’re not familiar with this issue, Ferdinand the Great has posted a brief summary on LOTRO Vault:

Unaware of what the issues were? A number of legacies (at least eight of them confirmed for Wardens!) did not reduce in cost at certain upgrade levels. (In particular, T4>T5 and T5>T6 were being miscalculated.) That means that, given a rate of something like 500SM/hr (taking into account dailies), you were looking at about four hours of wasted gameplay upon purchase of a Scroll of Entitlement, because your legacy tier upgrade would net you zero points. Oops.

I’ve not dealt with that issue yet, but it’ll be something to watch out for … sure sounds like a pain in the butt.