Hands of Justice
What we have played => Lord of the Rings Online => Topic started by: Jarkko on December 14, 2009, 10:28:32 AM
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Fitzer hit 50 this morning :)
WARNING: Lots of ranting follows.
Fitzer will now head to Moria, probably for good (except the skirmishes and if there at some point is kinship runs to do epic quests or visit dungeons). I simply *hate* the idiocy of running around for absolutely *nothing* most of the time playing in Misty Moutains, Angmar or Eregion (I didn't check out Forochel, but I seriously doubt that would have been any different).
I wonder who are the people who thought it is a brilliant idea to make quest like "Ride to arses end to find a bag, ride back across half the world, oh Gandalf knows a good trick why dont you visit him (in the exactly other end of the world) and then ride back to me so I can then send you to the arses end again to do something equally silly" is *fun* or exiting o rmentally challenging? The council of north quests must be the most phukked up quests ever seen however; you are required to get back and forrth constantly, and you don't get the travel location until you have completed the quests. Hooray for brilliant thinking! Don't we all love to spend 90% of the game getting back and forth between the quest locations and quest givers? Eragion is only slightly worse, as you don't have access to swift travel until you've completed the quests (but the snail version really is slow; I timed it, it takes more time with the travel route to get from Rivendel to what ever that quest hub in south west corner than it gets to ride there by yourself (the travel route goes halfway to Bree before turning turning south, a royal idea of excellence that too), of course you can visit the fridge or toilet while the travel route mount is moving but there is only so many times one has to visti the fridge or toilet in an hour...
In Moria the quest hubs are close to travel routes. I already did some quests there, although it was slightly dangerous. Then again, I *like* a challenge, I play to amuse my self, and I get more amused when I overcome difficult odds. However, my fuse burned with the back and forth moving there too, as the travel locations require level 50 (now that is fair enough, it is a requirement you basically need to do quests there, not the retarded system of "you get the travel location when you don't need it anymore".
/END OF RANTING
I have high hopes for Moria. The quests I did had a very good feeling, and they felt pretty challenging too. I hope the challenge level stays up even in the quests further in in Moria :)
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You'll soon miss sunlight :)
Moria is ok though - its gotten better for Beo since the paidforpatch what with combat changes and the like. Also a few instances etc there we could be doing when you get to level with them - plus some in Hollin etc too :)
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You'll soon miss sunlight :)
When I do that, I know I can go back to ride ride ride ride while amusing myself staring at the sun-lit landscape (unless it is night time (I do love the full moon in LOTRO though, sadly not visible too often), or unless being in Angmar where there seems to be a constant dusk all the time) ;)
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Actually did some quests in Eregion yesterday. 18 quests, to be precise. As I did imagine, when I got the first swift-travel route, there were no more quests in the hub for me. Splendid. I suppose when I complete two quests more, and get the swift-travel route to the next hub, I will run out of quests there too.
No wonder the whole area was deserted. Didn't see a single player in the area, even though I had to ride, in prime gaming time, around *a lot* (always so enjoyable that the quests are on the other side of the map of the quest giver, then you ride back after completing, only to get a followup to ride across the map, etc etc ad nauseautum). Haven't actually seen any other players in the whole are so far (at least I have got to mine ancient ores a lot as there is no competition of them, should help me get prospecting to master level :p); although I once saw a hunter type in the local chat "Library or School?", so there must have been at least one other player in the area at the same time as I've been there. The whole idea behind the "you'll get the travel route when you don't need it anymore" is simply said retarded beyond belief; I hope the stupidness is fixed by the time I start to get another toon to these levels, as I'd hate to go through this retardedness again (and my hat is off in awe when in the presence of people like Garry, who have already done this several times; your fuse sure is not as short as mine :D).
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I found Eregion quite enjoyable on Kurtt, and didn't really notice/mind the travelling. Of course, I've had huge breaks between play phases with Lotro, so maybe if I'd levelled him in one block I'd have noticed more.
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The quests in themselves were fun. Though they were basically the "kill 20 boars" variation, but as there are signatures patrolling in the area and the mobs were in some of the quests on higher level than Fitzer, there was some tactical thinking involved too. It's just the traveling around part which annoys me ("Kill 15 worms on the other side of the map and get back to me" "Ok, now go and kill the boss of the worms who is where you just were and come back to me" "Cool, now we are friends and you can ride here in the future, please move on to the next quest hub and never come back again" gnaaah gnaaah gnaaaaaaaaargh).
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yeah, the lack of foresight of the quest givers annoys me too regularly: "go back to the same area I already sent you to twice and kill 10 of the creatures you already killed 50 off because they got in the way, but who don't count cause that's not in the script"
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yeah, the lack of foresight of the quest givers annoys me too regularly: "go back to the same area I already sent you to twice and kill 10 of the creatures you already killed 50 off because they got in the way, but who don't count cause that's not in the script"
failing of ALL MMOs that one, but then its to make the content lsat longer ;)
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These MMO developers must have black, black souls when they sit there and say 'I know, lets make em run there and back again to make the content last longer!'. (See what I did there? 8))
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These MMO developers must have black, black souls when they sit there and say 'I know, lets make em run there and back again to make the content last longer!'. (See what I did there? 8))
:)
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These MMO developers must have black, black souls when they sit there and say 'I know, lets make em run there and back again to make the content last longer!'. (See what I did there? 8))
tricksie hobbits
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The original inventor of that idea made them go back and forth only once. It's not like Bilbo was told by Gandalf in Hobbiton:
"Hey my mate Bilbo, go and scout out this Lonely Mountain, will you? I'll wait for your report here in Hobbiton."
"Oh, there is a dragon there? Could you please go and check out if there is any backdoor there, I'll wait you here in Hobbiton."
"There is a backdoor? Good! Please go to Ered Luin and find me a stout dwarf called Thorin, and then come back here to Hobbiton"
"I see you found Thorin. Now we need 12 more dwarves. Here are their addresses, please go and round them up one at a time, and bring them here to Hobbiton"
"Ok Bilbo, we now have the force gathered. Pack up and start moving towards the Lonely Mountain. Oh, you may also from now on swift travel to Gondamon in Ered Luin, although you should never ever have any business there from now on."
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The original inventor of that idea made them go back and forth only once. It's not like Bilbo was told by Gandalf in Hobbiton:
"Hey my mate Bilbo, go and scout out this Lonely Mountain, will you? I'll wait for your report here in Hobbiton."
"Oh, there is a dragon there? Could you please go and check out if there is any backdoor there, I'll wait you here in Hobbiton."
"There is a backdoor? Good! Please go to Ered Luin and find me a stout dwarf called Thorin, and then come back here to Hobbiton"
"I see you found Thorin. Now we need 12 more dwarves. Here are their addresses, please go and round them up one at a time, and bring them here to Hobbiton"
"Ok Bilbo, we now have the force gathered. Pack up and start moving towards the Lonely Mountain. Oh, you may also from now on swift travel to Gondamon in Ered Luin, although you should never ever have any business there from now on."
you sir are a pessimist
but lol all the same :)
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Got a couple repeatable quests in Eregion yesterday, the other was called Flight of the Dragons, and the other was something else (duh) but it was still a red quest.
Anyway, the quests required an item each, I happened to have one in the bank, checked the AH for the other and got it for 25 silver. Thinking I'd be getting a motherload of XP, item XP and some relics if I turn in the items, I chipped in the 25 silver and did head back to Eregion. Dreaming of some easy exp and easy money I turned in the items.
Turned out the items were needed to open up the next part on the quests ("speak to the quest giver to travel into the instance" -type quests), and I got nothing for my "massive" efforts so far. Small fellowship quests for level 54 and 58, so I guess they might be slightly too difficult for my level 52 burg (and I didn't want to travel and check the instances, in case I need to start the quest from start again, ie get the items again). If somebody needs (or wants to visit) either or both of those, I'd be more than happy to tag along to check out them :)
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Got a couple repeatable quests in Eregion yesterday, the other was called Flight of the Dragons, and the other was something else (duh) but it was still a red quest.
Anyway, the quests required an item each, I happened to have one in the bank, checked the AH for the other and got it for 25 silver. Thinking I'd be getting a motherload of XP, item XP and some relics if I turn in the items, I chipped in the 25 silver and did head back to Eregion. Dreaming of some easy exp and easy money I turned in the items.
Turned out the items were needed to open up the next part on the quests ("speak to the quest giver to travel into the instance" -type quests), and I got nothing for my "massive" efforts so far. Small fellowship quests for level 54 and 58, so I guess they might be slightly too difficult for my level 52 burg (and I didn't want to travel and check the instances, in case I need to start the quest from start again, ie get the items again). If somebody needs (or wants to visit) either or both of those, I'd be more than happy to tag along to check out them :)
I've still got this quest in my log, so lets try and get it done if we manage to get going at lunch time.
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those repeatables in Eregion that are small fellowship, and require various infused gems, are for Scrolls for your LI that change the damage type to Beleriand, repeatable daily and used to be easy to get a group for until skirmishes made it easy to get scrolls for damage type ;)
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those repeatables in Eregion that are small fellowship, and require various infused gems, are for Scrolls for your LI that change the damage type to Beleriand, repeatable daily and used to be easy to get a group for until skirmishes made it easy to get scrolls for damage type ;)
Right, I have Westerness on my dagger, and it is no use against the orcs and goblins, if I've understood right. Have to get a Beleriand scroll from somwhere to my next weapon :)
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Despite my best intentions, I logged on to LOTRO this morning before leaving to work. Went to Moria to turn the two lost tool -thingies to legendary weapons, and completed a few "report to X in Y" quests along the way (lots of new quests available now compared to the situation before level 50; also man new deeds opened). I guess the exp in Moria is fast, just running around there without actually doing anything Fitzer got to halfway to 54 (he hit 53 after turning in the quests of Library; after that we did attempt to duo the south Bree skirmish in small-fellowship (but the end boss was too tough, getting disarmed is no fun if you are a burg :( anyway didn't have practically any xp towards 54). I suppose there won't be much grinding, but actually some nice questing in Moria, while the levels fly by :)
There seems to be other repeatable instances in Moria too. Any chance to sometime get a group to visit one (or maybe two?!) of these or the ones in Eregion? I understand you higher-level types must be sick and tired of grinding those in the past, but I promise to act in a totally random and un-predictable way to make these new and interesting experiences for you! ;)
After Christmas though. Saturday earliest. Definitively not Thursday or Friday (unless everybody else go to sleep early on Friday and I have nothing to do...).
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Depending on hangover on Saturday i may be on ;)
Skirmishes are more fun in groups arent they? more challenging, but those 2 EMs at end of Thievery and Mischief were just too hard for my newb soldier ;)
xp gain in moria is fast, i easily got to 60 with probably 2 - 2 1/2 zones untouched questwise in there.
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I've done a few skirmishes with PUGs, and they certainly are more fun compared to doing them solo :) However, PUGs are just that, pick-up groups of random people who seldomly discuss or share tactics or whatever. Or advice, as I for one would certainly need tips on getting better with my burg; so used to solo stuff that I am baffled at times when things go so differently than what I intended (like having mobs be stun-immune when I use my stuns (of which a few opens CJ's) or when I mezz stuff to wrong places (and they get hit by AoE effects) etc. That is why I like to do fellowships with people who I know and who can telll me what I could do better :) So, yes indeed, I do like to do stuff with you people :)
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if you want tips on burg, ask Relnor/Daveron/Nairn/Faros/Gilanthas when hes on, as Daveron is his 60 burg, we duo a bit burg/champ so hes used to having to save my ass when things go tits up ;)
from what i gather debuffs are important, addle? is it that slows them down or dust in the eyes? that increases misses.
having little experience with burgs i wont say anything else :D
as i said elsewhere practically all Normals/signatures are mezzable, most Elites with a few exceptions, and when it gets to Elite Masters most arent mezzable at all again there is a few exceptions and Nemesis+ arent mezzable at all else they wouldnt be very Nemesis like ;)
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from what i gather debuffs are important, addle? is it that slows them down or dust in the eyes? that increases misses.
Addle is the induction interrupter (and increases the inductions for a short time), it's just that has a set-up time due to its animation plus a longish cooldown (which a few seconds: "Oh, he is casting a heal, hmmm... where is that Addle again... ah there it is... and it is off of cool down, lets press that... oh please finish the animation already... AAARGH, too late"). Can't wait for the addle legacies found on legendary burg tools, shortens the cooler and apparently the setup time too (based on the drooling comments burgs are posting on the LOTRO forums).
Burglars also have Reveal Weakness (8% increase to all damage on target, 10% increase if traited) and four tricks (Dust in the Eyes, Enrage, Counter Defence and Disable. Burgs can use one trick on any given target.
I use the traited dust in the eyes in multimob situations (ie as I have it traited it is an AoE debuff which gives mobs 20% chance to miss, also when the mob is a hard-hitting something whacking me (with Dust in the eyes and touch&go (added 50% evade for 30 seconds) and I have only about 5% chance to be hit for full damage (Fitzers evade+parry+partial evade&parry are together about 25%); especially useful as I have the legendary trait which opens up crit response skills after a successfull evade, which was how I did "tank" that one boss in School, barely got hit while T&G was on let me hit for lots of damage to keep aggro, and Kurtt then saved my butt after T&G faded). At times that AoE sucks though, as it breaks any mezzes in the area.
Enrage is a nice debuff as it has a long range, which makes the mob vulnerable to ranged damage and forces the mob to target a random mob for a while (for example yesterday I did use this a lot when there were archery duels between Eld and archer mobs, and also when I noticed somebody is about to die (even if the random target changing lasts for a few seconds, it can be enough to save that somebody). Mostly I use it for the skills that require a trick on the target (like the self heal (Mischievous Glee), a stun (Startling twist), and a random thing (Clever Retort) which can do damage, heal or restore power) as Enrage has a long range and thus can be used when the mob is still closing in (I mostly run in Mischief stance, which is not that usual for Quick Knife traited burgs, but I love the extra cc options I have in Mischief (Riddle has only 30 cooler while in Mischief, and I can use Clever Retort then (which is nice, as it is a great power saver; 25% to get power restored, 50% to get a major whack on the mob (which thus saves power too) and the 25% chance to get a major heal is usually very nice too). If I had Enrage trait slotted, it would force ranged mobs to close into melee, but I haven't been able to decide which of my slotted traits I'd remove to make room (I have traits which increase my damage output by lots (ie the Quick Knife) plus Reveal Weakness and I like them... although I intend to try the Gamble traits at somepoint, sounds nice that there is a spec which is totally random :) ).
Disable is the trick I use least, altough I found it useful on mobs that were whacking Kurtt or Eld yesterday (outgoing melee damage of target reduced by 15% and attack speed of target reduced by 15%, so in all reduces damage by about 26% (if I did the maths right)) and mostly I use it only when I need a trick on a target to open another skill and I don't want to use Dust in the Eyes (as it breaks mezzes in the area) or Enrage (when I don't want the mob to switch target).
Counter Defence is the trick I use most, and that is purely because of selfish solo reasons (it boosts Fitzers damage by lots :) ). It increases melee crit chance on target (burgs love crits, without the crit chain open burgs have just three "spammable" skills (plus Provoke) and even they have moderate cooldowns -> without critical hits the burg is about as good as a minstrel DPSing in melee only :p) and reduces chance to parry, dodge or block attacks (the debuff is good enough to make normal mobs unable to block, dodge or evade, and signatures have a minimal chance to avoid being hit).
There are a few annoying things as a burg in fellowships.
One is that there is no graphical marker for Confound. A confounded mob is slowed down, and then 10 seconds later the mob is dazed for 30 seconds. Unless somebody whacks him. And usually there seems to always be somebody whacking the confounded mob :p At least I don't check all the debuff markers all the mobs have all the time, and that is currently the only way to know the mob is confounded. There should be a clear graphical something (stars rotating round the head, or something) so that others would know to not poke the target. Maybe it would be able to write some sort of script which put into fellowship channel "Target is confounded, please avoid" when using the skill. Anyway, annoying that a skill on 5 minute cooldown is practically useless in fellowships.
Another one that I have started to hate is the short duration stuns many classes have, many of them happening randomly too. Gnaargh gnaargh gnaargh, just before I use a CJ opener the mob gets stunned for one second, and my cj opener is lost (and they have 5 - 10 minute cooldown). Very frustrating.
Yet another, well placed strike does a crapton of damage over time when used with Aim (to make it autocrit), and the damage is not front heavy (so it is in theory safe to use, you don't automatically snatch aggro if the hit happens to be a devastating crit). It's just that it has a 3 minute cooldown *and* a 5 second casting (ie induction, as it is called in LOTRO) time, and 3 m range. And the casting gets interrupted if somebody so much as looks your way. Found out it is totally useless to try to use the skill vs Elite Masters, they all seemed to have some AoE damage skill/aura, thus making it absolutely impossible to get the skill cast. Sucks. Would be great if at least the traited version had a significantly shorter induction time. While soloing elites it is an excellent skill to take down elites (riddle the target, walk behind him, Aim, Well Placed strike (which thus autocrits), Dust in the eyes, use the three crit-response skills and hope the last one stuns the target (if not, use startling twist), move behind target again and unleash hell with the three "normal" skills, then T&G and get a beer from the fridge while the mob is bleeding to death from the dots and your autoattacks, and and the burg evades all the mobs attemtps to hit); I mean that is what you sort of expect from a skill on 3 minute cooler, right? Something rather spectacular, and for sure not a "meh" feeling being unable to use it vs things doing even minimal AoE damage :(
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Came out of Moria yesterday, needed to grind Exceptional hides for my tailoring. Went first to Eregion, but the furry things there dropped magnificient hides :( I need those too, but I am atm nicely stocked with those, but I need sturdy, pristine (I still have lots of study and pristine hides stocked from the farming of wargs for the man deeds) and exceptional hides for the Tailor guild reputation.
So, to tie up some loose ends, Fitzer traveled to Misty Mountains. Killed drakes and gaurakas (for quests) and lots and lots of wolfs and wargs. Got stocked up in exceptional hides for a while, but I still need to visit there (or some other place where exceptional hides drop, perhaps Forochel as I have ignored that zone so far) some time in the near future again. As a side-effect, grinded enough drake eyes for the next 2-3 people needing those for their level 45 class quest (they are now in the kinship chest), so that they don't have to go to the arses end (aka far corner of Misty Mountains) for those (or get a fellowship to get the eyes from the elite drakes in Angmar) :P
Also found the last pages to the still open legendary book, so that too was taken care of (not that I am going to use that skill like ever, I have a hard time seeing any reason to replace either of my current legendary skills). Now the only legendary skills left to get are the 5th traits, and they open up at level 58 if I've understood right.
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Forochel is the daddy for exceptional hides, and yeah 58 for the legendaries, 1 is quest chain ending in a dungeon, and other is a book requiring exalted with guards.
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Lately I've been focusing on getting the crafting skills of my alts up. I have now everything else except Jewelcrafting on Artisan level minimum.
A friend of mine moved his guardian to Snowbourn, we've done some quests together, but he is still a couple levels behind Fitzer (and thus I haven't been in a hurry to speed through Moria). Hopefully he'll soon apply to HoJ :)
Got from this friend of mine a 2nd age dagger for Fitzer (and a 2nd age spear for Tracer; need to level Tracer to 53 ASAP :D) which dropped to him from some instance. Even though it doesn't have that great legacies (yet), the DPS on the weapon is badass :) Hitting stuff for damage with four numbers feels *good* :D I can now stunlock to death normal mobs a couple levels above, and when crit chains happen nicely even same level signature mobs go down in a stunlock (I prefer to put the huge crit dot on signatures; deals boatloads of damage and I can focus on keeping the mob cc'd :) ).
Still need to go to hunt for more exceptional hides though. I seem to burn through those fast. Not that I actually *need* them to anything (now), would be nice to have a stock available when I need to craft a new armour set for Tracer :)
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So Fitzer went yesterday and continue the epic quest in Moria. One of the quests asked him to scout all the way to the Bridge of Khazad Dum. I was supposed to scout the western side.
Well, I got lost. To my defence, so did Gandalf too, so perhaps that isn't such a shame. Instead of following my nose I followed (stealthed, of course) a goblin patrol, and is it were I stumbled to the bridge. However, having wandered around the maze of caverns for an hour I had ended up on the *east* side of the bridge, and thus my quests didn't get completed.
Anyway, standing there on the bridge I had one of those "I am shitting my pants in fanboy joy" that sometimes happen in LOTRO. The screenshot isn't very good, because it shows just how damn dark the place is, and I should have tilted the camera a bit to show the gap in the bridge. After taking this screenshot I nearly slipped off the bridge, so I didn't stay around to fool with the camera any more :p
(http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/475/bridgexx.jpg)
Eventually I sneaked out of Moria, and saw the sun again! With joy I mounted my horse and rode towards Forest of Lorien. At the outskirts of the forest an elf popped up from the bushes shouting "Halt! Only friends of Lorien may enter!". As I read that chat-bubble I continued of course to ride forwards, and there was a nasty "swish swish swish swish" sound from the surrounding trees, and Fitzer turned into a pin-cushion. After a hasty retreat Fitzer is back in Moria again...
Now I have a couple 3-man quests in Moria which supposedly get me on better terms with the elves. I suppose they are some instance runs, have to figure that out later.