LOTRO Players News Episode 83: Casually Strolling Threats

13 comments

1. 

   timhedden / February 2, 2015

   So Mr. Andang, you want me to skip a few zones, eh? In my opinion the journey is every bit as important as the destination. Thanks for being on my side, Pineleaf 🙂
   Also, excellent start, Trish!

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     Andang / February 3, 2015

     Actually on my Champion, I have done every single solo quest and most group quests. (including all in Moria).
     I very much think LOTRO is about the journey and I don’t think people should skip zones on their main, I am just worried that without a level increase a lot of people will. Even Merric and Goldenstar said they skipped Great River because there was no level increase.

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       dgenxali / February 3, 2015

       Yes that’s what I tell new players, questing and story line is really fun and everyone should atleast do all quests on atleast one character.

2. 

   Barnabras / February 3, 2015

   I have a few comments to make about the Skirmish segment. Previously I had thought that the books could never lose because they influenced both the movies and game. But after some consideration I think there is more of an argument. For instance I started to think about when I closed my eyes and thought of the subject, what version of ME did I envision. The Shire was a no brainer for the books because Tolkien wrote so much description. But Bree is trickier, Tolkien wrote more about the social aspects of the village but not allot of description. The movies didn’t highlight it very much, they didn’t even have Bill Ferny! I think the game really fills out the town. Now an area like Edoras is a no brainer to me as well. Again Tolkien doesn’t devote allot to the description of the city, and the game missed in my mind. But when I think of Edoras, and Rohan in general, I think of the movies. I think they really nailed the feel of Rohan. A fantastic area to look at would be Moria. All three spend a significant amount of time in the area. So to recap, Skirmish segment, not as easy as I thought.

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     dgenxali / February 3, 2015

     Also take into account the text vs visual medium.. Whenever we will have a visual image of some thing, it’s always going to be more vivid in our mind compared to the written description, regardless of your level of imagination.

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3. 

   braxwolf / February 3, 2015

   Couple of comments:

   1. Welcome Trish!
   2. The check is in the mail, Drac
   3. Never ask Andang if he’s got anything else to argue about
   4. I agree that Trish won the debate, but not for the reason stated. I’d give it to her just for mentioning Peter Jackson’s carrot.
   5. I’m highly disappointed that the title of the episode was not “Trailer Trish”.

   I can see I’m needed here, after all!

   🙂

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     dgenxali / February 3, 2015

     Missed you on the podcast, Brax but I see in my feed the new episode of beyond bossfights 😉

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       braxwolf / February 3, 2015

       Yep, hope you enjoy!

4. 

   tomeoric / February 4, 2015

   On the topic of Roving Threats, I’d like to point out this one mob – Baugarch. He can be found wandering the eastern section of Chetwood in Bree-land, and is attributed with the downfall of many “Undying” titles. When I first played LOTRO, I almost got my butt kicked by this wandering warg – but that is what made LOTRO great – these little nuggets and “oh sh*t!” moments. This is Middle-earth, not Hello Kitty Island Adventure. There is supposed to be bad things wandering around. And guess what? Maybe they are tougher than you are, and should kick your butt if you are not paying attention and/or not smart enough to run away. I’m glad they’ve done this, and I hope they do catch some unsuspecting adventures. At least they are adding some tough(er) content, and it will take some effort to compete.

   Conversely, the rewards for beating these mobs are sub-sub-par. 1) Housing items for houses that already can’t hold anything more. 2) Cosmetic pets that I’ve turned off since the start. 3) FA symbols are plenty and can be bought from the AH. 4) Essence pocket items (not grinding for essence gear, not grindig for a pocket item). For as much effort as they put into the roving threat system, the rewards seem lacking. While it is something to do, it doesn’t seem worth doing.

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     tsuhelm / February 5, 2015

     I love RARE ELITES and wish they added more of these rather than ROVING THREATS… my reasoning being that a RARE ELITE could be taken down with skill and/or good equipment, but generally called for a on level appropriate TO THE AREA group so it was an incentive to team up and at the time of introduction they were farmed for craft mats.

     I am not sure if lv100 ‘TOUGH’ mobs in lower leveled areas serve any purpose…are they even visible to lower level players? And the rewards that can be garnered doesn’t seem that incentivating…

     Are they hoping that the hunters, at cap, help out players in the area and thus speed up the leveling even more?

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     Louni / February 5, 2015

     Agree completely with you Tomeoric. Love that the Big Bad level 100 mobs are out there, those OH-S*#t moments are great in a game.
     But yes, conversely, rewards do not meet the effort. The grind to get the “best” thing (FA items) is way over the top. 200 barter items when mob drops 1-3 is crazy.

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5. 

   Lewis / Berenthalion / February 4, 2015

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tT80e3bZGE&feature=youtu.be

   I think Balancing the roving threats is intensely difficult. In Andang’s video we see him as a red line champ ( I believe ) getting minced by one of the RT’s. (forgive me for saying this and no offence intended but a poorly geared champ – I think i saw you were using a lvl 90 3rd age weapon in last adventures). However in this vid I’ve seen on a the official forums, here is guard that could have for intents and purposes fall asleep and still win. (see above) . If this truly is supposed to be group content, then they should have much more special attacks or hit harder or be more interesting. If not and meant for everyone from the quest gear casual, to the biggest min maxer, then I don’t see how all can be satisfied. Which part of your market is supposed to be interest in this Turbine? Niche groupers? Everyone? I’m not sure what they are trying to achieve with the Roving Threats,is the summary,

   So for some classes or more properly some class builds the content is trivial if built perfectly, and geared perfectly.Where as on lighter classes without self heals, a group really is needed. Either way, the baddies don’t look “fun” or exciting to do , simply that they are there and you can get something that perhaps you want from doing them repeatedly.

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6. 

   Louni / February 5, 2015

   Almost forgot,
   Welcome Trish!

   Please keep your name as Trish, that is who we have known you as for last few years.
   Great to hear the “new to game” aspect on the pod cast.
   and one last thought, I use a couple of plugins for music as does Pineleaf, lyrical is a great one for being able to “sing” while playing music. Only other plug in I use for “gaming” is BuffBars. My first toon was a mini, so I was always looking at other peoples moral bars, and not my own, and it became a habit on all my other toons. So I found BuffBars to be indispensable for alerting me when I have low moral or a wound/poison/fear/disease that needs potting off. I give a ton of credit to the players out there that see the effect without using buffbars or other plugins.

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