[CC] Is it ok to be bored in Lotro?

A night in the midst of April was coming to a close. A night partly thinking about the upcoming summer in Lotro. Both as a player and kinleader looking ahead for kin activities during the summer. The next major content update would be in the fall and class changes was just a promise on a stream.

The article that never came to be was called Lotro drought, but just as the first draft was done we were given a developers update was on the horizon. So you’ll wait a bit. It was looking to be a record drought after the bountiful anticipation we had just thinking about what the first expansion pack in years would bring. But lets wait a while to see how the update pans out.

The months have past into the midst of July and so has the expiration date for the article. We’re nearing the end of the summer of Mirkwood, picnics and Thrang. Holidays, escaping the heat or playing some different games makes the friend list a bit emptier then before.  However some are still playing hobbits and robbers. Changing the mindset to …

Is it ok to be bored in Lotro?
Emphasize on “in”. If you log in, wonder why and log off you’re a bit beyond this article. But i wonder if its its ok for a game like an mmo as lotro to have periods where you feel like you don’t know what to do. Having a quiet night to finally focus on your crafting or doing a deed with kinnies cause the raid didn’t get the right classes. Its fine, not firing on all cylinders for 7 days a week or finishing up your last few trait points feels like great reprieve.

SSG did a rain dance, a Fortnite raindance, a very local rain dance
Plenty of players are having a blast with the picnic, Thrang, different games and the featured challenge. Except me. Each one has a its own little nitpicks that could make it that little bit better for me. But each one seems to be a hit with one part of the lotro community. At nearly every point of the day kin and world chat seem to be on fire looking for groups

Rant intermission – slight tweaks to the sumer festival
Some little gripes with the summer festival and suggestions. Skip these if you’re here for fun.

1. Thrangs pick up difficulty seems to be off compared to other instances. Having it so center stage, but so punishing to people not prepared. Having a tier 1 and 2 available or a little pre-boss fight with the mechanics  would give everyone a chance to choose their difficulty or ease people in a bit more gently. Skipping the feel bad group lottery.
2. Overall i love the picnic compared to Thrang yet noone wants to run it. Would it have been to much to ask to hook up skirmish rewards. It’s an updated skirmish at it’s core. Have it reward marks, some medaillions and scaled gear.
3. Rewarding the same Thrangs , Summer and festival tokens at level 50 for Thrang or level 10 for the picnic turns it into a act of going through the ropes. You’re so focused on the tokens cause there is no point in running it at another level (see point 2).
   1. Losing food in the picnic felt irrelevant as long as its not the 1st or last one. Always the same number of tokens or no challenge
   2. Challenge titles between 6 and 12 look the same. Do you know what or which one is which?

Its ok to be bored in lotro at this time!
The summer festival is over. The rain dance has done it wonders. So we can wonder if it’s ok to be bored in lotro. Yes it is. There is still so much do that you wouldn’t consider before. Here are some tips on the back of lotro’s shampoo bottle.

• Find all the critters in Lotro or finish the Chicken runs
• Leveling old alts in areas that got revamped over the last few years
• Make mini versions of your main characters (work without 89 traitpoints or try a different trait tree)
• Missed thrang? Thrangs teal jewels are available for ash
• Running non-thrang instances to focus on the challenges, deeds and cosmetics
• Peak over the normal group fench and make new friends for instances
• Questing with your guardian or captain cause they now actually can quest
• Leveling a Beorning cause they did a far better job then you expected with red guard, yellow warden, minstrel etc. And you think they might actually pull off the Beorning revamp (whenever it comes)
• Questing in Northern Mirkwood  or Mordor on alts. Still don’t fire your smoldering wrath on a cargul though.
• Expand your character collection for the new level 120 cap soon. Work on legendary items, trait points or virtues for characters in a bad shape
• Change up the daily routine, run cos at 105. Do it at 115 and pass gear drops to other chars. Doing a box run at 115? Try it on tier 2 for the extra newfound coins.
• Stockpile for the new update. It never hurts to have some extra scrolls, ash, marks or gold when an update launches.

Sometimes you need a wake-up call to make you realize that CoS 289 isn’t going to be different. Venture out into the world of Middle-earth or travel to the lands west of Lotro. Catch some critters in Pogo, rescue New york in the Division or battle in Azeroth till the Grey mountains come around.