This week, we discussed our week in gaming, how to make friends, and some of the changes we have experienced over the game’s life so far.
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New Player Question–From Ravi
How do you go about talking/socializing with people in the game? And how would you do it, if you didn’t know anyone?
Reminiscing about …
Apparently at some point Strider wasn’t the one who rescues you from jail in Archet? And yet, it used to be a different experience early on. I wonder what made them change it up? (Dear hosts, if any of you experienced this episode before that change, could you please talk about how it was before and what emotional reaction you had? thanks!)
Week In Gaming
Cyndars
- Loads of fishing!
- Trout-master on Monday
- Darter-master today
Pineleaf
- I think I did some fishing
- The mariner crew concluded our time in Angmar and headed to the Angle.
- FNF ran skirmishes and instances.
Featured Comments
Comments from Ep LPN 550 – Ed Evans~ “I have what I consider a holly tree but I don’t think it’s three stories tall. Some years, while it’s blooming it’s so full of bees that you can hear the tree from a distance. Seems kind of entish.”
Comments From Ep LPN549 – Ornez~ Perhaps the difference in Dol Amroth fishing is due to the season? Maybe they get good fish in the spring.
Emails
Hello, dear Lotro Players!
How are you?
I am Ravi (short for ravioli, lol), a new listener and a relatively new player of LOTRO. I started out almost two years ago, about a month before the 15th anniversary. (BTW I had no idea about any of the anniversary gifts or ftp bonuses coming up, I didn’t plan ahead at all: LOTRO is my first ever MMO and my first video game. The only reason why I came here was because Corey Olsen the Tolkien Professor’s podcast had seduced me into it, haha.)
I’ve been taking it slow; my eldest character is around 120, recently arrived in the Vales of Anduin.
I discovered your podcast because I finally scraped together enough LP to get Before the Shadow to spice things up for my alts; I played through it and LOVED it, so I looked for podcasts about LOTRO discussing BtS zone and its story. Imagine my surprise when I scrolled around and realized that the podcast goes back a decade!
Since then I caught up on the recent episodes and went back to start at the beginning. As of writing this letter I am somewhere between ep.76 and ep.80 and I plan to catch up in no time!
What pushed me to write a letter to y’all is a… sense of scale, if you will?.. Everyone can see that LOTRO is massive in size. It is also massive in time. It’s been so interesting to go back ten years and hear how the game and community was back then – and even at that point the hosts often talked about much earlier period of LOTRO’s early days. It’s almost like living in the Third Age, then overhearing a conversation from the Second Age discussing the events of the First Age.
Thusly I learned quite a lot. E.g. apparently at some point Strider wasn’t the one who rescues you from jail in Archet? What??! It’s been so impactful to open your eyes in the world for the first time, meet Aragon, and imprint on him instantly. Strider, my bestie, my king! Anything for you, any menial task of a quest, I will never complain! And yet, it used to be a different experience early on. I wonder what made them change it up? (Dear hosts, if any of you experienced this episode before that change, could you please talk about how it was before and what emotional reaction you had? Thanks!)
I also feel like the podcast reflects the evolution of the community as well. Those old episodes feel so grand; several people discuss important topics very seriously and in-depth, with a feeling of being interconnected with a big community. Nowadays, it feels more like a group of friends, cozy, comfortable, personal; leaving unspoken the things that must have been spoken of a thousand times before; but also kind of isolated. Pineleaf is still there, though. Talk about evergreen! 😀
In general, I feel that observing the evolution of the podcast answers some questions that I didn’t know I had, at least when it comes to the social aspect of the game. Any time I wonder why doesn’t anyone make a gang of Beornings to roleplay as bears and live in the forest, the answer seems to be, everyone who wanted to do it already did it, years ago.
I wonder, what kinds of opportunities for group play come up these days, I assume it’s probably raiding and music. I also wonder if I would be interested to try; however, I feel that most surviving groups are so well-established and synergized that coming out of nowhere and knocking on doors as a total noob (esp if you don’t know if you will even like the activity to stick around and make it worth the group’s time teaching you the ropes) is kind of a bad tone.
Yet, I did have an experience with group play in LOTRO! And it was glorious. Last year, I took part in the annual Chicken Run in August to become the Crosser of Roads. I think it was the most fun I’ve had in the game so far. I am working to level up my Hunter on Landroval to cap, I hope to be a chicken tender this year, if they hold the event again!!!!!
I don’t really have a good ending for the letter to sum up my ramblings. I enjoy your podcast, it’s a reliable source of news and pleasant listen, with great chemistry of hosts and a good cheer. It’s given me an interesting insight into the wider LOTRO world. Thank you for that!
You don’t have to read this letter or parts of it on-air, unless you want to. (Actually, I don’t know if you’re going to read it at all, who even writes or reads emails in this day and age? I’m not sure your email is still active. At the very least, it felt good to write it.) If it does come up on an episode, I have a question for the hosts of the week: how do you go about talking/socializing with people in the game? And how would you do it, if you didn’t know anyone?
Thank you for your time,
Ravi (the Eater).
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Also, is it just me or is Cyndars practically inaudible in this episode?