My previous two Real Life LOTRO posts showcased the Hobbiton set under construction. But now we come to my most recent set of pictures from Matamata, taken just over a year ago now. After our very small wedding, our little wedding party took a trip and visited Hobbiton once again. At that point in time of course filming had finished and the set had been fully...

This week I actually made two outfits and there’s a few reasons. Most importantly, Update 14 came out and introduced some new Gondor and Dol Amroth themed cosmetics. But also I was having some severe internet problems earlier in the week which meant my video posting schedule was way out of whack. So to celebrate U14/make up for my video scheduling, this...

On YouTube it was requested that I make a non-combat kind of outfit and this is the result! I decided to make an outfit for someone who has been doing a lot of traveling and sight-seeing throughout Middle-earth. The clothes are a bit ragged and the colors are all muted greys and browns. In the video I also mention that you can change out the backpack. I...

The servers are now open (a few hours earlier than anticipated) and the release notes and known issues have been posted. Enjoy! Of Special Note Welcome to West Gondar West Gondor is a beautiful new area in LOTRO, but the peace of the lands surrounding Dol Amroth has been threatened by the landing of Corsair ships along the coast. These violent, brutal invaders...

Continuing his trend of releasing EP Letters with each update, Aaron “Rowan” Campbell just posted his most recent Letter to coincide with the release of Update 14. As was hinted in the Vilya SHIELD run, there were three new pieces of information announced in this letter: We no longer plan to raise the level cap a second time this year. You clearly...

Sapience posted the times for the downtime this coming Monday in which they will be updating the servers for Update 14: The LOTRO Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for maintenance and an Update to U14 on Monday, July 14 from 6am-1pm Eastern (-4 GMT). English release notes will be available during the downtime. German and French notes...

Way back when the game had only recently gone Free to Play, Turbine started introducing meta-deeds to the game. These meta-deeds came with some pretty awesome titles and steeds and I was really into getting all of them. One of these meta-deeds was for Elf reputation. If you reached kindred with the Elves of Rivendell, Galledhrim and Malledhrim you would get the...

Today in the Vilya SHIELD run, Sapience was asked a few questions about Beornings. As usual, Sapience was not able to give a direct answer however did drop this information: I can’t say anything more about Beornings. However there is a producer’s letter coming out with Update 14. There are three pieces of information in the producer’s letter...

The Steely Dawn Starter Pack, available through Steam, is now 75% off for the next week – until July 15. That means it is down to $4.99 USD. This pack includes: Steely Dawn Cosmetic Armor Set: Prepare yourself for adventure with the Steely Dawn armor set. This cosmetic set pairs bright white armor with dark grey trim for a very cool look. Evendim Quest...

On twitter I was asked to put together an outfit for a Ranger with a guard focus. Besides the iconic ranger shoulder wrap I didn’t use any Ranger/Grey Company pieces to make it more unique. The shoulder wrap though has that distinguished texture and star emblem, so I felt I had to include it to really give it authenticity as a Ranger outfit. Let me know...

In my last Real Life LOTRO post, I showed you pictures from my first time ever visiting the wonders of the Shire. While under construction, it was still a glorious and emotional sight. However I’ve got even more construction pictures… this time with more progress! I returned to Matamata in November, which is late spring/early summer in New Zealand....

Both the Premium and Base editions of the Helm’s Deep expansion are a part of the Steam Sale going on right now. Both editions are at 50% off, leaving the Premium edition at $29.99 USD and the Base edition at $19.99 USD. There is less than two days left in the sale as of this posting, so make sure you get it quickly if you’re been looking for it!...

I know there are quite a few people out there who roleplay their characters as rogues or ruffians or brigands. I’m definitely not one of them. The closest I’ve come to that is my hunter from Bree who can be a bit rough around the edges but is good at heart. However if you are one of those people who likes to have your characters cast on the darker...

Tuesday June 24th marked the first official SHIELD run (Bullroarer, being a test server, didn’t count) on Eldar server. They pulled in an impressive 22 minute and 17 second time! You can see the full transcript of the Twitch stream by Frickinmuck here, but I’ve pulled out some particularly interesting or juicy bits of information. Some more...

This week on the official forums the new LOTRO producer, Produktion Malphunktion, introduced himself. He’s been with Turbine for awhile and was recently brought to LOTRO from DDO. It’s very cool to see the new producer introduce himself directly on the forum and start communicating with players, even if it’s just jokes. However the truly...

New Zealand is a beautiful country. But being a Tolkien nerd means that there are unique aspects of it that I get to appreciate like the film locations and studios. Over the past few years I’ve been to a number of these locations and have taken loads of pictures. This new article series will serve to share these locations with all of you since I know many...

Last week I posted my ‘trailer’ style video of the Beta 1 version of Dol Amroth on Bullroarer. Now I have one for another of the regions in Update 14: Lamedon! The focus of this video is the aesthetics and style of the country side, towns, and beacons of Lamedon. There’s a vignette filter added to make the video more ‘cinematic’. Let me know what...

After posting my View of Dol Amroth video, it was suggested that I make a swan-knight outfit. I had every intention of doing so for this week’s outfit too, but I just could not get it the way I wanted. It’s hard to find good looking plate-type armour in this game, and on top of that it’s hard to find good-looking plate type armour that...

One of the most-talked about titles at this year’s E3 was Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. It is a new game based in Middle-earth that draws inspiration from some recent big-name games while also introducing a new game system called the Nemesis System. You play as a Gondorian ranger named Talion, tasked with guarding the Black Gate of Mordor. You and your...

Today was the first SHIELD run with Tosmii the dwarf through Moria. Frickinmuck on the official forums was generous enough to write up a summary of the questions and answers from the Twitch stream. Since last week we had such a massive information dump between the Developer Chat and Update 14 going live on Bullroarer, there wasn’t much new information...