LOTRO Players News Episode 566: It’s a Mouthful

This week we discussed our week in gaming, highlighted one of the oldest kinships in LOTRO, and the latest Bullroarer update!

Game News

Update 41 Bullroarer Beta #1

Store Sales

Summer Sales Continue! Get special deals each week through July 11th!

This week, get:

  • 25% off Crafting Carry-alls
  • 50% off Tracery and Essence Carry-alls
  • 75% off Junk Item and War-Spoils Carry-alls
  • Now through June 20th!

Make Your Piece of Middle-earth Shine! Get 25% off:

  • Select Housing Decorations
  • Select Housing Sets
  • Select Cloaks

Now through June 20th!

Weekly Coupon

  • Free Universal Ingredient Pack
  • Coupon Code: CRAFTIT
  • Now through June 20th!​

Community Events: Last Sunday, June 9, 2024, was the 17th Anniversary and Pride parade for the Knights of the White Lady Kinship. Starting at the South Bree gate and winding through to North Bree, there were several stops for music, including at the Prancing Pony Stage. The Knights of the White Lady has existed as a kinship since Beta and is the oldest LGBTQIA+ kinship, and every year they celebrate their anniversary and Pride with a parade on Landroval in June. To contact them, you can go to their webpage at kwl.guildlaunch.com.

Week In Gaming

Cyndars

  • Went to the Knights of the White Lady Parade on Landroval with Sans, Gwaer, and Luinori.
  • Lots of Ark Survival Ascended with Sans. We’ve tamed baby dinos, discovered disappearing poo and how to stop the disappearing, and were almost devoured by one of the new dinosaurs.
  • Played a bit of Dinkum and showed one of my IRL friends the game. She loved it. 

Pineleaf

  • My Lore-master escaped from Isengard
  • The Friday Mariner crew finally escaped from Moria
  • In Minecraft, I started a new 1.21 world, where I found a zombie spawner in Day 2

We currently have 13 supporters on Patreon. If you would like to join this illustrious raid of players and help support LOTRO Players, Simply go to the donation page where you can support The Players Alliance on Patreon. Your money is used for our podcast hosting, website hosting, and paying for our live shows.

If you wish to support us without joining Patreon, just send Drac an email drac@lotroplayers.com

Feedback

Reviews

This week we did not receive any reviews but would love your support! This helps out a lot so drop us a review on your favorite Podcast App of choice!  If you leave us a review, let us know! 

Emails

This week we did not receive any emails. 

Contact Us

Email us!

podcast@lotroplayers.com 

Final Thoughts

The Players Alliance LIVE Shows

Record Day/Time Varies  – DDO Players News  – 

Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern – LOTRO Players News

Join us for our live shows at lotroplayers.com/live

LOTRO Player’s News Podcast can now be found on Amazon Music and Audible

LOTRO Players News Episode 565: Hauling it to Mossward

This week we discussed our week in gaming, how to get the Little Steed, and anticipated updates.

Game News

Update 40.1 Release Notes

The Midsummer and Yule festivals have returned through June 25th

We expect the first Bullroarer build for Update 41 to be next week

Store Sales

Summer Sales have arrived!

  • Get special sales each week through July 11th!
  • This week, get:
  • 35% off Before the Shadow (LOTRO Store)
  • 50% off Fate of Gundabad (LOTRO Store)
  • 75% off Brawler
  • Now through June 13th!

Accelerate Your Adventure! Get 25% off:

  • Gift of the Valar
  • Blessing of the Valar
  • Aria of the Valar Level Boost 105
  • Valar Level Boost 120
  • Valar Level Boost 130
  • Mithril Coins
  • Now through June 13th!

Weekly Coupon

  • Free Landscape Soldier Token
  • Coupon Code: SOLDIERON
  • Now through June 13th!​

New Player Question

How can one get a horse? Especially on a FTP account???

How do you get the Little Extra Steed? 

Week In Gaming

Crister

  • Working with Nauriel against the Kindred of the Coins!  I had to deal with Cruel Dancer and the Citadel of Winds!  Next, I battle Earth, Wind, and Fire!
  • Planet Crafting with Planet Crafter
  • Planet Cleansing with HellDivers2

Cyndars

  • Downloaded and started a new world on Dinkum.
  • Set up my new machine,
  • Nursed a sunburn instead of gaming. 

Pineleaf

  • Brawler reached level 150 and ran several skirmishes
  • My warden and mariner continued helping the Kindred
  • My lore-master spent a little time in Isengard

We currently have 13 supporters on Patreon. If you would like to join this illustrious raid of players and help support LOTRO Players, Simply go to the donation page where you can support The Players Alliance on Patreon. Your money is used for our podcast hosting, website hosting, and paying for our live shows.

If you wish to support us without joining Patreon, just send Drac an email drac@lotroplayers.com

Reviews

This week we did not receive any reviews but would love your support! This helps out a lot so drop us a review on your favorite Podcast App of choice!  If you leave us a review, let us know! 

Emails

Hello again, dear LOTRO Players! Ravi here, once more!

I think I may have been slowly graduating from a new player to a relatively seasoned player because the other week I had a fun experience that involved me answering a bunch of questions from a new player!

Someone messaged me in-game out of the blue ( bc world chat is disabled for new players until level 20, I think?), and among other stuff, they asked me how to get a mount. (Mind you, we were both FTP)

That was what caused the adventure, because it turned out that they did the Little Extra quest part 1 and bought the lil 10point quest, but never cashed it in in the intro. And by the time we talked, they were out in the open world. So with a quick check, I confirmed that our way now led to Mossward, where the dwarf will grant the starter horse even to FTP folks! buuuuut the problem with Mossward is that it doesn’t have swift travel for FTPs. XD So what happened was that we simply ran there, my higher level character protecting their lvl12-ish one. I loved doing it!!!! Would work full-time as an escort for lowbies to get them to Mossward. XD The best social time I’ve had in the game so far!

So, courtesy of this experience, a new player question: How can one get a horse? Especially on a FTP account???

And especially nowadays, since a lot of things changed even within the last couple years (myself, back when I started, I honestly saved the 95 LP to buy riding trait from the store and was in the process of saving up silver to buy a horse when the 15th anniversary dropped me a free one). I understand things are easier these days – so what’s the best way of action? e.g. if you sadly miss your chance in the intro area… is the only option hauling it to Mossward on foot with or without the kindness of strangers?

Thanks again for the good podcast!

Ravi (the eater).

Contact Us

Email us!

podcast@lotroplayers.com 

Final Thoughts

The Players Alliance LIVE Shows

Record Day/Time Varies  – DDO Players News  – 

Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern – LOTRO Players News

Join us for our live shows at lotroplayers.com/live

LOTRO Player’s News Podcast can now be found on Amazon Music and Audible

LOTRO Players News Episode 558: Boathies, Birdies, and Oathies, Oh My!

This week we discussed the bullroarer preview, carry-all renaming, our week in gaming, and fireworks.

Game News

Update 39.2 Release Notes

The 17th Anniversary has arrived

Update 40 Bullroarer Beta #1

Temporary Carry-all restrictions 

The next Casual Stroll is on Wednesday, April 24 at Noon server time

 

Store Sales

Double Bonus Points are back!

  • Get twice the bonus points in the LOTRO Store, now through April 28th!

Forge Your Own Ring! Get 30% off:

  • Crafting Guild Access
  • Ingredient Packs
  • Crafting Accelerators
  • Rapid Craft, Crafting Tiers, Recipe Books
  • Now through April 25th!

Weekly Coupon

  • Free Pig in a Blanket Housing Decoration
  • Coupon Code: COZYPIG
  • Now through April 25th!​

Week In Gaming

Crister

  • Depths of Defeat, Heights of Victory!  Legendaries are fully operational again, might and tac mit increasing.
  • Baldur’s Gate, Bug Guts, Spaceships, Oh my!
  • AI Art Carp O Llama – AI text interpretations are awesome

Cyndars

  • Stardew Valley: Level 35 in the mines, over 45,000gold, Fall Day 17 (Year 1), three fruit trees, need to catch 3 fish (sturgeon, sandfish, and pufferfish) to complete my bundles.
  • Played LOTRO with Crister and Pineleaf advancing the Umbar quest line. I laughed so hard I cried and gave myself hiccups. 

Pineleaf

  • My main warden finished the quest deed in the City of Umbar, where I figured out that there is likely an Ancient Hobbit Secret to how they carry so much.
  • For Friday Night Fights, my Minstrel joined the crew in the Threshold raid. Here I finally gained the goat for completing the raid.
  • My junior mariner finished up Moria and am getting ready to head into Mirkwood.

We currently have 13 supporters on Patreon. If you would like to join this illustrious raid of players and help support LOTRO Players, Simply go to the donation page where you can support The Players Alliance on Patreon. Your money is used for our podcast hosting, website hosting, and paying for our live shows.

If you wish to support us without joining Patreon, just send Drac an email drac@lotroplayers.com

Emails

This week we did not receive any emails. 

Contact Us

Email us!

podcast@lotroplayers.com 

Final Thoughts

The Players Alliance LIVE Shows

Record Day/Time Varies  – DDO Players News  – 

Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern – LOTRO Players News

Join us for our live shows at lotroplayers.com/live

LOTRO Player’s News Podcast can now be found on Amazon Music and Audible

LOTRO Players News Episode 551: Pineleaf the Sequoia

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.

Game News

Update 39 Bullroarer Test Build #5 Release Notes

Update 39 Preview Video

The Curator is back until March 10

Store Sales

Unleash Your Potential! Get 25% off:

  • Lootbox Keys
  • Universal Solvents
  • Universal Morale and Power Potions
  • Deed Boosts
  • Now through March 7th!

Weekly Coupon

  • Free Universal Solvent
  • Coupon Code: CRAFTESS
  • Now through March 7th!​

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). 

Contact Us

Email us!

podcast@lotroplayers.com 

Final Thoughts

The Players Alliance LIVE Shows

Record Day/Time Varies  – DDO Players News  – 

Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern – LOTRO Players News

Join us for our live shows at lotroplayers.com/live

LOTRO Player’s News Podcast can now be found on Amazon Music and Audible

LOTRO Players News Episode 550: Rental Armour

This week we talked about valars, holly, and our week in gaming

Game News

Update 39 Bullroarer #3 Release Notes

Casual Stroll with Scenario: Central and Eastern Gondor

Updates to the Public Events Schedule

PAX East Meetup on March 21st

Get +10% Virtue XP, now through March 3rd!

Store Sales

Accelerate Your Adventure! Get 20% off:

  • Gift of the Valar
  • Blessing of the Valar
  • Aria of the Valar Level Boost – 105
  • Valar Level Boost – 120
  • Valar Level Boost – 130
  • Mithril Coins
  • Now through February 29th!

Weekly Coupon

  • Free +20% Mount Speed (6 Hours)
  • Coupon Code: FASTMOUNT
  • Now through February 29th!​

Thinking about … 

Connections between real life and LOTRO: Holly, is it a tree or a bush? Let us know what you think!

Week In Gaming

Crister

  • LOTRO – OD Heehaw and partial Hootenanny.
  • ESO – joined Teri’s guild and did some PVP
  • Axis & Allies, creative mini tsunami

Cyndars

  • Fishing poles and Felegoth with Pineleaf
  • Ost Dunhoth with PLOI
  • Completed Lost Lore of the Elves and Dwarves, finally. Now just need to finish Lost Lore of Men to have the complete set from that expansion. 

Pineleaf

  • My warden finally started on the quests in Umbar Baharbel
  • My Lore-master headed into Enedwaith
  • A great deal of fishing

We currently have 13 supporters on Patreon. If you would like to join this illustrious raid of players and help support LOTRO Players, Simply go to the donation page where you can support The Players Alliance on Patreon. Your money is used for our podcast hosting, website hosting, and paying for our live shows.

If you wish to support us without joining Patreon, just send Drac an email drac@lotroplayers.com

Contact Us

Email us!

podcast@lotroplayers.com 

Final Thoughts

The Players Alliance LIVE Shows

Record Day/Time Varies  – DDO Players News  – 

Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern – LOTRO Players News

Join us for our live shows at lotroplayers.com/live

LOTRO Player’s News Podcast can now be found on Amazon Music and Audible