Fishing got boring fast…End of Article.
Ok, so maybe I should look at things in a different way. Maybe, I should do something constructive! Maybe you should help me! That all sounds good, so lets get started!
The Hobbies came to LOTRO on the wings of some really cool changes and updates. For that reason some of us feel they are being overlooked pretty heavily. You can only fish for so long before the idea devours your soul and withers your mind to mush. That got me thinking about other games and what we consider hobbies in real life. So without much other than that quickly written explanation of random thoughts, here’s my list of “Cool, that would make a fun Hobby!” Now before I ruin your thought process with my own, write down a few of your own and send them in a comment! The best ideas will be used in a future article to be announced later!
Hobby Ideas
Gardening
In all of LOTR, Tolkien found places to highlight the love of things that grow! Sam was a gardener, and a good one at that!
How fun would it be to have the chance to create a garden in your yard, under your windows, along your path and work daily to keep them alive and growing?
The plants would need to be cross breaded to get new plants, would need to be watered, transferred and all sorts of other gardening activities that would be great fun for those who love to customize their homes. It would be kinda neat!
Treasure Hunting
This is partly because I played UO back in the day, but also because I think Tolkien really liked the idea of Dragons and Treasure and Maps and personal quests for Glory and riches!
Just look at The Hobbit! Its essentially a big treasure hunt! How would it work you ask? Carefully…
A player is fighting a group of mobs and notices a body laying on the ground. He loots it to find a “Treasure Map” or something of that nature. A player is Fishing and finds a “Message in a Bottle”. There are countless ways to start it out.
From there you will read the map which gives information and clues. The clues can be based on Lore, in game events or other landscape or timeline related information. They then can see if the map is for a single person, or a group. Players get to together and start breaking down the riddle or clues. Once they get to the location, they start “Digging” for the treasure. In some cases the treasure could be inside a monster or behind a secret door of the dwarves.
In the “Return of the King”, Aragorn comes across a body clinging to a door, fingering at a key hole he could not pass. He notes “To what treasure he was seeking, no man shall know”.
Once you find your location you then must face the protector or guardians of the treasure. Like the dragon Smaug in the hobbit, his lust and thirst for Gold was unquenchable!
You then have to fight off the dragon/monster/mob/guy/dude/buddy/pal in order to get the treasure! The treasure maps could also have special conditions that force players to wait, or work at a side quest or mission in order to complete them.
A dwarf door only shows in moonlight or to those who know they are there. A map could find itself leading you to a location where a dwarf door it. It the Full moon isn’t for another 3 days, you’ll be waiting and getting your group together in order to fight to the treasure!
Maps could have levels of hardness and group or solo tags that indicate difficulty.
(Yes, I know this would take quite a bit of working to get done, and the testing/new content would take months to design and QA, but man… it would be fun!)
(Creative) Dance
Music can be played with any instrument by using 1 though 9 on the keyboard. What about being able to do steps in a dance the same way? Sounds like a blast for RP events!
Your ideas
What about all of you? Have any ideas that would make a great Hobby in game? Post them in a comment! We’d love to hear ‘em!
Loading ...
March 3, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Treasure Hunting, as described, sounds more like a QuestLine.
I see Hobbies, like fishing, as a solo thing, but you have a point then, being how is “Fishing” a hobby, and not a Crafting Profession. Do they mean to say Hobbies are like Crafting but without the recipes?
It’s difficult to come up with a ‘Hobby’ that doesn’t sound like crafting but I will toss one out there!
HandyMan: based on Woodworker, basically you go around and “Fix” broken things made of wood. Bridges, doors, stables,…they’d graphically look better,. then eventually fall into decay again.
Level that up enough, and you can carve your own cosmetic house items, or maybe even graphically alter the appearance of Exterior Player Housing!!!
-Welby
March 3, 2010 at 6:28 pm
I’ve often wondered if another hobby would come out, as I never really fancied fishing! I always thought an “Art” hobby would be cool – pull out your easel and paints, and create drawings and artwork that can be put up in your house!
March 3, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Those are some great hobby ideas. I especially liked the gardening and art ideas. But I think you need to be careful to keep it simple. For instance, gardening requires a lot of information stored about what is planted, how long since its been watered, how old it is, etc. But without that information, its just a set of hooks for flower/vegetable cosmetics. not quite a hobby in my opinion.
I think a hobby needs to satisfy the following:
1) Able to perform it individually
2) Leaves no state at the end of the action (other than grinding up levels in the hobby)
3) yields some tangible reward
So fishing satisfies these requirements, art satisfies the requirements, perhaps gardening could too if you spent time gardening and got a weed, zinnia, or sunflower at the end.
Another hobby I thought of today totally messes with my 3 rules. Sledding! You whip out a sled and slide down a snowy hill. At the end of the run you either glide to a finish or fall off and get stunned.
March 3, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Sledding! That would be awesome! You see the Forchel natives doing it, so why can’t we?! It would be an awesome rep reward to get a sled made by them.
I know I’d go up to where the Balrog died and slide down there. Also I think I’d go up to Helegrod or the MM and enjoy some slide time!
Great ideas so far!
March 3, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Gardening would be very cool, but then again I enjoy farming and cooking
@veneration – snow sports would be very cool – sledding, skiing, skating, etc.
I would love some ways to do more things cosmetically, so basically an extension of crafting that has no skill/stat bonuses.
And my other idea would be landscaper/interior designer
We so need some housing love….
March 4, 2010 at 9:31 am
Sledding is a great idea. And brings up a good point as well about HObbies.
Should Hobbies have absolutely NO impact on gamePlay( e.i. stats, buffs)? I would say yeah. Keep it simple, keep it cosmetic. RP candy for the win!
How about Boating or Rafting? Astrology?
Perhaps different hobbies can bestow unique emotes or dances.
Once you start adding stats or bonuses to crit,.etc,..it ceases to be a Hobby and gets sucked into the Min/Max world.
this is a great topic!
March 4, 2010 at 9:51 am
Well, the one hobby in the game right now _does_ add stat bonuses. Until recently, fishing was the only way to get +will food. You can still fish for food, though i’m not sure how it compares to the new recipes now.
–Harperella
March 4, 2010 at 10:43 am
Fishing is now the only way to get trail food that increases two stats (e.g.vitality and will). Combined with the changes to will in 2.9 (which greatly increased its importance to tactical classes), it’s even more beneficial now than before.
March 4, 2010 at 10:37 am
Hey! What ever happened to Treasure Hunting! lol
I think Welby is right. If we give things stats they get pulled into the calculation used by players for raids, instances and the lot. It ruins the RP feel. I don’t do as much RP as I wish I could (Not on Landroval), but I do see some need for cosmetic versatility. It would be cool if they didn’t just sit on your body, but became useful for something. A pair of Forchel “Ice Knife Boots” could be ice skates. A sled or skies could be made up. Give them the same speed physics as a horse and there you go. (Easier said than does is the next thing I’ll be hearing from Orion and the rest of the Dev’s. haha)
March 5, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Hobbies might be a way to allow persistent cosmetic changes to the game – changes that add to immersion by making you feel like you can have an impact on the game world. Given any type of freedom, who knows what people might do though..
I like the art idea, but I can see it becoming a problem – the LotRO community is more mature than most, but a few bad apples could turn anything well meaning into an eyesore.
March 5, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I forgot to add my own ideas –
1) how about adding in the mechanics for a game of Tag? Most of them are already there – just adjust the bar-room brawl code.
2) Hide and seek? Combine Tag with a fellowship’s “floaty name” being invisible within a certain area
3) Card games
4) Chess
5) The ability to write books and poetry and trade them with others
March 5, 2010 at 9:43 pm
@Hooklared
Omg,..you totally reminded me of Vanguard’s Diplomacy card game! I absolutely loved that aspect of the game in an MMO!
I don’t play TCGs like Magic but I played the h*ll outta that one, more than any other content in Vanguard!
Dunno about lore-breaking or anything,..but I’d be into it.
/cheers
March 5, 2010 at 6:58 pm
I like a lot of the ideas, I think they could be really fun additions, love to be able to sit down and play a game of checkers while waiting for a raid or group. However I see that as needing to take you to a whole different game mechanic arena, and therefore less likely to be something the developers would be willing to work on for a ‘hobby’
I was trying to think of something that would be relatively simple (lol, I have no clue what it would take…) to add to the existing structure of the game, that could be fun.
Naturalist.
- each area could have special flower, plant, bird, animal, etc. That are super rare and move around. Once you find it you can either add it to your own species lists (birds, squirells, plants) and once you find enough species you gain a title (i.e. The Birdbrained, or Gatherer of Nuts). Could be new titles per area…
-Additionally finding specific super rare animals or plants could be traded for cosmetic pets (a butterfly that floats by as you walk to your front door) or plants for your home. Potentially even some plants could give you a ingame boost, heals, morale, vit, etc.
-you could have a sketch pad that you click to capture moment which could later be traded for artwork…
I think it would be cool to be watching the sunset in Forochel and see a snow white ermine scurry across the field in front of you.
Anyways, I find the idea of having a hobby in my hobby (playing Lotro) as kinda amusing…
February 17, 2011 at 4:26 am
I myself would love to fly kites, its kinda nice, relaxing you don’t need points and you can do it almost anywhere. except indoors
You can have them crash into trees or dwindle down to the ground.
Different shapes and perhaps if the powers that be decide so, have steerable kites, with which you can gain points for certain maneouvres. Just like a kind of hobby deed.
Unlocking hobby traits in the proces