Comments for A Casual Stroll to Mordor

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Svenn

Svenn — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:47:02 +0000

This is exactly what I was afraid of with the free to play model. Didn’t they say from the start that they would NEVER introduce things like armor into the store so that it didn’t become pay2win?

Well, so much for that.

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Jaguart

Jaguart — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:42:54 +0000

I hate to have such a bad attitude, but the game was better before they had The Dark Store, with its pay-to-win items. There’s too much emphasis on Turbine Points and The Store is too intrustive. Only things good about F2P was it put more money in Turbine’s coffers and increased the playerbase.

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Andy

Andy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:30:28 +0000

Never yet seen a lockbox drop let alone a key so not entirely convinced that this is the best option on offer.

Tiny droprate plus tiny droprate means teenytiny droprate for the new bits, assuming you can be bothered with buying the key as again its another miniscule droprate on those.

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Sierra

Sierra — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:26:12 +0000

So.. am I misreading this? They are removing the ‘store only’ classification from those items by introducing them into the loot tables for the lockboxes – okay, great, now those items are accessible in game. But.. the lockboxes have to be opened with a key that is only available in the store?

It just seems like juggling around what points are being spent on so that it sounds better – did I miss something?

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Kiarane

Kiarane — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:23:28 +0000

Maybe they should just just give certain items for free in the store to the VIP players. This conflictual armor for instance, seems like a good candidate, hehe.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Mateusaran

Mateusaran — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:13:35 +0000

It is bound, but once the anvil is placed down by the owner, anyone can use it to repair. At least that is the case with the weaponsmith version.

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Dan

Dan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:12:05 +0000

My feelings are similar to the others’: Communication/explanations are a Good Thing. Having loot-boxes be the “solution” seems kind of ludicrous but I’m willing to wait and see how the drop rates change.

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Tanek

Tanek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:07:20 +0000

I like that they are looking for solutions to some of the concerns that have arisen over the past year of this new model. Really, we all knew there would be growing pains, I just did not think they would take so long to be acknowledged.

Still not a fan of the lock-box lottery system (if I spend points, I want to know what I’m getting rather than only having a chance to get what I want), but as long as Turbine keeps up with the promise of more communication, I am willing to see where things go from here.

Comment on Turbine on Loot boxes and Store-only Items by Ethelros

Ethelros — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:51:53 +0000

My feelings on the store armour itself are pretty ambivalent really. I can understand the dislike of them, and frankly given the choice I would not have put them in there, but I was never wholly outraged by it.

That aside, I’m more pleased that they’re acknowledging and attempting to improve on their communication(or the lack thereof in some cases) than I am at any of the changes in themselves.

Honestly, I don’t mind them looking at various avenues of generating income(they are a business after all), so long as they are clear and open with their intentions and explain the motivations for the decisions they make. This is something I appreciated with the original reply Sapience made and I hope they can keep it up for future ‘controversial’ stuff which will inevitably occur at some point.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Ketani

Ketani — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:14 +0000

This is one of the exceptions to the “for your fellowship only” skill trend. Chorus of Restoration will remove dread for the whole raid. Most of the time, my raiding group runs with two minstrels, so they alternate dread removal for the raid so we don’t have to worry about cooldowns. If we’re dying too frequently for either minstrel’s dread removal, we’ll usually take a break and re-visit our strategy to make it work better.

Comment on Update 6: Warg Changes by Belarieth

Belarieth — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:34:25 +0000

Hmm, perhaps I should give the warg a whirl in creep play-not sure the defiler is my cup of bile…

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Haydnseek

Haydnseek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:32:40 +0000

Ah, you’re right. I looked up the skill on lotro-wiki, which is Song of Restoration. At level 62 it becomes an ‘Improved’ skill which grants group-wide dread removal including the casting minstrel. And with only a 10 minute CD as opposed to the 15 CD for tokens, it is indeed a good dread removal solution. My only familiarity with the skill is on my mid-50′s mini where the base skill is largely useless when soloing – can’t us it on myself – and in groups – “Sorry, only one person gets dread removal”.

As far as raid-wide coverage, I don’t know either, but I would think not, since most group skills and FM’s are restricted to whichever fellowship within the raid initiated them. No experience with that so can’t say for sure.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Ketani

Ketani — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:22:41 +0000

At 65+ (before that, I’m sure, but I don’t have a mini myself to check on it) dread removal is raid wide. I think it has been so since the days of Ost Dunhoth. I remember our raids being very glad of that, especially after wiping on the Wound Wing gauntlet. And since it was a “boss fight” skills reset each time and we didn’t have to worry about dread removal being on cooldown.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Ketani

Ketani — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:19:45 +0000

You make a good point. I do think that it would have been better to make a post about “Critical Time Savers” rather than items “critical for raiding”, though. In almost any other context, those items are very useful. They just don’t apply much to raiding. I did mean to (and somehow failed to do so) make a note of how well most of the items on the list did follow the theme of saving time for the raid. They just weren’t often very practical compared to some of their non-store alternatives.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Ketani

Ketani — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:14:56 +0000

Weaponsmiths have a version of this recipe, too. I believe it’s also Artisan tier, and it comes from the Men of Bree rep vendor. One of my kinmates will use these on occasion if the raid has taken a serious beating, but do keep in mind that repairs from an anvil typically cost more than those from a vendor.

Certain vendors will give a discount on repair bills, too. I used to go to the housing vendors in my neighborhood all the time after a raid for their discount (up to 15% depending on house type), but since you can’t use instance join while in housing, I don’t use that for my between wipes repairs. Reputation vendors (the ones that you need to be Ally or better with to talk to) will also give a discount. The easiest one for me to get to is in Michel Delving in the down stairs portion of the Mathom House.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Elinnea

Elinnea — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:09:03 +0000

Actually it’s at level 62, minstrels get Improved Song of Restoration which removes dread from the whole fellowship. It does have a ten minute cooldown, so if a group is wiping very frequently, or if somebody was out of the 10 meter range when the minstrel played it, they’re going to need a second minstrel or some of these other dread-removal options.

Comment on Poll: Race Change by Jim

Jim — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:24:51 +0000

I think facial structures should be allowed to be edited once more. Or at least the basic options, like the eye colour, eye tint, lips. Race change can be a part of this or another purchase but I don’t see a reason why not allow players to recustomize their toons once again by spending TP. And it will make money for the Turbine, they should really consider this.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Vraeden

Vraeden — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:16:43 +0000

I think at about level 74 the minstrel dread removal skill becomes group dread removal, which includes the minstrel.

I’m not sure if it is raid-wide or just the minstrel’s group.

Comment on “I am a Rockstar” Video Contest by Ellohir

Ellohir — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:10:45 +0000

I like these kind of contest but many of us find complicated recording videos, I have FPS issues even when I’m playing the game only…

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Haydnseek

Haydnseek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:07:24 +0000

As far as the dread removal, I concur about the minstrel dread removal skill, but to my knowlege it is not a group skill. The minstrel can only use it on an single target and can not use it on themselves, iirc. An even better solution is just to pop a +5 Hope token, which SHOULD be part of everyones required raid gear, and if the group is huddled up within 10 meters or so, it will affect the whole fellowship. Add to that a +1 hope buff that can be had for a pittance in the DP wallet and you have a essentially all the hope management needed.

Comment on Vraeden’s Guide to Making a Ton of (Fake) Money by Vraeden

Vraeden — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:58:28 +0000

If you shift+left-click on the items as you pick it up, when you drop the stack into a target slot, it will ask you how many of the item you want to move.

The options are “one”, “half” or “all”, or you can manually input the number you want to move.

Note that not all items stack to 100; scrolls only stack to 20, for instance. Tokens used to only stack to 5, but I think they’ll stack to 50 now.

Comment on Critical Store Items to Bring to a Raid by Haydnseek

Haydnseek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:52:31 +0000

Also don’t burgs have a Summon Peddler skill to vendor trash? Like the anvil, I’m not sure if it is usable by others or only the summoning burg, though.

Comment on Episode 125: Seventy-four-and-a-half by shipwreck

shipwreck — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:40:24 +0000

Just wanted to drop a note and say how impressed I am at your consistent release schedule.

I thought I could keep pace and release my episodes when I wanted to, every two weeks, after baby Shiplet was born but that has proven very, very difficult.

Comment on Vraeden’s Guide to Making a Ton of (Fake) Money by susan

susan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:31:38 +0000

I have made hundreds of gold selling on the AH. It takes a constant effort to daily scan, peruse, post, repost items according to demand or fad. I have no problem with buying stuff and reselling it for a profit, it sells fast so to me that says plenty that the original poster was not aware of market prices and put their items for too low. Prices fluctuate due to demand and not being in tune can mean you lose money. I buy lots of stuff at really low prices, then hold them for a months and then sell for enormous profit when they are scarce. Having a long term outlook to the AH pays off.

I also have spent hundreds of gold BUYING from the AH items that I can not get as I do not raid, crafted stuff that I can not be arsed with making tho I have guild status in all fields, etc. Convenience is paramount in this game, I make profit by it and also PAY for it.

my motto is: if it sells then the price was reasonable. If it doesnt.. then reduce and repost.

Comment on Vraeden’s Guide to Making a Ton of (Fake) Money by Gonzeppelin

Gonzeppelin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:29:19 +0000

I like the integrity behind this post! Also as a financial planner type in real life I found the advice very solid for real life peoples!

Question: Is there a way to break down stacks of 100 from your inventory to post smaller amounts on the AH? I don’t always want to post the whole enchilada sonetimes.