Goldenstar has been playing FFXIII and hasn’t much to report for LOTRO. She’s a little strange this episode from an overdose of final fantasy.

Merric is working on his cooking and farming and talks about is issues with math and flour. He also fishing to get Goldenstar some will food. He is working on questing in Mirkwood to get up his faction with those elves and has worked a bit more on minstrel who is now 27.

Don’t miss the new videos Merric is creating showing Skirmish encounters!

Town Crier

• Tell the Community Team
• Siege of Mirkwood named Best Expansion or DLC of 2009 by Game Industry News
• LOTRO runner up award during Beckett Massive Online Gamer’s 2009 Reader’s Choice Awards for Best MMO Expansion/Addition of 2009

Player News:

• Awake the West (Landroval) – March 19th 10pm EST
• Meneldor’s Leprechaun Parade – March 20th 6pm EST
• Windfola’s First Fishing Trip of the Season
• TheLOTRONetwork.com has begun its 2010 LOTRO Twitter Census.
• New LOTRO Blog – The Khazad Guard

Raise Your Glass

Update from Celedor on LM Skill

I found that come Mirkwood, there hasn’t been that 1.5 (or so) second downtime between the use of Air Lore and the next queued skill (I still don’t have the upgraded version, I am an alt-aholic and my LM is stuck at 62 while my alts get the love). So that’s nice, but I agree with you Merric: Overall, it is still… Uhhhhh….

Another great show!

~Cel

Neil Johnson:

You guys are so evil! you are so entertaining that when i finish watching the new episodes I’m sad! HAVE MERCY! :p love your show!

Podcast Reviews:

Thank you very much to the following folks for their positive reviews of the podcast!

• Darfoo
• Xhaan from Brandywine

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show! Email us or leave a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions. Let us know what you’d like to hear! You can also interact with us or just get our updates through various subscription/following services that we actively post to.

Goldenstar’s runekeeper is 16 and Merric’s minstrel is now level 26. Merric has started the Volume III, Book 1 quests and is not going as quickly as most people are talking about because he’s choosing rewards rather than the quick travel options.

Just for reference, Merric talks about what skill he gets when he was 4 and I comment “I love Pure Pwnage”. If you haven’t seen Pure Pwnage before it’s pretty funny even if it is WoW centric.

Town Crier:

• Official LOTRO Facebook App launched
• Monster Resist Changes
• LOTRO Europe Welcome Back Week
• Dev Diary about QA
• Tell the Community Team
• Massively’s top 10 reasons to play LOTRO
• Issues with the Nvidia 196.75 drivers.
• Official list of Lt’s that soldiers won’t attack
• Lotto Bug – Lottos are now suspended
• Changing Continual Air-lore

Player News:

• V3B1 Jewelry Reference Site
• Walk for Hunger

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Duncan Feldane

I’ve listened to all your podcasts and treasure your balanced approach.

I share your ‘casual’ perspective and have almost no interest in raiding or studying the minutiae of combat statistics. However, I detest defeats, especially because they seem to be more frequent lately.

When you talk about traits, or changing to a different ‘build,’ I feel lost.

When I look at new(er) players, some gaps are often obvious, such as "you need a new [whatever]." Is it possible some experienced players could look at others and provide that same guidance?

http://my.lotro.com/character/landroval/serenyalen/
http://my.lotro.com/character/landroval/thrandirhad/

Weatherwax on Eldar

Another great show – and hope you feel better soon!

Fab show as always – Have to say that you guys really make my commute a joy!

Stephen

Weatherwax on Eldar

Celedor

Hey you two, Celeodor again: A bit of info abot the new LM and RK skill upgrades:

The LM skill air lore right now on live is 1 minute duration 1 minute cooldown with a 1 second induction. I looks cool, but i’ve found that for at least 2 seconds after casting, I can’t use any other skills. So that all that together makes a skill that I don’t really use much (although I will throw it on the tank before a fight). The upgrade will make it a toggle.

The RK skill on live right now is a toggle that you can cast on yourself or someone else (as long as they are in your fellowship) that

when that person is hit with melee damage, the attacking mob gets a short-duration debuff in the form of loss of resistance to the curent affinity of the RK’s stone. The upgrade also gives tactical and range buff (1%) to the person that it is active on.

Can’t wait to hear more!

~Cel

P.S. – Not trying to put you right or say that I’m elite, just passing on somethings that I know Love the show and looking forward to the next episode!

Voicemail from Estelin from Nimrodel

Podcast Reviews:

Thank you very much to the following folks for their positive reviews of the podcast!

• Nefets (Slayzz of Gladden)
• Droidattack
• Branadoc

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show! Email us or leave a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions. Let us know what you’d like to hear! You can also interact with us or just get our updates through various subscription/following services that we actively post to.

Goldenstar ran into some bad luck when her Runekeeper died at level 19 preventing her from getting the “Undying” title. So that RK was promptly deleted and Goldenstorm the new elven RK was born! Merric got his captain to level 30 and has started working on his Minstrel as his next alt. He also talks about his numerous successes with skirmishes.

During our main topic we talk a bit about the official release notes and what we are particularly excited for with this new patch!

Town Crier:

• Vol III Book 1 Launching March 1st
• Release Notes
• Isengard Private Preview Program
• Tell the Community Team
• Dev Diary: Volume 1 Revised Edition

Player News:

• 12 Lore-masters defeated the Turtle
• Ales and Tales on Landroval located at Woodhall in The Shire. 10:30 EST (-5 GMT)

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

From Harperella of Landroval:

Hello Merric and Goldenstar!

Keep up the wonderful work! Your podcasts continue to be incredibly entertaining and informative. They are always at the top of my podcast playlists.

I thought you might give our weekly RP event, Ales and Tales a shout out. As far as I know, it is the only event of its kind in all of LOTRO. Each week, we get together at a different pub or tavern. The participants then have fun roleplaying their parts in the pub atmosphere, while various players tell stories, play music, or just drink themselves silly. We are always dancing each week singly, in pairs, and in larger groups. I think its a great way for people to ease into the fun that is roleplaying, since you can just sip an ale in the corner and watch the drama scroll by, or grab a partner and get out on the dance floor. And this has all been going every single Monday night since last August! Read all about it in this thread;http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=285907 There’s lots of pictures, some fun little stories, and even transcripts of what you might expect at an Ales and Tales.

–Harperella

From Celeodor from Windfola:

Heya you two:

I went back and listened to episode 14 (ive listened to them all out of order), had to laugh when you two were talking about what you named you goat mounts that you got from the adventures pack and mentioned that you might name the goat Clover. On Bullroarer right now, when someone buys horses (I don’t know I’d this is on the live servers), they all come with a present name (which of course can be charged), and the default name for the goat is Clover! Oh man I laughed so hard when I remembered that.

Just wanted to share the laugh and say that the podcast is amazing! Take care!

By the way, I couldn’t stop laughing when Goldenstar said that she couldn’t use the upgraded remove dread!

Celeodor (Windfola server)

Podcast Reviews:
Thank you to Joseph.H and Squiggo for their positive reviews on iTunes!

Player Achievements:
Our newest segment we’re attempting were we picked comments at random from the Player Achievements post to give you some unique shout-outs! This week it may seem a little clunky and awkward but we really like this idea and we’ll get better at it as we go along. We welcome your feedback and suggestions!

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Let Us Sing Together” by Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show! Email us or leave a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions. Let us know what you’d like to hear! You can also interact with us or just get our updates through various subscription/following services that we actively post to.

Goldenstar is happy to report she’s finally getting the skirmish system and doing well. On her burglar anyway. She’s able to complete on level tier 1 skirmishes without any difficulty.

Town Crier:

• Dev Diary: Skill Upgrades
• Tell the Community Team : Radiance and Itemization
• Dev Diary: Crafting Update
• Scheduled Maintenance on Tuesday, Feb 23rd
• Bullroarer update notes for Feb 17
• Turbine Survey

Player News:

• AXES OF THE DWARVES – A LANDROVAL RP/PVM EVENT

Raise Your Glass:

Commenters:

5 Star Reviews:
Thank you to the following listeners for leaving us 5 star reviews on iTunes!

• swollentiki

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” by Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Merric tried using Overpower on his guardian in skirmishes and started using Legendary Weapons again. He realized he can actually kill things!

Our main topic this week is the leveling zones. Based on our email from Steve last week asking for advice on where to level up.  We used guides from LotroLife and Keen and Graev’s blog as well as user feedback from Aillas in our comments from episode 24.

Town Crier:

• Dev Diary: Skirmishes
• Clover Spotlights 2 Player Created Skirmish Guides
• Tell The Community Team – Legendary Items

Player News:

• Event: A fest in Love’s Honour – Reprised ((Landroval)) – February 27th 4pm EST
• Event: Cross County Cook-Off! (Landroval) – February 23rd 9pm EST
• Event: Seven Stars Surplus Sales (Landroval) – February 21st 2pm EST
• Harperella’s Warden Gambit Quick Reference Guide

Raise Your Glass:

Letter from Ordnance on Windfola

Hello Merric and Goldenstar,

First I would like to say I have thoroughly enjoyed the podcast since discovering it a  couple of weeks ago. I originally picked up LOTRO at the Mines of Moria expansion release. I was playing Final Fantasy XI online at the time and sadly I canceled my LOTRO subscription after the free 30 day trial ended.

I jumped on the Aion bandwagon with several of my linkshell mates from FFXI back in September. After 5 months of grinding and getting ganked constantly I finally came to the decision that it was not the MMO for me. I did not want to return to FFXI, because I had been playing it for 5 years and it had become stagnant. I happened to look in my desk drawer and there was my LOTRO: Mines of Moria box glistening in all it’s glory.

Needless to say, I reinstalled the game and reactivated my account. I was instantly drawn into middle earth and I have been having a blast since. Best of all, my wife has also decided to play with me as well. She has not played an MMO since quitting FFXI a few years ago.

Now, onto the reason of my email. I need to clarify when I will be able to get my first mount. It is my understanding that I will not get a mount until level 35. However, I have seen mention of a Bree horse or pony that can be obtained at an earlier level. This is where I am confused. Is the Bree Horse/Pony only available to certain account holders, like lifetime subscribers, for example. If you can help me clarify this I would be most appreciative.

Thanks so much and keep up the good work.

David – AKA Ordnance, Hunter of Windfola

Commenters:

5 Star Reviews:
Thank you to the following listeners for leaving us 5 star reviews on iTunes!

• KappoRDM

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” by Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Merric also went and looked around on Bullroarer looking at the new skirmish cosmetics. We spend some time chatting about the new cosmetic items and how we would use them.

We discuss the Book 1 Release Notes and the dev diaries that were released in the past week.

Town Crier:

• Zombie Columbus Dev-Mini-Diary
• Developer Diary: V3B1 Quest Notes
• Bullroarer is now open with V3B1
• Volume III, Book I Preliminary Release Notes
• The E&G Tavern is open to auto-level a character
• Turbine LOTRO Defragmentation Tool
• Tell the Community Team 2/5/10

Player News:

• LOTRO Barterers List:
• Massively Weekly LOTRO Column

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

From Steve on Firefoot:

Hello. Love the show. It was really hard to find a Lotro podcast

I played at launch and got to about level 25 then got sucked back into warcraft

I just recently decided to come back and bought a lifetime membership. My problem is that I’m totally lost as to leveling zones.

I was able to get my Champion to 42 (mainly skirmishes) but realized I didnt really have any traits or deeds and just felt lost.

Now trying to decide between hunter and burglar.

Have you guys had a show on leveling or plan on having one? For example: what zones/areas 1-10, 11-20, 20-30 etc…

Thanks and keep the great shows flowing!

Steve
Firefoot server

Commenters:

5 Star Reviews:
Thank you to the following listeners for leaving us 5 star reviews on iTunes!

• Thanksforfish
• Tadgo of Arkenstone

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

They also were so kind to give us a big scoop to a major change to Skirmishes that is coming with Volume III, Book 1. I’m not going to spoil it but it is about the most asked question we received for these guys. I’m certain most of you will be super happy to hear about it. That’s why you’re getting this episode in the middle of the week. We couldn’t wait!

This is a very long episode so we left out the news and other chatter that we usually do just to give you as much of the interview as we could possibly cram into your ears.

A special thank you to Brian, Joe and Tim as we had a great time chatting with them. They are some really funny guys and we appreciate them staying late at work just to sit and chat with us for a couple hours.

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” performed by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Banshee” performed by Fathom

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Update 2/5/10: I’ve created a post with a timeline of the questions we’ve asked and where they appear in the podcast in case you can’t listen to the whole thing but want to skip to a specific discussion. You can find the list here!

Our main topic this week is discussing what we plan on doing now that we are 65. Things like working on gear, completing deeds for traits, finishing crafting, playing alts. If you have any ideas of what we should be working on now that we are 65 please let us know!

Town Crier:

• Oath of the Rangers Patch Announced!
• The 25% bonus to skirmishes will be going away with Vol 3 book 1
• Tell the Community Team about Skirmishes
• 4 Legacies Appearing on some 3A LI from Sapience
• Featured Article: Skirmish 101
• LOTRO Re-Reviewed by Gamerzines

Player News:

• The Ettenmoors Minstrel: Builds and Strategies
• We are taking questions for the devs who worked on the Skirmish System for the next podcast. Please submit your questions by Monday as we are interviewing them Tuesday evening.
• MMeOw.net is closing it’s doors
• Player Event: Hearts and Tarts, a Night of Romance

Raise Your Glass:

Mail:

Hiya Merric and Goldenstar,

I am listening to episode #20 and really enjoying your discussion on cheating and twinking.

One specific part of the discussion really intrigued me and I wanted to share my opinion.

Goldenstar asked what the difference was between a character who bought gold from another player/gold farmer and a character who receive the same amount of gold from an alt or another player as a gift. While the circumstances behind the transaction are different the in-game impact is the same.

Merric replied that the reason buying gold is cheating is because  its against the rules Turbine has set.

While this is true, I also think it also comes down to the intent and social differences within each situation. In the case of buying gold, the transaction goes beyond the confines of the game into the real world. You have traded a real world value to a non-related third party to specifically gain an advantage in game. You would not have gotten the gold in game without going outside the game to purchase it.

While the net outcome (receiving gold) is the same, when you receive gold from an alt or a kinmate or friend, the result is within the confines of the game and is a social interaction. No ’significant’ real world value exchanges hands (cookies don’t count no matter how good they are), everything is done within the game. The transaction would be between people who know each other and is based on the personal relationship between the two individuals. These social relationships are the cornerstone for any good mmo.

Anyways thats my thought.

Alberos
Lvl 65 Elven LoreMaster on Arkenstone

Commenters:

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” performed by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Our main topic this week is discussing how we handle changes that do or do not happen in an MMO. With Orion’s recent bad news in our minds we discuss the process and promises of changes in our games today. We reminisce about past games and how their changes have let us down. We also discuss the best way to voice your issues with changes to the devs.

Town Crier:

• Known Issue: Gates in Barad Guldur
• Legacy Cost Issues
• Welcome Back Weekend: 21st-25th
• Removal of Hounding Fear
• Xfire Video Capture Awards
• Pro Tip: Lorebook: In Game lorebook returns to home page if you close and reopen. From Clover: You can use the back button when you re-open it and it will take you back to the article you were looking at.
• Orion’s Bad News

Player News:

• The Great My Lotro Blogger Gathering II
  Hosted by: Aerhinn Pathfinder – From the Shire & Tyrgrimm Pathfinder – Knee-high to an Elf.
• That LOTRO Show is back making video episodes posted on their web site.
• The Escapist’s Shamus Young ventures into Middle Earth

Raise Your Glass:

Commenters:

Musical Credits:

• “Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
• “Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” performed by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Merric feels his Mirkwood experience has went from being on the edge of helping with the war effort to going back to being the exterminator of creatures. Not feeling as epic at the moment. He has also been working hard on his cooking alt to make us hungry hobbits food!

Our main topic this week is cheating in MMOs. The draw to do so, the consequences to the economy for such actions and the repercussions you’ll have to live with.

Town Crier:

• Patch Day is January 19th! – Patch Notes
• Skirmish Mark Exploit Advisory
• It has been discovered that Litany of Defiance (Guardian skill) can be unintentionally blocked/parried/evaded as well as resisted. In the future it will be changed to only be resisted.
• There is an issue with some of the barter items in the Lorebook where the "get" items aren’t being listed.
• Spring Festival announced on Euro site. This is listed on the Turbine calendar as starting in March 23rd so you have some time yet!
• A list of Champ Fixes/Clarifications post-Mirkwood

Player News:

• Landroval Concert Event: The Road Goes Ever On and On
  January 23, 2010 at 10 pm EST
  Methel Stage (Shire)

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Beowyf of Silverload:

Hi big fan of the blog. I liked your latest post on screenshots. I love taking and looking at screenshots. If you want to check out some more take a look see at my lotro blog.

http://mmoviking.wordpress.com/

Beowyf – Silverlode server

Figgo Figgins of Nimrodel:

I started playing Lotro about a month and a half ago and started looking for a Lotro podcast at the same time. I randomly downloaded one of each and yours was my favorite so I downloaded all of them and have now finally caught up. You give a lot of good information and I love the way you poke at each other and make the podcast a lot of fun. I even love hearing Baby Hobbit and Snarling Wolf in the background. Keep up the great podcast.

Figgo Figgins

35 Hobbit Warden Nimrodel (but wishing I was on Landroval)

Commenters:

Musical Credits:

• “Gold and Silver Trees” by Fathom
• "The Fall of Gil-galad" by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Let us Sing Together” performed by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

We have an interview with the two new bloggers to our team, Azz and Veneration. We ask them about their MMO experience, what they enjoy in LOTRO and what got them into blogging. Get to know these two as they are now part of the CStM family!

Town Crier:

• Why some of the new quests from Mirkwood are not in the Lorebook.
• Siege of Mirkwood gets 9/10 from IGN
• Future plans for skirmishes?
• LOTRO Forums Reputation System
• Hacker Warning

Player News:

• Adventurer Pack Contest Winners
• Merric’s Elf-Maiden Soldier Cosmetics post has been added into the Lorebook.

  Need help with these from the community

• Galadhrim War-horse has been accomplished by some individuals, but it is rumored that some have accomplished this by exploiting.
• Steeds of Middle Earth by Calddir Lenion Nenharma of Arkenstone (link sent to us by Elahndria)
• Dev Tracker 2009 brought to our attention by Doc Holiday
• Good luck to Battlemaiden with all her RL activities. We’ll miss reading your blog!

Raise Your Glass:

Letters & Voicemails:

Letter from Rharan of Landroval:

So… Catching up on the podcast… which DAoC server/realm did you play?

I was on Percival Alb myself.

A former kinmate,

"Rharan"
Pie Lovers Society
Landroval

Voicemail from unknown: LOTRO Download Client: http://www.lotro.com/support/download-lotro

Commenters:

And thank you to those who have left us kind reviews in iTunes or on the Zune Marketplace!

• Bumblebottom
• Frogh
• Fengald

Musical Credits:

• “Gold and Silver Trees” by Fathom
• "The Fall of Gil-galad" by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Let us Sing Together” performed by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

We were also able to make it into Mirkwood and take a bit of time to complain about the spawn rate issues they were experiencing. We are through the beginner instance and starting to quest in the “Mirkwood Proper” as people have told us it’s called.

Our main topic this week was suggested by Osiran is “Growing With Your Game”. How has gaming evolved for us as we’ve grown older, started a career (left school), got married and had a baby?

Town Crier:

• Merric in a Dress. AKA Cosmetic Skirmish Rewards Posts
• Lotro New Year Lotteries
• Some Skirmish encounters are dropping trash loot. If you receive one it is a bug and it should be reported.
• The Tukar encounter in Theivery and Mischief has been confirmed to not be spawning correctly.
• There is the possibility that some encounters in Amon Sul may be broken and are not spawning.

Player News:

• LOTRO Cookbook
• We officially have a voicemail box! You now can call and leave us a message that we can use in the podcast. Call us at 520-261-CSTM (2786)
• User created Guide by Haperella on Legendary Items
• Kill Ten Rats reports on a rumor/conjecture that the next expansion or Volume 3 will start in Dunland, having us push on through to Rohan.
• CStM has two new people aboard who will be contributing to the blog. A very warm welcome to Veneration and I hope everyone will enjoy his posts! The other you probably already know especially if you listen to this show. Everyone welcome Azz from Wizzard of Azz!

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Hello Goldenstar and Merric,

Just wanted to drop you guys a line and let you guys know your show is excellent. Very informative, great show format ( greatest opening song ever) and you obviously make a great team.

Been listening since episode 1.

I play Moormagil level 65 burg on Silverlode. I used to do the podcast that lotro show, but had to stop because I was getting married , buying a house and just getting too busy to keep up with it. I have recently returned to lotro with the expansion comming out and I am having a great time.

Well You guys are awesome!

Bye- Phil

ps- if you ever need some one to come on and talk ( more like rant) about burgs or anything lotro let me know.

Voicemail: Jaxom wishes everyone a Happy New Year!

Commenters:

And thank you to those who have left us kind reviews in iTunes or on the Zune Marketplace!

• jwpshields (Scruf from Eldar Server EU)
• Pete (Australia)

Musical Credits:

• “Banshee” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Harp Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us or leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

At the end of the episode we chat about gift exchanges and Goldenstar’s curse associated with these. You ever gotten some horrible gifts in an exchange you would like to share feel free to comment!

Town Crier:

• Siege of Mirkwood named best expansion for 2009 from Ten Ton Hammer
• Bullroarer Testing Open
• Merric & Goldenstar as LOTRO Featured Players
• Guide to Dol Guldur by Brushfire
• Missy’s Tailoring Guide

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Fengald writes

Have been running skirmishes and have had a blast. Champ and a herbalist, makes a fantastic combo.

And thank you to those who have left us kind reviews in iTunes or on the Zune Marketplace!

• Valdaglerion
• Tubasarebehind

Musical Credits:

• “Banshee” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Harp Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Our main topic this week is the Yule Festival that is going on. We go over the new activities available this year and the best tips we can offer on how to complete them. We also briefly discuss the other items to do to collect more yule tokens. Don’t forget to check out our Yule Festival Guide for help getting everything done this year!

Town Crier

• Dev Diary: Yule Festival
• Datacenter Move
• Lotro Europe Login Giveaway
• Adventurer Pack Giveaway
• MMORPG.com gives Mirkwood 8.25 Score

Player News:

• Bards of a Feather Christmas Concerts on Vilya
• Landroval Job Faire
• Wild Hunt on Silverlode

Raise Your Glass

Thank you to our commenters for the past week!

And thank you to those who have left us kind reviews in iTunes or on the Zune Marketplace!

• durandir
• Talbot Banyan

Musical Credits:

• “Banshee” by Fathom
• “Let us Sing Together” by The Lonely Mountain Band
• “Battle of Ballylochlan” by Fathom
• “Harp Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

We are still working on our Volume II quests. Goldenstar even upgraded out of her crummy agility gloves! Goldenstar reports on her finishing some skirmishes successfully. Merric is working on his Runekeeper to level 20 with his other alts.

Town Crier

• December 10th Patch and Downtime
• Lorebook Updated
• Orion’s Latest Blog Post
• Hardware Upgrade Preview Event
• Repair Costs
• UI Feedback

Player News:

• Multiverse Podcast
• Turbine’s Video Spotlight: Trucido in Dar Narbugud

Raise Your Glass

Commenters:

iTunes 5 Star & Zune Marketplace Reviews:

• Docholidayj
• Blue Kae

Musical Credits:
Intro Background Music:  “Let us Sing Together” by The Lonely Mountain Band
Main Background Music: “Banshee” by Fathom
Raise Your Glass Background Music: “Harp Lullabye” performed by Harperella

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

We are level 57 and having a great time playing with Siege of Mirkwood! We haven’t won a skirmish yet but they are still super fun. Goldenstar tried a 12-man skirmish. Merric gives a run down of his two new alts that he created with his new character slots. Merric talks about his experience with SoM launch and his rubber banding issues.

Town Crier

Developer Diaries Mentioned:

• Welcome Back to the Lone-Lands
• SoM Skirmishes: The End
• Legacy Pool Distribution by Class
• SoM Skill Upgrades
• Character Panel Update
• SoM Combat Changes

Announcements

• My.Lotro.com 3.0 Release
• New Lottery Schedules and Drawings

Events

• Europe LOTRO Dev Chat
• Codemasters Scavenger Hunt
• Codemasters Triple Pack Key Giveaway

Mirkwood Updates

• What to do if lose Goat Mount due to full pack
• Inspired Greatness only for Vol 1 Book 2 currently
• North Downs Revamp delayed while working on Inspired Greatness
• Trouble in Tuckborough skirmish held back
• Barrow Downs Skirmish Closed

Player News:

• Wassailing in the Shire
  December 18, 10pm EST
  Landroval Server
• Winter Ball
  December 21, 9pm EST
  Landroval Server

Raise Your Glass

Listener  Mail:

Couillon writes:

I heard an excellent program on NPR this morning with Neil Gaiman…might change Goldenstar’s mind?? Neil Gaiman Asks: Heard Any Good Books Lately? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120769925heard an excellentprogram on NPR this morning with Neil Gaiman…might change Goldenstar’s mind?? Neil Gaiman Asks: Heard Any Good Books Lately? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120769925″>

Commenters:

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

• Galenswerd
• Sigin the Dwarf
• Darkkingdavid

Musical Credits:
Main Background Music:  Let us Sing Together by The Lonely Mountain Band
Raise Your Glass Background Music: Battle of Ballylochlan by Fathom

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

They were very gracious to sit and answer all the questions you guys sent into us.

This show is slightly different from our other shows. We did not spend time covering the news and such because we were so eager to get this interview out for you guys to enjoy. Plus the interview alone was lengthy enough that if we had started our typical rambling you guys would have likely had a four hour show! We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed recording.

Thank you very much to both Patience and Sapience for taking the time to chat with us. We were extremely flattered when they agreed to be on the show. Just more proof how amazing Turbine and their employees are!

Contact Us:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Musical Credits:

• Intro Music:  Banshee by Fathom
• Background Music for the First Segment:  Let us Sing Together by The Lonely Mountain Band
• Background Music for the Second Segment:  Battle of Ballylochlan by Fathom
• Background Music for the Third Segment:  King of the Faeries by Fathom

Festival in the Shire was mentioned in the interview which is a big celebration of all things Tolkien that is taking place next summer in Wales. Fathom is trying to get a group trip organized to attend this festival. So if you’re interested in traveling to the UK with Fathom, keep an eye on their website for updates on that!

Make sure you check out http://fathom.bandcamp.com/ for free downloads of Fathom rehearsal music! All music in this week’s podcast is from Fathom or the Lonely Mountain Project!

Town Crier:

• Warcry Dev Chat
• Welcome Back Week
• Dev Diary: Dol Guldur
• LOTRO Legendary Lottery
• LOTRO Charity Auctions
• Europe Experience Bonus until Launch
• Mailbox Auto-Fill
• Main Menu Overhaul
• Preview Siege of Mirkwood

Player News:

• Submit an Audio Clip to Us!
• Howard of LOTROHerald is the new Featured Player!

Raise Your Glass:

Listener Mail:

Email from Jason:

hey i love the podcast listen to it every week i dont play the game do to me using a laptop that doesnt have enough space but the podcast is good enough for me.    found a book that is a guide to middle earth from a to z its called the complete guide to middle earth from the hobbit to the silmarillion by Robert Foster  keep on podcastin merry christmas

Follow up Email from Dannae:

Hi Merric and Goldenstar, just to confirm what you thought already that ridiculous was meant in the very good sense and not the “getting shot in the head” sense as you put it in your recent excellent show Keep up the good work and absurdity (another good thing). The format and fun of the show is such that I could probably listen to you guys talk about walnuts for an hour.

Dannae (HoNKs)

Commenters:

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

• wrongdownload

Contact Us:

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Musical Credits:

• Intro Music:  Banshee by Fathom
• Background Music for the First Segment:  Gold & Silver Trees by Fathom
• First Break:  Lament for Eorl the Young by Fathom
• Background Music for the Second Segment (News):  Battle of Ballylochlan by Fathom
• Second Break:  Whiskey in the Jar as performed by Fathom
• Background Music for the Third Segment (Interview):  Let us Sing Together by The Lonely Mountain Band
• Third Break:  Back Home in Derry by Fathom
• Background Music for the Fourth Segment (Raise Your Glass):  King of the Faeries by Fathom
• Closing Song:  The Fall of Gil-galad by The Lonely Mountain Band

Azz was nice enough to come on to help explain the Legendary Item system and answer your questions! We also make sure to discuss what changes we know to be coming with the upcoming expansion. From crafting to drops in Dar Nurgerablakalasfd (as Azz would say) we discuss the various ways to obtain items and how you use them.

We hope that the discussion is informative and helps clear at least some of the confusion that Legendary Items invoke. If you have further questions please feel free to send them in as we’d be happy to answer them for you.

Town Crier:

• Siege of Mirkwood Pre-Launch Offers Extended
• More Mount Information
• Orion’s Problems and Solutions
• Pumpkin Contest Winners
• My.LOTRO Class Lotteries
• New Siege of Mirkwood Trailer
• Dev Diary: Skirmishes Accessibility
• UI Layout Save Command Getting an Update

Player News:

• Middle Earth Adventurer Retires from Blogger

Legendary Items Link

• Legendary Items Guide in the Lorebook
• Legendary Items changes Dev Diary
• Existing Legacies will not be removed with Siege of Mirkwood

Raise Your Glass:

Listener Mail:

From Dannae on Gilrain Server UK:

Hi to you both, Just a quick note to say how entertaining, amusing, informative and ridiculous your podcast is and hope that you both continue to enjoy making them as much as I enjoy listening to them. Dannae from the UK on Gilrain server. Shout out to my Kin ‘Heroes of the North Kingdom’ (HONKS) who have been babysitting me through my first MMO.

Commenters:

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

• Morzadan
• Almazar
• Doug200463

Contact Us!

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.

Azz can be found on his blog http://wizzardofazz.blogspot.com/. He is on twitter as @wizzardofazz!

In episode 10 we talk about our first trip inside Carn Dûm with the friendly folks from Council of the Secret Fire.  What I (Goldenstar) learned from the instance is that Champions need a lot of healing. Our trip was not successful in getting the Minstrel Quest item I was looking for but those guys are so helpful they went into the dungeon later without me, collected the item I needed and mailed it to me! I was able to complete my quest and earn another Minstrel Legendary Trait! We had a great time and thank them kindly for including us.

Both of us are now level 55 and well on our way to 56. Perhaps we can make it to 60 before Siege of Mirkwood launches!

Merric has bought a house a small dwarven house. His address is 1 Crappin Dwarf Hole or something. He’s very happy with his little haystack to sleep in and the bucket for his clothing. I wouldn’t visit if I was you. Merric has also finished the first leg of his Project Altoholism getting all his alts to level 20. We talk about it briefly with promises of a post with more detail this week.

Town Crier:

• Dev Diary: Mirkwood
• Dev Diary: Skirmishes Rewards
• Siege of Mirkwood Tour by Massively and Ten Ton Hammer
• New Fall Festival Lotteries

Player News:

• Bad “LOTRO News” iPhone Application
• The LOTRO Blog Reader Bundle
• Congratulations to Kiele for her Scribe of the Ages title for her work posting real world recipes for LOTRO dishes! Check out her blog for the recipes!
• We have revamped the look of the web site. Let us know what you think!

Raise Your Glass

Listener Mail:

From Angus on Snowbourn:

This is just a wee note to thank you both for your great podcasts.

I’m a mature level 44 Minstrel from Scotland playing on the Snowbourn server in Europe. For the past month I’ve been without a Lotro able computer.No Lotro for a month it’s been hell.

In desparation  I turned to the forums and the world of podcasts to get my fix.

Charles Thomson, Lady Sinaea and the team at Lotro reporter have all, in different ways, provided informative and entertaining succour to those of us who are Lotro deficient.

My new super computer is due this week and I cant wait to jump back into Middle Earth.

I also cant wait for your next podcast.

You provide all of the above plus the rapport you have with each other is wonderful (your patter’s brilliant) The only thing worse than being unable to play Lotro would not being to take the weekly stroll with you two.

Keep up the good work
Wonderful show.
Many thanks
Awrabest and lang may yer lum reek.

Wee Angus

ps big shout out to The Blades of Arnor the best most relaxed and easy going Kinship on Snowbourn

From Workenbald on Brandywine:

Just returned to LOTRO during the recent Welcome Back weekend and was wondering if you guys (as the casual play guru’s) knew of a way a person could find a list of casual kins available to join.

Thanks

Workenbald (Brandywine Server)

Our recommendation is to try the Lorebook Kinship Listing. Check the subcategory listing to try to find a type that would fit you. Also try Looking for Kinship web site at http://lfkin.net

Commentors:

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

• Jaxom92

Contact Us!

We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear! Follow us on twitter and you can become a fan on our Facebook page.