A Casual Stroll to Mordor

Episode 52: Balls of Flaming Doom

Goldenstar — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 01:52:47 +0000

This week we spend time to go over all the dev diaries released lately. We spend some time trying to plan out what soldiers we should pick for our RK/Hunter duo.

Goldenstar is feeling quite accomplished this week having gotten her Hunter her first legendary weapon. She also dusted off the runekeeper and got quite a bit done in Garth Agarwen. She completed two dungeons with challenge mode in one evening and was feeling quite tough!

Merric got to 40 on the Champion and got his Runekeeper to level 32 playing in skirmishes. He only has the Hunter and Warden left to get to 40 after the Runekeeper.

Town Crier:

Player News:

Raise Your Glass

Texborn of Landroval

Guys,

I have just recently started listening to your podcasts. You 2 have been accompanying me to work for the last 2 weeks as I have a 30minute commute each way. I went back as far as your PAX interviews. Your cast is very informative, and entertaining. The interview with the Tolkien Professor was top notch. I have since downloaded Corey’s lectures and look forward to starting them. The dungeon roundtable was outstanding! I play a lvl 44 guardian and a lvl 12 mini. Not only did I learn a ton about the other classes, but a bunch about my own as well. I can’t wait to listen to your class roundtables. Surprisingly, I have also enjoyed your non-game interviews. You have done a great job of picking guests unrelated to the game, but close enough to be interesting. Both the Tolkien Professor interview and the Taverncraft interview are great examples. I’ve just started poking around your website today and look forward to the treasures buried within.

For future topics/suggestions/interests:
Game mechanics such as fellowship maneuvers, interrupts, crowd control techniques, skirmishes. A revisit of the group discussion after the re-release of several instances with 3.2.

In closing, thank you for the time and effort you put into ‘A Casual Stroll to Mordor’. I’m sure it is quite difficult to balance work, family, life, and this ‘hobby’. Your contributions to the community are greatly appreciated, though.

Regards,
Texborn – Lvl 44 Guardian from Landroval – MVT Kin.

Podcast Review: WesleyCrusher

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

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.

Episode 51: F2P Is Coming!

Goldenstar — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:53:21 +0000

The majority of the show is about the Free to Play Launch announcement, the dev diaries and the F2P information we’ve found.

Goldenstar has been working on her huntress who is now level 45. She had trouble with a quest up in Forochel and required help from Merric to finish it as she kept doing it wrong. She worked more on the epic book (volume 1) and has been able to make it across the line of death in Angmar. She also attended Ales and Tales anniversary event!

Merric has been working on his champion who is now level 38.

Town Crier:

Player News:

Landroval: Green Hill Music Society Summer Concert
Silverlode: The drink a beer and get your toes nibbled on party!
Windfola LotRO Free To Play Pre-Launch Party
CSTM Quiz Contest is complete! See the winners and answers to the questions.
Final CSTM Anniversary Contest: Screenshot Contest

Raise Your Glass:

Podcast Reviews:

Beorthain
Kudesnik2000

Donations:

Nicholas
Welby of Landroval
Moniraen of Meneldor

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 50: Happy Anniversary!

Goldenstar — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:34:08 +0000

This was our special anniversary episode where we are celebrating our first year of blogging and podcasting! We had Azz, Kiarane, Elborigorn and Orchida join us on the podcast to hear from our writers and their reflections of the past year and their plans for the next year.

This podcast was live broadcast during an in-game event so there are bits of derailment and distractions from the fun activities happening in game.

Stay tuned near the end for a set of bloopers Merric put together from the past year.

It turned out very well. We had a bunch of fun trying to juggle keeping the podcast going, reading the live chat and keeping up with the in-game fun! It really was a great celebration!

Town Crier:

Player News:

Congratulations to our Taverncraft Contest winners!

Pjotr

Ketani

Tadgo

Filedge

Quasigrue

Deriek

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Let Us Sing Together” performed by Lonely Mountain Band
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band
“Banshee” by Fathom

Episode 49a: Beta Roundtable

Goldenstar — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:00:30 +0000

This is our Beta Roundtable that was recorded Tuesday, August 3rd. We have with us five special beta testers who agreed on very short notice to talk about their experiences. We appreciate them taking the time to share their adventures in the beta so far.

Azz: our resident warden and who has been on several podcasts
Elborigorn: recently heard on the Captain’s Roundtable as well as a writer for CSTM
Kiarane: known for her decoration posts and was heard on episode 44
Geiri: heard on the Dungeon as well as the Captain’s Roundtable
Bryandt: who has guest blogged for CSTM as well as added his expertise in the Minstrel Roundtable

We tried very hard to avoid major plot line spoilers for things like the epic quest line and the changes to the introduction quests. I believe we did accomplish this however if you are sensitive to spoilers and really want to be surprised when Free-To-Play launches, perhaps this is not the best thing for you to listen to.

It gets asked every roundtable so I should mention that a transcript will not be available for this show. I’m very sorry for those who prefer to read.

List of Topics:

I have broken up the chat’s main topics into an outline with a timestamp of where that information starts in case you are just interested in a piece here and there and want the rest to be a surprise. I hope this is helpful!

Enedwaith – Timestamp 0:02:24
New Class Introduction Quests – Timestamp 0:27:10
Class Changes – Timestamp 0:40:20
LUA Scripting – Timestamp 0:57:49
Playing as a Free Player/Premium/VIP – Timestamp 1:14:20
LOTRO Store – Timestamp 1:22:02
Dungeon Scaling – Timestamp 1:51:15
Fall Festival – Timestamp 1:59:19

Links mentioned in the show:

DocHoliday Examples of LUA Script Plugins
Beta Store Cosmetics Posts: Head – Back – Body

Be sure to check out the other beta information and the beta videos already posted here on CSTM!

Episode 49: NDA & Hobbit Steins

Goldenstar — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:14:13 +0000

This week we can talk about being in the beta! Thank goodness as it was difficult doing a weekly podcast and making sure you don’t break the NDA accidently!

Merric is working on his Champion and is having a better time of it thanks to all the suggestions and tips people sent in to him.

We also have a special interview with Jeff Berkwits of Taverncraft to talk about the Lord of the Rings steins and glasses they have. Make sure you enter our Taverncraft Contest for the pint glasses. We draw a winner next Saturday!

Town Crier:

NDA Lifted
Dev Diary Instances Part 3
Enedwaith Tour
Beta Store Cosmetics: Hat, Back and Body Items
Turbine Points through Deeds
Turbine Download Manager No Longer Available
Tell the Community Team – Blackarrows

Player News:

Next week we are having an in game party on Landroval during the live streaming of episode 50! Everyone is welcome to join us at the Party Tree in the Shire at 9:30 pm EST!
Lore-master roundtable was released on Friday.
Beta Roundtable Coming Soon!

Raise Your Glass

Voicemail from Duncan Feldane about the reputation and tokens in LOTRO and how it needs to be fixed!

Podcast Reviews:

Blistare
Treewulf
Amandariel of Arkenstone
Oldman777

Donations:

Frandoc of Vilya
Belathiron of Brandywine
Mithralmistress on Windfola

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 48a: Lore-Master Roundtable

Goldenstar — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:52:23 +0000

The release of the Lore-master Roundtable recorded on July 30th, 2010 with special guest Lore-masters Kalborn, Urailas and Gala.

Similar to our past roundtable discussions, this is a lengthy episode but it is full of Lore-Master information. We discuss soloing, grouping, pets and their skills, traiting, legendary items and much more!

There’s plenty of information here on what a Lore-Master in Lord of the Rings does. There’s great tips for new and experienced players alike!

This one was really helpful for Goldenstar as this is just a class she cannot wrap her head around. She gave up on her Lore-Master at 12 but is ready to get back in and give it another try thanks to these guys!

Links Referenced in the Podcast:

Episode 48: The One with the Thing That’s Epic

Goldenstar — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:39:43 +0000

Goldenstar didn’t play too much this week and the one night she did try received login errors. She is working on her hunter still and is working on epic quests in Misty Mountains. The rest of her time has gone to a stressful work week and organizing all our August Contests! Make sure you don’t miss the first of our contests going on now!

Merric is working on his burglar and figuring out if his new leveling plan is the one that works. Goldenstar crushes his dream of the burglar eventually coming his main.

Town Crier:

Player News:

Summer Blogmoot (Brandywine)
(Landroval) “Victory” Celebration and Council of Ornendir
Child’s Play
Recorded the loremaster roundtable on Friday so expect that soon!

Raise Your Glass:

Carana of Landroval:

Hey guys. Just catching up on the podcast. (Yeah, late to the party, considering that you’re kinnies.) I was listening to Ep. 37, and the advice you gave for long distance relationships is spot on. Amaranthas and I were a long distance relationship long before we met face to face. If I hadn’t been willing to relocate, it wouldn’t have ever happened. That said, I made most of the other mistakes, and if I could go back and change things, I’d be better prepared.

At any rate, the podcast is great, and I can’t wait for the Champs Roundtable. See you on Landroval.

Donations:

Moryel/Amarthedil of Silverlode/Landroval
Willamen of Brandywine/Landroval

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 47: PunggoCast

Goldenstar — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:24:57 +0000

This episode we have special guest, Punggo, one of CSTM’s new writers. Punggo is the person responsible for the new lore articles appearing on the blog. We get some information who he is and why he has started sharing his wonderful lore knowledge.

Merric has given up on being a Lucky Duck and is working on his Burglar alt that is currently at level 37.

Goldenstar is working on her huntress again. She is currently level 42 and questing in the Misty Mountains. She’s also doing all the epic book quests in the MM. We did a 6-man skirmish with the kin, Thievery and Mischief.

Goldenstar also witnessed a live tomato in Michel Delving. She attempted to talk to this completely red dwarf but received no response. She took a screenshot so she could share his very red outfit with everyone!

<– Behold Tomato Dwarf!

Town Crier:

Dev Diary: Instances 2.0 (Part 1)
LOTRO Store Screenshots on Mordor or Bust
Enedwaith Screenshots
New LOTRO Servers Naming Poll
LUA Clarification from Narel
Summer Festival last day Monday, July 26th.
CSTM Beta Key Giveaway!

Player News:

New writer to the blog: Elborigorn; He is offering end-game information to the blog and has started a new column called Ask Elb where he answers your LOTRO questions.
Merric was a guest on two blogs last week. LOTRO Reporter and Gondor Awaits
Curse of Harperella Released
New Blog: Numenorian Update by Feramere of Elendilmir
Nimrodel Sons of Durin: Last Man Standing Event
Rashka’s Annual Event – Landroval

Raise Your Glass:

Letter from Matt:

Matt:

Hey you two, hope you are having a good one.

Just some quick comments: When you two were talking about a skill that instantly snaps you out of angry hands, I first thought of the rune-keeper skill Steady Hands which, with a 1 sec induction, that puts us at zero attunement. So a minstrel skill like this wouldn’t be too OP I think.

And when you talked about the “new” skill Happy Hands, I thought that the tooltip should read: “Don’t be mad, get glad!”

Have a good one and I’m looking forward to more podcasts and the lore-master and rune-keeper roundtables!

Donations: Nicholas

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 46: L-U-A Spells Chaos!

Goldenstar — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:29:29 +0000

We finish up the Summer Festival goodies we were trying for. Goldenstar is a Lucky Duck! Merric is also a little closer to finishing up the lucky duck deed. We’ve purchased almost all the summer items we can think we need at this point and may be just about done with the Summer Festival.

Merric got his burglar to 35 and has a mini-rant about the quest that you do to be able to ride the fast horse.

The Captain’s roundtable was released on Friday, not Wednesday like we planned in case you missed it!

Town Crier:

Player News:

Raise Your Glass:

Coullion email to Kia:

I do have a couple of questions: What housing related crafted materials are in demand? Does the fesitival rewards affect the AH market?

Brandywine
Couillon, 65 Wdn
Bayoubandit, 65 Brg
Bayoublaster, 65 RK

Kia’s Response:

I think those are really good questions. First the price of the items will always depends on the server you are one, so I can’t really pronounce myself on the money you’ll make, but I can surely give you tips on the items most in demand when decorating a house. I think it’s a fair assumption to say that Breakfast Tables are a constant. They are not very pricy, since they can be made by beginner cooks, but are the easiest Special Furniture to acquire and have no level or reputation requirements. (The two other Special Furniture can be acquired by allies of Rivendell only.) Now the best sellers are undoubtedly Shore Glimpse and Above Weathertop Paintings. The recipe is acquired by Scholar allied with Rivendell, but the item it self is not bound. Since there is not a lot of painting choices from the vendors inventory and not a lot of person take the time to level a Scholar, further more allied with the elves, the paintings are both a good buy and a good sell. I used them a lot in my own designs! Note that you will also need a farmer to work with you if you intend to work on painting production.

As for the other items, I think the Red Canopy Bed or the Cushioned Bench might find some occasional buyers because they are quite unique. Same with rugs. But those will surely not be regular sellers.

Otherwise don’t even bother producing bookshelves. Most people will work with what the Furniture vendors can offer them, or will simply use their own alts or contacts to acquire the exact items they are looking for.

As for the Auction House market during Festival times, it should remain unchanged for the most part. Of course, don’t think about selling a Wooden Keg during Spring Festival! You’re likely to see a decrease in demand for some items or hook types that are provided through quests and tokens. It might be a good time for Scholars to produce a bit more Paint color as well during festivals offering new Wallpapers! People will want to try them out!

Voicemail from Tess of Elendilmir

Podcast Reviews:

Majoremir of Brandywine
Arnis Forrestwarden

Donations:

Tiki of Brandywine
Ranna Dylin (Nimrodel/Landroval)
Frandoc of Vilya
Jan from Germany
Dannae (Gilrain – UK)
Osiran of Gladden

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 45a: Captain Roundtable

Goldenstar — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:20:14 +0000

The release of our Captain Roundtable recorded July 8th, 2010 with special guest Captains Elborigorn, Geiri and Docholiday. Elb is well known and respected for his Advice post that is stickied in the Captain’s forums. Geiri you’ve heard on our show once before in the Dungeon Roundtable. Doc of course you know from his blog as well as from the Warden Roundtable.

Like our other roundtable discussions, this is another lengthy episode but so full of Captain information goodness we couldn’t bare to cut any of it. We discuss soloing, grouping, tanking, healing, differences in using heralds vs banners, weapon choices, traits, legendary items and much more!

A really inspiring episode were our panel explains what it really means to be a Captain in Lord of the Rings Online. There’s plenty of good information for both experienced as well as new Captains.

Episode 45: Oh God Merric, No

Goldenstar — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 17:51:11 +0000

This week we are busy losing a lot to the dwarf and hobbit races with the Summer Festival. Merric is working on his burglar and was able to level it up to 33 this week. Goldenstar is creating paintings for Kia to hang up in client’s houses she’s redecorating.

Town Crier

Player News:

Guest Blogger: Orchida and her Photo Comparison posts
New Writer: Punggo and his first lore post.
Captain Roundtable coming this week
WoW using Real ID in forums – Post from Vastin and then WoW retracts Real ID plans

Raise Your Glass

Toby:

I’ve been listening to your last few episodes and have really enjoyed them. Thanks for doing this!

Ric, Animus kinship; Elendilmir server

Heya Merric. Thanks to u and Goldenstar I often see myself on my daily subway ride listening to your podcasts which I truly enjoy. Keep up the good work.

In the last podcast though, I believe Kia was mistaken when you asked which horse had a red thing around and such. She said the Moors horse but I believe the horse you were refering to is the Dundedain War-Horse, which you get from completing the Shadows of Angmar Meta-Deed (Carn Dum, Urugarth, Barad Gularan, Rift and Helegrod deeds).

Attached are 3 screenshots of the horse.

Keep up the good work.
Ric, Animus kinship (Elendilmir server)

Contact Us:

Episode 44: Cook, Decorator, Blogger, Videographer; It’s Kia!

Goldenstar — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:22:24 +0000

In this episode, we are joined with CSTM’s newest blogger, Kiarane. Kia is the one who has been organizing and posting the fabulous Decoration and Furniture Guide.

This week Goldenstar has been primarily focusing on playing with the Summer Festival. Merric got his minstrel to level 40. Kia has been working on small corrections to the furniture guide and gathering the new summer items to add to the guide. Kia is working on decoration post utilizing the summer festival items. She’s also working on housing videos

Town Crier:

Free to Play Information:

Player News:

Bryandt shared his Death from Below for Minstrel‘s Guide
Decimma sent in a Money Making Guide
Veneration’s Part 2 guide to Sword Halls
New Lore-master blog: Staff Strike

Raise Your Glass:

Maltbeard on Silverload:

Isn’t it in Turbine’s best interest to keep “Quest Leveling” (my favorite style of story consumption and leveling) flowing, natural feeling and easy?

What parts (or zones) of the game are best/worst for that play style and why do you think Turbine designed that part of the game that way (is it to encourage group play)?

Aelgerion:

Hi! First I just want to say thank you for putting your podcast together week after week. You both do a great job and give a great perspective on the game.

I’m hoping you can give some suggestions on where a casual minded player would quest around the level 40 range (my first time getting to 40 in LOTRO). I’m a bit early for Eregion I think and I’ve primarily used skirmishes for leveling. I’m really looking forward to the 40-50 section of Merric’s alt project..but I know that will be a while.

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 43a: Warden Roundtable

Goldenstar — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:16:08 +0000

Our long awaited Warden Roundtable discussion with Wardens DocHoliday, Azz and Ryodor. This is another one of our signature longer episodes (just over 2 hours) but we thought all the information these three were giving was too good to edit out! talk about tips and tricks for playing a warden. We discuss tanking, dps, traits, legendary items, skill rotations and more! None of us were PvMP experts but do not fret, our guests had some experience with Wardens in the ‘Moors and we also plan to have PvMP roundtables in the future!

We had a great time talking to these folks and we appreciate them sharing their knowledge with us! Hope you learn a little something, perhaps hear something new to try with your warden or get the bug to create a warden of your own!

Background Musical Credits:
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Episode 43: A Massive(ly) Visit from Syp

Goldenstar — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:30:02 +0000

This week we have special guest Syp (aka Justin Olivetti) from the Massively “Road to Mordor” column as well as his own blog Bio Break.

Work has been kicking our butts lately so had Syp not been the star of this week’s episode, the title of this week’s podcast most likely would have been “Week of Fail”. Merric didn’t get time to prep and publish the Warden Roundtable like we said and Goldenstar had forgotten to put up the player achievement post and at the time of recording had not created a new weekly poll!

Goldenstar did get her Huntress to level 40 by doing the Earthkin quests in the Angmar entrance like we talked about last week. Merric has almost gotten his minstrel to level 40. His next alt seems to be the hunter in which case we will return to duoing with our level 30 Hunter/Rune-keeper combo.

Town Crier:

3 Servers Closed for Transfers
Tell the Community Team (Guardians)
New Player Tips for Guardians
Weekend Lotteries are Back
Recommended Reading for Sindarin: Salo’s Gateway to Sindarin

Free to Play Tidbits:

Starting zones will be getting “some love” (tutorial spaces, not new low level areas)
Multiple instances are being level-scaled and added to Instance Join (upcoming diary)

Player News:

Third Annual Firefoot Sparring Tourneyment – Sunday, July 11th – Thursday, July15th
Decoboco Summer Concert :Elendilmir – Act1: Saturday, July 03 22:00 JST(GMT+9); Act2: Saturday, July 03 22:00 EDT(GMT-4)
Protest March of the Dwarves
Axes of the Dwarves has Begun!

Raise Your Glass:

Ruea of Elendilmir:

Hi you two,

Love the show, you too sound great together. I was talking with my kinnies and we agree: why is there no sorting system for your bags? For such a (IMO) polished game I am constantly frustrated especially with my ores, they all look the same. What do you guys think?

Thanks,

Ruea of Elendilmir
Male Elf Hunter
Aurora Australia kinship

Ashley:

Dear CSTM,

I was in the chat room on your live podcast tonight, and I was kind of sad when I heard the comments about how tough champion is at low levels, so I thought I’d send you a link that shows how awesome champions can be at max level, to give you a little hope. I don’t even trait the “right” way for a champ.. and I dual wield which is apparently a no-no.. but whatever. As long as they die before I do, right?

Here’s a link to the vid:

Hope that helps!

Ashley

Voicemail from Bulegar of Gladden

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 42: Wall Up Angmar

Goldenstar — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:30:45 +0000

We didn’t really do much this week. Both our alts are stuck in the high 30s and are having difficulty finding content we’re able to complete. We decided we probably should go to Angmar and we are starting a “Wall Up Angmar” petition and just let the witch king have the entire region.

Town Crier:

E3 news:

Massively
Ten Ton Hammer
PC Gamer Screenshots of Store
PC Gamer Going to Isengard 2011
Sapience Clears up Misconceptions
O fficial LOTRO Store Screenshots Released

Free to Play/Beta

Player News:

Upcoming Warden Roundtable mid-week episode with Azz, DocHoliday and Ryodor (check spelling on that)
Minstrel Roundtable is now available
Decoration and Furniture Guide by Kia
New LOTRO Blog s:

Raise Your Glass:

Letter from Thandain of Elendilmir:

Dear Merric and Goldenstar,

I was just wondering if you knew of any way to purchase a lifetime subscription to Lotro since I had just saved up enough money when the news of the change to F2P broke and I have been unable to find the option since. Now more than ever with the bonuses the VIPs get after the change, I would like to purchase a lifetime subscription so that I do not have to pay the monthly subscription. Any ideas you have or ways you know of would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Thandain of Elendilmir

Hamilcar of Brandywine:

Greetings, Merric and Goldenstar!

I have just recently begun listening to your podcast, and I must say that it is most excellent! My only regret is that it took me so long to get around to listening.

In order to make up for my tardiness in becoming a regular patron of your show, I have been listening to back episodes. In doing so, I discovered the interview you had with Galenswerd of the Lonely Mountain Band.

During the interview, he mentioned the “Festival in the Shire,” a celebration of all things Tolkien to be held in Wales this August. He also mentioned that he was planning on putting together a group to attend.

I was wondering, did anything ever come of that? and if so, is there still a chance to get involved?

Thanks for your time, and your podcast.
Hamilcar of Brandywine

Sidarin of Landroval:

hello, i didn’t know if you wanted my lotro toons name or real life name so i just went with my lotro toons name.But a few weeks ago I started to listen to your podcasts, and they are great I enjoy listening to how others casually play, and just plain enjoy listening to podcasts.

I my self am a casual player also on landroval, im a casual burglar who is right now in a kinship that casually raids from time to time (sorry if that doesn’t make sense) and I do role play alot when i can. The other day i meet goldenstar at weatherstock.

Anyway it was nice to find your podcast and i hope you continue to do well.

Podcast Reviews:
Special thank you to the following folks for leaving us written reviews!

Iverin
Veraci
DevDawson

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 41a: Minstrel Roundtable

Goldenstar — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:38:16 +0000

We have a special mid-week episode for you where we talk with Minstrels Moondog, Harperella and Mortermeer (Bryandt).

This is a roundtable discussion where we talk about tips and tricks for playing a minstrel. We discuss healing. warspeech, traits, legendary items, skill rotations and more! None of us were PvMP experts but do not fret, we plan to have PvMP roundtables in the future!

We had a great time talking to these folks and we appreciate them sharing their knowledge with us! Hope you learn something. I know I have some new ideas I plan to try with my Minstrel!

Episode 41: My Skillz R Orange

Goldenstar — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:25:40 +0000

This week we talk about our trip to Weatherstock. Pictures Goldenstar took from the event are available from our online gallery. We really had a fantastic time and all the bands were wonderful! The most difficult part of the night was trying to pick which band I enjoyed the most!

Goldenstar is working on her hunter and Merric is leveling his minstrel. They talk a bit about their experience doing a 3-man skirmish at level 37. Merric is primarily using skirmishes to level his minstrel at this point while Goldenstar is spending her time in Evendim.

We also have a slew of Free to Play information from the dev tracker that you might be interested in!

Town Crier:

The Amazon deal on the LOTRO Game Time Cards we reported on earlier has had another price drop! It is now $12.99 for a 60 day card.
Tell the Community Team about the Captain Class

Free to Play News Updates:

Player News:

Weatherstock article on Massively was picked up on BBC’s Tech Breif.
New End Game Guide series starting on the blog
The Gates of Summer, an Elven event – June 20th Time to be determined by game day/night schedule
Clan of Dereth’s Omishan Challenge – July 9th (Silverlode)
New Podcast: Mordor or Bust
Luxbra’s my.lotro blog

Raise Your Glass:

Uori of Landroval:

Guess this would be more for goldenstar since she plays the Mini…So i decided to level my dwarf Mini, and im not sure on what stats i need when it comes to virtues. the next question i would ask is, are there different virtues for healing and different ones for doing dps? or are the same stats for healing & dps the same? thanks for the help back to deed grinding, feel free to hit me up in game if ya need a low level healer, he is level 35, and his name is Uori…

Stay tuned later this week for a special Minstrel Class Round Table discussion!

Fyurae of Brandywine:

Hey guys.

I really like your podcast. It’s a lot like what my ex and I wanted to do back when we played WoW.

I am a casual WoW player that turned casual LotRO player when I finished exploring Azeroth. My boyfriend, who started playing with me, and I just split up so I’m looking for a nice guild of people to play and chat with so I can still enjoy the game without feeling lonely. I’m playing on Brandywine, and I had thought about moving to Landroval but that’s not something I can afford right now. Also, my mom has started playing a bit on Brandywine and I’d feel bad if I left her.

The reason I’m asking your advice instead of going to the forums is that I like the approach you guys have to the game and it’s a lot like how I like to play MMO’s. Also, with your podcast and blog, I thought you might know what guilds on Brandywine have stuff to do other than raids, since I’d like to be able to do things with my mom on her little hobbits and I haven’t finished levelling myself.

I used to play on Landroval, but someone told me that Brandywine was more active, which I think was mistaken.

Great podcast, and thanks for any advice.

Fyurae

Galnetdor of Vilya:

Hi,

I’m Galnetdor (Gal-Net-Door) from Vilya, Kin Burahobbits. (guess the source of that name..and no we’re not all Hobbits)

I have an achievement that might tickle your fancy. A bit ago, most of the kin was going on a turtle run, but I and a few others missed the cut off. So we thought to group for SH when we started to organize, to our surprise all of us who showed up where Captains. Three captains, no tank, no mini.

Now for those who don’t run with Captains that often, we are frequently the ‘tag along’ class. Many groups like us to show up early, give everyone our buffs, then frankly we fade to the background. At best were on standby the raise the healers or do some off tanking with oathbreakers but not really expected to ‘do’ much. No raid leader wants our heralds. Banners only please. With instruction to trait for heals not dps.So three captains for SH? We all laughed and joked about how fast we would wipe. We all had our oathies (Oathbreaker heralds) and so 6 of us entered SH expecting to die quickly…

Instead…we blew SH away. I’ve never done SH so fast. It was like the perfect combination for that instance. Nothing could stand against us more than a few minutes.

I’d now love to try some of the 12 man skirms with all captains…and soldiers and heralds. 36 bodies in a skirm…be fun.

Podcast Reviews:
Special thank you to the following folks for leaving us written reviews!

Osiris Warp

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 40b: Podcasters Roundtable

Goldenstar — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:00:08 +0000

A second special mid-week issue this time a roundtable chat with an assortment of LOTRO podcasters where we discuss the LOTRO Free-to-Play announcement. We have Chris and Bill from LOTRO Reporter, Veneration from The LOTRO Network, Candace from The Green Dragon Inn and Theobor of Gondor Awaits.

This specific recording is being distributed by all of us so if you’ve already listened in on one of the other podcaster’s feeds then we have nothing different added to the show that isn’t already been heard elsewhere.

We give you the Casual Stroll to Gondor Dragon Inn Network Reporter episode!

Episode 40a: Interview with DDOCast

Goldenstar — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:20:13 +0000

Today we have a special additional episode for you with Jerry Snook from DDOCast podcast. We ask him questions about his experience with DDO going free to play and what us in the LOTRO world may expect with this upcoming change.

We ask questions about the DDO Shop, frequency of updates they now experience and how he felt the community has changed since going free to play. Jerry also discusses some changes to the game that has happened to the game to make it more friendly to these newer players who are not familiar with Dungeon & Dragons.

Episode 40: It’s the End of the World

Goldenstar — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:44:06 +0000

This episode we focus mostly on the Free to Play announcement that came out last Friday.

What we are up to:
Goldenstar finished Volume 1 and got her hunter to level 35 and is debating if she wants to spend her money on a pony or just use the free goat she got from the Adventurer’s Pack. Merric got his captain to level 40 and is working on his minstrel.

We both attended the Rift and had issues with the Balrog again. This time it wasn’t just issues with the Balrog acting oddly. Goldenstar got locked out the first time due to lag and people were going link dead. We did not complete the dungeon.

Town Crier:

We spent the entire episode talking about the Free to Play news. The following are links to information we’ve compiled that contain all the information and source links we discussed in the show.

Player News:

Sweethearts Dance July 2nd 8pm est Landroval
Landroval Kinship Recruitment Faire – June 26th 12pm
Landroval RP Neighborhood Project – a collection of RP’ers new and old, banding together to buy up a new formed Homestead, all of which hope to help bring a touch of life to the homestead. The goal of which is to create a living breathing town. http://wildore .roleplayers.us/
Spear and Skirmish Blog

Raise Your Glass:

Arianwyn of Gladden:

Hello Merric and Goldenstar,

I am a founder of LOTRO and have been playing since the beginning, but I hadn’t thought of looking for new podcasts on the game until recently. I’ve been listening to your podcast since April, and just now caught up on all the back episodes. I just wanted to write to let you know how much I am enjoying your podcast and what a wonderful job you are doing. You are both knowledgeable and humorous, which makes for a phenomenal show. I love how you are able to diversify your show and make references to things as obscure as NaNoWriMo, and still make it relevant to the podcast. My favorite episode so far has been your interview with Dr. Corey Olson. I have been lucky enough to attend a five week institute at Texas A&M Commerce on teaching Tolkien in the classroom twice now, and have had the opportunity to learn from many of the current Tolkienists, but I had not yet had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Olson. Your interview was wonderful, and really did a great job bridging between the lore of Tolkien and the game. I do hope he takes your advice and tries the game…I tried to get at least 10 of the other Tolkienists to play so I could see what they thought of the lore in game, but no luck. I guess they spend too much time researching

I also think you do an exceptional job of boosting up the community as a whole, and making sure you take the time to praise and promote the other bloggers and podcasters in the community. That really shows how genuine both of you are. Keep up the great work!

Arianwyn
Creations of the Light
Gladden Server

Podcast Reviews:
Special thank you to the following folks for leaving us written reviews!

Arianwyn of Gladden
Grundimo of Brandywine
Eadagar
Areniul of Landroval

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 39: Just Icing Please

Goldenstar — Mon, 31 May 2010 02:05:39 +0000

This week both of us attended the Wildlore Block Party even if we didn’t attend together. Goldenstar found a long lost hobbit relative who looked very similar to her! Hi Flisk!

Merric is working on getting his captain to 40 with the plan of doing the books. He is reconsidering his plan and going to Evendim and finishing the books later. He also went with Veneration to Sword Halls for a live broadcast on TheLotroNetwork.com.

Goldenstar was still working on finishing Volume I at the time of this recording but has since finished it! She helped her kinnie, Parslay, take out a Rare Nemesis in Forochel and thought it’s name plate was pretty colored so she took a screenshot to share. This may be the first Rare Nemesis Goldenstar has ever seen! Earlier in the week she was having issues in Forochel that you can read about if you are interested.

Also we introduce our sponsor!

Town Crier:

Player News:

The Axes of the Dwarves war will formally kick-off Saturday June 20th! The first night of the campaign will run from 10 pm EST to 2 am EST.
New series to the blog: Cassy’s Cookbook

Raise Your Glass:

Morthond:

Hi Merric and Goldenstar,just wanted to tell you that I love hearing your podcast and am always looking forward to the next episode. I live in Germany, Bavaria in fact (yes that’s where the Oktoberfest is and no, we don’t always wear Lederhosen here) and play a burglar on the German server named Morthond.

Keep up the good work!

Godspeed,
Tarabas

Celeodor:

Hey you two, more great podcasts. Just a quick comment.

Creeps can use the tokens from the anniversary celebrations to turn in for goodies (i.e. potions) in their “base” (Gramsfoot) in the ‘moors.

Looking to hear more,

Celeodor

====================================================

Hey, a quick note.

Many people on the forums think that the Mirkwood radiance armor has lower stats in trade-off with a higher amount of radiance. Many end-game gamers carry two sets of armor around in thier bags; a mixture of the Moria +10 rad gear or DN +20 rad gear and some of the +25 rad gear, and their set of +30 rad armor for the really nasty stuff.

Also, a lot of people think that the reason why the Mirkwood radiance armor is not teal is because they think that Mirkwood was not a “real,” full expansion, and that we will “get the other half” later this year or early next year.

P.S. Loved the interview with the Tolkien Professor!

Voicemail from Anonymous – Thank you!

Podcast Reviews:
Special thank you to the following folks for leaving us written reviews!

Psoriasis, level 35 Runekeeper

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 38: Hail Brownsmear

Goldenstar — Mon, 24 May 2010 03:33:34 +0000

Both of us have attempted our first try at Sammath Gul and we made it to the second boss before things went bad. Goldenstar feels a bit responsible for not being able to heal everyone. We briefly discuss small changes that may make the encounter easier.

Goldenstar and Merric attempted to duo the Rift skirmish and did not do well on the final boss. Azz said he thought we could do it together and he was right so now Goldenstar has finished Volume 3 Book 1. Yay!

Goldenstar has re-traited her minstrel to a more balanced build and is able to do solo things again. Having fun doing skirmishes. Goldenstar also has brand new jewelry thanks to Bryandt and Azz. Merric also received a new jewelry piece from their crafting. Also Goldenstar now has the /firebreath emote!

In Merric news, he got his captain to level 35. The End.

Town Crier

Player News:

New guest blogger, Kiarane, on the site sharing her tips and tricks on housing and decorations in LOTRO! Make sure you look at the amazing make-over Kiarane did to Goldenstar’s Hobbit Hole!
New LOTRO Podcast: The Green Dragon Inn
New LOTRO Blog: The Pix’led Life
WIldore Block Party (Landroval) Saturday May 29th 6pm EDT – Midnight!

Raise Your Glass

Morzadan

Hey guys! I remember when you guys first started podcasting and I was excited to have another in the LOTRO blog community. RL has taken most of my playtime away and ALL of my blogging/podcasting time away. After an entire year out of LOTRO I have started playing again when I can. I constantly check your site for news and information. You guys have really made a useful product with CSTM and I am SOO glad you are faithful with it. You have one of the BEST sites in the LOTRO community including lotro.com! Keep up the good work!

Podcast Reviews:
Special thank you to the following folks for leaving us written reviews!

iTunes Reviewers:

SaksyPete
Jaywine on Elbar
TH2000

Zune Marketplace:

Celeookie
Nebsinsane

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 37: Baby Plague

Goldenstar — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:42:28 +0000

Poor Merric is super sick with “Baby Plague” but we keep on podcasting anyway!

This week we try one of the old Angmar Battle Instances, Battle for Aughaire. We found it to be very skirmish like for being a regular fellowship quest. We think at least the one we ran would make a great skirmish in the future.

We also did a complete quest run of Skumfil which was a first for us. Our only other time inside that instance was just to do the Minstrel quest for me and we didn’t go any further.

Goldenstar is still working on her new hunter which she is loving. She is level 28 and still working in the Lone Lands. She also is planning on re-traiting her minstrel to be more balanced so she can solo a bit more effectively.

Merric has been focusing on deed grinding and rep grinding in moria. He has gotten his captain to level 33 by doing mostly skirmishes. Merric has moved into a larger dwarf home. It’s his Man Cave.

Both of us attended the Blogger Gathering on Nimrodel on Saturday. It was great meeting all the bloggers of the blogs I love, found some new blogs to add to my list and had a great discussion.

Town Crier:

Player News:

LOTRO Transcriber Gathering – May 29h 8:30pm EST at the Hall of Daeron A Gathering of ABC musicians to learn and share tips and tricks for creating ABC files for LOTRO
Ales and Tales Celebration – May 17th 9:30pm EST Landroval
Telperion’s 3rd Anniversary Party – May 18th 8:30 EST at the Prancing Pony Landroval

Raise Your Glass:

Letter from Hartwell:

Thanks for the great podcasts. I recently discovered you two and spent time going through your back-episodes, listening as I played the game. I finally got to listen to today’s episode 36 as soon as it was released, so it’s good to be caught up.

I was excited to learn about the Tolkien Professor and I will check out his stuff soon. I was also excited to hear Michigan mentioned, and then Kalamazoo… it was a quirky feeling hearing my town mentioned on a podcast I was listening to.

Anyway, keep up the great work. I’ll be listening every week and going through your site to find other LOTRO bloggers and resources. Cheers!

Thurley on Landroval:

Please advise your listeners/readers that they should change the password on their LOTRO Account.

My account was hacked and all of my gold and everything in my bags on each of my characters was stolen this weekend.

Turbine is looking into it.

Letter from A Fellow Hobbit:

A lotro friends of mine brought it to my attention especially for the romance topic part. I am a vet of several mmos and for some reason lotro i have found more then a couple guys i kinda am liking (i’m very legal by the way just saying)

I have tried the long distance thing in the pst with another person and all i got was 2 years down the tubes and very leary of anything of the sort again. However, there is this guy… lol

What always hang me up is the not being able to see body language and being in the same room as someone where you get a better sense of what’s actually being said. Even in vent-voice chat sometimes things can be a little misinterpreted.

How did you guys get though that, how did you find out the other was ‘the real deal’ if you have any sage words of wisdom further on this, i am all ears.

Sincerely a fellow hobbit

Celeb of Vilya:

Hi folks!

Have been listening to your podcast for several weeks now, and I really enjoy it. Please keep up the great work!

I was somewhat dismayed last week to hear that in Elvish, there are no soft “C’s”. My characters are all ‘Celeb’ names; Celebcharas (sell-EHB-cheh-ras) being my main. I have been going around for 2 years telling people it’s pronounced “sell-EHB” and now it seems I should have been saying “kell-EHB” and that makes me a sad panda. Still though, I am happy to have learned something! And I’m still going to go by “sell-EHB”, with apologies to Mr. Tolkien.

All the best,

Celeb, Vilya

Moryel of Silverload:

Hey Merric and Goldenstar, I just wanted to drop you a line thanking you for your podcast. I originally came to LotRO in December because I’ve been a fan of the books for years. I had very little experience with MMOs and got bored with the lower level questing.

I returned to the game in the recent Welcome Back weekend and again started to get bored. I knew though there had to be something I was missing and went looking for info. I stumbled across your blog and podcast and am now so excited about getting my character up to level to participate in skirmishs and other endgame activities.

The one downside I’ve come across is I’ve obviously picked the wrong server to create characters on. It sounds like all the fun player driven activities are happening on Landroval. I may have to move.

Thanks guys,

Moryel of Silverlode

Podcast Review:

Special thank you to Feramere of Elendilmir for his 5 star review and comment on iTunes!

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 36: Interview with the Tolkien Professor

Goldenstar — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:41:17 +0000

We are very excited for this week’s episode that includes an interview with Dr. Corey Olsen aka the Tolkien Professor. The interview runs a little long but I think the discussion is worth a listen! We appreciate everyone that sent in questions and we asked as many questions as we could in the time allotted.

There wasn’t much news so we did quickly go over what we did this week and talked a bit about player news. Merric has all his alts at level 30. Goldenstar is still working on her hunter and she hasn’t died yet! Both have done a couple more runs of Sword Halls and Merric picked up his very first piece of radiance gear!

Town Crier

Creeps and Session Play characters winning lotteries

Player News:

The Birth of Flowers: A Traditional Elven Festival Landroval, May 22nd at 9 pm eastern in the Duillond Festival dancing area.
Weatherstock 2010 on Landroval is beginning to be planned for June 12th 7pm EST. They’re putting out a call for bands to participate in the Battle of the Bands event!
Tanking Guides on My.Lotro
Adelo from Landroval emailed us a link to his first LOTRO machinima of play in the moors.

Extra Links From the Show:

Raise Your Glass:

Sapien:

I’ve been listening to your podcast for a long time now and never thought to send you both a message. Just wanted to say that your podcast is the best (IMO) podcast for lotro. I’ve been playing lotro off and on for about 2 years and am just now getting really into it. Hope to listen to many more shows.

-Sapien

P.S. A question . I’m getting bored with my guardian. He’s level 33 and although its still a great class to play I wanted a change in pace. Could you suggest a good solo class that has a different feel then the guardian? Thanks.

Decimma of Gladden:

CSTM,

As a regular listener, I wanted to write in and let you know that episode 34a was FANTASTIC! A little random at times, but I really got excited to hear their thoughts about relevant end-game content, and class and group dynamics from 3-mans to 6-mans to raiding. I even learned a few things! Keep it coming, I’m sure there are others who would like to hear what other level-capped players are doing, how different kinships tackle various dungeons, and presenting new perspectives is always beneficial to playing your class of choice, regardless of level.

When it comes to MMO’s, I’ve found there are 2 types of players: those who enjoy the journey from level 1 to the level cap, and those who feel the game doesn’t really begin until you are level-capped. I happen to be of the latter camp, and hearing zones like Sword Halls and SG get mentioned on the podcast really got my attention. Hope to hear more endgame content discussed in coming episodes!

Decimma – 65 RK, Gladden server

Thank you to our 5 star iTunes review from Thurley on Landroval.

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us!

Episode 35: The Adorable Hunter

Goldenstar — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:36:51 +0000

This week we talk about things we did this week was quite a bit!

Goldenstar got the new spring festival mount on three of her characters. Goldenstar also made two new alts a Lore-master and a Hunter. The hunter is absolutely adorable so picture has been included so you can enjoy the cuteness. She also participated in a run of Barad Gularan with the kin.

Merric got his warden to level 27. Merric also talked Goldenstar into doing a duo skirmish with the plan of getting anniversary tokens. This plan was not a good one. We also participated in our first run of Sword Halls with Azz. The Raiding Guide Merric refers to is from Through the Palantir.

Town Crier:

Player News:

Spring Blogger Gathering on Nimrodel, May 15th at 9pm EDT
Lorebook Edit Project
We are interviewing the Tolkien Professor next Tuesday and are looking for your lore specific questions!

Raise Your Glass:

Maulda from Silverlode:

you guys got me back into the game. i play on the silverlode server, left the game about a year ago as a guardian, started listening to your excellent show, now im hooked all over again as a runekeeper,my name in game is maulda the guardian and mauldraven the runekeeper. please keep doing show forever thank you so much

Ranna Dylin of Nimrodel:

Hey there Merric and Goldenstar! I wanted to pass on to you the news of an upcoming event for those who write, or read, blogs about LOTRO. I’ll be hosting the third Great Blogger Gathering on May 15, continuing a tradition begun last July by Aerhinn and Tyrgrimm Pathfinder of Landroval. They hosted a gathering of My.LOTRO bloggers at their home in the Shire, and it was a huge success. When they hosted a second Gathering in January, we discussed making the event a more regular happening and rotating it among all the servers. I have the pleasure of hosting the next such event on my home server, Nimrodel. We’ll be getting together to discuss how to blog, what to blog, and why to blog and also just to enjoy a good live chat as a change from our normal interaction of commenting on each other’s blogs. Though hosted on Nimrodel, the event is open to players from all servers who would like to create a Nimrodel alt and stop by, as a number of us from various servers created alts on Landroval just to attend the first two Blogger Gatherings. This is a great chance for those who are new to blogging to pick up some tips or seek help with their projects – or just to spread the word about their writings!

The crucial details:
When: Saturday, May 15, 2010, 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Where: At the home of Linett Redfern, 3 Haven Way, Ecthelhad Neighborhood, Falathlorn Homesteads, Nimrodel Server.

Anyone is welcome to attend whether they blog on My.LOTRO or not. All who have an interest in writing or reading about LOTRO should enjoy the Gathering. Players can read more or RSVP at this post: http://my.lotro.com/rannadylin/2010/04/25/spring-blogger-gathering

~Becki (RannaDylin)
http://my.lotro.com/rannadylin

Beridin of Landroval:

Hey!

I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that I absolutely LOVED the dungeons roundtable discussion. I almost skipped it and I am so glad that I didn’t. The amount of game knowledge that was tossed around for that two hours was absolutely amazing. I now understand the dynamics of grouping much better than I ever have before. It also helped to clear up a couple misconceptions on classes that I had. I thought it would be a little long at two hours, but I could have easily listened for two more. MORE PLEASE!!

Thank you for that amazing gift!

Beridin – Minstrel
Landroval

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us!

Episode 34a: Dungeons Roundtable

Goldenstar — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:39:18 +0000

This is a special between episodes episode where we talk to Azz, Gor and Geiri from our kinship. They are our kinship’s primary players that will organize and lead group content.

The interview is set up as a sort of a roundtable discussing dungeons and raids. From 3-mans to the 24 man Helegrod we discuss all dungeon types. We also go over the main class roles and when they like to bring which classes to a dungeon.

This is a fairly lengthy episode (2 hours) because we were just chatting so much we lost track of time. We had a great time chatting with them and hopefully you’ll enjoy listening into the discussion.

Thank you to the three guys for taking the time to chat with us!

Episode 34: Wabbit Season!

Goldenstar — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 02:19:30 +0000

We catch up on what our Runekeeper/Hunter duo is up to. We are in Agaumar in the Lone-lands and are now both level 30. We spend some time arguing if Merric’s tracking on his hunter is worth waiting for. Goldenstar says no.

Goldenstar’s lottery curse has been listed as her burglar has finally won a spring pony as well as a couple other lotteries.

We of course spend some time talking about what we think of the Warner Bros. acquisition of Turbine.

We attended a Helegrod raid with the kinship. Stay tuned later this week when we will release a roundtable discussion we had with our kinship’s top dungeon runners: Gor, Geiri and Azz. Check out this awesome screenshot Goldenstar caught!

Town Crier:

Raise Your Glass:

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us!

Episode 33: Housing Chatter

Goldenstar — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:51:16 +0000

Our latest project is a Runekeeper / Hunter combo that is level 27 and working through the Lone Lands area. The Lone Lands revamp is old news for Merric with all his alts but is a new experience for Goldenstar. We talk about where we think we will go next.

Merric does end up doing the Spring Festival after saying last week that he wasn’t going to do it at all.

We get a bit sidetracked talking about in-game housing and the post Goldenstar wrote this week about housing.

Listen until the end of the podcast to hear the newest release from The Lonely Mountain Band: “The Song of Durin’s Awakening”! We did have an interview with John from the Lonely Mountain Band project in Episode 12. Check it out if you are interested in hearing more from Fathom and The Lonely Mountain Band!

Town Crier

Official twitter feed from Turbine only with LOTRO information – @LOTRO
MMORPG article on top 5 MMO classes lists LOTRO’s Warden as #1
Video Dev Diary about Skirmishes
This week’s Tell the Community Team
Spring Festival Update

Player News

Sarcastro from Firefoot is attempting to make it from 1 to 65 without dying.
LOTROHerald 1.2.2 sent to Apple for an update. Changes to Russian game server status information.
Eowyn’s Challenge (or An Actual Stroll to Mordor) a site that has all the distances for travelling the path to the Black Gate and back allows you to walk and figure out where you would be in middle earth for walking that distance.
MMORSEL Legendary Item Spender
Rifftrax for Lord of the Rings

Raise Your Glass

Voicemail from Duncan Feldane about auction houses and rare random drop recipes.

Letter from Alberos on Arkenstone:

Hey Merric and Goldenstar,

I just finished listening to Episode 32 and I thought it was great.

I also wanted to let you know that the GLFF channel on Arkenstone sounds very much like the nonsense you hear on your server….and yes it totally reminds me of Barren’s Chat. The current main discussion topics are:

Where is the Bat-Cave? (typically this is a genuine question, followed by answers like "under Wayne Manor" or "In Gotham")

What’s better pie or cake?

Is the Warden really a tank class?

Also GLFF appears to be used to pick on a specific character when ever he logs on. I assume its in fun because they keep razzing him and he keeps coming back for more.

So far there have been no Chuck Norris jokes. To bad….

A human once insulted Chuck Norris and Chuck Norris round house kicked him to half his height……all his children have been called hobbits ever since.

Hope all is going well.

Alberos of Arkenstone
www.lotrocast.com

PS. Goldenstar I also got a Spring Festival Mount through the lottery…..on two toons. ; )

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us!

Episode 32: Demon in the Other Room

Goldenstar — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:49:29 +0000

Finally back on our regular schedule after our week of interviews last week. We do a final recap of our PAX experience.

We talk about the Spring Festival events and Merric’s general apathy towards this festival this time around. Goldenstar has done the events so much that she’s pretty much burnt out on the events and is playing her Runekeeper for a break.

The Landroval Fortune Cookie house is still open as Merric visited it after the podcast and was able to finish his deeds. Thank you very much Saelamlug!

I’d also like to give a special thank you to Hellnakh who took the time to type out a transcript of our interview with Frelorn. We were super impressed with her effort to do this and appreciate it!

Town Crier

Player News:

New Blog: Mordor or Bust
New Blog: The Uruk Hunter

Raise Your Glass

Letter from Miketoe of Arkenstone:

Hello

I’m Miketoe, A level 32 Hobbit minstrel on the Arkenstone server.

I run the horse races with this minstrel. I won the race in the Shire last night.

This is from my activity log.

Miketoe Completed ‘The Delving Fields Spring Festival …
03/29/2010

I really enjoy the podcast and the blog. I just wanted to point this out because if I went by your wonderful Spring guide and I would never have run the race and I would have missed out on some fun. (I read it after my first race.) I regularly try the horse race in the Shire and Bree but I’ve only won twice in the shire. I think it’s easier in the Shire and I need all the help I can get.

However, I always take the leaves not the horse permit as a reward, because I don’t intend to level this hobbit up soon . So I can’t comment on whether I could select the horse permit instead of the leaves. Or if I could convert the permit into the actual horse when that becomes available.

My Dwarf Mikeion, level 30 won a Springfest horse in the lottery, but of course he can’t use it until he passes the riding challenges at 35. Anyone over level 30 was allowed into the lottery. So maybe the hobbit can get the horse too.

I don’t know what level is required to run the horse race but it is not 35.

Thanks for the great podcast.

Mike Goggan

http://my.lotro.com/mike_everio/

P.S. My main Mikegar also won the SpringFest horse in a lottery and I ride it everywhere. I even got green armor to compliment the green horse.

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 31e: Interview with Sapience

Goldenstar — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:11:06 +0000

Our final PAX East interview is with LOTRO Community Manager, Sapience. We brought with us player submitted questions to ask him. The interview covers a series of topics including PvMP, Skirmishes, future enhancement questions and just general thoughts and suggestions. Some of the PvMP questions are repeats from the interview with Frelorn but you get to hear the Community Managers point of view on the subject!

We had a bit longer to talk with Sapience than our other recent podcasts and this interview is around 30 minutes long. We did end up getting kicked out of the exhibition hall so if we didn’t get to your question, we do apologize! Thank you to everyone that sent us a question!

As a personal note; if I ever find the guy with that super high pitched annoying ringer that kept going off, I’m totally going to shove his phone where the sun doesn’t shine.

Episode 31d: Interview with GM Nod

Goldenstar — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:08:17 +0000

Interview four from our visit to PAX East, Merric talks with Game Master Nod, Anti-Fraud Supervisor for Turbine. He is in charge of preventing account compromising and gold farming in LOTRO.

They talk about basic security for your computer to try to prevent your account from being compromised. If your account has been hacked, Nod goes through the steps to recover your account and request your stuff back.

Like the other PAX interviews this is pretty short (13 minutes) but we hope you enjoy the mini interview and maybe even learn something!

The female voice you hear commenting from time to time is Clover. We have an interview with Clover as well in case you missed it!

Episode 31c: Interview with Tolero

Goldenstar — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:28:56 +0000

A little different interview for today’s PAX East release. Merric briefly speaks with Tolero, Senior Community Representative for Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO). DDO is of course another game created by Turbine and is free to play so you can play this game along side your favorite LOTRO addiction!

This is a very quick (only about 17 minutes) interview but does include some very good information about DDO and allows you to compare and maybe even get a few ideas of what maybe we should ask for in LOTRO! Who knows, you might be tempted to give DDO a try!

Tolero was promoted to Senior Online Community Representative today so we are releasing her interview as our little way to wish her a big congrats! For those interested in keeping up with Tolero you can follow her on twitter as @TurbineTolero.

Episode 31b: Interview with Frelorn

Goldenstar — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 01:46:21 +0000

This is the second of our interviews from PAX East 2010. Merric talks with Andy "Frelorn" Cataldo, Turbine Community Relations. Frelorn is mostly known for his updates and discussions about PvMP.

They discuss how decisions get made for changes to PvMP and a bit about how the information and feedback is gathered from the players. He is specifically asked about his thoughts on the forums suggestions for Osgiliath PvMP area and the Moors armor set requiring PvMP action.

The other voice you hear piping in with comments is Veneration, writer for our site and founder of thelotronetwork.com.

Hellnakh of Elendilmir was industrious enough to create a transcript from this interview. See her post in the PvMP forums if you would prefer to read the interview. Thank you Hellnakh!

Episode 31a: Interview with Clover

Goldenstar — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:50:17 +0000

This is the first of our interviews from PAX East 2010. Merric talks with Suzie “Clover” Owen, Player-to-Player Support Coordinator for Turbine as well as some discussions with Moribund, International Producer.

They discuss everything from editing the lorebook to favorite cookie recipes. You can follow Suzie on twitter as @OSuzie.

For those like Merric who are interested in getting a RSS feed for the newest posts from my.lotro.com, enter this url into your favorite feed reader!

http://my.lotro.com/_tags/feed

Episode 31: Back from PAX

Goldenstar — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:15:36 +0000

We have returned from PAX East and this is a super short episode as we mainly wanted to let you know that we have several mini interview casts coming out in the week from the Turbine folks we were able to speak with.

See the Upcoming Interviews post for more information on what to expect! You can also see the photos we took while at PAX.

We go over the player achievements for the week and give our opinions of our very first video game convention.

Episode 30: Broken Taunts

Goldenstar — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:52:27 +0000

This week we duo The Battle in the Tower and have issues with the Frigid Squall lieutenant. Yes, I understands that the Frigid Squall is supposed to switch targets but chasing me around the room isn’t exactly “switching targets” and so I blame Merric.

We also started working on our journey to finish Volume I and are working on Book 10. Nothing really wrong with book 10 except for the extremely annoying habit of it forcing you to travel back and forth from Annúminas to Tinnudir repeatedly. Our faction with the Wardens of Annúminas is not great enough for them to allow us to use their stable point so we’ve been swimming it. At least the mobs in Annúminas do not aggro us so let us count our blessings.

Merric’s Minstrel has hit the magical Project Altoholism number of 30 and has moved on to leveling his Burglar. He has also worked and hit kindred with the cooking guild!

Town Crier:

America Spent $3.8 billion on MMOs in 2009
LOTRO’s Shire named in GamerZine’s Top 5 Most Beautiful Video Game Locations
LOTRO Lotteries are back
Tel l the Community Team – PAX East
Bullroarer Took Day – Last day for Screenshot Contest is Monday!
Spring Festival Dev Diary
Turbine Account Maintenance Monday, March 22 from 6:00AM to 10:00Am Eastern (-4 GMT)
Who might be at PAX for Turbine?
A Worthy Garment Bug
LOTRO Facebook Player Feed Updated

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Tib from Brandywine:

I must say that I really have enjoyed the changes made to the Volume One epic quests. I really loved the story of the Volume One quests, and was so happy to be able to bring the story to a close, even if it took me until level 65 to do so

Have either of you had the chance to do any of the Volume 1 epic line in “Inspired Greatness” mode?

If so, could you describe your experiences thus far?

Love the podcast,

Brian
aka Tib of The Night’s Watch
Brandywine Server

Eric:

Hey,

Just catching up on your Podcasts (got ‘em subscribed on my Motorola Droid ) and was wondering if you’ve been filing bugs for the issues you’ve run into (e.g. Thrang and his fumeroles) so the devs know it’s an issue.

I have some characters that will be running the Rift in a few months

and would hope it’ll be fixed by then.

Thanks,
-Eric

MithralMistress of Windfola:

Merric and Goldenstar,

I found your podcast when it was featured as a news item in the Turbine login client, and have been listening ever since, including catching up on the old episodes. It was great to have the Patience/Sapience question explained at last, and nice to hear that somebody else has a 2-lb salmon on their wall. You guys tempt me to roll a char on the Landroval server!

A comment for Merric, who mentioned that he’s always poor. If you want to make a quick 10gold, just go earn 2100 skirmish points, visit the Legendary skirmish vendor, and buy a Scroll of Empowerment. On Windfola anyway they sell pretty fast at that price.

I have two questions for you guys. Have you ever accidentally traded in a skirmish mark to a vendor that you meant to keep? I was trading all the junk marks for skirmish points, and accidentally clicked twice on the Rift stack before I realized what I was trading in. You probably heard my sobs from your house. I wish the skirmish marks were labeled in the trade window, or you could do a buyback. (Would that be called a tradeback?)

And my other question is: how many mounts do you guys have? Are you collecting them? I’m a Founder and my main is a hunter who has 7 mounts so far. Which mount is your favorite?

Hope to be listening to you all the way to podcast 200…

- Mithralmistress

Podcast Reviews:

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

MightierThanTheSword
Sakarunis from Vilya

Musical Credits:

“Battle of Ballylochian” by Fathom
“Pigeon on the Gate” by Fathom
“Swan Ships of Alqualonde” performed by Lonely Mountain Band

Contact Us:

Episode 29: Horse-hair Banjos

Goldenstar — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:37:55 +0000

This week we talk about how slow the LOTRO news is. This is what happens when there is not much to report on.

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

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:

Episode 28: My Mom Said I Gotta

Goldenstar — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:50:50 +0000

In this episode, we discuss our first run in a duo skirmish. We had very differing views of the duos but overall I believe we both think they are a great addition. We discuss the mobs we ran into and the new Leech-Warden lieutenant.

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:

Player News:

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #27: 3.1 = Fun

Goldenstar — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:44:45 +0000

This week we share a bit about our adventures in Angmar killing some of the raid landscape beasts, Ferndur and Bogbereth. Goldenstar was lucky enough to get both trophies for her house ut was a little miffed (or perhaps disgusted) when she plopped down Ferndur’s head and discover flies buzzing around it. Ick!

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:

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #26: Ballerinas and Balrogs

Goldenstar — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:52:04 +0000

This week’s CStM we primarily talk about the raid into the rift that we both were able to attend. Well Goldenstar did the whole thing, Merric came in at the end to tank the Balrog. Merric also discusses his experience with the Lone Lands revamp with his Captain. Our main topic is actually about these two areas and how some areas get attention while other pieces are mostly left as is.

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 : Radianc e and Itemization
Dev Diary: Crafting Update
Sch eduled 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:

Doyce
LOTRO_Fanatik
Osiran
SeanMc74
Zhaan
Camenecium
Pojoh
Grambold

RannaDylin
KappoRDM
Ketani
Stormwaltz
Dreadhed
Thamorian
Blue Kae
Heiko

Harperella
Develyn
Ivaneus
Mirthfill
Urailas
Bex
Tosaf
Pjotr
Rhun-stone_Cowboy

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.

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #25: Will You Be Our Valentine?

Goldenstar — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:33:09 +0000

This week’s CStM we talk about alts mostly. Goldenstar hasn’t played her minstrel much and has been mostly doing skirmishes with her Burglar. Goldenstar has also realized the awesome that is the runekeeper and plans to keep leveling this alt.

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:

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:

Aillas
Belamanth
Berlios
Blue Kae
Bsiyo
Chetdawg
Dastardly Hornswagle
Develyn
DocHoliday
Doyce
Dreadhed
Drilorin
Edhellreth
Fengald

Fionnuala
Geraldorn
Gewl
Goldenstar ROX
Harperella
hatch
Heiko
Hugh Dykens
Ivaneus
JDW
Joe
Kelindar
Mosby

Neil
Olxter
Ramiro
Slipkin
Stormwaltz
Talbot Banyan
The Crusader of Metal
Tolanas Telmar
Tony
Valaraen
Why
Wrirdar
xXJayeDuBXx

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #24: Spare Some Porridge, Sir?

Goldenstar — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:22:37 +0000

In this episode of CStM, Goldenstar has been made an officer of her kin, The Council of the Secret Fire. She worked on her jewelcrafter and opened up skirmishes for her Burglar. Merric didn’t do much in game this week but he did find time to install LOTRO on his netbook.

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:

Player News:

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:

Aillas
Battlemaiden
Bex
Blue Kae
Callist
Daevic Blackpyer
Darzil
Develyn
Dreadhed
Elrondas
Erirdar

Fionnuala
Frieja
Fruinjuice
Hatch
Heiko
Isilwinde
Kaelin
Osiran
Phebe
Pjotr

Ranna Dylin
Ranni
Rharan
Sir Thomas
Tony
Trellis
Urailas
Valaraen
xXJayeDuBXx
Witch

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #23: Interview with Skirmish Devs

Goldenstar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:16:14 +0000

This is a very special and extra long episode of A Casual Stroll to Modor where we sit down to chat with Turbine Developers Brian “Zombie Columbus”, Joe “jwbarry”, Tim “Raskolnikov”. We talk about their positions at Turbine and ask them your questions that you sent in.

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:

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!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #22: 65 & Still Kickin’

Goldenstar — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 20:53:20 +0000

In this episode of CStM, we talk about how we leveled close to 65 without dinging so we could do it together in a Skirmish with some kinnies. Merric now has all his alts up to level 20 and is planning on moving them all to Lone Lands to run through the revamped zone and try the changes to Volume I Book 2.

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:

Aillas
Battlemaiden
Beowyf
Blue Kae
Daevic Blackspyre
Develyn
Doyce
Dreadhed
Duncan
Elrondas
Galahadur

Green Armadillo
Harperella
Heiko
Irlynn
Jaxom92
Longasc
Madmickel
Moramoth
Narnian
Osiran
Phebe

Pjotr
Ranni
Ravious
SeanMc74
SirThomas
Talbot Banyan
Thilandril
Tira
Tony
Urailas
xXJayeDuBXx

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #21: Hobbits in Rollerskates

Goldenstar — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:08:51 +0000

In this episode of CStM, we discuss how we are going to ding that final level of 64 to 65. We received many wonderful suggestions on the topic. Merric is working on his warden and Goldenstar took advantage of the free mounts to shuffle all her alts around.

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:

Balial
Battlemaiden
Belamanth
Blue Kae
Chris
Develyn
Doyce
Dreadhed
Duncan Feldane
Elrondas
Erirdar

Eyesnguard
Fionnuala
Fuzzy
Givias
Hambone Hamlet
Harperella
Heiko
Kaelin
Korrath
Myself
Osiran

Pete S
Phebe
Pjotr
Poinky
SeanMc74
Sinmaldor
SirThomas
Urailas
Valaraen
xXJayeDuBXx
Zukakog

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #20: Par-ree

Goldenstar — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:38:25 +0000

In this episode of CStM, we discuss Goldenstars troubles with leveling in Mirkwood solo and then her problems trying to get around in Caras Galadhon. She has finished the superior scholar and now can just make all sorts of potions when she feels like it instead of for skill. Oh and Goldenstar hates space.

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:

Battlemaiden
Beowyf
Blue Kae
Calfuray
DocHoliday
Dolgann
Erirdar
Fengald
Fionnuala
Fuzzy
Giloniel
Givas
Green Armadillo
Harperella
Heiko
Jeffomer

Karl
Kastus
Khrys
Korrath
Pete S
Phebe
Pjotr
RannaDylin
Ranni
SeanMc74
Tim
Tony
Urailas
Valaraen
xhii
xXJayDuBXx

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #19: Sugarpuff Sweetiepants

Goldenstar — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:01:43 +0000

In this episode of CStM, we talk about: Merric’s first attempt at playing Goldenstar’s minstrel. Merric is closer to getting his remaining alts to level 20. We are both level 61 and inching closer to level cap! We have also have purchased PAX East tickets so we will be down in Boston this March!

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:

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:

Aelgerion
Armen
Ayalah
Blue Kae
Caronan
CopyPaste071
Danrondir
Develyn
Docholiday
Doyce
Elrondas
Fionnuala

Gilrakas
Green Armadillo
Harperella
Jaxom92
Jeffomer
Kaelin
Korrath
KtBuffy
LD
Longasc
Miketoe
Minuit

Osiran
Phebe
Pjotr
Poinky
Ranni
Xhaan
xXJayDuBXx

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #18: Merric is OK

Goldenstar — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:38:47 +0000

In this episode of CStM, Merric and Goldenstar talk about their journey out of the darkness of Moria and into the glorious light of Lothlórien. Goldenstar of course roamed out of the boundaries for new comers to the Golden Wood and was shot several times. Azz even tried and showed me the borders and I still wandered. Silly Hobbit!

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.
T here 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:

Ada
Aorwulf
Arbitrary
Ayalah
Bex
Blue Kae
Camenecium
Celeodor of Windfola
Craran of Landroval
Davolas of Firefoot
Dreadhed
Givias
Green Armadillo
Gwirithil
Harperella
Heather
Heiko

Harumor
Hoegard Harfoot
iusebiro
James
Jason
jayden
Jeff
Jimwise
Joe
Justas
Korrath
Longasc
LOTROBaseJumper
Max Jacobsen
Michael S.
Nicolas
Olxter

Osiran
Pete S
Phebe
pleadguitar
Ranni
Seanmc74
Stephen H
Talbot Banyan
theflyboy
Tim
Tony
Varnah
Wildberry
Xenska
xhii
xXJayeDubXx

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #17: Rink-a-dink-a-doo

Goldenstar — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:37:12 +0000

This episode of CStM we chat a bit more about the goodies we’ve been doing with the Yule Festival and the hunt for the elven snow globe. Goldenstar rants a bit about repair costs and skirmishes. Not to fear, although she is very upset and swears she won’t skirmish again she has done some even since the recording.

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:

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.

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #16: Yule Festival

Goldenstar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:59:19 +0000

In this episode of CStM, we discuss the Moria dungeons we experienced this past week and our impressions on the set up “required” to successfully complete many of the Moria dungeons. We also talked a bit about the Wassailing in the Shire event from this weekend. See my screenshots from the event!

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

Player News:

Raise Your Glass

Thank you to our commenters for the past week!

Azz
Belamanth
Blip
Blue Kae
Callist
Corey
Dickie
Docholiday
Doyce
Elahndria
Fengald
Fionnuala

Fuzzy
Harperella
Hatch
Heiko
Joe
Korrath
LD
Longasc
Matt
Mines_of_Moria
Nnyan

Pete S
Phebe
Pjortr
Rob
Robert
Sharon
Sinaroc
Stormwaltz
Talbot Banyan
Tupalev
Victor Stillwater

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #15: I’m the Boss

Goldenstar — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:50:55 +0000

In this episode of CStM we go over all the patch from last week, the hardware upgrade event currently running and other news. Our main topic this week is talking about things to do with the latest expansion/patch when you’re not level 60+ yet.

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

Player News:

Raise Your Glass

Commenters:

Ayalah
Becki
Belamanth
Blue Kae
Camenecium
Candace
Chris
Delk
Develyn
Docholiday
Elahndria
Feycat
Gilpharas

Hambone Hamlet
Harperella
Heiko
Hobbit and Redhead
Jaxom92
Jimwise
Korrath
Kryllem
LD
Longasc
Myself
Olxter
Osiran

Phebe
Pjotr
Poinky
Ranni
Rob Tillotson
Talbot
The Gneech
Tony
Victor Stillwater
xXJayeDuBXx

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #14: Doo Doo Doo!

Goldenstar — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:06:48 +0000

In this episode of CStM we go over all the developer diaries, events and announcements we missed while spending Thanksgiving in Texas.

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:

Announcements

Events

Mirkwood Updates

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:

Alberos
Azz
Battlemaiden
Blue Kae
Deburgh
DocHoliday
Elahndria
Erirdar
Fionnuala
Frandoc
Galenswerd
Geraldorn
Givias
Green Armadillo
Gunthurr
Harperella

Hatch
Heiko
Hellina handbasket
Hobbit & Redhead
Istien
Iusebiro
James
Jaxom92
Jimwise
Kael
Korrath
LD
Longasc
Maltbeard
Mitchgant
Olxter

Pete S
Phebe
Poinky
Ranni
Rob Tillotson
Robert
Ryan
SeanMc74
Stormwaltz
Talbot on Landroval
Tirnel
Tony
VaevictisMX
Vr00mfondel

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:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #13: Chat with Patience and Sapience

Goldenstar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:59:45 +0000

This is a very special episode of CStM that we are so excited to share with you. We have Turbine’s Senior Community Manager, Patience and Online Community Specialist, Sapience. We talk with everything from their roll at Turbine to Siege of Mirkwood to how they are really the same person… or are they? We do know for certain that they at least share socks.

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

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

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #12: Fathoming the Lonely Mountain

Goldenstar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:20:20 +0000

In this episode of CStM we have a chat with Galenswerd (aka John) from the Celtic-Rock band, Fathom. John was the first Featured Player on the Turbine Community blog. He is a musician in real life working on a Tolkien inspired project entitled “The Lonely Mountain Band”. He is also a kinship leader of the same name on Landroval. We discuss music, LOTRO and kinships!

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:

Player News:

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:

Battlemaiden
Olxter
Blue Kae
Phebe
Ayalah
Elahndira
Azz
Zhaan

LD
Longasc
Osiran
Tinrae
LD
Jimwise
Hambone Hamlet
Tirnel

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

wrongdownload

Contact Us:

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

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

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #11: Legendary Items

Goldenstar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:41:21 +0000

In episode 11 we have a special guest host, Azz from Wizzard of Azz!

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:

Player News:

Middle Earth Adventurer Retires from Blogger

Legendary Items Link

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:

Rob Tillotson
Longasc
Harperella
LD
Docholiday
Phebe
Zhaan
Jaxom92
Pete S
RC

SeanMc74
dwolfe
Hatch
Belamanth
camenecium
NazgulLord
Tinrae
Shaddam
Azz

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

Morzadan
Almazar
Doug200463

Contact Us!

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

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #10: Crappin’ Dwarf Hole

Goldenstar — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:52:10 +0000

We made it to double digits with the podcast! Go us!

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:

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:

Robert
Longasc
warmaster670
Tony
Essi
Battlemaiden
Docholiday
Isanni

Kiele
Osiran
RC
Phebe
Rob Tillotson
Feldalor
Moormur
Harperella

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

Jaxom92

Contact Us!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #09: I’ve Got Fervour Fever!

Goldenstar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:16:43 +0000

In this episode of CStM we talk about our guided tour through Moria plus the Tham Mirdain dungeons. We also talk a bit about the Minstrel Mash player event we attended. Goldenstar’s burglar is still 39 and Merric’s champion alt is up to 18! Goldenstar finally has purchased a home! She’s officially poor but she has a big empty house to play with.

Our main topic this week is “End Game”. We discuss all the different types of end games people play in game and the different end games we’ve enjoyed in other games. Not all end game content is raiding!

Town Crier:

Player News:

Spooky Scary Stakeout on Arkenstone. Prancing Pony, Oct 30 9-10pm (or dusk, in game)
Bring your favorite scary story to tell around the campfire during this graveyard stakeout!
Not a Dev Diary about reputation changes

Raise Your Glass:

Commentors:

Couillon
Azz
DocHoliday
Wilifro
Harperella
Brewdoc

iTunes 5 Star Reviews:

SeanMc74

Mithandil

Contact Us!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #08: Fall Festival Celebrations!

Goldenstar — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:00:35 +0000

In this episode of CStM, we discuss what we’ve been up to in game. Goldenstar still hasn’t purchased a house but has a vault full of decorations. You know; just in case. Merric gives an update with his Project Altoholic progress.

We take some time to talk about the Fall Festival and all the things to do during this in game event. We have guides on our blog for Fall Festival Quests as well as General Festival Quests to help you navigate your way through this in-game holiday.

Town Crier:

Second Dev Team Q&A
LOTRO Named #1 “MMO since WoW” from MMORPG.com
Welcome Back Week – People having problems getting into their old account should follow this link.
Pumpkin Carving Contest
Goat is Pre-Order Only
Dev Diary about Skirmishes Part 3
European Pre-Order Pricing Available
SoM Beta Invites will be random
Siege of Mirkwood Trailer Released

Upcoming Player Events

The Minstrel Mash on Landroval, Oct 23rd 10pm EST
The Heroes Ball on Landroval, Nov 14th 7:30pm CST

Raise Your Glass:

Listener Mail from Azz:

I’m listening to the interview with the LOTROHerald creator and you need to tell Merric he NEEDS to READ the books, not listen to them. In fact, you should put up a poll on the blog about it

We have done just that! Poll: Is listening to an audio book the same as “reading”?

Commenters:

Deburgh
Phebe
Sneaky Hobbits
Azz
Tony
Gardenlightfoot
Battlemaiden
DocHoliday
Black Hattitude
Osiran

Talbot on Landroval
Arbitrary
Aegloborn
RC
Poinky
John
Nikki
Hatch
Forjador

Contact:

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #07: Chat with LOTROHerald Creator

Goldenstar — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:54:48 +0000

In this episode of CStM we talk about the latest Dev Diaries concerning Legendary Items and Skirmishes. We have finally entered Moria and give our first impressions of the mines.

We also have a very special interview with LOTROHerald creator, Howard from Odd Duck Computing. We ask him about what inspired him to start programming for the iPhone/iPod Touch & what he sees coming for the LOTROHerald in the future.

Town Crier:

Merric’s post about Legendary Item Changes
Follow up Legendary Item post
Merric’s post on Skirmishes
Turbine’s Weekly Round Up (We were mentioned! /cheer)
Fall Festival Starts Tuesday!

Raise Your Glass:

Listener mail from Bippsy. Thank you for writing in!

Thank you to the following folks who’ve left us comments or feedback on our blog & on iTunes. We appreciate the support!

NazgulLord
Tony
Gardenlightfoot
xrayspex
Osiran
CarlosJuero
Harperelle
Danaca
LeBlanc13

Contact:
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.

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #06: Stroll with a Middle Earth Adventurer

Goldenstar — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:56:46 +0000

In this episode of CStM we take time to discuss all the new Siege of Mirkwood information that has been released this past week. Pre-launch offers, mounts, skirmishes and shared storage!

We also have a very special interview with LOTRO blogger Jaxom aka Richard from Middle Earth Adventurer. We get to know a bit more about this blogger and ask his opinion about all the new expansion news.

Town Crier:

Raise Your Glass:

Listener Mail from Osiran, Azz, Elahndria & ReijMan. We had listener mail! Woo! Thank you for writing in, guys!

Thank you to the following folks who’ve left us comments or feedback on our blog & on iTunes. We appreciate the support!

Contact:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #05: The Shortcut

Goldenstar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:16:03 +0000

In this episode of CStM we discuss Bilbo & Frodo’s birthday event. Anyone else excited about their musical cracker? We also talk about the giveaways from Turbine and Codemasters surrounding this special event in Lord of the Rings lore.

Goldenstar is super excited about the Irresistible Melody skill she found in her skill book. Beware when around her, she’ll make you dance! Merric recaps his alt project and how it’s going.

We then spend sometime discussing the documentary Second Skin which we watched this weekend.

Town Crier:

LOTRO Herald is released for the iPhone/iPod Touch!
Community Round Up

Tip of the Week:
Setting your character to automatically pick up all the loot rather than picking it all up piece by piece.

Go to the Options Menu
Go to “UI Settings”
Under Misc select “Always Loot All”

Raise Your Glass:
Thank you to the following folks who’ve left us comments or feedback on our blog & on iTunes. We appreciate the support!

U-Con event in Ann Arbor, Michigan November 13-15. Events to see Talbot are Delve into Moria: Watcher in the Water and Delve into Moria: Battle for Balin’s Tomb.
The Landroval Shire Faire has a date and time! Kiele is also still looking for minstrels, storytellers and crafters interested in participating in this event.

Contact:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #04: Oh I’m an Altoholic and I’m OK

Goldenstar — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:17:03 +0000

On this episode of CStM we discuss our lack of playtime this week. We did find some time to do some things including the “Talk Like a Pirate Day” quest.

We discuss Merric’s current problem of altoholism and how it effects those around him. Sure Goldenstar hase been an altoholic in the past, but that was when it was cool and hip. Everyone was doing it. That made it ok. Merric also lays out in detail his alt leveling plan.

Important Info for RSS Readers: We had to change our feed URL to optimize iTunes. If you are getting our post in a feed reader, please redirect your feed URL to this address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/cstmfeed

Town Crier:

Tip of the Week:

You can save your layout by doing the following command: /ui layout save filename You can then load the layout on any character by using the following command: /ui layout load filename

However, I’ve noticed a bug that the layout will not actually save to your character upon logging out and back in. I looked on the forums and found this thread that provides the following information

Upon using the load command press Ctrl+\ to unlock your interface and then press Ctrl+\ again to lock it; this should save your interface.
If the interface is still not being saved, load the interface, press Ctrl+\ and move one of the bars slightly and then back again and then lock your interface using Ctrl+\. It should now be saved.

Raise Your Glass:
Thank you to the following folks who’ve left us comment or feedback on our blog or on iTunes. We appreciate the support!

Special shout out to KieleZ from Landroval who’s setting up an in-game Faire. There is no date yet but will be on an upcoming Saturday. If you are interesting in participating in this event, please see her post on my lotro for information!

Contact:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #03: Pronunshiation

Goldenstar — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:30:28 +0000

On this episode of CStM we discuss outtages of lotro.com, give a quick follow-up on the Siege to Mirkwood preview video.

We also take some time to discuss relationships that spring from MMOs. From casual friendly, to meeting in real life and even finding romance.

We met in DAoC and took the relationship slowly. We have known each other for over 6 years and have been married for 3. Be careful with online relationships! They can lead to meeting wonderful people but giving out personal information online is dangerous!

Town Crier:

Ten Ton Hammer SoM Preview Video
Motivational Poster Contest Rules
Siege of Mirkwood Summary Post on MMeOw.net
LOTRO Combo Blog – Consolidating Lotro Blog Posters
The New Casual Stroll to Mordor Forums!

Raise Your Glass (Shout outs!)
Thank you to the following folks who’ve left us comment or feedback on our blog or on iTunes. We appreciate the support!

Jaxom92
Battlemaiden
Miner in the Deep
SonyaSunny
Stogrim

JT
Victor Stillwater
Mutt
Morzadan
Eregond

A special shout out to Wildegarde of Wildegarde’s Wonderous Wanderings who accidently injured himself while making donuts for the family. We hope he’s healing well and are looking forward to more updates on his my.lotro.com blog!

Contact:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #02: Expansionism

Goldenstar — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 16:00:48 +0000

On this episode of of CStM we discuss the big expansion announcement and what we have heard so far.

We talk a bit about the motivational poster contest and how we wish we were funnier to enter the contest.

We also take some time talking about our personal difficulties finding LOTRO information.

Mentioned on the Show:

Contact:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear!

A Casual Stroll to Mordor #01: Introductions

Merric — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:35:47 +0000

Our first episode is to give brief introductions to us and the characters we play in LotRO.

We are testing out our equipment as we are new to podcasting. We apologize if there are audio flaws apparent and promise to improve!

We will be submitting our podcast to iTunes very soon and will let everyone know when it is available to subscribe to.

Mentioned on the Show:

Corrections:
When Merric suggested the LotRO Reporter Podcast for raiding information, he really meant the LOTRO Report. Both are fine podcasts but the LOTRO Report is the podcast you need to listen to if interested in dungeon walkthroughs and end game information.

Contact:
We encourage you to participate in our show. Email us your questions, comments or suggestions! Let us know what you’d like to hear!