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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

• V3B1 Jewelry Reference Site
• Walk for Hunger

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Duncan Feldane

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

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

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

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

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

Weatherwax on Eldar

Another great show – and hope you feel better soon!

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

Stephen

Weatherwax on Eldar

Celedor

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

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

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

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

Can’t wait to hear more!

~Cel

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

Voicemail from Estelin from Nimrodel

Podcast Reviews:

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

• Nefets (Slayzz of Gladden)
• Droidattack
• Branadoc

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

From Harperella of Landroval:

Hello Merric and Goldenstar!

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

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

–Harperella

From Celeodor from Windfola:

Heya you two:

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

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

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

Celeodor (Windfola server)

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

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

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

Raise Your Glass:

Commenters:

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

• swollentiki

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

Raise Your Glass:

Letter from Ordnance on Windfola

Hello Merric and Goldenstar,

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

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

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

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

Thanks so much and keep up the good work.

David – AKA Ordnance, Hunter of Windfola

Commenters:

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

• KappoRDM

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

• LOTRO Barterers List:
• Massively Weekly LOTRO Column

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

From Steve on Firefoot:

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

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

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

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

Now trying to decide between hunter and burglar.

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

Thanks and keep the great shows flowing!

Steve
Firefoot server

Commenters:

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

• Thanksforfish
• Tadgo of Arkenstone

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

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

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

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

Raise Your Glass:

Mail:

Hiya Merric and Goldenstar,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyways thats my thought.

Alberos
Lvl 65 Elven LoreMaster on Arkenstone

Commenters:

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

Raise Your Glass:

Commenters:

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

Raise Your Glass:

Letters:

Beowyf of Silverload:

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

http://mmoviking.wordpress.com/

Beowyf – Silverlode server

Figgo Figgins of Nimrodel:

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

Figgo Figgins

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

Commenters:

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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

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

Town Crier:

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

Player News:

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

  Need help with these from the community

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

Raise Your Glass:

Letters & Voicemails:

Letter from Rharan of Landroval:

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

I was on Percival Alb myself.

A former kinmate,

"Rharan"
Pie Lovers Society
Landroval

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

Commenters:

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

• Bumblebottom
• Frogh
• Fengald

Musical Credits:

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

Contact Us:

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