LOTRO Reporter Podcast show

LOTRO Reporter Podcast

Summary: The LOTRO Reporter podcast, hosted by Chris and Bill, is the MMO Reporter Network’s longest running podcast. We focus on Lord of the Rings Online and cover the latest news, the best tips and great links to community sites to help you get the most out of your time in Middle-earth.

Join Now to Subscribe to this Podcast
  • Visit Website
  • RSS
  • Artist: LOTRO Reporter Podcast
  • Copyright: Copyright 2016 All rights reserved.

Podcasts:

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 203 – 40 Questions and Astronauts | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 57:58

Chris, Layanor, and Cari go over the latest 40 questions, get excited for astronauts, and tell you how to get 250% experience. Listen now: What We Did In Game Layanor - LOTRO Got to 55% in the moors Cari - Some Leveling on my Lowbies Keep getting Heavy gear in the hobbit present. Chris - Hytbold I sang with Chris Hadfield :) News Player Submitted 40 Questions http://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?526541-Player-Submitted-20-Questions-–-Supersized-to-40 Q5: Thodorin: How many Big Battle instances will there be at Helm’s Deep launch? How many of each group size? A5: jwbarry: 8 total instances. Helm’s Dike, The Deeping Wall, The Deeping-Coomb, The Glittering Caves, and the Hornburg all available on solo/duo (tuned for one player but allowing two in). The Glittering Caves will feature a three player size, Helm’s Dike a six player, and The Deeping Wall a twelve player. Q6: Bulldozar: Can you explain exactly how the scaled up lower level players will interact in HD? A6: jwbarry: They’ll be brought up to level 95 in stats. Their gear will also be brought up, with level differential maintained. From there, they are free to engage in combat or utilize any of the mechanics within. They will likely be better at support style roles, but nothing prevents them from stepping out onto the front line. The Promotions advancement system is level agnostic, so they’re free to rank up and get better at the various roles as they improve and level. Q8: Cheery: How does the new Trait Tree methodology affect lower level characters class quests and deeds (for example finding pages and reaching kin with Moria Guards)? A8: HoarseDev: Existing quest lines that granted traits will now grant trait points to spend as you wish. If you completed these previously, in u12 you will automatically get credit under the new system. Q13: Blkplg13: Are the basic stats (might, agil, vit, will, fate) going to affect the same advanced stats (icmr, icpr, crit etc) as in live? A13: HoarseDev: We are not fundamentally changing the relationship between basic and advanced stats. Q14: Scruffynerf: Will existing group content (eg: Fil Gashan) be tweaked to accommodate the new player abilities? A14: HoarseDev: Many of these changes have been done to accommodate existing content. Some group content will play differently for sure but we are reaching from our (systems) side first. Specific changes to existing content may come later. The thing is, until these changes have steeped a while on live, their full ramifications are just speculation. Players ALWAYS find things we could not foresee on paper. Q30: SpongedarkSquarepants: Will we hear any new info on the housing update before the release of Helms Deep? A30:HoarseDev: We have some of the early bits in (changes to house inventory). We are prototyping more features and will continue to develop and add to live. Housing work is going to come in phases. Q31: Cheery: Will there be expanded use of Mithril Coins? A31: Amlug: Mithril coins will be expanded to include: new Housing Storage slots, trait tree configurations, and new barter vendors in the newbie areas. Dev Diary Waden Class Changes http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-warden-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep Determination is the Warden’s new tanking line. As far as tanks go, the Warden is an excellent AoE tank, and excels at handling multiple enemies at once. Recklessness is the Warden’s new melee DPS line. It specialises in stacking a multitude of Bleeds and Light Damage DoTs on a single target. There are ways of dealing AoE damage though! The trait “Spear Sweep” allows you to consume a bleed on a target to deal damage to nearby enemies. Assailment is the Warden’s Ranged DPS and Support line. Folks who specialize in Assailment will be able to rain Javelins upon their enemies,

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 202 – We Get a Peek at Helm’s Deep | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:09:32

Chris, Cari and Layanor are back. They lived through another week. We talk about Helm's Deep and a really nifty video walk through of Helm's Deep. Listen now: What We Did in Game   Layanor - Did Barad Guldur a few times last week. Then started doing some 3 mans for some of the deeds I missed. Edge of Fangorn Webs of Scuttledells Then I did a walk thru with my kin to get them used to the Grand Stair’s in moria. Ran some moors with Yand but did not get very much progress. I have to find a way to make Yand raid more! Kin pooled and got me Helms Deep Bought the 75% mount speed package Cari - Ali of Brandywine to 85 Bilbo Bday X 6 characters Ali of Landy Wildermore Fellowship Walk Opening Party MC'ed the Fashion Parade Chris - Hytbold Baggin’s Birthday News Turbine Announced Helm's Deep will cost 4295 TP. @LOTRO The Helm’s Deep™ expansion will cost 4295 Turbine Points. More answers will come in our next 20 (40) questions feature.  #LOTRO #HELMSDEEP Loremaster Dev Diary https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-lore-master-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep The Keeper of Animals is the Lore-master’s pet line. Specializing in this line will make your pets stronger and tougher to take down, as well as offer new interactions between you and your pets. The Master of Nature’s Fury is the Lore-masters DPS Line. Traits in this line will give you the ability to wield Flame, Lightning, and Frost to great effect. Last, but certainly not least, is The Ancient Master. This specialization will give you a suite of debuffs and disables which can render your enemies’ attacks useless, or make them more vulnerable to the attacks of you and your allies. The Ancient Master also has the ability to restore the Morale and Power of allies. Hunter Dev Diary https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-hunter-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep the Bowmaster the stationary, long ranged damage dealer, the Huntsman the mobile-induction harasser the Trapper of Foes the utility hunter who primarily uses traps for damage and crowd control.Being usable in combat, reducing the induction or removing it in some cases, being able to place them via ground targeted, etc. all seemed to really make traps a lot more fun and engaging to use. Minstrel Dev Diary https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-minstrel-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep A Minstrel in Melody is decent at dishing out both damage and healing, but excels at neither. Resonance is the Minstrel’s healing stance, and opens up their most potent healing abilities. Dissonance is the Minstrel’s DPS stance, and allows the Minstrel access to their fiercest attacks, but prevents them from healing allies. Rune Keeper Dev Diary https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-rune-keeper-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep Solitary thunder is all about mobility and instant cast single target burst damage. Cleansing Flame Rune-keepers rely more on damage over time compared to their lightning counterparts. The healing Rune-keeper, Benediction of Peace, prefers healing over time and damage reducing abilities like re-directs and bubbles. Bilbo and Frodo New Birthday Celebration https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/bilbo-and-frodo%E2%80%99s-birthday-celebration The Update 11.4 release notes are now available. http://t.co/xRSbmy6tTT Mounted Combat Addressed a number of issues with movement controls on War-steeds. Issues with mounted /follow and the 'Spur On' skill introduced in patch 11.3 should now be fixed. Mounts Racial mounts were missing their lighting and flame effects. The Red Skeleton Steed items are no longer Unique. Fixed a problem where players could become temporarily dismounted from their stable travel mounts.

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 201 – Ent Play Confirmed (Not really!) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:24:24

Cari, Chris, and Layanor talk about Helm's Deep, Helm's Deep, and oh yeah more Helm's Deep. Join us. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- Ettenmoors - 48% Not much in raids. Cari - Farmer’s Faire Ali of Brandywine to 82 Chris - Hytbold Stared at my PvMP screen after listening to the interview. News Helm's Deep Launches November 18 https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?523811-Release-Nov-18th&p=6914875#post6914875 PREMIUM EDITION - $59.99, €53,99, £44.99 Features all Helm’s Deep content, with level cap increase. This edition also grants these great items: Armour of the Hammerhand – an exclusive full set of Rohirrim cosmetic armour +10 quest log slots Crystal of Remembrance – adds one additional legacy to your legendary weapon Helm’s Deep Title – Helm’s Enforcer Helm’s Deep Title – Helm’s Avenger 2,000 Turbine points Pre-purchasers will also receive these items that can be used immediately in the game: Shield of the Hammerhand (Statted Cloak  +25%XP, scales to level of wearer) Exclusive War-steed Bundle (The Steed of the Hammerhand) – an exclusive Rohirrim mount with matching War-Steed appearance BASE EDITION – $39.99, €35,99, £29.99 Features all Helm’s Deep content, with level cap increase. Also grants these items: Hauberk of the Hammerhand - an exclusive Rohirrim cosmetic chest piece Helm’s Deep Title: Helm’s Enforcer 1,000 Turbine points Pre-purchasers will also receive these items that can be used immediately in the game: Token of Hornburg (+25% Monster XP) The Steed of the Hammerhand – an exclusive Rohirrim Mount Requires purchase of the Helm's Deep expansion pack Battle of Helm's Deep (Epic Battles). Epic Story. Western Rohan/Helm's Deep Content (Quests). Does not require Expansion Pack Purchase Class Changes. Level Cap increase. Additional Crafting Tier. CSTM did a cost Comparison for the Legendary Add On Pack http://cstm.mymiddleearth.com/2013/09/lotro-legendary-item-pack-value/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cstmfeed+%28Casually+Strolling+Through+MMOs+Blog%29 MaidOfLions Chimes in on why the Epic isn't Free for HD Also hopes that any new non-expansion-epics will remain free https://t.co/ybjqlKBomy https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=6916390#post6916390 Q1 - Is mounted combat staying the same, or will we see big changes in Helm’s Deep? Q2 - New crafting tier Q3 - Are epic battles a one shot Q4 - And raids? Q5 - What are the rewards for the epic battles Q6 - Any ents? Q7 - Do Epic Battles have a random elements to them? Q8 - How many Epic Battles Q9 - Talk more about why this epic story is not free Q10 - Official GLFF Chat Q11 - Who is doing the music Q12 - Seeing 10,000 orc Q13 - Another chance to win the expansion Q14 - Will there be any codes to give away the expansion away as a gift Captain Class Changes RockX Talks Captain Class Changes http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-captain-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep Hands of Healing Captains are capable of both healing others and dealing damage at the same time, at the cost of having weaker abilities to heal themselves. Lead the Charge Captains deal heavy burst damage, with the ability to grant multiple Critical Hits in rapid succession. Leader of Men Captains can fully function as tanks, taking less damage while dealing higher damage by using a two-handed weapon. Heralds and Archers have also seen some love, with increased potency. Players will also notice some changes to the Battle-ready and Battle-hardened states, which offer stat bonuses to encourage weaving additional skills in between each step of the chain. Champion Class Changes JinJaah talks about Champion class changes coming with Helm's Deep! http://t.co/00FzV5Bawt The Berserker Champion, to me, served as the single target specialist.

 LOTRO Reporter Presents: A Captain-General is Going Home. | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:39

    Layanor interviews long time Lord of the Rings Online player Yand in his five year journey for rank 15 in the Ettenmoors. We talk about opinions on the current moors build, problems in leading, and do you keep playing after getting no more renown. Listen now:  

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 200 – Pants and Tea Cozy Set | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:02:29

Chris, Cari, and Layanor are joined by Bill for our 200th Episode. There is lots of fun and craziness. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- 45% in the moors Ran some Tower of Orthanc Farmed the hell out of the Bounder Coins Doing more Erebor raids. Cari - Went to PAX Went to a Party with MMO Reporter and LOTRO Peeps Did some Farmers Faire I think I did some leveling on Ali of Brandywine, but I'm not sure. Bill - Warden levelling - 61! Questing outside Lothlorien Chris - PAX Editing Editing Editing Video Editing Audio Dailies Editing Editing News The LOTRO Market has been redesigned and connected directly to LOTRO.com! Key Benefits: Access directly from LOTRO.com via the Store > LOTRO Market menu option Purchased items deliver directly to your account; no key redemption needed Use your payment method already on file Optional ability to save multiple payment methods on file Quad Pack Available in the LOTRO Store ROR cost is reduced. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?522598-Visit-the-Newly-Re-designed-LOTRO-Market http://cstm.mymiddleearth.com/2013/09/lotro-market-price-changes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cstmfeed+%28A+Casual+Stroll+to+Mordor+Blog%29 Farmers Faire is Active https://www.lotro.com/en/farmersfaire http://lotroadventures.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/farmers-faire-is-here/ Sept 6-18, 2013 Other events are coming: Tale of the Shipwrecked Mariner (4 days) Bilbo and Frodo’s Birthday (7 days) LOTRO was down for a couple days over Labor Day Weekend VIP Extended in response to LOTRO Outage https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?522731-Thank-you-for-your-patience For any VIP accounts that were subscribed during the outage, we will be extending the subscription by 2 days. Lifetime accounts will receive 250 Turbine Points. Please note that these subscription extensions will be applied by the end of the month (September), and we will announce once the grants are complete. Note: You must be an active VIP at the time of the grants in order to receive the subscription extension. We cannot extend expired VIP accounts. Helms Deep Beta has begun There is an NDA so don’t tell us you are in it. Dev Diary Burglars https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/developer-diary-burglar-class-changes-helm%E2%80%99s-deep The Quiet Knife line focuses on dealing high burst damage using Stealth and positional skills. The Mischief-Maker line uses the application and removal of Tricks to control and whittle foes down through attrition. The Gambler manipulates chance with Gambles, ensuring an outcome in their favor. Each play-style should feel familiar to existing players, with new skills which offer potent additions to the chosen specialization.   Did You Know Layanor’s Power Leveling Guide http://layanor.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/layanors-power-leveling-guide/   Community Massively Sees Helm’s Deep http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/09/03/the-determined-defense-of-lord-of-the-rings-online-helms-deep/ five new zones three additional books for the epic story 300 quests a 10-level bump in the cap to 95 plenty of awesome new armor and cosmetic models a new crafting tier It will not contain traditional instances or skirmishes (more on that later),the much-anticipated housing update, or more mounted skills. Another Article on Helms Deep http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/45/feature/7754/Helms-Deep-Preview.html/page/1 LOTRO Players Fellowship Walk http://lotroplayers.mymiddleearth.com/2013/09/03/fellowship-walk-2013-song/ http://lotroplayers.mymiddleearth.com/2013/08/07/the-fellowship-walk-a-childs-play-event/ The Fellowship Walk starts September 22nd and runs until October 24th.

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 199 – We Get Off Topic, Again | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:01:37

Cari and Layanor are on their own this week. Chris was getting ready for PAX. Chaos ensued as can be expected when we are left to our own devices. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- 38% into my Moors Rank Almost got Battle for Erebor Tier 2 done. Ran some Mirkwood raid and Moria skraids for the fun of it. Got the title “The Naughty” Got kindred with survivors of Wildermore Cari - Ali is level 80 Oh Yeah Welcome Back Weekend and XP bonus items are the best.  News Concept Art for Helms Deep: “@lotro: Waiting for Helm's Deep. First peek concept art. We'll share a little more each weekday! http://t.co/HX8jZ0cI0D   #LOTRO #HELMSDEEP” https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151806038561329&set=a.106783411328.118306.25590536328&type=1&theater https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151807702086329&set=a.106783411328.118306.25590536328&type=1&theater The Bounders Bounty http://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/bounder%E2%80%99s-bounty-developer-diary The Bounder’s Bounty will run until the release of Helm’s Deep.  Unlike a more traditional festival, you participate by simply by logging in and playing LOTRO just as you normally do. You’ll just need to include some occasional trips to Michel Delving. Drop Rates: https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=6888067#post6888067 Re EdgeCase: I'm seeing many comments about the drop rate, and I wanted to clarify a few things. The landscape drops that people are getting are not the only way to get Bounder's Tokens. Over the course of the event, more ways of getting tokens (and more reliable ways of getting tokens) will appear. The landscape drops are a passive thing, that're supposed to provide a steady stream of tokens over a long time. The drop rate on the landscape Bounder's Tokens is intentionally low, because it applies to everyone, all the time, for the entire duration of the event. Think of this more like a marathon, than a sprint. For those concerned about some servers not unlocking the server vendor and Bounder's Boon: we've taken this into account in our numbers. We've set the value at a point where we feel that every server has a reasonable chance to unlock the final rewards. Larger servers will unlock it earlier, and smaller servers will unlock it later, but the number is low enough that it's designed to be reachable for everyone, if they try enough. I know that the number looks daunting, but we're only a few hours in, with only one way of obtaining tokens open. We've got more tricks up our sleeve, and we're keeping a close eye on this event. Patch 11.3 Release Notes http://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?521463-Update-11-3-Release-notes-Official Players who have previously reported issues with lag and 'rubber banding' while using a Warsteed or during Mounted Combat should see these issues improve. Fixed a bug that was causing some previous performance improvements not to have their full effect. If your Summerfest Steed went missing, you will have the chance to get it back during the Farmers Faire. It will be on sale on the Farmers Faire rewards vendors and at Hengstacer Farm for the cost of a single Farmers Faire token. Newly purchased houses are no longer foreclosed upon based on grace period from previous owner. Draigoch isn't always willing to take a punch. We've explained to him that his lot in life is to be beat upon by players and he should really just Dragon Up and take it. The Morale Bubble Potion can no longer be used in the Ettenmoors. /Follow no longer works on War-steeds and Spur on is Broken it's a bug. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?521539-Bug-since-update-Can-no-longer-quot-follow-quot-on-horseback https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=6889021#post6889021 It's a bug. Did You Know From Kazren “I have one that’s so simple,

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 198 – Lag Spike | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:03:01

Chris, Cari, and Layanor talk about server updates, fourms, and LOTRO lag. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- 33% in the moors Have been running more end game raids. Finally did a complete run of Ost Dunhoth. Barad Guldur. Tried to kill the first boss. Things went bad. Started compiling all the Did You Knows and posting them onto my blog. http://layanor.wordpress.com Cari - Leveling up Ali on Brandywine almost to level 75 I have headed into Rohan and bashed small children I saw the hobbits go to Isengard live. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJGGlVg5PpY Chris - Hytbold, Hytbold, Hytbold News Small Updates 8-20-2013 Forum Updates https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?520856-Today-s-small-changes-8-20-13 The auto-logout has been increased to 6 hours (instead of 45 minutes). The lottery now makes it very clear which characters you have entered into each lottery. The site was not properly emailing things like subscribed thread notices and private message notices. These should be fixed (there is a huge backlog to catch up first). The dev tracker should now show posts from more forums. Sapience Talks about Lag and Forums https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?520386-Why-You-screwed-up Post started out as a usual Turbine you screwed up post. He was angry at Turbine for taking out leaderboards, how "most" players used them, and the lag is still there after the change. Then it got interesting. Most people didn't use the leaderboards. The thing people used the most were the Lotteries (which is why I was able to make a case to save them). No other my.lotro.com resource was used nearly as much (we're talking orders of magnitude). Forums were next, Lorebook a very distant third, then character pages (a very, very distant 4th behind the lorebook). Leaderboards were only slightly more used than Blogs. With the monitoring code we put into the game with Update 11.1 and 11.2 we know what the status of the lag is for the vast majority of players (your client tell us now) and it has dropped somewhat since 11.1. Though there are a few things we know the cause of now (thanks to the reporting code) and are working on a fix. Considering the use of the forums has increased nearly 30% since we changed everything and forum performance has increased dramatically (I haven't seen anyone complain they were laggy), I'd say that's the exact opposite of what you're suggesting. Ping times, unless you have truly insane pings (300+) have nothing to do with it it turns out (yes we were just as surprised as you are). If your pings went from say 90 to 190, then you (regardless of what you may think) aren't having any meaningfully negative impact on your game play simply because of how the game functions (yes even in the moors and in raids). You don't have to believe it, but that's the blunt truth. Client side issue are the primary cause (we're adding more data collection in a future update along with some fixes from what we've already learned), but don't take that as were 'blaming' players. It's in the client. We're trying to figure out where. Thus the continued focus adding measurement tools. We do suspect that some of what players are reporting as lag is hardware based. That's why we're reviewing our minimum and recommended specs to see whether or not they are realistic considering the changes in demands on the client that started going into the game as early as Moria and they were compounded with DX10 and DX11 support and with Rohan and Mounted combat. There is some concern that the existing min spec really isn't sufficient to run the game at a level that's enjoyable and that some of the reports of 'lag' are really issues of poor performance due to hardware not being up to the task. Yes. So here's a funny story. Lotteries were never meant to have 'normal' schedules.

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 197 – We Talk a Lot About Nuthin | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 52:37

Chris and Cari are finally joined by Layanor and talk about character transfers, horse racing, maps, and dumpsters. Listen now:   What We Did in Game Layanor- 30% in my next rank. Cari - Ali of Brandywine to Level 72 Skipped ROI and went straight to the Great River Region Played in a band. BBB 2nd birthday was Saturday Night http://www.youtube.com/user/BardsBeersLongbeards Did some acting. BBB is doing a Casual Stroll to Mordor. Merric and Goldenstar managed to kill us all off for pie, and then we got drunk in an inn. Chris - Hytbolt dailies - All my reputations are to Ally now, and I’m movin’ on up! News Character Transfers Are Back! https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?519982-Character-Transfers-are-Back! We are very pleased to announce that Character Transfers are again available for all players! The process for submitting the requests and the prices will remain the same as it was before being put on hold. Requests can be submitted at support.turbine.com. Please note that we anticipate a high volume of these requests. Therefore, turnaround times may be as long as two to three weeks as this service first becomes available again. We currently do not have any additional details regarding automated character transfers and we’ll announce the details as they become available. Small Changes to Lotteries https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=6876135#post6876135 You can see which ones are active without logging in.  Did You Know Today in the Ettenmoors, an older item was being talked about as being too overpowered. It is called Basic Theater Lessons #13. It allows you to do the play dead emote. However it seems the play dead skill is along with it. Nothing can attack you as long as you're playing dead and you lose all your aggro. The good news is that it is a consumable and you only get five per character. http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Item:Basic_Theatre:_Lesson_13 This is a quest reward in Forochel and can only be picked once on every character. The item is bound, and not character bound. Community Gamebreaker TV interview with QA Jay Piette at Turbine http://www.gamebreaker.tv/video-game-shows/jay-piette-interview-ep-4/ Windy Acres Ranch 2013-2014 Event Schedule http://windyacres.mymiddleearth.com/?p=3974 The competitive racing season has been cancelled. new and exciting events on the calendar, including solve-a-mystery roleplay parties, war steed races, fashion contests and fun runs. Events will be held on Saturdays at 2:30pm Landroval server time (Eastern US) unless otherwise noted. Bree-land Travel Routes Diagram http://lotroplayers.mymiddleearth.com/2013/08/12/bree-land-travel-diagram/ Braxwolf in LOTRO, New Player Guides, Starting Out Diagram all of the stable routes for the different zones, starting with Bree-land. The Road to Mordor: Getting Over The 40s Gump in LOTRO http://i.massively.joystiq.com/2013/08/10/the-road-to-mordor-getting-over-the-40s-hump-in-lotro/ Screenshot Art From Luthien's Enclave Blog: http://luthiens-enclave.com/category/screenshots/ Turbine put this in their twitter feed. Very nice character shots done. Has done three amazing panoramic view of the shire. Party for PAX Prime Thursday, August 29, 2013 - Elephant and Castle 6:00 Please RSVP http://mmoreporter.com/pax Please email mmo.reporter@gmail.com to confirm your attendance! Donate to MMO Reporter Page: http://mmoreporter.com/donate Thanks to Martin for his generous donation!   Contact Information: Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter: @lotroreporter Facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the screen when you visit the site. YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com   Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 196 – Ent Play is Taking Over the World | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:14:01

Layanor, Carrie and Chris talk all about the new Big Battles announcement from the latest 20 Questions post and more! Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- Did 4 hours instead of 3 of the Middle Earth at War show Also did a show today and it got viewers right away. Did a live stream of Ost Dunoth just to play around and got even more random views. You guys really like live streams! I am 24% into my moors rank Cari - Changed Cyn name to Chakakhanriel - Alinniel I moved on both servers. Ali of Landroval has 1 Twinfall Path and Ali of Brandywine had a lovely standard house (she was broke) Ali of Brandywine is now level 70 Couldn't log into the server on Saturday night. :( Did some skirmishes to level. Did Icy Crevasse for the first time. Chris - Quest. Quest. Quest. Quest. Quest. MITHRIL COINS. Quest. Quest..... Spent 200+ Hytbolt tokens today. Gotta remember to look ALL AROUND Hytbold to spend them. News LOTRO 20 Questions: Big Battles https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?519694-20-Questions-%E2%80%93-Big-Battles Info on Helm's Deep Upscaling for lower level characters Non-Instanced you play your character Pre-Orders can not be announced just yet. Added Questions Will there be any normal instance added or is big battles the only instance type we get. Big battles are the only instance type in this expansion. Will mounted combat be in any big battle? No. To systems that are very complex need to be apart from each other for now. Will the big battles be available at launch? Yes. Will character scaling be applied to the moors? Right now, no. Later on it may be applied to other things once the system is ironed out. Will there be any housing upgrades in this expansion? There will be some upgrades before the expansion and on launch. How does scaling gear work? If you're level 20 with a level 7 sword, your sword will scale up to level 92. The stats on the sword will also scale but it will not get extra stats. Such as most max level weapons and gear get multiple stats, while lesser gear get one or two stats. With there being no tiers of difficulty, will everything just be easy for lower level scaled players to win. Big battles will not have tiers but they will introduce a medal system. If you defend an area, you get points added to your score. If you lose a area or do something wrong, you will lose points to your score. The higher your score, the better your reward will be. Forums Say Helm's Deep Fall 2013 Sapience confirmed. That doesn’t give us a firm date, but it does keep it from being pushed into 2014 No Turbine Presence at PAX this year. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=6867571#post6867571 Sapience Suggests they come to our party. And so do we. www.mmoreporter.com/pax New forums are up with new community rules. http://www.lotro.com/en/content/community-guidelines Connection issues to LOTRO not their problem. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?519601-Official-thread-Conntectivity-Issues Workaround seems to have fixed the issue. From Sapience: "Unless you want to try to argue that the Summer Festival took out LOTRO, DDO, AC, and IC all at once. In which case the festivals have become self aware and there is nothing we can do to stop them." - Different Post Did you Know I have had a few players tell me about the different potions you can get from the Ettenmoors. They said you can use them outside of the moors. However everytime I look at the vendors who sell them, they always say “must be in PvMP” to use them. Well I finally found the ones they were talking about. They can only be found in The Delving of Fror. That is the underground instance of the moors. These can be found on salamanders and wurms. However wurms are faster to kill. Each one gives immunity to something. The fact that the fear potion gets rid of three fears and give immunity for 5 seconds is very powerful.

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 195 – This Started Weird | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:08:02

Chris, Cari and Layanor are a bit silly this week. Eventually we do get around to talking about forums, Updates, and class race restrictions. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- I am 17% into my next moors rank. Got under 500k. I only need 498k now. Had a great run in Tower of Orthanc tier 2. Have done this for a couple of nights now and the group i'm with is determined to do it. We are on the wing right before Saruman. Cari - Cyn to 68. Got half a level with just the festival. Been doing the festival Kinship Festival Chris - Ally with the Wold and Entwash Vale! Ignoring the festival. Hytbold must be mine! News Community Site is down for a Revamp July 28-Aug 1 Estimated http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6858780#post6858780 On Monday July 29 at 10AM Eastern time, the LOTRO Forums will be placed into read only mode and a forum, “Temporary Discussions” will be created for each of our supported languages (English, German, and French). Here's what the new forums will look like: http://ow.ly/i/2KjJI Official Forums The forums will be upgraded to a newer version of VBulletin. Changes will include: The forum styling/appearance will be updated and will now scale to the full width of your browser window. A new “Community Digest” page that will have links to lotteries, forums, and updated news. Forum performance will be improved. Forums should perform better on mobile devices. LOTRO Lotteries The lottery widget is going away and a new Lottery page is taking its place. Character Copy for Bullroarer and Beta. The character copy system we use for Bullroarer and beta testing will be improved and easier to use. The following features are being discontinued: The LOTRO Lorebook Player Blogs PvMP leaderboards Skirmish Leaderboards Character and Kinship Data and Pages Referrals Signup Rewards Item Icons / Tooltips - This makes me really, really sad Signature System http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?505221-LOTRO-Companion-version-3.0  Update 11.2 Release Notes. http://t.co/Zj7uHicKCj Red Painted Skeleton Steed is now Account Bound Launcher fixes. Yes your log into last world choice is gone. It’s gone because you have allow multiple instances checked. Additions to the Store: Sapience: “We’d like to thank the Player Council for their assistance with the design and pricing the Advanced Riding Skill.” Apprentice Riding Trait (Account) - Upgrades all mounts on your account to +68% speed. Apprentice Riding Trait - Upgrades all mounts on your character to +68% speed. Journeyman Riding Trait (Account) - Upgrades all mounts on your account to have +78% speed! New Speed Buffs for Mounts http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?517972-11.2-New-RIDING-PASSIVES-%28-68-78-%29-Stop-and-Smell-the-Roses! Apprentice Riding Skill 995 68% Speed Journeyman Riding Trait 2995 78% Speed Doesn't Work in the Moors Account Wide Gives Riding Skill Can Toggle it off Returning Traveller – reduces the cooldown of your “return to” skills by 30 mins. Shared Wardrobe Space XIV (10 Slots) The current status of Character Transfers: http://t.co/YFKRDWei62 Character Transfers have been down since March. They are redoing the code to make them  automated. However, it is taking more time than initially expected. Please note that Character Transfers will continue to be a Paid Service, not a Premium Service similar to Kinship renames or character undeletes. Character Undeletes are Back! -Carpe Noctem http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?517968-Character-Undeletes-are-available-again! Character Undeletes are again available! Free to all players who have VIP access or have purchased Turbine Points in the last 45 days Players can only have one Premium Service open at a time (Kinship renames included). We can only accept one character per Undelete Request. Be Patient

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 194 – All About Weatherstock | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:06:51

Cari, Chris and Layanor are joined this week by Haper Hendee to talk all things Weatherstock and in-game music. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- 11% into my next rank Helped my friend do some Moria instance deeds. Cari - Cyn to 67 ½ Autocorrect, twitter, and I made up a new Festival Event. Weatherstock Baby!! Love, Love, Love those Mithril Coins Chris - WEATHERSTOCK! Rep grinding Interview with Harper Hendee About Weatherstock Video of our Live-stream Here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork Contact Information Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter: @lotroreporterFacebook: LOTRO ReporterVoicemail: 616-666-6778 or the widget on the right side of the screen when you visit the site. YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetworkwww.lotroreporter.com Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac Layanor  Twitter: @Layanor

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 193 – Weatherstock is Coming | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:04

Chris and Cari are a duo tonight. Layanor is off having adventures with elves or he may be sick. There's no news so we talk about our great community for a while. Listen now: What We Did in Game Cari - Cyn is about half way through level 66 Been posting the 30 day pictures on the Facebook Page. http://lotrogeek.tumblr.com/post/51779690479/lotro-geeks-30-day-picture-challenge Did some level to the end of the rested experience bar on a couple of alts. I like pew pewing on my hunter. Things die fast. Chris - Done the Wildemore quests Working on Hytbolt again. http://lotrolegacy.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=167066&ForumID=786907&TabID=1414838&TopicID=10247121&Page=1 Rep grinding in Rohan. News Account Support Phones Opening Late July 20 http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6848564#post6848564 Opening at Noon EST Down for Maintenance Support Tickets can be submitted at any time. Patch Notes 11.2 on Bullroarer http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6844997 Under a specific combination of Options the launcher would attempt to launch infinite clients. In Update 11.1 to prevent exploits, we prevented all advancement of quests by talking to an NPC while you are in combat. This caused some difficulties in certain instances, so you will now be allowed to advance a quest up to the last objective while in combat by talking to an NPC, but you still will not be able to finish the quest until you leave combat. Did you Know This weeks did you know is something your kin can do for fun. It is going into the classic instance level 50 RIFT. This instance is a 12 man and can be drunken finished with maxed out level 85 characters. now why is this a did you know? Well the end boss drops a sword at the end of it. A huge epic three story sword! And because lotro has made changes to the loot drops. everyone in the entire raid gets it. It is one of the coolest housing items you can have on your front yard, and very easy to get. and that was did you know. http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Thaurlach  *pic is at the bottom* Community Weatherstock July 20 We are live streaming starting at 10 PST/1:00 EST www.mmmoreporter.com/live Send a contact request to MMO Reporter 1 to get in on the action! We’ll be adding people to the livestream throughout the day. Pasho Proudfoot’s Ode to Weatherstock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE1EJHoXpJ8 Landroval, Sapience, and Turbine Should be Proud http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6846203#post6846203 http://community.guildlaunch.com/promotions/g/DragonSlayer/ 2013 Dragonslayer Awards Voting has opened Most Passionate Fan base (We won this last year, let's see if you can do it twice in a row). Best Community Team (Both LOTRO and Turbine). Community Manager of the Year. Best Team/Clan/ Guild (2 Kinships) BBB is calling all singers, musicians, people who can growl like orcs, and people who have no shame to help with their next couple of video projects.  First one is a fully voiced and live musical tribute to CSTM. If you can sing or play an instrument they want you. The second is the battle of Five armies. They will need all dwarves, elves, men orcs etc to realize the battle on the YouTubes Requests for information and offers to help the crazy pink hawtpants wearing organizer/composer can be sent or aegthil@gmail.com. http://www.youtube.com/user/BardsBeersLongbeards Have you been everywhere? Great LOTRO player-made video. http://t.co/uENkS7Si7D Completionist Tracker has been updated (1.7.5) with latest Wildermore content. http://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info686-BerrysCompletionistTracker.html Tales of Arda put this together. Road to Mordor - Time Travel is Possible in LOTRO http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/07/13/the-road-to-mordor-time-travel-is-possible-in-lotro/

 LOTRO Reporter Episdoe 192 – LOTRO Lives | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 46:16

Chris, Cari and Layanor - Chat about 20 questions with the devs, stuff in the Turbine Store, and LOTRO's future. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- Rank 12 Tried bfe2 again Went to do Moria and Lothlorien Dailies Cari - Attended one of the Pre-Weatherstock Concerts Been Posting 31 days of LOTRO Pics on the Facebook Page Did some Rested XP leveling on a few alts. Quested some in the Wildemore Chris - Almost finished Wildemore Most of the quests in the North West are done. Finishing up a few straggler quests. News 20 Questions with the Dev Team http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?517321-Twenty-Questions-with-the-LOTRO-Dev-Team-July-2013 Q7: It has been said before that adding a new Freep class isn't on the cards, but why is that so? Is there simply no feasible placement for a new class given the roles of current classes or is it more a case of prioritizing time, resources, etc? A7: Creating a class from scratch is a big endeavor. Our current class revamps should, in theory, have several beneficial byproducts. First, we are cleaning them up, top-to-bottom. They will be more rewarding and builds will be more defined. They will also be easier for us to maintain. While I can’t say that a new class is in the works (there isn’t) the revamp will make it a lot easier to consider one in the future. - Zimmitti Q14: Will Chicken Session play ever be extended into new areas, as the game expands .. Possibly with a new skill or 2 to enable better survivability ? A14: I had actually forgotten all about chicken play! I still have the Trollshaws quest in my log...waiting. Waiting. Someday I'll finish the journey. This question is a good reminder; we can't promise new chicken play content, but I promise to look into it! I would actually love to make some new sessions to explore the newer content from the eyes of a chicken. - Lauren Q15: What is Turbine's process for tuning landscape/quests/instances/raids to an appropriate level of difficulty. Especially considering the huge gulf in the level of equipment within the player base. On group content do you have an ideal class composition in mind when you tune the content? A15: For landscape, there’s actually an old rule for soloable gameplay of how many monsters an average player should be asked to fight for a quest. 1 signature, 2 normals, 3 swarms. - Lauren A15: For instance or skirmish content: Lots and lots of playtests and iterations. Difficulty is intended to increase as both tier and group size increase. We attempt to tune tier 1 to be beatable by our Palantir players, tier 2 by bullroarer, and then challenge for live. The reason for this isn’t because players on live are better than Palantir or Bullroarer players, it comes down to the groups being better because they’ve been playing together as the same group for years. Small Fellowship we tune to need a tank or a healer, but try to avoid requiring a trinity, even within challenge level difficulty. Fellowships we aim for a trinity plus 3 others. We avoid trying to build 6-man content that requires multiple tanks. Raids we attempt to design and tune to encourage 2 tanks, 2 main healers, 2 captains, and at least one of each class. One of the biggest tricks is to be aware of the numbers when it comes to equipment and gear but to not be overly bound by it. Introducing chaos, and requiring communication and coordination by increasing the number of dynamic elements involved creates a far more challenging and satisfying fight than simply raising the health and damage. - JWB Q16: Given player concerns about the license and Turbine's relationship with Saul Zaentz/Middle-earth Enterprises, can you say anything about LOTRO ending in 2014 as some have predicted? A16: We plan to support LOTRO for many more years to come. We are very fortunate in that we enjoy a great relationship with Middle-earth Enterprises.

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 191 – Community, Ya Got to Love Them | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 1:13:03

Chris, Cari, and Layanor talk about many things related to LOTRO's community. Some good, some bad, and some really fun. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor- 91% in the moors. 32k left. OD killed the Durins Bane Still have not bea...

 LOTRO Reporter Episode 190 – Parliamentary Inquiry | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 54:12

Chris, Cari and Layanor talk about Social Studies, and go back to school about "easy" changes in MMOs. Listen now: We recorded Farewell to CSTM so this ended up being Episode 190. What We Did in Game: Layanor- I am 78% into my next rank Have been running Fires of Smaug and Battle for Erebor every night, along with working on Wildemore dailies. Ran Battle for Erebor at tier 2 with no luck. I am looking to get a Saruman tier 2 run. Cari - Leveling Cyn Wlidemore on Ali Picked up Lottery winnings and ran through VIP experience on some Alts. Chris - LOTRO? What’s LOTRO? Grease is the word! News: 20 Questions with the Devs: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?515600-Twenty-Questions-with-the-LOTRO-Dev-Team Systems Maintenance: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6830966#post6830966 LOTRO Card Sale at Participating Wal-Marts: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6828417#post6828417 20% off Small update Re the Forums: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?&postid=6828276#post6828276 Sapience: I'm in between meetings about the new lottery system and wanted to give you a quick heads up on a couple of things. As most of you have seen, the revamp is now slated for early July, after the US July 4 holiday. Lotteries will be part of this new site, I just sat down and filled up two pages of legal pad with the dev team about new things, missing things, and bugs in the system they're working on. Now I'm off to another meeting about the lottery. In the middle of all this I managed to get someone to kick the character data update tools. So you should be seeing your character data update over the next few days. Which means I can throw some lotteries up for this weekend without too many bad things happening... I hope. @Lotro Is you Kinship or Fansite planning an #event in LOTRO? Send Sapience a PM on the forums with details and we might be able to help! Did You Know: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?485191-Map-of-the-Delving&p=6487564#post6487564 Community: MMO Troll LOTRO Articles: http://www.mmo-troll.com/out-with-the-old/ http://www.mmo-troll.com/a-open-letter-to-the-lotro-community/ Got the community riled up. All false Weatherstock Concert Series is Coming: http://lotroplayers.mymiddleearth.com/2013/06/24/weatherstock-concert-series-the-chosen-few/ http://t.co/H7J8Wykq4c First Concert is Wednesday night. Vraeden Hates Hunters on CSTM: http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2013/06/vraeden-hates-hunters-2/ @lotro Windy Acres Ranch is hosting a rodeo on Landroval this Saturday at 3pm server/EST in Rusham, Shire homesteads.  Win prizes! Supergirl Writes about Wildemore Relics: http://www.danania.net/2013/06/u11-wildemore-relics.html LOTRO Geek 30 Day Photo Challenge: http://lotrogeek.tumblr.com/post/51779690479/lotro-geeks-30-day-picture-challenge One of the pics: http://hipstalotro.blogspot.com/2013/06/6-lotrogeeks-30-day-picture-challenge.html We've Got Mail: From Saurio Hi Chris, Cari, and Layanor: Sorry to bother you all, but I have a question about the way threat is generated in Lotro and thought you three scholars of the game would be able to help. My questions is:  When does threat accrue when using a heal or damage over time skill?  Is it immediate or incremental with each pulse of the effect? Example:  I cast a skill that does 100 damage/healing per second for 30 seconds.  Do I generate 3000 threat immediately because that is the eventually output of the skill?  Or, do I only get 100 immediately with another 100 with each passing second?  My guess is that it is the second way, but sometimes my mini's soliloquy of spirit seems to draw a lot of attention at the beginning of a fight, even though it is a fairly low output heal. Thank you for your assistance! -Saurio Hello minion Saurio Your second guess is correct. More threat is added every pulse. As for your heal.

Comments

Login or signup comment.