LOTRO Reporter Podcast

With the launch of Riders of Rohan on the horizon, I sat down with Aaron "Rowan" Campbell, Senior Producer for Lord of the Rings Online, and talked about what we can look forward to in the expansion. Audio Version:

Chris, Layanor, and Cari ramble on about about War-steeds, warbands, soundtracks, one rather colourful horse, and whether Chris should level a Champion or a Captain. Listen now: What We Did in Game Layanor Finished the the 27 quests in the Rohan pre-order horse quest line. I now have the heal skill for my War-steed. Did a Foundry and had three members bail after almost beating the boss. Played even more of the beta. I am starting to get hooked! Purchased the Steed of the Minstrel. That makes mount number 83. Cari Had to load LOTRO onto a different computer due to laptop issues. My LUA plugins were missing. Participated in the Harvestmath Festival. I'm so proud I remembered the layout of the Haunted Burrow. Ran Roots of Fangorn. Ran the Foundry of Isengard finished it for the first time. Chris Great River, finished with the Brown Lands, but quit before moving on. After our discussion last week, I made a couple of Alts on Landroval, a Champion and a Captain. Not sure which I’m going to continue with...(Chris need the listeners to help him decide if he should level the Champion or Captain Leave a comment, please). Had a great run through with Aaron “Rowan” Campbell of the new Rohan Content. We’ll talk more about it next week. News Dev Diary: Mounted Combat: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2467-riders-of-rohan-developer-diary-mounted-combat- They touch on the development of horses in LOTRO from beta 5 years ago, to Rohan. They had horse attacks but removed them in favor of constant moving combat. If you are dismounted in combat, you can get right back on your War-steed and it will be fully healed. XP will be for all of your War-steeds. Not just the one you use the most. Quests will have War-steed XP just like Legendary XP. There are no fellowship maneuvers while riding a War-steed. They can still be initiated and participated in while not riding, but their effects on a mounted monster will differ, in that they will not be stunned or rooted. Tidbits Layanor noticed about Rohan in Beta LOTRO store is full of War-steed items like: XP Boosts, Stat Boosts, Cosmetic Slots, Cosmetics, and Trait Line Slots. All quests in Rohan give War-Steed XP. If you are on your War-steed or not, it still gets XP whatever you do. War-steeds are FAST! Riding past a mob is so fast that most of the time the mob has no time to react to hit you. It is very hard to run away from a fight. Mobs will run a long ways to get you and your chances of running into other wandering mobs is very high! War-steeds can be used anywhere outside of Rohan, but not for combat. The heal skill for your War-steed from the legendary pre-order has been reduced from 24 hours, to 15 minutes. Warband Dev Diary: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2491-riders-of-rohan-developer-diary-warbands They wanted to capture the feel of roving packs of monsters traveling across the plains. Warbands are much like the wandering shard dropper mobs in the old areas. They cover more ground and have other mobs with them. They will show up on your radar when one is near. Once you are close to one you can take the daily quest to kill them for a Gift Box. These boxes contain crafting materials, including rare materials, housing items, potions, marks, medallions, jewelry, shards, relics (including mounted relics), 2nd age symbols, and exclusive War-steed appearances. XP Disabler is on Bullroarer: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?480247-XP-Disabler-is-in-LOTRO-store-on-Bullroarer Current Bullroarer price is 700 TP It's for 7 days real time. That means once you use the item you have seven earth days before it expires. You can be toggled on and off. Turns off monster and quest XP when on. One argument is that VIP have rested XP whether they want it or not.Why should they have to pay to turn that off. LOTRO Update (but no patch notes): http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?

Following up on our great interview from PAX East, we sit down and talk some RaiderZ with Matt Group to find out some recent changes and some news about the upcoming open beta. Audio version: Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

On the heels of our Torchlight 2 review, we thought we'd pull out our discussion with President of Runic Games and Project Lead on Torchlight 2, Travis Baldree. Audio Version: Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

At PAX, we were able to get a bit of time talking with Heath Hatcher from Razer about the new Blade laptop! Check it out! Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

This week Chris and Layanor and joined by Cari as we talk about the Hytbold Dev Diary, treasure hunts, and Harvestmath. Listen now: We also have a great contest this week! Follow the instruction in the widget below to win! a Rafflecopter giveaway News: Hytbold Dev Diary http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2438-journal-des-developpeurs-des-cavaliers-du-rohan-bienvenue-a-hytbold/2438-welcome-to-hytbold new solo-able or group endgame experience It focuses on rebuilding a razed Rohirrim village by aiding NPCs in daily quests. As you rebuild you will unlock useful places. Such as crafting stations, Crafting instances, and the new raid gear station. Harvestmath Festival 24 sep - 14 oct - The new mount looks like the treasure event 1000 coin goat No updates to this festival other then new oktoberfest theme items. No turbine point ticket event? http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2012/09/lotro-fall-festival-guide-2012/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cstmfeed+%28A+Casual+Stroll+to+Mordor+Blog%29 Did you know Instance finder skirmish bonus Hold the control key and hit J. Go into the Advanced tab.. This will help you fill in some spots when you are looking for more players in instances and raids. We all know most players do not use this but you still can make it useful for yourself. Click skirmish and put the number of players to one or however many friends are going to join you. Then start checking off skirmishes. The more you check off, the more bonus you get. Adding one skirm = 10% on all currencies Adding 4 = 15% Adding 7 = 20% Adding 11 = 33% Adding 14 = 50% with a +5% to morale and power 14 is the max for added bonus You can go up to 18 skirms but the bonus stops at 14. So it is better to go up to 14 and leave out a lot of the harder or slower skirms. Community Why the Treasure Hunt sucks Forums agree? http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?479617-Please-Increase-Spawns-of-Berry-Bushes-and-Block-Forced-Emotes-from-Treasure-Area! http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?479973-Treasure-Hunt-Griefing-by-Turbine! The Road to Mordor - Reset Sucks (I am bored of LOTRO in 300 words or less article?) http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09/22/the-road-to-mordor-the-reset-scenario/ If your account was erased. Would you do it all again? What class, race, crafting would you pick? He does not know if he would restart if he had to. CSTM Fellowship Walk for Childs Play http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2012/09/childsplay2012/ New this year auctions http://casualstrolltomordor.com/auctions/ Fellowship Walk Song: http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2012/09/the-fellowship-walk-song/ http://youtu.be/yIJHym18WxM Contact info email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com twitter: @lotroreporter facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com Cari Twitter: @thecarimac Layanor Twitter: @Layanor

Here's a short interview with Ike from Turtle Beach talking about the new headsets that they have for PC Gamers! Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

Ever wondered what goes into making video game music happen? An Ace-team of panelists shares all the details! Featuring Jesper Kyd, Michael McCann, Inon Zur, Martin O'Donnell, and Sam Hulick, moderated by Emily Reese. Sorry for the technical difficulties in the middle! I assure you all I have been thoroughly chastised. Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

Have a seat with Razer and their charismatic CEO Min-Liang Tan as they announce the new Razer Blade!  I don't know about you guys, but my christmas list just got longer... Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

On this information packed show, we discuss the War Steeds, Goodie Bags, and the addition of Layanor to the team. Listen now: What we did in game: Layanor Did some skirmishes this week Did some research on the Halls of Night. Still wiping on the Saruman fight Chris Ended up spending most of my time completing quests around Stangard. Somehow ended up in Limelight Gorge. Ouch Some crafting again, trying to get everything ready for Riders of Rohan Bill Looked longingly at my LOTRO icon News Dev Diary: Warsteeds http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2418-riders-of-rohan-developer-diary-warsteed We will have three Warsteed types. The Light warsteed will be very fast, have low morale, armour, and will be ideal for ranged and support classes. The medium is the all around steed that also has very good damage skills. The heavy steed can take and deal a lot of damage, but is very slow and harder to maneuver. Each war-steed has a unique trait tree that will allow you to customize your mount to fit your specific needs like tanking and dps. . Server Patch Notes Update 7.4 Release Notes - Official http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Update_7.4,_Official New tech has been added to the game to help out with problems that players have been reporting. New treasure event prizes have been added. For 1000 tokens you can get the new “oktoberfest” Harvest Brew goat. Also is a Unearthed Sack for 500 tokens. And Sturdy Steel Key for 200 tokens. Goodie Bags Three Goodie Bag codes have been sent out to anyone that pre-ordered RIders of Rohan before September 5th. You open the in game store and search for “Goodie Bag”. Click on quick buy and enter one of the three coupon codes Turbine has sent you. The cost of the Goodie Bag will then be free! The Lord of the Rings Online™: Expansion Triple Pack - Digital Download only 20$ http://store.turbine.com/store/turbine/en_US/pd/productID.253909400 Moria, Mirkwood, and Isengard expansions. Over 875 quests 16 Instances 4 Raids 2 Character slots Warden & Runekeeper classes Talk like a pirate day... yay... I guess.... http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews/214-shipwreckedmariner ℅ - http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2012/09/tale-of-the-shipwrecked-mariner-events Did you know? On September 22 is Blibo and Frodo's birthday. This starts in Rivendell with Bilbo and thats all I will say. You get a neat reward for doing this and it can only be done once per character. You can never repeat this quest and it is only available for 24 hours. Community Looking at PvMP from the outside in http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09/15/the-road-to-mordor-looking-at-pvmp-from-the-outside-in/ by Justin Olivetti at Massively PvMP would be hard to pull off in Tolkien’s lore PvMP feels locked away Turbine has improved the LOTRO, But have left player homes, hobbies, and the moors in the dust. He says it could be time to either remake it or remove it for good. CSTM Treasure Hunt Guide http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2012/09/treasure-hunt-guide/ Open-tapping in action - cool video http://casualstrolltomordor.com/2012/09/riders-of-rohan-beta-open-tapping-video/ How NOT to play a warden in LOTRO http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qpkPC9ST1VM Contact Info email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com twitter: @lotroreporter facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com

In this episode, we're joined by Layanor to discuss several dev diaries (including Eastemnet crafting), stat scrolls, LOTRO player niceness and more! Listen now: What we did this week Layanor Saruman -Tower of Ohthankyou Bill Deed grinding.  Whoever thought that setting up deeds that require hundreds of elite mobs was a good idea should be rickrolled every day for a year Chris Crafting in now FINALLY getting through the Westfold tier. Materials to get some of the lower tiers finished up are a little scarce. Continued with my epicly slow journey through the great river region. I would have done more, but I was too busy crafting! News Eastement Crafting Dev Diary http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2389-riders-of-rohan-developer-diary-eastemnet-crafting Open tapping http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?477994-Official-Discussion-XP-and-Tapping-changes-coming-with-Rohan Epic Story Dev Diary - yar, here be spoilers http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2402-riders-of-rohan-developer-diary-volume-iii-update-8-quest-notes Rohan landscape video dev diary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ZIQdqqd8k&feature=player_embedded Warden Dev Diary http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/2370-riders-of-rohan-developer-diary-warden Did you know... LIVE EDITION! Stat Scrolls: How to bust out your legendary stats like a pimp yo! Relic Forging barter. Under melding. 3,356 shards Legendary Item Quartermaster in Harndirion - 15 Medallion of the North-men Barter Exchange Trader in Ost Galadh - 25 Medallion of Dol Guldur Community Darzil's Crafting Guide http://lotro.northshield.co.uk/ This website that has been used for years and is no longer being updated. However the owner has no problem hosting it. He is looking for someone to take over and keep updating it. Summer festival events listed http://www.lotro.com/summerfun2012/2413-olde-world-adventure-schedule-of-events Really?  The LOTRO community needs more entitled jerks? http://www.containsmoderateperil.com/why-the-lotro-community-needs-to-stop-being-so-nice/ (More then likely Layanor rant) Another post http://www.containsmoderateperil.com/riders-of-rohan-delay-compensation-package-is-delayed/ What Guild Wars 2 can teach LOTRO http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09/08/the-road-to-mordor-three-things-lotro-needs-from-guild-wars-2/ NPC lookalike contest http://cosmeticlotro.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/npc-look-alike-contest-2012/ iTunes 5 Star kudujerky Contact Info email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com twitter: @lotroreporter facebook: LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com

We stop by the Trion Worlds booth to talk a little Defiance, how the game will integrate with the TV show, and how the instanced PvP will work. Want an audio version of the interview? Here it is: Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

We chat with David Brevik, President and COO of Gazillion Entertainment about Marvel Heroes, what players can expect from the game, and the upcoming closed beta! Want an audio version of the interview? Here it is: Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

Chris chats with Scott Hartsman about the Rift launch, the past year, and the upcoming Storm Legion Expansion. Want an audio version of the interview? Here it is: Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!

Here we take a look at the upcoming MOBA Guardians of Middle Earth. Speaking to Ruth Tomandl, Executive Producer on the game, we look at the control scheme, bring Middle-earth to the MOBA space, and how much fun the game will be. Want an audio version of the interview? Here it is: Many thanks to our sponsor Guild Launch for making the MMO Reporter PAX 2012 coverage possible!