LOTRO Reporter Podcast

Cari and Chris talk about update 18.2. What’s new in housing, and how trolls really do look like wagons. Audio Version:   What We Did in Game Chris Skirmishes Epic Story on Landy Cari Mac – Epic Story on Brandywine Skirmish of Skirmishes   News Dev Diary: Update 18.2 Coming Soon The update was supposed…

Chris and Cari talk about the end of phone support for Turbine, and the update of the in game store. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Chris Skirmishes. So many skirmishes. Cari Mac – Spring Festival   News Turbine is Closing Phone Support https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7604471#post7604471   Store Key Redemption Has Been Updated for the InGame…

Battling Balrog’s and Wargs, Chris and Carrie dig into news about the Update 18 cost, Server Stability, and not so “Spring” Spring Festival calendar. Audio Version: What We Did in Game   Chris Skirmishing on my Captain and Warden Getting marks for training my soldiers Cari Mac  Epic Story Skirmish of Skirmishes   30 Patrons…

This week’s show has Chris and Cari talking Skirmish of Skirmishes, learning new musical terms, and finding out that Bob cubed really doesn’t want Cari to play. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Chris Questing towards Minas Tirith Crafting – Getting my gathering professions up Skirmishes – Tuckborough and Prancing Pony Cari Mac – Trying to Play in Pelargir News Data Center Update https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7543809#post7543809 They are not moving the servers to Amsterdam. PvMP issues should ease up with Update 18. They are adding some client side stuff. Game Issues https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7538539#post7538539 Answer from Vivianne: We have not stopped looking into the issues that remain. We acknowledge they are there and we continue to look into them, but we have moved from problems that everyone is experiencing and things that our server monitoring systems can show us, to problems that a subset of users is experiencing, which makes tracking down those specific problems and reproducing them to find a solution more difficult without specific data. This is why I am asking for bug reports and contacting technical support. We need data like time the problem is happening, your location in game, and your location in the real world, your ISP provider, your hardware specs, etc, to piece together a pattern we can then investigate. Forum posts tell us that you are seeing issues, but they do not give us the specifics we need to diagnose. You can tell you doctor over the phone your symptoms, but they still need to see you in person to diagnose the disease because there is other data they can only get in that way. Putting in a /bug automatically sends us the background data we need to match up to the symptoms you are describing. We have folks that go through those bugs every single day to parse out the information we need to diagnose the issue, but when we don’t have data to work with, we are working blindly which takes more time. Frelorn: We are and will continue to work on resolving the issues some of you are seeing. One thing we would like to point out is that for everyone here saying they are submitting bug reports, we get no more than 5-10 reports per day on lag or disconnects. This number is actual detailed bug reports and not posts to the forums here. We also read the posts here on the forums, but in many cases just telling us it is happening, does not really help us narrow down the issue or issues. This is why we ask for detailed bug reports, rather than just post telling us to fix it. If the solution was something simple, the team would have fixed it by now so everyone playing could have a good experience. However since it is not simple, we need as much information as we can get in these bug reports. Vivianne 2/19: Thank you for reporting this. We are restarting those login instances now so that message should clear for you shortly. Additionally we believe we have found the cause of the intermittent login issues and are working on a longer term solution. We are also continuing to work on some additional remedies to help the lag and disconnects although those are unlikely to be resolved this weekend. Downtime https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7543985#post7543985 The LOTRO Game Servers will be brought down on Wednesday, February 24th from 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM Eastern (-5 GMT) for Maintenance. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll see you back in the game soon! Community Great video exploring the motifs an

It’s patch note time on LOTRO Reporter, with Chris and Cari talking about patch 17.2, the return of the Yule festival, and new fangled hobbit holes in this week’s episode. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Chris Questing towards Minas Tirith Crafting – Getting my gathering professions up Cari Mac  Streamed more Bingo Quests Finished up some Festival Stuff News Free Transfer Schedule https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/free-transfer-schedule-and-more Update 17.2 Patch Notes Mastering The Sky: A History Of Aviation From Ancient Times To Present Emote collection UI: You can now see all emotes available to the free people of Middle-earth in the Collections Panel. In the new emote tab you can preview emotes, learn how to earn them, and perform emotes directly from this panel. New Quests have been added in Minas Tirith: A new public endgame space in the Cisterns is available. New quests can be found near the Stone Theatre (in the northern 1st Tier), inside the Houses of Lore, inside the Houses of Healing, at the Citadel, at the Training Ground, and near the Baths of Belecthor (in the 4th Tier). Stable travel options have been added in Minas Tirith. If you have already completed all of his adventures, George at Sandson’s Farm might just have a new one waiting in the wings. Instances and Currency: The barter costs for Anfalas Scrolls of Empowerment have been decreased. Sambrog is now a more challenging instance and the Mark and Medallion rewards for Sambrog have been increased. Dol Amroth Endgame Tokens Have Changed Housing: Large and special furniture hooks now accept thin furniture. All tree housing decorations now slot into small exterior hooks with the exception of Shire Oak Tree. Gondorian candelabra lights when used. Birch Trees now correctly use fall colors. Other Changes: You can now give your pets names with “-” in them. The Flirt emote now plays flirt sound for all races. Reputation gain has been added to Norcroft and Entwash Vale repeatable quests! Reputation has been added to Eastern Rohan Warbands! KINSHIPS: The Founder title will be properly granted to Kin Founders who have transferred shards along with their Kinships. If the Kin leader at time of transfer was not the Founder, but received the Founder title, they will lose it. Update 17.2.1 Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?596362-Update-17-2-1-Hotfix-Notes An errant tree has been removed from the road to Rivendell. Yule Festival is Back https://www.lotro.com/en/yulefestival Jan 29-Feb 10   Community Running the Rift On Level https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?597255-Landroval-The-Rift-of-N%C3%BBrz-Gh%C3%A2shu-(On-Level-Raid-50-55)-2-5-2016-(Friday) LOTRO Artists http://lotroartists.com/ Prefabricated Hobbit Holes http://www.greenmagichomes.com/main.php http://geekologie.com/2015/12/company-selling-pre-fab-hobbit-hole-home.php

Cari is joined by the new old host Chris. We give a retrospective of what happened in LOTRO over 2015, and talk about the producer’s letter. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Chris Beorning, Beorning, BEORNING! (Can I jump from an Eagle into battle now?) Undying Title Got my Warden to almost Minas Tirith Multiple other games while recovering Cari Mac  Leveled my Bear 100% XP boost for VIP Leveled my hobbit hunter. Streamed some Bingo Boffin Quests last week Fallout 4 Big Warg Update Retrospective of game changes over 2015 Beorning Class Added New Class What roles does it play? How well? My character has knees Melee tanky class Imbued Weapons Level 100 Grows with you Don’t have to destruct old LIs Bingo Boffin Quests Episodic Quests Gives really cool items like goats, foxes, and sheep Made it to Gondor Pelargir Minas Tirith Crafting in Housing Areas You can purchase workshops, studies etc with TP Blessing of Valor that raises you to level 95 5995 TP Server Consolidations We are down to 5 US and 5 EU servers There will be a chance to move between the remaining servers You will get a token to move a character for free once. New Hardware Update Done After the first of the year the US servers were moved to the new data center There have been issues. Going from a 32 bit to a 64 bit server system. News Producer’s Letter https://www.lotro.com/en/game/articles/letter-executive-producer Level Cap Increase to 105 New Instance Cluster including a 12 man raid New Collections Quality of Life Updates What isn’t there is any list of updates coming. Free Transfer Schedule From Columbus to Castro: The history of the Caribbean, 1492-1969 Speculation on Downtime on the 20th? https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?594797-Scheduled-Server-Downtime-6-00-AM-1-00-PM-Eastern-(-5-GMT)-Wednesday-January-20th From @gumpsgang: @lotroreporter The root source of LOTRO server lag has been identified. Ent-play has been removed. Community Music Festival https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?592075-Landroval-Greenfields-Music-Festival-Music-of-Middle_Earth-2016 Contact Information Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter:@lotroreporter Facebook:I Sing the Body Electronic: A Year with Microsoft on the Multimedia Frontier Voicemail: 616-666-6778 YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork Report of the Fifth Meeting of the Planni

This week’s show has Layanor bidding farewell while discussing the past 300 episodes of LOTRO Reporter with Carrie and special guests Chris and Rick “Sapience” Heaton. There are letters, audio greetings, and perhaps a few yep, yep, yeps.   Audio Version:   Favorite Memories   Audio Files   Letters Read   New Host: Chris New Schedule:…

This week’s show has Layanor bidding farewell while discussing the past 300 episodes of LOTRO Reporter with Carrie and special guests Chris and Rick “Sapience” Heaton. There are letters, audio greetings, and perhaps a few yep, yep, yeps.   Audio Version:   Favorite Memories   Audio Files   Letters Read   New Host: Chris New Schedule: Every Other Week Cari will stream on the off week. Our sponsors:  

  Cari and Layanor talk about Update 17.1. House Crafting? Yes, please. Auto level to 95? Um ok? Is the grind too much? Maybe   Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor – RPG Maker MV Cari Mac – Fallout 4 News Transfer Updates Withywindle is now open for transfers (11/30/2015) Silverlode will be…

  Cari and Layanor talk about Update 17.1. House Crafting? Yes, please. Auto level to 95? Um ok? Is the grind too much? Maybe   Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor – Eden Cari Mac – Fallout 4 News Transfer Updates Withywindle is now open for transfers (11/30/2015) Silverlode will be available for transfers tomorrow 12/1/2015   New Hardware Stress Test #3 DETESTABLE THING - All The Bible Teaches About Festival of Festivals Update 17.1   Update 17.1 Bullroarer Patch Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7491046#post7491046 Level your character to 95 Blessing of the Valar Crafting Stations in Housing Creeps are getting some love   Is the Grind too Much in LOTRO? https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?584249-I-am-here-to-PROTEST-against-the-NUTS-grinds-of-the-game Very active thread on the forums about the gear grind at level 100.     Twitter:@lotroreporter Facebook:LOTRO Reporter Voicemail: 616-666-6778 YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/mmoreporternetwork www.lotroreporter.com www.twitch.tv/mmoreporter   Cari  Twitter: @thecarimac Layanor  Twitter: @Layanor Our sponsors:

Cari and Layanor talk about the latest hotfix; Fallout 4, that was mostly Cari, and read a really awesome letter. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor Crafting Ettenmoors Explored Cari Mac – Fallout 4 News Update 17.2 Hotfix Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7484259#post7484259   Free Transfer Token Question When will they be available? https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7484522#post7484522 Free transfer…

Cari and Layanor talk about the latest hotfix; Fallout 4, that was mostly Cari, and read a really awesome letter. Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor Crafting Ettenmoors Explored Cari Mac – Fallout 4 News Update 17.2 Hotfix Notes https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7484259#post7484259   Free Transfer Token Question When will they be available? https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7484522#post7484522 Free transfer tokens will be granted on the day we bring the worlds up in the new datacenter. Once those are on your accounts and we open transfers again between the remaining worlds, transfer will work the same way it does now for free ones, only instead of seeing “FREE” under the cost column, you will see 1 token for each character you have selected to transfer if the transfer is from a PAID server. At check out if you do not have enough tokens on your account, you will be linked to the site where you can purchase more to complete the transfer or choose to change the characters you are moving. Closing world transfers will still say FREE as will the world of the week/ month during the time when we will be allowing 10 Remaining worlds to redistribute. We will be giving each remaining world 1 free week in rotation followed by a one month rotation for each. I will have the schedule up for these on the website before the new data center is live.   Transfer Updates We will be opening Vanyar for transfers to remaining worlds on 11/23/2015. Dwarrowdelf will open for transfers on 11/24/2015. Community Winterstock Band Registration http://winterstock.guildlaunch.com/   Letter from Merryrose Morningsong Hi! I’ve been listening to your show for about a year now and look forward to it each week. LOTRO is the only game I currently play. Been at it for 1 1/2 years to have my highest level character finally enter…Moria. I know – big let down. But I get so immersed in the story and the scenery that I cannot be the one to blame. Turbine got me hooked and now I can’t stop.  Somehow 3 characters were not enough and now I have 21 on my main server. Which explains why I only now got to Moria. Naming all those hobbit alts can be addicting. My sister introduced me to LOTRO but I held off for a long time knowing I would go bezerk. And that’s what happened. I came across this thread on the Forum and it made me laugh so hard. If you’ve already seen it then just gloss over it. But I had Layanor’s voice stuck in my head when I read YamydeAragon’s post. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?582755-What-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-as-your-LOTRO-character   What would you do if you woke up as your LOTRO character? YamydeAragon: The 1st thing that i will do is: i will take off that underwear & burn it! My toon have been wearing the same underwear for 7 years. Volsi had a good observation: Continue the quest arch I am on by doing some dishes, cleaning up messes, and running some errands… OMG I already woke up in middle-earth years ago!!!!! Thank you for all the work you do, Merryrose Morningsong Contact Information Email: lotro.reporter@gmail.com Twitter:@lotroreporter Facebook:LOTRO Reporter

Cari and Layanor talk about the latest LOTRO server changes, and what we did for Extra Life.   Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor Extra-Life Cari Mac Extra Life Fallout 4   News Brandywine is Open to Some Transfers https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7480928#post7480928 Brandywine is now available as a transfer destination for the closing worlds that…

Cari and Layanor talk about the latest LOTRO server changes, and what we did for Extra Life.   Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor Extra-Life Cari Mac Extra Life Fallout 4   News Brandywine is Open to Some Transfers https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7480928#post7480928 Brandywine is now available as a transfer destination for the closing worlds that have been opened for transfer Maiar will open for transfers on Monday November 16th. Imladris will open for transfers on Tuesday November 17th. We were able to add additional hardware to the current Brandywine servers and we’re seeing this strategy working well for the other servers who are now as large as Brandywine. With the delay in the build out we decided to open that server as well to those player who have been waiting as the additional hardware would help with the additional population. We will do an analysis this week to see how the servers are holding up and if we need to can close transfers again as needed.   Prizes from the Stress Test https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7481775#post7481775 We aim to have the prizes sent out in the next couple of days. Over 4,000 people participated so it takes us a little time to gather all of that information and organize the prize emails, but we have people on it.   Forum  Signatures Disabled https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7476999#post7476999 Forum Signatures have been disabled until further notice. Due to security reasons and recent abuse by a large number of members here on the forums, we have disabled the use of forum signatures for the time being. We do not have an ETA for when they will be activated again.   LOTRO  Website Update in the Works https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?&postid=7480880#post7480880 We are in the process of planning out an updated site for the game. On that site we will have all the relevant and new information. Right now due to how the current site works it is a very labor intensive and often frustrating process to get new pages like that up and working. Rather than doing that I am focused on making sure the new site will have updated pages and information.   Community Operation Hardi Claus Hosted by Roxxi Manor where we give out crafted crit weapons, class items and food stuffs to lower level players. We start 2-3 weeks before Yule Tidings and it runs for about a week afterwards. Lots of music, fireworks, dancing and merry making by our Roxxi Volunteer Elves! Our official kick off November 28th at 2:30pm est & 7:00pm est. We will start in Combe and move to Archet, Staddle, Thorin’s Hall, & Celondim. This year we are adding some level 20 areas in as well, so be on the lookout for the Roxxi mob! We have a large band that will bring out the Christmas music, fireworks, dancing, and just all around fun. We will be in these areas several nights a week. So be sure to look out for us! We have done this every Yule season since the game started and will continue to do so til the servers shut down! Thank you, Kin Leaders Hardiroxx & Saxiroxx, Officers/Council RM   Winterstock III is coming in January. https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?580762-Winterstock-III-(Jan-15-18-2016)

Cari and Layanor talk about livestreaming, Extra Life, and Chickens going to Minas Tirith.   Audio Version: What We Did in Game Layanor – Extra-Life   Cari Mac – Live Streamed on Tuesday Bought Shadow of Mordor for my PS4   News Cosmetically Equipping Weapons You normally Cannot Use In order to cosmetically equip an…