A Day In Middle Earth: Recent Episodes
dayinlotro@gmail.com
A blog about anything that has to do with middle earth, lord of the rings online, or fantasy games in general. Sidarin from a day in lotro is back and ready to blog again.
where am I going?
I am going back to wordpress and on saturday the 30th will close this blog but I will not be gone. I will be at http://adayinmiddleearth.wordpress.com where I found it to be easier and nicer.
Well yesturday was interesting. I now really do see the reality of isengard coming. Why? Because on the 27th of July, Turbine will send out their beta invites for players to test and break the game for them. And I need to warn you all, DO NOT SPEAK OF THE BETA IF YOU ARE INVITED! Turbine has very strict NDA rules and they have given out some harsh punishments in the past for players who break the rules (a perma-ban for example). Because of the strict NDA we won't know what turbine is doing in that expansion, though I do have a feeling. I believe that Turbine learned from their experience with the Moria expansion, that they only make problems when they tell players to much information to soon. My belief is that they are holding something back, and the information we now have about isengard is only half of what really is coming. I used to have a blog back during mirkwood and did this same thing, I speculated as to what would come out eventually and I am going to do it again.
#1 The New Class Conundrum
The proof I have to this guess is due to two events and one assumption.
Even before Isengard was announced the nine classes began to see some up and coming changes, then with isengard we saw that all classes would eventually be revamped in the game. I always wondered though as to why the classes were being changed around and revamped. Okay, yeah the minstrel and the champion might have needed some fresh changes. But with the new captain changes I am beginning to think that they might be taking some stuff away from other classes to balance a new class. The reason I say that in a little bit.
Now I have read some interesting MMO articles and have seen some people say that in all fantasy mmo's and possibly others that there is a "MMO trinity" where there are a basic three types of classes. The tank, the dps, and the healer. Most people take a breath of relief when something new that mixes up and makes the game different from the rest. Much like the new MMO RIFT has done. Turbine has done this two, with either making the tank play and tank differently then the common "Tank and Spank, sword and board" fighting style that most MMO's do and adding new mechanics like the gambit system. Or Making the rune keeper choose between DPS or healing. My guess is that turbine will do something like this again and give us a new mechanic for us to play around with in the form of a new class.
My third piece of evidence I sort of mentioned already. Turbine seems to enjoy making new ways for us to play. In moria we saw two new classes with new play styles and a new way to use weapons with the legendary weapon system.
My guess is that some how turbine is trying to make a new class and they are balancing out the other classes. But this new class though probably wont be a healer or a tank as the healing and tanking classes have been buffed up to be better. But the crowd control and support classes have gotten little attention or, in my opinion, been nurffed. I am thinking that two things will happen with the rise of isengard expansion, one is a desperate hope for our nine classes, and the other is a observation of recent events.
My first thought is that Turbine is indeed making a new class, one that will have an interesting amount of support/healing capabilities but not be like the captain and be able to give out buffs and debuffs like the burglar and lore master, while doing some good amounts of dps but not as much as the champion or rune keeper. Or we will have a dps class that is nothing like the rune keeper or hunter but will have ranged dps and crowd control while having a new mechanic that will make it different then any dps class we have seen.
My second hope/thought is that turbine will be taking a page out of DDO and Rift and changing the way we play our nine classes. They might do what is upgrade our trait lines to make us play very differently and making the trait sets be more like class trees where if we feed in more of a certain trait group our class can do something entirely different then someone else. For example if a burglar was to trait in the quiet knife he would have a different way of playing then someone with the gambler line. Which turbine has done already. But what I mean is that they go farther. Perhaps I have this hope that some day I can play a burglar that can use a bow and sneak around shooting things with that bow. I think I will stick with my first guess that it is a new class.
#2 New zones yet told about (Or a sneak peak of a zone)
With the recent news about this big dragon:
I have been wondering where will we fight him. To me I think the lore would be broken if we fought this dragon with saruman in isengard. Because if saruman had a dragon wouldn't tolkien said it in the book? So my speculation is that we will be fighting him and he will fit in the lore, but he won't be in dunland or isengard. But we will be fighting him somewhere else, but where? I say that we will be fighting him in or at the lonely mountain. But I don't think we will get that entire zone but we will be done what we did before moria. where we had a chance to see eregion before it was released. We will have a chance to perhaps have a raid in mirkwood that is already there were we are "sent north" in this raid to fight a massive dragon. This way turbine can give us a dragon and we can see the mountain or Long Lake. I think the reason for this will be that maybe draigoch is somehow related to smaug and is looking for revenge after he eventually learns that smaug is dead.
As for fighting him I do remember that turbine says that he is so big that we will only see his head. But I also think that during that raid we will see his entire body at some point, because I'm sure he wont be the only boss or baddie that we will fight in there.
#3 A new game mechanic or game system that will help us some how.
This guess comes from the lucky horse shoe. So far we don't know what it does. But maybe there will be something that they will release, like the legendary system, and will involve the horse shoe. Here are my two guesses.
Firstly I am going to agree with the rumor that this is a clue to the upcoming horse combat and this shoe might help us during the introduction/turtorial when we begin to use mounted combat. Turbine in the past said that volume three of the epics have a system where depending on the quests we have done the quests will be different. So I am guessing that a "lucky horse shoe" will give us some sort of luck and help us in the quest that gives us the mounted combat.
Secondly, I have played a few MMO's and tested the free trials of some. And In one of those games, I wont say which, there was something that the developers would do when they released new content. They would give clues or a precursor quest that hints at some new zone or armour set that will be better. LOTRO has done the same in some ways to. Which makes me think that maybe this horseshoe is a hint and weird way of the devs telling us that legendary armour is coming and this shoe will some how help.
that second guess is a horrible rumor/guess but it holds as much possility as other rumors. Honestly I think my guesses are possible and worth thinking about. But we won't know until later when the game starts coming closer to the release. And I think that, that is when turbine will release something that is big and will change the game forever.
Honestly I begin to feel that I am not cut out for podcasting. It seems that I always get to busy and am recording at night when I am extremely tired. Also It seems that I just make a clone of other podcasts when I am recording.
As for the recent lull here on my blog that might just be because of July being the worst month for me this year. Between car's breaking down and job hunting and getting a new job, not only has my lotro life suffered. But so has the podcasting and blogging. Luckily I recently figured out how to properly change breaks on a 2002 Saturn without killing my self or the car. I would also like to add that once again I might be returning to wordpress, I know its crazy that I left word press for blogger. But I only came here because I thought it might be good for podcasting. I also found out that my middle earth will be using the wordpress format so a wordpress blog will help me blog there as well. But like I just said, I might switch over. Who knows really, my mind is to busy with other things right now.
As for what I am doing in lotro, well its not been much. Just been playing my warden to 55 and playing my lore master for a while, who is now at level 28. I think Saturday I might try an article for lord of the rings online and also start tying to get some turbine interviews up and running and post them here. But If I do an interview, I might need to know who and what you all want to hear. So comment here to ask if you have any questions. Or submit your questions to dayinlotro@gmail.com
I am sorry for the lack of posts, but I think with out me doing a podcast I can blog more often so if I stop with podcasting you will see more activity, and I think that is what I will do.
due to recent activity in real life and the lack of turbine news, the podcast will be only recorded every other week. How ever the blog will return to its weekly schedule next week.
the show is here
This week I started my podcast, a little later then I wanted. But at least it came out before Monday, here are some show notes, I will post a blog later tonight.
- this week I explained why im late
- I talk about the minstrel class
- I talk about some game news
- I try to get back into podcasting.
Sorry for the snow white and the seven dwarves reference. But it seemed... necessary to me to do so if I am going to spend the first half of my blog on. Also when I date my posts I am doing the mm/dd/yy system, it should be obvious as there is no 23rd month, right?... In todays post I will talk about what has been going on in lotro, other big news, and rant on something for a while near the end (which wont always happen but I just need to say this)
Ok, where was I, right. So I have my warden at 52 and officially am in moria. I forgot how much I despised the place, but as a warden the area seems like it was built for me. Like during the creation of the class and creating moria the developers tailored the entire zone around the class. I am enjoying my self though and doing better then my burglar is doing. But I still haven't gone that deep in the zone, only at camp #2 and wow its complex. I actually have a choice in this zone (which for me rarely happens) as to where I want to go, like a elevator, its up or down. I think this time around I will go up through moria and not down into the water works. I am excited to see lothlorien on my warden as well, and of course am just waiting ever so patiently to run around a forest picking up "orc filth" although lets be honest, its orc droppings.
Oh and you know how I said if a few posts back or in my intro podcast that I WASN'T going to solo a minstrel? Well I lied, I figured even with the (ever so complex) changes comming to the minstrel I will just grow up and actually do some reading, figure out the changes. Then adapt to the changes when they come. Plus that was part of the project, level the minstrel to 65 no matter what. Although I will only really play him alot once I can get my warden to at least 62 so he can be ready for isengard. Until then I will play him a little bit off and on, have him show up at major RP events and the such.
Also today I found out that my podcast was accepted to itunes at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/a-day-in-middle-earth/id444908341 so I am very excited which means also that I can podcast a lot more now, and have it out for a bigger audiance. Of course you could just go to oh... http://feeds.feedburner.com/ADayInMiddleEarth and subscribe to that feed if you don't use itunes. As for other major places, well I will eventually submit my feed there but not for a while, mostly because I don't have any idea who else there is to broadcast my feed.
If you were either living under a rock, haven't played lotro within the last two months, or were just unlucky enough to miss it, weather stock was last week. I would say it might be the worlds biggest musical based event in the MMO society. Please notice I said MIGHT BE. Any ways its a player run event on the landroval server and is hosted by the ever wonderous lonely mountain band. Its like a big battle of the bands and Is quite awesome. I would say more but I was sort of not there when it happened, which I am dissapointed at as I am a member of the LMB. but oh well.
I have great news guardians, burglars, and minstrels. You are all awesome again! according to this article: http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/1276-rise-of-isengard-developer-diary-new-stat-updates?lang=en_US not only is there a new stat that will make the dread and hope system seem like a ant compared to it (that's the impression I got from it.) But will be making a lot of raid bosses A LOT tougher! this new stat is called Finesse, and will effect block/parry/evade ratings on not only us, but the raid bosses. I am guessing that when we walk into isengard and charge at saruman, he will have something like a 250,000% finesse so we cant actually KILL him. Being as according to the lore we can't.
There was the comment that the cap for stats such as vitality will be raised so high its piratically removed, but still there, It will be hard now to cap a stat, but now someone will try just to see it done. Also now certain stats will be used to increase our ability to fight, as might used to be the only way to increase how hard you were hitting a mob if you were in range of using a sword. But that will change and classes like the burglars will be able to hit a mob depending on how high their agility. Its hard for me to explain but I will talk about it more in the podcast.
So are you ready for something offtopic? I am...
I am really, really mad at movie critics right now, well ok. specifically at IGN, the reason why is their review of the newest comic book hero movie the green lantern. The reviewer ripped the movie apart, and it wasn't fair. There were some things that I could agree on with the review. But being as this is a character from earth making the complaint that there wasn't enough space scenes is not a good complaint. Because it is an origin story and some of the things that hal jordan did in the movie gave reason as to why the main bad guy went to earth and there are many other things I would like to complain about. But all I will say now is that the movie critics at gaming websites lie and are wrong.
oh and FYI, tomorrow around 7pm mountain time I will be live broadcasting my podcast at http://www.justin.tv/sidarin
Well I'm trying, this is my introduction and my test to see if it will work, here we go...
http://ia600501.us.archive.org/33/items/ADayInMiddleEarth/EpisodeIntroDuction.mp3
Hurray! Huzzah! Oh happy days!
ahem sorry about that, I am a bit over joyed*
I do apologize for being entirely late as this news was on Tuesday and today would be Saturday. But If you still haven't seen it well....
yeah its pretty awesome right? anyways if you want more information you can go to http://isengard.lotro.com/
There is a few websites that can give out more information better then me:
- http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2011/06/massively%E2%80%99s-syp-on-isengard/
- http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2011/06/rise-of-isengard-pre-purchase-cosmetics/
- http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2011/06/clearing-up-isengard-pre-order-questions/
- http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2011/06/rise-of-isengard-launching-september-27/
- http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2011/06/more-isengard-coverage-from-e3/
Oh and if you haven't noticed, Casual stroll to mordor is a really great place to get lotro news (I'm working to also be a great source for lotro news as well) but if you want more information you can also go to the free peoples press (owned by turbine) here: http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/The_Free_Peoples'_Press_6-10-11What will be coming out in isengard so far seems laking (at least to me) this might be because turbine is releasing information slowly and gradually. I don't blame them for letting out information slowly, after what happened with the moria expansion where they told everyone what was "going" to be in the expansion, how ever that didn't happen, places like lotheliorien were not in there are first. I guess this time they want to make sure we players get what is promised to us. But here is what I have heard.1. Three new zones: Gap of rohan, Isengard, and dunland 2. our level cap will now be 75 (yay) 3. at least 5 new skills. 4. lore masters will get a new pet, the arouch (honestly I think that is awesome) 5. A new 24 player raid, with the boss called "Draigoch" (here is a possible picture of him I think he is the talking dragon we were told about, honestly I hope that isn't the only raid. ) 6. We get to walk all the way into isengard with the help of...an ENT. 7. PVMP will get some changes and they can have access to the lotro store. 8. there is more coming in the expansion that we don't know about just yet.
In other news, I have made a guardian character as I seem to have enjoyed my warden. I would be leveling a minstrel right now but due to all the big changes to the minstrel coming I have decided to put my minstrel solo project on hold and just play lotro while enjoying my self. Also when I first played lotro four years ago Imade an alt named deriek who was a guardian. I leveled him to 21 and then I went to play a champion. I missed him so I made a guardian again to play, and this time he will past level 21.
Its here! well sort of, E3 has come and that means those that make games will be there. All the big names in the gaming industry, including Warner Bros. and turbine. So if Warner bros. is at E3, what will happen? well I don't know but I have some predictions as to what turbine will have in store for lotro and DDO players alike.
- firstly, I am hoping there is at least some kind of cgi trailer for lotro's next expansion.
- with recent changes to classes, there will be an announcement of where these changes are taking lotro and what we should expect. (personally I am hoping that the changes will mean that a new class comes out with a new way to play the game that will be balanced with the other classes, but won't be a basic cc, tank, or dps class. something different, much like the warden is. Or perhaps some classes opening up to the other races)
- Thirdly, monster play updates and changes might be announced, perhaps a new caster class or a new class/race combo.
- a new way to pvp in lotro
- Perhaps we will get a hint about this "talking" dragon that they mentioned before. I am hoping for a name perhaps and something else, like a little combat video. (I just hope it won't be like the talking dragon fight in paper mario: thousand year door. where we have to find a item that makes the dragon sick to his stomach)
- Some ingame combat shots of isenguard.
- ENTS!
- Also maybe turbine will show some ddo announcements/updates
Of course there is war in the north coming to, I can't wait to see it my self, in fact I might just buy an xbox 360 to play the game. So when more E3 news comes out I will post the news here. Also don't forget to check out http://twitter.com/#!/ADayInLotro for news there and blog updates.
So I am back from my little blogging break and ready to blog again. I was for the most part trying to get all my blog and other media account information to one email. Which is why I am using blogger as it is attached to my email dayinlotro@gmail.com.
I plan to begin my solo project again, along with other things, and I will even add pictures to my blog now. like the picture above. I will even report on major turbine related events. Also weatherstock is comming up and I will have a livestream posted to show the events in weatherstock. I will make another post soon, but if you want to see something specifically talked about here just email me in the email above or tweet me. my tweeter name is ADayInLotro