PlayNotes Issue 3: Lord of The Rings Online

I’m pretty tired, so this is a bit hinky. zzzzzzz.

My Level 61 Hunter has a quest sequence in Moria.  This should have been easy, but somehow all my saved Stable Master locations are gone, and I spent two play sessions trying to get from the Chamber of the Crossroads or the 21st Hall (Followed the snaky road at the bottom of the map from the Chamber) to Tharakh Bazan.

It looks simple on the map.   Just go here, then over there, then take a left and a right.   Hahaha.

What looks on the map like a pathway turns into a solid wall or dead end.  The place is thick with orcs, goblins, morrovals and crows.   Every time I stop to look at my map, I get whacked by something.  It’s all ten levels lower than I am, but still, pretty annoying.  Let me read my map!

At one point I had a bad thought, wondering how the designer of this twisty maze of a place sleeps at night, knowing people are running into walls, chased by goblins, muttering “I can’t get out…”

I started at the 21st Hall tonight, because where I left my character last time.  Looking closely and reading the quest text again, I went back to the Chamber of The Crossroads and inched my way up, finally getting to Tharakh Bazan.   I remember the first time I saw this area, it was so cool to find an area of lush gardens deep underground.  Right out of Journey to the Center of The Earth.

The objective is in a twisty cave full of Globsnaga Skirmishers and Warriors.  Globsnaga?

Even more charmingly named is the Boss Grawulun the Caerog.  I had a moment where I thought I’ve come all this way and this guys going to pound me into the ground.  I will be sad.  Luckily he was EZ.

Off to the Mustering Halls for part 2 of this quest.   

I seriously have had this character all over Moria, and I wouldn’t mind  any of the exploration if my previous efforts were still recognized.  Too bizarre.

Lord of the Rings Online: Into Lothlorien

I haven’t played this game much since re-installing, in part because I couldn’t choose which character to play.  My 60 Hunter or 41 Loremaster? 

The Hunter is ever my favorite and she was in Moria, I must have wanted to back up and complete things there before going back out into the larger world, because she could have been much further along in the world.

I decided to begin again in Lothlorien, and truthfully, this area is what made me stop playing.  I liked almost nothing about it, and was so disappointed in how Lothlorien was presented.  Not close to what I imagined from the books.  I think I can play through now and I won’t be so invested and care so much.

I had a terrible time finding my way out of Moria.  My travel goat got stuck somewhere in the middle and I had to log out and in then find my way through all of the goblins and orcs on foot.  Embarrassing, really, since I once knew the area so well.

Once out, I took time to choose a spec.  I didn’t spend as much time as I probably should have looking at the three choices. I went with Bowmaster, spent most but not all my points just in case.
It’s one thing going into a game with a low level character and not knowing how things will go, but when you go back after quite a while with a higher level character and everything in the world has changed, it seems so much trickier.

Finding some NPCs just ahead, I took all of the quests, then set off to fight ever more orcs.  My Bowmaster spec and skill choices served me well, because I fought much better outside Moria with the new spec in place that I had in Moria trying to find a way out.

I’ve more orcs to kill, but I set my character down in the safety of a tree.