Radiance changes: will the beast sleep?

A while ago I wrote how the accumulation of radiance in MoM had created Berath the beast. Now, having more-or-less returned to my SoA state of munificence, apart from the raid-linked spasm, I’m wondering if SoM will cause the hair to sprout again. We’ve all known that the radiance system was due for an overhaul, but until recently didn’t know the details. Now we know more.

First, in the original instances, coins will no longer drop. Instead we will get medallions of Moria which can be exchanged for the +10 radiance armour. We still don’t know how many medallions you get from each instance run. But since medallions drop from all challenges for everyone, every group member will get them, similar to the crystals dropping in the Book 8 instances. I always liked this. You ran the instances, you got crystals, well at least at first. What I liked less was the Book 8 ‘fix’; you lost hard mode, you got nothing. SoM in a way removes this ‘fix’ by making sure that,  once again, you get something reasonably significant simply for running the instance and defeating the boss (which in itself could be something of a challenge).

The book 8 instances will drop medallions of Lothlorien which can be bartered for the +15 radiance items. Apparently the new instances will drop medallions of Dol Guldur which can also be used to buy the +15 items as well as new +25 radiance pieces. As far as I’m concerned the main importance here is No More Hall of Mirrors, happy happy joy joy; unless the new instances are even worse.

Anyhow, it looks like the medallions can be bartered like the crystals in Book 8. If you don’t need the radiance armour they can be bartered for other things including it seems settings which I’ve found quite hard to come by in MoM. This will be useful. It will also allow those just helping out to get stuff too.

So this, along with the removal of the need to run specific instances for specific pieces of armour, means that life for the radiant-aspirant should get easier in SoM and so, perhaps, Berath monster may sleep on…..

My blog: Berath dozes

I’ve  been a bit low on the posts so far this month. This has been for a number of reasons. First, I think I’ve been suffering a bit from the infamous pre-expansion torpor. SoM is out soon, much has been done in MoM; time for a little break apart from Raiding and some gentle alting.

Secondly, we’ve started a kin group on Steam. I already had an account, attracted by the zombies I’d bought Left 4 Dead, the co-op zombie killing game, a while ago. However I hadn’t really used Steam much apart from playing that from time to time. Anyhow, forming the group prompted me to explore some of the other games, and after recommendation from unwize, I bought this wonderful little point-and-click  indie adventure game called Machinarium; it’s got robots in, and if there is one thing I might be more into than zombies, it’s robots.

Zombie robots: nirvana

So immediately that has been taking up time; from LoTRO as well as blogging. And now Left 4 Dead 2 is out. Bigger and better. Even more zombie killing than Left 4 Dead, which I’m still playing.  So far I have played part of a single-player game one co-op game and the demo; again both single-player and as part of a successful attempt to persuade one of my kinmates to buy the full version. So there should be plenty more zombie fun in the future.

Finally, and this is something I’ve noticed since I started playing LoTRO, I don’t half talk. Sometimes I’ve  logged on and spent most of the time  just talking; carrying on conversations in fellowship chat, kinship chat, Teamspeak and a couple over tells. Now, with Steam because it starts when I boot up, I don’t even have to log onto LoTRO and I’m presented with communication opportunities. So that’s as far as I get. This did surprise me, I’ve never thought of myself as a big chatterer. But then I remembered at middle school I was never allowed to sit with my best friend because we used to talk constantly through lessons; ever so often the teacher would give us another chance and we’d blow it. So, in fact, all that’s happened is that since playing LoTRO I’ve regressed back to the age of 9. Now where’s my skipping rope….?

Skirmish chaos

A casual musing; just picture a 12-man skirmish with 12 captains each with a herald and of course their skirmish soldiers. Mayhem! Or a dozen lore-masters, each with a pet along with their military companions. What a lot of people.

Hehe.

Guardians in Mirkwood

Well I’m finding out more about how SoM will be changing the life of my guardian. In terms of skills, not much I’m afraid. The new level 62 skill, Brutual Charge, doesn’t exactly overwhelm me. It’s an upgraded Charge giving a burst 150%  speed plus 10% melee damage. Charge is a skill I rarely use. Can’t see much point to this one except perhaps on the Moors. However it seems tha tgenerally the new class skills aren’t particularly useful. I suppose it’s a way of making sure they don’t unbalance the game.

Melee invulnerability  is capped at 15% which I’m neutral about. It’s said that mobs are going to hit harder so not sure how the capping will effect this. However, this might encourage  more experimentation in  builds. Currently, I’ve stacked up all the melee invulnerability I can through items, runes and virtues. I’ve considered ranged invulnerability and tactical invulnerability but so far haven’t felt it worth doing because of the resulting reduction in melee invulnerability. With this capped, I might as well play about a bit more. It also makes it easier to swap in other virtues with different mitigations. I suppose, linked in with all this, is the increase in vitality bonus. We get 5 points of morale per vitality point instead of 3. And passive critical defence bonuses. This seems just straight out good.

We can no longer use a  shield in Overpower; or rather you can but it counts as disabled. This sort of makes sense. It ties in with the previous champ changes by making it harder for heavily armoured classes to also be high damage dealers…you takes your defending or you takes your attacking; not both. Coupled with this is the 5% increase in passive with heavy shields so you take even more of a hit if go you offensive.

We had been aware that LI legacies were going to be divided into two pools, the first containing legacies considered more useful. Of course the fear had been that the legacies Turbine considered useful would be strange and random to everyone else, but overall it looks as if it has been done pretty sensibly. Nothing has been completely confirmed but it looks like all my favourites are in pool A including whirling retaliation damage, whirling retaliation being one of my favourite skills because I think it looks good and leeches threat from those around you. Belts also have shield damage default legacy; another reason for disabling shields in overpower I reckon.

Overall, it  looks pretty good and I’m looking forward to playing my Guardian in Mirkwood and seeing how all the changes gel together. Interesting times!

Kinships on Laurelin

Somehow I’ve ended up maintaining the list of kinships on my server on the Codemasters forum. I can’t quite remember how this happened; I suspect I volunteered. It’s the sort of thing I do. Anyhow, I’ve now generated a thread that has had over 18,000 viewings since April when I started. Well, it makes me feel popular!

To be honest, it is not as much work as people said it might be. I see a lot of kinships in-game that don’t seem to use the forum, or at least haven’t asked for inclusion on the list. Maybe they are too small, or just want to restrict their membership to a known group. Anyway it does mean that I don’t need to add to the list that often and that it is only now that I need to start to split the list up because it has grown too long for the space allowed per post. And I have the help of some of the more involved forum posters who let me know if they find a link isn’t working

I suppose that it’s not really surprising that the vast majority of kinships are mixed race. Of the kinships on the list, we’ve only  a handful of hobbit-only, man-only and dwarf-only kinships. But slightly more elf-only kinships; ah the romance of elves!

It’s nice to see that very few of the listed kinships have disappeared since the list started. There always seems to be something a little sad when a kinship ends. A couple have folded amongst hints of internal ructions, but have then been reformed; with new officers and new kin leaders.

Since it is a european server we’ve polish, greek, russian, spanish, italian and dutch speaking kinships.  There is some debate whether non-english speaking kinships should recruit or speak in their own languages on the various chat channels (and some controversy a while ago when some in-game role-playing took place not in english in the Prancing Pony). But whatever, all go on the list. Ditto kinship names. Even though Laurelin is a roleplaying server and supposed to be policed to some extent, there are some baaad kinship names. Some simply corny, others not fitting to lore; again there has been an issue with non-english kinships – does a kinship with a Spanish name, say, fit on a Tolkien roleplaying server?

A final thing, looking through the list, the one thing that really makes  kinships stand out is a lively and attractive website/forum with events and  recent postings. Statements of purpose and kin ethos and a clear path for prospective recruits help too. Makes a kinship look together. If that’s the aim!

Just what is a Raid and why do they set us on fire?

In my short time playing MMOs, before LoTRO I really only dabbled, one thing that I have learnt is that Raiding sets people alight. Not literally, I hasten to add,  not in my kin anyway, well not yet. But certainly there seems to be nothing like  a thread on raiding to really get the posts pouring in and the passions roused about raid composition, loot distribution, scheduling etc; arbitrary has already alluded to some of this. And the heat is not confined to my kinship or to LoTRO, it seems to be experienced by every kin/guild in every MMO that intends to raid at some level.

So, why does raiding have this effect on us? Well first, just what is a raid.

People say a Raid is part of the end-game. Well yes. But would that mean, say, that if you raise the level cap, what was a Raid would cease being a raid because it was no longer end-game? No. The Rift is still considered a raid.

Also, it’s said a raid is an instance designed to be experienced by a larger number of players. That seems true. I’ll go with that.

What about difficulty? Raid content is supposed to be extra challenging. Er…can I just say Turtle?  This is said to be a raid. The Turtle has it’s tricks to be sure, but compare it to Dark Delvings, or if we look at SoA, instances like Barad Gularan and of course Carn Dum (this last destroying the argument that only raids have locks); and all with several bosses. So, not so sure about that.

Alright then, what about loot. Raids drop good loot. The Turtle can drop LIs to be sure and you can get radiance coins. But so can the radiance instances. And other shinys as well. But the instances still don’t seem to cause the same controversies…woah, but maybe they do. I’ve read heated debates about distribution of radiance coins amongst groups; alts vs mains, oldtimers vs newcomers. A case of not enough goodies amongst too many people….

Is this what a Raid is then…an instance, designed for a larger group of players but somehow resulting in either too many people wanting to go or not enough people being able to resulting in inevitable disappointment; where there are not enough rewards for the size of the group; oh and where you don’t get killing xp either.

Looking at it like this; were these things designed to cause controversy?

So, now the 12-man skirmish; is this a Raid?  It’s end-game, it is designed for a larger group, you get loot. But, as a skirmish, to a certain extent, you can scale it. It looks as if all participants get rewards. Plus it’s not being called a raid. It’s being called a ‘12-man skirmish’. Some of the time anyway. So that’ll be alright then. I think.

Captains don’t jump!

Whilst everyone else is filling the blogsphere with articulate and erudite musings on the new Mirkwood expansion, I thought instead I’d have a mini-splutter about the class quest I’ve just done on my level 30 captain; after all why look forward. Because I mean what was all that about!!!! What do you think of when you say captain…you think of shiny armour, inspiring the troops, leading from the front into battle, all of that. You don’t think of some fool leaping from one wall to another, missing again and again and plummeting to the ground to each time. That is not a glorious death. That won’t enter the history books. But that’s the quest. Bounce about a fortress, running up flags on various inaccessible flagpoles. You can’t even take your herald with you.

What have things come to! My captain didn’t sign up to be a sprite in a platform game!

No longer nameless horse

Being able to name my horse in Siege of Mirkwood is great.  Since I first started playing LOTRO  I’ve been casting envious and baleful glares towards lore-masters and their snappily named pets and captains with their heralds trotting behind them each proudly bearing their own name and then summoning  my horse and it arriving, nameless. And in fact, at the moment with no name, I  don’t know if  it is my original horse that is turning up or even if it’s the same horse I’m getting each time. It could be any old horse just passing by.

But now I’ll be able to make my horse/horses my own. I just know I’ll try and get every horse in the game, especially since riding will be made a skill so each one won’t take up valuable vault and bag spaces with a token. This will, of course, be a long long term goal. It will cost money and take much grinding, but since it looks as if getting rep will be made more worthwhile generally this last is probably to the good as well.

Now will allowing players to name their own horses lead to a swathe of Champions, Black Beautys and Muffin the Mules to swamp the servers? Well it might, but apparently the name of your horse is only visible to the owner.

Probably a good thing.

But I don’t need other people to see my horses’ names anyway. Just as long as I can, so I know my horse is mine.

A break from elves: a dip into ancient Japan

Sometimes I want a bit of a change from elvish, dwarvish and orcish fantasy. So, having a leaning towards indie-type games, I go and have a bit of a nose around the world of indie gaming to see what else I can find. Now I’m also a touch partial to Japanese folklore. As a result, if I find a nice  indie game that includes some, then I’m a happy kitsune!

Now during my rummaging I’ve found a couple that particularly caught my fancy.

First  What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed

This was  released in 2007. It’s short and rather strange which is just how I like my indie games. It’s a puzzle game with two adventures in separate parallel worlds. What you do in one is reflected in the other. In the top world you are a samuri from Japanese legend. In the bottom you play as the heir to a fast food empire set in the future.

Two parallel worlds

The design of each world is completely different. The upper game is drawn in sepia brushwork; the text is in Japanese. The bottom world is depicted in a brash, bright cartoon style with the writing in English. However, if you solve the lower game, translations appear in the upper. In order to win and find out how the two stories are connected, you need to complete both. The easiest way is to focus first on the lower game and work the puzzles through systematically.  Of course what attracted me, as well as the clever game design, was the traditional Japanese theme. Plus I have spurts of trying to learn Japanese (simultaneously as hard as you would imagine but also easier!). I hoped that the use of Japanese in the game would help with this which it didn’t.

The second is the Cosmology of Kyoto. Whereas Linus Bruckman brushed Japanese legend, this game is Japanese legend. It is set in in the 10th and 11th centuries AD in Kyoto, then known as Heiankyo.

The game was released in 1994 and the graphics are quite dated. However I felt it had a slightly eerie hand-drawn look which felt appropriate, so this did not detract. There are no puzzles as such to solve. It is more of an interactive adventure game. I spent a lot of time exploring, talking to beggars, peasants and mechants, and getting killed by dogs, palace guards,ghosts and demons. Everytime you die you enter one of several versions of hell and the afterlife and then are reborn, not necessarily as a human again, depending upon your previous conduct.   Don’t  expect fast paced action and combat in this game. Rather a gentle, though slightly disturbing wander, through ancient Japan.

Yokai..eating.

Madame Moneylender of the Eastern Market

Huge, Yellow Teeth. In my Head.

I tanked the Watcher for the first time last night.

Our kin has already downed the Watcher once. Now the plan is to try and do it again, but this time with a rag tag group of newbies thrown into the mix. Looking around all wide-eyed and wondering. We did pretty well. We got to the third stage.

And I got to tank the Watcher. It was all ace.

But, but, …what I want to know is how come no-one ever mentioned his teeth. I mean really mentioned his teeth. Their size. Pictures do not do them justice. In all the walkthroughs, forum posts, tactics thread, nobody has talked about them.

And they are huge. And yellow. And they were inches from my nose. All huge and yellow, his teeth, not my nose.

Unbelievable. I can close my eyes and see those teeth now. In my head. And they seem to get bigger every time I do.