Update

I need to fish more, I'm still just halfway through the hobby. Too bad there aren't too many good spots in Moria. Besides, I always get distracted by The Shiny, or as in this case, a nice colour contrast.

I'm sorry I've been a bit quiet lately, there's just been a lot going on at work, personal life and, of course, in the game. I'll just post some highlights from the last few weeks:


I got myself a Nanu! And some First-Agers and Second-Agers! I just had a funny realization: all my max-level toons have one or more Second-Age Legendary Items now - no need for me to stress over Lórien Gift Boxes or, oh the horror, the AH. My hunter got a really nice 1st Age crossbow, and now her dps is as good as it was before the nerfs of Book 7.


Did Halls of Crafting with six Lore-Masters (five of whom had a 1st Age Staff - insane damage as always). This blog is on the verge of becoming a Lore-Master Fangirl Diary, but I don't mind. The class really, really deserves all the love.


Almost got the Watcher down last time. BY MYSELF. (okay, I did have 11 minions helping out with the heavy lifting)


I noticed I'd had a really embarrassing note in the kin roster. I'M PRETTY SURE I DIDN'T PUT IT THERE. HONEST.


Did HoC with a hunter who ran around in circles without a weapon.


And completely unrelated to any posts in a long time, I've actually had a small urge to draw again...

EXCEPT THE DEADLINE FOR THE HORSE-DESIGNING CONTEST WAS AT NOON TODAY WHEN I'M SURE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TOMORROW. Oh well, gotta start keeping a calendar about these things, seriously.

Postcards from Book 8

Giving a Morroval-Mistress a decent spanking in the Hall of Mirrors

The new Epic Book arrived to LotRO EU a week ago, with new instances, quest revamps and the summer festival. Out of those I've only checked out the new instances, which are... brilliant! There's now two new three-man instances, one six-man and also a 12-man raid (which I probably won't be visiting anytime soon, because my kin doesn't appear too motivated). The smaller instances are relatively short and feature lots of puzzles - and what's interesting is that as a Lore-Master I'm once again able to feel useful as a crowd-controller (as opposed to my dps role in pretty much every part of Moria). Though of course going all-out dps in there is also very fun and rewarding.



Hard Mode in the Water-Wheels: killing a dozen Caerogs. Gaah, how I hate the sound they make!

I love doing the 3-man instances, they're so short and don't require that much preparation - grabbing two random people is so much easier than asking for a tank&healer and then checking that everyone's ready and prepared, knows what a corruption effect looks like, spends more time hitting skill buttons than picking their nose, etc.


Not relevant to the post, but we cleared the entire kitchen of Fil Gashan today, after that did the real boss fight there AND the Captain class quest. Talk about tons of adds..

Rage

Book8 is here. I'm loving it. But this thread makes me RAGE.

Seriously. I love reading dramu on the interwebz.

RAAAAAGE.

On another note: this one makes me giggle out loud.

Social climbing

Lhasbelin got voted&promoted to officer duty last weekend. All these new buttons make a me a bit uneasy, being a clumsy person and all. At least I can go and rearrange the kinhouse now kekekekeke (I may have been partially responsible for this). It definitely needs more pink. And those dwarven statues out in the yard, they'll have to go.


Have you ever been to Far Chetwood? It's a gorgeous place, and completely devoid of any quests or players running about.

Another character of mine did some rising in the food chain; my "little" champion finally hit 60 on Sunday. Now she's got to do all those awfully tedious deed grinds. DO NOT WANT.

Feels funny having five characters at max level. Only two or three of them are decently kitted though. And of course I went and rolled a new Warden already, just in time for the Bree-land revamp of Book8 tomorrow.

Lore-Masters and Lurkers

Yeah, time for more Lore-master awesomeness. I managed to join another of Belegadan's LM-only runs, this time to the Grand Stair in Hard Mode. Sadly it's only a 6-man instance so I had to actually do something this time (in Hele I was mostly just taking pictures and looking pretty - don't tell anyone).

This post is dedicated to the high-level Lore-master pet: the insanely cute bog-lurker.


The bog-lurker is basically a mossy hill on legs.





So cuuuuuuute!

There are actually cute little BEES living inside the lurkers. There's a skill that calls them forth to defend their "home".


"oh hai"


They also get along well with other pets.



Lhas found a creepy stalker orc too. I guess stalkers must be drawn to lurkers.



Alas, someone's Sticky Gourd aoe ruined the Hard Mode option, but we still got the final boss down - with six Lore-masters ;).

Bonus picture:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Shiny new toys

My guardian just got a new 1st Age Poker. It looks so good it's almost really good.

I'm scared of all the work required to make it really, really good.

I dislike soloing. Especially as a guardian.

GIVF 5MIL IXP RUNE NAO, PLS

Durrr

Kin dramu, unproductive week at work, massive PMS..


I kinda feel like this. Except even the weather outside is laughing at me - it's sunny and warm when I'd rather have rain and hailstones so I'd feel better about feeling bad.