Rohan slowdown

To be honest, the shine on the Rohan campaign is starting to lose a bit of its luster.  Overall I am still happy with the project but I find myself participating less than usual this week. 

Mostly this is because of the strange illness that so many people in Middle Earth seem to be experiencing.  I myself am not seeing things as clearly or as far away as I would like and I have found myself blacking out occasionally and feeling an irrisistable urge to moonwalk.  My friend, the Tanking LM, aka, Mora Death gets these strange urgings many times a day; sometimes several times an hour.  It is funny the first time or two but after a few weeks it is starting to get old.

Many of my friends are experiencing similar blackouts and worse.  Several have been experiencing severe visual abnormalities and the feeling of 'rubber banding' back and forth.  If they sit still everything is okay but as soon as they move it all goes bad.  Heaven forbid they decide to tackle a warband. Then it becomes a series of blackouts and rubber banding that makes the whole Rohan campaign a major drag.

My symptons are not so bad as many of my friends but they are slowly impacting my enthusiasm for the campaign.  I have felt like taking a break for a bit and letting the LOTRO Gods work it all out.  I am sure it will resolve itself at some point but at THIS point the fun factor is slowly slipping.

Obviously working on my own moving sketches under these conditions is out of the question and that project is currently stalled.

At times like these I am often tempted to visit an alternate reality sometimes referred to as the EVE universe.  Middle Earth is my true home but on occasion the temptation to release my inner capitalist gets the best of me and I want to go out and mine asteroids.

The EVE universe is very very different from Middle Earth and I think that is what draws me.  EVE is probably the coldest and most ruthless place I know but after learning my boundaries the hard way I find I can comfortably craft to my heart's content.  Building stuff in EVE is awesome as virtually everything a person can touch or operate is in fact created by people just like myself.  It is a huge and complex world of crafting and I like that.

I have not totally abandoned Middle Earth this week.  I have continued to follow the path set forth by the Lady Galadriel and I have hunted down many warbands.  Last night I took out some dude named Bugud with a small group.  It was actually the first real challenge I have had in a few weeks which was a nice change.  During the fight one of my friends blacked out and started moonwalking.  While mocking him, a second companion started doing the same thing.  I travelled to EVE before the same could happen to me...

Hang in there my friends and if any of you get that strange urge to crush space rocks into valuable commondities I can hook you up.

Laters Taters.

It's Here!!

The new BBB video starring moi is here.  Well not exactly starring moi but moi played a crucial role.  Well, not exactly crucial but there were moments where moi's inputs were highly valued.  Well not exactly highly valued but important.  I am not sure if 'important' is the right word but we will leave it at that.

Maybe now BBB will leave me alone and I can get back to work on my own video projects.

So, I was on a bit of a vacation this week.  I figured with the release of the new video I needed to lay low as to avoid the crush of my adoring fans.  Every time something like this is released I get mobbed for interviews, autographs, etc. and I really had other things I needed to attend to.  When I got back I decided to visit The Lady Galadriel.  For some reason she was walking a bit crooked and seemed a  little tired but a Champ never asks about such things and she had business that needed my skills so I kept the conversation to the business at hand.

First order of business was to take a tatooed lady on a tour of Galadriel's city and then a boat tour down the Anduin.  The boat tour turned into a bit of a circus with the tatooed lady, an elf, a guy from Rohan, myself, and a friend of mine known to some as The Tanking Lore Master.  Others know her as Mora's Dead for her frequent trips to the stone circles.  More properly she is referred to as Moragaeth Elandir.  We wound up disembarking near the Argonoth. 

I think our Rohan horses we aquired last week were glad to be off the boats.

We found some evidence of another odd group of travelers having passed through recently.  Judging by a mess of blood and guts we found I would say that group is a bit smaller than it started out as.  If I had been there their story would have been different but alas our travels never intersected and I can only be responsible for so much. That group split up and I suspect they will be fine now.

What with my recent fame and vacation and running errands for the Lady Galadriel I haven't had much time for exploring the rest of Rohan. 

I have noticed a lot of odd things in Rohan.  For instance, this arrow seemed unwilling to lay on the ground like a proper arrow should after flight.

Ah well. I am sure things will return to something more normal soon-ish.

And with that I think it is time for me to go smoosh some orcs.

Keep the dirty side down.

-Andu

P.S.

I just thought I would pass along this link to the Stat Checker .  Here you can compare your or someone you know's stats with other people on the server.  It is still in development but the results are already proving very interesting.

Cosmetic LOTRO on Warsteed pricing

Hymne over at Cosmetic Lotro really hit the nail on the head with the new warsteed pricing. Just a beautiful mix of outfit design, screenshot and writing.

You really need to read it.

Onto the fields of Rohan

Greetings from Rohan!

All in all it has been a superb campaign though not without some significant technical difficulties.  Many people who planned on entering Rohan have been stopped at the border with various issues. My heart goes out to them who are missing the greatest campaign in the past several years and  I sincerely hope they will be able to join the front lines soon.

Myself, I find it necessary to take a pause often, initally roughly every half an hour  but now only every couple of hours or so.  Avoiding doors seems to help too.  These pauses come without schedules or timetables and I have found it quite annoying to be taking down a particularly bad boss only to find myself frozen in space/time and wake up at a later date.  So far I haven't visited those circular stone rings but odds are it will happen sooner or later.

I have some pictures but due to other technical difficulties I have had to sketch with some very broad strokes. Apparently, applying too much detail to my pictures causes these momentary loss of conciousness'.  I can only hope the whole mess is resolved soon.  It is a real shame because everything in Rohan just feels... sharper, more colorful, better, somehow. Oddly, when I cheer no sound comes out... very odd...

As you can see the people of Rohan have provided me with one of their mounts and I am quite happy with her.  I was offered this red roan and I was quite grateful and even more grateful when I learned how expensive any horse that isn't colored white can be.  Frightfully expensive and all those things people like to put on their horses are just as bad so I don't expect my fashion sense to be well displayed with my mounts.  Apparently non white colored horse breeders are making so much money they don't need to sell many horses.  Hopefully that market will change soon but knowing the breeders I have little hope.  Here you can read more about it.

Managing the horse itself hasn't been too hard.  I did learn one hard lesson.  After being shown how to ride one of these peculiar horses I was given a bridle and asked to 'identify' it first before using it. Whatever. The forge guy I went too must have misunderstood me because the next thing I knew he broke the bridle in half and gave me this little relic.  I was not amused.  I guess people in Rohan don't hear very well.

I have been feeling over prepared actually.  These orcs and easterlings and other bad thingies have had rediculously poor training.  I can hardly stay awake while chewing my way through them.  It is really sad how easy it all is.  Boring almost.

Oh well, the scenery is fantastic.  The people all have very interesting stories.  I am really enjoying my wanderings.  I say wanderings because it really isn't tough enough to be called a campaign.  I look at the pretty scenery, pick a few flowers, swat a few orcs, and move on. 

 

So far I have explored the Wolds, the East Wall and a fair amount of area in the Norcrofts.  Since so many of my friends are still trying to pass customs at the border I am moving slow, taking my time,   talking to everyone, and generally experiencing a pleasant and entertaining vacation. Not at all the aggressive campaign I was planning on.  I have been promised a new 'level' of 85 (is that like a rank?)and I am half way there already.  I suppose I have new skills to learn but I really haven't needed half the skills I have already so I haven't bothered with training any new skills yet. 

Here I am just watching the moon rise over Amon Hen.  I have always heard about the place and it is really great to sit on the seat where so many kings have farted before me.

So that is about it.  I will be taking a break this weekend and won't be back until next week sometime where I will probably answer the plea from Lady Galadriel.  Hopefully by then I will have friends that can join me and keep me company.  I don't care if they help me.  Hopefully they will keep me from falling asleep mid-swing though. Very embarrasing to forget you are fighting a drooling fool of an orc as it swings repeatedly at you (and misses most of the time...)  I am seriously considering leaving my armor at home and fighting in the nude just for some excitement.  Easy is not the Champ way.

Laters Taters, go smoosh some orcs, and try to stay awake...

Rohan checklist

100 Westfold Athelas potions... check
minimum 20 each Westfold power, wound, fear, disease, poison potions... check
100 bilberry pies... check
100 Rarebit muffins... check.
20 Battle scrolls... check.
10 fervor potions.. check.
Legendary weapons and runes... check.
Weapons and jewelry ... check.
Weaponsmith guild reputation tokens stockpiled... check.

Empty out bags to make room for new loot..... errrr... check.

Stationed at forward postion near Parth Celebrant... check.

Andu is ready to kick some Rohan orc butt!

That about sums up the activities for the week.

I did manage to make a little time for some target practice with the new bow I recently had made for me.

In some spare time yesterday I also managed to contribure my acting talents to the upcoming BBB epic motion picture currently in mid production.

Here I am playing the part of 'corpse #4'.  I was told I was especially chosen for this role.

I managed to get off this snapshot while positioning for a 'charge in column' shot with 20 other riders.

Besides Rohan prep and making motion pictures not much to report.  I have been debating whether to make my first contributions to the Rohan campaign on the front lines at Parth Celebrant or to honor a special request from the Lady Galadriel.  In the end, I decided to participate in the initial assault and ensure our success there before making an appearance before the Lady of Breasts (my nickname for the very well endowed Galadriel).

I got a postcard from my friend Storbjorn this week.  He has finally decided to move his Thorins Hall metalsmithing operations to Forochel. I think he was just getting tired of Erid Luin and wanted a change.  He will certainly find it there in Forochel. Plenty of snow and ice to keep him company. 

and just to be first with a 'Ride into Rohan moving picture that wasn't shot on a test server I put this little thing together.

Ride over the bridge to Rohan

That's it.  New Worlds to conquer and Andu will be there!

Moving picture worth watching

Hey all my adoring fans,  I just came across this moving picture that I think is worth a look.  The camera work, video editing and storyline is great.  I find the naration a little tough on the ears but all in all a great production.

Final prep for the Rohan campaign is underway.  Update to follow shortly...

The week's review

 I had to change my password again as my silly step brother managed to gain access to the blog.  Sorry about that.  It has been a varied sort of week.  With less than 10 days before the Rohan campaign I have been working on some minor deeds and activities to keep me up at fighting strength.  A champ goes soft with too much dancing and music.  Just look at my step brother if you don't believe me.

The week started... back at the marsh.  I was sure I was done with that annoying area but my good friend and expert tanking lore master Moragaeth, was having trouble hunting down those pesky bugs that inhabit that particular marsh so back I went; again.

After that particular ordeal Mora invited me to attend a local dance in Bree.  With her new dress from Rivendell who was I to say no?

I have been doing some horse buying.  A few days ago I  realized that there were horse breeds not adequately represented in my stables so I spent some time visiting various organizations and purchasing the best mounts I could find from them.  I think I bought four or five new studs in all for the family breeding operations outside of Bree.  There still remains one elusive mount I need to purchase. Those Stangard people insist on payment with gold Anduin River tokens, of which supply I recently exhausted on various shiny bits that make me stronger and faster.  That meant a return to the area to aquire more cash for the horses that I simply must have.  There is no such thing as too many horses.

While re-visting some of those areas I met up with the great eagle Landroval.  Being a new resident of the server named after the Great One, I felt it my duty to show my respects.

Once again my acting talents were requested, this time playing the role of an Easterling. It was fun dressing up in their funny colorful outfits. I would show a picture but that would violate my non-disclosure agreement.  Let's just say Andu looks pretty good in purple.

Probably the most important event of the week, that was improved by my appearance, was a concert and benefit walk for Child's Play Charity.  After a very nice and lively concert in the Old Forest a large number of us made the walk to the peak of Weathertop.  I took some moving sketches along the way. 

And that brings everyone up to date on their favorite Champ. 

Until next time... go smoosh some orcs!