Original My LotRO Configuration

I have finally reached the point where my lottery winners have become too much for My LotRO to handle. Granted, it took me a lot longer to get so many winning entries than some people who are lottery hogs, but I got there nonetheless. Eventually, you probably will, too.

Once you get lots of entries, your winning entries window on My LotRO gets all scrambled and its hard to tell which ones are recent, or if there even are any new ones. They start to get sorted randomly, so when you scroll to the bottom of the list, it's not necessarily the most recent winner.

I know this is kind of a bailout of a post, but I have a term paper due in two days. Sorry!

Xy and I went to Ales and Tales on Monday, and boy was it packed! Fishing, music, campfires, cliff diving... Good time had by all.

I was mentored in the harp, and I was super-flattered by all the kind comments people gave us about the podcast. Unfortunately what began as front-row seats for the two of us ended up in the nose-bleed section by the end of the night, as there wasn't a clearly defined stage and people kept creeping closer to be able to hear the music. It's a shame the Turbine has made player music so muted.


After the concert, there was a five-minute fishing derby with prizes. It seemed like many folks were reluctant to leave. It was nice to wander from campfire to campfire as people cooked up fish, and hear a different band playing at each one.


Thanks to the Lonely Mountain Band for another great event.

This is exciting!

Sapience just posted the first of some all-new Tournament Events for the game. Sapience says that to begin with, there will be a Skirmish Tournament this weekend, and from the looks of things, it's already starting.

How Do I Join?
Keep an eye on mylotro.com/tournaments for a list of upcoming events along with the information you’ll need to participate. Every event will have at least one round with a start and end time, along with an activity that players must complete to qualify for the round. Once the event begins, simply do the action required and we’ll automatically enter your character in the event – there’s nothing else you need to do.

Sapience goes on to say that other in-game mechanics could be used as well. This opens up a lot of possibilities for in-game activities between expansions and volumes, not to mention spicing things up with a little player-to-player competition!

Round One
Starts:Thursday July 15 5:00PM Eastern (-4 GMT)
Ends: Friday July 16 4:00PM Eastern (-4 GMT)

• Challenge: Complete the Stand at Amon Sûl Skirmish in the shortest time possible.
• Reward: 1,000 Skirmish marks and 500 Silver to the 78 players per server with the fastest times.

Round Two
Starts: Friday July 16 5:00PM Eastern (-4 GMT)
Ends: Saturday July 17 4:00PM Eastern (-4 GMT)

• Challenge: Complete the Siege of Gondamon in the shortest time possible.
• Reward: 1,500 Skirmish marks and 1 Gold to the 21 fastest times on each server.

Round Three
Starts: Saturday July 17 5:00PM Eastern (-4 GMT)
Ends: Sunday July 18 5:00PM Eastern (-4 GMT)

• Challenge: Complete the Trouble in Tuckborough Skirmish in the shortest time possible. Only your most recent attempt will count.
• Reward: 2,500 Skirmish marks and 1 Gold, 500 Silver to the 5 fastest times per server.

Players must qualify in each round to advance, but you can use players that didn't qualify to fill out your group. There are a lot more details, so be sure to check out the original post!

Today, as Xyderias and I were running around doing our dances for the festival, we tried to explain to a few people our tips and tricks for getting the dances done quickly. This is a run-down of information that should make things go more smoothly for you.

The alias macro system in LotRO is a little complicated. So, to make matters easier, here is a guide specifically for making dance aliases.

1. Setup Aliases
Type into chat:

/alias add ;d1 /dance1

where d1 is what you want the alias identified as. Choose something short (like d1) because you'll have to use the ;d1 handle if you want to edit or remove it later.

Repeat this step for the other two dances.

/alias add ;d2 /dance2
/alias add ;d3 /dance3

2. Make Quickslot Buttons
This step is a little more complicated. First, you'll want to have a quickslot available for each of the three aliases, and you don't want them to be too difficult to hit quickly. I prefer to just open up the last three buttons on my main bar by moving those skills elsewhere or just removing them. You can always put them back when you're done. Also, you have to know what the numbers are for the slots you want, which is easiest to do on the main bar since it is always 1-12 and never moves. If you don't want to leave the dances there, once the button is available you can move it to another slot like any other skill button.

Once you have the slots picked out and vacated, type the following:

/alias shortcut ;d1 10

where 10 is the slot number you want the shortcut to go to. For simplicity, you can put each alias up in the same place, moving them to other slots as you go.

Repeat this step for the other two dances.

/alias shortcut ;d2 11
/alias shortcut ;d3 12

Now you have your aliases ready to go!


The dance leaders can be found in the festival area for each race:

• Thorin's Hall Tavern for Dwarves
• Duillond for Elves
• The Party Tree for Hobbits
• The Festival Grounds for Men

The dance leaders will be active every 20 minutes or so. Once you do the dance quest for a particular race, you have to wait until the next day to do it for the second emote. You can, however, go around to each race's dance leader in a single day.

You have about three minutes before the dance starts to get the quest from the dance leader. Once you accept the quest, don't run off, or the quest will fail. Once the dance starts, you have to keep up with the steps.


Tip #1
The steps go faster toward the end of the dance. Be prepared to hit the steps very quickly, because if you don't do it by the time the dance leader stops resting, you'll fail the quest.

Tip #2
The dance quest is always the same. The order is as follows:

1. Step 1, Rest
2. Step 2, Step 3, Rest
3. Step 2, Step 2, Step 3, Rest
4. Step 3, Step 1, Step 3, Rest

Don't forget to go talk to the dance leader afterward and claim your new moves!

I was totally ready to make a real post today, but luckily for me Brian stumbled upon something so awesome I had to post about it.

Check out The Bree-land Times. It's an electronic copy of a real newspaper about Middle-earth with contributions from lots of LotRO bloggers.

Being the editor of my college newspaper, I know how much work goes into making something like this, so I think everyone should stop by and give Vatna and Co. a high-five for their efforts. It looks great!

edit: I forgot the link! Phail boat.

Check out this post over at Once Upon a Hobbit, then breathe a sigh of relief.

This is a continuation of The Road to Tal Bruinen

To my credit, I did manage to make it all the way to the top of the pass, alone, on foot. The lynxes weren't so bad, because they didn't attack if I kept moving. But once I entered the territory of aggressive bears there was little I could do to avoid death. I spent a large part of a day trying to make it the last of my trip, and eventually conceded that I couldn't do it without help. I began to plead for anyone within the sound of my voice to help me get there. I thought perhaps someone would take pity and guide me. It seemed I was wrong.

The next day was the last day of my trial. I logged in and resolved to reach my goal. The most frustrating thing was that every time I died, I was burdened with dread, making my chances of success shrink with every failed attempt. To my dismay, the path was much longer than it looked. Switchbacks climbing a ridge don't cover much distance on a map. My hopes of getting to Rivendell began to dwindle as the day went on.

Suddenly, I heard a shout as an axe swung down and obliterated a bear that was following me up the pass. A dwarf fighter stood there over the corpse of the fallen animal. An elfess and a woman rode up behind him and dismounted, all of them looking at me.

"What in the world are you doing up here?" the dwarf asked me.

I explained my predicament and my aspiration to see Rivendell.

"Sure, we'll help you," the woman said. "That sounds like fun."

I couldn't believe my ears.

The three adventurers, I think, didn't know what they were getting themselves into. A half hour into the challenge, we had finally reached the middle of the pass, where things got even worse.

The stealthed wildcats could penetrate my protective circle, and effectively kill me in one or two swipes. I had to keep a watchful eye and as soon as I raised my weapons in defense my escorts sprung into action to draw the attacker's attention away from me. Even so, we exhausted each resurrection and revive available. It took another hour and three attempts to get from the top of the ridge to Rivendell.


But finally, there I stood, looking down on the Last Homely House, thanks to the dedication of three complete strangers.


That was a year ago, today.

Jem is working his way through the Trollshaws now, and I took the road seldom travelled. The view along this path is one of many breathtaking vistas in the game. It also holds a certain sentiment for me.

Last summer I played through the 10-day free trial. Towards the end of it, I had gotten my hunter (a different character on a different server) to level 17. I had seen the Shire and Bree, passed by Weathertop, and I was determined to see Rivendell before my account expired. (At that time, the trial was only a change of pace from WoW, which I was still very much involved in.)


Of course, if you're level 17 you can't just stroll into Rivendell. It took me most of a day to make it through the latter half of the Lonelands and across the Shaws to get to the Ford of Bruinen. Luckily, I learned very quickly that the Trollshaws are not safe at night. It was just like the Old Forest, with twice as many creepy things running around in the dark. In the Shaws, however, those creepy things were between twice and thrice my level.


I stood in the river for a time, taking a breath and waiting for dawn. Examining my map, and comparing it to completed ones, I realized that there was a travel path and a Milestone south of me. I had long ago learned the advantage of getting travel locations and checkpoints while exploring an area you really shouldn't be in, so I decided to go get it as it was my last stop before Rivendell.


I found I could not follow the road to Echad Candellath--it was overrun with aggressive bears and huge lizards. So I decided to follow it down the river, swimming far enough from shore that I didn't attract their attention. Then I discovered unusual swamp monsters on the other side, and had to make sure I didn't stray too far east. Keep in mind that at the time I hadn't seen either of these creatures before. Finally, I found a shallow inlet where the road veered west again, and made my way to shore.

Heading up the hill, I was surprised to find that the deer in this forest were aggressive! At least they didn't pursue if I kept moving. But since I didn't really know where I was going, there was a lot of jumping off banks and running into hillsides I couldn't climb. Finally I found the elf standing along the path that I now know is the landmark for the hidden camp.


After making my way over the crest of the hill and binding my map to the milestone, I took assessment of my situation. At least now, if I died and was forced back into Bree, I could use my map to return and not lose too much progress.

Little did I know it would be the furthest I could get on my own...

Continued in The Road to Rivendell