Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online
After a night of my brother-in-law and I finishing off some quests in Buckland and running around the Old Forest, we hit twenty on our rune-keeper/warden combo. This was a pretty substantial ding for me since at 20 I get my first “rez” spell–or whatever the LoTRO equivalent is–since technically your character never “dies,” but is simply defeated in battle.
I’ve been going a bit heavier on DPS, reserving my healing for fellowship quests and emergencies. For the most part, it’s been working out well. The more DPS spells you cast in any given battle, the more powerful your attacks become at the loss of your healing capabilities. The same goes in reverse if you’re healing.
I love the flexibility of this class, though I’ve gotten caught with my pants down every so often. I tend to get too cocky and get too far up the DPS “ladder” when I’m taking on a mob that’s above my head. At that point, it’s often too late to work my way down the chain to cook up any substantial healing. And it’s easy to get cocky with the RK–at times I feel like I can take on all of Middle Earth, only to be humbled by a signature mob or a large group of foes.
Not much going on with me game-wise since the holidays. Still having a hell of a lot of fun with LoTRO, but merrymaking coupled with post-holiday blues has compromised my MMO time the past few weeks. I’ve never been a fan of those “year-in-review/predictions-for-the-upcoming-year” posts, so I’ll spare you all. Simply put, 2008 was a year of lukewarm games failing to hold my attention. From Mythic and Blizzard to Funcom and SOE, a good part of the year was spent bed hopping from Vanguard to Burning Crusade to Age of Conan to Warhammer.
While none of these games are terrible by any means, it took LoTRO coming waaay out of left field with the MoM expansion to rinse the bad taste out of my mouth.
2008 was not all mediocrity on the MMO front–if only because it spawned the Spouse Aggro podcast. Beau Turkey, who took over the helm at Troy’s Voyages of Vanguard podcast earlier this year, and his wife Leala (who hosts the uber-awesome Epic Dolls podcast) lend a breath of fresh air to the often all-too-whiny, eternally dissatisfied legion of MMO bloggers and podcasters out there.
For me, these guys pull off in their podcasts what Tipa over at West Karana miraculously has pulled off in her blog year after year–that perfect blend of intelligent discussion, humor, and a true affection for RPGs.
Caught two great westerns over the holidays–one old, one new.
The first is John Ford’s Fort Apache. Ford’s work stands the test of time surprisingly well, whereas many other classic Hollywood westerns can come off as a bit to hokey. Henry Fonda. John Wayne. Apaches on the warpath. What more do you need?
The second is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. This flick is not your standard western. If you like the slow, poetic style of directors like Terrence Malick and Werner Herzog, you’ll love this one–which plays more like a starstruck stalker flick than a shoot-em-up. Great performances all around.
What am I looking forward to in the first half of 2009? Watchmen.
Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online
Here’s a pic of my guardian’s Yule Festival Pony–one of the many cool rewards for participating in the seasonal quests around Middle Earth this time of year. Though the shot came out a bit dark, note the snowflakes on the saddle blanket.
FYI, turning in five Yule Festival tokens to the dwarves didn’t garnish me as fine a reward as this Christmas steed–I walked away from Thorin’s Hall with little more than two lumps of coal! Guess I’ve been a bad dwarf this year…
