Lorien is delayed another week in EU

*Moria content spoilers*

Yep. If you are an EU player of Lord of the rings Online you will not be playing the latest free expansion The Leaves of Lorien tonight as it has been delayed another week.

Not surprising really with all the bugs being reported from across the pond and it suits me just fine. I am away this weekend anyway and I still have book 6 to do.

I always seem to enjoy the game more when the pressure is on to complete something before a deadline. It makes you play the game for a start, but you also get through much more content and I enjoy the game more when the content comes more rapidly than normal.

I've had a few late nights this week (yawn). I managed to complete Book 5 acquiring some nice teal leggings. That took a couple of sessions as Volume 2 Book 5 chapter 5 contains no less than three instances in a 'Defend the 21st Hall' scenario. Starting Book 6 instructed me to head towards Lorien and seek Haldir, Woot! I thought. But then I found out you need to have completed both the advanced slayer deeds for Orcs and Goblins in Moria before you can start Book 6 chapter 2. Luckily I only had about 100 Orcs to grind, could have been worse.

So I still haven't left Moria via the eastern exit yet, in fact I have not crossed the Bridge of Khazad-dum. It is the next thing I will do when I login next week, exciting eh?

Last night was my first non-book instance in Moria : The Grand Stair. Although it contains no less than 15 quests it is surprisingly short and took us ninety minutes or so. Although you will not complete all the quests in one run, you get loads of XP. So if you are looking to level quickly in Moria I suggest you head over to The Orc Watch camp (where you collect the quests) at level 55/56.

I haven't cashed the quests in yet, so next time I login I will ding to level 57 :)

Ecstacy playing LOTRO shock!

*reward spoilers*

I did not intend to turn VG into a LOTRO blog, but with the imminent arrival of the new expansion Leaves of Lorien I am firmly in LOTRO mode right now.

I had a very pleasant time last night, indeed one of the best I've had and it's been a long time coming!

I finally finished Vol 1 Bk 15 - WOOT!

As I had a practice run the night before, I managed to explain the strategy and lead a group to victory. I even killed Mordrambor mid-stage when three level 60s had died before me. I wont spoil the end. A very exciting instance, I thought we were screwed at least twice but managed to pull through with the help of a few Resurrections of course.

You get some nice goodies too - and so you should from what is effectively the end of Shadows of Angmar. You get a painting for the house, a nice cosmetic cloak, some new titles "Champion of Eriador" sounds good eh? But best of all you inherit Laerdan's nag, a nice silver mount! Well, he won't be needing it any more will he? This also means you can also flog your old horse for 1 gold piece.


Westfold Exiles are a very nice kin, I had not met them before. Polite, calm and thoughtful they were all using voice and had a good sense of humour too. They were very grateful to me and for the first time in ages I felt like I was instrumental rather than feeling like a noob like I do with more hard core players that play the game a lot more than I do.

The evening also reminded me that a significant part of MMO enjoyment comes from the players within it. If you play most of the game solo avoiding group quests you will certainly not get as much from the game as being more sociable. Now that I am playing again I need to make more of an effort with my own kin and start enjoying the game more.

Lotro Book 7 Leaves of Lorien Date!

The latest The Lord of the rings Online expansion (the first since Moria) Book 7 : Leaves of Lorien will be available tomorrow to US players.

For us Europeans, we will have to wait another week. Thursday 26th March.

Personally I do not really mind the EU delay. I still need to crack on with books 5 and 6 in Moria. I am very pleased though I will be able to leave Moria finally. If you have read my earlier posts you will know I'm not a huge fan of it. Technically it's very nice, but too much dark and dinge is always a bad thing in my view. It's probably not all Moria's fault to be fair, I have got quite bored with the constant repetitious clicking-based gameplay. But clicking in the bright and breezy countryside instead makes the world of difference.

I still haven't finished Bleedin' chapter 12 of Book 15 yet (the final quest to the original Volume 1 epic chain). I had a go last night and thought it was in the bag. My pug killed Mordrambor (first time I had done it) we seemed to have got the strategy correct for that. But then afterwards you go off for more grinding which took us by surprise at one point and with a stroke of misfortune we lost our Minstrel before we knew it. Aarrrgghhhhhhhh!

New pics for LOTRO Volume 2 Bk 7 Lothlorien

The announcement of fresh content for Lords of the Rings Online has lifted my spirits at the end of the dark winter grind inside Moria. Volume 2 Book 7 will greatly expand Lorien and provide well awaited sunshine filled exploration in what is probably the largest wood-based environment since I was a noob in The Old Forest which sits on The Shires' borders.

It was just a fling, you must believe me my Sweet!

I've actually squeezed some fun out of LOTRO recently. A lunch time run through one of Eregions instances that only took an hour and also managing to complete Book 4 with a pickup group. Another tussle with The Watcher (in the water) no less. I've no doubt I havent seen the last of him. I still find Moria tiresome though. Last night I was trudging through the initially impressive Waterworks - a huge sewer network deep under the mountain. But it does not really do it for me, slowly swimming around killing countless toads and lizards. Poor blighters, what did they ever do to Dwarves?

I don't bother with crafting either. Except just to level my proficiency when the mood takes me, I've only just acquired Artisan Weaponsmith status. In fact for my questing troubles I was awarded a handful of Teal Critical scrolls, forget the proper name. I took two seconds to greedily decide I would rather have the cash and was pleasantly surprised to get 2.5 Gold from the auction!Still, the plan is to get Books five and six done and then I can stagger out through the other side blinded by the sunshine of The Wilderness east of the Misty Mountains.

I love the Spring.


more LOTRO Lorien pics to be found here

LOTRO Lorien News!

Yes, just what the doctor ordered.

The next expansion Volume 2 Book 7 is rumoured to be released in the next few weeks. Although the date has not been confirmed, the new area focuses on the elven wood Lothlorien home of the elf lord Galadriel and it's surrounding areas.

Some discussion of the release date:

http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4961951

And the patch notes to Volume 2 Book 7:

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Release_Notes_Volume_2_Book_7_Bullroarer_Official#Volume_II:_Book_7_Highlights

I was hoping to post a pic of Lorien, but they have all been removed due to NDAs :(