LOTRO easter adventures

I've been playing LOTRO quite a bit lately, Book 7 has been released since I last blogged about it and as usual it has brought a fair share of complainers and bugs with it.

The much derided Quest Guide seems useful to me, I hate it when I can't find something and using the guide seems better than breaking out of the client and Googling it. Although it's a good idea being able to switch it on and off, the devs need to make it easier to do so rather than having to go into your options. I suspect it's too tempting to just leave it on even if you don't really want to use it.

The big book 7 bug for me is the glitchy DX10 lighting, particulary in the deeps of the shadow refuge (Foundations of stone) where it seems to be hit and miss if the floor decides to draw itself. A client restart fixes the issue, but a bit of a bummer if you haven't yet done book 6 most of which is down there.

Because I haven't been playing LOTRO much over the winter, after completing book 6 I had a double whammy reward presenting itself. Not only are there loads of quests to do just outside the Eastern Moria gate whilst strolling alongside the large Mirrormere lake, you can also enter Lorien proper so gladly I did in order to carry on with Book 7.

Lorien is nice, but I also think it's just great to be out of Moria and into a new pretty area. Some minor quibbles though, a few orcs roaming around the Elven wood (I thought Galadriel's power prevented this?), and warps to flet platforms when you click on a rope ladder. I would have enjoyed seeing my fat Dwarf attempt to climb a tree. At least the flets are not instances, try jumping off it's a long way down! I quite enjoyed the story content of Book 7 even if it asks the unthinkable, to return to Moria...

Last night I also enjoyed The Forgotten Treasury, a level 56 6-man instance that only takes about 30 minutes. So my kin made a couple of runs and I managed to complete all the quests bar one and gain lots of item exp and other goodies.

I also had a go at sorting out my legendary items. I was shocked to discover you cannot get rid of the original legendaries, so I have equipped a level 59 two handed axe and item and have various other legendary items leveling in the background. All good for the stats I suppose...