November | 2009 | MMO Viking

November 30, 2009

Beowyf the Ranger

Filed under: middle earth adventures — Tags: Annúminas, Dwarven, Loki, my precious, Odin, Ranger, Siege of Mirkwood, Viking — mmoviking @ 3:16 am

Three more days until Siege of Mirkwood expansion. I am excited for it but the downside is my little side project of obtaining a full set of Annuminas armor will have to be on hold once it hits. Everyone will be too busy enjoying the new skirmishes and leveling up, including me. All I have left to get for the set is the Helm and Shoulders. The helm is easy it can be done by three of the Viking Fellowship. But the shoulders are obtained from the Gardens in Ost Elendil and that place requires a full fellowship of six to turn the water wheels to open the gates. The armor looks much better with the shoulders. MMO Viking needs those shoulders! I need my precioussss. I have a plan though. I am going to bribe my friends. I will offer each person of the fellowship one gold piece to knock it out someday and to not roll on the shoulders against me. Even Nindrojrir who doesn’t even want the armor and hasn’t been rolling on them. I figure if I get Nin on my side he will help me pester the rest to go in on the deal! It is always good to get Nin on my side with any nefarious plans. We are an unstoppable force together. It’s kind of like Odin and Loki joining forces. Once I have the full set Beowyf will be able to switch back and forth from the gold and navy Dwarven Lord outfit and the green and brown Dwarven Ranger outfit. Or as I like to think of it as Young Beo the Ranger and Old Beo the Viking-lord.

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November 24, 2009

The Burglar

Filed under: viking fellowship — Tags: 30 rock, Everquest, gandalf, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, two and a half men — mmoviking @ 6:44 pm

Our latest member of the Viking Fellowship is an old friend. I have known and played with Cap since I first started playing MMOs back in 2001. Back then he was Cappy the Ogre Warrior of Norrath and he later became Capron the Barbarian Shaman. Huge change in Lord of the Rings Online he is playing a Hobbit Burglar. Capron started playing with us just a few weeks ago but is already level 44. He is a MMO pro. I am overjoyed that Cap has joined us. He is an excellent player but also he is the life of the party. Cappy is the funniest player MMO Viking has ever played with. Smart comedy like 30 Rock not dumb comedy like 2 and a half men. Cappy used to play Everquest in the back of his classes on his laptop which Beo and Nin thought was awesome. I also love the fact he chose a Hobbit Burglar. The fellowship really can use a burglar well for all the conjunctions, specially due to the fact Red seems to always be low on power. Red will say this is due to the fact he is using all his warden skills possible and getting every inch out of it. I think Red needs to drink more power potions! And we needed a Hobbit. This is Lord of the Rings dammit, sequel to The Hobbit. This time the hobbit isn’t hired by Gandalf and 13 dwarves to burgle but by Redranth and 2 dwarves! My favorite races in lotro in order are dwarves, hobbits, female elves, female humans, male humans, male elves. I don’t know why people play an MMO to play a human that seems boring. There might be a third dwarf, another old friend added to the mix if he ends up enjoying lotro. MMO Viking hopes so. You can never have too many dwarves!

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Siege of Mirkwood

Filed under: viking thoughts — Tags: House, Lost dungeons of norrath, Siege of Mirkwood, Skirmish, twilight — mmoviking @ 6:51 am

The NDA was lifted days ago and between what I’ve read and heard Siege of Mirkwood seems like it might be perfect for the Viking Fellowship. I’m especially excited like a 12-year-old schoolgirl at a twilight movie for the new Skirmish System. Small battles playable from anywhere from 1 to 6 people with some sort of scalable tokens reward system that you can turn in for a long list of different rewards. This sounds like the old EQ1 Lost Dungeons of Norrath type of reward system which MMO Viking did enjoy. Also in the skirmish system each player brings along a computer controlled soldier to help them fight. It can be a Tank type, a DPS type or a Healing type. This is very intriguing. At the moment I am leaning healing type so if I want to do solo skirmishes I will have someone to heal Beowyf. But if it seems the majority of the time I am doing tons of skirmishes with the Fellowship and have no need for a healing NPC, I will adapt and use a DPS soldier. I’m thinking if it ends up the majority of the time Beowyf and Nindrojrir duoing it might be best Beo + Healer and Nin + Tank. Nindrojrir has all ready threatened to make his Soldier a DPS hunter type and name it Smartbeo. Nin is evil. I was watching House last night and realized Dr. Gregory House reminded me of Nin. Narcissistic and always plotting evil little things to keep himself amused! Anyway it all depends on the toughness of the skirmish and if Beowyf the Hunter can Tank it himself. We shall see. Once this thing starts it will be fun to figure out!

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November 21, 2009

Turbine on notice

Filed under: viking thoughts — Tags: icons, legendary, Mjolnir, Rohan, Turbine — mmoviking @ 7:16 am

There is much I love about Lord of the Rings Online. The setting, the graphics. That’s all awesome but I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to see changed or added on. First off the user interface is ugly and even downloading a new UI doesn’t help all the way because you can’t change the very ugly icons. I don’t know why its been coded this way or what but why won’t Turbine allow someone to come up with prettier icons. I remember downloading the very nice icons for EQ1 from the eq interface site and it just changing the general look by about 200%. I’d like to see more 3-man instances with more rewards. It could even be entire sets of gear that is just for looks. That way you wouldn’t even have to worry about balance and what not. More crafted items for player houses and yards, more outfits for more originality amongst the players. Add more facial features, new noses, scars, missing eye, jewelry, piercings, beards and allow the barbers to give nose jobs. I’ve decided I want the bigger dwarf nose for Beowyf! It’s more dwarfy! Currently he has the broken nose look. A lot of what I’d like to see is just more options. More options for player looks, more options for player play. I’d like to see when you forge a level 65 Legendary Item, or identify it you can choose between 5 different styles. Instead of being stuck with generic lvl 65 1-hand hammer look. Beowyf wants a hammer that looks like Mjolnir to smash his foes! Turbine make it so. MMO Viking gives you until Rohan to make these changes.

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November 18, 2009

The Rune-keeper

Filed under: viking fellowship — Tags: basketball, beards, quarm, runestone — mmoviking @ 9:14 pm

The next Viking Fellowship member is Borthos the Elf Rune-keeper. Borthos goes way back with MMO Viking to his old EQ days. Back then he was known as Nanelil the Enchanter. We all shared many adventures in Norrath in our guild Noble Rage beating the Planes of Power and Quarm. In our Fellowship Borthos plays the pure DPS role along with Beowyf. Every once in a great while he might be needed to heal the 2nd Tank in the group if Nindrojrir needs help, which isn’t often. We usually pick on the fact that he is a elf but he could only pick between Dwarf and Elf to play a RK and he didn’t want to completely copy Nin. So I suppose it is a good thing. MMO Viking wishes that lotro had more options on the physical appearance of characters. More beards, more ‘staches, more piercings, etc. Variety is good! I think Borthos’s rune looks like a toddler sized basketball. A glowing, on fire, with magic runes flying off it, toddler basketball. Nindrojrir’s Rectange-shaped rune looks better MMO Viking believes. Is there more shapes? A rubik cube Runestone perhaps? Now that would be awesome!

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November 17, 2009

Dark Delving

Filed under: middle earth adventures — Tags: doom speaker, guardian, gurvand, loremaster, minstrel, world eater — mmoviking @ 10:54 pm

Today the Viking Fellowship with 3 members of our Kinship, Band of the Red Hand attempted to defeat Gurvand the final boss of the Dark Delving instance in Moria. Redranth, Nindrojrir and Beowyf have been preparing for this fight ever since we heard about it. We all have complete +10 radiance gear (cept helm) and the complete set of the three +15 radiance armor with shadow defense bonus. Also we have maxed our shadow defense traits to 10. The Viking Fellowship loves challenges and this has been rumored to be the toughest 6-man fellowship fight in the game, and we wanted it bad! We cruised through Boss 1 (world eater) Boss 2 (doom speaker) and Redranth’s Warden quest boss and a Herodor’s Guardian quest boss like a hot knife through butter with no deaths and in record time. Then it was time to try Gurvand. We tried different approaches and strategies against this big two faced ugly troll all night. We lost the two pickup group members and replaced them with Elizaburr the Loremaster and Medicborn the minstrel (definite upgrade). Herodor the Guardian stuck with us the entire night, showing some serious guts. MMO Viking is not going into too much horrific detail of the fellowship beatdowns we took but I will tell you the strategy that worked the best towards the end. Redranth the Warden tanked Gurvand to the left while trying hard not to be blown off the cliff by his knockback. Medicborn tried to keep Red alive. Herodor, Beowyf and Elizaburr tried to get the adds killed and under control with Nindrojrir trying to keep us alive. Then with adds under control we would dps Gurvand. We were definitely making progress but it got late and people needed to go. I don’t feel bad about losing at all. Today was the first time we have fought this guy and we learned a lot and got better each time. It is a brutal fight and when we do beat it the feeling of accomplishment will be fantastic!

November 16, 2009

Ost Elendil

Filed under: middle earth adventures — Tags: 16th hall, Arnor, Ost Elendil — mmoviking @ 11:00 pm

The Viking Fellowship enjoyed a fun day of adventuring completing the 16th Hall instance in Moria twice with 3 members of the Band of the Red Hand, our kinship. Beowyf finally got his radiance shoulders huzzah! Later Redranth, Nindrojrir and Beowyf journeyed to Annuminas to the Ost Elendil instance. Ost Elendil was the seat of power in the former kingdom of Arnor. It contains the throne room from whence the kings of old would rule their once-grand empire. More importantly the boss at the end (named Balhest) drops the turn in item for the Helm or Legs of the Annuminas set of armor which MMO Viking covets! Here are some quotes from Balhest: “Thy skills do not lack much. Meet, then, my other companions.” “Perhaps thou hast come to swear fealty…to kneel before the new King of Annuminas?” “Nay? Then so be it. Thou wilt die here, instead. Guards!” “Thou makest me to stand from this my throne? Thou shalt perish for the affrontery.” “Lend me strength, Dark Lord!” “Feel the power of Mordor!” I like the second one, thats some serious smack talking! Anyway MMO Viking is proud that the three of us could take down Ost Elendil. I believe it is meant for a full group of level 50 characters. Beowyf now owns Annuminas shirt, legs, and gloves. Helm, Boots, Shoulders to go!

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November 15, 2009

The Warden

Filed under: viking fellowship — Tags: A Game of Thrones, PVP, Saving Private Ryan, Tank — mmoviking @ 3:28 pm

The next member of the Viking Fellowship is Redranth of Bree the Warden, race of men. Red is the Tank and reluctant leader of the Viking Fellowship. Red reminds MMO Viking of Jon Snow the bastard of his favorite fantasy book series A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, also of Capt. Miller, Tom Hank’s character in Saving Private Ryan both reluctant leaders. Redranth is a Warden, an unusual Tank class that wears medium armor only, no full platemail on this tank, but can heal himself in combat. Red fights with mace and shield style and can throw javelins. Wardens are a technical class to play, not good for mmo beginners but advanced players like Red can really make them awesome. Red has always been the best tank MMO Viking has ever played with. I’ve been so spoiled by Red I will hardly ever do a hard adventure without him there. I also love the fact that Redranth is a sports fan. Beowyf has lost several gold to Redranth this football season. Damn you Peyton Manning and your golden arm! Red has a PVP (player vs player) background and has a drive to be the best of the best when he plays and expects the same from his friends. During battles if someone screws up obviously and badly Red will call them out. An example would be “Beo, are u serious?”. Shaming them horribly into compliance.

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November 14, 2009

Annúminas questing

Filed under: middle earth adventures — Tags: Annúminas, Aragorn, Arwen, Evendim, LOTRO — mmoviking @ 3:54 pm

Lately Beowyf has been questing in Annúminas . A level 50 area of Evendim. Annúminas is the initial capital of the Kingdom of Arnor in the north of Eriador, founded on 3320 of the Second Age by Elendil. In the city the main inherited objects of Númenor are guarded, like the Sceptre of Annúminas, symbol of the real power, the Stone of Annúminas, the Elendilmir, the Barahir Ring and the fragments of Narsil. In year 10 of the Third Age, after the death of Elendil and Isildur, the smaller son of this last one, Valandil, it occupies the throne of the city. In Annúminas they govern the seven following Kings of Arnor (Eldacar, Arantar, Tarcil, Tarondor, Valandur, Elendur and Eärendur), in the most prosperous and calm years of the kingdom. In 810, Arnor is divided in three dominions, and Amlaith, first king of Arthedain, transfers the capital to Fornost, its city of adoption. Annúminas then falls into a progressive decay. The last inhabitants leave a few centuries later, leaving it behind in ruins. At the beginning of the Fourth Age, Aragorn, proclaimed sovereign of the Unified Kingdom, undertakes the works of reconstruction of the city, accompanied by Arwen. The meaning `Tower of the West’ (annûn = put of the sun, west, west; minas = tower). It now lies in ruins, and is overrun by Angmarim Invaders who are fighting the Rangers for control of the city.

Why is Beo questing in a level 50 area as a level 60 Hunter? To get a cool outfit of course! MMO Viking wants the armor set from Annúminas bad. The set is not a upgrade to the +10 Radiance set that Beowyf owns from Moria, it really is just all about the looks. I feel looks are important in MMOs. I like to stand out and not look the same as all the other players. I have not seen many players with this set of armor. I want to have some personality and I want my guy to look awesome! The Viking Fellowship has completed the three instances located in Annúminas but needs to do so a couple more times for more armor pieces. It is something to do if the fellowship is too short-handed to complete a meaningful level 60 instance but wants something to do fun. So lately you will find Beowyf slaughtering Angmarim Invaders by the thousands looking for Arnorian armor fragments to turn into the Rangers there for the armor set reward. This gives MMO Viking something to grind away at while waiting for friends to log in, which is a good thing!

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Introducing Nindrojrir

Filed under: viking fellowship — Tags: Celtic, Gnomes, Lord Vordimort, Norse, Stewie — mmoviking @ 4:16 am

The next member of the Viking Fellowship I wish to indroduce is Nindrojrir Perfidious the Dwarven Rune-Keeper. Nindrojrir acts as the fellowship’s Healer but can do just as much DPS as Beowyf in a pinch. Nindrojrir is constantly running around and jumping. Nin has been running in circles constantly since Everquest 1. MMO Viking’s kids laugh and call him “your jumping friend” when they see him. Always dressed in black Nindrojrir seems like a cross between Lord Vordimort and Stewie from Family Guy. Always quick to laugh at another member of the Fellowship’s misfortune in game. Well actually I think the entire Fellowship does this with each other but I think Nin leads this category. Nindrojrir can summon a large healing Runestone that heals all Fellowship members closeby. Beowyf likes to lean against it during fights. Nindrojrir can also name the runestone, so being Nin he names his runestone after characters that have peeved him lately. It is very insulting and can be confusing when the game says the Runestone has been defeated by enemies. Nindrojrir always yells! Every sentence is a yell! An example would be “Beo what hell are you doing!” Nindrojrir is the richest of the Fellowship with 100 gold to his name. This is unacceptable to Beowyf who only has 63 gold. The fact that Nin never spends his gold has not gone un-noticed by the Fellowship sometimes resulting in slurs directed at him. In a past life Nin was Nindakin the Gnome Wizard. MMO Viking prefers Norse-like Dwarves to Fae-Celtic-like gnomes anyday! Luckily J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t have a group of gnomes show up recruiting Bilbo Baggins to burgle for them!

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