Morning Discussion

It's a morning, so let's get some fresh discussion going on in here. I would like to first point out Nick's interview with the creators of Off-Road Raptor Safari, Flashbang Studio, wherein he asks hard hitting questions digging deep into the shocking political philosophies of the game's population. Also, I have a Sam & Max contest for you, if it would be on interest. And could the iPhone 2.0 be the first homebrew accessible development platform that becomes mainstream relevant, with developments like this on the horizon?

From The Chatty
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    April 10, 2008 6:32 AM

    [deleted]

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      April 10, 2008 6:33 AM

      I joined the kinship last night. I was very happy.

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        April 10, 2008 6:45 AM

        Oh what should I learn to craft? Potions was the option mentioned to me but I don't know who makes those...

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          April 10, 2008 6:46 AM

          Scholar's I think make potions. What is your class?

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            April 10, 2008 6:48 AM

            Minstrel. Still. If I can switch out the lute for something else, like a horn maybe I'll be happier.

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              April 10, 2008 6:56 AM

              I have a level 13 minstrel (my alt) and do not know if you ever get the option to switch for combat casting.

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                April 10, 2008 7:01 AM

                So what does the passive skills do?

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                  April 10, 2008 7:07 AM

                  For playing music - get the skill, buy an instrument, equip it, /music then /play to play a stored .abc file, or use the number keys to play manually.

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                    April 10, 2008 7:14 AM

                    I thought/hoped it would allow you to equip music instruments in the ranged slot that would then change the cast :( Oh well. Either way I'm definately going to be a historian/scholar - they sound fun.

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                      April 10, 2008 7:18 AM

                      Yeah I think of all the professions we have, we have the fewest historians. My Level 20 hunter requires Fire Oil that scholars can make so I can shoot flaming arrows. :)

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                        April 10, 2008 7:55 AM

                        yeah i want my fire arrows too. I just got that arrow rain skill. very nice.

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                        April 10, 2008 8:43 AM

                        Where do you find the starting quest for historian/scholars? The only ones I've been 'directed to' in the dwarf areas have been armor making and wood crafting.

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                          April 10, 2008 8:52 AM

                          Once you've picked your profession, there is no starting quest. Just start working it and your vendor for that profession will give you quests to advance.

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                          April 10, 2008 8:53 AM

                          talk to one of those apprentice provisioners. theyre along side the craftspeople in the intro area

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                          April 10, 2008 10:50 AM

                          The 'crafting quests' - the rings with the anvils inside them are not specific to the craft/vocation you've chosen. Anyone can do them (a few people working together should be able to make stuff for eachother and do them all).

                          However, there are 'quests' (only a handful) for your chosen vocation (except for prospector, forester, or farmer, they get the new rank immediately) that just require you to do a little leg-work before moving from one skill tier to the next (Apprentice->Journeyman, etc)

                          Just talk to a master of apprentices, tell them you want to be a historian and have at. Slot the new skills you get (particularly 'find relics' or whatever it's called). Historian seems cool, but it's definitely a bit harder to do than a lot of the others. It's very... eclectic.

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                            April 10, 2008 10:54 AM

                            Ah, thanks. yeah the crafting quests were throwing me off. I thought there would be one for each profession and that's how you got started on that particular road.

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                              April 10, 2008 11:03 AM

                              Yeah, no worries. I pretty much ignored those the first time around - recently started a new character along with two friends, and we just do all the ones of those we can just for the little extra experience.

                              To start, just start making things. Historian is broken into three areas:

                              Scholar - the items for this drop on monsters (humanoid types?) sometimes, but otherwise come from resource nodes (akin to copper deposit) that are things like 'broken vase' and other relics of old civilizations, usually only in ruins, etc. You can also make dyes which are a combo of vendor-bought items and items that either come from: the ground (ex: yarrow root) or miners (umber, copper salts, etc). Remember to check the Loremaster trainer for potential new recipes (make sure you can use them though). Unlike most professions all/most of these items can be made anywhere (as long as you have the scholar's lens equipped) rather than needing a forge or workbench.

                              Weaponsmith - Pretty straightforward, but harder to get the supplies since you don't have prospector. The shack kinship might be able to help you out - you need bronze (which prospectors can smelt together from tin/copper). Again, more 'recipes' (items) are available from the vendor. You need to be at a forge (with blacksmithing supplies equipped) to do this.

                              Farmer - You can make pipeweed, food for cooks, and supplies for cooks who want to brew liquor. You need to be at a 'field' of the appropriate type - vegetable or pipeweed. Farmer trainers can give more recipes, but unlike the rest they tend to actually be located at the fields (there's one near staddle, for example) instead of at crafting halls.

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                                April 10, 2008 11:03 AM

                                ^ brief crappy tutorial if oyu want, deathofrats

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                                  April 10, 2008 12:56 PM

                                  You rock. Thanks! How many professions can you take on? Is it two like wow, or can you do a number of them?

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      April 10, 2008 6:40 AM

      we need more ociffers 'cuz sometimes ppl want to join teh kinship and every ociffer is teh offline :-/

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        April 10, 2008 6:43 AM

        OK I will add a few more.

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          April 10, 2008 10:45 AM

          please make me (Sothebys) and moogle (Weorin) officers, we are always on and we had people wanting to join last night :(

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            April 10, 2008 11:01 AM

            I'm on right now and there are no officers :(

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              April 10, 2008 11:04 AM

              Aaaand Vile needs an invite. Any officers that can log on real quick?

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                April 10, 2008 12:14 PM

                Another person needs an invite an still no officers :(

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                  April 10, 2008 12:38 PM

                  I'll be adding more officers when I get home from work. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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      April 10, 2008 6:43 AM

      8800GT ordered. Soon...soon

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      April 10, 2008 6:44 AM

      [deleted]

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      April 10, 2008 6:46 AM

      I started working out again last night, after a 2wk hiatus, so I couldn't log any time. I'm just about to ding L19, IIRC... I'm gonna start focusing on getting farther through Book 1, since I'm only on Chapter 5 right now I've been doing a ton of quests in Bree.

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        April 10, 2008 6:56 AM

        I'm only at chapter 8 - we should hook up.

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          April 10, 2008 7:10 AM

          let me know when yall wanna do chapter 12.

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          April 10, 2008 7:27 AM

          Absolutely. Do we both need to be the same level to get credit for the quest?

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            April 10, 2008 7:34 AM

            Chapters 5,6,7 are really simple - I can tag along but don't need the xp.

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              April 10, 2008 8:49 AM

              I don't want to drag you along if I can solo them. I'll give Chapter 5 a shot tonight and touch base once I'm closer to Chapter 8.

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                April 10, 2008 12:31 PM

                you guys are going to freak out on Chapter 11, its wtfbbqawesome (and hard, bring friends).

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        April 10, 2008 7:19 AM

        What's the max level in LOTRO?

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          April 10, 2008 7:22 AM

          50. The Mines of Moria expansion, which should be out at the end of summer, will raise it to 60.

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        April 10, 2008 1:52 PM

        I'm only on chapter 5, too...need to find that ranger fgt near buckland

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      April 10, 2008 7:59 AM

      I'll be online for the next few hours. If anyone wants to do Book1 Chapter 11 message me, i'm Stabb.

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      April 10, 2008 8:07 AM

      Ok so I played the trial, but ti just felt like another grind fest. Go Kill this many, get this, talk to this person. Collect this many, make this. Auction house. /dance /wave /lol

      Really the newest thing I saw in the game was the ability to play a musical instrument.

      Over all the game was really solid, just the same thing I have done in every other MMO for the last what 5-10 years? It will be hard for me to justify the 15$ a month maybe 10$.

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        April 10, 2008 8:09 AM

        Side note, I know MMORPG's are always more fun with groups so that would be the only draw for me to keep playing this would be to group with you shackers and destroy some dragons and stuff.

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          April 10, 2008 10:47 AM

          get a founder's referral and you can play for $10, supposedly. Dunno all the details.

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      April 10, 2008 8:09 AM

      ok - what server is everyone on? and who do i contact to join the guild?

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      April 10, 2008 8:45 AM

      I am confused about the book/chapter stuff. Is there a website that tells you what level you will be at for each chapter/book?

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        April 10, 2008 8:51 AM

        http://www.lotrogold.us/news/Lotro-Book1-Epic-Quests.html

        Btw, you don't have to be a certain level to start or finish an Epic Quest. It's more of a guideline on what level you should be before you take it on...

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          April 10, 2008 9:04 AM

          The 'suggested level' are what I don't get. I have a level 9 or 10 (blue) quest in my log, but the creatures that are guarding the gear are level 13-14. Don't you get less exp once the quest turns blue?

          Also "[12] Chapter 1: Unravelling The Thread
          *snip*
          I completed this quest around level 17 with 1 other person. You may want 3-4 level 15's to easily defeat "

          How the hell are you supposed to finish this quest around level 12 if this guy's saying you need to be at least 15.

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            April 10, 2008 10:23 AM

            Is there a point in which the quest you are on's exp drops?

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            April 10, 2008 12:54 PM

            The color-coding goes, from lowest to highest: Grey > Green > Light Blue > Dark Blue > White > Yellow > Orange > Red > Purple ( http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Creatures ). So the higher the color, the more experience you get -- but the harder it will be. Plus, in the more difficult quests teams of enemies will attack you -- you won't be able to just pick them off one by one.

            I've attempted quests that are way higher than my level just to get experience faster. When I actually need to pass them by beating the boss or whatever, I'll find a few peeps for a Fellowship and then go finish it.

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              April 10, 2008 12:58 PM

              I don't know, I just find it odd to give you a light blue colored quest with white to yellow colored mobs. It's not a group quest either.. Oh well, I'll try again tonight.

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          April 10, 2008 11:15 AM

          That's not true. I can't get the next step in the epic because I'm too low. This is in Ch.2 and I'm only level 16.

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      April 10, 2008 10:34 AM

      I have a question about the trial. Do the 10 days start after I was invited or 10 days after registering the account?

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      April 10, 2008 10:52 AM

      Referral/Founders referral question!

      So if you send a referral/invite to someone and they play for 7/10 days (whatever it is) and they decide they want to play, do they still have to buy a 'copy' of the game, or do they just start paying their monthly fee, or what? I realize that you can actually *get* the game for 10/15 rather than 50, so "game with a month" versus just paying for a month are more or less the same...

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        April 10, 2008 11:04 AM

        You can just setup your account to pay retail once the 10 days are up I believe.

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      April 10, 2008 11:11 AM

      Buddy Codes

      I have 2 more invites to send out. If you get one, PLEASE activate it. Put your e-mail address here. I ONLY HAVE 2 RIGHT NOW BECAUSE PEOPLE FUCKED ME :(

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      April 10, 2008 12:22 PM

      So been thinking about starting this again after only playing a month after release, don't even remember server I was on.

      What's really changed in the last year? I noticed the graphics look a bit better, is the gameplay the same?

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      April 10, 2008 12:27 PM

      I joined the group last night in Bree playing tunes, hit /music and went AFK for a couple minutes not realizing I was not in 'synch' with them (didn't know I needed the abc file)...

      Everybody yelled at me, lol. We should have a directory somewhere of .abc files in one big zip file so we all have the same song..

      I was playing Stairway to Heaven last night and a crowd actually gathered, it was awesome.

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        April 10, 2008 12:37 PM

        OK I'll figure out something and get them on the website.

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        April 10, 2008 12:43 PM

        Oh Gobwig....

        Adams family lol

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        April 10, 2008 1:56 PM

        I've started doing this already, I have a ZIP with a 4-part coheed and cambria song on my shackspace:

        http://misterphoton.shackspace.com/lotro/abc/

        I'll ZIP up my whole music directory tonight and put it up there, it has oodles of music.

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          April 10, 2008 1:59 PM

          also, people who already have a bunch of ABC files they'd like to see put up for everyone, send me an SM and we'll figure out how you can get them to me

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      April 10, 2008 12:45 PM

      my loremaster feels better to play now that i have more than 1 offensive spell at level 13

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        April 10, 2008 12:46 PM

        I thought you were going to be my kid?

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          April 10, 2008 1:03 PM

          yeah but then you stopped replying to my tells asking what i was supposed to do

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            April 10, 2008 1:04 PM

            i still don't know how to /loc but i figured out where that housing dude was

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              April 10, 2008 1:06 PM

              hahaha I moved! I live in the Dwarf houses now haha. If you're on tonight message me.

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                April 10, 2008 1:47 PM

                i may be. ive only been able to get an hour or 2 before bed in the past couple nights

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        April 10, 2008 2:00 PM

        yeah the loremaster got a lot better at L10 (I already liked it) - you get a crowd control blinding ability, your raven gets (or does a level later) another ability to hose ranged combatants, and you soon get other cool stuff. Woo.

Hello, Meet Lola