New Level And A New Horse

I reached the magical level of 35 which is a good time to grab your first "real" horse. It cost a pretty penny at about 75% of my current bankroll. Before I could jump on my new stead I had to complete 4 short quests that only totaled around an hour of my time. The first 3 were just delivering horses to other towns and the final one was a weak little "race". Excited like a little kid getting a new bike I was off to explore blank places on my map. Nearing the edge of one map area I found some out-of-place orcs that would have kicked my ass, they were level 55ish.

Unfortunately my little four-legged friend was not as excited nor happy as I was. Something should have hinted me to the seriousness of what was about to happen.

Negotiators were called in to keep the horse from jumping. Now we got him on a daily regimen of happy pills.

Running into Random Questers

Now just short of level 34 in my Lord of the Rings Online adventures I ran into some people that were able to help me. Three of the four were from the same guild (or Kinship I think they call it in LOTRO). It seems to be happening more frequently as quests are beginning to require a small group people instead of the normal solo quests. The timing could not have been better, there was no way I could have slaughtered these tough little bandits on my own. Would have been nice for a hint that I couldn't do it on my own. A little surprise won't kill you... half of the time.

We ripped through the outlaws quickly and were only hindered by respawn time. Killing random things nearby while we waited was fun. Had 1 little challenge I almost didn't live through. After killing 3 for the quest it was time to run back to town and collect my 20 silver and 2,000 reward experience points (maybe 40,000 exp points per level now). The journey will continue soon.

The start of LOTRO - Review After Level 32

Having made it through 32 levels of my first character on Lord of the Rings Online, I have experienced what this game truly has to offer. I went with one of my favorite classes in most games, the Hunter (ranged fighting style). Equipped with my bow and arrow I was off to start my first quests. Plugged immediately into the center of action (after 12 hours of downloading and updating).

One difference than other games I've played and LOTRO is the amount of experience gained by completing quests. Quests are very rewarding usually in LOTRO, experience as well as useful items. The crafting system was also very well developed. As a tailor I collect hides from certain types of animals that I can then make into armor. There's 6 tiers of recipes, some basic ones learned for each tier and special recipes learned along the way with slaying and questing. Those special recipes might have tougher ingredients to obtain but worth it in the stat boosts.

What I've seen in these first couple weeks is wonderful. Awesome UI, good graphics, not much "grinding" for levels, and best of all, entertainment value. I thought it was similar to Dark Age of Camelot in 2003. I look forward to seeing what LOTRO has to offer for PvP and higher levels.