Where to begin?
Not only do I have a longer commute, I’ve been on night shift for a while, now. I am writing this blog entry from work, from where it will be sent home via email, then quickly formatted and posted. I just don’t seem to have time for gaming on weeknights any longer, let alone blogging. Such is life.
Note that I did not say that I simply do not have time for gaming – perish the thought. My gaming has been restricted to the weekends, though, which beckon gloriously to you on Wednesdays, teasing ever closer on Thursday, come into reach on Friday, and you grab hold with both hands for Saturday and Sunday – only to slip into the pit of despair when you find yourself slogging off to work on Monday.
I’m still playing LotRO. Burhhelm has arrived in Moria. Still guildless, he spends his time exploring, which is really one of the things I love to do. So, it’s really not much of a sacrifice to be without a guild. Besides, with my schedule what good would a guild be to me, or vice-versa?
I’ve begun tinkering with legendary items in LotRO. It does seem to me that there’s no really good reason to get wrapped up with them at level 54, like Burhhelm. Tinker around with them at 50, then go back to using your trusty crafted weapons – they are far superior to lower level “legendary” items. I find it interesting that you can craft your own legendary items from fragments of other ones (if you find a legendary item for which you have no use, you can take it to a relic-master in order to have it smashed to bits). Then again, I do get a vicarious thrill out of crafting in this game, and I still have no explanation for that.
So, right now my goal is to get Burhhelm up to level 60, forge a nice legendary sword, and cause a great deal of mayhem while grinding out old deeds. By the time I’m bored with that, I can either try my hand at raiding in LotRO, or see how Champions Online turns out to be. I think it’s a win-win proposition.
I’m going to close by talking about golld old paper-based RPGs. Specifically, Pathfinder. The core rulebook has been released, and I’m still digenting the contents. I do have to ask: why nerf the cleric? Taking away heavy armor proficiency and messing with their turn undead ability (which is really their class-defining ability in D&D) is a bit much. I understand that a cleric character can basically be built back up by using feats (which come fast and furious in this game). However, they really shouldn’t have to. Anyway, I’ll post more musings as I come up with them.
Nuts and bolts. Mostly nuts. 