Shamus Plays: LOTRO, Part 18

Feb 13, 2008
19,430
0
0
Shamus Young said:
Hm. I wonder whatever happened to Amdir, anyway? Maybe I should look into that.
Yeah, about that...

Another of the god awful quests is around that area. I.E. the missing sheep.

Basic rundown is: Walk into a goblin camp, release the sheep, wait for it to trot into all the major NPC piles (like they always do) and then beat them off before they can damage the sheep enough.

Easy enough with a Hunter (Twang, Twang, Twang) - Almost impossible with a Burgler (Single target DPS from Stealth), Loremaster (Debuff/DPS) and walkable with a Guardian (Tank).

But you still can't target the NPCs until they're in their designated position next to the sheep.

Much as I enjoy the game, those things are starting to really get on my nerves.
 

oppp7

New member
Aug 29, 2009
7,045
0
0
Good issue as usual. I especially liked the part about that hunter you knew in real life. As someone who lives in a rural area and whose school had a 'tractor day' every year, I can relate.
 

JoeCool385

New member
May 10, 2010
68
0
0
Dear reader,
The following dialog from Pansy is verbatim from the game. Just so you know.

Love,

Shamus.
Aw, Shamus loves me! *fangirl squee*

We love you too, Shamus!
 

StriderShinryu

New member
Dec 8, 2009
4,987
0
0
The_root_of_all_evil said:
Shamus Young said:
Hm. I wonder whatever happened to Amdir, anyway? Maybe I should look into that.
Yeah, about that...

Another of the god awful quests is around that area. I.E. the missing sheep.

Basic rundown is: Walk into a goblin camp, release the sheep, wait for it to trot into all the major NPC piles (like they always do) and then beat them off before they can damage the sheep enough.

Easy enough with a Hunter (Twang, Twang, Twang) - Almost impossible with a Burgler (Single target DPS from Stealth), Loremaster (Debuff/DPS) and walkable with a Guardian (Tank).

But you still can't target the NPCs until they're in their designated position next to the sheep.

Much as I enjoy the game, those things are starting to really get on my nerves.
Thankfully as you progress through the game there are fewer of these escort quests, and many of the later escorts are fairly strong so that it's not an instant fail if you don't gain aggro immediately. That Sheep one is pretty bad though if you do it on level, as is one in the Barrow Downs where you escort a hobbit by the name of Lalia. Trouble is, the Lalia escort quest actually has pretty good quest rewards if you do it on level which makes it even worse.
 
Feb 13, 2008
19,430
0
0
StriderShinryu said:
That Sheep one is pretty bad though if you do it on level, as is one in the Barrow Downs where you escort a hobbit by the name of Lalia. Trouble is, the Lalia escort quest actually has pretty good quest rewards if you do it on level which makes it even worse.
I'm still failing the Sheep one 5 levels up because it keeps running off. Lalia isn't quite as bad as it foreshadows all of the "RRROAR" points.
 

Captain Kail

New member
Sep 24, 2009
24
0
0
"But...I don't have any friends" Is the best finisher to a chapter this series has had yet. Great writing Shamus!
 

lesterley

New member
Jul 25, 2008
66
0
0
I loved it when the uppity Hobbit got lippy with the Ranger.

That's an extra helping of awesomesauce!
 

MooseHowl

New member
Dec 20, 2008
61
0
0
from the article said:
This game is quite pretty at night. Towns in particular. I've been avoiding questing at night because the screenshots don't really do it justice. It's bright enough to see what you're doing even in the middle of the night, but that's when you're playing full screen. Once you're looking at reduced screenshots on a white background, it's sometimes hard to see what I'm trying to show you. Still, I like to sneak in a an evening shot like this one now and again.
Your monitor must be using a different brightness setting than mine, then. It all looks clear as day to me, just with slightly lower brightness and a different colour sky (I mean the screenshots; I don't have LotRO).

I might be the odd one out, though. I think I just naturally adapted to higher brightness when I tried playing Deus Ex and got a headache squinting about in the dark, before ramping up the gamma. Morrowind, Tremulous... Too many murky games, really... Those LotRO screens look rather nice in comparison. :)
 

Brainst0rm

New member
Apr 8, 2010
417
0
0
Enjoyed this one :) Always great to see holes poked in absurd MMORPG quests. I'm sure that Ranger was very proud of his three goblin carcases.
 

Shjade

Chaos in Jeans
Feb 2, 2010
838
0
0
StriderShinryu said:
Thankfully as you progress through the game there are fewer of these escort quests, and many of the later escorts are fairly strong so that it's not an instant fail if you don't gain aggro immediately.
Escort quests, as a rule, are terrible, but you're right that a few of the later ones are somewhat less terrible. Escorting someone who can not only defend themselves but heal is awesome compared to the sheep or Sara Oakheart.

...and then you get to Eregion and have to walk Bill home. :|

Some of your escorted folks can take care of themselves, but for the most part they're still what you'd expect of escort missions.
 

Eviljesse

New member
May 14, 2010
33
0
0
Maybe this is what happened to Amdir. He ran off to hide in the forest, changed his name, and accidently killed 3 goblins. After that whole mess in the begining, instead of becoming a wraith, he just became 3 times a dense and took up a job of gaurding the town from 3 dead goblins.
 

lluewhyn

New member
Aug 26, 2008
33
0
0
Well, some of the Escort quests are better as you go along. Usually that just means "less" sucky. Only a few are rather decent, where the NPC actually helps you out. There's another bad escort quest just a few levels ahead in the Lonelands, where you rescue a guy at a goblin camp. It's one of those quests not all of my characters end up completing.
 

fanklok

Legendary Table User
Jul 17, 2009
2,355
0
0
Yet no one has offered their services to aid Shamus in Spider massacre fest '10. I would but I don't play LoTRO.
 

likalaruku

New member
Nov 29, 2008
4,290
0
0
I've got enough of this saved in Open Office to make a 208 paged book. Not often you find a ::ehem:: fanfic good enough to print out for latter rereading.
 

RelexCryo

New member
Oct 21, 2008
1,414
0
0
Shamus Young said:
Shamus Plays: LOTRO, Part 18

Someone asks Lulzy to put her hand in a hole.

Read Full Article
"Back at the watch office, Bounder Primstone looks at the rock, and asks "Why are you giving me a pointy stone? What? A goblin tooth? Is this a joke?"


Verbatim. Yes, the game designers give you a very stupid job and then an NPC makes fun of you for doing stupid jobs. And this is part of the main quest line for Hobbits. I'm telling you, the quest writers at Turbine are unrepentant griefers at heart."


Dude, I *HATE* it when programmers do that. Recognizing that thesese quests are stupid is not the same as removing them from the game. It is worse than not knowing these quests are stupid, since you are committing your crime with intent.
 

0over0

New member
Dec 30, 2006
88
0
0
A good read!

I've been wondering what you'd do with a group quest....

Though, until later levels (a little later), you can solo most group quests. Once you hit that first big hub (I forget the name of it, but it's west [maybe?] of the Old Forest), you won't be soloing those group quests anymore.