Yule festival’s end, 2012

It feels like I wrote more about Yule festival than most festivals this year! the previous post listed a few more Yule links.

The clincher was that there were a lot of horses and warsteeds to talk about, which got the Steed Gallery fired up (all-steeds).

The lildanas always show up for festival, though the hobbit quadruplets usually stay home. This Yule festival however saw two very important reasons for them to come out.

#1 - Sack of Presents: Everyone who showed up to Yule Festival and did one quest got a sack of presents. It didn’t take us long to figure out that the sack of presents was worth camping out in Frostsbluff to get daily. Gifts we got from the sacks included Festival tokens, a special hat and cloak, stat tomes, Danaish got a hobby horse, and level 25 Danadalyn even won a Tarnished Symbol that she gave me to build my level 85 2nd age LI.

#2 – Festival Quest leveling: The quests were all considered as “on-level” quests. That didn’t do so much for me since I was at level 85, although the LIs all advanced with iXP for each quest. The lildanas were all level 25 or level 6, and never really leave the craft-halls except to come to festival. So, going to festival, it was like they were getting free xp for doing what they planned to do anyway. What a win! That reminds me, craft-leveling, I’ll talk soon about the joy of how crafters get xp just for crafting. J

A few friends: As always, festival is a good time to see people who you might not see often. Here are a few friends who I saw at Yule.

Bluepop has a sparkling good time at Yule.

Mysterixox and I wait in line for the Frostbluff Theater. Myst is the talent behind the Lotro Academy podcast Lotro Academy and thinks I am Awesome. J http://lotroacademy.com/?p=962

Aeronwy and I sport matching Fleet-footed Goats to stroll around the town of Frostbluff.

Betzi and Danaszar brave the winter’s cold to run through the snow toward a snowball fight.

Lildanas: The lil-danas As mentioned, because of the Sack of Presents (and general good time of festivalling), the lildanas showed up for the party. Here are a few parting shots to close Yule 2012.

DanaClaus disappears just before Christmas, muttering something about checking lists and and working off cookie weight. Yule festival is one of his favorites.

Danaish rides her new Hobby Horse around Frostbluff like a hobbit on too much sugar and pipeweed.

DanaOnar, one of the hobbit quadruplets, grips a Spring fest giant flower in one hand and a new Yule mug in the other. She enjoyed the warmth of a Spiral Horned Cloak from one of the Sack of Presents.

Danadelion poses stoically with one of the snowmen who leans his head on her shoulder.

Yule Festival was a great time and we look forward to seeing you again next year!

Fetch It, Fish It, Race It

Fetch it, Fish it, Race it… that just about sums up summer festival! 

Unlike some festivals where tokens flow like water (Farmer’s Faire and Fall Festival), summer tokens are more difficult to obtain. Oh sure, I still got everything I wanted. However, there were no new deeds and I did all the consumables deeds last year, so the only summer goals I had were to get all the new things and let the lildanas play.

The “keg race” did not actually launch this year. The summer festival is drawing to an end, and the dwarves have yet to make one drinking race. It feels like going to Disneyworld and the Pirate’s of the Caribbean ride is closed for repairs. The thing is, last year, the dwarf keg race and hobbit food race worked great. They were non-instanced, in the open environment. I actually liked it much better. Such is progress, and by next year, I will start to forget that it wasn't always instanced and will find ways to enjoy the new version.. assuming that the keg race works by then.

I got good feedback on the “scrapbook” style format I used in the past. Since that is one of my favs also, here are a few pictures from Summer festival.

Danaszar races toward the Pond in Bywater, ready to do some fishing.

The festive Bluepop shoots off some fireworks for the crowd in the hobbit food race.

Danaish gets a chuckle out of the “good intentions”, where hobbits were attempting to make a quick path from the Party Tree area to the Taste of Hobbiton. This path did not make it into the summer lineup.

Curalot visits the Taste of Hobbiton to try to guess which hobbit might eat the fastest.

Danaish goes fishing for Amberjacks in Thorin’s Hall.

Danadalyn criticizes her technique, explaining that the best way to attract the good catches is to “use your body”... so she immerses herself into her fishing. Danaish remains unconvinced, not wanting slimy things touching her.

Dalyn scoffs at Jorfi, the dwarf race trader who says, “The races occur all the time during Summer festival!” Yes, you poor thing… forced to read from the script, knowing full well that no races will occur at all.

Dalyn has better luck at the hobbit races. She has her fishing rod in hand just in case Burdy needs backside “motivation” to race well. (We think Dalyn was in a mood... we do not condone caning hobbits, even those that need it.)

I had the pleasure of meeting the extra nice Miriama who was out fishing one evening. May she catch a good selection of Drums in Chetwood. I was sure to pull out as many of the weeds and goldfish as I possibly could within 20 minutes.

With both Farmer’s Faire and this Summer festival, I really have enjoyed the animated barter goodies!

Danaonar, Chief Housing Decorator, shows off the selection of the four new animated campfires we brought home from festival.

Here is the Feast Day Cook Fire, roasting a nice juicy auroch over the open pit.

The Glowing Bonfire. Very glowy, perfect for toasting marashmallows for s'mores.

The Modest Cookfire. The hobbits kept burning themselves trying to see what was cooking in the pots.

The Smoke Bonfire. That one will be good if sickle flies try to invade Falathlorn. Which fire is your favorite?

DanaHorn gathered up the newly acquired festival clothes, and with a spark of creativity, she decided to get a jump on Yule postcards. Here is the Summer festival dress and hat, dyed red.