U10: Virtues and Property Guards

With Update 10 release, some of the stats (power) changed wildly, some of the calculations (tactical mitigation) changed also, and it appears that some of the character baselines might be different than they were before. To fully diagnose changes that are not included in the Release notes and are not gear related, I will take the character to no gear or traits and rebuild it. Assuming I don’t get derailed by a festival or boredom, I will recreate and present all of the traits, calculations, and gear changes post-U10. 

(Update May-2013: Here are a few followup articles on U10 changes... u10-runekeeper-armor-sets, u10-rohan-rings, u10-new-loot-gear-and-jewelry, u10-t9-and-eastemnet-relics.)

as usual, click picture for bigger view, chart is color-coded to see high (blue), medium (purple), and low (green) modifiers

First part is done… and… there are no changes to Virtues. They are the same virtue numbers post-U10 as they were pre-U10.

However, with the new calculation for Tactical Mitigation involving Will, you might need to retrait virtues.

Tactical Mitigation = (Vitality *4) + (Will * 2) + (Armor / 5)

With the addition of Will as a modifier, it moved my Tactical mitigation past the cap. Fortunately, most of my pre-U10 traits were chosen to maximize tactical mitigation. Now, I can unwind that and pull back below the cap.

Virtues are one of a RKs best ways to build defense. My new trait set I have at this moment is Zeal, Innocence, Confidence, Idealism, Loyalty. The build gives a good helping of Physical Mitigation and Resistance while reducing the gain in Tactical Mitigation. 

Ok, so there is no relation between the two subjects *Virtues and Property Guards*, but just posting a table of Virtue stats is not very visually interesting. I drafted my Property Guards to stand-in for some pictures!

The “Elf female Property Guard” has been around a long while; I’ve had her on staff since at least Yule festival 2011. Until recently, she guarded the little house in Thorin’s cave. 

The “Shieldmaiden Property Guard” is new as of U10. There are other property guards sold from the lotro store, including a dog, a Rohirrim, and a Dwarf to name a few. All are animated and cost mebbe 595 TP (don't quote me on that). 

I would buy more Guards except the housing still only allows a certain numbers of spaces to put things. At some point, Turbine will realize that not only do their paying customers desire it (yes, I am VIP), it is to their financial advantage to put some effort into improving housing. Soon, right?

Steed of the Lore-master, Farmer’s Faire End

Someone asked me recently if I got the Steed of the Lore-Master. Well, of course. I actually think it is pretty. J  He has a blue outfit that suits me well.

He is a bit magical and has good balance to be able to hold those books and scrolls in place the way he does while riding through traffic in the Moors. With those scrolls just haphazardly tossed around, it looks a bit like my desk. Note to self… buy scroll-cases to pack that stuff down.

Here we are taking our large festival haul back to the home of Angels. I ended up buying one of everything from the Faire, 6 steeds, an extra Chicken coop because I NEEDED it, and a dozen gifts for others. The Angel house is “busy” with animated things like the windmill, the Cave-claw, and the chickens. I should bring the Elf Female Property guard over. JThe only complaint I have is that I want more "hooks"... if I want my yard to look like festival threw up on it, that should be my prerogative.

  

Farmer’s Faire Grade = C minus

Here was my assessment during the Faire. (faire-hobbits-dont-get-drunk)

Things that worked:

•  Fat Mayor
• Restocking Bywater
• Manning the market
• Fishing: except Fishy, very fishy
• Mushroom hunt
• Easy access – There were conveniently located horses In MD and others to make travel to Bywater very friendly.
• Easy token gathering – Token gathering was very easy, but probably about right to attract casual attendees. 

Things that were fail:

1. Bounder rounds – Eventually this was fixed to where hobbits actually got drunk. It was completely broken on server the first 10 days. Likewise, Revenge of the Drunk was tied to Bounder rounds (otherwise it was fine). The change came very late for some who couldn’t get to Lorien to get help from the elves.
2. Fishing: Fishy, very fishy – As far as I am aware, there was no one in Arkenstone that completed this quest. The fish that had to be caught were 10 Easy Fish, 10 Simple fish, 10 Possible fish, x Tricky fish, x Unlikely fish… without catching a Bad fish. I don’t know what the odds were, but the closest I ever came was to the Possible fish stage and caught two. With a 24 hour CD and odds that far to the extreme, this quest was a FAIL. If it were my world, I would (i) change the odds dramatically, (ii) change the CD to a much shorter time like 30 minutes, (iii) give a slight advantage to fishing skill to encourage people to actually fish more and have a goal, and (iv) reduce the number of fish to only need half as many.
3. Egg Scramble – Mixed thoughts. It was possible to find the white eggs with many tickets; and with persistence, it was possible to obtain festival eggs in-game or trade. However, the final count of Golden eggs on Arkenstone was about 5 total for the Faire. That is stupidly bad odds, FAIL. If it were my world, I would (i) lock people out from getting more than 5 white eggs in a round so that others have the chance to win, (ii) change the odds dramatically here also, (iii) lock down how many festival eggs one player could get per round to improve win tally for all, (iv) drastically improve the Golden eggs odds and lock it to once per player, (v) fix the timer since the length of the rounds were oddly random, and (vi) remove the TicketGate.
4. Ticket BOA – The Faire started with tickets unbound. Apparently, Store sales of tickets were not good (or it was unintentional to begin with), so they went to BOA. I don’t like the idea of the tickets at all, and going BOA was like a flip of the finger toward players. 

Farmer’s Faire Festival Finale

Though I ended with mixed feelings about the Faire, I still enjoyed playing with the people around me and enjoyed the quests that were working.

Reader and new friend Aeronwy visits the Egg hunts and shows how to rock the Purple Steed outfit.

Sis Sansanor rides in the dark hours toward the Faire on the Steed of Night, ready to see what festivities await.

Danadelion, like all of the lildanas, got her Farmers Faire Steed. She hung around to have a nice chat with Will Peartree.

Danadalyn really hit it off with Carl Proudfoot. It isn’t surprising as most hobbit boys like the wide-eyed minstrel Dalyn.

For such little activity it actually has, Hengstacer is a popular place during festival. Dalyn met up with Cherrypop, riding the Fleet-footed goat, as both were preparing to get their festival steed.

Lagoona sports her newly acquired Circlet of Fresh-Picked Flowers. As so few Golden eggs existed, she set her target on some white eggs and a few festival eggs.

Danaboffin voices her opinion about the special request to catch an “Unlikely fish” from a pond that apparently has no Unlikely Fish in it.

Before Danaonar left to go back to her role as Thorin’s Hall greeter, Nick Cotton expressed his feelings asking her to stay. Unsure if “carnival life” is for her, she got flustered by his forward gesture. Should she accept this thick footed fellow’s request, or head back to her hammock alone???

You'll Yule festival!

Alrighty then! I am alive and well in my new bloggy home! I’m ever so glad that you have made your way here too.

I have so many things in my head to write about… but the first one that I didn’t want to overlook was Yule festival!  “But Dana”, you say… “This is February; it isn’t Yule fest time”. Too-true, too-true… Yule fest did end only three weeks ago due to the unusually long fest duration and we haven’t had another fest, so it still counts. Besides, I really liked some of the pictures. J

Beginning:

To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall… Now dash away, Dash away! Dash away all!

Lead on Cremello Szand! Festival has begun!

So many things to do, so many things to see! Dalyn, put us in the mood with a lil holiday jingle and welcome visitors to Frostbluff.

Abominable 2011

“Mr. Bumble… <poke, poke>. Mr. Bumble, time to wake up…I saw some fresh deer wandering by… the red-nosed ones are extra sweet. Time to get up and play at festival!”

Snowman Army 2011

“Mwah-ha-ha-ha! My snowman army grows larger! Last year we were relegated to the far field. Now we move closer to take over the town. Our numbers grow. Good work to my minion Virgil Greenfield for paying the people to build the army that will enslave them. Beware!”

Dancing

Time to go out with friends and do a lil line dancing! Irialeth, Cherrypop, and I bring the dancing to the people, dancing overhead at the entrance to Frostbluff.

New Horses

Festival steeds! Some of my favorite steeds! Every festival the lil danas and I go out to pick up our festival horses. The strangest thing happened this festival. Hengstacer offered two new steeds this past Yule. That had not happened before. In festival’s past, Hengstacer offers a newly designed tack for the current festival as well as the previous year’s festival. This Yule, there were new two steeds plus the last year’s steed. I’m not sure if someone got overzealous and it came out in err, but there it is. J The grey one with white covering is the first 2011 Yule steed (offered beginning 12/20), and the brown one with blue covering was the second 2011 Yule steed (that showed up at the farm around the first week of January).

A Goat!

I forgot I even had this goat. Goats are a bit unnatural as a steed, but I like them all the same. As I was recalling fond memories of Yule, I came across this picture of me on a Fleet-Footed Goat riding through Frostbluff, so I must have gotten it as a Christmas present from the lotro store and forgotten. What WAS in that Mystery Drink anyway??? I’m going to have to check the stable when I get home to see if I got any other steeds.

A Property Guard

Some of this is coming back to me now. There was a good sale, and who could pass up a good sale? Somechick the “Elf Female Property Guard” was part of the Christmas shopping. She is free to roam, but mostly she just stands there in the yard making sure no dwarves or goats try to swipe mail from the mailbox. You go Somechick! When the lil danas finally move out of my house, it is good to know Somechick will still be there making sure the property is guarded.

Consumables

Oh consumables. The snowballs were fun. You earn them, you throw them, you earn the experience of having the skill to always gather a snowball to throw. Very useful. …but, oh the shocker of three of the other festival skills. Those three were tied to the same Cooldown timer, and that timer was 5 minutes. Since you need 300 for deed completion, that would be 1500 minutes worth of consumabling for EACH of those three. To get all three, it is 4500 minutes. Really? Working alone, that is 75 Hours minimum to complete the consumable deeds? Really? Which silly person came up with that as a reasonable deed?

I express my shock and dismay.

I gave it a shot, working on it several times with others such as Nimitar, Chupachup, Daweirdo, Weimar, Ariahnnas, and Thenarch, but alas, I did not finish those three. I made it about halfway with another 50 each of the three consumables that I stored in the vault for later use. If two other people did the same, and we worked on it another 13 hours, I would finish. But, really? Those will remain the only three festival deeds I have ever skipped.

Danadalyn advises that sometimes one can consume a lil bit too much. Wise words lil dana.

Theatre

The theatre. The theatre is a lot of fun! I look forward to another story from the hobbits next year. Last year, the lil danas and I must have watched or performed that show a hundred times. It does sum up their attitude though. The show is about how Gandalf, the villain, led poor Bilbo off on an adventure. Gandalf is the bad guy, the dwarves are bad guys, yada yada.

Claus was busy with whatever-it-is-he-does and missed last year’s festival. This year’s extra duration Yule let him join in the frivolity. Here is a shot of “the star” meditating backstage.

As much fun as it is to actually perform, sometimes, it is better just to hang out with friends and watch others perform. Here Isilibel, Belile, and I wait in the audience and watch Candykane star as the hero of the show and silence the critics with her moving emotes.

Friends

One thing I have always liked about festival, is that often I see friends I don’t normally see. Festival has a way of bringing people together. Sometimes, I meet new friends there also. Here are a few from Yule.

Tanais. I nearly always see Tanais at festival. She is my friend, and one of the leaders of the Swords and Spirits. I first met Tanais in the theatre last year.

Saeiranos. I met Sae at this Yule festival. She joined the Riders of Rohan during festival and I am glad she is around.

Lynrial. Here is Lynrial talking to Danaish. I’ve known Lynrial longer than nearly anyone else in Middle Earth.

Sparowen. I met Sparowen at the 4th Anniversary party when we were playing in the beer brawl.

Lynrieth. I have known Lynrieth almost as long as I’ve known Lynrial. Mebbe longer.

Nimitar. Here is Nimitar chatting with Danaszar. There are not many that are more determined to make the most of festival than I am. Nimitar of one of those people... without even having to ask, I’m pretty sure he completed his 300 festival consumable deeding.

Cherrypop. Where did I meet Cherrypop? She has always been here hasn’t she? I believe I met and hung out with her at one of the earliest festival I ever attended. She has been my friend as long as I can remember. She is notable as one of the highest ranking RKs in the moors, and her name makes a warg’s fur stand on end and defilers turn grey with dread. I gave Cherry the red skirt in the picture for Christmas. It was lovely but I am not fashion-wise enough to know how to match it. Within a day, Cherry had assembled the ensemble below. Mad skills.

Lobelia, the grinch who nearly stole Christmas

Well, you can’t have festival without a lil drama.

Our heroine, Danadalyn, upon entering Frostbluff could immediately sense something amiss. Why does the guard want ME to bother these poor people who are sitting around town? Why not just put them to work? If they really have nowhere to go here in town, why not head to Bree? There seem to be lots of people doing nothing there. Learn a trade, mebbe? Then you too could stand around Galtrev crafting basement. At least it is warm.

Ah, Danadalyn confronts Banker Archbluff. He blames me for the plight of the poor? Why is it everyone else’s fault Archie? You know what… someone has been messing with your mind… You haven’t been talking to someone named Sarah Oakheart have you? No?

Hmm….

Donning her riding cap, Danadalyn rides toward the Shire.

Yes, as expected, Lobelia might be behind this.

Hmm… she is using an old Shire law, “Whosever resides in the Hill at Bag End shall be charged with the planning of festival activities and shall preside over said activities…”.

Lobelia is pilfering money out of Frostbluff with the help of Mayor Goodnough to line his pockets and bankroll some project.

How to stop her?

Ah-ha!

The Great Smials holds the library of Shire records and the Book of Festival Law. If enough signatures can be signed on this petition, we can vote her out of festival planning. That is a start. But, how to get Lobelia to admit she was wrong and return the money to those citizens of Frostbluff?

I need a bit of help. Time to call on the big man.

With a bit of Yule magic, Danaclaus pulls out a bag of “Dear Danaclaus” letters written by good lil hobbits during the yule season. With a hearty chuckle, he pulls one out of the stack and acknowledges that this opened letter was delivered to him by mistake and that he was returning it to its rightful owner. The letter was written by Lobelia and addressed to Mayor Goodno. Perhaps you can get it to its destination, Danadalyn?

Ha! Caught in the act by your own words. You intended to split the festival profits between yourself and Mayor Goodno! Time to do the right thing Lobelia. Do it for the lil ones like Marigold. (whispers… “show the sad panda face Marigold”). Thus, festival is saved and the people said “Hurrah!”.

End

Fear not, Angels are all around you. Sometimes you just need to look up.