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???

Ettenmoors: Dana's scrapbook

What a summer! I have been spending more time the past 2 weeks watching Olympics than actually questing. It is one of the few sporting events I watch and in typical fashion, I do it to excess.

Since Ettenmoors is about to get a facelift and remodel, I looked back through my Moors photo file and pulled some of the better ones. I don’t have much witty commentary today; so as followup to the previous <ettenmoors-75-rk-armor-audacity>, here I bring you… my Moors scrapbook. The picture above is where I am standing on a hill in the north, looking down the Hoardale River toward Tol Ascarnen and STAB (south TA bridge).

This next shot is an older one, where I am in Moria armor, before I got the original level 65 Moors armor. I am riding Minas Ithil and meeting Malendar, Arkenstone’s #1 Moors RK who is riding the black PVP steed, Mahogany Bay. Stout Mini Firawing welcomes me; she knows what is in store and has her lightning blue track shoes laced up.

It did not take long to meet up with and make friends with Tharros, the #2 Arkenstone Moors Hunter. He explains what the Moors flags are for and why he is carrying it on his back.

I am well flanked between Tharros and Malendar as we ride toward TA. The fact that I ride out front is more young exuberance, and definitely not because I was “leading” anything.

Friend an fellow RK Nidrad and I are dressed as twinsies.

Going out as a pocket healer to two excellent hunters is a safe place to be sometimes, as I follow Tharros and Woodstalker into battle. This shot was taken before the Commendation armors, back when all high end armor wasn't dyed Rust color.

Heading to Grothum, hunter Woodstalker senses the horde coming our way. Burg Audrelier throws his stealthy protection over us to help us hide or turn the tide.

Sometimes, full Raid versus Raid is the only way to go when the Creeps dominate the land. The Creep raid had taken TR and The Freep Raid presses the door to try to win it back.

And, sometimes, the Freeps win the day and route all there is to see. (Blue dots on the map are Freep controlled; Red dots are Creep controlled.)

Midnightgirl and I are out to save the day!... or at least rescue the hobbit Alf Earthenway from an untimely demise at the hands of goblins in Grothum.

Guardian Corinthianz and I watch from a higher vantage point near the Lugazug entrance waiting to see if the horde is coming to flank us. Dressed in bright gold, one would think he might attract more attention. That should be a requirement that Guards dress as flashy as possible, lol!

A bonnie Bonie burg might be small and favor riding a goat, but she packs a punch!

Tyrant Barashish cannot hold Tirith Rhaw against an assault of a coordinated small team of Auderelier, Corviss, Ioteleth, Midnightgirl, Lillyn, and myself. Like all the keep bosses, at this pre-Rohan update, a small strike force will take them out unless they have more than minimal Creep support.

Amidst a break in the swarming warg pack, Commander Cherrypop and I both go to rez fallen comrade Azarath.

Deep within the heart of the Creeps at Dar Gazag, I stop for a photo op with the Creep trainers, Dolith and Gavran. It is a bad day for the Creeps when the Freeps are standing in their stronghold.

If you ever wondered what happened to Mordirith’s Crown, the Creeps salvaged it and use it to bolster the horde. Claiming and bringing it back to Ost Ringdyr is celebrated throughout Middle Earth (until they reclaim it).

Like the Crown, the Free People have a symbolic object of victory that they will try to keep protected. Here is a picture of story text associated with each.

In case you think that the Devs don’t have a sense of humor, stop by and visit the “Dummies” in the Moors. You can take out your frustration there versus cursing in open forums. J Kudos Kelsen, Jalessa, and Orion.