The theft of a handkerchief: Will it, or will it not, end in mass murder?
You’ll have to read to find out.
Zenimax vs. Facebook
This series explores the troubled history of VR and the strange lawsuit between Zenimax publishing and Facebook.
Programming Language for Games
Game developer Jon Blow is making a programming language just for games. Why is he doing this, and what will it mean for game development?
Megatextures
A video discussing Megatexture technology. Why we needed it, what it was supposed to do, and why it maybe didn't totally work.
Self-Balancing Gameplay
There's a wonderful way to balance difficulty in RPGs, and designers try to prevent it. For some reason.
The Best of 2011
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2011.
It’s an MMO. Everything ends in mass murder.
Even pie deliveries in the Shire.
(At least for me, I certainly wanted to kill all those damn hungry hobbits by the time I failed the fifth one.)
Yeah, I was bitten by that “suggested level” several times. Eventually made me give up on my trial account. I might give it another chance sometime, though (although I just started playing Guild Wards, so…).
Also: wow, I don’t think I’ve been this high in the comments before :)
That’s mostly why I quit the WoW trial, too. They kept letting me accept quests that were WAY over my head and I got well tired of chasing after my body every five minutes.
Edit: It’s nice when you put in little notes about what’s really happening in the game. It gives some perspective for your story and helps me decide whether to try the game.
But WoW has a ranking level for quests. Gray/Green/Yellow/Red/Unavailable depending on the level of the quest and your level.
I demand haiku.
bloody knife in hand
villagers wishes fulfilled
copper pieces suck
The one that gets me is that you have a quest for a certain level, and encounter an elite as part of the mob that is BELOW the level of the mob/quest. Most passing strange.
Of course, the thing about quest drops that is sometimes a pain — some drops come on your first kill. Others take 20000 kills and three acts of Congress to gain.
You make a passing reference to it here, but the few times I’ve played through those areas it always stuck out that the bandits would mock or be rude to the hobbits, but would outright try to kill you on sight. There’s another instance like that early in Evendim.
Oh, and as soon as I saw Ted Pickthorne, I laughed. I was so pissed when the ending description has GOLD coins falling out of the boot you recovered and Ted hands you 90 copper. I refused to do that quest the next six or so characters I brought through there.
Wow, given the huge difference in value, is there no way you can keep the gold? Of course not, but I can see why it is so irritating.
Good read again, Shamus, thanks!
My comments:
1) I think a pickaxe is preferred to a shovel to *start* an excavation especially if the ground is very hard. It might also have something to do with the fact that the prospecting animation uses a pickaxe and they wanted to re-use it.
2) I think the second Blackwold Sergeant in your picture is a glitch, albeit one that I see a lot. It’s especially obvious if they are both running the same patrol route with one just a few steps behind the other.
3) I can’t remember, but I think you used to get a decent pair of shoes at the end of the Pickthorn quest line. Of course, loot at those levels doesn’t really matter, since the marginal difference between top-of-the-line and naked is negligible and you’ll upgrade after another 40 minutes of play anyway. And finally, I don’t think you can see the rewards from several quests down the line, so you would need to check a fansite or the Lorebook to even know.
My favorite part of these (though it’s all a good read) is always the song at the end. Very entertaining.
Pretty background.
Why do they all have money? The bandits have been stealing Purses, Tree diarys, Fishing poles, Handkerchiefs but leaving the townsfolk with thier money? I think that is backwards.
Awesome Blade Runner quote at the end.
Ooh, I missed that. What was it?
While I haven’t played LOTRO I like the idea of the odd rediculously hard elite quest every once in a while so long as you get appropriately rewarded for it (especially if you have the option of grouping to do it if need be). A handful of copper, however, just makes it a waste of time.
This is one thing that I really miss about levelling in WOW, sure you still get elite quests once you reach outland but some of those old world elite quests were fun before they were trivialised in one of the patches. Actually having to kite or use some of your class abilities other than just basic attacks to succeed is fun in small doses.
Dear Shamus
Please destroy the Lego MMO next. I’m strongly tempted to play it, but I just don’t have the time at the moment.
Yours
Gavin
“The theft of a handkerchief: Will it, or will it not, end in mass murder?”
So it’s like Morrowind?
Not to try to ruin the humor by applying logic to part of the joke, because I did find this amusing as always, but I did have one observation on the subject of pickaxes:
First off, a pickaxe is commonly used in digging to break through tough soil, as a shovel is really only suited for soft ground, or for moving already broken dirt. But the situation here isn’t just the fact that you are digging, but that you are digging at the base of a tree. Having done a bit of this myself, I can tell you that you would have to fight your way through an ugly mess of roots, and a shovel just won’t cut it. A standard pickaxe isn’t exactly the ideal tool for this job either, but a very similar implement, the mattock, works quite well.
I was thinking this as well, since I had to use a pickaxe to dig out around tree roots when I was digging postholes for my fence. However, I was trying not to be picky. ;)
Your killing people for a handkerchief and a fishing pole, and YOU are supposed to be the good guy? I don’t think Sauron hinmself would kill anybody for a snot covered rag and a some used sports equipment.
LOTR really needs to work on their quests.
Actually, we used to joke when we played LOTRO that the players WERE the bad guys. After all, the opposite side has animals, undead, orcs, humans, dwarves, etc. all working in perfect harmony, and your side has constant racial squabbles.
Good paper is hard to find in the woods. I bet the tree diary has very soft pages, and if the bandit leader needs a bit more time… well, he can even read a bit.