Party Chat
The Ladies of LotRO
Dec 13th
The road goes ever on and on...
The land of Middle-earth has been brought to life by Turbine in the form of Lord of the Rings Online. The community surrounding the game is one of the most passionate and creative communities I have seen in a long time. A little while ago, I sat down with some of the talented ladies who used World of Warcraft as their medium. Today, I sit down with a few ladies from LotRO to talk about what they do. I had a chance to talk to Lunna the Burg, a LotRO machinima artist and comic creator, Goldenstar and Kiarane from A Casual Stroll to Mordor and our very own Celeste who wrote class guides on LotRO Reporter and now writes for MMO Reporter.
Candace: Were you a fan of Tolkien before you started to play Lord of the Rings Online? What caused you to look at this game and play it?
Goldenstar: Yes, I was a Tolkien fan and had read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I was also a big MMO player. Seeing the Tolkien story in a gaming genre I also loved was too much to resist!
Kiarane: I played Wow for a couple of years before getting tired of the game. I was seeking a change of scenery so I went online to make some research about which Mmo or Pc game I could try. I was looking for a medieval fantasy game with European aesthetic (as opposed to asian/anime inspired worlds) and good reputation. When I first stumbled across articles on LotRO, I decided to give it a shot, why not? After all I’ve been a fan of Tolkien since I was little. I tried the 10 days trial and never looked back since!
Celeste: I wasn’t a huge fan of Tolkien in particular but I’ve always loved stories that explore the journeys we take in life that don’t go as planned. I was drawn into LOTRO by the stunning graphics and rich lore.
Lunna: I was a fan of the movies but had never read the books. My husband is a huge fan of Tolkien and he was the one who got me interested in the game. Once I started playing I fell even more in love with Tolkien’s world and am working my way through the books. My favorite so far has been The Hobbit.
Party Chat Spotlight: Bio Break
Dec 7th
Bio Break is one of our favorite blogs out there. It comes to us from Justin who is a fellow parent gamer, a fellow freelance writer and a fellow LotRO fan. His blog delves into the silly, serious and fun side of MMORPGs with some insightful editorials and community-centric questions.
We love reading Justin’s confetti of posts. This past week, Justin showed us a color wheel of World of Warcraft expansions, talked about Katie’s victory and reminded us why we love The Legend of Zelda. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Bio Break yet, go bookmark it!
You can also catch Justin at Massively where he writes a weekly LotRO column, The Road to Mordor.
Party Chat: "Farewell Old Azeroth"
Nov 23rd
It’s Tuesday which means downtime for a few million people in the United States, Australia and Latin America. Of course I am talking about World of Warcraft. Today, the downtime comes on a bitter-sweet note. It is World of Warcraft’s sixth “birthday” and it is the day that Azeroth is broken apart. For those of you who have been in and out of WoW as long as I have (2005), you will probably have a small gamers shell shock when you log in after maintenance. You will also probably miss some areas in Azeroth and their familiar faces.
Today on Twitter, I asked that very question “It is official. The Azeroth that we knew is gone. What are you going to miss the most? I’m going to miss South Shore. I loved that place.” Here are the answers from the community at large.
@Altoholic “I’m going to eventually miss everything that is gone. For now, I’m just going to enjoy the new atmosphere.”
@RockTB “I took screens of old Azeroth for a girlfriend at the time, maybe three years ago. Those lands, and that time, are gone…”
@m4tt “I’m guessing this is WoW, why has it gone?” (D’oh!)
@voiceguy1comm I guess that makes my WoW/Kraftwerk parody obsolete :-( http://youtu.be/feNKlZzIiQY (Safe for work and quite classic)
@phoenix1914 “epic battles at south shore yup” (Awesome points for being around during the South Shore / Tarren Mill battles!)
@Jaithas “*looks out of his Mage tower* I can’t see any change, I guess Deathwing wasn’t as bad as we thought.”
Party Chat: Lord of the Rings Edition
Nov 10th
Party chat is a weekly blurb that tells us what the gamers are talking about on Twitter. Little pieces of interesting, funny or tongue-in-cheek “news” tweeted by gamers are featured.
@Sypster 8 Reasons Why Rivendell Sucks: http://wp.me/po8zb-22n
- It’s funny ’cause it’s true! Rivendell in Lord of the Rings Online is a beautiful but scary major city. Players beware of the river.
@tartdarling When I was a kid, I used to get mad that I was the only girl and had to be April because I wanted to be a ninja turtle. #geekconfession
- Fortunately for this girl, she’s not alone. I can admit to the same thing. I can also admit to being forced to play Lady J when the boys were playing GI Joes.
@CelOokie Evendim becomes Everswim once more now that I’m premium. #lotro
- LotRO’s “Everswim” is a treacherous stretch of water in the Evendim zone. Players with no swift travel access (Premium and Free players) are stuck experiencing the long swim across the zone.
@manorton New combined LFG is up! Bigger is NOT always better :P Bad Tanks coming out the woodwork #wow
- Blizzard has combined battle groups together for random dungeon queues. They did this to make queues shorter. However, many players are complaining it’s making it easier for bad players to run heroics now.
@Lilithiel It’s never good, when in the ladies’ room, to hear another woman giving herself a pep talk about her bathroom ordeal. FFS!
- It’s one of those things that you just have to read. You read it! You can’t un-read it!
@Stepto Wow. http://www.gamingnexus.com/FullNews/I-think-Kinect-is-OK2c-but-its-the-best-24150-I-spent-on-a-console/Item20369.aspx
- The long link is a bit misleading, but this is a good read! A Father discusses how using Kinect has brought his autistic son into video games with him.
Party Chat: Music Edition
Nov 5th
It’s time to see what the gamers are talking about on Twitter this time around. Fortunately, we caught some free music from a follower that we’re passing along to you. Enjoy the linkage and the song!
@jaugustine Changes to the WoW forums on the new site: All bans have been lifted and there’s no Off-topic section. Expect high number of bans for awhile
- Yet another reason to stay far far away from the World of Warcraft forums. Especially for the next few weeks.
@Belamanth The myth of the not-rotting McD burger – busted (in a way) http://bit.ly/cue2OW
- It’s true. The sensational “non rotting burger” article has been passed around for awhile. Even the creator of the “Supersize Me” documentary has proven McDonald’s burgers will rot. However, the fries are another story.
@ConanOBrien This Halloween, I’ve hired Larry King to sit in a rocking chair on my front porch.
- Because Conan is awesome and he “gets” the internet social network thing. Also, Larry King in a rocking chair on Halloween sans make-up could be quite creepy…in the right lighting.
@thinkphpgeek I have so many projects going that people tend to think I am doing nothing. =P
- We all want to convince people of the same thing. Most people don’t believe us.
@Mayvix Free “halloween Single” enjoy http://bit.ly/9G8PCg Via #soundcloud please RT if you approve please keep in mind it’s no “lady gagya” tho…
- A gamer and an electronic music producer. Plus, it’s free music from the artist. Pretty sweet. Thanks Mayvix!
Party Chat – Steampunk Edition
Oct 25th
Party chat is where we scour the Twitter to find out what other gamers are chatting about. Sometimes, we scour other social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and Digg as well. This time on Twitter, we got the party chat going with a question.
Candace asked: “My brother said “I like Allods because of the steampunk in it, but I want a true Steampunk MMO to come out”. Heck yes. What about you?”
You answered:
@ShaneKnysh There was a lot to draw me to Allods. Steampunk included. I would definitely play a #Steampunk #MMO.
@NiteInnKeeper Steampunk is made of win and awesome.
@MiddleEarthChron I played this awhile ago, http://bit.ly/T5U5o Neo Steam, Steampunk MMO
Here’s what others are chatting about on Twitter.
@Beau_Hindman That Darkwind game’s NPCs are sending me emails with information — how cool! More games should do that.
We have to agree with Beau, that is a really cool idea. It certainly takes immersion in the game to a new level.
@docholiday New post: LOTRO – Upcoming Crafting Changes from Kate Paiz http://bit.ly/a6XWRu #lotro
LotRO blogger, Doc Holiday discusses the latest changes to LotRO’s crafting system and the LotRO store. Well worth a read.
@NebsiNsaNe So tomorrow is the B&N announcement of the Nook Color.. I hope its a good one! #fingerscrossed
It’s true. According to The Next Web, Barnes and Noble is going to release an Android powered full color Nook this week.
See you next time on Party Chat!
Party Chat 10/08/10 Edition
Oct 8th
Party chat is a brand new regular column on MMO Reporter. I follow a lot of people on Twitter who bring some very interesting things to the table. Sometimes, it’s an interesting screen shot or a bit of news we may have missed. Other times, it’s just a really interesting quote. Party chat takes the best “tweets” from the week and displays them here complete with extra information if needed.
- @NickWhitman Silicon Knights making a new X-Men game? I KNOW I shouldn’t get excited, but damn it, I WANT to believe.
The new X-Men game was announced on October 7th complete with a trailer for the game entitled “X-Men: Destiny”. No platform has been announced for the game just yet but developers are promising a new and exciting X-Men experience. In other words, we have no idea what they are doing yet but they are making the game.
- @Achloryn Well… at least the ancient dragon died happy.. #randoms***youfindinwow http://yfrog.com/0sg6zsj
This is a pretty neat screen shot of something Achloryn discovered in World of Warcraft. Achloryn is also the newest member to the MMO Reporter team. He’ll be providing us with World of Warcraft related news and opinions. Welcome!
- @ELahti So, 2011 going to be an incredible year on the PC. http://imgur.com/y5ZUS
If the Senior Editor of PC Gamer says it then there is some credibility to the post. The image file he linked speaks for itself. 2011 is going to be a really good year for us PC gamers.
- @psychochild Latest blog post: Indie games as a business http://bit.ly/9J5sfj #gamedesign
A pretty interesting post on the business of indie games. It comes from a developer’s point of view and goes behind the scenes of gaming, delving into the money side of things. If you are interested in what makes a game, this is a great post to read.
That’s all for party chat this week. If you think your snippets on Twitter may make it on the pages of MMO Reporter, you can always follow me or MMO Reporter on Twitter.
