Monthly update - still on a hiatus.

Good news; got a couple cheap games; Wet (7 eur from Gigantti) and Crackdown 2 (14 eur from Play.com).

Bad news; still haven't bothered to boot the consoles, aside from a small stint with the latest Splinter Cell - Conviction.

Enjoying my VIP-time at LOTRO. First character made level 40 yesterday (hunter), with the minstrel following at level 31 and a new addition, the guardian at level 21 (made as a "jeweller / cook alt", really).

The guild I'm in, Keepers of the Palantiri, is full of nice people who are helping each other out (hi guys!).


And to make sure I don't have too much time for console games, I just bought a .308win rifle and I'm shopping for a suitable bird scope now... :D

Still playing... LOTRO.

Haven't even bothered to boot the Xbox 360 or PS3 for 3-4 weeks.

Only other game that I took a quick peek at was Fallout: Las Vegas (10 minutes, can't comment on it very much - except it's "very Fallout 3").

Actually ordered the Mines of Moria addon for LOTRO; new areas and quests, higher level cap, two new classes and two more character slots, higher tier of crafting and 30 days free VIP status.

Not too bad for an addon selling as low as $9,99 in the US (more like $26 with shipping overseas, dammit! ;) ).

Too. Busy. To. Post. Must. Play. More. LOTRO...

So Lord of the Rings Online went "free" to play.

I shelled out the $6.50 to get a "premium" account like I did with Dungeons & Dragon Online. Now, I could've got all this (sans the Turbine Points) for $2 if I paid with the mobile phone option, Paymo - but it didn't pan out (the operator thinks it's a leisure SMS and it won't work since I've blocked them and all adult stuff on my phones).

But, anyway. The "premium" account got me...

• 5 auction house slots
• 5 gold maximum (like this is a huge problem yet, with 0,6 gold having been my maximum before I bought the 500 silver horse I had to buy a "riding skill" for)
• ability to trade with players
• better chance to get in if there's a queue (there might be, read on)

Those are the things I cared about, anyway.

Anyways, I played LOTRO in the beta back in... 2007 I think. It didn't grab me then. But since then DX10, lots of polishing and a thousand new quests later, the game looks pretty damn spiffy. Oh, and it has players. A lot of them.

In fact I can't remember the last time I saw a town as busy as Bree in a MMORPG. And it doesn't stop there - the countryside sometimes has more players than orcs or bears. An "orcicide" can be seen in the rush hours. Which is sometimes a problem when you have to wait for a rescue target NPC to spawn for 5 minutes - the boss mobs thankfully spawn quickly, sometimes too quickly (as in "right after you kill and loot the previous one and haven't healed up yet" ;P ).

Running with all the bells and whistles, huge view range and maximum textures on (with my HD5850) the game doesn't have to be ashamed vs any modern MMORPG.

Oh, and I can't think of a game that had this much... for the lack of a better word, "geometry". I don't think Middle-Earth has a level spot, aside from the fields (where you can grow crops, naturally). Everywhere you can see hills, mountains, pits, lakes and... oh did I mention lakes and ponds? Damn there are a lot of those around - feels downright at home (Finland is the "Land of the Thousand Lakes", remember? ;) ). Oh, and the Tolkien borrowed names help too; how about the troll tribe of Rauta-Lehmä? While being completely stupid ("Iron-Cow"), it's still Finnish, as are a lot of place names too (just as silly, most of them)...

So after a couple of weeks in the Middle-Earth - I recommend anyone interested in MMOGs take a tour. It's free!

www.lotro.com

Slow going...

... on the gaming front.


Still playing RDR, aka "Grand Theft Horse". Other than that, I've only had the time to play a little DDO (Dungeons & Dragon Online) on the PC.

For a free game it's pretty nice. I was in the beta back in, oh... 2005 (?), and it definitely didn't grab my interest back then at $15 per month, but now... I did fork out $6.50 for a "premium" account that gives you 4 character slots vs 2 of the free account, and no auction house limitations.

You can still pay $15 per month for "Unlimited" access, which includes dungeons, races & classes people otherwise have to pay for to access. I think the basics are enough for my occasional DDO interest, though.

If you want to try Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited out, go here.

Free gaming: Dungeons & Dragons Online goes "Free"

Or should I say "Dungeons & Dragons Online Online", as most people use "DDO Online"? :P

Anyways, if you're seeking for a MMORPG hit and you're low on money or like me, you're a avid pen & paper DnD player, check DDO out.

I tried the beta in 2006, but it didn't grab me. But as it's free now, I thought "what the heck". I wasn't disappointed.

Though leveling is a bit slow (probably because of level 20 being the max, like in your average DnD campaign without Epic Levels), the game seems pretty fun - and most important to me, soloing seems OK.

Now what the "free" means; no customer support and people who pay (monthly, or at least for the one-time license like buying the Stormreach DVD version) get to cut you in log-in lines.

Fine by me, as far as they don't skimp on the content or make the paying customers "Über" (well, selling +50% experience gain potions for real money in the Turbine shop might be considered twinking someone to become über faster, but who cares).


You can create an account and download the game, here.