Death of a Blog and Podcast

Hello Friends,

I am writing to you so that I may pass on this information. As you may have or not noticed I haven’t posted anything in quite a while. This is due to a career change. I am now working between 50 and 70 hours a week. Because of this I am unable to write an article or record a new episode of the podcast. This being said I also haven’t had much time to play any games especially LOTRO. So this time I hang up my hat permanently I have already cancelled my Podcast server but I will leave the Blog untouched. So any information however dated will still be available to you. Thanks you for reading and take care ~ Bor_Jason

Gondor Awaits New Home

As you may have noticed there have been a few post going up on the site in the last few weeks. I am in the process of getting a schedule and structure going that should keep the content flowing. I also am in process of migrating to the My Middle-earth network which I hope to have completed soon. It seemed to me the proper place for my blog and hopefully soon my podcast. With the type of podcast I have and will be trying for is so heavily dependent in the community I figured it to be a good fit. I will endeavor to keep the quality as high as I can manage which of course is like aiming for the floor. I will do my best though and with your help and input hopefully this will become a quality source for information and other juicy lotro tidbits. New Gondor Awaits Link http://gondorawaits.mymiddleearth.com/

As always comment below or email me also on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.

On to Rohan

So no that the NDA is over on Rohan beta I am going to talk about it a bit.

I don’t want to prattle on about the issues because it is a beta and thats what your here to help with. The issues are the reason that any developer has consumer testing. Much easier and cheaper to have hundreds and thousands of people test the product than to have a QA department the size of a small city.

That being said the downside is you really can get what you pay for. People asking debs for an instant jump to level cap. Wanting to talk to the community manager like he has time to be there every waking minute. And then acting like he is the one coding the whole thing. Give me a break your there to test not be a nuisance.

Then unavoidably you have the people that are complaining about the lag and rubber banding. Let face it this is a single test server that most likely has the population of two or more servers. Of course there are going to be through put issues, bug it and get over it. Don’t harp on it for twenty minutes in global chat and act like your the only person it happened to. Your main function as a beta tester is to point out issues with game-play and other such items. An npc in the wrong spot or one floating in the air. A quest that won’t let you complete. Those are the types of things that need reported first off.

I mean for some reason everyone seems to forget that it is beta not a preview event. If it were then perhaps there would be something to complain about. So get over yourselves and hunker down try to break everything so they can fix it right. Comment below, email me or find me on Twitter @gondorawaits and @Bor_Jason. Until next time I’ll see you in Middle-earth ~ Bor

Shot of the Week 8-22

This weeks Shot of the Week brought to you by Edward Ferret on the LOTRO flickr stream.

Shot of the Week from the LOTRO Flickr Stream

If you would like your picture featured here all you have to do is join flickr and the Casual Stroll to Mordor Group. Upload your screenies and tag them with SotW and I’ll keep a lookout. If I decide to use your photo I will let you know by adding the SotW tag to your photo so anyone can see the ones from previous weeks. One request is to not post any screens of the Epic quests as it my be a spoiler to persons who haven’t seen them yet. Thanks for looking and I’ll see you in Middle-earth~Bor

Welcome to the Riddermark……

I wasn’t sure if I was even going to comment on this but I have decided to put my opinion out there. Recently Turbine has released information about the upcoming expansion for The Lord of The Rings Online named The Riders of Rohan. Current pricing for Rohan pre-orders are $39.99 for the base, $49.99 for heroic, and $69.99 for the legendary which is a $10-$20 increase from just last years Rise of Isengard. My first thought was finally I mean we have been screaming for Rohan since we got out of Lothlorien. And looking at the prices I think Warner Brothers knows it (I am giving Turbine the benefit of the doubt not sure if it is deserved or not).

I know that everyone has done break downs of how many store points you save by buying edition X. But I choose to look at it like there is no store main reason being it is not really a fair comparison being that there are 3 tiers of users in LOTRO. One of course being the free players which purchasing and expansion changes for you instantly so breaking it down in that aspect is kind of false being that you are now premium. The premium players do have a little more invested in store prices being that if they do want anything they have to earn TP or shell out some real life coin. Then there are the subscribers which includes the lifetime account holders that get 500 TP a month allowance that really seem like a ploy to get you to spend even more money than you already do. Knowing how people in general can’t wait to get what they think they need which I believe is where a lot of the price points come from. I mean in general is the normal person going to wait 2 months to get their allowance to get that quest pack or mount they want? I know there are a lot of people who do but there is a greater number that shells out the money to get it now.

Help me Middle-earth…Your my only hope!

So earlier today I found that there is no access to the Gondor Awaits podcast. And after having to do an emergency wipe of my computer the originals are gone. I know I should of had another backup but I figured it was safe on the host I was using. Little did I know they would suspend my account and wipe my content due to lack of traffic. Or at least that is how I am reading it. With no warning all of my episodes are gone. So if there is anyone out there that may downloaded any episodes and still has them let me know. Either mail me or hit me on twitter @Bor_Jason or @gondorawaits. I know a lot of the information is dated but there is some that is still on task. I hope to be able to get this put back together since the links on the site and in iTunes are pretty well useless. So that if someone wants to listen they can. Thanks to anyone that ends up helping. Until next time see you in Middle-earth ~ Bor

My future in LOTRO

Thurinbor “The First Bor”

First some background, I have been playing LOTRO since March 2007 and have been a subscriber all but two months of that time. As most of you know I am quite an altoholic. Recently due to schedule and some other outside forces I have reduced my total number from over 60 to around 23. Of these 23 I have 6 at level 59 or higher.

I am one of those players that want to play all of my classes as well as possible. Also I want them to be as helpful as possible to groups. Which requires a lot of work to get those characters to the point of helpfulness I am talking about. This has to a point become less of a monumental undertaking with the removal of radiance. However I still think the overall set up of endgame play and endgame gear is set up for people with only one character. I am not saying that I don’t like a challenge but a grind that turns a game into a job that I don’t like.

I know that Turbine is trying to even this out a little but I still believe some more work is required. With the recent combining of the marks an other barter-able currency is a step in the right direction. I believe that it must go further and here are some of my suggestions.

The Future of Gondor Awaits

First of all I would like to thank everyone who has

supported me in my undertaking.  That being said

I am going to postpone the Blog and Podcast until

further notice.  I am still going to be playing LOTRO

but as of now I am unsure what server I am going to

call home.  After much thought and deliberation with

myself 🙂 I decided with my limitations monetarily and

time constraints I cannot produce the quality that

you guys deserve or LOTRO deserves for that matter.

I really enjoy doing the podcast and the blog but recent events have taken the wind out of my sails.

I really wish I could continue on, but my schedule and other factors just make it impossible to do so.

I am not totally giving up I do hope to be able to come back to this maybe after the first quarter of

2012 but that remains to be seen. I would still love to keep in touch with all of you so I will keep

my twitter accounts up and also have no problem being a guest writer on a blog or just a guest

on a show. That being said I want to wish all of my peers in the LOTRO community the best of

luck and I will continue being a fervent supporter of all of the LOTRO podcasts and blogs.

I am so glad that there are so many able to carry a torch for this game I love so much.

Thanks again and I’ll see you in Middle-earth ~ Jason(Bor)

My Middle-earth.net

http://mymiddle-earth.net/groups/gondor-awaits/

Twitter
@bor_jason
@gondorawaits
@th3b0rr3p0rt
email me

Find me on Raptr

Again thank you for your support.

Shot of the Week 11-9

This weeks Shot of the Week brought to you by blanhe2 on the LOTRO flickr stream.

This a picture from Weatherstock earlier this year.

Shot of the Week from the LOTRO Flickr Stream

If you would like your picture featured here all you have to do is join flickr and the Casual Stroll to Mordor Group. Upload your screenies and tag them with SotW and I’ll keep a lookout. If I decide to use your photo I will let you know by adding the SotW tag to your photo so anyone can see the ones from previous weeks. One request is to not post any screens of the Epic quests as it my be a spoiler to persons who haven’t seen them yet. Thanks for looking and I’ll see you in Middle-earth~Bor

Shot of the Week 11-2

This weeks Shot of the Week brought to you by lyselin on the LOTRO flickr stream.

This should be titled the majesty that was Annúminas your thoughts?

Shot of the Week from the LOTRO Flickr Stream

If you would like your picture featured here all you have to do is join flickr and the Casual Stroll to Mordor Group. Upload your screenies and tag them with SotW and I’ll keep a lookout. If I decide to use your photo I will let you know by adding the SotW tag to your photo so anyone can see the ones from previous weeks. One request is to not post any screens of the Epic quests as it my be a spoiler to persons who haven’t seen them yet. Thanks for looking and I’ll see you in Middle-earth~Bor