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So is anyone on Vox playing this any longer? The last post on this in months was from me, sadly.

I figured it might be a good idea to see where everyone is. I thought it might be worth starting a Kinship if there was enough interest. I currently play with a couple of other people I know (mostly) through Vox, so I guess that's a starting point.

Server: Gladden
Character: Branson
Race: Human
Class: Champion
Profession: Weaponsmith
Level: ~37
Horse: Yes
Goal: Now that I have a horse, my main interest is in getting past Rivendell and doing more instances.

So this is the game I've been playing most lately. Here are some random screenshots I liked that I took myself. There's some duplicates in there, sorry.

As I said last night while Nav, Farwing and Tryll were kindly escorting me as I stumbled back into the game, the greatest thing for me was to see a troupe of Windriders mounted and galloping together across the countryside. 

I left for the summer before we all had mounts so I had never seen this before.  It was truly awesome and inspiring.  I wish I had taken a screenshot but I was having a hard enough time remembering what all these key are for. ;) 

While this is fresh in my mind...

First you will need to have the Riding Trait.  You can't get this until level 35.  But once you are 35, you can get the trait even if you don't yet have the money for a horse.

Right now, horses cost 4 gold, 220 silver.  The preliminary riding quests will net you about 40s in themselves, so if you go with just enough to purchase, you won't come out completely broke!

So first, you go to the Hengstacer Farm in the Horsefields north of Bree.  This is around where you did the quest for Oddvar's pack.   Talk to the horsemaster there to get the quests, which are simple enough but I do have a few hints.

First, you'll have to deliver 3 different horses to different places.  Take note of the COLOR of the horses, because this is really the only time you will see definitely which is which.  The stablemaster names the color in his dialogue and you will also briefly see the floaty name before you mount.  As you know, dwarves and hobbits ride ponies, be sure to purchase the right one for your race!

Note that several things can knock you off your mount (make it vanish.)  If you ride through water deep enough to swim in, if you get too much aggro, and if you initiate combat.

First, you'll have to deliver a horse to the stablemaster in Bree.  Easy. 

Then you deliver a horse to Michel Delving.  This is a bit harder.  I've taken short cuts and arrived well in time, but you can probably just follow the road too.

Finally, you must deliver a horse to Othrikar.  This take longer.  I take a short cut from Trestlebridge to the northeast, just north of the orc camps where you found the crates and hammer and such.  You can ford the river at a shallows, but careful not to get in too deep.  I've never tried this by the road, but it's probably do-able that way.

After you deliver the three horses, your last riding quest will involve a timed sprint on the track around the Hengstacer farm.  This is the most challenging (and fun!).  I'd recommend you walk it first, following the dirt track and locating each bannered gate.  They don't "blink" during the quest, and some can be hard to see, particularly at night.  Investigate any short cut you can find, because this is a very closely-timed race.  Remember you can jump anything while mounted that you can jump while dismounted, but you can't swim.

Once you win (of course you'll win) you will now have the Riding Trait and can buy your horse.  Careful of your color selection.  And most important, as soon as possible, go to a vendor and LOCK the horse icon in your pack.   I've heard way too many horror stories of people accidentally selling their mount and not realizing it until too late.

Ok so I'm obsessing on in-game horses. ;)

After a discussion on the point with Nav, I started a thread in the LotRO Suggestions forum,  that we be able to customize horses in various ways.  Have a look and add a comment if you want.  Pressure devs, squeaky wheel, all that. 

Wr_weathertop

3 comments

Here's our early expedition to the top of Weathertop, to see the sunrise!  Also shows my UI layout; I like to move the fellowship column closer to my hotkeys for targeting.  

Sef_horse_trestle

1 comment

Windriders of Rohan is a casual Lord of the Rings Online kinship based around the theme of Rohan and the Rohirrim, the Riders of the Mark, and the server named for Eowyn's great gray horse Windfola.

Our hallmarks are fun, good-humor, courtesy, friendliness, willingness to help not only kinship members but others on the server, and horses. Any race or profession is welcome. (We love ponies too!) We are not an RP kinship, although RP is welcome particularly if based around the horse theme. Our members are talented players interested in learning to play the game well, but each has their own goals and play-style.

Our only other requirement will be owning (or working seriously toward owning) a mount, and we'll help any member get to level 35, complete the riding quests and scrape together the funds to buy their horse.

We are based on the Windfola server.  The leadership of Windriders will be active in the Windfola community and player events. As the kinship grows, we may host some community events ourselves. We are oriented toward an enjoyable playing experience both solo and fellowed.

Contact Sefarre in game, or Folie on the Windfola forum, or contact me through Vox.

Berathir made this post, which I'm reproducing here as a good basic game etiquette guide:

Common Courtesy

---

Just a few points I want to make that will go a long way towards making everyone's gameplay that much better.

1) If someone is fighting a monster close to a resource node (ore, branches, etc) take a second and ask them if they want the node before you rush up and start taking it. If you're in a hurry to find out, help them kill whatever they are killing.

2) if you need a particular named mob for a quest, odds are that other people in the same area do too. Rather than just running up and tagging it, fellow with the folks nearby. This only takes a couple of moments of communication and saves you all some time.

3) If someone sends you a quick tell "are you here to kill X?" Then *respond!* Don't stand there staring at them slackjawed. If you don't respond, don't expect any help from them when you fight it, and don't get upset if they tag it before you. You had your chance.

4) If a whole bunch of people are standing around waiting for a named mob, *definitely* do not run up and just tag it the moment it spawns. You were not the first one there, and you don't know how long they have been waiting for it.

5) If you have fellowed up and are waiting for a mob, don't ignore people that do come up and wait. You can't blame them if you never offer to include them in your fellow, or don't ask them to wait until your group is done.

6) if you are doing "kill 10 of x type of mobs" quests, and see others in the area doing the same, offer to fellow up. The wolves in the den in Chetwood are a prime example of this. You'll see 5-10 people competing for spawns separately, when they could easily team up and be done easily.

It's strange the small things, how they sneak up on you.  The Ghost Bear snuck up on us, those of us in beta.  We would be mining, or running...and suddenly a bear would roar.  And this was no small roar.  It was a BIG roar, just behind your left ear.  The first time you heard it, you about jumped out of your chair, and whirled your character around, looking for the attack of a monster bear. 

But there was no bear. 

So you went on.  And perhaps the next day, or perhaps the next hour...maybe it was the Lone Lands or maybe it was right there in the Prancing Pony in the middle of Bree.  The bear would roar.  For awhile we all looked round, and maybe there was a lore-master's bear in the Pony, or maybe some bear on the horizon, so we shrugged and went on. 
But then one day, we would be out on some lonely road, nowhere near any bear or any creature at all, running along some place thinking of the next quest, the next stablemaster, the next ore node...and the bear would roar in our ear.  If it was three am and you were playing alone in some darkened room, let me tell you, you about jumped out of your skin.

People would ask about it in chat.  "What's with the bear roar?"  After a while it was just, "Oh that's the random bear growl," "Random bear growl FTW!" We didn't jump so much.  A few people complained, the usual suspects who complain about everything. The bear kept roaring, out there on desolate Weathertop, under the full moon, or in the Green Hills of the Shire.  Singing a harsh song of the wild to us, while the land began to fill with hobbits and men and elves and dwarves. 

A couple of nights ago, I was running alone, a level 15 in the North Downs where a level 15 has no business being--where even a single bobcat swipe could take me down--and as I ran the empty road, the bear roared in my ear.  I just smiled and kept running, glad of the company...

But today, starting today, there is no roar.  It's gone.  "Fixed."  Patches fix bugs, and the roar was...was the Ghost Bear.  But a hobbit of Landroval has made him a song...

Lamentation for the Ghost Bear
((to the tune of Ghost Rider by Rush))

Pack up all your honey
Shoulder that invisible load
Hobbits are spawning North and West
Building on the wilderness road
Of the ghost bear

Dwarves are stealing boar skins
Hobbits are stealing your honey
Elves should be heading to the West
Last week this world was empty
Except the ghost bear

Keep on roaring North and West
Then circle South and East
Why won't they leave there is no peace
For the ghost bear

There's a hobbit on the road behind
There's a hobbit on the road ahead
Nothing can stop you now

Roaring on the road behind
Roaring on the road ahead
Nothing can stop you now

Scaring dwarves and hobbits
Just when they think they're safe for sure
Sneaking up behind them
You let out your frightening roar
Like a ghost bear

Sunrise in the looking glass
There used to be no one here
Riding on a nameless quest
To scare them back to Everquest
Like a ghost bear

Just a homicidal artist
Racing against Turbine
A wandering faceless roar
Running out of time

Hobbits on the road behind
Hobbits on the road ahead
Only devs can stop you now
Devs will stop you now

__________________
Yunkor the Hard Headed, dorf
Yunkgar Songsmythe, hobbit of peculiar particulars

So that's who the Ghost Bear was.  Perhaps if he never scared you out of your wits this seems a silly thing to honor.  But now in his memory there is a newly-born member of Windriders, a big brown-eyed rough-haired ranger who goes by the name of Ghostbear.

Long live the Ghost Bear.