Posts tagged sauron 
The Road to Mordor: For want of a horseshoe, my sanity was lost
So a while back I was at an art fair with some friends when I commented on how much I liked a strange piece and one of the guys with me said, "Justin, you know what? You're kind of esoteric, ain't ya?" I agreed wholeheartedly and then rushed home to look up "esoteric" in the dictionary. And ...
The Road to Mordor: A look back at Volume 2
Last year, I spent a column giving my reflections, thoughts, and observations on the entirety of Volume 1 of Lord of the Rings Online's epic storyline, and today I'd like to do the same for Volume 2. Since these stories are at the center of LotRO's player experience, it's important to see how ...
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite non-combat skill?
It's weird, but I have to admit that I love any MMO that includes superfluous non-combat skills. For example, Lord of the Rings Online deals out class skills at level 40 that have no greater purpose other than to amuse. Captains can make others bow to them while Burglars can cackle if stealthed. ...
The Road to Mordor: Hacked!
"My kinship had just finished an instance run about a week-and-a-half ago and was in the process of reloading back into the world when I got the message that I was being disconnected because I had just logged into the Brandywine server. Huh? Suspecting the worst, I immediately hit up the Turbine ...
The Road to Mordor: A conspiracy of hats
The hat, as they say, makes the man. Or the woman. Or the Dwarf. Unfortunately, in Lord of the Rings Online, the hat often makes the man completely silly. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but the hats in LotRO have garnered the reputation as being goofy as all get out. Sure, this is hardly a ...
The Road to Mordor: Bits 'n' pieces
Three wolves. A full moon. One incredible cloak in the Lord of the Rings Online store. As a forum poster asked, is the Cloak of the Mountain Wolves too powerful and too intrinsically sweet? I think it is a distinct possibility. I already own six and have Sauron on farm status because of them. ...
The Road to Mordor: Off to the races
A long time ago in this column, back in an age of sweet innocence that I like to call "April 2010," I spent a bit of time commenting on the nine classes in Lord of the Rings Online and how they appeal to different playstyles. Today, as I sit here swaddled in a blanket, drinking tea and desperately ...
The Road to Mordor: Entitled
A few days ago I asked the Massively community members what in-game titles they loved the most. Titles have been on my brain for the past week, as I've started to realize just how many -- how bogglingly, terrifyingly many -- exist in Lord of the Rings Online. I hadn't really given them a lot of ...
The Road to Mordor: Do-over! Do-over!
This past week I took a break from kowtowing to the haughty elves of Lothlórien and their super-secret elf club to start up a couple alts. It was ultimately a good decision, as I ended up both digging my new lore-master and getting to sample first-hand the many changes that Turbine made to ...
Helpful hobbits see fundraising as Child's Play
Hobbits -- is there anything they can't do? First they're taking the One Ring into the heart of Mordor to save Middle-earth from Sauron's grip, and now they're out on another journey, this time to bring relief to hospitalized children in our world. You may be quite familiar with Child's Play, a ...
