LotRO: Lieutenant Six Man Hard Mode Attempt

Yes, attempt, in short, we failed.

We did have a successful Lieutenant Six Man Easy Mode Run some weeks ago. Now we tried a Hard Mode (yes, it has been done successfully by others before).

As group setup, we used two Hunters, two Rune-Keepers and a Captain and a Guardian.

In hindsight, I might switch the Captain for a Warden. But maybe this is because I hardly play Captain ;). All tha other groups I saw, have used a Captain, some have added a Burglar or a Lore-Master.

I joined on Hunter

We had locks for BG I and II so we staret with the first guards. We got killed by them on the first try, but then, things went smoothly. Even when, stupid me, pulled a second of those annoying light. Luckily, the first light was on 15k, so it didn't take that long.

Our tank died on the wights, which we usually take as a good sign (he almost dies in every raid we go, doesn't matter if he is on Guardian or Lore-Master).

The first attemt at the Lieutenant went quite well, we managed to stationary tank him most of the time but the first death caused a wipe. Second try was bad. The third try went better but the forth and last try was nowhere near a success.

We had problems with corruption removal. I used Improved Dazing Blow, but it is slow (or at least feels like it) and I had more fails then success. I rather like the ranged skills of the Lore-Master and such.

Even though we did not succeed on this run, we learnt a lot and I am sure, that a next (and hopefully successful) run will take place soon.

Movie Review: Quantum of Solace

Already two years old, the DVD has been lying around for some time.



I grew up with the Bond movies and they have played an important role. But since Daniel Craig is James Bond, I have lost the love and admiration for that character. It might be, that he will develop his character to the former/future lovable Bond, but I somehow doubt it.

So why do we (or rather I) like James Bond?

First his character. As stated before, since Daniel Craig is James Bond, he is an ass. Why should I like him or identify with him? No idea.

Secondly, beautiful women. Olga Kurylenko stars as Camille Montes and does a good job. She is both beautiful and likeable. Gemma Arterton plays Strawberry Fields. She is also beautiful, but act like a caricature.

Then locations. We have Siena and Bregenz in Europe, Haiti (acutally Panama, but who cares), Bolivia (yep, Panama again) and some more. Nothing too bad nor too good here. Think, this was an OK part of the movie.

Villains. Nope, nothing here. Mathieu Amalric plays the counterpart of James Bond, but falls flat. He is neither threatening nor are any of his thugs anything special. I am not sure, if this is a mistake of the writers or if Mathieu Amalric is a bad actor. But surley, he will be one of the fastes forgotten James Bond villains.

Gadgets. Nope, an other fail. Nothing to see here...

Story. Hm, bad corporations want to make money. Boooring! US backs dictators. Boooring! James Bond wants to revenge killed girlfriend but goes down on ever skirt. Not realistic.

Chases. They exist, but will be forgotten soon.

One of the few highlights, was when Bond finds Strawberry covered in oil. That was a James-Bond-Moment! And Judi Dench is the perfect M.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie 62 or 64 percent. I would give it a 4.5 out of ten.

Movie Review: Push

After having seen a trailer on youtube.com I found the DVD for about five USD in a retail store.

The movie did not get a theatrical release, which is understandable.

It takes place in an alternative reality, where some people have extraordinary abilities. Some can move objects, others can plant memories into other people mind, some can see the future and so on.

Governments try to weaponise or at least control them.

The movie mostly takes place in Hong Kong and the setting is one of the strong points of the movie. It made me want to visit HK...

Camilla Belle reminds me a lot of Selma Blair and delivers a solid performance. Same can be said of Dakota Fanning. But they aren't enough to give this movie a favourable review.

Mainly because the story and the characters are that bad. Some action scenes, espeacially fights, are well done but the story, especially the end of the movie is just not worth your time.

It is a pity. There is certainly potential in the plot, but still, out of ten, I would give it 3.5.

So if you want to give it a try:

LotRO: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

It has been two weeks since my last post and a lot has happened since.

The Good

I have been doing a lot of runs in the School and Library in Eregion and if I have enough time, I get ten Supreme Third Marks per day. This has become quite easy and I can’t remember having a wipe these last two weeks.

Some of the S3Ms I have used to complete my sets, with the rest, I have been crafting lots of level 65 Second Agers (hoping to get more than three legacies on identification).

If I understand the patchnotes, it makes sence not to decon Legendary Items at the moment. If I did decon them now, I would miss out on the Legendary Replacement Scrolls and the new shards. But on the other side, I have only some Legendary Fragments left, which I need to make more Second Agers. Seems the Auction House is the way to go...

We have been running Barad Guldur lots of times. BG I and II are on farm. The Lieutenant on the other side, can still be a bitch. In most cases, it is not that much his fault, than a mistake of a kinnie or sometimes a technical issue. Luckily my internet connection is solid and I never had a disconnect during a boss-fight (once while fighting the trash-mobs). The tactics how to kill the Lieutenant are clear and we have recovered many times, even with several Morfears.

The Ugly

But we seem to have one or more players, that have a high risk of causing wipes. I still think, that 150 radiance should be required to do that fight in the hard-mode. But some still join the fight with some 15-radiance-pieces even thought the 25-radiance-pieces are easy to get. If you are a hunter, there is no reason not to have the full Epic-Helegrod-set (when I fight the LT, I use the Epic-Helegrod-set for the first phase of the fight and when the LT dismounts, I switch to the BG-set), as the set-bonus is great. The same person has no morale-pots and in the three attempts yesterday, he got killed first two times...
The Bad

When I speak out, I get reprimanded... The same person expresses suprise, when other people join instances, when they are locked to win an armour piece.

The Good

I got twenty pieces on five characters. On three further toons, I have done one or more successful runs without winning a piece. My Champion is the only character I have, which has not yet successfully done BG. Hunter and Minstrel are my mains and they both have five pieces (both missing the shoulders). My Rune-Keeper has the first four pieces. Burglar and Lore-Master have three of the four first pieces.

We have a rule, that each player can only win one coin fort he Barad Guldur set a week.

Probably, I have the most BG-parts in our kin, I would be on the same level than the next one I know of, but I won two pieces on my last run (I had won one on Durcheset but noone did need the second gloves that dropped, so I got two pieces). Do I feel bad that I probably have the most? No. I do think that I have put a lot of effort in all my characters and that I know how to do the fight on every position needed. With this, I can support my kin, and I am not feeling that I am leeching from other players.

Some officers don’t roll for coins they lead themselves or only roll on their mains. I did pass on rolling for the other four characters, but might start to roll on them too, if I have BG I and II parts on all the other characters. The longer we do this instance, the more often, we will get coins, noone can use...

Yesterday, I brought my Captain to the LT, which was his first time up the tower. We had an almost perfect first try which ended with a wipe when the LT had less than 10k morale. Second fight was one to rather not remember. But the third one was successful.

And behold, in the end, after killing the Lieutenant over twenty times, we got the Unwelcome Mat for the kin-house. Yay, never thought it would drop at all...

Besides BG and the three-mans, I have been running some other instances, but mostly just to help other people or have a fun time.

The Merry

We did have a social night with a movie-quiz followed by karaoke and some Dwarven Wrestling. We were asked to roll a level 10 Dwarven Champion and were handed standard axes. Then we sparred for a Legendary Belt. It was a fun night.

I also like going to the Ettenmoors with a Kin-Raid. I hardly join PvP without some kinnies but it can be addicting. The most important reason that I don’t go into the moors more often is lag. I rather spend my time pawning some noobs in TF2.

An other event I am looking forward too, is the Kin-Meet in Amsterdam. It will be the first one I am able to join and Kin-Meets seem to involve a lot of drinking.

Since many weeks, I have been making plans for a social-night in Middle Earth. It still needs a bit of work but I am really looking forward to that.

The Updates

I’ve been scouting the forums less than in recent updates. On one hand, I would like to see the new instances, on the other hand, I still want to be able to explore them myself, when the update goes live.

I couldn’t keep myself from reading the developers diaries. Most of the changes I like. Minstrel and Hunter are my mains and Burglar is my fourth character (third would be my Rune-Keeper) and what I have seen in the diaries is positive.

The Burglar updates were not overwhelming. I would have hoped, that Burglars got a bit more love, but at least, we didn’t get nerfed.

With the Character Panel update, they did a great job. Having two more outfit-slots is very nice. I am not a big fan of the stats part, but that is not extremely important to me.

Radiance Removal was an other topic. I like the idea of Radiance, probably one of the few people who do. The fault was to connect Radiance with equipment / armour. If we had gotten Radiance through deeds, say slaying the Watcher gives you a one-time Radiance gain, so does ever other Raid-boss. Some Raids could be gated by Radiance, so that you would have to have done several Raids successfully to do some of the new content.

I can’t talk much about the Monster Play diary.

The Legendary Item changes are welcome too. I am not too sure, how they will affect game-play. Grinding will still be a major part of the game if you want to have the perfect equipment and I don’t mind the amount of grind in LotRO.

Conclusions

I am still enjoying the game and our kin and am really looking forward to the new content. I love having a new raid and some other instances. From what I have heard, they are going to keep us interested and challenged for the months to come.

The Question

How important is loot? We had some discussions about the importance of loot versus the fun of playing in a friendly group. There was a similiar discussion a few months ago, about succeeding in raids.

I am a bit emotional and I like loot and I like to do raids successfully. So when things went wrong (we wiped and wiped and wiped) I could express my emotions. I think I have managed to keep it down these last weeks and when things go wrong, I just turn off my mike.

Back to the point. There seems to be no easy and fair way to distribute loot. DKP seems to be the fairest option, but it is a lot of work. Other options are easier, but not fairer (even though fairness is no universal standard). Should those only missing one part of a set have priority or a better chance?

LotRO: Multiboxing School and Library, Update

After the first run, I made changes. I swapped Captain to the main screen and used Hunter and Minstrel on the two other screens. What a huge difference that made. I hardly died on the last run and could do them both in less than two hours. It didn't even take me much longer, than it would have taken with a PUG.

This is a great way for me to grind some Superior Third Marks. I am not really looking forward to doing them on my own, but as most of my kinnies don't run them anymore, this offers a good alternative.

As my Hunter and my Captain have the full Helegrod-Set already, I traded the S3Ms for two Symbol of Celebrimbor. I made myself a Captain Emblem and a Guardian Great Axe. Welcome to the lottery ;)

Piztor in the Library and the three guards at the door in the School are the only worthy opponents.

I am still going for the Epic-Helegrod set for my Minstrel, as the + 5 percent healing is nice. Which ones I will do next, I don't know. Probably Champion and Rune-Keeper.

Salt

It has been some time, since I did a movie review and this one will contain spoilers.

Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt who works for the CIA. She is a Russian sleeper agent who was planted in the US as a child. Her boss travels to the USA and tells her employees, that Evelyn Salt is going to kill the Russian president in a few days.

He then manages to kill two guards and run away. The CIA then tries to detain Salt but she manages to break free. She tries to contact her husband, but finds their appartment empty.

She then goes to New York and kills the Russian president. Then she meets with Orlov, her boss, and watches her husband get killed by Orlov. Next she goes to Washington and saves the PotUS (President of the United States, that is).

Is this the worst movie I have ever seen? No, but very close. It has a 6/10 rating from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes (only a 3.5 rating from viewers though). Imdb.com give it a 6.5/10. Have they seen the same movie???

Why did I hate it? Because it is highly unrealistic even thought it tries to be realistic. I like X-Men, The Fifth Element and other unrealistic movies, but at least they never claim to be authentic.

The amount of mistakes, goofs and continuity and factual errors is mindboggling.

I also missed the exotic locations and sfx. Angela Jolie is not the right actor for this role, I like her in Tomb Raider and Troy. And how did she fall in love with that guy? Just an other point, I could not believe.

Mulit-boxing The Library at Tham Mirdain

After the School run, I tried the Library. The ground floor did not pose any challenge. Neither did Unudhu, the boss nearer the entrance. I wiped about three times on Piztor and I ran Fellowship's Heart on the last run.

I had been using my Hunter on my main screen. I might switch to using the Captain on the main screen as he uses more skills than the Hunter or Minstrel.

Chieftain Gûrsh was no match for the happy three. Would have been much faster, if my Hunter had not accidently shot him and pulled aggro...

Conclusion. I am not ready for Duo-boxing either instance. But if noone is online, why not run them myself. I will try to get more practice and report my findings.

Duo-boxing The School at Tham Mirdain

I have been thinking about this for some time and am now trying it. My group consists of my Hunter (as my main) and a Cappy on second account. I also have my Minstrel with me, but am not planning on using him

The School has been much easier (up to now) than my last attempt at the Library. There are two ways of doing this instance. One way is only clearing one side and disbanding after rescuing the books, the other one is to do the whole instance. I will try the later.

The first groups I managed to do without any problems. Power runs low sometims and I miss decent interrupts.

After less than five minutes, the ground floor is cleared. Llygad is still standing in the middle with his allies, but I ll try to do the next boss, the group of three at the door, first.

OK, three wipes and nowhere near a success.

I then switched to Llygad and killing him was easy.

After yet anonther wipe, I had a successful attemp and killed the guards at the door. My Cappy died though and I used my Minstrel to heal me through it. At least it is possible and with some practice it will hopefully become easier and easier.

The next part was a bit more difficult than I had expected.

I had planned of using the Hunter to kite the mobs, which was stupid. Cappy are better suited for that role. Next time...

Now for the last fight. I am almost been fighting for an hour, with some short breaks. This leaves room for lots improvements...

The fight against Târsh was quite quick. Cappy healing was not enough, so I used my minstrel too. Cappy died in midfight, but Minstel and Hunter had no problems.

Egypt - Sandmonkey

Sandmonkey is a blogger in Egypt. He has probably been arrested by pro-Mubarak thugs. Following is his last post (as his account has been suspended):

I don't know how to start writing this. I have been battling fatigue for not sleeping properly for the past 10 days, moving from one's friend house to another friend's house, almost never spending a night in my home, facing a very well funded and well organized ruthless regime that views me as nothing but an annoying bug that its time to squash will come. The situation here is bleak to say the least.

It didn't start out that way. On Tuesday Jan 25 it all started peacefully, and against all odds, we succeeded to gather hundreds of thousands and get them into Tahrir Square, despite being attacked by Anti-Riot Police who are using sticks, tear gas and rubber bullets against us. We managed to break all of their barricades and situated ourselves in Tahrir. The government responded by shutting down all cell communication in Tahrir square, a move which purpose was understood later when after midnight they went in with all of their might and attacked the protesters and evacuated the Square. The next day we were back at it again, and the day after. Then came Friday and we braved their communication blackout, their thugs, their tear gas and their bullets and we retook the square. We have been fighting to keep it ever since.

That night the government announced a military curfew, which kept getting shorter by the day, until it became from 8 am to 3 pm. People couldn't go to work, gas was running out quickly and so were essential goods and money, since the banks were not allowed to operate and people were not able to collect their salary. The internet continued to be blocked, which affected all businesses in Egypt and will cause an economic meltdown the moment they allow the banks to operate again. We were being collectively punished for daring to say that we deserve democracy and rights, and to keep it up, they withdrew the police, and then sent them out dressed as civilians to terrorize our neighborhoods. I was shot at twice that day, one of which with a semi-automatic by a dude in a car that we the people took joy in pummeling. The government announced that all prisons were breached, and that the prisoners somehow managed to get weapons and do nothing but randomly attack people. One day we had organized thugs in uniforms firing at us and the next day they disappeared and were replaced by organized thugs without uniforms firing at us. Somehow the people never made the connection.

Despite it all, we braved it. We believed we are doing what's right and were encouraged by all those around us who couldn't believe what was happening to their country. What he did galvanized the people, and on Tuesday, despite shutting down all major roads leading into Cairo, we managed to get over 2 million protesters in Cairo alone and 3 million all over Egypt to come out and demand Mubarak's departure. Those are people who stood up to the regime's ruthlessness and anger and declared that they were free, and were refusing to live in the Mubarak dictatorship for one more day. That night, he showed up on TV, and gave a very emotional speech about how he intends to step down at the end of his term and how he wants to die in Egypt, the country he loved and served. To me, and to everyone else at the protests this wasn't nearly enough, for we wanted him gone now. Others started asking that we give him a chance, and that change takes time and other such poppycock. Hell, some people and family members cried when they saw his speech. People felt sorry for him for failing to be our dictator for the rest of his life and inheriting us to his Son. It was an amalgam of Stockholm syndrome coupled with slave mentality in a malevolent combination that we never saw before. And the Regime capitalized on it today.

Today, they brought back the internet, and started having people calling on TV and writing on facebook on how they support Mubarak and his call for stability and peacefull change in 8 months. They hung on to the words of the newly appointed government would never harm the protesters, whom they believe to be good patriotic youth who have a few bad apples amongst them. We started getting calls asking people to stop protesting because "we got what we wanted" and "we need the country to start working again". People were complaining that they miss their lives. That they miss going out at night, and ordering Home Delivery. That they need us to stop so they can resume whatever existence they had before all of this. All was forgiven, the past week never happened and it's time for Unity under Mubarak's rule right now.

To all of those people I say: NEVER! I am sorry that your lives and businesses are disrupted, but this wasn't caused by the Protesters. The Protesters aren't the ones who shut down the internet that has paralyzed your businesses and banks: The government did. The Protesters weren't the ones who initiated the military curfew that limited your movement and allowed goods to disappear off market shelves and gas to disappear: The government did. The Protesters weren't the ones who ordered the police to withdraw and claimed the prisons were breached and unleashed thugs that terrorized your neighborhoods: The government did. The same government that you wish to give a second chance to, as if 30 years of dictatorship and utter failure in every sector of government wasn't enough for you. The Slaves were ready to forgive their master, and blame his cruelty on those who dared to defy him in order to ensure a better Egypt for all of its citizens and their children. After all, he gave us his word, and it's not like he ever broke his promises for reform before or anything.

Then Mubarak made his move and showed them what useful idiots they all were.

You watched on TV as "Pro-Mubarak Protesters" – thugs who were paid money by NDP members by admission of High NDP officials- started attacking the peaceful unarmed protesters in Tahrir square. They attacked them with sticks, threw stones at them, brought in men riding horses and camels- in what must be the most surreal scene ever shown on TV- and carrying whips to beat up the protesters. And then the Bullets started getting fired and Molotov cocktails started getting thrown at the Anti-Mubarak Protesters as the Army standing idly by, allowing it all to happen and not doing anything about it. Dozens were killed, hundreds injured, and there was no help sent by ambulances. The Police never showed up to stop those attacking because the ones who were captured by the Anti-mubarak people had police ID's on them. They were the police and they were there to shoot and kill people and even tried to set the Egyptian Museum on Fire. The Aim was clear: Use the clashes as pretext to ban such demonstrations under pretexts of concern for public safety and order, and to prevent disunity amongst the people of Egypt. But their plans ultimately failed, by those resilient brave souls who wouldn't give up the ground they freed of Egypt, no matter how many live bullets or firebombs were hurled at them. They know, like we all do, that this regime no longer cares to put on a moderate mask. That they have shown their true nature. That Mubarak will never step down, and that he would rather burn Egypt to the ground than even contemplate that possibility.

In the meantime, State-owned and affiliated TV channels were showing coverage of Peaceful Mubarak Protests all over Egypt and showing recorded footage of Tahrir Square protest from the night before and claiming it's the situation there at the moment. Hundreds of calls by public figures and actors started calling the channels saying that they are with Mubarak, and that he is our Father and we should support him on the road to democracy. A veiled girl with a blurred face went on Mehwer TV claiming to have received funding by Americans to go to the US and took courses on how to bring down the Egyptian government through protests which were taught by Jews. She claimed that AlJazeera is lying, and that the only people in Tahrir square now were Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. State TV started issuing statements on how the people arrested Israelis all over Cairo engaged in creating mayhem and causing chaos. For those of you who are counting this is an American-Israeli-Qatari-Muslim Brotherhood-Iranian-Hamas conspiracy. Imagine that. And MANY PEOPLE BOUGHT IT. I recall telling a friend of mine that the only good thing about what happened today was that it made clear to us who were the idiots amongst our friends. Now we know.

Now, just in case this isn't clear: This protest is not one made or sustained by the Muslim Brotherhood, it's one that had people from all social classes and religious background in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood only showed up on Tuesday, and even then they were not the majority of people there by a long shot. We tolerated them there since we won't say no to fellow Egyptians who wanted to stand with us, but neither the Muslims Brotherhood not any of the Opposition leaders have the ability to turn out one tenth of the numbers of Protesters that were in Tahrir on Tuesday. This is a revolution without leaders. Three Million individuals choosing hope instead of fear and braving death on hourly basis to keep their dream of freedom alive. Imagine that.

The End is near. I have no illusions about this regime or its leader, and how he will pluck us and hunt us down one by one till we are over and done with and 8 months from now will pay people to stage fake protests urging him not to leave power, and he will stay "because he has to acquiesce to the voice of the people". This is a losing battle and they have all the weapons, but we will continue fighting until we can't. I am heading to Tahrir right now with supplies for the hundreds injured, knowing that today the attacks will intensify, because they can't allow us to stay there come Friday, which is supposed to be the game changer. We are bringing everybody out, and we will refuse to be anything else than peaceful. If you are in Egypt, I am calling on all of you to head down to Tahrir today and Friday. It is imperative to show them that the battle for the soul of Egypt isn't over and done with. I am calling you to bring your friends, to bring medical supplies, to go and see what Mubarak's gurantees look like in real life. Egypt needs you. Be Heroes.