Lotro Thoughts on the “Undying” Title

I am a completist.

Though I am also motivated to explore and be the best, I am most motivated by my desire to complete everything.

In this game, this means completing every quest and every deed. As one of these deeds is “the Undying”, it becomes part of my goal; as far as I am concerned, any character of mine that does not have the title is incomplete. Since I have no way to earn the title after I am defeated, I must start a new character each time.

To demonstrate that this is how I play most games, and that Lord of the Rings Online is not an exception, I list some examples from other games. In Asheron’s Call, I maintained several collections, the most notable of which were my complete collections of pack dolls, Halloween masks, and bronze statue weapons. In Final Fantasy X, I completed the Sphere Grid so that each of the characters was at their maximum possible power. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I achieved 100% completion. And in World of Warcraft, I revealed the entire map in every zone and became exalted with as many factions as I could.

I have no intention of ever using “the Undying” title on my character, as I think it is a stupid title for many reasons. Firstly, I much prefer “Honourary Sheriff” for my love of The Shire. Secondly, we do not die in this game so all of us are “the Undying”. Thirdly, it is not lore appropriate as all the playable races die. And finally, I do not care about showing off.

Even if I did care about showing off, it is not an accomplishment worth showing off because of how poorly it is implemented. The title encourages tediously cautious play, such as attacking only single spawns, over-leveling content, and avoiding grouping. This does not require much skill and does not make for fun play. Moreover, the title has so much luck involved that not having the title does not show that you lack the little skill that it does require.


When I reached level 5 with my first character in Lord of the Rings Online during closed beta and received “the Wary” title, I was immediately concerned. I realized that I would have to remain undefeated to whatever level would be required for the last undefeated title. I immediately checked the forums to determine what level that was, and I found that it was level 20.

It seemed a little high, but at the time, I thought it was at least reasonably doable; I am more skilled than the average player and I thought that I had the patience to do what would be required to earn it. I used my characters in closed beta to learn the game; while I tried to avoid dying with them, the times that I did die were used as an opportunity to learn for my release characters. When open beta came, I was ready; I leveled my main character and two alternates to level 15 without deaths and with little difficulty. Moreover, I started the process of completing quests and deeds in all the starter areas.

However, I underestimated both how long it would take to get to level 20 playing conservatively and how much luck it takes to avoid being defeated due to reasons beyond your control. Two of my three previously undefeated level 15 characters are defeated now.


If it is not already obvious, I suffer from and have been diagnosed with Obsessive-compulsive Disorder. Recognizing the symptoms does little to help me avert them. While sometimes my perfectionistic nature can help me to excel, other times it prevents me from doing things. I tend to avoid playing games that I cannot complete, and I have stopped playing games when I have discovered that I cannot complete them. This title is preventing me from enjoying this game.

The reasons I like Lord of the Rings Online have nothing to do with this title. In fact, in almost every respect except for this title, it is the perfect game for me. Moreover, I love so much about this game that if I had to describe what I love, I would not even know where to start. Even with all of that said, I do not think I can play with a character that does not have this title and has no possibility of earning it.


Given the amount of posts generated by this one issue, you would think that Turbine would have given some consideration to it. That Turbine has not so far is an indictment of them.

Quite apart from my obsessive nature, these titles make no sense. They encourage antisocial behavior and game play that is not fun. Even from an economic perspective, it makes little sense for Turbine. How many people have and will quit the game due to frustrations with this title compared to how many people would only play this game with this title? How much time has had to be spent by staff dealing with issues caused by the title, both in chasing bugs, and in responding to and moderating forum posts? Turbine has not demonstrated that they have considered these things.


It is extremely clear to me that Turbine should remove the titles as they are implemented now. What percentage of the population will earn the level 20 title or even the level 17 title as they are now anyway? I suggest that instead these titles be changed to be granted upon the completion of specific quests or other deeds.

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Explore Middle-earth: Woodhall

The sleepy little hobbit-village of Woodhall lies within the forested arms of Woody End in the Eastfarthing of the Shire. Tucked away well off the Stock Road as it is, Woodhall

sees little traffic. Gossip tends to be a favorite pastime for the hobbits who dwell here, and travelers may want to avoid the occasional nosey hobbit if they find themselves

passing through.



While the village of Woodhall is relatively small and unimportant, the wooded hills it rests beneath are another matter. Overlooking the village is a wide, green clearing within

the forest where the trees form a sort of hall, complete with pillars and canopy. It is rumored that sometimes Elves can be seen traveling through Woody End and that their

lights can be seen hanging in the boughs of the clearing some evenings.

The clearing above Woodhall is where The Elf-company of Gildor Inglorion took Frodo Baggins and his companions after startling away the Black Rider who was hunting them in The

Fellowship of the Ring. Who can say what players of The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar will find in the encampment

above Woodhall?

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Characters of Middle-earth: Gildor Inglorion

Characters of Middle-earth: Gildor Inglorion
[19-Jun-2007]
The noble and respected Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod is one of the eldest of the Elves yet remaining in Middle-earth, though his strong, youthful appearance may be deceiving. He now makes his home in the House of Elrond in Rivendell, but he can often be found in the wilds of Middle-earth with a small band of elves under his command. Gildor keeps a watchful eye over the hobbits of the Shire and the other peaceful communities, his keen eyes watching the movements of those that dwell in the darkness and shadows. Gildor is an Elf of much wisdom and immeasurable skill with blade and bow. He has elected to stay in Middle-earth with Elrond and the others, though many of their kin have long since departed across the sea from the Grey Havens.





(Click for larger image)



Though Gildor has a rich history dating back over the centuries of Middle-earth's past, he is perhaps best known as the leader of the band of Elves which frightened away one of the dreaded Black Riders from Frodo and company in the pages of The Fellowship of the Ring. In so doing, Gildor saved the hobbits, welcoming them into the Elf-camp near Woodhall and allowing the companions some much-needed rest.



Gildor and his company are magnificently arrayed, even when on simple patrol, and seem to shimmer with the beauty of moonlight when they move. Wanderers in the lands of Eriador may travel with some degree of comfort, knowing that Gildor and the powerful Elves from Rivendell in the east are watchful over the movements of the Enemy.



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The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Ever since the release of the Lord of the Rings movies, there has been a steady stream of video games based on the Tolkien's classic books. About half of these have been action games, letting players fight their way through the events of the books on a personal level. The other half have been real-time strategy games that let players command the armies that battled in the books. Now comes the release of a LotR massively multiplayer online role-playing game so that players are not so much modeling the books as they are moving into Middle-earth itself.

There is plenty of room for adventure, even on this less epic scale.

Players begin the game by choosing a race and a profession. The possible races are human, elf, dwarf and hobbit, and the possible professions are minstrel, captain, guardian, hunter, lore master, burglar and champion, basically all the choices of the classic Fellowship. Once those two choices are made, the player is dropped into an instanced tutorial level ("instanced" means that the map is private to the player's character) that introduces the game's mechanics while including in-game set pieces such as named characters from the books battling giant monsters. When the tutorial is done, players are sent off to a newbie zone, where they learn the ways of doing quests, gaining loot, managing inventory and interacting with other players.

The transition from the newbie zone to the full game is done via another instanced zone with in-game set pieces. The plots of these programmed adventures set the stage for the metaplot of the game, which is the rise of Sauron and his minions in the years before the events of the books. Once in the full game, players are free to roam as they will. They can walk the roads or buy rides on postal-style horses that run from stable to stable. Players can also get off the roads and explore, but monsters live everywhere in the game, and players won't get far if they aren't at least at the level of the monsters dwelling in that part of the world.

Middle-earth molded to human scale

For players whose memories of the books revolve around how long it took for the characters to get anywhere, it is best to know going in that the designers at Turbine have (wisely) not tried to model Middle-earth at full scale. Weeks of travel from Shire to Mines can make for good fiction, but it makes for very lonely gameplay. In this version of Middle-earth, the run from the city where the elven players start to the town in the Shire where the hobbit players start can be done in under half an hour, which is a good thing if friends with characters of different races want to team up in the game. There is plenty of room for adventure, even on this less epic scale.

Similarly, there are players who, after reading the books and/or watching the films, find some sympathy with Sauron and his minions, just as a lot of people play the Empire side in Star Wars games. Rather than make orcs and wargs and goblins into player races, the designers at Turbine put in a special zone of Middle-earth dedicated to monster play. After 10th level, players can transport themselves via scrying pools to the monster zone, where they can choose a high-level monster to play. The other way into the monster zone is with a regular character at a high enough level. Thus, inside the monster zone, players can fight players, and players can fight computer monsters either as normal characters or as monsters themselves. Essentially, monster play is a second game inside LotRO, and it differentiates PvP in the game from other MMOs.

MMO design and play is now in the post-World of Warcraft ... well, world. Big-budget games like LotRO have to be compared to WoW, and LotRO is certainly on par with that game in size, features, art and interface. LotRO contains everything WoW does, but dresses it all up in Tolkien clothes. At the same time, it does some big things (like monster play) and some small things (like crafting) differently. Players who have enjoyed WoW will find nothing to complain about in LotRO.

I spent most of my time in LotRO playing a lore master, which was interesting because the only classic "wizards" in the books are the Istari, but it isn't possible to have a fantasy role-playing game where the only wizards are nonplayer characters. Thus, the Turbine designers have done a lot of clever writing and design to give lore masters the powers of RPG wizards without making them ones in name.
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