Generations Monthly Newsletter - May 2007

Editorial - MilleSabor

This issue of "Generations Monthly" is a bit delayed: I apologize for that since it is entirely my fault. With "Lord of the Rings Online" I have a new toy that currently keeps me in its thrall (It is therefore shorter than usual as well...). But since all new stuff tends to wear off after a while I am confident that next "Generations Monthly" will be issued on time...

GEN established in Lord of the Rings Online - MilleSabor

[LotRO] Pre-release of LotRO on April 14th went much smoother than anticipated - Codemasters managed to avoid server-queues by cunningly opening servers for access a day early. Instead of crowding the servers all at once players dripped into the game when they tried to log in and to their amazement found that they already could. Newbie-instances were heavily camped however and especially named mobs didn't have a long life-expectancy: they were killed the instant they respawned.

Due to recent polls I didn't expect to meet many GENs and therefore Firefox, Lucian and I managed to form a guild (which is called a "kinship" in LotRO) only because we accepted all of my five toons that we are allowed to create into the Kinship. I am overjoyed being able to report that indeed some more GENs than anticipated have found their way into Middle-earth - it looks like WoW-players especially regard LotRO as a place where they can relax for a bit from their efforts in World of Warcraft.

First impressions of Lord of the Rings Online - Arator

[LotRO] I honestly had no idea what to expect, had not played beta and had not read a thing about it to avoid creating hyper expectations and be desapointed for compairing it with DAOC, Shadowbane (my god that sucked), SWG, D&DO and of course WOW.

From what I can see, a Hunter here is not an autoshoot/send pet player but one with brains or you die. I presume it applies for all classes but this game in my view is really where skills will show more than in WOW.

Crafting system... they have done something of a hybrid but somehow it has a SWG feeling to it which in my view is not good. At the moment, its complicated. I don't know if the items crafted will be like in DAOC where they varied in quality but ou could have a master piece (damn those were a pain to get but my Arms had a full set) and such.

The views and environments... to be honest I find them very nice. They are really well made and thought. You can get lost walking and hunting/grinding without seeing a soul(love this part).

Quests are fun and so far at lvl 9 Hunter enjoyable and rewards are worth it. (Rolled a Champion named Artor, Human they are fun)

So far I have not experienced any lag whatsoever nor server crashes.

All in all I cannot say WOW>LOTRO nor LOTRO>WOW. Each game has its own merits however, I think the ONE ring is calling me more than the many rings and stuff in WOW.

Iflassi left GEN on April 1st!

[SWG] Iflassi almost managed to send the entire officers-staff in SWG to hospital due to cardiac arrest when she left the guild without warning - it turned out that she just had her little april's fool-joke. You should be very, very afraid about April 1st NEXT year, Iffy!

Druids ROAR through ZG

[WoW]

• Date Line: Tuesday 24th April
• Location: Zul'Grub

After some discussion Zul'Grub was selected as the next location to benefit from a visit by Generations druids. Present were Cill, Ericemerald, Hawser, Veleda, Mordrack, Rivas, Aviad, and Majin.

After avoiding or simply destroying the trash mobs the night started with a visit to High Priest Venoxis. After a brief strategy discussion we mostly just waded in and killed the adds, Venoxis was simply overwhelmed, there's no other way of describing it, all his special abilities were pretty much ignored and he was dps'ed down. A great start to the night as we moved on to Bloodlord Mandokir full of confidence and ready for anything.

As the list of bosses downed grew, it became clear that while ZG was challenging there was nothing here that could slow down eight talented and positive druids, only High Priestess Mar'li caused a minor hiccup but fell shortly after, as did all the other bosses we faced.

And at last we came to Hakkar a difficult boss to handle and after a couple of tries we seemed to be getting his measure but sadly time simply ran out on us, but definitely doable.

So eight tired but very happy druids called it a night and as the sun set on Zul'Grub we left victorious.

Some comments captured from the night:

• Strategy had the advantage of simplicity and can be summoned up by the word "CHARGE".
• Team: "So, how are we going to handle these trash pulls?"
  Rivas Charges into a group of 5 trolls.
  Rivas: "I suggest we kill them."
  
• Aviad: "I think we can survive the bomb bats now."
  Boom!
  Mordrack dies.
  Mordrack: "Oops, forgot I'm not lvl 70 yet."
  
• Panther boss, were the cats get separated from the kittens.
• Random Mage whispers Aviad in ZG.
  Mage: Are you bored (to be in ZG at 70)?
  Aviad: Yes
  Mage: Can I join?
  Aviad: We are a druid only raid
  Mage: But you're a warrior!
  Aviad: and ?????
  
• The funniest part was Aviad becoming a druid "I am a druid and i can shapeshift into Canary Form with +60 to singing".
• The Spider boss fight with 7 innervates and 7 combat rez's all used up

Sock still hasn't won the lottery! - MilleSabor

[Real Life] well, no real news here unfortunately but I promised him to help him win...

GEN-forum - MilleSabor

[ALL] Please make sure to register at our forum (http://forum.genguild.com) and ask for access (please use one of your ingame-names so that admins are able to recognize you): It is a great place to stay in contact with other GENs (or get acquainted with them - there are some nice guys there even if they play a different game), talk about geeky stuff, upcoming games, books, music or get help with whatever your heart desires. You might even find some useful stuff there such as a table with ingame-abbreviations... Make sure to read our FAQs first!