LOTRO: Too much to do?
There's so much to do in LOTRO at the moment, I'm starting to get annoyed. I know that probably makes me a strange person, but I get paralysed by choice. For example, at the moment Merrygrim is level 32, and...
- I need to master expert metalsmithing, which involves a bunch of mining before I move zones and the mining nodes I need stop being available. I've also started on the next tier. My gear is now starting to show its age, so I need to craft myself some upgrades somehow -- either lower-tier crits or higher-tier standard recipes.
- I'm way behind on my tailoring. I can combine farming for leather with getting some wolf/worg slayer deeds. This really needs doing sooner rather than later.
- I've just about finished the quests in the Lone-lands, I think. I have some bounty quests to repeat, and Book II to finish off. What's left though, is plenty of deeds, most of them slayer deeds. There's easily another level's worth of XP there, possibly two. Maybe even three if I use some Destiny Points to buy extra rest XP... That's probably not a good idea, though.
- My reputation with the Elgain isn't high enough to buy the reputation jewellery set for my level, so I need to look into raising that somehow. If the quests I have left aren't enough, there's some repeatable crafting recipes that can be turned in for reputation. Which means more mining.
- The Metalsmith's Guild. More reputation to grind, and more mining needed. I've deliberately not looked at the recipes available for this, so I'm not too worried about keeping pace with the rewards, but I'm trying to make at least something every day. I'm thinking the mining guild recipes will be more of an end game pursuit for me.
- Where next? I have a bunch of quests open in the North Downs, but some of them have since gone grey, but I know if I rush through them they'll lead to quest chains that are at-level. There's also all the deeds I've started there. I have a quest to move to Agamaur. I have some quests to move to Evendim. I have a quest to move into the Trollshaws. I haven't a clue where Book III will take me.
I think my plan is to do the farming for ore and leathers that I need to get my professions sorted, then finish the quests and deeds in the Lone-lands. By this point I'll probably be around level 35: the experience/levelling curve still seems really quick. After that, I'll follow the epic storyline a little further and see if it picks a new zone for me -- if the quests prompt me to spend any length of time in any particular zone, I'll pick up the quests and deeds there.
As a more meta-gaming personal goal, I'm going to try and enjoy the experience as a whole more, and stop worrying about keeping gear and professions current. The XP curve and amount of content available seems to make it impossible to do everything at-level and timed perfectly.
Labels: lotro
