My Complete Lord of the Rings Online Story

[Neomoth]

Hearing the news that Dwarrowdelf is being shut down is deeply saddening to me. I literally grew up on this server… It has been everything to me. Across three computers, I have accumulated over twelve thousand personal screenshots of my gameplay. I will miss each and every one of you – you all have a special place in my heart.
I will be quitting Lord of the Rings Online come the middle of August. This game has been a piece of my life that I will never forget; I will carry it with me throughout my ‘real life’ adventures. Furthermore, I regret many of the choices I’ve made while playing this game. I have lied to many of my friends about things to which I am still troubled by to this very day. I am deeply sorry if I have indirectly caused harm to anyone.

Here is my story that I have been adding to for several years now.

The Neomoth Era

Neomoth was born very early in 2011 on the Dwarrowdelf server. He was just a small level 1 Elf Guardian when he set out on his travels throughout Middle Earth. Neomoth slayed many foes, helped allies, and had a blast discovering new areas of the game with his gang of friends!
Neomoth attained level 65 in the early summer of 2011. Having spent all night leveling to the cap with his best friend Killock, and he felt beyond amazing when he dinged 65 at the crack of dawn. He felt like he could actually contend with level 65 ‘Ainur’ vets he saw in the Twenty-First Hall like Viduo, Fuzion, Borken, Zidia, Jacbo, Doomsie, Atador, Banoon Caspur, Ohpra, Nvi, Tarithuil, Toa, and Floydan, to name just a few. Neomoth looked up to these guys as true heroes.
On his travels he met many kind people and joined many wonderful kins (and chat channels… RIP GLFF.) such as Blades of Serenity, Lords of the Mearas, Shadow, Reforged, and Hope is Kindled. While in these kinships, he started making lasting bonds with many of his kinsmen. In addition, Neomoth received ample praise from his fellow guardians and level 65’s alike (though, most were probably just trolling him, unbeknownst to him at the time ?)
However, Neomoth soon decided it was time to put away his Guardian for a while and unleash his inner Dwarf! Because, well… Neomoth knew he kind of stunk at Guardian.

The Zepphyr Era

Zepphyr was born in the summer of 2011, in the vast Grey Mountains of Middle Earth, a meek and humble level 1 Dwarf Rune-keeper. Little did he know that in only a matter of time, he would soon become one of the most significant dwarven Rune-keepers of his time. Zepphyr worked hard to climb to the top. Inspired mostly by Viduo, Zepphyr followed in his footsteps and learned closely from Viduo’s teachings. He was very kind, helping Zepphyr refine his Rune-keeper skills. Zepphyr visited the Ettenmoors with his good friend Niben when he finally reached level 75, and together they crashed and burned, killed and rejoiced, laughed out loud, and had a the most awesome time together (bromantic, huh?). Niben and Zepphyr became the best of friends, and to this day, still talk on a regular basis. They joined BALROG RIDERS together around the same time, and shared in many lasting experiences.
While in BALROG RIDERS (BR), Zepphyr befriended many new people. He became very close friends with Skytzogloin, Homesar, Aellor, Traur, Jak, Letiredor, Eruan, Oriadoc, Glumstangin, Celabain, and Belvelgar (once again, just briefly naming a few.) Yet, he still kept in touch with his older friends like Eomen, Emogan, Galleott, Rainlegacy, Frenzy, Ohsnap, Cardal, He, and Threndinir. From the folks in BALROG RIDERS, Zepphyr was able to hone his skills even more, and learned a lot about his class from Skytzogloin and Belvelgar. He also received his first taste of raiding with a full group of 12 and 24 people (Raids such as Ost Dunhoth, Draigoch, Barad Guldur, etc.)! With this, he learned leadership, patience, honesty, and compassion towards his fellows.

Z ‘n’ Z

In 2012, Zepphyr’s life was changed when one day in the Ettenmoors, he was talking to a fellow kinmate, Zeva. He received an alarming call from a friend who got tragically hit by a car and needed someone to help him get to a hospital. Feeling much sympathy for her new friend, Zeva mailed Zepphyr a letter expressing her condolences.
Quite soon, the pair became the best of friends. They did everything together, from leveling alts and partying at the current festival, to going to the Ettenmoors and participating in raids (as an aside: I think at one time the two of us both had practically every class in the game at level cap…). The two knew they were instantly in love. Zeva and Zepphyr formed the ultimate group, known as “Z ‘n’ Z” by many a Dwarrowdelfian. Together, Zepphyr and Zeva joined up with all of their friends in Death’s Bane (formed shortly after some internal disputes in BALROG RIDERS by Karoc, Dulli, and Chickendorf) and embarked on many new adventures together! While in Death’s Bane, they also met some new faces: Welthrop, Chux, Jonp, Lom, Mimboril, Lamstannelm, and many others. They also played their fearsome wargs together (Ironic and Iorynn) but most of all, they shared a rather beautiful love for quite some time. Zepphyr was nothing without Zeva, the two were inseparable.

~~~

A year passed since the two first became friends, and Iorynn had begun to slowly grow tired of the game. She preoccupied herself with many activities outside of LotRO. I slowed down my gameplay somewhat, though I was convinced by Iriella to begin playing on a new server… a server called ‘Brandywine…’

My First Taste of Brandywine

I wanted to try something new. So, in the summer of 2013, I was introduced to a completely new server with practically double the number of active people on Dwarrowdelf! So many opportunities! I decided to make an Elf Rune-keeper (of course I named him Zepphyr), modeled after the race of my first toon, Neo, and my favorite class, the Rune-keeper. Taking my knowledge of the game and the Rune-keeper class with me, I befriended many really cool people on this new server, many of which were members of my new kinship, Defiant, including Tarpelion, Ashiiru, Brannir, Elweenn, Guthblade, Kunidana, Chily, Morso, Arfy, Dagorroth and Legendas, to name just a handful (some of which, I still chat with outside of the game on a regular basis!).
I had a lot of fun on this new server named Brandywine. The unexplored territory soon became my home-away-from-home, so-to-speak. I learned a lot about the Ettenmoors, my class, and how to effectively interact with people of all different abilities, backgrounds, and personalities. I ‘ranked-up’ my new Rune-keeper here, enjoyed many great times with my new comrades, but I began to feel a little homesick after several months on Brandywine. Something just did not feel right.
Over the course of the next couple months during late 2013, Iorynn and I parted ways, and I took my leave of LotRO for several months.

~~~

The Airen Era

(or should I say, “Aira”… haha..hah…ha..lol)
I came back to the game early January of 2014. For some reason, of which I cannot put my finger on, I had this burning urge to play my burglar, Airen.
At this time, the new level cap was 95. I had a lot on my plate trying to level up all my characters to the cap. Motivated by my long-time friends Anessen and Malinuil, I decided to focus much of my time and energy on the game to perfecting my Burglar. I never really had a good grip on the class, so I hadn’t previously played my Burglar all too seriously until then. Malinuil and I worked together, tweaking our rotations and fine-tuning our skills as we explored the class.

I joined Knights of the White Cross, in which, I met many kind souls and thoroughly enjoyed my time, tagging along with my kinsmen on their various adventures.
A couple months went by and I stumbled upon some familiar names: Belvelgar and Jak from BR; Ohpra from Ainur; Vahnya from Explorers of Middle-Earth; and Aglaeka, Chux, and Hamond from Death’s Bane. These fabulously foreign fellows were good friends of mine that I had been acquainted with over the course of my journey in Middle-Earth. It felt great to be reunited with my old companions at last. I joined their kinship, Asylum, and together we raided, PvPed, and had the greatest of fun, competitively sharing in our similar play-styles and helping each other out tremendously. Though most members of Asylum had known reputations on Dwarrowdelf, the server honestly wouldn’t have been the same without ‘em. Admit it.

Present/What’s Next for Me?

As of December 2014, Airen has since transferred over to Brandywine for yet another adventure on the game’s largest server. Having to rename his character to ‘Aenise’, he has reacquainted himself with many of his past friendships he had, while making tons of new ones as well. He has been trying hard to make a name for himself on Brandywine, and has been channeling his efforts to become one of the best Burglars the server has seen in recent years. He has helped found a kinship called Enthalpy (yes, a play-on-words of ‘Entropy’) through which he has met a variety of new players with a gamut of vivid personalities: Exclusiive, Lorrenef, Cottonbottom, Helleh, Evarred, Meta, Burger, Digglez, Afluk, Damyou, Gandolfien, Luknarnakh, and others. Aenise has also leveled a Champion on Brandywine, and has been having a lot of fun testing the many capabilities of the class.

~~~

"The end of the beginning, because after all, our journey has just begun."

Thank you so much for all the fun times on this amazing game. You are all such amazing people, and you will ALL be missed, even if I did not include your name in my story.
Live life to the fullest! Seize the day! Cherish the present! BE the person you are truly made to be, and prove it through your actions. I hope I have been able to contribute to a positive gameplay experience during my years on this game, and that everyone whom I have come in contact with will have fond memories of our time together.

LONG LIVE DWARROWDELF, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. YOUR MEMORIES WILL LIVE ON IN THE HEART OF EVERY DWARROWDELFIAN.

Feel free to post your own personal story below, or comment about mine. Share your own thoughts and feelings on this thread, so we all can revel in the past with our own nostalgic anecdotes. Also, I encourage you to post some screenshots you've accumulated over the years of happy times or your personal accomplishments!

With the most sincere love,
Neomoth, the Dwarrowdelfian.

[Zoar]

So many feels! The history runs deep for many of us. DD will live on in our hearts!

- Sappy Bunny

[CivitasAciesAld]

It certainly is a strange feeling having our home server finally close.
Having lived similarly through the SoM Era up till U16 as well (with a rather large vacation during RoR) I can say it truly was an honour to fight with you in the moors, side by side or even against one another (though naturally I had to impose a self nerf on my godly wl dps whenever I was solo as not to scare all the freeps away). You certainly excelled in every class I saw you play and had the chance to fight against.

As for Torth's Story
----------------------
I was born an oversized green reaver and as I grew stronger I knew that I was destined to be the best doughnut deals-man the Ettenmoors ever did see. I set shops up for creeps throughout different Ettenmoors venues: TA, TR, Lugz, LC, DG, and even CM. But wherever I went the nasty freepsies disturbed my sales. Then I decided I must become the greatest guitar orc of all the land, little did I know air guitars didn't actually make noise, so I couldn't draw in a crowd. So I reevaluated my purpose and it finally dawned on me: what I saw in my vision wasn't a doughnut it was the end of a dollar-store bubble making wand! I was truly destined to be the oversized-green-reaver-fairy-princess crooblet! From that day on I went about blowing magical fairy bubbles for all of the Ettenmoors (strangely enough the freepsies seemed rather upset when I would, but I couldn't let them crush my dreams, much less pop my bubbles!!) After the great success of my bubble blowing parties I finally was able to open up a meals-on-wheels doughnut shop to help keep creeps around the Ettenmoors at full morale. Furthermore, I was even capable of attracting the whole of the Ettenmoors with my fabulous fairy princess tiara, aromatic donuts, air guitar playing jams, and of course my irresistible dancing orc booty.
---
In all seriousness though I played from early Siege of Mirkwood up to the Rise of Isengard expansion on a Black Arrow known as Ishootufoo. During that time I was basically mute: I never really talked in any chat though I played with and against many big names throughout that time period. Personally I played with BAMF a lot of the time and though I received a formal invitation I never actually joined (I was too inconsistent in when I'd log; admittedly that didn't change much over the years). I recall duoing a lot with 'croobs' of that era which consequently later went on to become server bests. Naturally, being mute, mediocre, and inconsistent my BA wasn't remembered. Around the time RoI rolled around so did unlocking creep classes with TP, once I had enough TP I unlocked a R0 WL slot, instead of my r5 or r6 BA slot. Why you ask? I'm not entirely certain though I think at the time it was because it shared similarities to my freep captain and main: Aldereon. During RoI I became fairly well known because I was one of the few moors healers that played somewhat often (there were certainly fantastic healers but they logged on less often), but more than that I healed you regardless if you were grouped with me or not (that's probably a good thing because admittedly I was solo for 70% of my game time in the moors, mind you I didn't solo wander often but following stealthed wargs isn't always ideal for an obese stealthless creep). Around the release of RoR I disappeared from LOTRO and went to GW2 where I joined Ainur on the same side of the battle field for quite some time before coming back to LOTRO for pvmp (this time even less consistent than before! Yes it's possible.) and more so for my kin which I lead on freepside. On freepside I originally was part of a kin known as Defenders of Middle Earth (or DO-ME as one Slothypxl pointed out to me), after a short while DOME became inactive and me and my friend (the one who started me on LOTRO) co-founded a very small close-knit kin, the Civitas Acies (My terrible Latin...). As my old kin, the Civitas Acies, died off (having lasted from February 2011 to November 2014, nearly 4 years) I became increasingly inactive in LOTRO and only occasionally came out to the moors. At the present I achieved R8 in my BA who I played only for a few months and R9 in my WL (which happened before this 'free' heals infamy nonsense. Actually healing infamy doesn't seem like a bad I idea, I'm only messing around). I've seen red maps, I've seen blue maps, I've seen the map get big makeovers, and I've seen massive chunks of the community come and leave.
---
Whatever the case DD has always been my LOTRO home which I always came back to.
Back in the day (*old man Torth waving his cane here*) you'd get quitting forums all of the time (still do actually) and I'd always respond the same way: "One does not simply leave DD"<Insert Boromir meme here>. It has come to my attention recently that, perhaps, I was saying this phrase the wrong way all together. Instead what I meant to be saying was, "DD does not simply leave you." <insert soviet Russia joke here?>. Jests aside, I've had fantastic experiences on this server and with its community both freepside and creep. If over my years of play I have offended any of you I assure you those weren't my intentions (well except for when I was trolling... but I consider that more along the lines of friendly banter...) and I apologise. While we may have been labeled the 'troll' server I honestly found this server to be the best of any I've played on despite all the other servers claiming to be the 'friendliest' or the 'best'.

Naturally I could list off all the ladies and gents I've had the great opportunity to play with as it's always nice to see people list your name as a good memory on the forums, however I'm afraid I'd forget a fair few that truly deserve to be on that list even if they were a complete croob and/or froob. Not wanting to leave anyone's contribution to Dwarrowdelf out I offer this forum's toast. -Here's to you DD!- ./salute.

---TL;DR--
Torth's giant orc heart is QQing for the end of DD, however
on the brightside, I think that this is official proof that creeps have won the Ettenmoors and have finally reclaimed Moria (Dwarrowdelf) from those small bearded fellows.

It's been swell fellas, I probably won't play consistently, but I imagine i'll play LOTRO to it's end. I'm looking forward to seeing where you all head off to as I still want to pvmp with some old names after this merging nonsense haha. Cheers!

-Torthrak HealznKillz / Aldereon Solusest

[Neomoth]

Awesome story, Torth. Was truly a pleasure playing with you these many years. You were a fantastic War-leader, BA, and air guitarist! You will be missed!

Keep the stories coming! Long live DD!

[Eomon]

Fun trip down memory lane. You shall be remembered Zepph!

[Hamond]

Ahhh I wish we became friends much earlier than we did Ur a pretty cool guy sometimes and thats nice. Keep in touch ;o




P.S Your brandy burgs name, A nus, is terrifying

[natriumion]

I remember being in a kin with you and another guard named redsox. I can't even remember how long ago this was.

[KrauserJoestar]

Ahhh I wish we became friends much earlier than we did Ur a pretty cool guy sometimes and thats nice. Keep in touch ;o




P.S Your brandy burgs name, A nus, is terrifying

Hamond, ps me with you guys vent, I forgot the info.


--------------------------

My story:

In 2007 a little dwarf started his journey but stopped playing because of school and college. Then, at 2010, I bought my first stuff in lotro making me a premium user and then a VIP. At 60-65, I was part of the crimson brotherhood, a small kin with very friendly and good players. Once I hit the level cap, I used to raid with Dennis, V, Ohsnap and company. By the end of 65 I was a respected guardian that even though had no raiding kin used to raid and run raids with raiding kins when they're were missing tanks. During the last months of 65, I became friends with agtug, the boss dwarf and my guard mentor and the crimson brotherhood had received some new additions that are part of Dwarrow's history: Marvi and Gamarin.

75 was my favorite level because of how much content and how much fun I had. Came to know a lot more people at that level cap and I was a pain in the ### for most of them because I love raiding and sometimes to a fault. Wasn't living a very good phase at the time so I had huge mood swings too. Still, the gammamakemeasammich pug was the most fun I had with any group. Some of the names in this group: Agtug, Aktis, Gamarin, Eomen(Xellor), Marvi, Lythea, Dennis, Sno, Guido, Zulubeast, Pat, Zub, Norfrid, Thren's burg, hamond, Galla, Easiel, Katon, Jonp, Stocky, etc(too many people for me to remember them all, sorry). So many great players, we were basically a raiding kin but without the name and we were all from different kins. We accomplished much and had our nice share of drama and QQ, which for the best or the worse, is part of any mmorpg.

By the middle of 75, I decided to try pvp for the first time, first with my guard and then with my rune-keeper. Guard dps was bloody boring and my movement was very bad duo to pveing only, so I just stopped. My RK though, was so much fun at 75. I used pve gear because of the bonuses and xardas always had a hard time keeping my squishy dwarf alive but I had some memorable kils with my fire RK and back then, the only fire rks were me and Marvi. I used to 1 vs 1 with fire all the time and most of the time lose. But I didn't care, I was determined to become one of the best fire rks. My true love though was healing with rks. Powerful healing with great animations and it helped me a lot the fact that I had a tank in a way to become a good healer. I also had help from veteran healers like Shaera's rk(best player overall I've ever seen in lotro) or Lythea. Soon after hitting my lvl cap I was also a respect rk dwarf, hated by many creeps that couldn't kill me when healing since I was so squishy in dps mode. At the end of 75, I also started to get along with belve, bo(on his rk) and so on.

Sadly, at the end of 75, some of these great players left and I decided to create my own raiding kin. Ceaseless was its name. Most of the players that used to group in gammamakemeassamich joined my kin while a couple joined reforged. 85 wasn't that great but still had some raids. At this level cap, I met one of the best players and brightest minds strategically and by far the best burg I've ever known, Ophra. Whatever game you're playing man, you're a blast to group up with. You prioritize tactics over zergs, discipline over carelessness and I loved it. You and Presdas helped me a lot mantaining ceaseless alive for most of 85. During 85 I decided to raise a LM since I had a tank, a dps/healer and needed a cc class. Of course, I bloody loved the class and started using it as much and even more than my other 2, raiding aside.

At the end of 85, Ceaseless disbanded and a few of us joined other great players like Aglaeka, jak, bo, belve and others. Some of those people might have a bad rep but they're all cool guys with deep knowledge about their classes and the game mechanics. We cleared BFE t2c before everyone on our server, and I think we were the only group to heal it with 2 rks only and no mini, and a solo tank. (Me and belve healing, agtug tanking).

95 came and pve died. I raged at the started but eventually understood that it was time to dedicate myself only to pvp cuz pve was garbage. Had a lot of fun with Asylum during these times. At the end, our server was truly dead and I decided to join Brandy. But before that, I had a lot of fun with my crazy no ####s given reaver, kraumattack, that since r1 would go against a raid just to get a kill and die trying. Jasiak, weltrop's reaver, belve's reaver and many more reavers were beast too. Aglaeka's WL is the best WL I've ever seen too.

My first months on brandy were kind of bad. Too many zerg babies, joined a kin with more than 100 people that never grouped for anything, was mostly a solo player against tons of zergs and raids. I transfered my LM and reaver only, as tanks and healers weren't needed at the time(a lot I mean) and I didn't like the tree trait changes on them. After that, I decided to quit the game for half a year and when I came back I joined achilee's heel, a very small but really good kin. Oromay, you're/were(don't know if he's playing lotro on E or just ESO) a great player and pvp leader. You remind me a lot of Ophra in everything. Our kinmembers were great, had aktis there too and we used to roll 20 creeps with groups of 5-6 of us, at dg, at the oc rocks, etc. Using the terrain and playing strategies and timing our cc/dps at the right time, exactly like in Asylum.


Sadly most of them left the game or are in other server and I stayed on Brandy. I'm now part of a kin named Illuminati and for the first time it's a kin where 90% of the players are europeans. All my previous kins used to be mostly US people and Aussie, with some europeans like me, agtug and aktis. It's a fun kin with good players but right now, I feel nothing towards this game. The new instances are easily farmable, although DoS t2c is actually a cool run, the pvp right now is complete and utter garbage thanks to the new map that invites zergling over anything and moors is almost always empty. My computer is dying as hell and I don't think it will survive till the end of the year.



Regardless, I tried many times to quit this game and never could. I don't do that mistake anymore. I might take breaks, even big ones, but truly moving on, I don't think I can.


DD had an awesome story and if I forgot people forgive me as there's too many of you. I will still play till the pc dies for good, and I would like to play with all of you again.

PS: pc is actually dying faster than I thought. Don't think i'll be playing anytime soon. Oh well.

[guitarguy12410]

Still, the gammamakemeasammich pug was the most fun I had with any group. Some of the names in this group: Agtug, Aktis, Gamarin, Eomen(Xellor), Marvi, Lythea, Dennis, Sno, Guido, Zulubeast, Pat, Zub, Norfrid, Thren's burg, hamond, Galla, Easiel, Katon, Jonp, Stocky, etc(too many people for me to remember them all, sorry). So many great players, we were basically a raiding kin but without the name and we were all from different kins. We accomplished much and had our nice share of drama and QQ, which for the best or the worse, is part of any mmorpg.

Sadly, at the end of 75, some of these great players left and I decided to create my own raiding kin. Ceaseless was its name. Most of the players that used to group in gammamakemeassamich joined my kin while a couple joined reforged.

Gammamakemeasmmich pug was the funniest and best raids I ever did. Ceasless was also my favorite kin to be with, so many amazing memories.

[Neomoth]

Gammamakemeasmmich pug was the funniest and best raids I ever did. Ceasless was also my favorite kin to be with, so many amazing memories.

I wanna hear the Jonp story! I'll miss you, man! Best of luck in all your future endeavors.

& Awesome story Kraum! The 75 days were simply the best of times, I agree. A lot of old names from back then certainly have gone down in DD history.

[Neomoth]

Fun trip down memory lane. You shall be remembered Zepph!

Though I did not play with your RK all that much, our captain + RK duos will forever stick in my memory as one of my most exciting LotRO experiences. Long live Eomen! The renown certainly flowed quite freely for us!

[Eomon]

My memory is fairly hazey, but I will try to give the Eomen story:
(P.S. this developed into far longer than I had first thought but I'll put it here if anyone is bored)

I first started lotro at the beginning of f2p. As just a young kid, with no experience at all in online games, I can honestly say that I was truly terrible. My earliest remembrance of my noobish moments was at the early levels (18ish), where I tried to do the Great Barrow quest. I had no understanding of what a 'dungeon' or 'instance' was, and I just kept trying it until I could figure it out. First solo, then with any random people I could find. I literally sat outside the entrance to GB and any person I saw I would send in invite to so that I could do the instance. I remember trying that over and over again, through which I learned things like "Whats a tank?" and "Whats threat"?

After doing GB successfully (yet painfully), I decided that it was probably in my best interest to try and keep leveling up. The only problem was that I was f2p, and a kid with no credit card and no way to buy anything. As I hit Lone Lands (back before it became free), I realized that I needed more TP to progress, so I decided to get as much TP as possible. I did deeds, made toons on other servers, pretty much everything I did revolved around trying to make TP to progress. I eventually saved up enough for lone lands, and then trollshaws as well. From there I think I hit another wall, but luckily Angmar came up on sale and I was able to snatch that up with some TP too. By then I was still basically playing all on my own, but I had joined a random kin named "Royal Guards of Middle Earth". It was fun as it was full of nice people, and it was really my first look at how other people could shape the way to game played for me.

So I grinded through Angmar (which I absolutely loved), while also saving up TP for Moria. At some point in my journey, the Royal Guards kin basically died out, and I joined a kin called "Exodus". Ahhhh, the memories of Exodus! Long live the ranting of the Trolling-King "Nairbwulf", who brought endless laughs to many of us in the kin. Despite Nairb's reputation as a %#^&*@, Exodus was full of some truly nice people. I remember people like Gilthad (the leader), Magnoliaswift, Ald, Bellaswing, El...something (its been a while) all of whom helped me immensely whenever I needed a hand. Also in the kin I met several people who would prove to be great friends in the years to come, like Lunchbox, Mirvofin, and Danksterrific (where are you Dank?). Sadly though, towards the end of moria I began to grow tired of the game. The Foundations of Stone began to both bore me and frustrate me, as I tried to do all the group quests rather than focus on easy leveling.

I took a break from the game, eventually coming back as Rise of Isengard just began pre-purchase. I got my parents to buy me the one pack which included the quest packs which would lead me to 65 (Lothlorien+Mirkwood were included I think). It was the only expansion I truly "bought", but it was well worth it as it opened my eyes to new aspects of the game. Eventually leaving moria, the game opened up in lothlorien, with levels coming much easier to me than before. Before long, I quested my way to 65, still having a free-to-play character with I think 2 class traits (ouch), and 1 legendary trait? I had no concept of how crippling that was to me, and I tried to all kinds of dungeons, particularly the Mirkwood ones like swordhalls (which I failed miserably at). I realized that I needed just one month of VIP, and then I would be in much better shape. With a sub still out of the question, I decided that the Shadow of Angmar base game on amazon was the cheapest way to go. I did random surveys and #### on some website day after day until I eventually was rewarded with like two $5 amazon gift cards, which was totally not worth it, but exactly what I needed. So I bought the box online, unlocking everything I needed to become a better player. What really got me hooked though, and got me to truly learn more about the game, was the fact that the one month of VIP from the box allowed me to enter the moors.

My early days of the moors were filled endless noobish moments. My very first moors experience was on a Reaver, on which without knowing how the map worked, I ran straight towards a blue TA. On my way I got ganked by a rank 9 burg (currently the top rank) named Casper, leading what I now presume was an Ainur group. That part pretty much sucked, but the more I played the moors, the more I learned to love it. I loved the way the way freeps and creeps would push back and forth over the TA bridge, in these seemingly "massive" fights. I decided that the creep side wasn't what I wanted to do though, so I went with my cappy instead. Despite being a noob, I was still warmly welcomed by many players (and not so warmly welcomed by others, but hey I later found Ainur to be a great community, and I'm still with them today ). I will attribute my earliest successes in the moors to Threndinir, who most definitely was the one to really show me the ropes and the get me on my feet in the moors. People like him, Neo, Danieldan, Nimgold etc. really helped me to enjoy the moors as we would group on a daily basis.

From there I saved money in real life to help buy a sub, which allowed me to PvP as much as possible. At this point Exodus had a falling out, and there was an "Exodus" from Exodus. Nairb also grew bored and was permabanned in what will be remembered as the 2nd largest tragedy on 9/11. As the 75 cap rolled in, I helped transition the few that were left in Exodus (Mirv, lunch, etc. ) into the kin Awakened. We quickly found Awakened to be a great kin, openning us up to the raiding scene in our first true raid runs (Isengard). After establishing myself a little more in the moors, and continuing to get better and more familiar with raids, I received a tell from someone wanting to me to do T2 Orthanc.

I had tried T2 orthanc before in Awakened, but we failed miserably at it. We just weren't the right kin for it. At first I declined the offer, still wanting to save my raid locks for kin runs instead. But eventually as I wanted more, I decided to give it a go. The group was led by a guy named "Gamarin", and it become apparent that someone in the group (not sure who) had seen me in the moors become and figured they could try and invite me to the pug group. The gammasammich PuG as it was called quickly become a staple of my time in Lotro, and is quite frankly still my fondest memories of any game to date. The dynamic of the group was simply amazing, and I quickly established myself as a regular.

We spent hours and hours in ToO, day after day trying to clear whatever we could. Some trash pulls took days, even weeks to get past. There was a constant strategy going on, with us continuously discussing things like "Well what if we daze the troll first, then root the uruk?", or "what if we kite the wargs, and burn down the orcs?". Huge +rep to Kraum and Ag btw, who were most definitely the best tanking duo I have seen to date. Not only were they sharp in gameplay and skill, but they also played amazingly well together, and any runs we tried without both of them there were just not the same.

Anyways, the group went on as Kraum said, and eventually fizzled out sadly. That definitely marked the peak of my time in Lotro. I later created the RK that we all know and love , and eventually joined Anessen's kin Knights of the White Cross, which is full of the nicest people I have met on the server. The rest is pretty much history, lots of just moorsing, and eventually my interest in the game died out. I still peak my head in every once and a while like this, but it's still nothing like it was back in those "glory days"

P.S. There were also lots and lots of people who I met along the way who made the game great for me, but I cant possible list them all so I will just say: Thank You Dwarrowdelf

[guitarguy12410]

I wanna hear the Jonp story! I'll miss you, man! Best of luck in all your future endeavors.

Oh don't worry I'll be putting my story up within the next few days. Just been really busy the past few days haha

[Jacbo]

Damn you all, making me read stories instead of do the work I'm supposed to be doing. Seriously though, I enjoyed reading about how the experience developed for each of you. I'm glad to have made your acquaintances at one time or another in your journeys. I suppose since it's story time I have to give my account of events. Here we go, the story nobody asked for...


Hobbitually Jumping: The Jacbo Story

LOTRO went Free-to-Play on September 10, 2010 after several years of being a paid game. It had been a while since I'd played MMOs like EQ and DAoC casually, but the appeal of a Tolkien themed game hooked me in; at the time I didn't consider myself "an MMO player". Dwarrowdelf launched as a new server along with the F2P release along with three others (Crickhollow, Riddermark, Imladris), and Turbine decided to usher new players onto these servers. DD happened to be the server that was "recommended" by the client when I first logged in, a completely random event, so that's where I ended up.

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

My first adventures in LOTRO were on an Elf Loremaster named Menoic. The class seemed interesting which is why I chose it, I hadn't developed the "tank class" mindset yet which would motivate my class choices in future games. Menoic's adventures took him as far as Rivendell, encountering a couple companions along the way but no lasting ones or a kinship. Around this time my sister, an avid WoW player, decided to start playing the game, so I decided to level a new character alongside her. She always plays healers and wanted to try Minstrel, so I figured I should play a tank and opted for the Warden.

We knew we both needed to be Hobbits, because Hobbit master race. The name Jacbo was created when we decided to go with the cheeky pairing Jacbo Uphill and Jilbo Uphill as a play on the Jack and Jill rhyme. We decided to form a kinship, entitled "Back in Time for Elevenses", to be a home for Hobbits in the same vein as Sons of the Seven Fathers would be for Dwarves. My original recruitment post is still up on the forums, though the Lorebook link is now dead (funny note: I listed PvMP as 1/5 stars focus). Jilbo quit the game before our journey took us to Moria, and the kinship didn't last very long after, but I carried on with the new character because I really enjoyed the Warden class.

Some time and many dead evildoers later I reached level cap and joined up with the guild Keeper's Vow. The main members at level cap at the time were Draggrim, Rollam, Beaukane, and myself, though the majority of the guild was still leveling as it was early on (including one Fulksayyan, an uppity low level who'd go on to found Massive Dynamics and create the kinship directory). My first group instance experience was running the Carn Dum cluster 4-man in the high 50s. At one point in the dungeon the other three died and I solo'd down Helchgam, my first taste of the power of the Warden class for soloing. Later on, soloing that cluster for the boss drops needed for class unlocks would be my main form of income when it was difficult for other classes/players to do so or to find groups.

That guild focused primarily on PvE but never really had the numbers or experience to do much besides dungeons. Meanwhile I had dipped my feet in PvMP and really enjoyed it, so I was spending all my time out in the Moors with the veteran players who'd transferred from other servers and capped early on and other new players, such as Focault, Ithilihion, Emmett, Rigator, Chaco, and Sno (against creeps like Rayzr, Arakaz, Prestige). TORMENT was the largest PvE focused kinship and I'd received offers to join them. When drama transpired in Keeper's Vow though I instead talked to Card and ended up joining Ainur, at the time a small but experienced group of PvMP focused players. I became an Officer in the guild not long after, when Sno transferred leadership to Card (trivia: the original founder of the guild was a guy named Root, original recruitment thread).

The next little while was spent focused primarily on PvMP. Organized kinships from other servers named Treason (inc. Smokeq, Lugalal) and Pariah (inc. Biological, Gaeroof, Diremaw, Oldgreg) created creeps on DD and began terrorizing the moors. Freeps were still leveling, undergeared, and unorganized at the time, whereas veterans looking to make creeps on the server could just quickly make a L65. The group of moors regulars consisted of a variety of people from different kinships, a nice time capsule of the rankings in Jan 2011 can be seen in this post; or the best-in-class from April 2011. Arakaz tried to organize the unguilded freeps while I tried to organize the freeps and finally some good fights resulted (though with a Hobbit in charge there are certain complications).

Some of Card's acquaintances from Windfola came over and created "The Agency" on creepside, a group of six spiders and a defiler which included soon-to-be-freeps Jakespeed, Fuzion, Zidia, and Obewon. Once they flipped to freepside and joined Ainur our policy shifted again to a raiding and PvP focused kinship ("We PvE to get gear to PvP"), and with the added numbers and the experience of some who'd ran it on other servers we became the first kinship to clear The Vile Maw and Dar Narbugud on Dwarrowdelf, underleveled raids at the time which were still necessary for gear (trivia: Barad Guldur gear wasn't better for most classes than Dar Narbugud gear so it was never run).

Our success at raiding and PvP led others, such as TORMENT Leader Chaco Takoh, to move a few of their better players over to Ainur. Some other new names that contributed to our first DN kill included Erlilda, Fingoldor, Navgul, Presdas, Guido, and Trius. I even made a cheeky post with regards to our snatching up server talent. But with that success came conflict internally. Our moors raids were so potent that there was no possibility of creepside resistance due to their lack of organization, even though our "raids" were often less than a fellowship in size fighting twice that many (commonly Ilthel, Zidia, Chaco, Sno, and myself). Card felt the need to be the arbiter of moors balance, a noble ideal but a futile one since MMOs are organic. To that end he, Jakespeed, and Fuzion focused on their creeps and fought against the rest of us in the kin on the battlefield. Which would have been fine, were it not for the flipping back freepside to create drama in kin chat and other such things.

This all led to an Officer meeting where we confronted Card and suggested he step down. The end result was Card/Jake/Fuzion leaving the kinship whilst Zidia/Obewon/Elth stayed from that group and I was appointed the new leader around March 2011. What happened happened but it was water under the bridge fairly quickly afterwards and there's no bad blood. Under my leadership we continued our moors dominance (sample week, but any week Jan-Nov 2011 will do). However we also needed to change the perception of Ainur as a PvMP only kin if we wanted to participate in raid progression for Ost Dunhoth. We picked up more core members around this time including Trevil, Staissi, Meldreth, Moonfang, Dairren, Doomsie, Psilopsyb, Gemelion, Banoon, Nvious, Eaisiel, and several others which enabled us to hit the numbers needed to raid. We also declined quite a few applications, some probably wrongly, perhaps even some of you reading, but running a guild is a learning process so forgive my mistakes.

Ost Dunhoth was regarded by many as the high point of LOTRO raids when it came out in March 2011. During the initial progression race the Big Three raiding kins on Dwarrowdelf were Ainur, Reforged, and BALROG RIDERS. Of the three, we made the most progress and had the least internal drama during the first few months after release, but all three were putting Dwarrow on the map. By June we'd completed Wound, Disease, and Poison wing T2 Challenges. BR and Reforged finished Wound/Disease in July. Atador and Anaxthes joined up and in August we added Ivar T2 Challenge to the list. It was a fun and competitive time both in PvE and PvP, all game modes were catered to reasonably well.

In August 2011 Reforged underwent some drama which, coupled with stagnating raid progression, resulted in merger discussions between Viduo and myself. Not everyone was on board with the move initially, there was a lot of misplaced dislike between members of each kinship who'd never even played with each other. The merger did happen and the core of Reforged joined us, which included key members like Viduo, Borken, Edlorthar, Ianwulf, Merthin, Pritella, Alphyums, Jasalyn, Gallanhael, and Idras. There was some initial drama surrounding changing the name Ainur, but eventually we settled on keeping it and several months later they were all repping it proudly (proof that I'm never wrong, except when I am, which is a lot of the time).

With the older and newer core members we punched through Fear T2 Challenge and were on the cusp of Gortheron when the level cap increased and made the attempts no longer progression. When cap was raised I grinded it out overnight and was the second on the server to hit level 75. With the cap came the Draigoch raid, a lair raid with mixed reviews. We completed it numerous times as a guild including the server first, but my favorite run of it was when I lead a successful PUG through it. The worst run was when it bugged after about an hour in the instance, and when Trevil contacted a GM about it he received a response to the effect of "deal with it or don't raid". Needless to say that was not what we wanted to hear.

Around the same time Isengard launched was the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic. As a kinship created in LOTRO and not based in any previous games and my first foray into leading a guild it was a rough decision point. Half our players were committed to moving to SWTOR, the other half wanted to remain in LOTRO. I couldn't decide what to do and it wasn't my place to dictate one or the other, so for the next several months between December 2011 and April 2012 I was raiding four nights a week with both the SWTOR and LOTRO groups and trying to manage both guilds. This was incredibly taxing but it was all I could think to do to maintain what we had built in the face of such a stark division.

Around April 2012 is when the Ainur guild in LOTRO was finally disbanded. With that, I left some advice for guild leaders based on my year of leading Ainur and all the ups and downs that went along with it. There were diverse reactions ranging from cheering our downfall to lamenting the lack of our presence, but regardless of what anyone else thought we all knew we'd had one special year and a half of gaming. It'd take too long to belabor all the details so I focused on the key events, though forum archives would show more detail.

I made a ton of friends and acquaintances during that time, many of whom I still game with or talk to from time to time, and all of whom are welcome to contact me if that isn't the case (add me on steam!). I listed a lot of people in this post but it'd be impossible to list them all (though shoutout to Toa, warden bros for life and one of the few who resisted my recruitment attempts in LOTRO). Jacbo the Warden may have sailed off to the undying lands, but I use the name for almost everything now so I haven't forgotten my roots.

As for the guild, we carried on in SWTOR for a year making a name for ourselves there and adding more to our community as Pestilence -> Deception -> Erebus (we had an identity crisis shhh). Then we had a couple more good years as Valor in Guild Wars 2 and Wildstar. Right now we're playing weekly Europa Universalis 4 multiplayer games, some Skyforge, some World of Tanks, and some League of Legends while we wait for the next great MMO to flock to en masse. Five years strong Ainur/Valor is still going and all because of the great community that began on Dwarrowdelf. Many of the people in this post still associate with our community, so if you ever decide you've had your fill in LOTRO or the game simply shutters up and you want to join up with us for gaming goodness, such as Camelot Unchained for those PvMP fans, check out our website or hit me up on steam.

"The Road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow, if I can."
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

[Rayodog]

story of rayodog

I made a warden named Rayoden around SoM. He failed really hard so I made a warg named Rayodog. For the first week I failed. Then I started to get really good and I farmed everyone. 3 years later, rayodog is the best warg to ever play this game.

the end

[Jacbo]

story of rayodog

I made a warden named Rayoden around SoM. He failed really hard so I made a warg named Rayodog. For the first week I failed. Then I started to get really good and I farmed everyone. 3 years later, rayodog is the best warg to ever play this game.

the end

8/10 story
11/10 with rice

[Rayodog]

8/10 story
11/10 with rice

says the one who made a wall of text that nobody read.

[Jacbo]

says the one who made a wall of text that nobody read.

Not sure how you construed a post made in jest about a story clearly written in jest as... what, disparaging? I meme'd your post in appreciation of its cheeky candor, but hey you do you.

[Rayodog]

Not sure how you construed a post made in jest about a story clearly written in jest as... what, disparaging? I meme'd your post in appreciation of its cheeky candor, but hey you do you.

english plz

[Jacbo]

english plz

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

[Zoar]

@Jacbo: Tears man, tears. Hobbit is masterrace for sure! We have to dance one more time on Dwarrowdelf soil. It just has to happen!

- Determined Bunny

[Jacbo]

@Jacbo: Tears man, tears. Hobbit is masterrace for sure! We have to dance one more time on Dwarrowdelf soil. It just has to happen!

- Determined Bunny

Hey Rayzr! Glad to see my favorite creep still mucking about. May our dance battles be sung by minstrels into the Seventh Age even when our names and our moves pass into legend and myth.

I like the picture suggestion someone made. That specific event looks like it's planned for Thorin's Hall which is fine since maybe folks who've transferred off can make low level dwarves with something close to their old names.

But maybe we can also arrange something in the moors on Candy Mountain? Is it still an agreed upon place to congregate without massive fights breaking out unintentionally? It'd be great to have the creeps on their actual creeps rather than just freep alts. A dance party should clearly be part of the agenda and maybe one giant brawl when everything is said and done.

At any rate I'll download the game and plan to be online Sunday for the afternoon, and I'll spread the word in our circle to try and get some of the other old stalwarts back for a last hurrah. No guarantees how many will show since they're all busy people.

Gonna repost this in that other thread to see what we can coordinate, but if you won't be on on Sunday then we can work out some other time to have a dance-off.

[Neomoth]

Damn you all, making me read stories instead of do the work I'm supposed to be doing. Seriously though, I enjoyed reading about how the experience developed for each of you. I'm glad to have made your acquaintances at one time or another in your journeys. I suppose since it's story time I have to give my account of events. Here we go, the story nobody asked for...


Hobbitually Jumping: The Jacbo Story ...

Great story, Jacbo. I read it over a couple times now... so many feels. The entire Ainur community certainly made a tremendous impact on Dwarrowdelf.

Honestly, I hated you guys for the first couple months I played endgame on LOTRO. I was a noob, and you guys knew it. But, looking back on my experience, and who I am today, I would have called myself a failure noob as well. I just didn't know it at the time. However, I can say that my knowledge of the game wouldn't nearly be as sharp as it is today without the people from your kinship. You led a fantastic group of devoted and determined players, and you guys were extremely successful at everything you did/accomplished. Your kin made a huge contribution to my "LOTRO story," and I was never even a part of you guys. Pretty much every grand memory I have of this game involved one or more of the players from Ainur. You guys were simply just so badass and great at what you did, be it PvP or PvMP.

Thank you Jacbo for this final story. I am really glad to have read about your humble LOTRO beginnings and the accomplishments to which you and your gang completely deserve.

Sincerely,
Neomoth/Zepphyr (of Lords of the Mearas, BALROG RIDERS, Death's Bane, etc. etc.)

edit: I am also a part of the Valor Gaming website and would love to hop into TeamSpeak with you one of these days and chat!

[Jacbo]

Great story, Jacbo. I read it over a couple times now... so many feels. The entire Ainur community certainly made a tremendous impact on Dwarrowdelf.

Honestly, I hated you guys for the first couple months I played endgame on LOTRO. I was a noob, and you guys knew it. But, looking back on my experience, and who I am today, I would have called myself a failure noob as well. I just didn't know it at the time. However, I can say that my knowledge of the game wouldn't nearly be as sharp as it is today without the people from your kinship. You led a fantastic group of devoted and determined players, and you guys were extremely successful at everything you did/accomplished. Your kin made a huge contribution to my "LOTRO story," and I was never even a part of you guys. Pretty much every grand memory I have of this game involved one or more of the players from Ainur. You guys were simply just so badass and great at what you did, be it PvP or PvMP.

Thank you Jacbo for this final story. I am really glad to have read about your humble LOTRO beginnings and the accomplishments to which you and your gang completely deserve.

Sincerely,
Neomoth/Zepphyr (of Lords of the Mearas, BALROG RIDERS, Death's Bane, etc. etc.)

Hey Neo, thanks for the kind words, more credit than we deserve to be sure but appreciated nonetheless! You were never a "failure noob", don't be so hard on your previous self haha, the only failure in a game or in life is being unwilling to accept that there's still so much to learn and improve on, and as you attest you've learned and improved a ton over the years. Glad to see you've found a good kinship to carry on your LOTRO journeys with going forward, I'm sure you'll be a good companion and a valuable asset to them.

edit: I am also a part of the Valor Gaming website and would love to hop into TeamSpeak with you one of these days and chat!

Sure man, always happy to chat, I'm on fairly frequently PST evenings. Couldn't find your website account to check the group permissions on it, probably named something unrelated to your LOTRO names, but if you need forum access just post in whichever one you can see, there should be a thread for it. The TS does allow guest accounts though, so you can hop on even if you don't have a permission linked one, we're pretty liberal about that now in general.

[Zoar]

Hey Rayzr! Glad to see my favorite creep still mucking about. May our dance battles be sung by minstrels into the Seventh Age even when our names and our moves pass into legend and myth.

I like the picture suggestion someone made. That specific event looks like it's planned for Thorin's Hall which is fine since maybe folks who've transferred off can make low level dwarves with something close to their old names.

But maybe we can also arrange something in the moors on Candy Mountain? Is it still an agreed upon place to congregate without massive fights breaking out unintentionally? It'd be great to have the creeps on their actual creeps rather than just freep alts. A dance party should clearly be part of the agenda and maybe one giant brawl when everything is said and done.

At any rate I'll download the game and plan to be online Sunday for the afternoon, and I'll spread the word in our circle to try and get some of the other old stalwarts back for a last hurrah. No guarantees how many will show since they're all busy people.

Gonna repost this in that other thread to see what we can coordinate, but if you won't be on on Sunday then we can work out some other time to have a dance-off.

Sunday it is then! I can pull Scalpel & Silvermoon on too. >xD}{