I Remember When...

[ScrappyTheGreat]

Haven't read all the posts in this thread but the ones i read were very good. Here's some of my memories...

I remember starting my elf hunter and actually getting freaked out by the starter instance

After getting ported to Celondim after the intro instance, I remember getting wholluped everywhere I went. I finally battled through the Celondim area and was scared schitless crossing over that tall bridge on the way to Duillond... Picture a lvl 5 hunter slowly inching his way over that bridge... not unlike an overly cautious lvl 60 hobbit timidly inching his way across the bridge to TA in the Moors. I eventually grew out of that timid phase (after i rolled a champ).

I remember getting lost as h3ll in the Old Forest.

I remember asking myself '### is going on?!?!?!' when I instantly died several times in a row trying to go from Aughaire to Eastern Angmar.

I remember the awe I felt the first time I saw Rivendell.

I remember cursing for hours on end about the Book 14(?) ring-lore. grrr...

I remember all those quests that told me to head, say, North East to find something... I'd head northeast and never find it. I'd eventually stumble upon it while trying to do another quest.

I remember thinking 'Man! I'll never have enough money to buy a horse!!!'

I remember failing the starter horse quests several times due to water. doh!

I remember friends and kinmates that have left the game for various reasons.

I remember the first time I entered Moria. (almost as freaked out as I was on the Celondim -> Duillond road)

I remember the awe I felt when I first entered Caras Galadhon

I remember the time before the LI dps nerf /sigh

I remember my mouth dropping when I first heard that the hunter class is the ONLY class that has penalties associated with class trait paths. ### is that all about?

I remember the sense of satisfaction I had when my minstrel rezzed a fallen fellow member for the first time... I finally was giving back to the community after I had received so many rezzes from so many minstrels in the past

[Patience]

Congrats to Forjo and everyone who posted in this thread, making it our newest LOTRO Forums Hall of Fame inductee!

[Kahuna]

i remember my first attempt to get to Rivendell... it was the last day of Beta 1, the servers were going dark in a few hours, and i REALLY wanted to get there. even though my LM was only lvl 25, I tried anyway. Ended up about halfway up the hill to the High Moors, lost as heck, and running from a bear. jumped off a cliff to survive... and ended up in a marsh full of bog-lurkers. Didn't last long enough to see the pretty flowers...

[Silesia]

I remember when this thread wasn't in the hall of fame...

I remember when there WAS no hall of fame!

[Carysta]

I remember when my minstrel first met up with turtles, in Breeland up near Nen Harn. I laughed so hard cuz they ran so cutely... until they defeated me. Multiple times. LOL. This memory was all pre-warspeech, too!

I remember the first time I logged in after getting the new graphics card - I didn't know what I was missing when everything was on low. I spent ages revisiting everywhere - my first sight of Everswim with the new card almost made me like the water!

I don't remember what I had in inventory that became the Glass of Aglariel, but I still have the glass in my vault

I remember when the Breeland crafting hall got moved inside from outside so that there would be a little less lag in Bree. I believe the shire ones got done at the same time - crafting and trainers - although my memory is oddly a little more fuzzy about the Shire at the time.

Grats to Forjo on being a hall-of-famer

[Lotrofan01]

Hearing all these memorable stories about the Old Forest makes me wish I would have experienced it back in the day when it was still frighteningly scary...

I was one of The Beta Testers and i do Rember Old Forest Beening in There at Day was ok
but at nigth it got wierd you would hear trees moving

lol one Run i never thougth i was going see the out side world Again Trap in that Forest
for days

[Feybobiam]

I remember playing Closed Beta, feeling lucky that I'd gotten the chance to experience Tolkien's beloved works in a gameplay world I could explore of my own free will, and marching from Ered Luin to experience the Shire, Bag End, where I met a few more of like mind. Together we all travelled to Weathertop (those half-orcs were NO JOKE ) and finally making it along the long and grueling path to Rivendell with no death (my companions weren't so lucky!) at level seven. Then we pooled money, bought some vendor bows, and brought them back to Bree hoping to strike rich!

I remember when hearing about people getting the title for killing Huorns in the Old Forest in Open Beta and thinking how hardcore they were.

I remember the B12 update that made Champions love the class they were playing when Raging Blade got updated to a stronger skill with a new sound and animation.

I remember discovering Sara Oakheart's identity and slamming my fist on my desk screaming, "I KNEW SHE WAS NO-GOOD!!!"

I remember downing Thorog successfully for the first time and the sheer adrenaline rush leftover after the kill.

I remember when I first found Aragorn in the Pony and did several /salute and /kneel screenshots.

I remember Aragorn giving me 6 Steak & Kidney Pies for retreiving the Silithar (they're still in my housing chest! )

I remember breaching 1,000 damage for the first time on my own self-buffs with no other outside source.

I remember The Happy Fun Room in Zaudru's Spider Cave... very well.

I remember the constant running of The Great Barrow at low level which ultimately culminating into forming the kin I've grown to love.

I remember vowing to never leave Moria until I came out the east side, and when I did, the light of dawn and the sun on the trees and water was breathtaking. Well done, Turbine.

So many more memories. Will post more later.

[Forjo]

Congrats to Forjo and everyone who posted in this thread, making it our newest LOTRO Forums Hall of Fame inductee!

Thank you very much for this! I've had a lot of fun sharing and reading memories in this thread. I look forward to reading more now that the thread has been recognized.

Grats to Forjo on being a hall-of-famer

Thanks again, but the real credit goes to all those who posted here and shared memories.

And let's not forget the many folks at Turbine who labored to give us these memories!



I remember my wife handing me PC Gamer and asking whether I thought this new Lord of the Rings game would be fun. I remember getting online and researching it and getting really excited.

I remember stopping at a Gamestop the day before launch to see if they had any pre-order CDs left. They had 2, but couldn't sell them because of some deadline; so the salesperson GAVE them to me.

And...

I remember my best friend Patrick who after years of asking finally got me to try Guild Wars -- an MMO which had I not played I probably would never have tried LotRO. I'd like to dedicate this thread to him. I wish you were still with us.

-Forjo

[TheOneRinger]

I remember being a champ in closed beta and sparring a RL friend. He beat me badly. On the same day, I remember freaking out when I first saw Gandalf, Thorin, Gloin, Gimli and the rest on the dwarf intro.

I remember joining Baruk Khazad at level 10 (haven't left since, except one time when it was an accident and I was promptly re-invited).

I remember watching a high-level champ solo Sambrog for me.

I remember my first round of horrible Dol Dinen experiences (haven't we all had those?).

I remember my first experience in Annuminas, it terrified me. I have since grown to love Annuminas. I wish we had more areas like it.

I remember first hitting 50. My kin leader said "Welcome to the world of deeds and grinds." It depressed me slightly.

I remember seeing my first Globsnaga Orc explode. I nearly fell out of my chair.

[KingNikolai1]

I remember when the Old Forest didn't have a map in Closed Beta.

When you could just swim through the canal and not have to fight on the Rescue by Moonlight quest when saving Avorthal.

When I finally found my way out of the Old Forest after travelling for 1 hour.

Lastly I remember when Turbine use to shutdown the servers for maintenance and would keep extending the time it was down then bring them back up about 3 hrs after the scheduled time.

[ararax2]

I remember my first round of horrible Dol Dinen experiences (haven't we all had those?).

Has anyone had a good first round of Dol Dinen?

[BlueFalconLoyd]

Has anyone had a good first round of Dol Dinen?

first time I went in there we cleared it, non-exploit but that's cause I was healing.

[Arness]

i remember my first attempt to get to Rivendell... it was the last day of Beta 1, the servers were going dark in a few hours, and i REALLY wanted to get there. even though my LM was only lvl 25, I tried anyway. Ended up about halfway up the hill to the High Moors, lost as heck, and running from a bear. jumped off a cliff to survive... and ended up in a marsh full of bog-lurkers. Didn't last long enough to see the pretty flowers...

I remember the last night of open beta our kin and a few others did a pub crawl and ended with that. Our poor founder kept getting killed by the same troll on the way to Riven, though. She finally made it when dawn broke and her armor was completely broken.

[raider88]

I remember my epic conclusion battling the Monstrous Turtle of Strange Happenings (much more menacing title than Norm). The raid group had been fighting valiantly against the beast, and he was drawing near to his last breath. As Norm reached the last couple thousand of his morale bar, his bleed wounds overtook 11 of our party members. 11 members of the raid succumbed to his might in almost an instant. Only I, Aldrat, stood to combat him and decide the outcome of the battle. Needless to say, it was a fun and tense conclusion to a relatively simple fight, and I felt a real sense of accomplishment downing him with the raid group cheering me on

[Elured]

I remember finding the waterfall at the top of the Midgewater Pass and how cool it was, also how hard it was to get by that wolf pack on the way! I remember sitting on the patio outside of Bag End with a good friend and watching the sunset over the Shire and the stars come out. I remember the beta was almost over and I wanted to get to Rivendell. I figured my 15th level minstrel couldn't do it, so I took my 13th level burglar (I could stealth, right?) I died over and over, but finally made it and was such a groupie running around to "meet" all the Fellowship I could.
And who could forget finally making it inside Khazad-dum?

[Elured]

And one more...so when the closed beta was over (I think) there was a way to instantly jump your character to 50th level. So I got my low-20s minstrel up to 50, and headed to the lone lands. A forlorn group of low 20's was overjoyed to see me and soon our fellowship started battling our way to the top of Weathertop. As we are rounding the last curve before the big show down fight, I lagged while trying to run and turn and fell off the top of Weathertop to my doom. Needless to say, the group was pretty dismayed to lose their 50lvl minstrel at the last minute. The server shut down before I could rejoin...

[Pellegro]

I Remember When...

Pluto was a planet.

[Midgardsormur]

I remember when we could <censored> without being <redacted>

[11b]

I remember when we used FS Pools to go to monster play.

[CinnaB]

Not technically *in* LoTRO because this happened well before beta, but...

I remember talking to my DM some years back, when I was still playing Asheron's Call, about how cool a Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings MMO would be. I'd talked with Srand (Forum name. I'm ashamed to admit I can't remember her last name. Sandra something >.>), one of the AC1 devs, a few times in the past because she always felt the most approachable/down to earth to me, so I asked her if she'd heard any industry rumors.

She acted kind of suspicious and just said "Keep an eye out for an announcement soon" or somesuch. Less than a week later, I was spending ten minutes trying to convince her that I had absolutely NO idea that press release was coming, nor that Turbine had acquired both sets of rights. =p

And after picking up the game for the first time, I remember spending two hours romping about the Shire, delivering mail for the Quick Post, getting completely and utterly lost on the way to Needlehole, and loving every second of it. (Still trying to figure out how I got suckered into going back to WoW, but I won't go there )

[arpinduellyer86]

I remember when Evendim first came out I ran past a dear and shouted at it (Cpt here), and instead of it falling at my might it attacked me!

I remember when I use to know every lvl 50 Captain on Meneldor.

Heck, I remember when I use to know every other lvl 50 on my server, and all the duels that happened between us all.

I remember how Philip was the first person on our server to get all crafted teal gear and weapons and how we all hated him. I almost cry if anyone shouts out in the Moors that a freep is running like Philip!

I still cringe when a single warg in the moors jumps me, thinking its Warthag come back from the dead.

I can remember holding off against two entire creep raids with only one minstrel, and one other Captain. That was the day I learned full circle what the Captains job is, to keep him alive.

I remember when the Hunters Desperate Flight use to take the whole group to the rez circle.

I remember how I went all gold before anybody could more than just the War-Captains Boots, and I'll never let my Captain be any other color.

I also remember when I got War-Captain gloves and thinking it was the best thing ever, being only one of two or three people in the game that had more than just their class boots (due to the bug that existed then).

How about when Captains use to use consumable summoning horns? I still have 15 of them!

And so much more....

[usis]

I remember reading about Middle Earth Online in a gaming magazine and later going online to try and play it, and the website disappearing.


I remember thinking fellowships were more permanent and not wanting to fellow because of it.

I remember wondering if I would ever leave the newbie instance.

[knowfere]

After reading more of these, I had a couple other awesome times I want to throw in:
Me on my minstrel and my brother on his hunter were amicably wandering SE Angmar and suddenly, peering through the charred looking forest, we spotted a DRAGON!!! I hadn't even known there were dragons in the game back then. It was Skybreaker. One lone champ was trying to solo it, and we stood back watching and I was mesmerized that he actually roared fire! I talked my brother into trying to duo him after the champ died. Needless to say I have screenshots of us running away with our feet on fire..... The mood that day, and the area we were in, was just an awesome thing to come upon that dragon.

On another occasion I was alone in the Misty Mountains and happened upon Kindle-Maw...I had read that minstrels were OP and some were able to solo him...so I tried. I tried and I died. Real quick. I vowed that day to get revenge. Everytime I go to MM I look for him. Finally, just recently, there he was. So I got on my brothers hunter(lvl 57), and my minstrel(60). Sigh, lets just say revenge will come another day

I took tons of screenshots of the dragons in Urugarth. I love just happening upon them in this game. It just seems to always happen when the mood I'm in just makes it a special encounter. I really wish they would spawn more often.

[abrahamL]

I remember when my wife (Helanor) saw me playing the game and actually wanted to start her own account, amazing since she was never a "gamer" before.

I remember when we spent a month in Bree and how accomplished we felt to hit level 20!

I remember when three of us were getting the spider eyes south of Forsaken Inn and when we took on more than we could chew, how we ran around frantically trying to get out all the while yelling outloud!

I remember how nice it was to find Esteldin and to learn that there was a place where one could craft, check his/her vault, and mail stuff all in one room..

I remember my first group instance (Weathertop) and how nice it was to complete, but yet we did not know what to say afterward.. (whoots, lol)

[Acacia]

I remember when my husband, our two friends and I were doing the weathertop instance and killed all the mobs at the top before they could release the troll. We had to contact a dev who released the troll so we could kill it and complete the quest. Yea Devs!