Looking Back: The Ballad of Bingo Boffin

[Ltngstrike]

Thanks for all the hard work MOL. Bingo's adventure was a nice change and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My favorite scene was at Brandywine Bridge watching Bingo finally swim. Nice touch that. Heh, maybe I'm easily amused. LOL

I hope you are able to come up with some more similar quest ideas in the future.

Well done Sir.

[Sito_Origami]

Terrific, in-depth discussion of a quest line I really enjoyed.

Looking forward to the next one.

[Sito_Origami]

Maybe we could have a special Bert ... to do hat rack trade-ins.

Yes, only real reason as I see it for all-in-one Bert would be to ease the burden on players, like me, who didn't understand how the hatrack thing worked. I passed on the early hatracks as they were of little interest, but about halfway through it seemed like a neat souvenir - and I learned the hard way I would have to start at the beginning and buy each one consecutively. Not a great hardship, but more work than I was willing to put in and I gave up somewhere around the Mirkwood.

[Datheor]

Maybe we could have a special Bert Backarack to do hat rack trade-ins.

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. The hatrack is, to me, a trophy to show your due diligence throughout the year. You lugged that thing place to place, trading it in every few weeks on the far flung adventure. Having an all in one stop would seem like a cheat more than an accomplishment.

[HunterGreen]

I have to respectfully disagree on this one. The hatrack is, to me, a trophy to show your due diligence throughout the year. You lugged that thing place to place, trading it in every few weeks on the far flung adventure. Having an all in one stop would seem like a cheat more than an accomplishment.

The current Berts implement a restriction on what you can trade by simply not appearing until you've done parts of the quest up to that point, so it's impossible, no matter how many badges you have, to get a prize that comes later in the quest chain. If a single Bert trading station were created, presumably it would also implement the same gating mechanism. Perhaps the simplest way to do that would be for the final all-in-one Bert to be visible only if you'd done the last quest in the chain. If so, this objection seems moot to me: you've earned the hatrack by doing all the quests, but the actual act of trading for it doesn't also need to be arduous on top of that.

[Datheor]

The current Berts implement a restriction on what you can trade by simply not appearing until you've done parts of the quest up to that point, so it's impossible, no matter how many badges you have, to get a prize that comes later in the quest chain. If a single Bert trading station were created, presumably it would also implement the same gating mechanism. Perhaps the simplest way to do that would be for the final all-in-one Bert to be visible only if you'd done the last quest in the chain. If so, this objection seems moot to me: you've earned the hatrack by doing all the quests, but the actual act of trading for it doesn't also need to be arduous on top of that.

Then we will have to agree to disagree. For me at least, the hatrack was a choice I made during my questing. A sort of "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" decision. Being able to have a level 100 alt blast through the questline in a day (and that can be done, with time to spare) to buy the item removes the whole value of it as a trophy. I feel the same about the Reptation meta deed steeds now. Now that we can "shortcut" your way to them, they lose meaning. At least to me.

[HunterGreen]

Then we will have to agree to disagree. For me at least, the hatrack was a choice I made during my questing. A sort of "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" decision. Being able to have a level 100 alt blast through the questline in a day (and that can be done, with time to spare) to buy the item removes the whole value of it as a trophy. i feel the same about the Reptation meta deed steeds now. Now that we can "shortcut" your way to them, they lose meaning. At least to me.

I don't understand your objection. You can blow through the quest in a day. That means you can get the hat-rack in a day. What does it change, whether you have to do that in ten trades while you're blowing through the quests in that day, or in ten trades at the end of blowing through the quests in a day? I think you're mixing up what you're actually objecting to here.

In any case, you can certainly choose not to use the single-trader version, if one were set up, to comply with your own objection. Doesn't make sense everyone else should have to do the same.

And I don't think MoL is going to implement the one-stop trading post anyway, so this is probably moot.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

Then we will have to agree to disagree. For me at least, the hatrack was a choice I made during my questing. A sort of "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" decision. Being able to have a level 100 alt blast through the questline in a day (and that can be done, with time to spare) to buy the item removes the whole value of it as a trophy. i feel the same about the Reptation meta deed steeds now. Now that we can "shortcut" your way to them, they lose meaning. At least to me.

I took my level 100 hunter (not an alt) and plowed through the quests in one day, realized I'd forgotten the hat rack, and went back to the beginning to get it. It took me maybe 10 minutes to get the whole thing assembled with ports and swift travels. And you're telling me that if I had been able to spend ten minutes standing in one place to do the hat rack, instead of ten minutes porting hither and yon, somehow that makes YOUR trophy lose meaning, just because I forgot to grab the thing in the beginning?

[Datheor]

I don't understand your objection. You can blow through the quest in a day. That means you can get the hat-rack in a day. What does it change, whether you have to do that in ten trades while you're blowing through the quests in that day, or in ten trades at the end of blowing through the quests in a day? I think you're mixing up what you're actually objecting to here.

In any case, you can certainly choose not to use the single-trader version, if one were set up, to comply with your own objection. Doesn't make sense everyone else should have to do the same.

And I don't think MoL is going to implement the one-stop trading post anyway, so this is probably moot.

No, I am quite clear on what I am objecting too. As I said, We will just have to disagree. You have your point of view, I have mine. Good day.

[Datheor]

I took my level 100 hunter (not an alt) and plowed through the quests in one day, realized I'd forgotten the hat rack, and went back to the beginning to get it. It took me maybe 10 minutes to get the whole thing assembled with ports and swift travels. And you're telling me that if I had been able to spend ten minutes standing in one place to do the hat rack, instead of ten minutes porting hither and yon, somehow that makes YOUR trophy lose meaning, just because I forgot to grab the thing in the beginning?

Again, this is my opinion. Calm down. I am entitled to it, as you are to yours. I became quite involved in the story (not something new for me in this game) so the hatrack perhaps has a different meaning to me than it does to you. The same goes for other items I have on characters that involved a significant in game effort.

[Vilan]

Perhaps the final Bert could just sell a complete hatrack for 50 tokens (or whatever it adds up to). Maybe add a 5-10 token premium for not having to run around collecting each part.

[SvetPandaren]

Greetings, MoL.

I read your thread - a thread full of love.

And I have to admit I now feel very sorry for the moments when I was frustrated with difficult puzzles or hard quests. In the past I came here to vent my anger, sometimes with snarky comments.

I never realized that this was a personal project, coordinated mostly by a single dev, who puts a lot of efforts and love.

Even though I was snarky at times, now I want to stress that in 80% of the cases (with the exception of 20% of the hard puzzles), I really enjoyed the episodics.

Thank you for working at LOTRO and we still have you around. I hope that some day you'll be able to forgive those of us who were acting as entitled brats during the event.

I hope there will be other events in the future, even if they're not the same.

Best regards.

[Daguest]

Perhaps the final Bert could just sell a complete hatrack for 50 tokens (or whatever it adds up to). Maybe add a 5-10 token premium for not having to run around collecting each part.

As I mentioned somewhere else, I wish we had a bert with everything he sold on the way. So I don't have to go back to every "version" of him for all the items I want. I kept all the tokens to spend them at the end, so yeah, this is is kinda annoying.

[Silmelin]

I haven't reached the end yet so I don't know how the story ends, but maybe Bert could be visiting Bingo and sit in his house after the last quest is done? He could have all the old rewards to barter Or maybe he could be off somewhere and Bingo might have received a letter from him and tells us where he is and if we go there we get to barter everything?

[VeryBeary]

Dear MadeofLions,

I simply want to add my thanks for such a wonderful, creative idea. It was brilliantly realized and we all have enjoyed it thoroughly. I look forward to revisiting my dear friend Bingo on many characters.

Thank you for your hard work, dedication and imaginative brain. Just loved the background you provided, too!

Hollyberye

[Snop27ilRitorno]

After almost 2 years I have to thank you very much MoL for all you have done for LotRO, in these months most of the threads aren't positive and I noticed that this is perfectly clear and full of thanks. Hope that in the next years will come more of these fantastic contents!

[middlediscworld]

Also nice that Bingo Boffin got a mention in year 5 of the 10th anniversary quests.

[Laerien]

It would have been excellent if the Scavenger Hunt event would have the same questing spirit.

[Valakircka]

dude now its the time for a new Bingo type adventure!
with the epic story coming to the end there will be plenty of room for quests like this
i d love to see exploring the towers west of shire n all eriador regions!
i believe the hobbits are the right race for this type of adventure
or, reconsidering, where is a tresure hunt a dwarf should be around for sure!

[Shatterbones]

I am a casual player. Yes, years ago I purchased the Life subscription when I bought LOTRO, because I knew I wanted to spend time in Middle-Earth, at my leisure, whenever I had real life time. And I have been slowly slugging my way towards Mordor. My highest level character just reached 95 yesterday, and today we are completing the Bingo Boffin quest line, which we just discovered a few months ago.

In general, hobbits make me crazy. Leaving a handkerchief behind, or a walking stick, or whatever, just isn't allowed in this house. Go to the bathroom before we leave, and take your jacket. No exceptions.

And even though my main character has done all of the hobbit quests, and completed all of the deeds in The Shire, I was honestly relieved to get away, before I became a chicken, or spent all of my time at the Party Tree. But part of me feels the same way as a beloved friend of ours:

"I should like to leave the Shire, if I could – though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don’t feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.”

And the Bingo Boffin quest line reminded me of that.

So, my dear MadeofLions, thank you so very much. Much love.

[Sprinkling]

I love the Bingo Boffin quest line! Thank you so much for adding something different than the usual questing and grinding. The light-hearted story was a welcome change of pace.

I've finished it once, keeping up with it almost week to week when it came out and looking forward to every Wednesday and I have every intention to run it through a couple more times with other characters to get some of the rewards I'm missing and to enjoy the story another time. I have to say, my favorite part was trying to teach him to swim! I did get the feeling that Bingo was making me do all the work, and making things difficult at the same time, but that's part of the charm of the character as well.

I'm a little sad to hear that the Treasure Hunting hobby never panned out. A hobby tied to a story line certainly seems interesting... progressing through feats instead of simply repeating the same action.

Thank you for the hard work and for the behind the scenes story. It's easy to see it was an inspired project.