choose-my-adventure

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  • Choose my Adventure: Weathertop has been taken

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    09.16.2009

    With Bree-land and the Barrow-downs behind them, the Massive Hobbits set off eastward to the dusty Lone-lands and Weathertop. Despite saying I wanted more of a challenge for last week, retaking Weathertop proved to be quite easy for us. So in keeping with the previous plans to stay with more advanced quests, we're going to make this one more of a challenge. Especially since our time in LotRO is approaching an end within the next few weeks.What does this week hold for the pint-sized adventurers? Vote on this week's poll, follow along on Gibbi the Hobbit's in-character portrayal and read my impressions of how the game has been going so far, all after the jump.

  • Choose my Adventure: The Great Barrow

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    09.02.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!This week on Choose my Adventure, the Massive Hobbits continued their journey through Bree-land and the Barrow-downs. Your votes last week placed them in the Great Barrow to clear the instance of undead and the evil Sambrog.What does this week hold for the pint-sized adventurers? Vote on this week's poll, follow along on Gibbi the Hobbit's in-character portrayal and read my impressions of how the game has been going so far, all after the jump.

  • Choose my Adventure: Et tu, Bone Man?

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    08.26.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Now that the kinship has been formed and we have a regular group going for the Choose my Adventure: LotRO project, we're really starting to find our rhythm. As was voted upon last week, the Massive Hobbits completely dominated Book 1 and are working their way to Book 2 eligibility. These first few Epic Book questlines are made so a group can't plow through them at an early stage in the game, but at the rate we're going, it shouldn't be much longer. We also made our way through some southern Barrow Downs quests, including one that I seem to remember being much more difficult before the recent changes to the area.So for this week, there's a whole new set of choices for our adventurous hobbits, as well as an amazing video of our adventures through Book 1.11. Throw us a vote to determine what we do next and read along for my (and Gibbi the Hobbit's) impressions of the latest adventures.

  • Free Lord of the Rings Online for former subscribers until August 24th

    by 
    Seraphina Brennan
    Seraphina Brennan
    08.20.2009

    Do you miss the rolling hills of Bree-land? Home sick for The Shire? Well think fondly no more, as all subscribers are being welcomed back to Lord of the Rings Online! Past subscribers can jump back into the game until August 24th and enjoy all of the updates and changes made to the game. No links have to be clicked, and no accounts have to be re-opened. All you have to do is download the client, patch the game, and log in! Even more exciting is the fact that all players will be rewarded with a +25% exp boost, as is common with these welcome back periods. Free game play and bonus experience, how can you turn that down?But wait, there's more! Act now and you can go out adventuring with Massively's very own hobbit, Gibbi! Yes, the wonderful Gibbi, as played by Shawn Schuster, can be yours to adventure with all if you play on the Brandywine server.So what are you waiting for? Get to it!

  • Choose my Adventure: Massive Hobbits

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    08.19.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Oh do we have some stories to tell you. On last week's Choose my Adventure, Gibbi the Hobbit had decided that The Shire life was not for him, and he ventured off into the far-away lands of Archet. Not only were his measurements a bit off, but it turns out Archet was actually in great peril from the Blackwolds. He arrived just in time.This week has seen some more great adventures for Gibbi and myself as the Choose my Adventure project has taken some exciting turns. We've formed a kinship just for this project, named Massive Hobbits. It seems an appropriate name (thanks to reader Shane), and quite ironic when we have Men, Elves or Dwarves in the group. I've also made dear Gibbi gain the Explorer crafting vocation, as voted upon last week. Gibbi's coinpurse thanks you for choosing the best money-making vocation there is. Read along after the jump for some exciting screenshots and Gibbi's own story through his adventures in Middle-earth.

  • Choose my Adventure: Meet Gibbi the Hobbit

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    08.12.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!All through the week you voted on what type of character I should make to begin my journey through this Choose my Adventure in Lord of the Rings Online. My new male Hobbit Warden has begun his new life on the Brandywine server and is ready for action! So without further ado, I present to you Gibbi of the Harfoots! His story is a sad one, but he has determined that his life needs some adventure, which is very unbecoming of a hobbit. Unless you count those meddlesome Tooks, of course. Follow along after the jump for his background story, another poll for next week and a list of playtimes where we can all play together and you can have your chance to be involved in his evolving story.

  • Choose my Adventure: Lord of the Rings Online

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    08.05.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!With our Guild Wars adventures behind us, it's now time to branch out into our next game for the Choose my Adventure series. According to your votes accumulated this week, Lord of the Rings Online will be my next game to explore, with a little help from you, the readers. You also voted to keep the format the same, so I'm happy to hear that it's been working well so far.Now I must say, I'm certainly no stranger to either GW or LotRO (I didn't rig the polls, I promise!), but I think this can still be approached from a fresh perspective through the use of both the in-character gallery journal and the brand new character that you will help me create. So keep reading after the jump for the polls and more information to get me started in my brand new journey through Lord of the Rings Online.

  • Choose my Adventure: Goodbye, Tyria

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    07.29.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!As we reach the end of this first experiment with Choose my Adventure, I can't help but reflect on how fun it's been and how much I look forward to doing this again with a new game. My trek through Guild Wars, although certainly not a new game for me, was still exciting nonetheless.So in this final installment of my trip through Guild Wars, I will talk about the end goal that was reached, as voted upon over two months ago, and gauge interest in improving this column. Of course we also have the in-character gallery journal from the mouth of our star character, Moira Zonk. This week's adventures start here. Be aware that there are spoilers in the gallery captions though! Follow along after the jump to read more on my thoughts through Guild Wars and how you can vote for next week's game and how to improve the Choose my Adventure series.%Gallery-64234%

  • Choose My Adventure: Turpen dings 45

    by 
    Alex Ziebart
    Alex Ziebart
    07.23.2009

    WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and make him your own! Well, not literally. He belongs to Alex, but you know what we mean.Well, it took longer than I had hoped, but Turpen has finally dinged level 45 and he did it in the wet, muddy wastes of Dustwallow Marsh. It wasn't particularly hard, but between all of the patch 3.2 preparation I've been doing, it was sort of a scatterbrained trip. Do a few quests here, a few quests there... all in all, it wasn't particularly memorable!Throwing fuel on the 'not very memorable' fire was the completely anticlimactic ding of level 40. I remember that level being something of a landmark, but for Turpen the level came and went without much celebration. Mounts are at level 30 now, and the level 40 talent for Affliction Warlocks is pretty useful, but not much to get excited about. Oh boy, Dark Pact! Mana regen is so exciting! Don't get me wrong, I love me some mana, but could there be anything less exciting to someone who's leveling, questing and exploring? I want toys! I want explosions! I want excitement! This was none of those things. Maybe I would've been more excited if I run around with my Imp or Succubus out, but I've been getting pretty good mileage out of my Voidwalker still. I didn't have mana problems before Dark Pact, so I rarely use it now that I have it.

  • Choose my Adventure: The Ring of Fire Islands

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    07.22.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!As we approach the end of the line for Moira Zonk, we can't help but feel sad that our time in Guild Wars will come to a close next week. Of course, at that time we'll give a complete overview of our time spent there, but for now we focus on our ultimate goal.Last week's vote directed us towards the Ring of Fire Islands, where we now sit, anticipating those final three missions and bonuses. Follow along below for more on our experiences, including Moira's in-character journal and her personal gallery, documenting her time through Tyria.

  • Choose my Adventure: Return to the Shiverpeaks

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    07.15.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Last time on Choose my Adventure: Guild Wars, our heroine Moira Zonk became ascended and finally conquered her Doppelganger. The road is getting more difficult for her, but her newly-maxed level and the recent addition of two new Elite skills to her bar are helping to cushion the blow.This week, you voted for her to simply capture an Elite skill in the Southern Shiverpeaks before moving on through the final missions in the game. Now that she's done that, we have two more weeks with Guild Wars and it's time for you to vote on her next moves. Should she go for the gold and finish up her ultimate goal of completing all missions and bonuses, or should she enjoy her second-to-last week doing something fun? You decide!

  • Choose my Adventure: Becoming Ascended

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    07.08.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Last week, you voted to keep our notorious Necro in the Crystal Desert of Guild Wars and work on her Ascension. Not only has she complied with your demands, but she's done it in style!This week she aims to leave the arid desert and continue her journey through the Southern Shiverpeaks, and eventually, onto the Ring of Fire Islands. With three weeks left in her journey through Guild Wars, we can't help but feel a bit sad that our first Choose my Adventure hero will retire soon to that big persistent world in the sky. But not before we get her through the remaining missions and bonuses of Guild Wars! Follow along after the jump below for more on our travels, as well as this week's poll.

  • Choose my Adventure: Reaching the Crystal Desert

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    07.01.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!When last we saw our Guild Wars heroine, she had just finished exploring every city in Kryta and was off to do the same in the Maguuma Jungle. According to your votes, Moira Zonk the Necromancer headed off to unlock each of the eight cities in the Jungle and ultimately reach the Amnoon Oasis in the Crystal Desert.Now that she sits at the Oasis, recovering from her travels, she's ready to head off in whatever direction you'd like. Keep reading below for more on her travels and the newest poll where you can vote on where she ventures next.

  • Choose my Adventure: I'm on a mount

    by 
    Alex Ziebart
    Alex Ziebart
    06.26.2009

    WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!Another week, another level. Ten levels, actually. And I guess it's been a few weeks. It sounded cooler that first way though, didn't it? Anyway... Yes, Turpen has hit level 35. The last couple of weeks have been busy around the office due to patch 3.2, so I didn't get as much done between level 25 and 35 as I had between 15 and 25. I only squeezed one dungeon run in, but I did manage to do something else that was asked of me: Battlegrounds.Yes, I did quite a bit of PvP this week on our Gnomelock, primarily in Warsong Gulch in the 20-29 bracket. I tried a round of Arathi Basin (which we won 2000-100) but very quickly decided never to do that battleground in that particular bracket ever again. Running around Arathi Basin without a mount is pretty much the worst thing ever. Patch 3.2 will change that I suppose, but it'll be far too late to be of any use to Turpen. My next alt, maybe!

  • Choose my Adventure: Conquering Kryta

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    06.17.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!You voted and I listened, as this week's adventure took me through every town and outpost in the entire Krytan area. Eight cities later, I'm here to beg for more!I found it very interesting that the readers wanted me to stay in Kryta and finish out the exploration of this area. It either means that you want me to take my time and do things the right way (although I did run down to Sanctum Cay and Riverside Province from Temple of the Ages), or you simply want my time in Guild Wars to last a bit longer. Either way, I'm here to do your bidding! Speaking of that, it's time to vote for next week's goal! Click through after the jump and let me know what will be next for our beloved Moira Zonk. Also be sure to check out her ongoing in-character journal and gallery, starting this week as she leaves Lion's Arch. %Gallery-64234%

  • Choose my Adventure: Reaching Lion's Arch

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    06.09.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Now we're playing some Guild Wars. As voted upon last week, Moira Zonk the Necromancer has ventured into the Krytan lands of Lion's Arch and conquered the great Galrath. It was quite a week as she went from the lush, peaceful lands of Ascalon before the Searing, to the burned-out shell of a city after the Charr had attacked. Now that she has reached this week's goal, it's time to decide on another one. Vote below, just after the jump, to determine what her next course of action will be. Plus, don't forget to read her own accounts of her adventures through Tyria in the gallery below. For Ascalon!%Gallery-64234%

  • Choose my Adventure: Insert funny title about being level 25 here

    by 
    Alex Ziebart
    Alex Ziebart
    06.05.2009

    WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!Well, you guys wanted me to run Deadmines. As you can see, I ran Deadmines. Many thanks go to Urse (Healer), Child (Tank), and Sneafoo (Noob Rogue of Doom) for 4-manning the thing with me. Urse was pretty overleveled for the place so healing was hilariously easy, but Sneafoo made up for it by starting the run at level 12 and aggroing Gruul from the pirate ship.I went further than that, too. I didn't stop at Deadmines, I did Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep as well. I was kicking around the idea as soon as someone suggested Deadmines, but I didn't think I would manage to land a group for either of them. When I went out to the Barrens to get my Succubus (Angva) at level 20, that sealed the deal for me. I picked up the quest The Orb of Soran'ruk, and despite the fact that its quest rewards sucked, it gave me more reason to try and get the groups together. I put out a call to all of the various resources I knew, LFG and community chat channels (your server probably has a few good ones) and all of that, and managed to score a few groups.

  • Choose my Adventure: Leaving Pre-Searing

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    06.01.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Our Guild Wars journey continues as the next stage of choices and goals have been met. Last week, you voted for Moira Zonk to gather all Pre-Searing Collector's Armor and to finally leave the tutorial area at level 10. I've reached both goals this weekend, and have screenshots to prove it!%Gallery-64234%

  • Choose my Adventure: Turpen dings 15, awaits guidance

    by 
    Alex Ziebart
    Alex Ziebart
    05.26.2009

    WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!It hasn't quite been a week since I started this adventure, but Tuesdays (or around there) will be the days you'll be seeing on-the-front-page updates for Turpen the Gnome Warlock from here on out. For everything in between that, keep an eye on my WoW.com profile. Whether you do that by bookmarking my profile or adding it to your feed, that's completely up to you! So with that said, what's gone down since this project began?What's Old is New AgainSince the character I was told to roll was a Gnome, I naturally started leveling in Dun Morogh. Despite how many Alliance characters I have, this is probably the starting zone I've done the least. I never really liked it, and to be completely honest... I don't normally do the Gnome/Dwarf thing. I don't really like them much. I love the aesthetics of Draenei and Humans, and I think the Human lore in WoW is awesome. I generally stick to those. Dun Morogh was a relatively fresh experience.

  • Choose my Adventure: Guild Wars

    by 
    Shawn Schuster
    Shawn Schuster
    05.25.2009

    Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!Last Friday, I asked the Massively readers to choose which game I'll be beginning my adventures, and Guild Wars has won with almost 24% of the vote. Now that we have a game chosen, let's move on to character creation, class specialization and initial direction.In Guild Wars, players get to initially choose what type of character they will be: PvE (Roleplaying) or PvP-only. The PvE characters are played much as your run-of-the-mill RPG character, with level progression, storyline quests and the like, but PvP-only characters are a bit different. They start at max level (20) and are confined to the PvP arenas. Their items and skills are restricted to those previously unlocked on your account through the advancement of a PvE character, or through the purchase of PvP unlock packs on the Guild Wars store.