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The Road to Mordor: A fresh start
I don't know about you, but sometimes I fall into the trap of forcing myself to do something in a game because I feel internally obliged to do it. Somewhere along the line, "setting a goal" became a Bataan Death March that absolutely had to be accomplished before I'd allow myself to do what I truly wanted. In my case, it was the stubborn determination to get through the remainder of Rise of Isengard's content even though I had slowed to slogging through it, feeling burned out on my Lore-master after well over a year of constant play on the character. So I sat back and re-evaluated. My reasoning for finishing Isengard was to make sure I was at the top of the game and could evaluate any new high-level content that came along for you guys, which was a noble reason. But the truth was that in so doing, I was playing something that was leeched of enjoyment for the time being and really needed to be put aside. Once I realized that, the solution was obvious. A fresh start. That's what I wanted: a completely fresh start to the game. Hey, it's still (sort of) a new year, so why not? And once I gave myself permission to do that, my adventures in Lord of the Rings Online brightened up considerably. I might be weird in this, but I absolutely love starting over from scratch in long-term games from time to time, even though it means scrapping (or putting aside) a whole heap of achievements and the effort spent acquiring them. This week I'm going to look at my fresh start with LotRO and why it has me buzzed to log in for the first time this year.
The Road to Mordor: The final ding
It happened far sooner than I'd hoped. I tried to put it off, to ignore the creeping bar, to spend my days in frivolous activities instead of fighting evil -- but to no avail. It was a simple quest turn-in somewhere deep in Mirkwood, and with only two elves to witness the event, a stream of white light erupted from my head. I was level 65. For me, it's always been extremely disconcerting to hit endgame in any MMO, which is probably why Lord of the Rings Online marks only the fourth game of my MMO career in which this has happened. I like the feeling of leveling up, gaining experience, going on a mostly solo journey through the lands. But once I ding that final level, the XP gains go away and the questions arise. What do I do now? Should I become concerned with raiding? I wasn't before! Is there a purpose to keep on questing at this point without XP? Am I going to avoid fighting mobs unless I absolutely have to do so? What is there to do? Will I get bored? Who replaced my wallet with a ketchup packet before I sat down? Join me after the jump as I take you through these questions and more on my journey to discover a life after the final ding.
