My Steam Awards nominations

Valve organized something new this year: the so called Steam Awards. I would probably have totally missed it if a friend wouldn't have asked me for advice on who to nominate for the Villain That Needs a Hug category (I'm a terrible advisor by the way, I had no clue!) and I would probably have skipped it if it wasn't such a nice thought experiment to fill in those categories.

Only when I read Jeromai's and Izlain's nominations, it occurred to me that this was a perfect topic for a blog post. Not only do you get to compare choices, you also get to find out about people's interests beyond MMOs and may even discover some new titles you want to play. So, without further ado, here are my Steam Awards nominations.

LOTRO Update 19 review: Minas Tirith after the battle and North Ithilien

I don't like to rush through content to get to the end of it; rather, I try to enjoy the road there. This is especially the case in Lord of the Rings Online. Conrad and I have enjoyed our quiet evenings together playing through LOTRO's latest update that added North Ithilien. Because the MMO has old fashioned quest text to read through rather than voiced cut scenes, we've been making things more lively by reading the quests out to each other. Turns out this slows down things a lot, and hence I am unfashionably late with this update 19 review.

I decided to post this anyway, because, well, North Ithilien is pretty! If I did it right, this post will give a solid impression of the region both to LOTRO players that aren't high enough level to enter yet, and Tolkien fans that do not play the game.

Exploring Zakuul from dazzling heights

A week ago, I wrote in my Zakuul sightseeing post: "The Zakuulan skyline is (...) a beauty to behold. It is unfortunate that you can't get high up yourself to admire it outside story chapters and cutscenes." But then I remembered: my character may not be able to ascend, but my camera can.

Yes, you're reading it right, I found an excuse to fiddle around with SWTOR's max zoom distance again! I was very curious myself to get a grasp of how the city of Zakuul fits together, because you really can't tell when you're just running around using normal character view. I felt this child like sensation of excitement because I was about to enter an unexplored realm of potential beauty. Here are the results.

Picking flowers to gain best in slot equipment: how LOTRO monetizes its endgame gear grind

It's Thursday evening; I'm home after a long day. He had picked me up from the station and now he was finishing dinner. Happy he was taking care so well of an exhausted me, I gave him a big hug - but he just gloomily stared at the wall. "What's up?" I asked. "Did I do something wrong?" "No, it's not you." Conrad replied, adding a dramatic pause. I looked at him inquisitively. "It's Turbine", he continued in a dark voice. "Today is a black day in history. Lord of the Rings Online is introducing the worst cash grabbing endgame gear I've ever seen. I can't believe they are going through with this... That, and Trump is going to be president."

Zakuul sightseeing for International Picture Posting Month

Around this time one year ago, I posted screenshots of my favourite new SWTOR area: the Endless Swamp of Zakuul. It was International Picture Posting Month (IntPiPoMo) and I took on the challenge of posting fifty pictures in one month. Now, one year later, IntPiPoMo is upon us again and once more I find myself on Zakuul.

It occurred to me that I really like the planet, but never had taken the time to stand still and look around - after all, during most of my visits I was being hunted down by skytroopers. Therefore, especially for IntPiPoMo 2016, I revisited to shoot pictures, of which my favourite are in this article. You can find all my challenge entries under the label InPiPoMo. If you want to participate yourself, scroll down to the end of this post to see how.

Friendship France gathering in LOTRO: a photo report

Sunday November the 22nd, I attended an event called Friendship France on the Lord of the Rings Online server Sirannon [FR]. It was the first in-game concert I attended and a very special occasion: a gathering of LOTRO players to support their French fellow players as a response to the terrorist attacks in Paris. Due to immediate success, the event got relocated last-minute from the Prancing Pony to the Bree-land festival grounds - the population in Bree got divided into multiple layers with so many people logging in.

Here's a photo account of the evening.

Fashion Friday: a two-faced bounty hunter

Yet another week with just the one blog post. As a result of stress, my mood has been bouncing up and down a lot lately - and unfortunately down most of the time. University deadlines, chronic pain & fatigue and a terminally ill dad abroad that's quickly deteriorating seem to provide the perfect cocktail for depression. And depression deprives me of any creativity - creativity sorely needed to write blog posts.

Luckily Conrad's there to save the day, donating some sweet pictures of his powertech Shyala. I hope to show how seeming ugliness has its own beauty.

Fashion Friday: an agent's travelling outfit

It's that day of the week again: Friday! Just a few hours more and you can go home again and relax with some Star Wars: The Old Republic. And just to get you in the mood I've got a lovely agent outfit for you, provided for by operative Syeeda.

Six times gold

Today I'm doing two photo challenges in one: 6 on 6 and IntPiPoMo. Win-win, right? Only this month's colour, gold, was hard. Really hard. On the positive side: by having to dig deep through my screenshot library, I found some pictures from games I don't usually write about. Enjoy!

Warning: screenies incoming

It's november and that means... IntPiPoMo! Or so I'm told. While our hardcore peers are slogging through ten thousands of words for NaNoWriMo, we casuals (yes, I'm admitting I'm a filthy casual here!) collect pretty pictures for its little sister, IntPiPoMo. The directive: to post 50 images (be it photos, screenshots or artwork) in November.