Noob Journal- Part Two
style="font-weight: bold;">
Week of January 16-20

Learning Lessons

by Gypsy



Last Week: Finally, I was getting bored attacking random things. I wandered around some more and came upon a male elf with an exclamation
mark above his head. I approached him and said hello. He told me of his
woes and how the balance of nature was being thrown off by
over-population. Wait, you want me to do what?  You guessed
it—kill more thistle boars and nightsabers. And with that, I’m off…I
have work to do.

<!-- if (!document.phpAds_used) document.phpAds_used = ','; phpAds_random = new String (Math.random()); phpAds_random = phpAds_random.substring(2,11); document.write ("<" + "script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript' src='"); document.write ("http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adjs.php?n=" + phpAds_random); document.write ("&amp;what=zone:75"); document.write ("&amp;exclude=" + document.phpAds_used); if (document.referrer) document.write ("&amp;referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); document.write ("'><" + "/script>"); //-->

Okay, fellow nublets; I have a few tips for you that
I had to learn on my own while training to play Lord of the Rings
Online (LotRO). Some of these may possibly sound like jokes to the
professional MMOG player but remember that I am a complete noob so
please bear with me.



Lesson One: Don’t go in an area where there are enemies too strong for
you. I came upon a new territory in the elf world after venturing out
of Shadowglen. Sure, I got experience points for discovering it, but
the enemies were ready for me. Something else I noticed is that these
killable creatures will charge at you. I thought that they mostly
stayed dormant until I attacked them. I was wrong, and they really
stuck it to me by leaving my corpse in the air (I died while jumping).
I resurrected myself and tried my best to flee from these
Labrador-sized spiders that easily got their kicks from defeating my
feeble level 2 Nafakia. I would only last a few yards before their
blasts to my back would send me tumbling to the ground with an
agonizing cry that signified my death, time after time. Needless to say
I did not wander in that direction for a while.



The lesson I learned is to not wander into unknown territories where
the enemy’s names are marked in red. This means I can’t kill them and
they will make a feast out of me. Also, if you remember, I am a classic
RPG player. In most of the RPG’s I have played, areas that were
“off-limits” meant that I could not defeat the enemies there or I was
not at the point in the story that allowed me to enter. This is
completely different in WoW and I am expecting it to be the same in
LotRO.



src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album02/Release_Spirit.jpg"
style="width: 325px; height: 146px;" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5">Lesson
Two: Do not challenge another player to a duel when they are obviously
higher level than you. Yes I did attempt to fight another player
without looking at what level they were. I came across a male elf with
a fancy knife matched with fancy armor. I though back to the days of
watching others play older offline versions of Warcraft where how well
you built and executed a plan won the battle. Not so much the case in
WoW. Of course this level 7 character accepted my challenge. Why not?
It only took him 3 or 4 blows to kill me and rain down shame on my noob
self for even thinking I could take him. I accepted my defeat with
grace and even told him “GG” (Good Game). He just simply said “LOL”
(Laugh Out Loud) to add insult to injury. Fortunately, there isn’t
going to be a Player versus Player (PvP) option at the launch of LotRO,
so maybe it will be a little easier on me.



I raised my spirits and sat for a bit contemplating a plan to take down
another player that was more my speed. I formulated a plan and waited.
Here he came; another male elf that was only level 3. It was a risky
chance but I charged. My plan was simple- back up and cast Wrath on him
while he ran towards me…then attack. Well, guess what? It didn’t work.
Ends up, the elf I chose to fight was more cunning than me. This
hunter, I assumed, disappeared after accepting my challenge and before
I could even cast one Wrath on him, he was stabbing me in the back. I
was defeated once more. Shaking my head in sorrow, I took to the hills
to sit and rest.



Lesson Three: Learn your way around your toolbar in case you “drop”
spells. Ends up, casting a spell is just like attacking in how you only
have to click it once. Well, my genius self wandered into yet another
area to find enemies too strong for me. I swear if Nafakia was real she
would kick my ass for leading her into so many places where she
couldn’t fight. An owl, of all creatures, charged at me with his posse
of spiders. In my frenzy to get away, I accidentally dragged my cure
spell and dropped it into thin air. After dying, I thought my spell was
gone. In my frustration (and not checking my spell book like a smart
person) I decided to remake Nafakia. Later I was told that if I would
have just checked my spell book I could have found my lost one and
replaced it on the toolbar instead of having to start completely over.
Oh well, I didn’t really like her hair anyway.



With my newly acquired knowledge of how to play WoW, I set out with a
new Nafakia, with better hair, and the determination to not make the
same mistakes twice. We’ll just have to see how well that plan works
out.

[Got Some Encouraging Words for Gypsy? Post them HERE!]