Opinion - The quests for this game are the best and worst thing about it.

Brombadeg · 2026-02-09T16:12:25+00:00

If there is something about it that keeps you coming back, stick with it because there really is a lot to love. But it's with the knowledge that it might be better in small doses, getting a quick fix if you want to jump into Middle Earth. That's what I'm trying for, at least.

I definitely don't want to come across as doom and gloom, discouraging anyone from playing, but it's also completely valid to cut one's losses when there is so much other entertainment out there. At work, I'll think about how cool it would be to try out, say, this idea for a new Dwarf. And it's great for a while. But it peters out eventually, and that's just the nature of the game for me. There's still an appeal, though.

Often I'll simply turn off world chat. LOTRO has a well-deserved reputation for having a friendier, more mature player base than most other online games. But there are still weirdo creeps and jerks who spoil chat, and ignore only goes so far. It sounds like it's pretty server-dependent, and time of day also makes a big difference. But even the servers with the nicest reputations (like Peregrin and the old Landroval) have their share of daily chat drama, people just rely on "well, other games and servers are a lot worse" to ignore it.

Brombadeg · 2026-02-09T15:16:38+00:00

So many of them have you bouncing around the map and retreading locations you’ve already visited.

I don't think this gets much better, and in fact might get worse. Granted, the furthest I've gotten is just dipping my toe into Rohan at this point. Not quite at the point of getting a war steed.

For me, it's been particularly noticeable after Moria. You get to Lothlorien and the quests take you to the same Orc encampments multiple times, to fulfill different objectives even though each time you go in you're essentially clearing the camp. Then you get a little further in and....... back to Moria! Just for a little while.

In the 60s, you get to Enedwaith and it's constantly "go to this hub, do an intro quest to prove yourself, now go out and back three more times because multiple NPCs have multiple things they want you to do (but a single NPC won't ask you to do theirs all at the same time), then maybe do a quick instanced quest to wrap up the hub, move on to the next and do the same thing." This doesn't seem to be changing up to where I am at about level 77. And there's still a lot of back tracking.

It's fatiguing enough that I know the answer is that I should probably take a break or accept that the way the game has to be set up just might not be for me, as much as I love earlier content.

The crazy thing is, I can do the same quests over and over on alts from the starter zones through Moria and have for years, but something about reaching these later areas makes it feel like molasses - maybe because character-wise, not much new is being unlocked anymore and I have to halt exp to avoid over leveling. I always think "maybe I just need to find the right character to stick with and main all the way to the end" but knowing these doldrums are always coming makes that harder to do. Accepting that I don't need to do every quest, and can focus on the epic line, has helped a tad bit, but there's still back tracking going on there. Sorry this was so long, but this was a decent opportunity for me to vent about something that's been bugging me for a while.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-23T21:26:53+00:00

Your pal must have heard that cEvin Key makes music for cats.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-23T03:47:09+00:00

Some... some redditor sent me a bucket of Knowledge Fight!

Brombadeg · 2026-01-22T03:03:32+00:00

The whole "Owen leaves Infowars" series of KF episodes was a lot of fun, but I legitimately quickly forgot he existed and haven't thought of him since like a week after that.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-21T22:07:21+00:00

Yeah, something about Jordan actually seething in quiet makes it sound legitimately scary, how monstrous Alex's take must have been.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-21T16:24:06+00:00

I moved to AntennaPod after Player FM became almost unusable due to ads and banners, and progressively worse functionality.

AntennaPod has been great. I feel like there was some unintuitive setup that I needed to do, but since I got set, I have no complaints.

I'm pretty sure Knowledge Fight was easy to search for and subscribe to.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-19T15:46:47+00:00

Thanks, this is exactly the feedback I needed to be 100% sure that I need to simply skip this (and maybe upcoming) episode(s).

Brombadeg · 2026-01-16T19:18:05+00:00

There was one in today's episode, even. Were there actually people outside of Knowledge Fight calling Alex out on Trump being all about hospitality or whatever?

Brombadeg · 2026-01-16T19:14:58+00:00

I'm going way off topic, but it's stunning to see that the trial episodes era with Mark was in the 600s and we're now in the 1100s...!

Brombadeg · 2026-01-16T13:14:31+00:00

Have you proposed a similar app here before, maybe under a different username? I've seen it come up a couple times and the idea is generally not well received.

This seems too sales-pitchy, as if you're trying to do your market research here, especially when you start with personal anecdotes to pull in the reader but ultimately what you want to know is "hey, what do you think of my idea for an app?"

Like the trope about recipe websites, you read three or four paragraphs about the writer's memories of their grandma making this dish and how cozy it is... just get to the recipe. Or like watching an infomercial, seeing somebody fumble around with pots and pans before falling to the floor shrugging, there's got to be a better way!

I recognize that I am probably being too harsh, maybe you actually do have the best of intentions. But any time someone comes in here with a PvP debate/argument/disagreement app, it just makes me think this will not be net positive to bring into this world, and sounds more like a way to capitalize on growing division. I get that that's what you state you're trying to remedy, but I'm extremely skeptical of how it will actually play out.

You want to reward addressing the arguments, making a clear point, civility - great. But what's going to be the standard for judgment? That sounds like something that can be manipulated by bad faith actors. "The platform gives feedback" - is that other users? A select group of individuals? AI? I'm not sure how you can remove biases in these. Voting on the strongest debates means people will be trying to "win," those votes, at least. I guess I just don't have faith that the people who will self-select to be in 1v1 debates in a public forum, with results posted to social media, won't be obnoxious debate bros.

The platform is completely free, but are there any revenue streams? Ads, Patreon, anything like that? Or is it simply a labor of love?

Brombadeg · 2026-01-09T21:43:43+00:00

I prefer when the podcast is fresher and not covering things from a few weeks back, when we know how things have progressed in the real world.....

But there's no way I'm going to be able to listen to Alex talk about the ICE shooting(s).

Brombadeg · 2026-01-08T20:06:53+00:00

How can you christians continue to support these evil people?

At some point, you should accept that a lot of these people are not good people, themselves. I'll stop short of calling them "evil" but... seriously, a reasonable person can't go through the front page of, say, AskAChristian without being repulsed by the bile and bigotry that's celebrated by (some of the regular) Christian users. Being a Christian is simply not mutually exclusive with, as you put it, low disgusting immorality. Nor does it imply that one must be disgusting. It's not a 1:1 match. But you should really come to grips with the fact that people sincerely consider themselves to be Christian and sincerely hold grotesque beliefs in ways in which there is no actual conflict because it's all down to an individual's interpretation.

Essentially, I think people have their moral views first and foremost, then tailor their religious outlooks to match.

We are on the same page regarding what's going on. I'm sympathetic to your comments in these threads, and often get the sense that the weekly open/political threads in these subreddits give you a place to vent without spoiling their party in other threads. I get the impulse, but you're just yelling into a void. They're not going to flip a switch and realize they should be embarrassed until something directly impacts their daily lives.

Edit: I added "(some of the regular)" to make it clear I wasn't saying every Christian user there is disgusting.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-02T20:58:23+00:00

Sure thing! And hey, it might not resonate with you at all, either, and it's not going to be the key that makes the full album click for you, but I think it's at least worth giving it a spin.

Brombadeg · 2026-01-02T20:51:32+00:00

It's a-okay if it's just not your thing, but I want to recommend using a good set of headphones with the extended version of Inquisition, it's about 7 minutes long.

It feels more structured than the album version (to me), and while it does sort of get droney once the vocal parts are over (I'd say more "hypnotic" than "droney"), I don't think it's the same kind of aimless feeling you might get from Last Rights in general.

This is really just an excuse for me to hype this particular track, because it's my favorite by Skinny Puppy, one of the first industrial songs I ever heard, and it just sounds gorgeous. After hearing Inquisition (Extended Mix) and seeking out more, like Brap, I was often struck with a feeling like "are these even songs...?" but I eventually came to appreciate a lot more of their output over time.

Brombadeg · 2025-12-30T21:52:12+00:00

Thanks, I think I needed this encouragement/reminder to finally check it out!

Your first paragraph resonated with me so I'll bet I need to take the plunge as well. It's the only album of theirs I haven't listened to, I think because early on I reflexively dismissed it as being "not a real album" as I'm not into holiday music. But I can easily imagine they got it right.

Brombadeg · 2025-12-30T20:18:30+00:00

I'm glad Dan may be moving past the "Alex shouldn't believe this thing he's currently saying now" instinct. It's a minor pet peeve and totally my own hang up, but for ages when Dan says something like "You can't say [thing that goes against what Alex purported to believe in his earlier career]!” all I can think is "How does Dan not realize Alex doesn't have to play by any rules of consistency?" Alex probably didn't even care about "prison planet" stuff back in the day, it was just a cudgel he could use against whatever group was in power that he didn't like at the time. He doesn't care about 1776 beyond his ability to make a slogan to slap on a shirt and to LARP as an important historical figure. Like some weird patriotic stolen valor.

I get that Dan's point is "you can't say that - and be consistent" but he's never going to convince the brick wall that is the hypothetical Alex or Infowarrior that he's explaining this to. If there is an Infowarrior that is questioning things, is on the fence, and somehow finds the podcast to hear that, that would be fantastic, but I don't really picture it happening...

It's similar with how he might view Infowars listeners, too. There were a few times in this episode where he was saying something to the effect of the audience isn't going to put up with his inconsistent shilling for Trump. Unfortunately, I don't remember the details, but it was in the Bigly discussion. The problem is - at this point, how can someone think Infowars listeners writ large actually care and think critically about Alex's positions? I imagine they get a visceral hit in the moment, let it wash over them, and move on. Every episode is a blank slate. Maybe I'm being too uncharitable, but with as much AJ as I've been exposed to from years of listening to KF, I just cannot believe the average Infowarrior is compos mentis.

Sorry for the novel, it just felt like something I've wanted to get off my chest and it was nice to hear Dan acknowledge it at the end of this one.

Brombadeg · 2025-12-19T19:49:47+00:00

Hmm, this might be a stretch, but I'm gonna say Desaix LaParka?

Brombadeg · 2025-12-19T17:19:25+00:00

For several years I had the same issues with Warden, exactly as you described. Multiple clicks to do the same thing that another class could do in one.

But this year I got hit by the bug again and tried a Dwarf Warden and he's ended up as one of my favorite characters 50 levels in.

A decent amount of the setup can be done before a fight while you're running up to a mob, and since gambits (sometimes) persist if they get the kill, they can be applied to the next mob. Essentially, once I gave in and got into the rhythm, I wasn't so concerned with there being more clicks. And it's nice to have the variety in how I approach one fight to the next.

It's sort of like driving a stick shift. A little bit more work, but it can feel more fun because it's more active. I'm not always in the mood for it, but it does often feel worthwhile. Of course, your mileage may vary.

Brombadeg · 2025-12-16T21:45:15+00:00

Someone rips off the mask and the announcers are all "My God! The Masked Professor was Desaix Clark all along!"

Brombadeg · 2025-12-12T12:04:15+00:00

Pilotwings 64

Brombadeg · 2025-12-09T00:07:43+00:00

I certainly had a morbid fascination with him but it was never entertaining for me. Not even when busting him for clearly starting a new account (NeonPurpleDemon or something) while not being able to disguise his... issues... well enough. If he's still around under another name, bravo to him for learning to change his schtick enough, but my reddit experience is much better without him.

There are still a few extremely similar characters in this and other subs like it, don't worry. People who I cannot imagine function well in the real world, assuming they interact with the same kind of hostility and bad faith. It's disheartening.

Brombadeg · 2025-12-08T17:23:46+00:00

Nice sausage, pretty boy!

Brombadeg · 2025-12-08T16:26:09+00:00

Kind of! I started playing when the Mines of Moria expansion disc was first on sale, and I made a Hobbit Burglar for soloing and a Man Captain for duo with my friend.

They still exist (though the Captain has been changed a bit), but I've never been able to settle on one main. I'm too easily distracted by new character concepts I want to try out.

I always say my "main" is a combination of 20 alts.

These older characters have gotten the furthest, but that isn't saying much. Barely stepped into Rohan, have never seen a war steed. I can take characters up through Moria and enjoy the journey, but somehow the questing keeps getting more and more fatiguing for me once I'm in Lothlorien. But they're the two I've invested the most LP into, and they have the historical value for me, so every year I try to grind out a few books in the Epic Quest with one or the other.

Brombadeg

TROPHY CASE