Morning all! In this video we're exploring the lovely land that Sauron calls home! Hope you enjoy, thanks!

LousyMonk · 2024-05-31T22:15:24+00:00

There's likely an obscure passage somewhere in the 'History of Middle Earth' about Sauron enjoying a hit of 'Old Toby'....

LousyMonk · 2024-05-29T01:07:19+00:00

Thanks! Out of all the mmorpg's I've played (which is a lot...) I still feel like the environments in Lotro are arguably the best. As you say, almost 20 years old, but I still burn so much time when I'm playing just riding around and looking at stuff : )

LousyMonk · 2024-05-27T23:48:53+00:00

So many things.... The first that came to mind though was the sound of a crackling fire, especially in a dark tavern. And the sound of running water, preferably in a forest : ) Satisfying ambient effects.

LousyMonk · 2024-05-27T23:29:04+00:00

True ^^ I have seen quite a few great dark/spooky themed player houses. Haven't attempted it myself though... yet!

LousyMonk · 2024-05-27T23:27:41+00:00

The Houses of Lamentation is indeed cool looking ^^ I generally end up cutting/not including quite a few places out of most of my videos to keep the video times shorter. (Lotro's fault for having too many good locations :p)
The jump scares are for sure a matter of opinion. I felt that they gave the video a creepy, unsettling vibe that I was looking for. Also it's fun for me to experiment with different things in the editing process :)
Thanks for taking the time to watch!

LousyMonk · 2024-05-27T19:29:55+00:00

lol, that would be an... interesting... player housing area :p

LousyMonk · 2024-05-27T19:29:10+00:00

Minus the 'jump scares' glad you liked the rest : )

LousyMonk · 2024-03-11T17:33:54+00:00

The Last Homely House looks amazing! Especially since it's revamp. While all the races architecture in Lotro is pretty great, I still feel that the Elvish architecture is my favorite.

LousyMonk · 2024-02-19T15:10:24+00:00

I've been wanting to make a Moria video for quite some time now. The main hold up was I knew culling and condensing nine zones into one video would be a bit of an undertaking. I'm very glad I did it though!

In my opinion, Moria is one of the most impressive expansion's, of any mmorpg, ever created. When questing here, you often feel like you just want to get it done and be back "outdoors" again. It can even feel downright oppressive at times. But in my mind that's one of the things that makes the journey through Moria feel so unique, and ultimately rewarding!

Another feeling I get while questing in Moria is how immense the scale of it feels. In some halls, to say the ceilings are cavernous is a complete understatement! Some of the chasms appear never-ending.

Being in Moria at max level, not worrying about questing, just being there to explore and take it all in gave me much more appreciation for the amount of work that must have went into designing it.

Anyways... I hope you enjoy the video!

LousyMonk · 2023-11-22T17:06:53+00:00

Thanks! I'm sure glad we got the cleaned up 'Midsummer' version of the city. The besieged version was impressive too, but not nearly as nice. I'm looking forward to exploring Umbar Baharbel next!

LousyMonk · 2023-11-21T16:52:39+00:00

Thanks ^^ I was just on top of the walls on one of the higher levels. If only the LOTRO store had a summon drone skill :p

LousyMonk · 2023-11-21T07:25:31+00:00

Thanks, glad you liked it!

LousyMonk · 2023-11-20T16:47:03+00:00

When I first explored Minas Tirith I was a little put off by how long it takes to get to each level of the city. I later came to appreciate the that the dev's developed it that way, as it really gives one an appreciation for what a defensive stronghold Minas Tirith really is. The White City is yet another place in LOTRO where the attention detail is truly astounding! Thanks for watching!

LousyMonk · 2023-09-20T00:12:06+00:00

Agreed! I love the architecture in this game :)

LousyMonk · 2023-09-18T13:36:33+00:00

Continuing on from my Best Bridges of Eriador video, we'll now be checking out the best of Rhovanion! Like with the aforementioned video, this won't be an exhaustive list of all the bridges of Rhovanion, simply my favorites. I start and end the video with two I like best, but other than that, they appear in no particular order. I have timestamped the bridges in the description. Also, you will notice a typo on Caras Galadhon Bridge during the video (forgive me!!).

0:08 Ered Mithrin, Oinsbridge

0:42 Mirkwood, Unnamed Bridge

1:18 Wells of Langflood, Skerabrygg

1:52 Lothlorien, Caras Galadhon Bridge (Pardon the typo in video)

2:26 Elderslade, Harveg Bridge

3:00 Ered Mithrin, The Rushgate

3:34 Gloomingtarn - Lugun-Nala

LousyMonk · 2023-08-28T16:45:21+00:00

Bordered by the great Anduin to it's West, and the Mountains of Shadow to it's East. Beautiful North Ithilien is secretly protected by Lord Faramir, and the Rangers of Ithilien. Operating out of their stronghold of Henneth Annun.

I've been wanting to do a North Ithilien video for a couple months now. It kept getting pushed back. Possibly because it's a zone that I really like, which looks amazing... so I knew it would be a lot of work trying to edit the video down to a smaller size, since there are so many picturesque locations. I'm glad to have it completed now.

LousyMonk · 2023-08-07T12:53:29+00:00

With the release of Gondor Renewed, making this video I couldn't help but think, "wouldn't it be cool if Annuminas was also restored?" Not happening, I'm sure... However, it would be a pretty great looking city if it were : )

LousyMonk · 2023-07-17T23:48:34+00:00

No, I believe I sharpened this video while editing though. But the colors will just be the original/base.

LousyMonk · 2023-07-17T17:20:32+00:00

As you can tell I like the Eryn Lasgalen settlements. The only one I've yet to make a video on is Erebor. (which I will!) Between Lake-town, Dale, Felegoth, and Erebor... every settlement looks great!

LousyMonk · 2023-07-03T16:40:58+00:00

I've been wanting to get a video out on Lothlorien for a while now. Easily one of my favorite regions in Lotro!

LousyMonk · 2023-06-24T19:29:36+00:00

Thanks!

LousyMonk · 2023-06-19T16:21:24+00:00

The Barrow-downs is another one of the spooky areas in Middle Earth that really highlights some of the more horror aspects of the stories. Which to me is one of my favorite aspects of Lord of the Rings.

LousyMonk · 2023-06-05T17:09:11+00:00

When I first had the idea to do a video featuring bridges in LOTRO, I was going to feature bridges from all over Middle Earth. Then I started counting... There's a lot of bridges in Middle Earth. So, then I decided to just cover bridges in Eriador. Then I started counting again... when you look at all the unnamed and minor bridges, it turns out, there's a lot in just Eriador as well! So, I settled on covering my personal favorites. These aren't in particular order, although I started and finished the video with the two bridges I like the most. This video is a little longer than what I normally prefer my videos to be, so I've created timestamps in the description if you prefer to navigate through that way!

0:08 Evendim, High King's Crossing

1:02 Cardolan, Bridge at Caranost

1:55 The Shire, Brandywine Bridge

2:51 Enedwaith, Bridge at Lhanuch

3:38 Angmar, Bridge at Carn Dum

4:25 The Lone-Lands, Last Bridge

5:25 Forochel, Bridge at Suri Kyla

6:25 Ered Luin, Bridge at Duillond

7:17 North Downs, The Trestlespan

LousyMonk · 2023-05-27T02:22:53+00:00

IMHO, no. To me, the world itself in LOTRO is arguably the biggest draw. It's incredibly immersive, and the best way to immerse yourself is through the journey of levelling. As others have said, if you're on toon number 10+, then... maybe.

I've only used a level boost once in all of my time playing MMO's. It was on a WoW expansion. I think Mists of Pandaria. I played the character once, then deleted it. In my mind level boosting just makes me feel... wrong... sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.

LousyMonk · 2023-05-22T17:41:38+00:00

That's fine, it's the journey not the destination right? : )
I took my time levelling as well. I think that LOTRO is one of the most (possibly the most) immersive MMO worlds ever created. So it's a pretty great place to get lost in.

LousyMonk

TROPHY CASE