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Andeon
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re: The new era of SNS

SUNDAY NIGHT SIEEEEEGGGGEEEE!!!! YAAAAAAYYYYYYYY *flails arms wildly*

sad to say, it's been nearly a year since I updated the Sunday Night Siege thread - now, that's not to say that there haven't been many fantastic sunday night sieges, but we haven't been planning on the threads or posting about them much

I haven't minded much - the last 6 months or so of my life I have barely been able to log into LOTRO - but things have finally settled into a new routine, and I'm ready to take a more active role..."planning"...our sunday night sieges.

Make no mistake - no plan survives contact with the enemy, and "planning" a sunday night siege is no different - nevertheless, I thought I might stoke some new interest in our weekly SNS outings with a little bit of input from the kinfolk, and see if we couldn't create a structure that helps focus our SNS outings so that there's less time lost gathering groups and deciding where to go and when

so, first of all...

THINGS TO DO ON A SUNDAY NIGHT SIEGE!
There are lots of different ways to group together in LOTRO - you can do it for profit, you can do it for training, you can do it for fun, you can do it to help out kinnies, you can do it for nostalgia, and I'm sure there are even more reasons to Siege (at least one reason is to listen to me sing, badly - if that does it for you, kudos!)

I thought I'd list out some of the things we can do, so perhaps I can get some feedback on the things people prefer to do, the things they prefer NOT to do, the things they're willing to do, the things they're unable to do, and so forth...

1 - "Traditional" SNS - Sunday Night Siege was founded on the idea of taking a group of kinfolk, friends and allies, of a roughly similar level grouping, into an instance in LOTRO - within, that group would practice various skills in grouping, including learning their own class, learning how other people play other classes, learning how to fight the various battles within a particular instance - and do it all in a supportive, low-pressure environment, that was still expected to be reasonably challenging

I consider this the most basic kind of SNS, and I feel like I've lost touch with it a little bit - I've spent so much time with so many of my kin friends at level cap or near-level cap, that it feels like I don't spend enough time with some of the lower level content, and so many of our kin need that chance to experience the fun (and necessary skills and tactics) of grouping with a fellowship - so, I'm going to try and make an effort to get back into this more regularly, and I hope some of our kin might help me out with this as well, by keeping some handy alts at various level breaks to help fill out groups at the lower level ranges

2 - "Level Cap" SNS - this is what a lot of our more recent SNS outings have become - other than being mostly focused on near or max-level content, they're much the same as "Traditional" SNS - there's still so much to learn, even at level cap, and still so much fun to be had - I enjoy these outings a great deal, especially as I've spent SOOOOOOOOO much time...(so, sooooo very much time) pushing Andeon up to level cap - and I'm sure that's a big appeal for many other 'banders as well

3 - the "Mad as Heck" raids! - these are a ton of fun, although I'm not sure how often we should do them :) for those that don't know, the Mad as Heck raid is when we gather as many kinfolk as we can fit, ditch all the blades, spears and legendary items, and put together a raging mob full of pitchforks, frying pans, butter knives, shovels (and now including FISHING POLES!!!), and take all those kinnies out to some reasonably accessible location in middle earth, and BEAT THE LIVING TAR OUT OF EVERYTHING THAT MOVES!! Why? CUZ IT'S TON OF FUN!!!...and because we're mad...about whatever you happen to be mad about at the moment - it's catharsis and fun-building time for the kinship, and while it doesn't *strictly* happen on sundays, or at night, or is necessarily representative of a "siege", I still consider it one of our grouping opportunities for fun and fellowship, and so I include it here

4 - "Role Playing Instance Runs" - We haven't done these regularly in a very long time, but we have before, and they can be tremendously fun as well, in a very different way. I don't know how much interest there is in resuming any RP instance runs, but if we find a group of people that would like to start running these again, I'm happy to help make it happen.

For those wondering what an RP instance run is - It is generally taking a group into an instance (or just a very intriguing location in the world), and doing all your regular adventuring, but doing so while keeping "in character" - in other words, you play the game as if your character is actually experiencing fighting wargs and goblins and angmarim in the world of Lord of the Rings, and may even develop a strong background story for the reason behind your adventure as well as just playing your character while dealing with the PVE environment of LOTRO

Make no mistake, RP instancing requires a great deal of cooperation, some innovative use of game mechanics, and a good deal of patience - most things take considerably longer when you're typing out instructions and dialogue in /say - but they can be a very engrossing kind of fun if you're willing to stick with it

5 - "Farming" runs - Farming gets a bad rap in a lot of MMO's, and not *entirely* without reason - but there are very good reasons to farm, and even better reasons to do your farming with friends - as a rule, SNS has not been *particularly* about farming instances for particular items, but it IS a perfectly valid request, and we have, on several occasions, taken entire groups out to an instance to score a particular cosmetic item, or a kinhouse trophy, or to help gear up a fellow kinmate. I'm perfectly happy to extend "official" SNS activities to include farming runs, as long as such runs are still intended to be supportive to the kinship and relatively hassle-free (no one should feel pressured, badgered, obligated, cheated or manipulated in an SNS run!)

wow...that went on for awhile - and it's not over yet - once I'm done parsing out my thoughts, I'll put up some actual questions for the kin to respond to...sorry about that - gotta make this a two parter :)


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Andeon
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re: The new era of SNS

reserved for the continuation...

TO BE CONTINUED...RIGHT NOW!!!
thank you all for the various responses - sorry it took so long to get around to the 2nd half of this - some of you already beat me to a couple of issues - just an indicator of how on-the-ball you guys are!

MOORS RUNS - While we don't do it very often, it's quite true that adventuring in the Ettenmoors (the pvp zone for LOTRO) can be a ton of fun, and we have done it a few times. The biggest problem with the moors is that it requires a very...different...mindset from regular pve play, and going up against/being targets for other players, especially those that are far more experienced and better geared for PVP, can make Moors runs very intimidating.

Which, of course, is all the more reason to experience the moors regularly, with a fun group of kinmates, friends and allies!! I'd love to extend SNS to include more Moors runs, and we have several kinfolk that might be willing to forgoe feeding on us for a few days and instead join us/lead us so that those that are interested but intimidated can get a chance to experience this oft-overlooked part of the game while still feeling relatively safe, and having fun.

DEED RUNS - this is another activity we ran for awhile, and can be both a good deal of fun, while making the grind and monotony of killing large numbers of creatures over and over again a lot less painful with good company and more people killing. An added plus of deed runs - getting to revisit zones that perhaps you've never been in or haven't been in for a long, long time - reacquainting yourself with long forgotten zones can be it's own reward, and it's another activity I'd like to see people running, if there's enough interest within the kin.



dagnabit - all right, gotta go again - hopefully, I'll find a few moments to finish this up and then ask for some kin feedback. Until then, good hunting and good fortune to you all!


Last edited by Andeon on 2014/10/15 5:59 pm; edited 1 time in total


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Bavelbella
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re: The new era of SNS

This is cooool. And a little sidenote do we have moors creep "kin"/group or freep group.
Byrcha
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re: The new era of SNS

Kudos for posting this, Andeon!

You mentioned this during our sight-seeing tour the other night, but another option (related to farming, I suppose) would be "Deed Runs". Rather than each of us individually slogging through an area and killing 500+ evil-doers, we sweep through enmasse and pile up the deed-counters all the quicker. The "Mad as Heck" raids have accomplished much the same thing in the area we visit, albeit with more frying pans.

@Bavelbella: We don't exclusively/specifically have a creep-kin (that I recall), but several of us occasionally play either as creeps or freeps in the Moors. Others can go into more detail, since I've not played there overmuch/lately.


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Elimraen
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re: The new era of SNS

I love the sound of these :) Especially the Mad as Heck raids and the 'traditional' ones for leveling lowbies and learning classes.
Eilye
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re: The new era of SNS

For my part, I'd prefer traditional. As a latecomer to the game, I'd love to experience the lower-level instances, but only if we take it on reasonably on-level. Pancaking an instance with over leveled characters isn't interesting to me.

Kudos to you for your efforts! Great to hear we'll be seeing more of you.

Eilye
Kiralynn
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re: The new era of SNS

One of these days (months... years...) after my house sells, I'd love to jump in on some roleplay and deed completion runs.
I have been to less than half of the instances in the game. I'd love to see some Helegrod or Halls of Night or well, anything!
So, it may be 2015 before I have enough free time, but when I do... count me in! :)


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re: The new era of SNS

Bavelbella wrote:
This is cooool. And a little sidenote do we have moors creep "kin"/group or freep group.

We do, actually. The Pouncing Pwnys are run by Aedon. Were a bit wargy but we will share our fleas with anyone. Our raids are full of nice people just like over here cool
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re: The new era of SNS

In my case, moors runs were pre-empted in favor of leveling up a ton of alts, but I haven't forgotten them.

We are also doing more grouping than ever before, thanks in large part to Faerochil/ Neruwyn's efforts. Groups can be found many Friday and Saturday evenings as well as the traditional SNS.

Don't forget the Epic Battle 12 man and 6 man runs. They are challenging but fun, and the rewards are great!

Lindorieh


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Bavelbella
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re: The new era of SNS

Thanks =D
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re: The new era of SNS

*flails arms bobbit style*

Since you asked, just my few thoughts by points:

1 - "Traditional" SNS - My favourite kind, the chance to learn and experiment in a low-pressure environment
2 - "Level Cap" SNS - I don't make a big distinction, as any instance to have an element of challenge, should be run on level. Just a note that other than for brand new characters (e.g. 'Mains), few others bother with quality gear / virtues / supplies etc before level cap. This also affects the level of 'challenge' the group is ready to tackle. Finding the right class combination for non-levelcap on-level runs can be painful.

3 - the "Mad as Heck" raids! - FUN

4 - "Role Playing Instance Runs" - I'll love to try this out with any others who are interested, anytime. With the point & click or hotkey gameplay, hard to find others with patience for good ole RP. What you said about "instancing requires a great deal of cooperation, some innovative use of game mechanics, and a good deal of patience" = all too true. Choice of instance plays some role as well - the offensive style are usually easier to pace, and perhaps if starting out, instances with less mechanics.

5 - "Farming" runs - our definition of 'farming' may differ. The key to 'farming' lies in efficiency, really. That means for max results - the group should be prepared to spend a significant amount of time 'farming' the instance in question. The most 'boring' but 'popular' example is Sambrog - pop a Tome of +25% or 100% marks acquisition, re-do the instance every 10min (each run takes 6-8min with 2-4min to pack bags / bio / etc). It still can be fun, but not something I envision LMB doing. These days I only 'farm' infrequently when the mood strikes, usually with friends. As a 'bonus' - since the instance is familiar, the voicechat can get highly entertaining :)

6. Deed runs - impromptu
7. Moors runs - as the mood strikes. I've rarely ventured out and am very much a novice, but may do more sometime, esp if there's company.

All in all, I do enjoy grouping within the kin, and am on for most things, anytime =D
Really glad to hear you'll be on more. Yay for Capt. Andeon!

P.S I'm rarely around (long enough) for SNS - the timing is just awkward, so I don't know how much this post contributes anyways. For my personal wishlist - Isengard is high up :P
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Andeon wrote:
and I'm sure there are even more reasons to Siege (at least one reason is to listen to me sing, badly - if that does it for you, kudos!)

Should I take this as the third time you promise to sing about shaking your tush on the catwalk during SNS? envy

Andeon wrote:
I thought I'd list out some of the things we can do, so perhaps I can get some feedback on the things people prefer to do, the things they prefer NOT to do, the things they're willing to do, the things they're unable to do, and so forth...

I like all of those things :)
Level cap stuff is out of the question (for now at least :P) of course since I'm just a little more than halfway there, but the rest is stuff I enjoy :)
"Role Playing Instance Runs" will be a bit tricky since my English isn't good enough to RP, but I'd love to follow along as a silent elf and pretend that I'm in Middle-earth! =D


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Byrcha
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Hmm...

The RP instances sound like a fun change of pace. Sounds a bit like the level-disabled questing group we had a year or two ago? Challenging, but with backstory/emotes and in-game /say? This might need more pre-planning (like the leveling group did) than the typical SNS run does (e.g. a plausible RP story for why we're invading Carn Dum/wherever).

In general I think a variety of options is good. I would really like to learn how to play my mid-range characters (now mid-60s) in a group with close-to-on-level content.

Epic/Big Battles are also a nice option -- doesn't matter what level one is either. And a new Battle is due out in the next update. :)


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Byrcha wrote:
Epic/Big Battles are also a nice option -- doesn't matter what level one is either. And a new Battle is due out in the next update. :)

I love the Helm's Deep Epic Battles! =D
Though the new one I haven't found any info about when it comes to which levels it's for. Doesn anyone know if it will be like the old Epic Battles where everyone can join in and be scaled to Lv100?

I wouldn't mind doing Farming runs either if there is a certain item that someone needs :) I could also be a good way to gather mats for the kin crafting storages =D


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re: The new era of SNS

Bump for reading enjoyment.


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