LMB Riding Club Newsletter - Issue 2

[Kiralynn]

Greetings and welcome to the second edition of the Lonely Mountain Band Riding Club newsletter!


CLUB NEWS

Windy Acres Ranch has moved! We are now located at Chestnut Street #9 in Raglan, the kin neighborhood of Bree-land! The ranch is in the northwest corner of the neighborhood. As always, the chests are open with furniture, cosmetics and party supplies. Please return clothing after copying it into your wardrobe, thank you!

The riding club needs a definitive set of rules for track and steeplechase races. What is the best way to signal the start of the race? How should judges verify that checkpoints were properly reached? What is the most fair way of judging who won the race? Please reply with your suggestions.


UPCOMING EVENTS

Let's get together for the LMB Riding Club Turkey Chase! Our next event is on Sunday, December 4th at 9pm EST at the ranch. After food and music, there will be a horse race in the nearby countryside. The prize is a code for 1600 Turbine Points! Volunteers are needed as checkpoint judges and musical performers. Sign up today!

On Sunday, November 27th at 10pm EST, Steeplechase in the Shire will be hosted by the Crafting Union.
"The last Sunday of the month is approaching so the Crafting Union will be running our monthly steeplechase, this time in the Shire. We'll gather at our start point somewhere in the Shire (announced that evening) at 9pm (US central). Once the group is gathered, the leader will switch to a character who is at the finish point and reclaim lead so the finish point is clear to all on the map. All ride and the first to get to the finish and open trade wins a prize (as do second and third). It's a straight race -- no ports, no maps, no rental horses. The finish is often not quite where it appears on the map as Grintin can be a tricksy dwarf, but he does stay in one spot the whole time; knowledge of terrain in the less traveled parts of the zone is usually of benefit as there might be short cuts."


HORSE OF THE MONTH

This month's featured horse is the Prized Mathom Society Horse. This is a white horse with black spots, black markings, a black mane and tail, and olive green tack. To buy this fine horse, you must reach Kindred reputation with the Mathom Society by collecting Mathoms (300 rep), Well-kept Mathoms (700 rep), and Gift Mathoms (700 rep). The best way to earn mathoms is by questing in Hobbit lands, especially Northcotton Farm. You can also find them on wights in the Barrow-Downs. If you are a cook, the Mathom Society may have crafting quests for you. There are rumors that tomb-robbers in Evendim have them, as well as enemies in Angmar and the Trollshaws.



Check the chest in the trophy room of the Windy Acres Ranch. There are often extra mathoms inside. If you need Mathom reputation, feel free to take them. If you are already Kindred and have extras, please drop them off to share with fellow Banders.


RACING TIPS

If you're bouncing on your horse, it's bad for his back and looks terrible. Quickly hit the Insert button twice in a row to get back in sync with your mount.

Holding the space bar down on a jump makes your horse leap a little farther.

Riding club races will now be judged on the rider crossing the finish line, rather than the horse. This should compensate for an inherent disadvantage to those riding ponies.

Have a tip to share? Reply to this post!


BACK ISSUES

Here is a link to Issue One in case you missed it.

[Dannigan]

Heya Kiralynn!

LMB has a riding club! Talk about terrific! Thank you very much for putting this together.

Dannigan of Rohan, my main (Warden 75th-level), is a mount collector who loves a good ride and as his player, I find riding around Middle-earth to be great fun!

You have raised good questions here. I think the best way to start the race might be to have a Champion or owner of a Horn of the Dwarrowdelf (http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Item%3AHorn_of_the_Dwarrowdelf) blow to signal the beginning? Or perhaps a captain could use Make Haste (which also blows a horn)?

Concerning checkpoints, what if the judge (or another representative) acts as the checkpoint? For example, "Riders must pass on the outside of where Dannigan stands for this checkpoint to count" or some such? That way, there will be a person who can vouch for it. Or instead, there could be "referee" riders who ride along behind the pack to see that they follow the track?

I like the idea of the rider passing the finish line (as opposed to the mount for reasons wisely stated in your own post).

Anyways, just tossing thoughts around. If my Real Life schedule allows, I would love to attend the fun!

Honor and fun,
Mithrilfist a.k.a. Dannigan

P.S. The best website I have found for mount-related information is lotrosteeds.com. How about you?

[Andeon]

regarding the best signal for start - honestly, Kiralynn, this might be a question to pose to the devs in the forums - the key to your "ideal" starter signal is going to be visual/aural signals that are least dependant on server/client communication, and that, honestly, is something only a programmer can answer.

In otherwords, I'd say, visual/auditory signals like the Loremaster's Baneflare should work - but in that case, you need to make sure riders have, I think it's "skill effect or skill visual effects" or some such checked - otherwise, they won't see it - if you use an emote, like the *charge* emote, we all know that some people don't see emotes due to various bugs, or there could be a delay between when you trigger the emote and when everyone sees it...etc...

obviously, ANY signal is going to hinge on some degree of server/client communication, and therefore suffer by lag - but I strongly suspect that some are far more subject to client/lag issues than others, and that is something that the devs might be both inclined and capable of answering - simply pop up a post saying that you'd like to run races, and if a dev could give you an idea of which outside signals are most reliably communicated (/says, /yells, emotes, skills - maybe the servers prioritize one over another...who knows?) to a group of onlookers, they might be able to give you your best signal choice

if it doesn't, my personal recommendation are rather immediate flashy skills - the horn of the dwarrodelf wasn't a bad idea at all, I like the Loremaster Baneflare, although in that case you really need to specify if its the the moment you see the flare, or the burst, or some such - i enjoy fireworks, but again, is it the shot, or the explosion?

best thing I can think of is make it flashy, fairly singular (in other words, the less induction/animation, the better), and noise+visual, and make sure everyone knows beforehand what it's supposed to be (of course, that still won't stop *someone* from getting the wrong idea, or not listening, but theres really only so much you can do)

I hadn't even thought of measure rider/vs/mount (although that will mean that no one is quite "winning by a nose"...sad, but probably necessary) for finish line, but it sounds like the best idea

regarding checkpoints - Mithrilfist has a good idea, but I think you already hit the point - just have some designated required checkpoints, and have observers to make sure that people pass through that checkpoint - your last race was quite clear and straightforward - once I actually surveyed the route, I had no problems figuring out the requirements (that little circular ruin thingy was a tad confusing when I had only the 2-dimensional pic - but once I actually *saw* the ruins, it made sense)

single biggest problem you might want to consider - we had this problem with the spring race that Duvelon ran - we had non-qualified *runners*, for lack of a better term - people that weren't qualified for the race, but wanted to follow along - because they weren't *officially* racing, they missed various checkpoints, and the poor judges had a helluva time figuring out who they were and who didn't hit the necessary points - mandatory outfits aren't all that fun, but *would* make one way of distinguishing racers from looky-loos

lastly, as a checkpoint observer, i found that positioning myself a little ways away from the checkpoint, having names turned on, and my finger on the screenshot button, was how I measure the riders - I took shots of every group of riders, but some people might just need to pop a screenshot when/if someone *misses* the checkpoint, you can go back and check the pic - that means set yourself away from and a little behind/in front of the checkpoint, so that you have reaction time to realize someone missed something, and to take the pic -that worked for me

thats all i've got for now - but I'll keep thinking on it - I may also be able to make your turkey-chase run - unless you'd like me to bow out - I can understand if you'd want to ensure that no one racer keeps taking away prizes from the rest of your contestants (I hope that's not indicative of arrogance - i'm not saying I *would* win even a significant majority of races - just that it's not impossible that someone might)

[Kiralynn]

Here is a thought for the start of the race - what if I play a musical horn while all riders competing are in a fellowship? It is my understanding that the latency of each player is taken into account to synchronize music. Also, if I play multiple blasts of the horn, even if someone manages to miss the first, they have a chance to hear the blasts quickly following it. Even if they start a split second behind the other riders, that can be made up along the length of the course with riding skill.

I have posted asking the developers which method of starting a race is best, but I do not expect a response. If you have spare time, please post in the forums to ask this same question. Perhaps one of our posts will get noticed and we will be graced with an answer.

Being in a fellowship might also help the judges figure out who needs to clear a checkpoint and who doesn't. I am somewhat concerned with a huge fellowship causing a lot of screen clutter, when people need to be watching terrain, however.

We could also hand out a cosmetic jockey's shirt for everyone to wear who is competing, but I think players would probably fuss that we were messing up their nice outfit.


I need a couple of volunteers to ride over level ground with me to test various gait speeds. If you happen to see me online and have a few minutes, please let me know.


Andeon, I'd love to see you at the Turkey Chase. If you don't feel comfortable participating, would you be so kind as to volunteer as a judge?

[Kiralynn]

Here is a little something for riding club fans...

In case you didn't see it in LotRO news:
Go to the Store, quick buy +20% Monster and Quest XP (3 hrs), enter code NHQGZR and get the item for free!

[Aldekim]

You have scheduled a time for the "turkey chase" when I am usually available, so barring some great catastrophe I will offer my assistance.

[Kiralynn]

I could still use several more race judges. If you will be available for the event but don't plan to race, please volunteer, thank you!

[Eijah]

i'll watch a checkpoint again, but still tentative on that date! But I hope to be there, so I'll keep you posted Kira.