Bio Break

Minstrel report

Staying more focused — and forbidding myself from playing any other character than my main every other day — kickstarted my progress in the post-Moria area. Which quickly became “go back to Moria,” because I forgot how the epic book kept teasing you with freedom from the underground before coming up with another excuse to dive back into the caves.

Well, if I’m doing that, I’m going to take selfies. You can’t stop me:

CARE BEAR SHINE

I will admit that the recent news that Anor — my first progression server home — is due to be shut down in August presented a sobering moment for me. Not that I’m devastated about Anor; I had a good time and the server’s conclusion was clear. But it kind of hammered home how temporary (even over multiple years) these worlds are, especially if they’re not performing well. Just ask Ithil.

The end result isn’t that I’m giving up on the server. However, I am focusing on only this one single character and nipping in the bud any alts on Treebeard. When I do kick off my Hobbit Lore-master’s journey in September, I can assure you that it’ll be on a regular server and not this one. It doesn’t seem wise to me to put a whole bunch of eggs on a progression server, if that makes sense.

Dragging my feet on this character meant I never actually ran out of questing content before Mirkwood unlocked last week. Despite it being on the small size — just two additional zones and five levels — I was still psyched for some forward momentum and change of scenery. I’ve always loved that zone (I know, I’m weird) and don’t mind heading back there.

Even though everyone is so excited to have new stuff to do and a few more levels to attain, it’s important to remember that there are six months of this expansion stretching before us. That’s a lot of time for just two zones and five levels (if you’re only sticking to a single character, especially). So I’m taking advantage of the server’s slow-paced nature to take my time, go through quests at a measured pace, and mop up everything along the way. After that, there’s always Bingo Boffin’s quest line to continue, dungeons to run, and a few festivals between now and the new year.