Myndariel and New Beginnings on Meriadoc

I was pretty disappointed with the purchase process for the Corsairs of Umbar expansion pack, but I decided to get over it and give it a try anyway. 

I got stuck in and rushed Myndariel through Gundabad, just focusing on the main quest, the Legacy of Durin. I liked how it had a few unexpected twists and Mótsog was a really interesting character.

Mótsog watching the sunset

Hrímil Frost-heart assaulting the dwarves of Gundabad

The final battle with Gorgar and Hrímil Frost-heart seemed too easy but I'm glad there was a cliffhanger - the story is never truly over and Middle Earth continues to need good folk to defend it.

Myndariel riding through East Gondor on the King's business

And so Myndariel answered the summons to King Elessar and set off on a new journey to East Gondor to find out more about the Heirs of Castamir causing trouble. I was eager for her to get to Umbar, but I guess this journey does help set the scene and provide some background information about the area before we get there. 

Calengwen the High Elf Hunter

Over on Meriadoc, one of the new 64-bit servers, I have Calengwen, the transferred hunter, levelling up the slow way to get to Umbar, and I started a new Mariner and a River Hobbit.

Ninroswen the Woman Mariner

Ninroswen (nin = wet, ros = red-headed, wen = maiden) of Gondor loves the sea and sailing around the Cape of Belfalas but kept hearing about the dramas unfolding throughout the lands of Middle Earth while she was growing up. She didn't want to miss out on the action so as soon as she was old enough, she joined a group of adventurers and headed north to Eriador. She met a Hardened Traveller in Bree-land who dared her to take on more difficult enemies and so she agreed to prove she was Fearless (i.e. difficulty level 3). So far, she has been dying (I mean, getting knocked down) a lot. She even got zapped by the Eye of Sauron. The Mariner class seems complicated - I would rank it up there with Warden - and she has been stunned a few times from getting too out of balance by using too many fore or aft skills. We'll get the hang of it eventually, but so far, it's a good challenge, but not fun. I suspect it will get better at higher levels.

Jenivefa the River Hobbit Warden

I really enjoyed the River Hobbit introduction in Lyndelby and it's great that after the introduction she was taken to Swanfleet - a nice change from starting off in the Shire, Ered Luin or Bree-land like so many of my other characters. Apparently River Hobbits have more Celtic or Germanic sounding names compared to Shire Hobbits and I found Jenivefa on a Celtic name generator. In-game, the normal hobbits comment on how unusual her name is, which is a nice touch. I think her goal will be to see the world and make it home to protect her family in the Wells of Langflood.

I started Calengwen before the changes to the crafting system, so she had the Explorer vocation with Forester, Prospector and Tailor. She'll be able to make medium armour for all of them. Ninroswen and Jenivefa don't have vocations but could choose whichever professions they wanted. Ninroswen chose Prospector (mining), Metalsmith (mainly to make crafting tools and warden shields from metal) and Jeweller (to make jewellery from metal and gems). Jenivefa chose more traditional Hobbit crafts - Farming, Cooking (to make food, drinks and pipeweed) and Scholar (to make outfit dyes from plant extracts). Having to swap crafting tools is a nuisance and if they're lucky they might get a universal toolkit one day.