Final results of the Grand Treasure Hunt:

1st overall, and winner of the 20 GP prize: Maegluin, with 31 items
2nd overall, and winner of the Draigoch cloak: Marcelon, with 22 items
Equal 3rd, with 21 items each: Teobur, Strepto, Eltheor & Eledhin
7th, with 20 items: Tharelon
8th, with 19 items: Simrandir
9th, with 18 items: Iorangil
Equal 10th, with 15 items each: Capua & Grimhildir

Congratulations, and thanks to all the participants!

A Grand Treasure Hunt will be held on Monday 30 January, starting at 7.15 pm UK time (8.15 pm CET); all Western Alliance members l.60-l.75 are invited to take part. Participants must be actually present in the grounds of the Kinship Hall 15 minutes before the start (7.00 pm UK time) in order to participate.

First prize will be a Draigoch Dragon Cloak (actually, three Draigoch scales) for those who do not already have the cloak, or otherwise the sum of 20 Gold.

The hunt itself will last one hour to an hour and a half. Full instructions will be given at the start.

Saruman went down to an all-TWA raid tonight on the second attempt!

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Update_5.1,_Official

a lot of fixes mostly, some interesting changes to Foundry that should make it a bit harder.

Quote:Posted on January 15, 2012 by .D0T

Due to an expiring certificate no Mumble 1.2.2 or newer released before today (15.01.2012) will work on the Windows Platform after 15 January 2012 11:36:47 GMT. If such an outdated Mumble is launched after that date the error message “A referral was returned by the server” will be displayed by Windows and Mumble will not start.

You can get the fixed Mumble 1.2.3a stable installer from:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mumble/f...i/download (uninstall 1.2.3 stable first).
An updated installer for the snapshot version is available from: http://mumble.info/snapshot/mumble-1.2.3...a8b25c.msi
You can also download a fixed Mumble.exe for the 1.2.3 stable from: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mumble/f...p/download

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause. We will follow up with a more detailed explanation later.

Regards,
The Mumble team

Hello everyone

In the final hours of 2011 I would like to address you all so together we can have a look back at the year we have had.

Like any year 2011 had it's ups and downs, but on the whole I think everyone can look back positively.

In the game itself there was a lot of change that had to be dealt with, none of them smaller than saying farewell to Codemasters after years of being in their care, though some welcomed the change and others dreaded it the kinship made it through intact and continued to prosper under Turbine. With direct access to the developers some of our very own members have begun to influence the path of this game in big and small ways and will continue to act as a sounding board for Turbine.
Sadly the move also means the loss of some old friends, the deadline for transfers now having ended, soon these people will have to be removed from the kin for good, a sad affair for the older members among us.

The other big upheaval was the transition of Lotro from subscription to free to play, in Turbine's unique own way.
Dreaded by most, the f2p option has had its positive effects on the game and on the kinship. With an increase in revenue the addition of content has significantly started to speed up, and members no longer able or willing to afford a subscription are able to keep playing as much as they want, a very good thing.

There were victories in the halls of Dol Guldur, but the denizens of Ost Dunhoth proved too much of challenge in the short time given to us. But we soldier on, having been humbled and having learned from our mistakes, we approach the new content with greater determination and cohesion in the ranks, so that 2012 will be sure to know only victory for the Western Alliance.

We started this year with 64 active full members, rising to a peak of 79 in June, we are now at 73, with another group of very promising recruits awaiting their promotion in just a few days. At the peak in the middle of the year TWA counted almost 500 Characters. Despite the loss of some members it has been a year of steady growth, and I hope new members will continue to feel welcome and at home within our ranks as we continue to develop in 2012.

The Council has not been idle this year, for the first time since its drafting by Methrendomir our Constitution was given a major overhaul, adding critical parts such as member's rights and updating other parts as the change in the game and kinship demanded. 10 different people served as officer in 2011, and no election had less than 34 votes. Ingaras was granted the position of Kinship Elder (or honorary officer) and is the first person to do so without having been a kinship leader.
A new code of conduct was approved, making previously unofficial guidelines clear to all and the introduction of a monthly Council meeting has made running of the kinship more smooth than ever.

On a more real life note, several TWA babies were born this year, giving proof that our members do not spend all their quality time behind a PC *wink*wink*.

We said goodbye to several long time members this year, some left the game, others felt their gaming needs better suited a different kinship, regardless of the reason it is sad to see them go and we wish them all the best. But in turn we welcomed back several old members and acquaintances who we hope will be with us for a long time.

With SW:Tor having just launched, it is inevitable that some members will decide to move on, and although this is sad I want to remind them they will always have a home in TWA, and that this kinship will hopefully be here as long as the game continues to run.

As we enter 2012 I hope we all work together to continue to improve our gaming experience, to expand the scope of our kinship activities and bring the atmosphere in the kinship to new heights.
That we all remember that behind the characters are real people, with real problems, real faults and with real hopes and dreams.
And that even though most of us have never met in real life, we can honestly and proudly say, we are real friends.

To all members, initiates, friends of the west, old friends and casual visitors I wish you and your families a happy new year and a prosperous 2012
May it be a year filled with hope, laughter, drink, song and good company.
And just in case the Mayans are right, let's make it the best year yet.


Your proud leader,

Thoronthor

This question was last addressed nine months ago, and I’m sorry to have to bring it up again so soon. Kinship raiders are required to follow certain very simple, self-evident rules; these can effectively be summed up in one prime directive, which is "Show respect for your fellow raiders".

Raiding at any level is a time-consuming and above all cooperative business. This means that eleven other people have put aside their normal occupations in order to participate, and to give you the opportunity of participating. Of course this is just a game, but the dedication that goes into participating in a raid represents a very real investment in time and effort by everyone else; if you treat that investment with contempt, you are treating your fellow kinship members with contempt.

How do you show contempt?
• You show contempt by signing up and never turning up;
• You show contempt by suddenly going AFK without permission and never showing up again;
• You show contempt by never or rarely sharing in the burden of group buffing, and by making the same 3-4 people provide scrolls and hope tokens for the group;
• You show contempt by turning insufficiently prepared and equipped, or without the necessary potions.

There is no excuse, short of a RL crisis, for signing up for a raid and then dropping out without any kind of warning at all. Of course circumstances may require you to drop out, but it’s a rare circumstance that doesn’t even allow you to post a note or send an email. You should make every effort to let us know if you can’t make it, or that you will be late – even if it’s at the very last moment.

We are not a hard-core raiding kinship, and raiding is certainly not required of anybody - but if you choose to raid with TWA, then please respect these principles.

We've seen a few cases of deeds not bestowing if a party member was dead at the end of an instance fight. This is not a bug, but deliberate policy. However, I have read some posts which suggests that if the dead are rezzed within 30", they get the deed after all. Haven't checked this out yet, but keep it in mind.

EDIT: Now confirmed by a dev (jwbarry):
The Deed advancement requires you to be alive and inside the boss room within 30 seconds after completion of the fight.

There are some strange wrinkles in the new barter system which you should be aware of, particularly in regards to the partly freely convertible currency, S4Ms. For instance:
1 S4M = 50 medallions
1 Seal = 50 medallions
but...
1 S4M = 2 Seals = 100 medallions

From which it follows that S4Ms are now worth far more in terms of marks, if that's what you want to trade them for. The rate used to be, 1 S4M = 55 skirmish marks;
now it's 1 S4M = 2 Seals = 100 medallions = 300 marks.