*Pants* That. Was. Amazing.

Tonight has been amazing for Evernight's Ettenmoors. First Marshal Pouch, renowned Hobbit Burglar, led the Free Peoples against the Arlgurz lead Monster Players raid. With well over 40 players making an appearance on each side, our Ettens has been graced with some truly adrenaline-rushing-blood-boiling action.

The fight, lasting well over 8 hours, has possibly been the most thrilling action I have come across in my 4 years of playing in PVP. I have personally gained over 10k comms (now giving me a rather sexy pair of shoulders for my PVP armour set) and a new found love for my Guardian.

The metaphorical tug of war between both sides showed an unrelenting battle of tooth and claw against sword and shield. The healers kept their comrades' morale up, while Hunters scouted and Wargs pounced. It was a delightful Raid versus Raid as each side danced a song of fire and blood.

Maybe I am getting too poetic. But the fight was really good!

As Evernight sees its PVP blossom, I invite all players to come give it a go - it will be thoroughly worth your while.

 

The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies Review

The Hobbit: Battle of Twenty Armies plus Bilbo was a visually gorgeous film, with fantastically choreographed elves. The CGI was top notch (in both 2D and 3D - yes I watched both). The costume was superb on all accounts. Even the kiddies' acting was on form and lest we forget some Lee Pace's I'm not taking your shit any more acting. Well done Peter Jackson.

I have read many reviews on this film, and it generally comes down to this (please read in a high pitched, nasally tone):

"Trying to stretch out a just-under-300-page novel into 3 films is just as bad as trying to squeeze a just-over-500-page novel into one film (cough Harry Potter cough). It simply doesn't work. To compensate, the screenwriters have to add in extra storylines to justify the length of the films blah blah blah."

This sums up my feelings entirely to such articles.

Yes, the film was a tad long. Yes, I had to visit the loo twice to stretch my legs. But it was an effing fantastic way of bringing in female characters in Tolkien's literature: something of which we are dismally in need.

Having a female brings new layers to the storyline that previously didn't exist in The Hobbit. 

Although Peter did stretch out the films to a point of almost collapsing, he did do a bloody good job in representation. The women of Dale town fought alongside their male counterparts in the battle to defend their lives. Tauriel fights in battle. Galadriel's dark side was echoed from her first encounter with The Ring in The Fellowship of the Ring as she fights Sauron back into the East.

Peter Jackson empowered female characters to that equal of their male peers, and that alone deserves a tap on the back. Too many reviews comment on the gratuitous length of the films and solely mark down them for doing so, to them I simply offer this:

The films may not have been true to Tolkien, and I am sure die-hard Tolkien fans will complain. But to me, there are more important things than just keeping to the books.

Pew Pew QQ

This is an article about Player vs. Monster Player in the Ettenmoors of Lord of the Rings Online.

Nay, this is a request.

I request all seasoned, experienced, high ranking players to try playing on an unranked Warg, using a 6 year old-almost-burned-out laptop with an integrated mouse while using their mobile phone's data as their only means of connecting to the Internet and still find PVP within LOTRO to be enjoyable. So much so that they continue playing all year until they finally hit rank 6.

The struggle is a-paw-ling. So is this selfie.

I request this is because I often meet players who either see the lower ranked as noobs, or higher ranked as no lifers. The OOC chat is often woeful because of the petty arguments - we do not need to read this digital dysentery. We are Lord of the Rings Online players! Not some World of Warcraft 12 year olds who insult each others' mums!

Don't be this guy. Or his mother.

So, I beg of you fellow Evernight PVPers - find it within yourselves to respect the greenie you're about to completely annihilate. Don't QQ in OOC just because a warg pack is ganking your graveyard. Don't complain about overpowered classes *cough cough Warden cough cough* and just enjoy the game.

P.S: Within the next week my Alienware X51 will arrive at my door, ready to be embraced by a very happy Hannihr. Then I will play on a relatively decent gaming PC with HD 32" TV and highest internet speed possible. See you then noobs!

(A very late) Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Everyone at The Evernight Report  would like to apologise for the quietness of this newspaper. The enslaved Hobbits that usually write these articles while I dictate have been away on holiday, returning to their families for a much needed break. I assure you I shall be blasting them out of cannons shortly as punishment.

Christmas has been wonderful this year. Aliramiel (co-leader of Stormborn) bought these gifts for me - the first is The Hobbit translated into Latin by Mark Walker: Hobbitus Ille  (which you can buy here if you want it on an eBook or here for the hardback edition). As someone who had to learn Latin for 3 years, I can tell you this is a sweet release from the basic textbook stories we were given.

The second is Letters from Father Christmas. This book shows the letters sent by Tolkien to his children, talking of the mischief caused by the Polar Bear and why the letters were late that year. You will have to read the book yourselves to find out.

For a birthday treat, Aliramiel and I watched The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies. The review is on its way!

What did you receive this Christmas that was rather Tolkien-y? Comment below!

Evernight's Secret Santa

My lovely readers!

My apologies for the long wait for the next article. I am in an amateur dramatics theatre group and the performance is this weekend. I hope you can forgive me for the delay and we can get back to business!

This past week I have asked Evernight players to join me in the festive fun by participating in Evernight's very own Secret Santa! We now have 50 players involved (and I can tell you, organising this has been more complex than the first two chapters of The Silmarillion!).

This is the first time this server has ever seen a Secret Santa to this magnitude, and the response has been overwhelming! Thank you to everyone who has taken part!

"Why is there writing above our heads?"

RULES
You must spend 10 gold coins on the character's name you are given,
You will only be given the name of a character who is equal to, or lower than, your own level.
You can spend this money however you like, but try and take their needs into consideration! (Eg: no heavy armour for a Minstrel!)
You must mail your gift to HANNIHR before 20TH DECEMBER! I will then pass on the gift to your person so they won't know it's you!
On January 1st I will mail you all to say who your Secret Santa was!
If you have any questions just comment below!

"Can I be the gift?"

Hope you all have fun finding the perfect gift!

The Evernight Alliance

I asked the Evernight Facebook Group if they would like to make an alliance across the kinships of this server. We had an overwhelming response with many kinships wanting to join as soon as the alliance was made. Having had in depth discussions with as many kins as I could talk to yesterday, we have established the first five kinships to be a part of The Evernight Alliance:

Riders of Helm's Deep
Immortals
Sons of Gondor
Exiles of Eriador
Stormborn

The Leader of Riders of Helm's Deep, Surfman, has been so kind as to allow The Evernight Alliance to use his TeamSpeak channel. This is fantastic as now so many kinships can communicate within themselves and to their alliance kins! Thank you Surfman!

So what is it all about?
The Evernight Alliance is about bringing kinships together in a prosperous atmosphere. Only kinships of good repute (without trolling players) will be welcome into the Alliance. This means that there will be no trolls in the chat channel, no arguments, no drama. We're a progressive atmosphere for the mature player of any age.

Do we need any other requirements to join?
Yes. Your kinship must be at least 4 months old. This means that the leader/officers have done well to keep players in the kinship and feel part of a team.

What happens when we join & how will my kin get involved?
After a discussion with myself (Hannihr) to ensure your kinship meets the two requirements, you will be welcomed into the Evernight Alliance. You will be kindly asked to send out a kinship mail detailing how to access The Evernight Alliance chat channel and TeamSpeak information. This will allow us to talk to each other immediately (you will be given those details upon joining the alliance).
After that you are free to organise events and raids with other kinships as you see fit. Some kins will want to encourage raiding regularly, while others enjoy the social aspect (such as RolePlay or games). You and your kin are encouraged to ally yourselves as you see fit.

I now have another 30-35 kin leaders to talk to over the next week. If you are interested in getting involved, feel free to comment on this article or mail Hannihr in game! I am online every evening (7pm UK time) except Mondays and Wednesdays.

I look forward to talking with as many of you as possible about joining this alliance!

Down for Maintenance: How to Cope

In ways, a server down for maintenance is both a curse and a blessing. When we are out of the game, we can focus on healthy food, exercise, learning and being better to people we can focus on ways to improve our characters from outside of the game!

This article will help you progress on Lord of the Rings Online without logging into your character.

"Maybe if I pose like this in the Ettenmoors I will finally rank up a bit!"

It is so easy to get lost on your path in Middle Earth. You logged in to do daily quests, and instead ran about for 2 hours in the chicken session play. It happens to the best of us. Being offline without the option to play gives us time to focus on using our time effectively and attempt at getting some progress done!

Laphor didn't get to Rank 15 standing AFK in Wildermore! Wait a minute...

First of all, look at your character's goals. Has he been itching to get that Hytbold armour? Wanted to find that final mirror in Durin's Way? To tank in Draigoch? There are so many things to be done, so let's get planning!

"He's not moving guys, I think he's bugged..."

First of all you'll need to write out your goals. Eg:

I want to be World Renowned.
I want to finally get into Goblin Town and NOT get lost.
I want to get to level 100 on all of my alts,
I want to swear in World Chat
I want to walk into the Ettenmoors without being eaten.

The potential is endless. After you have written out your goals, write how long it will take, followed by a likely deadline next to them, eg:
I want to find that NPC in Bree called "Nob" and /kiss him, so I can make a funny character biography about it. (Will take 5 minutes, deadline: tomorrow).

Making your goals achievable will ensure you will get them done. Adding a deadline will make the goal seem more important. Now you have planned what you are going to do, it's time to research your goal. If this goal is to complete a raid, it will take some serious consideration. Check YouTube, Lotro-Wiki and the Forums to learn more about your task. Let's get planning!

"It's... some kind of Elvish...or maybe Klingon."

Now you are ready to achieve your goal. The servers will be back up soon, and you will be ready to get that goal crossed off your list! The trick here is to stay focused and make sure you carry out what you set out to do. Before you know it, it'll be completed. How wonderful!