Dwarf on a Pony

It is all about horses of late.

In EverQuest II, Blintz, my level 62 swashbuckler fae, has outgrown his Journeyman Boots, so needs a mount.

In World of Warcraft Vikund, my level 61 paladin, still needs to finish the quest to get his epic mount.

And in Lord of the Rings Online… well, there has been a horse waiting for Nomu, my level 28 guardian, since before Christmas, but a problem with the game has kept me from picking it up.

As I mentioned in my last post, since I wouldn’t be sailing any time soon, I thought I would go check to see if Turbine had resolved the video driver issue that was keeping me out of the game

When I brought the application up, there was a patch, a good sign, and I was able to log in and stay in without crashing.

Go Turbine!

So I ran up to the horse fields north of Bree and collected my new mount.

In the Lord of the Rings, dwarves are not much for riding, and Nomu has a suitably uncomfortable expression on his face, but otherwise he seems up to the task.

horseriding.png

He got quite a strong pony too. You can see him here jumping a fence. Not an easy task with a heavily armed and armored dwarf on your back.

horseleap.png

I also like the mounting up animation that happens when you summon your horse or pony. A nice touch.

On the other hand, I am less satisfied with the animals hindquarters. If you are going to design a mount for a MMORPG, you had best make its rear end look good, since that is the part of the mount most people will be staring at during travel.

While the back end on this guy isn’t bad, it is not up to the standard of World of Warcraft mounts or most of the mounts in EverQuest II.

In the end (heh) though, I can now travel through Middle-earth a little bit faster, which is a big deal.

6 thoughts on “Dwarf on a Pony”

  1. tenfoldhate

    I’m constantly dazzled by LOTRO screenshots. The artists working on that game did such a great job. The visual style really steamrolls over most other titles with more taxing system requirements.

    In other mount news, I recently helped a pally in my guild do his epic mount quest in Scholo. Outside of the money he said he had to drop leading up to the Scholo event, the quest itself was challenging but not insanely difficult with a nicely balanced group. Good luck!

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  2. Wilhelm2451 Post author

    I could have cropped that first shot in tighter, but I wanted to get more of the scenery in the shot. LOTRO really is pretty.

    We failed our first run at the Scholo fight a couple weeks back, but now at least know what we’re up against.

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  3. grouchygamer

    LOTRO is a lot like Vanguard. Wait, wait.. there is more coming.

    Graphically, LOTRO is similar to Vanguard in that the character models are the weak point for game’s art direction, and the animations and scenery are pretty effing good.

    Similarities diminish after that. Sadly, it appears that both of them are destined to be little-played versions of a new paint job on WoW.

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  4. Ethic

    Poor pony. Not only does he have to carry around a stinky dwarf, but he also has to get a sword stuck into his side all the while.

    I’m really enjoying LotRO. I play it as a world more than a game. I’m just exploring and I could care less about getting to the level cap. It’s working well for me. The role-play community is getting stronger every day. Seems like the populations are growing as well – I’m seeing more people running around the towns.

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  5. LadyPao

    Grats on the pony! I have the same complaint about the horse butts – too chunky, muscle movement not fluid enough. And, on the Harvestmath horse (from the fall festival race) the animation is off – my avatar is constantly out of her seat- drives me wild. LOL But really, LoTRO is beautiful, so this stuff is minor.
    @Ethic – glad to hear you are seeing pop growth. On Nimrodel I have the opposite feeling, sadly.

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  6. Cindy

    @ Grouchygamer comparing LotrO to Vanguard is a bit of an exageration if even for the simple fact that Vanguard was unplayable by the majority for a long time..

    Anyway nice pony, however I’m a bit jealous that the level 25 (right?) Bree pony is a lot nicer looking then my level 35 bay… Oh the unfairness! Anyhow I can’t wait for book 12 and it’s customization goodness, wish they had given some saddle bags to the horses too, but I’ll settle for a backpack. ^^

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