2017 Jan Elections! Step 3: Campaign Season is Here!

Luringdad for Leader

Dear Eagles,

I’ve been with the kinship since its creation in 2013. I was there when we needed to form the first council to look after the wellbeing of the kinship following the Coursera class* that started it all.

It’s been my honour to serve on the council several times, but now I feel it’s time to lead our merry band through today’s choppier waters.

We now face a difficult time, something that challenges all kinships from time to time.

To give you some context of what the Eagles was like in its heyday: the kinship channel would be a hive of activity, if you got stuck you could be certain several kinnies would join you to help you complete your quest. I feel that we’ve lost that shine, that wonderful sense of community we once had.

So what’s happened?

We grew apart. By that I mean without the Coursera class* to start people on the same level we end up playing at different rates. Combine this with several level cap increases and we no longer have a core of players looking for the same type of game (unless you’re 105).

We’ve tried catering to the more social players and to the endgame/raiding players. But we still haven’t found the sweet spot.

So how can we fix it?

First off there’s no quick fix. We’ve tried to ramp up recruitment and run more scheduled raids/instance events. We also formed what would become the TEB alliance to increase the number of reliable players online at any one time. These things haven’t proven to be a magic bullet. I don’t mean we shouldn’t continue with them, but we need to look at other possibilities.

I’ve thought of a number of things we could try that might help. For instance, we could hold “town hall” meetings to engage those who don’t use the forum. Streamline the workload of officers to avoid burn out. Work with incoming officers to find out what they think the kinship needs. We’ll try a number of tactics with the aim of generally invigorating the kinship.

If you agree vote Luri!

Eagles, it’s time to buff!

foot notes

Coursera page for Interactive Media Gaming: https://www.coursera.org/learn/interactive-media-gaming

Fellow Eagles,

Who am I?

I go by many names, but most people call me Nachos. I’m a third year college student working 2 jobs and doing all sorts of other crazy stuff, allowing little time for games let alone Lotro! And when I do get time for lotro, I’m often raiding in another kin, or doing ridiculous things with brazilians, or ANYTHING besides stuff with the eagles…

So, why am I running for officer?

Well, some poor soul decided to nominate me for officer. So I considered it my duty to disappoint.

So while I have been more or less detached from the kin for some time, I’ve been meaning to come back and help out my beloved kinmates for some time now. And this nomination provides the perfect opportunity to do so!

Because I severely lack spare time to log on, I will be doing my best to help the kin out offline as well! And this will start with a series of guides that I will be writing up on these very forums.

These guides will be focused primarily on gearing up a character for endgame. This is a daunting task, so the guides will be covering lots of topics and several will probably overlap.

I am however aware that a significant portion of my kinmates are not at level cap, and as such may be considered utterly useless to them. For that reason, I will be releasing a guide that contains information on steps for character progression that can be done while you are levelling, to help make kinnies aware of things they can do to be efficient with their character progression and avoid backtracking through areas (which is a major pet peeve of mine), saving valuable time!

As far as in game interactions is concerned, I can also provide advice on most areas of the game (as long as it has nothing to do with cosmetics!) and am happy to do so. Also, I am very excited to help kinnies accumulate gear, so if you want to run an instance to get gear, contact me in game by sending me a tell or some mail, and we can hopefully run something on the spot or schedule some shenanigans. Bottom line is, if there is anything I can do to help, contact me!

Here’s how you can reach me:
Insanenachos – burglar – this toon is my main and is not currently in the eagles, but add him to friends so you can know when I’m using him to reach me more quickly.
Grusha – warden – used about as frequently as my burg, this character is in the eagles and is ready to tank for you!
Saudando – beorning – this baby bear is in my brazilian kinship, because I am leveling him to level cap, I may end up spending considerable time on him. If you are wondering if I’m online, add him to friends – even I get tired of level cap from time to time!

Looking forward to seeing you all ingame,

~Nachos

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by InsaneChaos.

Greetings, Eagles!

A bit of background on myself – I’ve been a fan of RPG-style games since playing Final Fantasy on my NES back in the day. During my undergrad in the mid-90’s, I was introduced to MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons), which were text-based precursors to MMORPGS such as LOTRO. I had been introduced to programming at a young age; while playing BatMUD, I found I could combine my interest in programming with my love for games, and I started learning how to enhance that game. I have continued to combine the two through my career, and I’m currently a manager & developer at a major tech company.

And yes, I’ve been using the name Alaron online since 1994. :)

My introduction to LOTRO was also a bit of an interesting story. The company I was working for in the late 2000’s was porting games to Mac OS X, and we ended up exploring doing a Mac port of LOTRO with Turbine (might have been approx 2009?). With our tech, we had the game up & running on the Mac quickly. Unfortunately for us, the biz side never got wrapped up, and Turbine ended up creating their own Mac client a few years later in 2012. However, I thus was playing LOTRO on the Mac several years before anybody else was able to!

Fast-forwarding to modern times – I’ve been part of the Eagles since the Great Server Consolidation when Windfola was retired. Bregeniuk & I were welcomed into the kin by Guivien and we have felt comfortable here since.

Why am I running?

The tongue-in-cheek answer is “because I was nominated.” :) The more serious answer is that I would like to help support the kinship & community which welcomed us a year ago now. I have been concerned about the kin’s vibrancy in recent times, and I would like to do my part to help it regain its footing.

What would I like to accomplish?

From my perspective, one of the strengths of the Eagles has been its social characteristics – being welcoming, helping people, friendliness in kin channel, fun group activities such as the treasure chest runs, etc. That is one of the two main aspects I’m looking for in a kinship. The Eagles has historically fulfilled that pretty well, and I’d like to continue encouraging and actively supporting that.

The other main aspect I’m looking for are end-game activities – doing difficult group content, learning tips & techniques together, tackling end-game raids, gathering rare equipment, etc. This is the area where I have not gotten what I’m seeking from the Eagles. I would like to see what can be done to nurture & develop this aspect of the kinship. I don’t have a magic wand or a “5-Step Plan To Kin Raiding Bliss”, but I absolutely believe that developing this aspect would complement the social strengths of the Eagles as opposed to detract from them.

Finally, there’s always day-to-day behind-the-scenes work required for a kin to run smoothly. I’m ready & willing to assist with that work.

In closing – with your support, I look forward to this opportunity to help support the kinship which welcomed me into its midst so warmly.

//Alaron

Dear fellow Eagles

I feel like a relative newcomer to this kin, and yet I’ve been here for about a year already! What I love most about this kin is the friendliness. I feel strongly that this aspect of our kin needs to be kept and fostered. I feel like the Eagles are a great new home for me from that perspective; Alaron and I arrived here during the server shuffle. I have also really enjoyed when we were routinely grouping up for multi-player content – I am keen for that both on-level throughout the game and for end-game content. I liked the teaching part – that the leaders were willing and able to tell me what to do and help me make a good contribution. I like the group part – that was a great way to get to know my kin-mates, and hearing real voices through in-game chat and TeamSpeak was really fun (and easier than typing and playing at the same time!!!).

So here I am offering to give back to my kin and trying to help keep it a great on-line place to play.

Bregeniuk (Ferniuk, Eniukka)

Dear kinnies

I too have been in the Eagles since 2013 when I was participating in an online Lotr course that sparked my interest. The most exciting, and daunting aspect, was that we had to play LOTRO. Only ever having played Marios Bros on a Nintendo as a kid, you can imagine this was all foreign to me. However, on my first run from Thorin’s Hall to the Prancing Pony, I got lost and our founder, Ivrig, came all the way from Bree to find me and lead me to the Eagles and the rest, as they say, is history.

Once the course ended, I joined the Eagles Officers Club and remained there for, I think, two years making me the longest serving Eagle officer (at the time). In the early days I planned the coursera events and organised many of the social kin events, which gave me the title: Neem Neem Party Queen! Lol. I have also shared leadership with Mirv and Aglar.

In addition, I have been very involved with the online course, post my certificate, because it was the place where my love for the game and the community really kicked in and I wanted to give back and help support others like me. For the coursera course I have been an in-game mentor and an online TA for two rounds and loved it.

As the longest serving officer and what with RL issues, I decided to take a break from in-game responsibility and get back into enjoying the game! Many of you know that I have a slight addiction to the Moors and love to fellow up with kinnies and tebbers. However, with a wee nomination, I’m grateful for another opportunity to be officer.

While my timezone works against most Eagles LOTRO time, I’m happy to get myself involved in events. I would be happy to help out anyone interested in Moors/Mini information and to run some stuff. I’ve also gained a bit of a name for myself in terms of cosmetic outfits and turned into a personal shopper for friends….I’m not saying I’m great, but I do love the research.

If you want to know anything else, you know where to find me ;)

Hello Eagles.
Most know me as Quil or Erbie, I have six level 105 toons in the Egales.
I have played mmorpg’s since they first came out, and it is my preferred form of entertainment.Altho I live in the US I usually play late night through early morning,but can be on-line at any time.
I’m not sure what I can offer as an officer that I don’t do now,except be able to enlist new members,Quite a bit of my online time there aren’t any officers on,and there are times i’m the only Eagle on-line.
One thing I would work toward is perhaps trying to get more Eagles involved in end game features. I feel that is one area we are sorely lacking in imho. We have several people with multiple char’s that have moved some of them to other kins to be able to do the end game things.And it is something I have thought about doing,as I’ve pretty much hit a dead end as to char advancement.
Officer or not, any time i’m not in a fellow doing an instance and some one needs help with anything feel free to let me know regardless of level.I consider every one in this kin a friend whether level 10 or 105. A better group of people I have not had the privilege of playing with.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Evilsam.

Hello nominees! I have a few questions for you to ponder, if you don’t mind. :) It’s all just for fun. You all have my vote!

1. If you had to choose one organizational/administrative thing about the kinship to change or eliminate, which would you choose? I know some of you have already mentioned a bit, and some of you may not be familiar enough with the organizational aspect to feel comfortable answering, but feel free to throw out new ideas as well.

2. Quick! You have to plan an event for the this weekend. What’s your go-to event? Give me details! What’s the specific event? Do you need to recruit other officers to help plan or execute? Is it limited to a specific number of people?

3. Which of you wants to take over the kinchest system? I’ve got some documents to send you… ;)

1. Introduction of a new event: Lord of the Flies Online. All the nominees must participate in a event the day before the elections, in which they must do the following in order: a fashion contest replete with red carpet, a musical performance of their own undertaking (whether with band or solo), and finally culminating in them all sparring to the death (single elimination best of 3).

2. BOOM Dome of Stars t2c at 9PM this Thursday and you’re going to ENJOY it!
6 folks unless there’s enough interest/variety of classes to start a second group, in which case I will require an experienced officer’s assistance.

3. I’ve never owned a personal house or used kin storage so please no.

Hail Eagles!

I joined LotRO as part of the Coursera course that both Luri and Neem have mentioned. I was part of the first ever Council for the Eagles, when we realised that we needed some people helping to run this thing. I’ve been a Council Officer and the Leader of the Eagles since. I took time out this past year for personal reasons, but I’m back, and ready to rock and roll.

Since my Day Job™ involves designing and building websites, I took it upon myself to be the Eagles’ Web Elf. And here I still am, sweeping away cobwebs and gremlins and giving the machinery the odd drop of oil. (For the newer Eagles: Luri and I jointly look after this website and my company officially owns the domain and pays all the bills.)

If I get elected I’d hope to carry on my behind-the-scenes role of course, but I’m also interested in working with other officers and the kinship as a whole to find out what we need to do to improve the kinship experience.

I feel, like Luri said above and I think it’s borne out somewhat in other nominees’ pitches, that we’ve evolved into distinct groups of players. There are the endgamers, the serious raiders, the leisurely levellers, the lore buffs, the completionists. Over successive Councils we’ve tried different strategies to make the Eagles work for everyone. Given that both serious raiders and leisurely players have moved to other kinships I think it’s clear that we still haven’t got the balance right.

As others have also alluded to, I think a fresh intake would benefit the Eagles. Some timezones are flagging and could do with more players online to play together. So the more officers able to recruit, the better.

I don’t have the answers, but I would like to help find them, and implement whatever is needed to improve the experience of all Eagles, regardless of playing style, in-game aims and timezones.

If you vote for me you get a seasoned officer, with years of experience of helping to run the kinship.

Thank you for your time.

/bow

Saed

In response to Aglarwen.
#1 More officers,to cover more of the day/night.I know there may/will be times one may not be on,but having some one that plays late/early would help.
#2 Chicken run. All levels can engage in it with no limit on the number of people. and prizes. I am not partial to the run,but it doesn’t leave any one out.
#3 I do not in any way envy you your job. Playing six char’s most every day takes a lot of time not to mention having a kin house,2 med houses and all my chars inventories.. That said, I would however do it if needed.

Hagenti here. I started playing LOTRO back in 2012, being my first online gaming experience since I was drawn into playing because I love Middle Earth.

Joined the Eagles in 2013 during the first Coursera Class, but I’ve been mostly a quiet kinnie until last year, when I started joining kin events, and providing help when I can in kinchat.

I have 8 lvl 105 chars, and one low lvl hunter (70ish), and most of the time I’m willing to help kinmates with instances and group quests (no powerlvling tho :P), and I usually try my best to help with questions in kinchat (my native language is Spanish, so apologies in advance for any grammar mistakes).

I definitely would want to see more end game content being run, and in my opinion, we have very skilled kinnies who would be able to beat most t2c content in game, what we are lacking is someone to lead us. Sadly I’m not fit to lead those yet, but count me in if anyone need any help.

What I can offer is to lead low level instances (angmar-moria-lothlorien-isengard 3-6 man) or do Roving Threats runs. Anyways, I’m always willing to help with content kinnies need to run.

I’ve been a bit away from the game this last month because of work, but I should be back in full force next month (february).

It’s good to see so many kinnies participating in this thread, good luck to all :)

hello all most know me as thorwind and silverwing I been playing lotro online for 8 years now off and on I like all aspects of the game. but as someone whos busy with real life stuff I just don’t think it would be fair too be a officer atm there many in the kin who would do a great job. I just started a second job so on just weekends maybe a hour or so weekdays. that being said Iam always here too help and make this kin a place where all feel welcome. thks and fly high eagles. thorwind

Hello! I’m Larksong (also Maidofbree and others). I live in Australia. I joined the Eagles last year, after moving from Nimrodel. I have been playing LOTRO since one month after it started. For four years I was part of a very active Australian kin, but as tends to happen, people drifted away from the game, and slowly our kin became quieter and quieter. Although it was sad to leave my old kin, I’ve been very happy to find a nice community of players in the Eagles. As a player, I love doing quests and deeds. I like to level up slowly and enjoy the content and lore. I am still waiting for a surprise “The Obsessive Compulsive” title to pop up one day as I finish every deed there is to do. I do enjoy group content, but the time zone differences make it a challenge to attend many kin events and raids.

I’m running for election because I think that it would be good to have at least one officer who is on for the Asia-Australia-New Zealand time zones. I think I am a generally friendly and helpful player. I enjoy helping out new players. I’m willing to try to run some group content for those of us who are on at that time. I’m quite familiar with all the low level instances, and am working on the end-game stuff. However, I do have a very busy out of game life, and there are some weeks when I find it hard to get on LOTRO.

In answer to Aglarwen’s questions:

1. If you had to choose one organizational/administrative thing about the kinship to change or eliminate, which would you choose?
I’d like to have more officers on at odd time zones (doesn’t have to be me), and also when events are posted, if the time/date could be in some format that is easy to convert for those in different time zones.

2. Quick! You have to plan an event for the this weekend.
Chicken Runs! or the Moria Instances to get lots of deeds done and work on people’s virtues.

3. Which of you wants to take over the kinchest system?
Honestly depends on how much time it takes, but happy to help out. Probably couldn’t do it on my own.

In response to Aglar’s tough questions:
1. If you had to choose one organizational/administrative thing about the kinship to change or eliminate, which would you choose? I know some of you have already mentioned a bit, and some of you may not be familiar enough with the organizational aspect to feel comfortable answering, but feel free to throw out new ideas as well.

I’m inclined to agree with most people on this one and would like to see more officers and more officers in different time zones.

2. Quick! You have to plan an event for the this weekend. What’s your go-to event? Give me details! What’s the specific event? Do you need to recruit other officers to help plan or execute? Is it limited to a specific number of people?

I’m terrible…as I don’t mind what we run. I do love the rift and Ost Dunhoth! I also really love social events like swimming competitions, chicken runs, freeze tag and Taking Neem hobbit to Isengard-hilarious times! I also don’t mind having a go at end game content- but be gentle with me :) I tend to be given lead in the Moors, but that’s a bit of a standing joke between friends as none of us want to lead- small groups preferred.

3. Which of you wants to take over the kinchest system? I’ve got some documents to send you… ;)

Errm, I have 12 toons mostly for storage, so it’s probably not a good idea for me to take it on :)