Thread: Forum Signatures, Posting Pics, and All That Other Forum Stuff

Last Update: 5/26/10 - Added reputation ranges and titles.

Okay folks - time to learn your LotRO Forum features and get yourself set up with a signature so you can tell us who you are and set-up your editor for ease of use!

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Change Your Default Editor:

By default the LotRO Forums' editor is a basic one (Visual) where you are able to type in text and code, but if you're like me and would like the boards to do the work for you, your editor could look like this:



To change these settings:

1. Click on "User CP" (User Control Panel) at the top of the forums' page > Click on "Edit Options" on the side menu. (Visual)
2. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and in the drop down list under "Miscellaneous Options" you want to select the option for "Enhanced Interface - Full WYSIWYG Editing." (Visual)

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Set Up Your Signature:

Get tired of having to type out your life's story at the bottom of each of each of your posts? Well set up your signature and you'll never have to do it again!

1. Click on "User CP" (aka User Control Panel) at the top of the forums' page.
2. Click on "Edit Signature" on the side menu. (Visual)
3. Type away! You have a limit to 4 lines, but you'll be amazed how much you can fit in such a small space. Don't be shy with the colors and smiley faces!

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Character Signature:



What do I need to do to display my character?
In your User CP, choose Edit Signature. Select your character from the list and specify the portrait you wish to use (or no portrait to display a silhouette). Copy the code which appears in the box, and paste it into your forum signature to use it on our forums.

What if I don't want to view the signatures?
You can enable or disable the display of graphical signatures in your User CP. If you choose not to display the graphical sig, the forums will display the user's text signature by default. (Visual.)

To view the full Character Signature FAQ, click here.

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Character Signature Bug Workaround:
A big thank you to Milambar for finding this fix!

They do not seem to be using the server name as part of the query. They have accurately "found" characters (those over level 5) and then it looks like they did a search for the character names.The problem is that though names are unique to a particular server, they are not unique cross-server. So the query returns the first name it finds without verifying the server.

You can see that in action if you go to MyLotro.com. Do a search for one of your characters, if that character name exists across multiple servers, you will get a picklist.

Assuming the query sorts by server alphabetically, simply change the first number in the sig link to refer to your correct server.
Examples: 03 = Brandywine, 05 = Landroval

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The Multi-Quote:

In order to avoid spamming a thread with a thousand responses to people one post at a time, we've got a great feature called the Multi-Quote. When you want to quote a person in a response you can hit the nice red "Quote" button and it begins a response with their post quoted. Now, if you'd like to quote multiple posts, into one reply, you can just click the """ button located to the right of the "Quote" button on each of the posts you want to be quoting then hit "Post Reply." You'll receive a visual that you have the post selected to quote with a green check mark. There is no limit to how many posts you can quote so go multi-quote crazy!



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Nesting Quotes:

Unfortunately, there's no button that allows you to nest quotes, however you can do it manually by just getting the quote from both and then moving your nested quote to the beginning/inside of the original quote instead of the end/outside.

Originally Posted by Calabar

Originally Posted by Frishia

OMG, i LOVE you!!! I'm usually pretty good about figuring things out, but that dang multi quote has bugged me for a long time....

i feel relatively dingy about now for not figuring that one out on my own.

I hear you. I thought that option was for quoting a post and including the quoted post within that post. And I could never get it to work. Now I know how to use tool properly. Though I still don’t know how to quote a post and the quote within that post. Oh well, at least I learned something and a mystery was solved. *smiles*

Below is the way the code looks to get that nested quote result:

Code:

[quote=Calabar;4168141][quote=Frishia;4018853]OMG, i LOVE you!!! I'm usually pretty good about figuring things out, but that dang multi quote has bugged me for a long time....
 
i feel relatively dingy about now for not figuring that one out on my own.[/quote]I hear you. I thought that option was for quoting a post and including the quoted post within that post. And I could never get it to work. Now I know how to use tool properly. Though I still don’t know how to quote a post and the quote within that post. Oh well, at least I learned something and a mystery was solved. *smiles*[/quote]

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The Reputation System:
Starting January 11, 2010 the forums introduced a reputation system.

What is the Reputation System?
The Reputation System on the LOTRO forums allows forum members to give and receive "Reputation" points to each other based on each others' posts. Did someone write a really killer guide to the Warden class? Did another member help you out when you had a question? Give them props through the Reputation system! The higher your Reputation, and the longer you've been a LOTRO forums member, the more power you have to raise (or lower) other players' Reputations!

How do I give Reputation?
When you're looking at a post and want to give Reputation points to the poster, click on the Reputation icon, which looks like a pair of scales. You'll be asked if you approve or disapprove of the post; choose whichever you like, then click on "Add to Reputation." (Visual)

What does Reputation look like on the forums?
When you have positive Reputation, it is displayed as green boxes. The boxes are grey if you have 0 Reputation, if you're a lurker (have never posted) or if someone has turned off the feature, and red if you have negative Reputation. (Visual) To stop being a lurker all you need to do is post!

To view the Reputation ranges and titles, click here.

Is there an easy way for me to see what Reputation I've received?
Once you've received Reputation from other users, clicking on User CP will show you the last 10 Reputation clicks you've received and on which of your posts. You cannot see who left the Reputation. (Visual)

What if I don't want to display my Reputation to other forum members?
You can toggle whether your Reputation is displayed to other members by going to User CP -> Edit Options and checking or unchecking the "Show My Reputation Level" box. (Visual)

To view the full Reputation System FAQ, click here.

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Taking and Posting Screenshots

Here's a step-by-step guide to taking and posting screenshots using the free image hosting website from Photobucket. There are several free hosting sites out there for you to pick from, this one just happens to be the one I use.

1. Take a Screenshot using "F11" or the "Print Screen" on your keyboard.
   (Note: If you would like to turn off your user inface, you can hit "F12" to have a clean screen.)
2. You can find your screenshots in the My Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online folder.
3. Go to www.photobucket.com and sign up for a free membership.
4. Once logged into the site, you are able to create folders/directories to help keep your images organized.
5. To upload images to this website, simply clike on the "My Albums" tab and then once there, hit the "browse" button and select the location of your image you would like to upload.
6. Once the image is uploaded, you are able to then just copy and paste the image tag code directly to the lotro forum's website. (Visual) Your end result should look like this: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/romoen/PhotobucketPastCode.jpg The specific image tag you need is:
   Code:

   [img]html_link_for_image.jpg[/img]

Screenshots from LotRO (F11) vs. FRAPS (Video Capture Software)
Generally speaking I just use the Screenies from LotRO's capture feature. I used to enjoy taking SS from Fraps because the quality is higher (it takes a .png instead of a .jpg) but LotRO has gradually become a stress on my system so I've stopped running Fraps in the background. Since I convert everything to a .jpg to post on the forums anyway I'm usually not too worried about only using the LotRO feature.

Taken With Fraps: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/romoen/Darkfell/Romoen/DancingPartyTree2.jpg

Taken with LotRO: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q119/romoen/Darkfell/EttensRiverPostcard.jpg

I mean really... can you see the difference? I can't.

FRAPS and a potential strain on your system?
It truly doesn't take that much more of your system's resources. The only aspect you may consider draining is when you take a screenshot (based on the quality you have set) your system will think through it and that may take longer than you'd like, especially when in the heat of battle.

Commands to use to take screenies (in game or Fraps).
When I use the in-game function, I used F11 and if I'm in Fraps I set it up to use F9. LotRO's default for taking a screenshot is F11 and F9 is defaulted in to be "Select Nearest Friendly" but that doesn't effect the shot; it does, however potentially change your targets.
Note: Using Print Screen will also send the image to your LotRO folder but it comes with an additional step of copying the image to your clipboard which takes up system resources as it takes the copy of your desktop but also holding the image in the clipboard.

Turning Off your UI for a SS During Action
Being a healer, I understand the struggle with this one. It used to not be as big of an issue as it is now with the faster combat speed. In any case (then and now) I utalize down time to take the shots. The reason you see me either glowing green, on the verge of death or feigned in most all my shots is because those are the best times for us healers to grab a shot with no UI!

Posting a Beautiful Screenie Even on Low Quality Graphics
Here's one of the best tips I can give to someone that's looking to post a good looking screenshot that will not only look amazing (even if taken on a bad computer/low settings) but won't piss off everyone that opens the page. RESIZE IT!!!! When you size your images down, it compresses the image and the quality will appear sharper and more attractive than the original. It's the same concept behind the quality of an image blown up onto the big screen vs. the quality of an image on a small laptop. (I resize mine down to 1000 wide.)

Resizing Images Using XnView (Free Software)
To do that I use a reeeeealy easy and free program called XnView. I have it installed on not only my main PC, but my laptop and my two work computers and use it for nearly everything. I've got Photoshop as well as Fireworks that I use for more elaborate things (like my MS Paint images) but as far as a quick edit to screenshots XnView is my preference. And while we're on the subject here, you want to make sure you're maintaing enough quality when editing the images that they still look good. I find when I export an image, turning the quality down to 90% is plenty to decrease the file size yet maintain a good looking shot.

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Pop-Up Links from the Lorebook:
Hover your mouse --> here <-- to see what I'm referring to.

Talking about skills and gear is all fine and dandy but adding a link to your info. is even better. Turbine went one further for us and added a feature through the Lorebook (link on the top of the forums) that allows you to link with a pop-up making your smarty pants post even more grounded in fact.

There's really nothing other than the knowledge that it exists for you to learn how to do it. Simply put the link anywhere you'd like and as the reader hovers over the link with their mouse, you get a pop up. Check out the example here with a pop up about the Blackarrow skill Moving Target.

If the link is bad or if you miss copied it, you'll get a pop up that says "Item Not Found" so you'll know you need to re-check the address. Keep in mind that you can only point people to items, skills and traits. You cannot link anything that isn't representative by an in-game icon.

If you're unfamilar with how to insert a link inside text, all you have to do is simply highlight the word(s) you'd like to be links and then click the globe button and instert the link. You can remove the link by clicking the link button with the red X across it located next to the globe with your cursor anywhere in the word that's linked.



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Check Previous Edits/Original Post:
Special thank you to Bogo for giving me this tip!

Ever make an edit to a post and then later wish you hadn't? Well our forums have a great feature that tracks each and every edit for you, allowing you to compare any combonation of edits to bring back what you once had said! Simply click on the "last edited" link on the bottom left of your post. (Visual) Once there, you are able to click on any "old" and "new" radial buttons to compare any two specific edits. (Visual) The text that shows in white is the same on both posts, the text in red is found in the new version but not in the old and text in green is found in the old version but not the new. (Visual) You'll have to do the editing yourself at that point, but all the information you need is right there!

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Gð Šymbol ¢razÿ:

So here's the suUUuuUuuUper sneakys seekret behind posting symbols in your posts. You could go get really smart and learn the html codes behind each symbol, change your editor to the standard mode, then type in the codes..... OOOOOOOR you can be an uber nerd like me and just use copy and paste!!!

Copy = Ctrl + C | Paste = Ctrl + V

There's a thousand sites you can get the list from, but I use this site: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_symbols.asp

You can find whatever symbol you want to use and just highlight it, copy it and paste it!

Have fun!
Ophelia Darkfell, Minstankion™
⌈→ ♠ ↔ ♥ ↔ ♣ ← ⌋

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Additional Forum Posting Tips
Brought to you by Grackaw the Overpowered.

We all are made aware at some time or another of the 10 character minimum post size... but rather than adding some garbage text at the end of your post consider one of these two approaches.

• Use embedded spaces. Each space you type counts toward the minimum but spaces between words or smilies or punctuation are compressed to only one space for display purposes. i.e. OK! is displayed as OK ! and still meets the 10 character post size requirement.
• Take it a step further and hide the trailing punctuation by setting the color equal to the background. Keep this text in a handy .txt file for a quick cut-n-paste to the end of your cleverly crafted one or two letter reply.

Code:

[color=#303030]        .[/color]

Also, you can get even more special characters from the Character Map applet that comes with Windows. Go to Start> Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Character Map. If you find a character that you like or use often it will even show you a way to type it into nearly any text editor; at the bottom right of the window is the keystroke code for most characters. For example ™ is Alt+0153 which means hold down the Alt key while you type '0153' on your numeric keypad (using the numbers across the top will not work.)

Finally (I love keyboard shortcuts) in the Enhanced Editor which Ophy is touting you can select a block of text and hit Ctrl-B to bold it, Ctrl-I to italicize it, or Ctrl-U to underline it. You can also hit those keys to turn the attributes on or off as you are typing.

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Lorebook Guide

Link to the Lorebook Guide: http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Forum...er_Forum_Stuff

Sticky?!

...

Originally Posted by Darth_Fleder

Sticky?!

...

It won't even stay on the first page long enough, lol.

Originally Posted by romoen

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Gð Šymbol ¢razÿ:

So here's the suUUuuUuuUper sneakys seekret behind posting symbols in your posts. You could go get really smart and learn the html codes behind each symbol, change your editor to the standard mode, then type in the codes..... OOOOOOOR you can be an uber nerd like me and just use copy and paste!!!

Copy = Ctrl + C | Paste = Ctrl + V

There's a thousand sites you can get the list from, but I use this site: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_symbols.asp

You can find whatever symbol you want to use and just highlight it, copy it and paste it!

Have fun!
Ophelia Darkfell, Minstankion™
⌈→ ♠ ↔ ♥ ↔ ♣ ← ⌋

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You can also achieve the same thing in Windows by clicking on your start menu and going to Accessories >> System Tools >> Character Map.

This will bring up a window containing hundreds, if not thousands of characters, which you can switch by changing the font (in the drop down box at the top) and the character set (drop down box towards the bottom). Once you find a character you want, simply click it and then hit the "Select" button and then the "Copy" button. After that, you can paste it anywhere you like.

One note I should add is that the "Copy" button will copy everything in the box marked "Character's to copy". Of course, you can edit this box by typing into it. Thus, you can delete things from it, or even highlight and copy a single character.

I loved this guide on Landroval forums although I never used it. I already knew the stuff lol but still nice to have such a guide for newbies to gain an upper hand.

This thread totally deserves a sticky.

This should be stickied! Very useful stuff!

Agreed, sticky this PLEASE!

Originally Posted by kyrelenblackstone

This should be stickied! Very useful stuff!

Originally Posted by Teneriel

This thread totally deserves a sticky.

Originally Posted by Lara69690

Agreed, sticky this PLEASE!

Originally Posted by romoen

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The Multi-Quote:

In order to avoid spamming a thread with a thousand responses to people one post at a time, we've got a great feature called the Multi-Quote. When you want to quote a person in a response you can hit the nice red "Quote" button and it begins a response with their post quoted. Now, if you'd like to quote multiple posts, into one reply, you can just click the """ button located to the right of the "Quote" button on each of the posts you want to be quoting then hit "Post Reply." You'll receive a visual that you have the post selected to quote with a green check mark. There is no limit to how many posts you can quote so go multi-quote crazy!

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Also, for tips and tricks on taking and posting screenshots: Guide to Taking and Posting Screenshots

OMG, i LOVE you!!! I'm usually pretty good about figuring things out, but that dang multi quote has bugged me for a long time....

i feel relatively dingy about now for not figuring that one out on my own.

Thanks all! I had forgotten I had posted this here as well so I just updated it to include all the changes Ive made since originally making this post.

Very Nice Post!!

I'd also call for a Sticky for this!

Nice Job and thank you!

If anyone has any questions or suggestions to add to this guide let me know and I'll type something up with some visual aids!

Pssst. *whispers* I think if you want to get something to become a sticky you need to report the thread and ask for it. Just sayin'.

Thank you! This was quite useful.

Originally Posted by romoen

Pssst. *whispers* I think if you want to get something to become a sticky you need to report the thread and ask for it. Just sayin'.

I was just about to do this, I had pressed "submit" and everything, and then I saw this notice on the Report page: "Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts." So I pressed cancel, because this thread is clearly none of those things.

Originally Posted by Teneriel

I was just about to do this, I had pressed "submit" and everything, and then I saw this notice on the Report page: "Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts." So I pressed cancel, because this thread is clearly none of those things.

Hehe, it's rather ... intimidating? to hit the report to flag a thread for a sticky but I assure you it's the way to go despite the 'WARNING! OMG! DON'T HIT ME!' text.

Originally Posted by romoen

Hehe, it's rather ... intimidating? to hit the report to flag a thread for a sticky but I assure you it's the way to go despite the 'WARNING! OMG! DON'T HIT ME!' text.

Actually, as someone who's done the CM's job professionally, it's the fastest way for them to ignore a thread.

If you'd like a sticky, make the case directly via a PM. As well, make sure you have a Lorebook entry, as that will be what they'll probably suggest instead.

Originally Posted by DarkCntry

Actually, as someone who's done the CM's job professionally, it's the fastest way for them to ignore a thread.

If you'd like a sticky, make the case directly via a PM. As well, make sure you have a Lorebook entry, as that will be what they'll probably suggest instead.

Actually, I was told by a Mod *here* that it was the way to do it. Personally I don't care one way or another, but as you can see by my guidebook... I'm a fan of giving people information.

Originally Posted by Frishia

OMG, i LOVE you!!! I'm usually pretty good about figuring things out, but that dang multi quote has bugged me for a long time....

i feel relatively dingy about now for not figuring that one out on my own.

I hear you. I thought that option was for quoting a post and including the quoted post within that post. And I could never get it to work. Now I know how to use tool properly. Though I still don’t know how to quote a post and the quote within that post. Oh well, at least I learned something and a mystery was solved. *smiles*

Unfortunately, there's no button that allows you to nest quotes, however you can do it manually by just getting the quote from both and then moving your nested quote to the beginning/inside of the original quote instead of the end/outside.

Originally Posted by Calabar

Originally Posted by Frishia

OMG, i LOVE you!!! I'm usually pretty good about figuring things out, but that dang multi quote has bugged me for a long time....

i feel relatively dingy about now for not figuring that one out on my own.

I hear you. I thought that option was for quoting a post and including the quoted post within that post. And I could never get it to work. Now I know how to use tool properly. Though I still don’t know how to quote a post and the quote within that post. Oh well, at least I learned something and a mystery was solved. *smiles*

The code to quote like that looks like:

Well sweet, heres is mine

Added the portion previously written about nesting quotes as well as cleaned up some formatting and added a section on the Reputation system.

The Reputation System:
Starting January 11, 2010 the forums introduced a reputation system.

What is the Reputation System?
The Reputation System on the LOTRO forums allows forum members to give and receive "Reputation" points to each other based on each others' posts. Did someone write a really killer guide to the Warden class? Did another member help you out when you had a question? Give them props through the Reputation system! The higher your Reputation, and the longer you've been a LOTRO forums member, the more power you have to raise (or lower) other players' Reputations!

How do I give Reputation?
When you're looking at a post and want to give Reputation points to the poster, click on the Reputation icon, which looks like a pair of scales. You'll be asked if you approve or disapprove of the post; choose whichever you like, then click on "Add to Reputation." (Visual)

What does Reputation look like on the forums?
When you have positive Reputation, it is displayed as green boxes. The boxes are grey if you have 0 Reputation, and red if you have negative Reputation. (Visual)

Is there an easy way for me to see what Reputation I've received?
Once you've received Reputation from other users, clicking on User CP will show you the last 10 Reputation clicks you've received and on which of your posts. You cannot see who left the Reputation. (Visual)

What if I don't want to display my Reputation to other forum members?
You can toggle whether your Reputation is displayed to other members by going to User CP -> Edit Options and checking or unchecking the "Show My Reputation Level" box. (Visual)

To view the full Reputation System FAQ, click here.

Neeee-San!!!!!

I have one question remaining:

What determines whether you are designated as junior member, member, senior member etc. I've also seen other titles as well. Is this related strictly to post count?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Baronh2o

I have one question remaining:

What determines whether you are designated as junior member, member, senior member etc. I've also seen other titles as well. Is this related strictly to post count?

Thanks

Yes, strictly post count, though I don't know offhand what the numbers are for those rankings.

Originally Posted by Baronh2o

I have one question remaining:

What determines whether you are designated as junior member, member, senior member etc. I've also seen other titles as well. Is this related strictly to post count?

Thanks

I believe there are three levels (perhaps 4?) for titles with post counts. The first is "Junior Member" you get for joining the forums. The second is "Member" from posting 50 times. The last is Senior Member when you reach 100 posts. There are no other automatic titles given past that. The other titles you may see are given when a forum member is featured for various things by Turbine whether it be a thread of theirs, a lorebook entry or a featured player.

If anyone has a correction on my numbers/titles awarded let us know!

Originally Posted by romoen

I believe there are three levels (perhaps 4?) for titles with post counts. The first is "Junior Member" you get for joining the forums. The second is "Member" from posting 50 times. The last is Senior Member when you reach 100 posts. There are no other automatic titles given past that. The other titles you may see are given when a forum member is featured for various things by Turbine whether it be a thread of theirs, a lorebook entry or a featured player.

If anyone has a correction on my numbers/titles awarded let us know!

I will actually say I believe that the "Member" designation is due to a total post count of 30+. Seeing as I just now noticed mine changed when I hit 30 .

Thought I would post and try to be helpful.

Wow! Just got started on these forums, and this guide answered two questions I'd been actively wondering about, and introduced me to a third thing, which I love (the reputation system). Thanks!
*tries out the reputation system on the OP*

Originally Posted by Baronh2o

I will actually say I believe that the "Member" designation is due to a total post count of 30+. Seeing as I just now noticed mine changed when I hit 30 .

Thought I would post and try to be helpful.

Awesome, thank you!!

As someone that has been a senior member since January of 2007, needless to say it's been a while since I've been able to notice title changes, lol.

Originally Posted by Ellonim

Wow! Just got started on these forums, and this guide answered two questions I'd been actively wondering about, and introduced me to a third thing, which I love (the reputation system). Thanks!
*tries out the reputation system on the OP*

Yay, I'm glad you found it useful!

Turbine - forum signatures still carry Mines of Moria logo

Merged this guide with my guide on taking and posting screenshots as well as added a link to the newly created Lorebook entry for the guide.

Originally Posted by romoen

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Taking and Posting Screenshots


Here's a step-by-step guide to taking and posting screenshots using the free image hosting website from Photobucket. There are several free hosting sites out there for you to pick from, this one just happens to be the one I use.

1. Take a Screenshot using "F11" or the "Print Screen" on your keyboard.
   (Note: If you would like to turn off your user inface, you can hit "F12" to have a clean screen.)
2. You can find your screenshots in the My Documents/The Lord of the Rings Online folder.
3. Go to www.photobucket.com and sign up for a free membership.
4. Once logged into the site, you are able to create folders/directories to help keep your images organized.
5. To upload images to this website, simply clike on the "My Albums" tab and then once there, hit the "browse" button and select the location of your image you would like to upload.
6. Once the image is uploaded, you are able to then just copy and paste the image tag code directly to the lotro forum's website. (Visual) Your end result should look like this: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...etPastCode.jpg The specific image tag you need is:
   Code:

   [img]html_link_for_image.jpg[/img]

Screenshots from LotRO (F11) vs. FRAPS (Video Capture Software)
Generally speaking I just use the Screenies from LotRO's capture feature. I used to enjoy taking SS from Fraps because the quality is higher (it takes a .png instead of a .jpg) but LotRO has gradually become a stress on my system so I've stopped running Fraps in the background. Since I convert everything to a .jpg to post on the forums anyway I'm usually not too worried about only using the LotRO feature.

Taken With Fraps: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...PartyTree2.jpg

Taken with LotRO: http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...erPostcard.jpg

I mean really... can you see the difference? I can't.

FRAPS and a potential strain on your system?
It truly doesn't take that much more of your system's resources. The only aspect you may consider draining is when you take a screenshot (based on the quality you have set) your system will think through it and that may take longer than you'd like, especially when in the heat of battle.

Commands to use to take screenies (in game or Fraps).
When I use the in-game function, I used F11 and if I'm in Fraps I set it up to use F9. LotRO's default for taking a screenshot is F11 and F9 is defaulted in to be "Select Nearest Friendly" but that doesn't effect the shot; it does, however potentially change your targets.
Note: Using Print Screen will also send the image to your LotRO folder but it comes with an additional step of copying the image to your clipboard which takes up system resources as it takes the copy of your desktop but also holding the image in the clipboard.

Turning Off your UI for a SS During Action
Being a healer, I understand the struggle with this one. It used to not be as big of an issue as it is now with the faster combat speed. In any case (then and now) I utalize down time to take the shots. The reason you see me either glowing green, on the verge of death or feigned in most all my shots is because those are the best times for us healers to grab a shot with no UI!

Posting a Beautiful Screenie Even on Low Quality Graphics
Here's one of the best tips I can give to someone that's looking to post a good looking screenshot that will not only look amazing (even if taken on a bad computer/low settings) but won't piss off everyone that opens the page. RESIZE IT!!!! When you size your images down, it compresses the image and the quality will appear sharper and more attractive than the original. It's the same concept behind the quality of an image blown up onto the big screen vs. the quality of an image on a small laptop. (I resize mine down to 1000 wide.)

Resizing Images Using XnView (Free Software)
To do that I use a reeeeealy easy and free program called XnView. I have it installed on not only my main PC, but my laptop and my two work computers and use it for nearly everything. I've got Photoshop as well as Fireworks that I use for more elaborate things (like my MS Paint images) but as far as a quick edit to screenshots XnView is my preference. And while we're on the subject here, you want to make sure you're maintaing enough quality when editing the images that they still look good. I find when I export an image, turning the quality down to 90% is plenty to decrease the file size yet maintain a good looking shot.

Originally Posted by romoen

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Lorebook Guide

Link to the Lorebook Guide: http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Forum...er_Forum_Stuff

Yea, so this going to be completely nubed out and im ready for an unbelievable backlash and tons of scrutiny HOWEVER ill ask anyway . Now with the graphic signatures I see on a lot of high lvl characters people who have 1. A symbol that when I highlight in game displays like (man-at-arms) and is sometimes surrounded by portions of or filled stars, what are those? And how do u acquire them? Also, what are the #'s for the crafting things like ex. Woodworker then in 2 colored anvils 6 - 6? Again probably super nooby but im interested and never really played mmo's before OR used a forum. So truthfully I hope this even submits lmao!!

Originally Posted by Vandel88

Yea, so this going to be completely nubed out and im ready for an unbelievable backlash and tons of scrutiny HOWEVER ill ask anyway . Now with the graphic signatures I see on a lot of high lvl characters people who have 1. A symbol that when I highlight in game displays like (man-at-arms) and is sometimes surrounded by portions of or filled stars, what are those? And how do u acquire them? Also, what are the #'s for the crafting things like ex. Woodworker then in 2 colored anvils 6 - 6? Again probably super nooby but im interested and never really played mmo's before OR used a forum. So truthfully I hope this even submits lmao!!

Well first of all, welcome to the forums!!!

Alright now to your questions....

1) The symbol that you see (Man-at-Arms, etc.) is their current rank in Player vs. Player. You acquire that symbol by (you guessed it!) pvping.

2) The stars (half or whole) surrounding that symbol are their rank. We have a 2,000 point ranking system with our PvP and factoring in a few things, you earn stars for every 200 points above 1,000 your rating is; achieving 5 stars at a rating of 2,000 and 0 stars for a rating of 0 - 1,099.

3) The Numbers you see in the anvils are represenations of the character's level of crafting experience. Each profession comes with 3 crafts; each of those crafts has 6 tiers; each of those tiers has 2 parts (apprentice and master.) So, that means if you see someone with a 6-5 for a craft, they are an apprentice of their 6th tier of their craft. Once they finish out apprentice and then complete master, it will convert to a 6-6.

That last one was a strange addition to a character signature in my opinion as you'll never see more than a difference of 1 between the two numbers and the apprentice level of each tier isn't of any real value. More shineys to look at, I suppose!

Excellent! But wait 6 tiers? I thought there was only 5. (Apprentice, journeyman, expert, artisan, master) do they count the blank before u make apprentice a tier??

Originally Posted by Vandel88

Excellent! But wait 6 tiers? I thought there was only 5. (Apprentice, journeyman, expert, artisan, master) do they count the blank before u make apprentice a tier??

With the Mines of Moria expansion, they added one more tier: Supreme Master.

OHHHH. I hate the amount of unupdated resources there are on this game :/ as for the "supreme" I feel like grand master is higher then supreme master lmao I wish they woulda named the 6th tier sutin cooler or put master at the 6th cuz I feel master is... exactly that master u can't beat the master son etc. But eitherway thanks you've been incredibly helpful and I appreciate the prompt responses. Also due to this I've researched the pvmp and it looks pretty awesome gotta start lvling faster thanks again

Originally Posted by Vandel88

OHHHH. I hate the amount of unupdated resources there are on this game :/ as for the "supreme" I feel like grand master is higher then supreme master lmao I wish they woulda named the 6th tier sutin cooler or put master at the 6th cuz I feel master is... exactly that master u can't beat the master son etc. But eitherway thanks you've been incredibly helpful and I appreciate the prompt responses. Also due to this I've researched the pvmp and it looks pretty awesome gotta start lvling faster thanks again

Sure thing!!!

And if you happen to be playing a Minstrel in PvP, take a look in my sig for some help in that regard.

Thank you to Luc from Landroval for keeping us updated on the title progression for the reputation system.

Number of Squares: Title (Rep Range)
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Grey: Has disabled reputation or has never posted. (0)
1: The Neutral (1-99)
2: The Wary (100-199)
3: The Wary (200-299)
4: The Wary (300-399)
5: The Wary (400-599)
6: The Neophyte (600-699)
7: The Neophyte (700-899)
8: The Neophyte / the Bounders-Friend (900-1099)
9: The Bounders-Friend (1100-1299)
10: The Bounders-Friend (1300-1499)
11: Watcher of the Roads / the Undefeated / Indomitable (1500+)

Please correct me on the rating ranges for the various square categories; those were all added based on memory.

Updates to the Reputation System

Originally Posted by Patience

1. The community team has now opted out of the rep system entirely. You can't give us rep, we can't give you rep, and our reputation shows as neutral. Reputation is now a community-only tool.
2. The number of rep posts you can see has now increased from 10 to 20 (if anyone has feedback on the change, please let us know).
3. Negative rep is not displayed beyond being gray: This prevent people from trying to farm a red rep bar - you'd be surprised at how often this happens. Green bars will only grow to a maximum length, then stop, so over time that balances out.

Nice work! This is handy indeed. Now myself and others here will have something to look at when we find ourselves stuck trying to figure out something on our forums.

Yes but really what I need to know is....how do I make the rolling eyes smiley on the forums? Three years and I haven't been able to use it!