Thread: Sparking an Interest Anniversary Quest Information

Sparking an Interest quest bugs out and you cannot see the nodes spawn. Happened to me yesterday. After watching people get spots right in front of me that weren't sparkling I relogged and they appeared again.

Originally Posted by Nostro44

Where does this quest start? I seem to have completely missed it.

It would seem it's only available during the day as the fireworks show is on at night. Like was said before, there are two hobbits who appear in the middle of the Bree fireworks show area.

I can say that this quest and the spawn points are available at night. I just finished the quest at it is Night-time: Evening in game. The fireworks show is going on in Bree.

I would also like to add an additional spawn poitn I haven't seen mentioned yet: in front of the townsperson at 30.0S 51.3W. I was stuck on 5/6 last night and rode around for an hour. Finally saw this spawn point appear, but someone beat me to it. Waited for another 30 minutes for it to reappear and it never did. Logged out. Logged back in today and it appeared as soon as I logged in.

But yeah, it seems bugged.

I also noticed the quest directional arrow in the mini-map appears to work occasionally. If you are within 80-90 meters of a spawn point, you'll see the ring and arrow pointing in the direction of the spawn point. But when you get closer, the symbol disappears. And it appears to point towards any nearby spawn point, even ones that aren't active or that you have already visited.

Well, I've just watched at least a dozen people click on different spots right in front of me that I couldn't see.

So either it's bugged or they've deliberately made it so that only a handful of people at a time can finish it.

Originally Posted by RosieLass

Well, I've just watched at least a dozen people click on different spots right in front of me that I couldn't see.

So either it's bugged or they've deliberately made it so that only a handful of people at a time can finish it.

Not everyone gets the same spawn site locations......which is part of what makes it very trying.

This may have been an attempt to solve the issue of berry spawns in the treasure hunt gone bad.

The way I do this quest, is to divide the long track from West to South gate in 6 parts. In each of these parts you have to find a spot; if you can't find it there, feel free to move forward but you'll have to return to that zone later on. In my experience I have found those zones to be:
1. West Gate and forges
2. The road between the West Gate and the Prancing Pony
3. The plaza in front of the Prancing Pony
4. Boar Fountain
5. Town Hall & Jail
6. South Gate & Woodworker's Gate

The most annoying of these spawn points is without doubt the Prancing Pony one, as it feels like it has a much longer respawn time than the others. Just note down the locations you've found a spawn point in, and return to the ones you haven't marked down yet.

Originally Posted by NickStern

Not everyone gets the same spawn site locations......which is part of what makes it very trying.

This may have been an attempt to solve the issue of berry spawns in the treasure hunt gone bad.

The berry spawn quest was annoying, but at least you could be sure that eventually, another berry would spawn in that spot.

I saw the fireworks point spawn in front of Harry Goatleaf twice in a row about an hour ago, but it hasn't reappeared there for me since. And it's just not appearing at all anywhere else.

I also keep getting a <string table error; tableDID error message, and the ticket system won't let me submit a ticket.

So maybe I'M just bugged...

Originally Posted by RosieLass

The berry spawn quest was annoying, but at least you could be sure that eventually, another berry would spawn in that spot.

I saw the fireworks point spawn in front of Harry Goatleaf twice in a row about an hour ago, but it hasn't reappeared there for me since. And it's just not appearing at all anywhere else.

I also keep getting a <string table error; tableDID error message, and the ticket system won't let me submit a ticket.

So maybe I'M just bugged...

I was getting the same error tonight, stuck at 5/6... couldn't see them spawning anywhere, though I saw other folks all over setting them repeatedly....

I have done all festival quests with one of my characters now, and I can confirm that this one is the most frustrating, all others are fun and work just fine (except you might have to wait for night if you want to do the fireworks-show quest). Like others, I also had 5/6 and had to ride all around Bree for ages, and finally I got my last one, and it spawned in a location that I had already rode past dozens of times before...

But like one of the first posters in this thread said, just do other quests, as there are many to choose from. You don't *HAVE* to do them all. Maybe if you wanted absolutely every reward there is, but I don't know who would want all those maps to place on our walls considering that our housing hooks are packed full already...

Personally I like the quest where you open those letters most fun. Some of those letters give you anniversary tokens as well... And, now that I have done that quest only once with my 9 characters, THREE of them have got mounts already from those letters! Two got lossoth steed and one got the steed of the warden, so there's a little hint to you people which one could be worth doing...

Stupid Stupid Stupid Quest.

Stuck on 5/6, ran around bree for abot 10-15 times for about 30minutes, gave up, not gonna bother with this festival again if this is what turbine think is suppose to be "fun"...

This is the most annoying Quest ever.

It's not just a time-killer - IT KILLLS THE FUN IN THE GAME!

I have never been so annoyed by something in Lotro as by this $^#@$% quest.


It builds up rage and that is EXACTLY what SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN A GAME!


Please REMOVE this quest from the festival event as it is the opposite of Fun!

I'm not sure what is going on with this quest, but I will add my experiences in the hope that it helps.

First, the Bree map will give you the area to keep moving around in. I got the first 4 very quickly, but forgot to note their locations. Many have been mentioned before, but I know there is one by the jail, and one by the stable. The one in front of the outfitters is good, and there are a couple in the main square. I know this because I have started the quest a second time.

It is not possible to pick up this quest in the dead of night, but you can hit the nodes at this time.

I'd recommend keeping the quest live and doing something else, especially if you are mucking about in Bree anyway. They tend to pop up when you least expect them.

It is repeatable, and worth two tokens, so...

Run the fireworks at Bree for the easy two tokens, then spend a little time looking for nodes while you wait to repeat. I haven't found a quicker way to pile up tokens yet. The races only respawn once a day, and the Beer fight... well, I can't get the hang of that.

I am returning to LOTRO after a couple of months break and 'Sparking an Interest' nearly did for me!

I too had the issue of finding and using five spawn points quite easily and rapidly then not finding the sixth for a long time.

I was just about to give up on the quest (and my return to LOTRO) when I chanced upon a sixth usable spawn point that was not being 'CAMPED'.

Now, I do not know if the spawn points for this quest are usable by all players or are individual to each player but the former seems to be true.

It seems that every time TB makes a special event, they mess some quest or other up - from the player perspective. In this case, it seems to be lack of consideration in the quest design that has caused the irritation regarding spawn point availability and has caused frustration for the player rather than happiness.

Hey! Ho! Never mind! At least the extra horse tokens I had left over from the last anniversary work for this anniversary.

In fairness, I have enjoyed the anniversary things I have thus far used.

My husband spent HOURS last night at 5/6. We went and did other things and came back, nothing. Logged in and out, nothing. He finally gave up and then this morning when the servers came back up, he got the 6th one.

I agree that this quest is annoying. I did it twice and on both occasions it took me quite a while before I found the 6th spot. Possible solutions that would make this quest less frustrating:

1. Make it a quest with 6 objectives:
- sparking an interest near the Boar fountain
- sparking an interest near the South gate
- etc.

You get the idea, at least once you are on 5/6 you will know where to look for the last place.

2. Do not remove the points of interest if others use them.
3. Decrease the respawn time.

There's a more simple solution, vhh82:

Just make it so that others taking your spot doesn't make the spot unavailable for you. It keeps the randomness and Bree "exploration" element and removes the tedium to "guess" where your next spot is and be lucky enough to find it when someone else didn't already use it and you don't have the sparkling effect active.

I did this quest ONCE each on 4 characters and every time it took at least 2.5 hours to do.

I can confirm the observation that I do not see the same spawn points as other players. I watched too many set off fireworks for spawns I never saw. Probably a phasing thing somehow.

Nearly all the spawns I successfully used were total accidents. Running by and one happened to pop up right in front of me.

I don't believe the theory that you will have a spawn in each of the six zones. One character of mine got 3/6 in one zone.

The only advice I can give folks is just keep checking the zones and hopefully you will get lucky.

For myself I have decided this quest isn't worth the effort. I would rather shoot off fireworks every 30 minutes at night an extra time that deal with this nightmare. This way I can at least do something else between rather than endlessly riding around bree,

Another person who spent quite a long time on this quest already.

So far I finished it twice, during evening at peak population.
A good `time` to search for spots is just as dusk switches into evening. At this time a notice will pop up and the fireworks show in bree becomes available. At least 75% of the people questing then will flock to the fireworks field leaving MUCH less players hunting for the spawn spots.
I realise I might as well be shooting myself in the foot with this but oh well :P

My observation confirms that different players get different spawn spots. I`ve been standing at the west gate, have suddenly 3 people rush right in front of me and one of them gets off a firework. Saw no spawn for me. This happened several times.
At one point I was waiting at west gate/pig farm for 45+ minutes, as I knew there were spawn spots here and I hadn`t gotten one there yet. None spawned.
However, on yesterday`s run I `took` 3 spots at the boar fountain, of which 2 were in the exact same location! Between each was minimum 5 minutes and no relogs/rezones. Stayed in bree-town for the entire duration.

My theory is that, instead of getting assigned 6-7-8 possible spawn locations. Each time a location respawns it is made available for X players (quite a large amount!). This explains how I was able to get, during the same version of the quest, 3 times the same location of which twice the exact same spot.
This also explains why you see people running to spots invisible to you and vice-versa. Yet sometimes you have competition for a spot.
That, or it`s bugged. Still content released by Turbine, you can never be sure...

This quest brings out the best in my fellow players.

I spent an hour running between potential spawn sites last night and finally found one! I climb off my horse and start to click the location when a player runs in (and I mean sprints in!) and clicks it before me. This wonderful player then takes the time to type the following, "lol ninja'd u suck".

Thank you game devs. Fun. <- Yes, that's sarcasm.

3 hours of playing time down the line and I'm still hunting for my 6th spot. I get the logic and everything, but I think they should spawn MUCH more often. This is crazy, I want my fireworks!

Originally Posted by CluckGirl

3 hours of playing time down the line and I'm still hunting for my 6th spot. I get the logic and everything, but I think they should spawn MUCH more often. This is crazy, I want my fireworks!

Completing this quest gets you a token.......

The quest to get the fireworks and cloak is the one to visit various locations of the clebration in
bree land the shire and thorins.

Originally Posted by Korrigan

There's a more simple solution, vhh82:

Just make it so that others taking your spot doesn't make the spot unavailable for you. It keeps the randomness and Bree "exploration" element and removes the tedium to "guess" where your next spot is and be lucky enough to find it when someone else didn't already use it and you don't have the sparkling effect active.

I wrote down 3 possible solutions, the one you are suggesting is the same as the 2nd possible solution I posted .

I've managed to do it twice but only when doing it late at night when fewer people are around. Even then I still had to ride around quite a bit before finding one.

Don't know why they made such a mess of this quest, the finding-envelopes quest has the same sort of mechanic in that everyone shares the quest items and nobody has any problem doing that one. On this one (1) the number of places is too small and (2) the respawn rate is too long.

What an epically tedious quest!

I've now spent nearly 3 hours looking for the 6th spot. If this is Turbine's idea of fun, they can stick it. Now I know why I rarely bother with the festival stuff. I've got better things to do than run up and down the same road 200 times.

Thanks Turbine, but no thanks.

The problem seems to be that if another player shares a spot with you and gets there first, you are assigned another one which may be on the opposite site of town. If yet another player activates that one before you do, you'll get yet another spot and so on. This way you can be searching for quite some time. Maybe it's easier when there are not so many people playing at the same time.

Originally Posted by Gildoriel

The problem seems to be that if another player shares a spot with you and gets there first, you are assigned another one which may be on the opposite site of town. If yet another player activates that one before you do, you'll get yet another spot and so on. This way you can be searching for quite some time. Maybe it's easier when there are not so many people playing at the same time.

You can't be assigned just one spot at a time. I've seen two active ones at once.

Originally Posted by Nostro44

I've managed to do it twice but only when doing it late at night when fewer people are around. Even then I still had to ride around quite a bit before finding one.

Don't know why they made such a mess of this quest, the finding-envelopes quest has the same sort of mechanic in that everyone shares the quest items and nobody has any problem doing that one. On this one (1) the number of places is too small and (2) the respawn rate is too long.

If they would fix the respawn rate it would work. They just need a quick respawn on it so that you can complete it. I don't think people mind the running around, it's that you run around and can't get it completed because the respawn is too long.

Originally Posted by Leira

You can't be assigned just one spot at a time. I've seen two active ones at once.

Even when you only had one left?

Dear Journal,

Three rises and settings of the sun have been whence I have first agreed to help yonder small hobbits with their works of fire. A great mystery it be, this magical sixth circle of light from which thou must fire thy works. Hither and yon, have I upon my noble steed traversed the lanes and byways cobbled here in Bree. Alas, mine eyes have alighted not upon the magic ring where I might fire mine works! With sorrow and heaviness of heart doth my spirit wain and embers of passion be quenched! Forsake me not oh circle of magic and let thy light shine upon my face and give unto me thine tokens of rewarding!



Signed,

A really pissed off elf

Originally Posted by Widoch

Dear Journal,

Three rises and settings of the sun have been whence I have first agreed to help yonder small hobbits with their works of fire. A great mystery it be, this magical sixth circle of light from which thou must fire thy works. Hither and yon, have I upon my noble steed traversed the lanes and byways cobbled here in Bree. Alas, mine eyes have alighted not upon the magic ring where I might fire mine works! With sorrow and heaviness of heart doth my spirit wain and embers of passion be quenched! Forsake me not oh circle of magic and let thy light shine upon my face and give unto me thine tokens of rewarding!



Signed,

A really pissed off elf

Thank you for brightening my day with your hilarity. I am sorry, noble elf, that you are struggling so, but may it be a small consolation that it has brought a smile to thine face.

Bree on Riddermark is bustling and I have managed to complete the quest multiple times. There is some sort of delay between #5 and #6... but not 3 hours... not even 10 minutes.

at the risk of earning completists' ire, i recommend not spending three hours' worth of aggravation--or even one hour, or twenty minutes--over a daily quest that rewards two tokens. obviously, turbine miscalculated spawn rates/areas/timing, layer size, player density, whatever, but that doesn't mean we need to be the ones to suffer for it.

for myself, i treat sparking interest as an extra quest, and pick up whatever nodes i can while running around looking for envelopes. otherwise i leave it be. i can make up for the tokens with a much less stressful (and more stress-releasing?) beer brawl.

it's a party guys, let's not stress over the one failed parlor game.

I have cancelled the quest, its stupid and a time sink.

I'll try to explain again how this quest works.

1. The quest area is divided in 6 zones, each zone has 3 or more spots where the "ideal location" spawns (maybe random). Players will be able to use only ONE spot per zone (depending where it spawned).



2. These zones are (from the start location):

- Dora Longburrow - Lily Sandheaver (grocer)
- West Gate (pig farm included)
- Prancing Pony fountain
- Around Boar Fountain
- Around Bree town hall (and jail)
- South Gate

The hard zone (slow respawn) is around the Prancing Pony fountain, prolly the one everybody is missing. The other 5 zones have fast respawn, means when someone use a spot just a few seconds later another spawn .



So what you have to do?. First be sure this is the zone you need, then camp Here until the Location spawns. Takes like 3 minutes.

And if you aren't fast enough it is taken already, because *everybody* is jumping on it.

The West gate zone seems to have four spots. One directly at the gate (I saw it only once), then the pig farmer to the south, in front of the big forge with the shop house behind it, and the spot in the middle of the road, near a guard.

The next area goes around the Inn gate. It is comprised of the places near Lily Sandheaver, the little forge, and Dora Longburrow.

Then there are the three spots at the Prancing Pony.

The Market Place has four, one at a merchant that is nearly at the low gate, one directly in front of the guy to whom you deliver the beer from Thorin's Hall, then to the east in front of another shop, and finally in front of Heathstraw.

Another area reaches from the door of the Weapons and Armor Shop to the box where Tad Ashmead is holding her speeches, then a spot south to the front posts of the town hall (nearly on the road again) and finally the training archer in front of the Prison.

The last three (or four?) spots that I could find were all on the southernmost road, in front of the Stable, then a merchant, and close to the woodcutter.

I hope those were all.


Greetings, Polymachos

Same thing with me - I was on 5/6 forever, left Bree and did other things, came back and found a spawn point right away. It may have something to do with the layers.

But yeah, not worth the aggravation. I'll pass on repeating it. Plenty of other ways to get tokens.

Great Reply including pics Laerien


The quest is quite simple to do once you understand the mechanics of it.

the area the quest is in is broken down into 6 areas or zones if you will. (which i will list later in post)

and at any given time only 6 spots will be active (aka lit up) ...1 in each zone.

Lets say you have quest and have 0/6 and you are in zone 1.

there are 3 potenial spots that may light up
but only 1 at a time will light up (the same one for everyone).
everyone will see it (except those who either dont have quest or have already gotten 1 in zone 1 already)

lets say you get one of the 3 spots and now have 1/6
you have to move on to another zone.

if you stay in zone 1 you will not see the sparkling pop up like others will see but you can see someone else plant a firework down in the spot that is lite up at the time for that zone.

ZONE 1 (3 spots)-SOUTH BREE
a-in road in front of southbree stable-master
b-in road in front of woodcutter under red tent (next to AH)
c-over by fountain in front of Townsperson

ZONE 2 (4 spots)-MAYOR AREA
a-infront of jail by the Watcher shooting at archery area
b-infront of the Tad Ashmead on soap box talking to 2 Townsperson
c-in Town-Hall courtyard (west exit of the courtyard)
d-in front of Weapon and Armour Shop Building just to the east of courtyard

ZONE 3 (5 spots)-BOAR FOUNTAIN
a-in front of Boydin Fir (Light armoursmith) blue & white tent
b-in front of Roger Hazeltwig (north side of fountain)
c-in front of one and two handed weaponsmiths in stone stall NW of fountain
d-in front of Second-Watcher Heathstraw (guy you turn tasks into)
e-on south side of fountain on road

ZONE 4 (3 spots) PRANCING PONY
a-in front of Townperson (who is on porch) in grass just south of prancing pony
b-in front of the 2 hobbits by chairs and little fountain in front of prancing pony
c-in front of the other hobbit (Erling Goodbody) by himself also next to little fountain.

ZONE 5 (3 spots) INN, GROCER AND FORGE
a-at bottom of Grocer "Lily Sandheaver's" Steps
b-by the forges south of Lily with the 2 guys Flint and Pete
c-by Dora Longburrow (she is up hill from road where all the Legendary Traders are located)

ZONE 6 (5 spots) WEST BREE GATE
a- by the other forge with just one guy (Matt Haywood) out front of shop
b- on road in front of Watchman Cardoon
c- on road in front of west bree Stable-Master Bill Rosewood
d- on road near west bree gate (near mailbox)
e- road south of mailbox (little road) is a Pig and Farmer just past a building (second pig)

all spots confirmed (except zone 6; C) which i am not sure if is part of zone 5 or zone 6, but due to layout makes more sense that is part of Zone 6.

if i have missed any spots feel free to comment.

Again once you have gotten spot in a zone you will no longer see another in that zone. And only 1 per zone will light up at a time.


I have done this quest at least 50 times and once i figured it out, it only takes me 2-5 minutes "tops" depending on competition.

Originally Posted by Leira

You can't be assigned just one spot at a time. I've seen two active ones at once.

Well, yes, if you've only got one spot left to activate, maybe you only get one. At least I only got one ever for my
final spot. Only after it was activated by another player, I got yet another spot.

I'm thinking you have to get one at each "area", i.e. west gate, scholars stair area, prancing pony, boar fountain, jail, and south gate. It seems to work for me, I've done the quest daily on each of 7 characters.

Originally Posted by Laerien

I'll try to explain again how this quest works.
The hard zone (slow respawn) is around the Prancing Pony fountain, prolly the one everybody is missing. The other 5 zones have fast respawn, means when someone use a spot just a few seconds later another spawn .



So what you have to do?. First be sure this is the zone you need, then camp Here until the Location spawns. Takes like 3 minutes.

Prancing Pony respawn is messed up somehow. It almost looks like there is fourth spawn, that is either invisible or inside building, that waits and waits until reset happens and then next spawn appears outside again. It has sometimes been 5+ mins before i and several other people along waited for respawn point, one opened, and then it was 5+ more minutes to next. While in other regions the next spot spawns almost immediately once previous is taken.

At other times, the next spawn appeared almost instantly, like on other regions.