Thread: And the winner is.. Opening Envelopes for The Lost Invivations Quest

My next to "youngest" toon has won 4 dusk watch, 2 of them in a row yesterday, and my youngest won one the first day of the festival. My next one up won the toast emote the next day. Since then nothing until yesterday. My highest won a Lossoth (yay!) and my second highest won the toast. So, out of 6, only one hasn't won anything so far. I'm happy with that!

Ran this each day on two toon's

1x toast emote

other then that it's usually 6/6 invitations in a row each time on both toon's.

Universal law applies here - the more you desire something the less likely you'll get it.
Did twice with warden, got lossoth steed. Once with burglar, got toast emote. Twice with hunter and got lossoth steed.
Haven't even done this quest with all my alts yet.

Originally Posted by Livejazz

The quest is not "broken," because it works & completes perfectly fine. What you think is "broken" is the fact that some people have found a way to exploit it, but that doesn't mean the quest itself is "broken."

It has affected me in one way, though. I've gotten the Warden's Steed on several alts, though not on my two mains (yet). It is my favorite look in the game (after the Steed of the Hunter) as well as having top stats. However, I find myself hesitant to actually use it on my alts because I have the feeling others might think I'm cheating rather than lucky; similarly, when I see someone else on a Dusk-watch/Warden's or a Lossoth my first thought is to check their kinship to see if it's one of the two that I see exploiting this most often. Ah, well - after the event I'll still have 'em, and hopefully those associations will fade. But I certainly won't be joining one of those kinships soon!

Tuco, what are the exploiting kins? Just out of curiosity... And yes, it is indeed sad that people will think that you've cheated... Which is why I mostly ride my fireworks horse. No exploits for that!

Originally Posted by airsoftg36c

Tuco, what are the exploiting kins? Just out of curiosity... And yes, it is indeed sad that people will think that you've cheated... Which is why I mostly ride my fireworks horse. No exploits for that!

It's against the rules to call out individuals and kinships by name for cheating in the forum. On your own server you should be able to see it easily enough -- I won't detail the behavior, since discussing exploit details also isn't allowed, but it's obvious. If it's happening a lot on your server, check who's posting emotes on the AH - if anybody's posted a lot of them all at once, that should be a red flag both to you and the GMs.

Originally Posted by Ringer88

Well, I just got my third dusk watch steed on my level 13 alt and yet nothing on my main still. They really should have made this stuff bind on account. Throwing out extras when my main doesn't have it yet is just outright painful.

Don't worry ur not the only one. I have a lvl 13 hunter alt whose sole purpose in life is to sit at thorins hall and craft, and he got the horses MULTIPLE TIMES

meanwhile my main has gotten nothing. only invitations, unwanted messages, and tokens

Guys, let me step in here for a moment and explain our policy on exploits and exploit discussion.

It is clearly stated in our Player Code of Conduct, under section 17:

Player Code of Conduct: 17. You will not exploit, distribute or publicly communicate any game error, miscue or bug which gives an unintended advantage within The Lord of the Rings Online game world.

Because of this rule, we do not allow any discussion of exploits here on the forums. Period. End of story. If you find an issue in the game, please submit a bug report on it and it will go to the right people. Just because you may not hear back from us on a particular issue does not mean that we have ignored it or haven't read it. We simply do not discuss these types of things and the moderation staff will remove these discussions from our boards. If you continue to violate these rules, you will receive an infraction.

Now, with all of that said, if anyone has any questions, they are welcome to contact a member of the community team, such as myself or Sapience.

My Paranoid Theory of Steed Allocation (PToSA) is still intact. Out of 308 sets of six invitations, I've gotten 26 steeds, which means about one in 12 quests has been dropping a horse for me. On Riddermark six of the nine of me have gotten a premium steed from this quest, and both my 75 mains have been shut out. On Landroval seven of the nine of me got a premium steed, and the other two are my highest-ranked characters. (I don't play on Landy these days -- this was just to try to get a feel for the drop rates.) Today is a benchmark day, since I've now run the quest 12 times on nearly all of these characters, and that's the "expected value" point. Good thing I've got four or five more tries at it!

I think maybe I'll promote one of my lowbie characters to main! That'll teach the danged random number generator to trifle with me!

Originally Posted by Tuco

It has affected me in one way, though. I've gotten the Warden's Steed on several alts, though not on my two mains (yet). It is my favorite look in the game (after the Steed of the Hunter) as well as having top stats. However, I find myself hesitant to actually use it on my alts because I have the feeling others might think I'm cheating rather than lucky; similarly, when I see someone else on a Dusk-watch/Warden's or a Lossoth my first thought is to check their kinship to see if it's one of the two that I see exploiting this most often. Ah, well - after the event I'll still have 'em, and hopefully those associations will fade. But I certainly won't be joining one of those kinships soon!

I'm a bit hesitant to ride my horse too. Ever since I got the Dusk-Watch steed and started riding it around, I've gotten some weird tells from people about my horse. I won't be surprised if a bunch of jealous people report me, cuz their thought process is " if I can't have it, then no one else can have it either "

After dozens of attempts on various toons, I got a Steed of the Dusk-watch on one that had just a standard mount before. I couldn't be happier - 68% speed and 250 morale!

Originally Posted by Tuco

My Paranoid Theory of Steed Allocation (PToSA) is still intact. Out of 308 sets of six invitations, I've gotten 26 steeds, which means about one in 12 quests has been dropping a horse for me. On Riddermark six of the nine of me have gotten a premium steed from this quest, and both my 75 mains have been shut out. On Landroval seven of the nine of me got a premium steed, and the other two are my highest-ranked characters. (I don't play on Landy these days -- this was just to try to get a feel for the drop rates.) Today is a benchmark day, since I've now run the quest 12 times on nearly all of these characters, and that's the "expected value" point. Good thing I've got four or five more tries at it!

I think maybe I'll promote one of my lowbie characters to main! That'll teach the danged random number generator to trifle with me!

Turbine's just helping new players like me out. Besides if you're high level and have been playing a while, u probably already have a 68 speed/250 morale horse

Originally Posted by melee_classes

Don't worry ur not the only one. I have a lvl 13 hunter alt whose sole purpose in life is to sit at thorins hall and craft, and he got the horses MULTIPLE TIMES

meanwhile my main has gotten nothing. only invitations, unwanted messages, and tokens

I don't understand this complaint. You've gotten a free, awesome reward for nothing, and you're not happy because you didn't get it on other toons as well?

The idea isn't that everyone is entitled to this stuff across the board. It's supposed to be a fun quest with occasionally great rewards. You have nothing to complain about. If you've gotten 'MULTIPLE' mounts then you are overplaying it. You're not entitled to win any mounts at all.

Geez.

Originally Posted by Rokendor

I don't understand this complaint. You've gotten a free, awesome reward for nothing, and you're not happy because you didn't get it on other toons as well?

That's right, I'm not completely happy unless I have both horses and the toast emote on my main. It doesn't matter what my alts have or do not have.

Originally Posted by melee_classes

Turbine's just helping new players like me out. Besides if you're high level and have been playing a while, u probably already have a 68 speed/250 morale horse

Very true... but the danged thing has a flag on it! It's not all about the stats. As a ski instructor told us in the beginners' class "My goal for this class is not to make you good skiers. My goal is to make you look bitchin' going down the slope!"

I take the point of Rokendor's message, though -- I *am* happy to have the free horses on my other characters. I'd also be happy to be even happier, though. Despite all my statistics gathering I'm having a lot of fun exploring the mechanics of this quest. I still think it's the best festival ever! I've even given up Limlight dailies for the duration.

Originally Posted by melee_classes

I'm a bit hesitant to ride my horse too. Ever since I got the Dusk-Watch steed and started riding it around, I've gotten some weird tells from people about my horse. I won't be surprised if a bunch of jealous people report me, cuz their thought process is " if I can't have it, then no one else can have it either "

The drop rate is rather high on the mounts, running the quest in the intended fashion. I've been running it every day but maybe the first couple, on 7 characters. 5 of those characters now have AT LEAST one of the two mounts. People may still report you out of a combination of stupidity and malice, because people are people, but I doubt such reports would be given much weight.

Originally Posted by Tuco

My paranoid theory is that the chance of getting a horse is inversely proportional to the level of the character, so that you're least likely to get a fast flagless horse on your main.

It does seem that way doesn't it?

All of my low level crafting mules have either one or both horses at this point. One of them's even got a duplicate.

On the other hand, only one horse so far out of my six raiding mains.

This is with eleven characters running that daily quest since day one.

Originally Posted by Tuco

Very true... but the danged thing has a flag on it! It's not all about the stats. As a ski instructor told us in the beginners' class "My goal for this class is not to make you good skiers. My goal is to make you look bitchin' going down the slope!"

So true! My main hasnt won a thing, but my fresh 75 burglar got both mounts and the toast emote. Lucky hobbit he will never have to ride around with this silly flag!

After running the quest every day on my main, and nearly the same on my alts it has finally started to pay off! Got the Lossoth Steed for my main today, and the /toast emote two days ago. My captain has got two steeds of the dusk-watch. Really sad that I have to let one go, when I need it on my main.

Woohoo! The Anniversary Festival is extended through May 9th. More chances for those of us who are obsessed!

Originally Posted by Halthon

The RNG hates me. Done the quest 11 times...only invitations and unwanted messages...oh well...I do vote for unwanted message being the most appropriately named item I've come across.

I actually prefer getting those over the invitations, since they give you an extra life at least. It's like the invitations are "lives" and each time you find one you lose a life, anything that prolongues that 6th one is good. I might be holding the record for most tries without getting the emote I think. Over all of my alts I'd estimate I've run it 60 - 70 times.

Originally Posted by Tuco

Woohoo! The Anniversary Festival is extended through May 9th. More chances for those of us who are obsessed!

Wow, that's really great news!

Umm, where was it announced? Can't find it...

Originally Posted by Sardonyx

Wow, that's really great news!

Umm, where was it announced? Can't find it...

I got email:
============================== =======================
By popular demand, LOTRO's 5th Anniversary celebration has been extended through May 9th! Party longer at the festival that truly has something for everyone with

100% XP bonus to all monster kills April 24th – 30th
All-new fireworks quests and deeds
New rewards including fireworks cosmetics and festival steed
And more!
Click here to learn more
============================== =======================
But the <click here> went to the normal festival page at http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/1895 which doesn't say anything about the extension.

Originally Posted by Tuco

I got email:
============================== =======================
By popular demand, LOTRO's 5th Anniversary celebration has been extended through May 9th! Party longer at the festival that truly has something for everyone with

100% XP bonus to all monster kills April 24th – 30th
All-new fireworks quests and deeds
New rewards including fireworks cosmetics and festival steed
And more!
Click here to learn more
============================== =======================
But the <click here> went to the normal festival page at http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/1895 which doesn't say anything about the extension.

Thanks Tuco!

I myself haven't gotten any such mail yet, but it'd be a really bizarre thing for anyone to spoof. It'd be nice if Celestrata could make an announcement though.

Originally Posted by Sardonyx

Thanks Tuco!

I myself haven't gotten any such mail yet, but it'd be a really bizarre thing for anyone to spoof. It'd be nice if Celestrata could make an announcement though.

I'll admit to faking a claim about the hidden rat-slayer deed in Great River (with title Nardagnir), but since I posted it precisely at midnight 1 April (server time) I figure I can get a pass on that without damaging my credibility too badly. I also didn't impersonate Turbine in that one.

I got a second copy of this announcement on the email account that I set up for a free account whose login credentials I've now lost. Same date.

I got one email from one of my accounts stating it has been extended. This is so nice they did this. Now I can take a little breather from trying to get my toons the fireworks mount, been doing that so much am getting burnt out. Now I can go out killing for tokens & try to win more mounts. I am up to 25 so far. LMAO

Originally Posted by Eartholloth

I got one email from one of my accounts stating it has been extended. This is so nice they did this. Now I can take a little breather from trying to get my toons the fireworks mount, been doing that so much am getting burnt out. Now I can go out killing for tokens & try to win more mounts. I am up to 25 so far. LMAO

Heh - I may or may not be ahead of you with 27, because 5 were dupes, and had to get rendered down for lore-master pet food. I have one Fireworks mount to go on my main server, and then I'm done with that part -- not going to satisfy the unreasonable pyromaniac cravings of the other 21 characters on my backup servers.

I was gratified that I was able to run my level 11 guy to Weathertop and Rivendell for the Firecracker title and still be on track for the Undying title -- he got knocked off the Dusk-watch pony once by a crawler in the Trollshaws (those buggers have a huge aggro radius!) but escaped and made it through the High Moor unscathed.

How in H is everyone getting so many mounts?!? I've run that quest probably 75 to 100 times now and STILL have not found a mount and only 1 emote. Unwanted messages, I could paper both of my deluxe houses with them and still have some left over. I have gotten 16 Anniversary Tokens but I already have everything available on both of my main servers including all of the maps and the weird cake hat and box shirt. I don't want any more tokens, I WANT SOME DANG MOUNTS! GEESH! I'm just about ready to ask how the exploit works. (J/K but this is really frustrating).

Originally Posted by Adder

How in H is everyone getting so many mounts?!? I've run that quest probably 75 to 100 times now and STILL have not found a mount and only 1 emote. Unwanted messages, I could paper both of my deluxe houses with them and still have some left over. I have gotten 16 Anniversary Tokens but I already have everything available on both of my main servers including all of the maps and the weird cake hat and box shirt. I don't want any more tokens, I WANT SOME DANG MOUNTS! GEESH! I'm just about ready to ask how the exploit works. (J/K but this is really frustrating).

Well for me I been taking over 40 toons through this quest. Most of the time I go when it is not so busy & have been successful at winning.

Don't bother with the exploit, it's all about THE HORSESHOE </end factitious post and escape through convenient worm hole...worm slayer deed here I come!>

I've only done the quest maybe 3 or 4 days on three characters and the first time on my LM, I got the Dusk-watch and Lossoth horses.

Originally Posted by Fortinobrand

Don't bother with the exploit, it's all about THE HORSESHOE </end factitious post and escape through convenient worm hole...worm slayer deed here I come!>

It's not about the exploit or horseshoe for me, none of my toons have that.

For the most part I pick up envelopes from the crafting hall to the south gate. My most successes have been around the south gate end.

for me the kick in the pants is that i've gotten the dusk-watch steed twice, on the same character, my main, the only one i ever do festival stuff with if there's a possibility of getting amount. now of course the trouble with that being... i really wants the Lossoth Steed, precious!

too bad i already destroyed the second dusk-watch steed. i prolly should have held on to it just in case, cross my fingers and knock and wood, turbine would ever be generous enoughto allow us to barter the duplicate steed for the other one... but alas! in my fit of despair, i dragged that blue background right out of bag 1 and clicked [yes]

reminds me of the time i wasted 74 seals on burglar draigoch boots for my champ right before destroying them...

the best part of course, is that you can spend another 100 TP on another postman's badge... imagine paying 2500 TP for badges after acquiring the first mount, and never getting the other one. wouldn't you kick yourself for that? i mean, store mounts are 1995 TP regular price... that would be just as bad as the U5.0 lootboxes...

don't know why i thought of that above scenerio... maybe it was because that dang turbine store prompt pops up every time i complete the quest to acquire the postman's badge?

Originally Posted by Adder

How in H is everyone getting so many mounts?!? I've run that quest probably 75 to 100 times now and STILL have not found a mount and only 1 emote.

I've run it 312 times - all strictly legit: my quotidien six invitations per day on 30 characters distributed on nine servers. On my main server and primary backup I've done it 12 or 11 times for each character; less for the others.

Originally Posted by Celestrata

Player Code of Conduct: 17. You will not exploit, distribute or publicly communicate any game error, miscue or bug which gives an unintended advantage within The Lord of the Rings Online game world.

Well you can buy the ability to open as many envelopes (via badges) in the store. And since everything in the store is convenience and not advantage, this does not violate the rules it would seem.

Originally Posted by Swiftstrike

Well you can buy the ability to open as many envelopes (via badges) in the store. And since everything in the store is convenience and not advantage, this does not violate the rules it would seem.

Tell me what server you're on, and I'll come report you and we'll see what the GM says.

No?

Then stop being a rules lawyer.

Besides, "convenience not advantage" died ages ago.

Originally Posted by Sardonyx

Tell me what server you're on, and I'll come report you and we'll see what the GM says.

No?

Then stop being a rules lawyer.

Considering I've done the quest a total of 4 times, all legit, I think the GM would say that your are abusing the report feature. And my server is clearly in my signature.

Originally Posted by Swiftstrike

Considering I've done the quest a total of 4 times, all legit, I think the GM would say that your are abusing the report feature. And my server is clearly in my signature.

It's more likely that the GMs would ban you for appealing someone than ban someone exploiting, I'll give you that. People are blatantly exploiting this quest, and apparently the GMs are fine with that.

Originally Posted by Swiftstrike

Well you can buy the ability to open as many envelopes (via badges) in the store. And since everything in the store is convenience and not advantage, this does not violate the rules it would seem.

haha +rep man, +rep

Originally Posted by Swiftstrike

Considering I've done the quest a total of 4 times, all legit, I think the GM would say that your are abusing the report feature. And my server is clearly in my signature.

You seem to believe the exploit isn't an exploit, I'm just challenging you to prove it. Anytime you want to try, I'll be happy to come over to Firefoot and report you.

Meanwhile, you might want to consider whether encouraging other people to exploit by posting bogus justifications is really something you want to do.