I am a level 48 elven minstrel who is, if I do say so myself, pretty bad-ass. But even bad-ass elven minstrels have days when they should have just stayed home.

Read about it after the jump.

I'm in the Misty Mountains looking around for some place called Orod Laden. I might as well knock off a few of these miscellaneous quests while I'm up here. I wade into the goblin camps to get fire pots. I'm two levels above these silly little chittering goblins. I've got my war-speech going and my songs and ballads and I'm charging through them as befits a powerful elven minstrel going up against lowly goblins. Ha ha, here come two at a time. You have to admire their grit and determination.

I'm dead.

Whoa, what? How did that happen? I wasn't even watching my health. Which I guess is exactly how that happened.

Okay, eyes on the prize. Find Orod Laden. I just need to explore the snowy passes known as the Giant Halls until I discover the little map stickpin that denotes Orod Laden. I don't worry too much that the Giant Halls are swarming with elite giants and trolls. I just mount up and ride past them. Sorry, boys, I'm just doing recon, can't stay to fight. Ha ha, throw your little rocks all you want, see if I care!

I'm dead.

What, what? How did that happen? I still had the dread penalty going from my last death. Maybe that's how that happened? When you die, you're temporarily afflicted with "dread", which reduces your stats. Dread kills.

Okay, forget the Misty Mountains. I'm going back to Forochel, the new area with the dwarves and mammoths and the Middle Earth equivalent of Finns. I'm going to finish up a series of quests about a wedding. There's some cute stuff going on in Forochel. I helped one of the local hillmen woo a local hillchick. Now I'm invited to the wedding, which needs snowdrop flowers and white fur. It's a simple matter of killing snow leopards to gather these things.

I'm dead.

What, what? I blame the weather.

Forochel is really cold. I'm talking about the kind of cold that will freeze a taun taun before it reaches the first marker. In Forochel, you can pick up a vulnerability to cold damage that doesn't go away until you find a camp fire (or eat certain foods, or wear certain clothes). It's another example of how places in Lord of the Rings Online have personality. And I believe it's just killed me, because otherwise, I can't imagine how I died fighting a single snow leopard.

When I revive, I notice that my stupid hillmen club, my cape, and one of my earrings are broken. I've racked up nearly 350 silver worth of necessary repairs and what do I have to show for it? Diddly. I quit in disgust. Sometimes, your time spent is a net negative. I would have been better off not even logging in today.