The following rules must be abided by. Failure to do so may result in a warning or expulsion from the kin. In extreme circumstances, where the issue breaks the game's terms and conditions, players may also be reported to a Game Master.


I. General

I.1. Members must be respectful at all times. If you have a disagreement, keep it civil. If it's a serious issue bring it to the attention of an Officer or the Leader. Snide or insulting remarks will not be tolerated and may result in a warning or expulsion.

I.1.1. Please avoid swearing or using offensive language in game, either in kin chat, fellowship chat, the public chat channels, a private tell, or on ventrilo. This includes comments that are deemed racist, sexist, ageist, homophobic, religiously or ethnically insensitive, and so forth. Dialogue that belittles another player, in or out of the kin, will not be tolerated.

I.2. Always be polite when asking for or receiving help, whether that is advice, items, or grouping up for a quest. It doesn't take much to add a "please" or "thank you" to your message. Never demand or expect help, and always be prepared to offer help to others should they need it too. Give and take, as opposed to merely taking all the time.

I.2.1. Do not excessively ask for help. While we are always willing to give a helping hand and offer advice, we cannot hold your hand through the game. Attempt a quest before asking others to help you with it. Read the quest text, look at your map, and use your quest guide and tracker to find the location you need to go to. Attempt to become an independent player and learn your class, then drop us a line if you get stuck.

I.2.2. If asking for help, please do so in kin chat rather than sending a private tell to an officer or member. You may find that others have the same question as you, so if it is asked and answered in kin chat in benefits more people. Continuously asking an officer/member privately could also be seen as pestering, which is frowned upon.

I.2.3. Have patience when awaiting a response to your asking for help. You cannot expect others to immediately drop what they're doing to respond or come running. If others are busy they are perfectly entitled to finish what they are doing before responding or coming to give you a hand. Expecting them to help on your terms may result in no help being offered at all.

I.2.4. Do not spam chat with the same question or group request over and over again. This is extremely annoying and may result in a warning.

I.3. Do not ask for money. If you want more money ask for tips on how to make some. Kin are always available to offer advice and tips on crafting, saving, and so forth. Kin will not hand you money, however, and it is rude to ask.

I.3.1. Do not try to get around this rule by asking for money in a different way. Any offer for paid services, goods, and so forth is frowned upon. Playing the sympathy vote over not being able to afford skills, a horse, a house, etc. will also not be entertained if the aim is to acquire money from other players.

I.4. Kin do NOT sell to other kinmates. This includes asking for any form of renumeration or adding a COD (cash on demand) to a mail. If you want to avoid post costs then meet up with a person to trade. If you need to make money, sell on /trade or the Auction House.

With the release of ROI, as the recipes for journals are now bind on acquire and only available to buy, you can if you wish charge the cost of buying the recipe.

I.5. Only the Leader and Officers have access to the kin vaults. This is to prevent new members from looting the kin vaults and leaving kin, etc. If you would like to donate an item to the kin vaults ask an Officer. If you are not an Officer do not ask for access to kin vaults.

I.6. The probation period in the kin is 7 days. After 7 days have passed and no problems have arisen from the Recruit he/she will be promoted to Member. Alts of existing Members may be instantly promoted. Officers may waive the probation period as they see fit, but do not ask for it to be waived.

I.7. Only full Members may ask for or receive items from other kinmembers. While all members are fully entitled to do whatever they wish with their mats and crafted items we encourage everyone to follow this rule. The reason for this is that many new Recruits join, receive goods, and leave immediately or soon after. Restricting this free trade of goods to Members only ensures the kin thrives and does not lose items to people only interested in a free ride.

I.7.1. Asking for items for people not in the kin is not permitted. We give items freely to whoever needs them, but they must be in the kin. This includes Alts of current Members which are not in the kin.

I.8. Activity requirements are as follows: 1) a probationer (Recruit) must not become inactive for more than 30 days; 2) a full member must not become inactive for more than 60 days. Prolonged inactivity without notice may result in demotion or expulsion from the kin.

I.9. Any form of cheating in game (including deliberate use of exploits) may result in a demotion or expulsion. In severe cases the player in question may also be reported to a GM. Sufficed to say, don't cheat!

I.10. Do not post any leaked information from any NDA-bound beta, either here on our forum, on the official LOTRO forum, or in game chat (kin or any other channel).

 

II. Grouping 

II.1. Do not loot in combat. It means that a) you're not fighting; b) roll/pass windows are popping up on everyone's screen, distracting them from combat; and c) it could be perceived as ninja-ing items while others are busy. Bear in mind that sometimes a player can accidentally loot in combat, which is allowable, but do not do it intentionally. 

II.2. Listen to the person leading the group. Do not rush ahead of the others. This may result in pulling too many mobs or mobs people are not ready for. Let the leader reveal the strategy for the run. 

II.3. Do not hit stunned mobs. Not only is this annoying for your LM or Burglar (or other classes who may have those abilities), it can result in taking on more mobs than manageable. Usually the leader of the group will let you know beforehand which mob will be stunned. They may say "stun left, take right" or may mark the mob to be stunned with a Sun or Shield symbol. Be careful using DoT (damage over time) skills on mobs that are to be stunned. 

II.4. The mob to be attacked is often marked with a Red Skull symbol. This is usually the mob to be DPSed quickly. However, it does not mean ignoring all other non-stunned mobs. It's important to stop such mobs from aggroing on the healer, while still focusing DPS on the Skull. 

II.5. Unless otherwise stated, the general rule of thumb for conjunctions/fellowship maneouvers is: red (direct damage) on low-morale mobs, yellow (damage over time) on high-morale mobs. Green is for a morale heal, while blue is for power. These are used whenever needed and the leader of the group may call out for one, such as "All green". If you have gone red when it should be green, move your character (most people use the "back" key) to reset it so you can choose again. 

II.5.1. An often-used combo is "Pure of Heart", which is: GGGBB(B) [the last blue is not needed but is usually added for more power]. This restores morale and power and is good for long fights.) 

II.6. Be careful of pulling mobs. Hunters and other ranged classes need to be particularly careful, especially when using the Tab key to select nearby targets. Sometimes you can select a mob that is not near the combat and bring them into the fray. 

II.7. The general priority for rezzing members of a group would be: healer, captain, burg or tank, everyone else. If your healer goes down you need them up asap. If your captain and healer goes down, rez the captain. The captain has the most in-combat rezzes in the game and thus can rez the healer. Be aware of what rezzes are on cooldown, however, as that may change circumstances. 

II.8. Do not roll on items not relevant to your class. If a Hunter Bow drops and you are a Captain do not roll on it unless there's no Hunter in the group. If there is only one Hunter they automatically win the item unless they pass on it. Be careful what you roll on, as many items are Bind on Acquire, which means they cannot be given to another player if you make a mistake. Often the leader of the group will Master Loot, forcing players to manually roll (using the "/roll" feature) on items and then handing them out appropriately. 

II.9 The general rule of thumb is to roll for your current class. Rolling for alts may be acceptable under certain conditions (i.e. no one else needs them or you're fulfilling a role needed for the group but want to roll for an alt). Rolling for people not in the group doing the run is not permitted unless no one else wants the item in question. 

II.10 We highly frown upon use of the 'anonymous' setting outside of the Ettenmoors (where it has a valid reason to avoid being tracked). You may be refused permission to come on kin runs and kin may refuse to craft for you if you are set as anonymous.

   
Updated 11 December 2012