Update

posted this on December 17th, 2010.
Categorized as Cargaraf und Morgaraf, Dol Guldur, Dûrchest, Lieutenant.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://lotro-fff.blogspot.com/2010/12/update.html

I came home late from work yesterday and didn't do much before the Dol Guldur raid. We had a perfect start, as all were online on time and ready to go. The gauntlet went without us even sweating. I brought my Minstrel and even thought I was the only one, I had not too much to do. I did have two Rune-Keepers on healing-duty.

After only a brief bio break before Durchest we entered and veni - vidi - vici he was dead soon afterwards. With all the debuffs working and an experienced group, this fight is no challenge anymore. I won the chest-piece which brings me up to five pieces (missing on the shoulders) on my Minstrel and my Hunter. On my Rune-Keeper, I have four pieces (missing the shoulders and the trousers) and my Lore-Master has only the chest-piece (which is also the prettiest).

Only compaint here, was that the Lore-Master did not keep me powered up... I sent him several tells during the fight, but he was very stingy.

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LotRO – Update

posted this on December 3rd, 2010.
Categorized as Barad Guldur, Dûrchest, lotro.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://lotro-fff.blogspot.com/2010/12/lotro-update_03.html

I finished the main quests in Enedwaith on Burglar and Captain. If I am not grouping with kinsfolk, I am mostly on my Champion and Lore-Master. I am doing Volume 3, Book 1 and finished the Rift skirmish yesterday.

Since my last post, I got one Symbol of Celebrimbor and have used it to mak a fire-stone for my Rune-Keeper. Haven't done much with it though.

After my last crappy Captain Two-Handed-Sword I had a lot of luck and made him one with four good stats. Sadly, the reforges were bad so that it is rather mediocre (still better than what I got though).

I brought my Guardian for the first time to Dar Narbugud and tanked most of the bosses for the first time. Lucky for me (and the kin), this instance is level 60 (I think) and all went well. I even won a piece of the armour with a 500 on a /roll 500. Nice.

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DISCUSSING TACTICS

posted this on March 12th, 2010.
Categorized as Barad Guldur, Dûrchest, forum, raiding, tactics.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://lotro-chronicles.blogspot.com/2010/03/it-hadnt-really-occurred-to-me-before.html


It hadn't really occurred to me before, but I was struck recently by a huge difference between the European (Codemasters) and Stateside (Turbine) forums: there is almost no discussion of tactics on the CM forums. Which is quite strange, when you come to think of it.

By far the most popular sub-forum on the Turbine forums is the one called "Instances and Raids". Though it shelters a certain amount of grumbling and nit-picking, it also includes a lot of careful and serious debate about the strategy and tactics of the principal raids. Currently, there are several well-established threads about the Barad Guldur 12-man raid; one of them, "BG Strategy - Gauntlet and Boss 1 (Durchest)" includes 133 posts, many providing either detailed tactical proposals or feedback on possible changes since the latest patch. For a characteristic example of a recent post, see the illustration, above.


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RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

posted this on February 19th, 2010.
Categorized as Barad Guldur, Dûrchest, Helegrod, Medallions, radiance, raiding, The Gauntlet.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://lotro-chronicles.blogspot.com/2010/02/running-gauntlet.html

Siege of Mirkwood has been out for some time now, but with the exception of a few hardcore raiding kinships in Europe and the States, the culminating 12-man Barad Guldur raid that came with it has yet to be cracked by most kins - or even seriously dented. Hard numbers are of course always impossible to come by, but I haven't just plucked this suggestion out of thin air. It's based on a number of facts: on first-hand knowledge about the how things stand with various kins on my server, on the frequency (or paucity) of mentions on GLFF, on the almost complete absence of extensive debate about the tactics of taking down anything but the first boss on any of the forums, on the fact that except for the odd member of the aforementioned handful of hardcore kins, you almost never catch sight of +30 armour, and of course on input from quite a large cross-section of active and competent players.

Of course, Barad Guldur is a tough and unforgiving raid, and that's pretty much as it should be. Nor is radiance that much of a problem these days; if you really want to raid, you can get +120 radiance from the three +15 and three +25 armour items, all of them available in exchange for medallions. All six items cost 120 Mirkwood medallions in total, which can be assembled in about a week or less - not too massive a grind. No, the main problem with BG appears to be the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet (as it's come to be known) is a running fight with Uruks, wargs and goblins all the way up the stairway which leads from the entrance of the tower to the room of Dûrchest, the first boss. It's a tricky fight, because adds are constantly arriving as you leapfrog your way up from one landing to another, and if you take too long, you get swamped by reinforcements. Personally, I think it's a brilliant test of raiders' ability to think on their feet, and I'm all for it, except that it's in the wrong place. In other words, it's a long fight, as hard to master as any boss fight and tougher than most - and it's still only a prequel.

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STUMBLING THROUGH THE MURK IN MIRKWOOD

posted this on February 4th, 2010.
Categorized as Barad Guldur, Dûrchest, legacies, sammath gul, Scroll of Delving, Scroll of Empowerment, siege of mirkwood, Skirmishes, Sword Hall, symbol of celebrimbor.

Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://lotro-chronicles.blogspot.com/2010/02/stumbling-through-murk-in-mirkwood.html

I've spent the last few weeks exploring Mirkwood, leveling up my main character, replacing old legendary items, collecting new ixp runes, acquiring the +25 radiance armour pieces, running skirmishes and pioneering the new Barad Guldur 12-man raid with my kinship. In other words, it's been busy, and in that time I've sampled pretty much everything that's available in Siege of Mirkwood. So? Personally, I think this has been the best expansion since before Mines of Moria - in fact, the best expansion since the one which brought us the Rift - and I believe it vindicates those of us who insisted that the game would eventually get its act together again.



First of all, the visual design is absolutely brilliant. The various regions of south Mirkwood are all different in interesting ways, both visually and in terms of content, but they all share a common eeriness. I was particularly impressed by the way that the woods are, well, murky... In other words, they're not pitch-black, causing you to keep walking off cliffs, but actually communicate the feeling that something could be lurking in the gloom just a few yards away from you - as, in fact, it probably is. Actually depicting gloom rather than darkness is no mean feat, graphically, so congratulations yet again to the landmass designers at Turbine.



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