PB posted this on January 31st, 2012.
Categorized as DPS, End Game, group, hard-mode, instances, Lore-Master, lore-mastery, lotro, Pits of Isengard, Raids and End-game, Rise Of Isengard, threat, Update 5.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2012/01/31/lore-mastery-update-5-instances-guide-pits-of-isengard/
DocHoliday's MMO Saloon DocHoliday's MMO Saloon - LOTRO, Secret World, & Rift with an End-Game View
I was tossing up whether to do a Riders of Rohan wishlist post this week or continue with the update 5 instance guides, but I figure that the longer I take on these guides the less relevant they become so into the Pits of Isengard it is…
Pits of Isengard
Read the rest of this entry »PB posted this on January 5th, 2012.
Categorized as End Game, group, hard-mode, lotro, Raid, Raids and End-game, Rise Of Isengard, tower of orthanc, Update 5.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2012/01/05/update-5-instances-review/
Luckily for me, unlike Doc I have had the chance over the past few weeks to play through all of the new instances and 3/6 wings of the new raid. I thought I’d jot down some quick impressions and give people an opportunity to post their reviews and thoughts on the Update 5 group content.
Overall I have to say that I’m extremely impressed. This is a content update that seems at least equal to the excellent In Your Absence cluster that was released last year. The first thing that stands out is the excellent visual design of the spaces. Imo you’d be hard pressed to fault these instances from a visual perspective, the landscapes and dungeons are interesting, varied, fit well with the lore and the real space that they exist in and are just fun to look at. I particularly love how the raid begins outside the Tower of Orthanc and then you head into the various wings – being able to see the building that houses the raid really adds to the immersion factor and is a really nice touch.
The three 3-person instances are all quite varied and I enjoy the various tricks and gimmicks in them. Some people have complained about the frogger in Fangorn’s edge or the punting in the Pits, but both are very manageable mechanics with a bit of awareness and positioning. The T2 fire troll trash in the pits can get pretty brutal, but once you figure out the positioning it’s quite doable. Of the three, I think Dargnákh Unleashed is the weakest. While the first few areas and particularly the first boss fight are quite fun, the final fight is a bit of a joke. There’s literally no DPS element to the fight so if you’re a pure DPS class you have absolutely nothing to do in the fight. It’s purely a healing/tanking check, and while that’s fun to have, surely they could have put some sort of DPS element in there. The difficulty level of these instances is pitched pretty well I think. T1s are all easily puggable and very flexible on class makeup (perfect for instance finder). T2 is tougher and for a smooth run you’ll pretty much want a proper tank (including champ) and healer (including captain), but people can challenge themselves with some success with more varied groups.
Read the rest of this entry »PB posted this on December 18th, 2011.
Categorized as End Game, group, hard-mode, instance finder, instances, lotro, Raids and End-game, Update 5.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/12/18/instance-finder-experiences/
I thought it might be interesting to put up a post for people to share their early experiences with the instance finder. While still in an early iteration, the IF is a pretty big change to the game and could have a big impact on how people play the game.
Personally I usually run groups with kin or friends, but have hit up the IF a few times in the past week when others were busy. My experiences have been generally positive, getting fairly quick 3-person groups three times, all 3 for fangorn strangely enough. Two of those groups cleared T1 while the other failed T2. I felt that group composition was reasonable, though as a lore-master I’m lucky to have some flexibility in retraiting for different roles. The failing T2 group was me a cappy and Hunter which might have been workable but just couldn’t get the tanking happening.
Personally I really like the concept of the tool but strongly suspect that it won’t really have its full impact until it becomes cross server. I also think people shouldn’t expect to be able to do T2c fears with the IF. T1 is designed for pug groups for a reason – keep T2 for groups you trust!
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on November 30th, 2011.
Categorized as Armies of Isengard, gear, group, hard-mode, instances, lord of the rings online, Lore-Master, lotro, lua, podcast, Prince of Rohan, Raid, scripting, Skirmishes, Update 5, Warden.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/11/30/episode-26-what-now/
This episode is a little old as I recorded it prior to the Thanksgiving holiday but never finished editing it. However, be on the look out for another episode this week as well as another Turbine Interview next week.
News
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on November 22nd, 2011.
Categorized as Armies of Isengard, beta, Bullroarer, End Game, gear, group, hard-mode, instances, isengard, lord of the rings online, lotro, Raid, Raids and End-game, Rise Of Isengard, Update 5, Warden.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/11/22/better-hurry-to-bullroarer-for-update-5/
It appears that Turbine has gotten all it wants out of the testing for Update 5, as Bullroarer will be closing tomorrow at noon eastern!
That’s right all of you wanting to get actual numbers for seal and medallion drop rates and how long it will take to potentially get the new armor sets, you better act fast.
And for those of you wanting to see how the new Warden tweaks work, you’ve got less then 24 hours TOTAL to get it done!
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on November 22nd, 2011.
Categorized as Armies of Isengard, beta, Bullroarer, End Game, gear, group, hard-mode, instances, lord of the rings online, lotro, Patch Notes, Raids and End-game, Skirmishes, Warden.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/11/22/bullroarer-patch-notes-build-2-for-update-5/
The second build to Bullroarer is now live for the upcoming Update 5: Armies of Isengard content coming in December. Lots of bug fixes and response to the community in here, and it appears like this update is paralleling Update 3 (In their Absence) which would mean another possible Bullroarer update before this content finally hits live. So, make sure to get on Bullroarer (if you can) test stuff out, bug it, be vocal (but constructive) on the forums, etc. There also appear to be changes to the barter and armor set requirements, but I haven’t checked them out yet to be totally sure. Nor am I 100% convinced they’re final, yet 
.
DocHoliday posted this on November 21st, 2011.
Categorized as Armies of Isengard, End Game, Equipment, gear, group, hard-mode, instances, lord of the rings online, lotro, Raid, Raids and End-game, Skirmishes, Update 5.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/11/21/bullroarer-updates-for-instances-and-skirmishes/
There’s been quite a stir of late regarding the upcoming changes to skirmishes and instances regarding loot and the instance finder. One thing I did want to point out as I’ve done a little skirmishing on Bullroarer – Medallions are rewards from completing Encounters in any skirmish, and I’m guessing those will scale up with the number of people, but they’re available in Solo skirmishes.
We’ll probably never know how much of this was accidental or what was done to respond to the community but Zombie Columbus posted the upcoming changes which will either hit Bullroarer or when Update 5 hits live:
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on November 14th, 2011.
Categorized as End Game, Equipment, gear, group, hard-mode, instances, lord of the rings online, lotro, Orthanc, Raid, Raids and End-game, Skirmishes, Update 5.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/11/14/instance-finder-coming-to-lotro/
In an interview with Adam Mersky and Aaron Campbell, TenTonHammer is able to get some interesting information regarding the next update, still tentatively named Update 5. The big items coming are:
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on October 28th, 2011.
Categorized as captain, dragon, Draigoch, gear, group, hard-mode, instances, isengard, lord of the rings online, lotro, Raid, Raids and End-game, Rise Of Isengard, tank, threat.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/10/28/well-written-and-helpful-draigoch-guide/
A day after Turbine’s “Guide,” TenTonHammer put out a guide like one could hope for – an actual guide that walks through the fight and helps folks prepare for it.
The guide walks through many aspects that you’ll need to handle as you try to take down the big guy:
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on July 7th, 2011.
Categorized as End Game, Forochel, group, hard-mode, instances, lord of the rings online, lotro, lua, Raids and End-game, scripting, tank, threat, Warden.
Shorthand Link:
Full link: http://docholidaymmo.com/2011/07/07/tanking-the-forochel-sari-surma-instance/
Last week I ended up joining one of my normal groups in a late night run of the Sari-Surma instance in Forochel. This was my first time in there, so I’ll admit I was a little nervous especially since I was tanking. But luckily the mechanics were interesting but not too terribly tricky to get a hold of. I actually think this instance is easier on the tank then others as the Osan (boss 2) and Drugoth (boss 3) fights seem to me to be more challenging for the group then on me. Although, with that being said Drugoth hits for a TON so be prepared to watch your morale plummet!
I did manage to capture the fights via fraps, so enjoy!
Read the rest of this entry »
