Ask Pineleaf: What is the Best Skirmish for Earning Gold?

Andrew Ferguson asks: If I want to get as much gold as possible out of Skirmishes, what is the best Skirmish to do this? I must admit that I don’t worry too much about gold I earn during skirmishes but I presume that there are a few like Andrew who do. Before we decide on a best skirmish, we need to know whether you are are running a single skirmish or a...

Ask Pineleaf: How do you use a captain in a skirmish?

Now let’s look at the captain in a skirmish. For me, the captain runs much more smoothly through a skirmish than a burglar. Herald or Banner? The first question is whether to use a herald or a banner? I will start off by saying that I generally run with a herald. I suspect that players that generally run in groups and those that dislike pet classes would much...

Ask Pineleaf: How do you use a burglar in a skirmish?

Ludkeg asks: I haven’t played much on my Burglar, but it seems trying to use stealth for a sneak attack in a skirmish doesn’t work because my soldier is always drawing aggro and starting the fight.  Am I missing something, or does the very nature of the skirmish setup negate the power of the Burglar? By luck, this question came just as I was...

Ask Pineleaf: What are the best skirmishes for leveling?

Joe asks: I want to level a character doing mostly skirmishes. Which one(s) give the most experience per time invested. I’ve seen folks do marks per minute calculations, but has anyone ever figured out which ones are best to level in? Should I just look for ones with lots of mobs? Some related questions would be: Is it worth it to do the encounters? Is there a...

Ask Pineleaf: Why are Skirmishes So Tough in the 40s?

If you start skirmishing at level 20, you will likely say “Wow, these things are way easy!” By the time you hit 41, the word “easy” is the last word you have in mind. What happened? Today, we will have a little look at the difficulty curve used in skirmishes. I suspect that your initial guess would be that it would follow the same curve as your character. That...

Ask Pineleaf: Which Skirmishes do you recommend for the sale?

This week we have a sale of skirmishes and instances. Therefore, I will provide my opinion on each of the skirmishes that are available in the store. First off, different players are likely to have different preferences for skirmishes. If you are looking for a skirmish that is light and that you are likely to complete successfully, then you are more likely to...

Ask Pineleaf: Why are most of your characters female?

I have heard this question on several occasions, so I have decided to take this opportunity to finally answer it Why are most of your characters female? This question makes one major assumption: that most of my characters are female. First let’s look at the actual count. I have nine serious characters on my main server. Characters on my other servers are...

Ask Pineleaf: Does defeat affect skirmish rewards?

Belwynne asks: Is there any difference in marks and medallions awarded if you die during a skirmish and if you don’t? What other factors impact # of medallions/marks awarded? Skirmish Awards We will start with the broader question: what factors affect your mark/medallion awards in a skirmish? Marks are awarded each time you complete a goal within a...

Ask Pineleaf: Do Pages Drop in Skirmishes?

  Lilikate asks Do book pages drop in skirmishes? By “book pages,” I presume she means the ones associated with the legendary class deeds you unlock at level 39. The short answer is “Yes.” Naturally, it’s not quite that simple. First, skirmish mobs follow the same rule concerning page drops as landscape mobs: the mobs must be...

Ask Pineleaf: How Is Your Screen Set up?

Lilikate asks: Pineleaf I’d love a tutorial about how you have your screen set up! How did you get the icons along the top of the screen and why? The short answer is that I am using plugins. I will go through each of the plugins and describe what they do. TitanBar The icons on the top of the screen are from TitanBar. This plugin provides you several icons...

Ask Pineleaf: Skirmish Timeline

When are each of the skirmishes set? Once you unlock a skirmish, you can run it at any time. Therefore, you will most likely be stepping out of the normal timeline of the game whenever you run the skirmish. In addition, you can run a skirmish as often as you wish. While it is likely the Dourhands made more than attempt at taking Gondamon, I suspect they didn’t...

Ask Pineleaf: Skirmish Soldiers

Here at Ask Pineleaf, we will attempt to answer questions relating to skirmishes. We will begin our column with a series of three question from Bellcari of Landroval: One thing I would love to hear your talk about is T2 and T3…like…what is the mechanic for T2 on a given skirm etc.  I think many of us just think of them as hard and harder...