Battle of the Black Gate First Impressions

Update 20 starts by covering the fears of the Host of the West as they make their way toward Mordor.

The story quickly moves into what I think is the best session play yet.  Not only do we get to play as Gollum, but we get a really cool foreshadowing of the dangers to come.

While the Epic Story starts strong, the side quests are not really anything to write home about yet.  While there are some cool stories, it seems like the Noman-lands is full of filler.  That being said, I am not sure I could have filled this type of a zone with anything that was more interesting.  The Noman-lands are kind of supposed to be bland.  Luckily this first area only has a few quests and so it does keep players moving through the zone and on to more interesting adventures.

I think giving players a pet to fight with really helped this zone.  A hunting dog is really the perfect fit for a zone that requires tracking down enemies.  I also really liked the warg quest.  It had the feel of the Tsavo Man-Eaters and I really wish they would have built it up more.  Why were orcs scared of this warg?  I think it could have been a really cool plotline and taken this zone out of the kind-of-bland category into something memorable.

I have the sense that I am just at the tip of the iceberg with the new content.  If you want to see my impressions of the rest of the zone, you can watch my commentary series as I make my way through the rest of the Battle of the Black Gate.

You can also visit my YouTube channel for even more LOTRO content.

This series is made possible by supporters on Patreon.

What do you think of Update 20 so far?  Let us know in the comments below!