If you were to describe Mordor by comparing it to any old area of Middle-Earth, it wouldn’t do it justice. The area is huge, you can find these evil-looking statues all around and sometimes it’s a little bit of a maze. So, the best way to compare it would be to say that it’s a combination of Rohan and Angmar, but on a much larger scale. And while this is only the first public test build and I am aware that there will be changes, I do have some things I want to point out.
You can’t use any old armour sets
Probably the first thing you will notice once you log in the U21 is the message that certain gear has been unslotted because you do not meet the requirements. These requirements are basically level of the gear + 10. So, if you are using a level 75 ToO set for a captain to get the Oathbrakers shame reset, you can only use it untill level 85. It’s the same for hunters using Erebor set, etc. Even though my warden has become the first character I gear it is only my “second main”. The first character was my captain so I will always have some love for it. It is a shame to see that we are robbed of having a good set bonus from lower levels while we are not able to get it on the level cap. I would have gladly used a Throne set for “Oathie reset”, but there isn’t any. Instead there are some sets which are next to useless. The only one I use on my captain is the yellow set. And you could even do without that one also, as it’s not that special. Captains have been complaining and suggesting some fixes to this since the raid has come out and there has not been any sign of anyone listening to it. And I can guarantee that we do not want to use a level 75 set. I would rather have more stats, more armour, everything. But we don’t have that option. The only still untested option is the Osgiliath armour. The question only remains how will it be scaled.
How to enter Mordor
Just to save you asking the /World, you will need to go to where the book left of. Go to Slag Hills, take the mount near Aragorn and do some short quests there. Leave the area, go back to Slag Hills and you can ride… khm, no… You can now simply walk into Mordor through the destroyed gate.
First quests
First quests will lead you to the Foothold of Udun and there you will be able to check out some of the gear. One novelty is the item Flame of Anclamir, which will allow you to deconstruct some items that drop in Mordor, which in turn will award you with items you need to collect to barter for better gear. From the forum: “Ash of Gorgoroth system: This system allows players to break down unused or unwanted Mordor equipment into Ash of Gorgoroth, which can then be used to purchase new equipment from a vendor. Some items cannot be deconstructed. Each Crafting Profession also has a new recipe to create an item that can be deconstructed”. I do think this item is missing some things too… For one, the quest you get for its introduction should be a bit better done, a bit clearer and second, I think the item needs some sort of indication that you have triggered it. Either the marching ants animations on the items you can deconstruct, like when you are about to place a housing item, or just change the cursor like when applying dye.
New ratings
New ratings are something I am not looking forward to. You may be tempted to powerlevel first and then go through the new area, but I’m still debating if that would be beneficial. I am a fully geared warden, with Moranon armour, gold jewelry upgraded with inlays, tempered essences, all stats upgrades, some virtues on level 30 probably. And I’m not saying this to brag, but to point out something I have an issue with and many of us will have on live if it stays like this. The new ratings curve for mobs and for players is too steep, in my opinion. Being an agility class my critical rating on warden on 105 was 27.5% and that’s with a lot of overcap on critical rating. Once I hit level 106, the critical rating dropped down to 21.6%. Critical rating cap was at 17.700 or so and I had 21.925. With 12.474 finesse I was over 20%, on level 106 I am at 7.1%. Tier 2 overcapped mitigations dropped bellow tier 1 cap. All in just one level. So, while I can understand that we should be using new gear and essences, I also think that we should be allowed to do something before we get killed every step of the way.
EDIT: On level 107 with the same numbers rating is as follows: Critical rating: 20.4%; Finesse: 6.5%.
EEDIT 2: On level 108 with the same numbers rating is as follows: Critical rating: 19.3%; Finesse: 6.0%.
Light of Earendil v Shadow of Mordor
From time to time you will notice a bar appearing bellow your morale and power bar. This will show you the ratio you have of light v shadow. From the forums: “Areas of Shadow can be found in varying intensity throughout Mordor. These areas weaken visitors, but the Light of Eärendil can counteract this darkness. Your character will see a Shadow and Light Rating, which will help you understand the threat posed by the Shadow. Items that grant Light of Eärendil can be found in Mordor”. This is something like a hope token or even older radiance, but it doesn’t add anything to your stats or whatever. It only prevents the shadow to add a debuff on you. You will be able to add light to yourself by using the new armour, weapons and jewelry.
New essences
When you check out the new gear and essences you understand the new ratings a little bit better, they have gotten a considerable buff too. But the problem still remains with the curve being so steep. Mobs getting a considerable buff, while you are getting a considerable drop. And frankly, while I do enjoy having a powerful character, I do not understand why rework the rating and then buff the essences too so we can reach the cap easily again. This one is just guessing, I still didn’t check how it would look on a fully geared 115 character.
I am very intrigued and very pleased with two additions to the essences. One is the vitality essence with 396 vitality. Which would give you 1980 morale. And the morale essence gives you 1966 morale. So, thumbs up for listening to tanks suggestions. The non-tank classes may not be as good as tank ones, but with the recent vitality point change, not as bad as before. I am very curious what will be the secondary bonus on it at later levels. The other essence I am intrigued with is the Outgoing healing essence. Since I do also have a minstrel I wonder how much effect this will have on healing, what is the cap on it, etc.
New relics you will be able to barter for a quest reward item – The silver signet of the Thandrim. This costs 50 of these signets, so I imagine there will be repeatables to get more of those, since it doesn’t seem only regular questing will be enough for those and the recipes for essences (cost: 15), and purple items (cost: 30), teal items (cost: 90). All single use recipes. You will be able to get settings, gems and runes. I’m not sure if there will be new crafted relics, since those are usually from cap guild, at least the good ones.
It is a sad day when a purple item outclasses your maxed out gold one in only 1 level. But it’s still nice to see that vitality, fate and finesse usefulness is actually coming back.
New creatures
I can’t now recall where I have read about this or heard this, maybe it was the 10th anniversary stream, but there was some indications about new creatures. So far I’ve only seen one. Maybe some skins have changed… Fire troll for example, but as for creatures. I only don’t recall seeing this one.
Virtues
Virtues went only up by one level. Since they didn’t move since the cap was 95 (?) and because of the play with the rating going on, I really hope that the virtues will go up by more than one level.
Water v Fire
And for some reason you can be hurt by water, but there are no issues if you walk, ride or swim through lava.
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