Jan 1, 2019

Everything was quiet In a peacefull crittersland That was until 3 little boys arrived. Screaming bloody chants. Summoning dark spirits from yonder What’s that over there? A snowman came to life. Run my little snowman, George shouted The little snowman couldn’t hear him. Clucklands *bokking was too loud. A portal was opened and the spirit got out....

Dec 29, 2018

99 instances ago the Abyss of mordath was just an unnamed raid. Throne of the Dread terror  was the latest one in Middle-Earth that we could run. Yet 99 instances took a bit longer then expected and we’re on the verge of the followup raid. And instead of two articles that go in-depth on each one we’ll dive a bit deeper into what makes a good raid. A case...

Dec 16, 2018

Continuing the instance cluster revival to top it off with a new raid it was an existing time for lotro. Minas tirith and the battle for pelenor fields were the biggest set pieces from the books since Helms deep. Everyone was curious about what parts of the story would find their way into the instances, epic story and quests themselves. On the end of Retaking...

Dec 9, 2018

Which boss is the hardest in all of lotro? The 2nd boss in Warg pens. No One ever defeats him. Warg pens, Dungeons, Sword halls and Barad guldur are the 3 instances and the raid that came with the Mirkwood expansion. Ranging from never run to the most started instances around during their time. SwordhallsSet in the training grounds of Dol guldur  you will...

Nov 24, 2018

Two ancient fortress cities once clamored by dwarves and man, laden with treasures and splendor now deserted after adversity struck both. Helegrod was taken over by the great dragon Thorog whereas the war and losses against Sauron made Annuminas fall into decline.  Released in Book 9 and 10 with a scaled update during the days of Mirkwood both annuminas and...

Nov 8, 2018

Rooted in lore and expanded by Turbine the instance cluster for In their absence revolves around our favorite undead boy band. Thadur, Fendur, Drugoth, Ivar and Gotheron are gaunt lords created by Morgoth (evil’s upper management) in the First age. Each embodying a facet of evil. Wrapping up the wight-quest lines from Shadows of Angmar Pre-launch Before the...

Nov 1, 2018

The bear is solid, we’ve got monumental dps and are fairly effective group members. Vastin might be coming for my critter comics soon. If the current bear, outside of anything but landscape, only needs a few quality of life fixes. Please break my bear. Incase you want to skip to a part. Index 1 -Current state of an unfinished class + examples 2 -Beornings...

Oct 27, 2018

Updated last: 27th oct 2018 First Q&A and everyones responses to it range from both sides of the spectra. So it’s time for a little recap. And a little shameless plug for older articles (yes i know). Quick references Original press release  on lotroplayers Massivelys OP recap of the Q&A stream – Initial forum topic OP’s followup post...

Oct 24, 2018

Sauron has been gone for awhile now and lives is starting to return to normal for the free people of Middle-earth. Yet not everyone has it as easy as them. Orcs, Easterlings, spiders and all other sorts of previous enemies are now trying to pick up their lives as well. Norbog news is taking a look into the struggles and how they find a non-galadriel light at...

Oct 16, 2018

Isengard, one of the two towers and home to the white wizard and not a purple floating sphere. After venturing through Dunland and guiding the grey company further south you would reach the area of Isengard. Home to the oxclan camp which hosts the instance cluster of this 99 instances. Coming with 2 small fellowships a  6-man and the home of Saruman and it...

Oct 14, 2018

Keeping in critters tradition there was supposed to be a prep-article for Update 23. At least there was one planned. The community streams were quite clear. The raid wouldn’t scale, a few extra crystals and scrolls, finish any tier 2 challenge deeds. And any new gear and essences would finalize in the last few weeks. Except the major curve balls that got...

Oct 8, 2018

Surrounding systems can make or break an instance. Even the most basic place can look enticing if you need it’s loot. Everyone needed the loot of Seregrost. Court of Seregrost ins’t your standard basic place. With update 23 the nicest loot will leave our presence. But will Seregrost leaves our minds and hearts? Hear me out, you will miss CoS. Each era of lotro...

Oct 3, 2018

Mirkwood was an expansion upon an expansion. Relativley small with only 5 levels after the 10 in Moria, but across the instances in Dol guldur, skirmishes in Mirkwood and the freshness of scaling it felt as the finish of a storyline. The instances we’ve discussed in … and skirmishes are woven into the epic book. So much that your main problem with them is going...

Sep 20, 2018

Not all battles are fought above ground. After the dwarves delved too deep and we bested our foes inside the Moria instances. The forces of Mazog made their plans clear by clearing out the halls of the 21st hall, the deep way and the smithes. Besides Moria there was an attack on the Rift to free Golodir in the rescue in the rift. We’ll also include the Storm of...

Sep 18, 2018

After the critters and Druedain recaptured Bhol-Rudh Wrinkles used Viznahks secret passage. But were quickly send away by the property guard. If their plan to stop the plague and safe Agarnaith had any hope of succeeding they would need some help. Plans were smitten and a frontal assault was ruled out. The underlings of Lhaereath seemed to not have much love...

Sep 11, 2018

When mordor launched we got lootboxes for everyone.  On monday we got an update to the plans for lootboxes and end game gear by Severlin (executive producer of lotro). The short version is that In general, instance gear will be better than questing gear, raid gear will be better than instance gear, and content with higher tiers of difficulty will reward better...

Sep 4, 2018

When you hear about pvmp its usually about the balance or lack there off. This isn’t one of those times. As Galadriel so wisely mentioned “The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth.” What if that change would be the literal playing field of pvmp? The (only used) map for pvmp is The Ettenmoors. For most of its existence the layout and...

Aug 23, 2018

With the rangers and the people of Bree occupied its up to you to fend of the rest of the attacks on Eriador. All of the skirmishes in these parts are separate events in the history of Middle-earth. Each one takes place in a different region and time, but each has their own tale to tell as well. The residents have provided you with quests, xp and gear as you...

Aug 13, 2018

With a new update on the horizon you will hear or read, Bullroarer is up or Bullroarer is live. In this guide  we’ll go quickly over what it is, why you might want to check it out and how do you get on Bullroarer if you decide to use it *Updates when i can get some screenshots What is Bullroarer? Every new update introduces new things. Things that need to...

Aug 6, 2018

Protecting the lands of Eriador ever since the fall of Arnor the rangers of the north roamed the forests and farmlands of Bree and the Lone lands. But as the rangers and the Grey company moved south and later answered the call upon the Pelenor fields. Their vacancy was quickly filled by brigands and half-orcs assaulting Bree. As you approach the south gate of...