A few months before the release of Isengard, I ran a test with all the skirmish soldiers. During this test, I ran a series of four skirmishes with my warden using each soldier in turn: Trouble in Tuckborough at Tier 1, Ford of Bruinen at Tier 1, Thievery and Mischief at Tier 2, and Stand at Amon Sûl at Tier 2. The fastest time (and the only series where I never...

Introduction One of the peculiar features of LOTRO skirmishes are the lieutenants. During the course of a skirmish run, you will face a number of lieutenants. Unlike the mini-bosses in other instances, each lieutenant you face will be selected at random from a pool of available lieutenants. The key is that all skirmishes share the same pool of lieutenants...

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...

  It should be no surprise to those who have read my earlier posts that I have a preference for the archer. When I look for a soldier whose primary purpose is damage, I generally turn to the soldier that carries a bow. Why? Because of the way soldiers tend to behave. Soldiers act in a similar manner to monsters in that they will generally attack whoever is...

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...

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...

Skirmish Soldiers One of the features that distinguishes skirmishes from other types of instances is your skirmish soldier. Each player character is allowed to summon a companion who fights along with them during the skirmish. There are two areas where you may normally summon a skirmish soldier. The first is within a skirmish, which is the location for which...

The guardian skirmish marathon was successfully completed. If anyone is interested in watching the replay, it will be available at my Twitch page for  a few more days. The chat channel was working this time, though I did not find it easy to follow the chat channel and play at the same time. Thanks to those who attended. Skirmish Statistics The total time of the...

Today at 10:00 AM Server Time, I will be running my second skirmish marathon. This time, the goal is to run all 19 skirmishes with my Guardian. You can watch the proceedings on Twitch at http://www.twitch.tv/pineleafneedles May your shield protect you and and speak never break, Pineleaf Needles

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...

After last week’s successful run, thePineleafNeedles Twitch channel will get into full swing this week. I have posted a schedule on the site. I will be broadcasting The Fellowship of the Creeps during each episode I am attending. This show airs on Saturdays at 5:00 PM Server Time (so the next episode will be today). The next PVE LOTRO event will be the...

  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...

Good day fellow adventurers. Yesterday I picked up my staff to undertake the challenge of running as many skirmishes as possible in six hours. I ran this series on Pinestaff, my Lore-master on Windfola. There are currently a total of 19 skirmishes available in the game. I predicted that I would get through 15 of them; I actually completed 13. The first 11 were...

On Saturday, June 22 @ 10:00 AM Server Time, I will begin a six-hour skirmish marathon on the PineleafNeedles Twitch channel. Here I will play as many skirmishes as I can in the six-hour span. While it is unlikely I will be able to get through all 19, I should at least place a good dent in the total. The skirmishes will be selected semi-randomly. By that I mean...

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...

  What Is The First Thing You Will Do When Mordor Is Released? Simply Walk Into ........ (43%, 63 Votes) The Epic Story! (38%, 55 Votes) Other (Leave Comment) (15%, 22 Votes) Side Quests (2%, 3 Votes) The Black Book Of Mordor (1%, 2 Votes) Total Voters: 141  Loading ... Note: This poll is now closed. This Saturday (June 22) at 10:00 AM Server Time I...

How Do You Start Skirmishing? You have reached level 20 and you are ready to skirmish. Now just open the Instance Finder and…. Wait a moment, why won’t it let me run any skirmishes? Oh, that’s right, you need to run the skirmish tutorial first. Soon after you reach level 20, you will receive a letter in the mail asking you to report to one of the skirmish...

The skirmish Survival: Barrow Downs is once again available. This skirmish became available with the 11.1 update. What changes were implemented, if any, do not appear in the patch notes. May your shield protect you and your spear never break. Pineleaf Needles  

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...

What is a skirmish? In short, a skirmish is an instance that is scalable on three dimensions: level, difficulty, and group size. Types of Instances Before we can discuss what sets skirmishes apart from other instances, we need to discuss just what an instance is. Instances are areas set apart from the main world for various purposes. Most instances are private...