99 instances – LOTRO Players

[CC] 99 instances – a general look into skirmishes

Not a draft perse, but an unpublished part of the 99 instances of lotro discussing skirmishes and some “future” possibilities from 2018.

Skirmishes

Are skirmishes instances? And how should you categorize them if i would decide they would be one of the 99 instances? Skirmishes have filled a hole in lotro that would have been there without them. What that hole would be is different for each kind of player. Some might not even know they exist these days. This article is mostly a look into that hole that it still fills and why it’s not in shape it used to be.

What is a skirmish?

When the skirmishes launched they really sticked to their Oxford or Vandale definition. In the large-scale of the War of the Ring the trouble in Tuckbourough or the defence of the prancing pony wasnt a tipping point. But for the ones involved it was still an important battle that would still influence the major factions in Middle-earth. If Bree would have fallen, there would be fewer defenders to guard the borders of Rivendell or less rangers of the Grey company to head south.

For the players themself it was a great alternative to level. Even when the game was around for a while there were still points where an extra level or a few extra marks and medallions were very welcome.

Scaling and replayability

The skirmishes were Turbines first venture into scalable instance and loot. For how important i think this has been i’ll refer you to some earlier articles. But it also added an alternative to questing to the game. If you want you can skip an entire expansion with the experience rewarded by them. This might seem irrelevant, but is imperative to any player on a tight budget. Up till level 50 it’s all fun and games, but after that it’s expansion, VIP or bust for a more than 0% percent of the players (especially Helms deep still being $40).

Skirmishes have always provided a great alternative to players looking for options. They can become repetitive, but when there is no other option or if you really like the methodical approach to the offensive skirmishes. They are your go to place.

The fourth age

Sauron hasn’t been defeated yet, but its still the fourth age. The age of the Fourth mark was a time where this was the one of the most important barter currency you could get. The best gear you could get would use these and. Since there were only so many instances and a lot more skirmishes. Everyone would run skirmishes to get these barter tokens.

A million marks and cosmetic pets with lasers

As long as there is a number going up players can be very forgiving in what they would do. Be it marks, ash or gold if you set a goal you can achieve you can do a lot more instances than you’d like. I still remember the days where me and a kinnie decided to go for 1 million marks. He made it, technically if i converted everything i would have as well. Still rocking those marks as my lower limit.

Current days

This brings us to the 2018 and skirmishes. It still a really important to anyone below level 65 and players on a quest to limit their expenses and/or interested in an easy quick xp fix. The loot has been limited to 105 since mordor (fix incoming in Update 22). And with recent influx of valared character there are a lot of players that might not even know what a skirmish is these days. The allegiances have filled some story plots that would have made really interesting skirmishes. Standing stone games seemed to have decided that it’s an old system that has been surpassed by time and development options.

Perhaps with there not being an expansion this year they could revisit some old systems and update/fix the incentives to make this older but still great content more interesting to newer players.

Future options

One option to make all and future skirmishes would be a aystem where the difficulty could scale beyond the current tier 3. Have the skirmishes present a never ending run in difficulty. Or use the system as a basis for a dungeon crawler. Conquer flags on each level of a dungeon and have you defend them like you do now. After you succesfully defend it you can advance to the next floor. This could use the personal loot and quest locks introduced in the Abyss of Modrath. A bit lore breaking perhaps, but could provide a nice system with a lot of replayability at each level range. Server-wide contest, ladder seasons, twinked chars?

Who knows. But for now skirmish safely. And we’ll see you for future 99 instances and a

Gothmog Vs Fingar

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 of good evil cop vs bad evil cop. Or in this case Gothmog vs Fingar.

What makes a raid different from a 3 or 6 man instance?

Size, complexity and depth are the biggest differences. It takes a lot of manpower from the player and the developer to finish a raid. As such raids are usually saved for the biggest story bosses, the end of an expansions lifetime and requires the hardest and most difficult to execute tactics and gear.

Instead of a menacing tree in garth agarwen that only allows single target dps you get to fight a world-ending balrog that takes about 20-30 minutes when it first came out. Instead of a spider thats just living its live in the scuttle dells you’ll be chased by a fellbeast and nazgul on top of the enemies stronghold.

On top you don’t have to make the raid doable for every little 3-class combination, but can go delve into tactics that need 3 tanks or making little parties within an instance that need to manage themselves. Upping the damage to ridiculous levels that someone will need to combat by completely dedicating their gear to defense to stand a chance. This also give you the chance to reward people with the best rewards out there. Set bonuses, cosmetics sets special titles that people can wear with pride.

All in all, it gives you and the developers the chance and duty to go all out in everything the game has too offer.

Gothmog vs Fingar

Two raids you haven’t seen yet in the 99 instances are Throne of the dread terror and Abyss of mordath. Both were the pinnacle of their “expansions” and finished of the Gondor and Mordor expansion. Yet one still lives in peoples memories and one is almost universally hated and/or forgotten. In this article i’ll compare both to see why Thrones is one of the best raids in lotro and Abyss might be one of the worst multi-boss raids. In no particular order here are the characteristics that make up a raid

Story (mode) and lead up

Myth, legend and quest lines make people excited for a raid. Loot, reward and tactics will only show itself once you’re done. The chance to fight Saruman or a balrog is something you only thought of while reading the books or watching the movies.

Throne has the story mode on it’s side. The final showdown of the battle of Pelenor fields speaks to your imagination. The entire battlefield and previous instances all lead up to the raid. Abyss is the end of 1 of 3 story lines in Mordor. Cirith ungol, Seregrost and Barad dur and partly Durthang each future a stronghold that has a menacing boss larger then live. While Gothmogs appearance is a bit of a stretch, a bunch of dwarves finding a tied down dragon that holds a ring (not even sure what kind of ring it was) that drove them insane.

I’d have to give the points to Throne (and detract 1 for the epic book finish). Fingar would get a point if the story would be better placed and switched places with Seregrost as the last quest line at 115.

Environment

Landscape, views and overall sense of awe can make you forget your 10th wipe on a boss. The moment you found yourself before the last boss in the Rift was a moment of awe. The top of Orthanc or the deepening wall of Helms deep will show you the game wants you dead.

Abyss is within an underground cavern and Throne is on the battlefield of pelenor. Throne has a very clear layout and map. Where Abyss is a maze of bridges, caverns and dead ends. Normally it would be a clear winner for Throne, but by the raid time the splendor of Minas tirith was replaced with hatred for its crashes and lag. While Abyss still gives me a sense of adventure when you make your way down through all the thrash mobs.

Both don’t have the most memorable surroundings. But abyss gets a slightly less lower score then Throne.

Surrounding mechanics

While not part of the raid, the expansion they are part of aren’t trivial. Ranging from lootboxes, barter systems or gearing delays such as radiance or light all impact the enjoyment of the raid itself.

During Throne we’ve gotten Imbuement, Gift of the valar, unique class items and good set bonuses. Abyss got deeper on Ashes of gorgoroth and Light of erendil as a gear check. While both were both a throwback from the moria days as ways to ease RNG and prevent going into raid before you were ready. Both were largely overshadowed by lootboxes and balance issues within these.

Imbuement, specialty items and set bonuses were in both raids. Throne gets a head start with the better set bonuses. Specialty items such as the class items speak a lot more to a player then a number upgrade on the legendary item relic.

Overtime the Valar upgrade, RNG barter system and lootboxes have all gotten a makeover and seem to fit better within the game, The requirement of light of erendil for abyss constricts nearly all but the most dedicated player to redo the Abyss.

Again, Throne gets slightly ahead but both arent the best. With abyss clearly losing grounds to every raid by not being able to do it at the moment.

Thrash mobs

Oh boy does this make Throne look like a choir boy. The only bad thing i could think of would be that it doesn’t have any mobs before the bosses that teach you the mechanics of the boss. Neither does Abyss, but where as throne hardly has any mobs that arn’t bosses. Abyss has just a few more. The only redeeming factors for them is that each pull is clearly defined and slowly builds up to a grand melee before each boss.

When players take a burglar that has extra stealth bonuses sneak past half the instance while 11 players wait for 15 minutes to just not have to sit through an evening of repetition and no loot. Creative use of raid locks that border on exploiting being widely accepted and ask for as a default is a huge F for a raid. Without this tactic the raid wouldn’t even be run at all.

A B+ for Throne, and an E or F+ for Abyss.

Bosses and raidflow

6 vs 3 might sound as an easy choice, but as you might have read in the Rift numbers isn’t everything. A unique feel, different mechanics and a right difficulty can make up for numbers.

Rakothas, Mumaks, Twinblades, Corruption guy, fountain Twins and Gothmog face of vs Twins, beorning guy and Fingar. The difficulty of the throne bosses is the main flaw of the raid. Once you get past boss 2 it’s a clear road to Gothmog. Where as once you make it past the thrash mobs abyss has just three bosses that each are clearly different and none are filler such as boss 3 in Throne.

Boss 1 in the Abyss is a near perfect raid boss in each of its difficulty. Boss 2 and 3 lose a lot of points in their mechanics and class viability, but on itself they are pretty decent. Nothing special or can top Mumaks or Gothmog, but not dragged down by filler bosses or raidflow.

Mechanics

Each boss in Throne until the final boss has a focus mechanic. Rakothas is a dps race, corruption guy is all about their removal and the crawler twins is all about placement and control. Mumaks are an above par complex fight that rivals final raid bosses. Each on their own might lacks a bit of depth, but challenges are even a challenge on higher levels.

As i said boss 1 in the abyss is nearly perfect combination of movement, minibosses, Twins damage control for each class in the raid. Boss 2 is all about abusing a Beornings %tual healing skills or just skip the challenge. Fingar is most dreary, boring raid final raid boss within lotro. The only difficulty comes from your tanks staying awake. Or the adds that arnt under control. Actively avoiding getting T2 or gearing your beorning to not get an invite.

Abyss really loses out while throne has a few gems of raid bosses. Gothmog is a class of its own and could be a mini raid on itself. And the moment you cleared the mumaks is an accomplishment on 105.

Class viability

While mostly a reflection of the state of the game a raid can favour a certain traitline of class soley by itself. Redline captains at Rakothas, corruption removal from guards and champs, warden tanks on mumaks or aoe heals from beornings are all viable at specific bosses. A loremaster with maximum finesse, a burglar to skip mobs or just any class that offers raw power in healing or dps. Abyss has a very strict class setup that requires people to relog just for 1 part or boss.

A few retractions for abyss clearly.

Loot and rewards

While it might not be fair to discount the abyss as just more of the same as the mordor landscape loot. The ash-barter system made it feel a lot like it. Most of the drops had the same issue as the scaling instances, in it that it always felt like a randomized reward instead of a drop chance. Getting an item drop felt like saving a big chunk of ash instead of an exciting reward.

Throne was divided into boss 1 to 3 and above. And tier 1 and 2. Each boss would drop a specific barter item and ithilien coins that you could in turn turn into your desired version of an item. The higher the difficulty of the tier or boss the more desired the item normally is.

Each of the gear systems has their merit. Abyss has the ease of availability and choice, while throne had it sense of pride and exclusivity. The setbonusses of throne are still in use by some classes while abyss gear is mostly neglected.

Where there is a clear winner is in post level cap runs. Throne has pets, housing items and legendary weapon loot. Throne has been run far past it haydays. Part of it because people seem to enjoy it, but the ithilien coins that are the sole repeatable source of Imbuement scrolls has kept it alive for a long while. Having a worthwhile currency for end-game characters keeps it upright that the Erebor raids havn’t done.

Challenge

Throne is raid killer while abyss is a kin killer. While throne had its epoch during the mumakills and plenty of (pug) raid group never made it past these beasts. The abyss pure amount of thrash mobs before any worthwhile loot made many raiders give up on their current kin and look for greener pastures. That last group of dwarves before boss 1 was arguably harder then the entire raid.

The issues abyss had in classes, loot and the T2 deed that would mean you could get your rewards outside of the raid meant it was hard to keep a group going. Failing to get the last flag or boss 1 lock meant it would be hard to get a raid group going for the entire week.

All in all the challenge in both could be seen as about equal, but it was a lot harder to have fun in it and a bigger chance for a complete failure in abyss. Following the raid progression threat was a lot more exciting.

Replayability

Winner by default due to a no-show. Nearly everything in the abyss speaks against itself. Each of the aspect spoken above lacks anything that sparks my interest if someone asks if someone want to an abyss run. I’d even admit i’d actively avoided the abyss while it was at level cap. Perhaps even more so now. Perhaps in a few years we’re going to do a lost lore pages run when the Light of erendil gets removed. But i’d wager there wont be a 115 cap group anytime soon looking to relive this raid.

PS: Fingar as a guard is the most tedious fight there might have ever been. I’d rather spar a training dummy in the ettenmoors. Atleast i can stand still while looking good.

Throne gets most of its replayabilty from the relevant barters, cosmetic, a few remarkable boss encounters that marked a nostalgia and difficult obstacle at the time. While the latest revamp has made it a bit too difficult for a casual run with just a small group. You;d often find a group going at most reset and weekends.

Overall scores

If you made it this far, played the raids yourself or skipped right to this part. Throne is the clear good evil cop. It might get written down in the books as the top 3 best multi-boss raids. Wile the abyss is down in the bottom 2. Depending on how you rank some parts it exchanges blows with DN or the erebor cluster for the bottom of the ladder.

[99 instances] Battle of Pelenor

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 pelagrir we knew the oathbreakers wouldn’t be there for us. Aragorn was posed to strike from the southwest on Harlond. The Rohirrim were coming from the north and there would be plenty of nazgul and orcs aiming for the gates.

The boys just dropped their hit album “Straight outta Harlond”

Quays of harlond

Aragorn and posse arrives on the docks of Harlond and will join your small fellowship as your retake Harlond one group at a time. As you make your way to Pelenor you will find Kálmok, Barash, Akhun, Khurat. One big and 3 “little” trolls each with their own little buff to the other. As your party divides roles and trolls for each one to kill you remember you’re only with the 3 off you. So it becomes tank and kite. Or just wardening.

Passing under the south gate you will see a mumakill just up ahead. But for some reason you’ll have to go on a little journey with more stuns then you’d like. With the clock fully turned counter clockwise it’s mumak time. Standing still is a death sentence for you and the mini-fellowship of the ring. Functionally identical to war bands and roving threats you’ve done before it’s quite simple. Just 10 meters ahead you’ll make up all the pelenor walking to the 3rd boss. The Forgotten reaver is the nazgul you’d face while he will call his spirits brethren. With enough support he’ll believe in himself and become immune to your insults.

The dawnless day is retreating, but the fight isn’t over yet in Pelenor fields

First boss is the hardest one and the other 2 are a oddly spaced. Relatively easy compared to other Osgiligath and Minas Tirith instances. Fun little story instance that you can still run a few times for either essences gear or box runs.

Blood of the black serpent

The instance most reviled for it’s final boss. But before you’re there its an ongoing waves on waves of orcs on top of the balustrades. Down on the ground you’re now faced with easterlings, hounds and archers. Big groups, plenty of bleeds and stuns to go around as these will show up on the first boss. Most often farmed for the gloves and boots cause most people will just want to skip the last boss especially on tier 2. Why? One simple reason

The camp on the left is your little area to clean up

Mounted combat, lotro’s underwater combat
Each mmo has that one mechanic that is adorned right until it shows up on your doorstep. While wow always had it’s stride with underwater combat, siege combat was often attempted and combined squad on a vehicle. All sounded great, but when it arrived you kinda realized normal combat wasn’t that bad.
Mounted combat was that for lotro. One of the main selling points for Rohan that never materialized as well as it should. Skills noone knows what they do and an extra legendary item that enhances what damage you’d be able to squeeze out of your horse.

Mounted combat bosses

Right before the final boss there are 4 groups of mounted squads that you’ll lead into their own downfall when they get dismounted and fight on equal footing. Alas that isn’t an option for the final boss. Attempting this boss while you’re mounted yourself if a death sentence. Becoming dismounted or out of range of your healer will quickly set you back a wipe. Fight the boss in the corner behind the rock outcropping hoping the extra adds will get themselves stuck where you can fight them in range. Until the adds aren’t hit and the boss resets that is.

Silent street

On the back of Black serpent and Reaver the Gloom of Nurn wants to retake the crown of Eanur for its former wearer. Now own nemesis Mordrith or Gothmog depending on how you’d like to call him. Resurrecting all the occupants from the Fen Hollen, the catacombs of stewards and kings within Minas Tirith. You’ll face risen warriors, and cult members of the withered tree accompanied by Boromir/Telemnar or Tarannon/Atanrarr.

Withered tree are a classic kill-order mobs as you make you’re way to the leader of the cult. Tanking him with multiple groups coming to support him as you try to keep it all under control.

Targeting your mobs as you evade the lights that will fear your group all over the catacombs. Straight into another group of adds you’d like to skip. Trying to find both bosses that each have their killing strategies. Only to be greeted with the final area by glooms and Nurn himself.

A fellowship raid boss

Complex and finely balanced in tier 1, tier 2 and the challenge. The silent street had a leg up on Dome of stars with a few more bosses. Making everyone feel like they had a role to play. Over time the best group would take a tank that could make sure he’d survive by himself as you tank the boss on top of the stairs. Beorning, captains, wardens and guards would all be welcome.

If dadi makes a guide for it. Its probably a complex endeavor

All sorts of offtanks and dps would take their shot at the side bosses that would spawn at 64%. Ranged dps would take on the spirits that would come at 70% and the gloom spirits as well. One or two healers would try to keep everyone up and run around.

Both Mardil and Eärnil will come back just for your healers and challenge deed. Try to mezz or kite one as your group kills the other. 120 seconds was a challenge, try to stay alive and get both bosses down was indeed a challenge.

Not to be outdone Menedil will show up later and make your life that little harder by just attacking anyone near him. Save your dps for Nurn as he’s immune. Try to get the boss down for your boxes. Cause die now and the challenge will be gone.

A 6-man boss fight that has as much to do for you as some raid bosses. One of the best fights in a time where we’re so close to Mordor. While the epic book makes the story cheapen the ending a bit. One of the best instances with a good group. A few less mobs perhaps, but a full 10 on most parts.

The hilt

Legends turn into myths as it was last spotted in the second age.

The most coveted pocket item besides the One ring in bilbo’s pocket. A killer of randomness and groups. The hilt of Earendil was a pocket item that could only drop from the challenge chest. A small drop chance, from a daily quest from a hard instance. Coming in might, agility and will with 3 essence slots. A nice little morale bubble on top. The creme the la creme in a time without a raid.

The drop chance of this item is similar to a needle in a haystack. In a time when bind on account drops wasn’t there yet. Hunter rolled on your might Hilt. Bad luck.

99 instances – Dol goldur

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.

Swordhalls
Set in the training grounds of Dol guldur you will face 3 kinds of enemies each protected by one one boss. Each boss and his minions have a specific set of traits to make your life a bit harder. Urcheron will make sure you keep on the move with a chasing floor fire, while Chachrien will test your parties interrupts or aoe damage and Durkar will be all about taking hits and dps. After a while adds will start spawning on tier 2 or the next wave of mobs/bosses will come for you.

A 3-man gauntlet fight where you can tweak your tactics depending on your group and difficulty. Quick, compact and quite nice in rewards and xp.

Warg pens
The king of xp and power leveling is the name of the game. Wargpens is the most run instance in lotro by a good margin i’d think.Grabbing two out of the 3 quest before facing a boss will net you as much xp in a few mins that is not matched in any other area. Often requested to be hit with a nerf-bat warg-pens would just be replaced by swordhalls or a skirmish. Lf wargpens ⅔ got champ will be here for awhile.

The instance itself features 2 boss fights that function quite similar as both bosses will call for warg reinforcements at a certain morale level. All in all a relatively easy instance that would just be run from time to time without its xp.

After putting the trolls back to sleep. It’s time to troll your fellowship to sleep

Dungeons of dol guldur
Hated by deeders to a level not often seen. The bane to a clean deed-log in Mirkwood is designed to not be finished without a masochistic group of 6 ever since challenges can only be gotten from max level.

The dungeons are divided into 3 wings each with a different layout and patrolling trolls. Your task is to free > 7 elfs from their random dungeons while evading the patrols. Getting spotted by these unkillable trolls will put everyone in that wing in a jail while resetting each discovered location. Thankfully there are tricks to not trigger the elfs running into the patrols, lucking out on the daze-keggs, noone mistaking a door and grabbing all efls from all 3 wings within 5 minutes of the first elf getting rescued.

The boss fight itself has 3 trolls and a cargul coming for you and your elf dancing party. Squishy as they are the elfs will die quite quickly and at least 7 of 9 elfs have to survive for your deeders.

In it for just a box run? Just rescue one and wait a little bit. Let the elfs squirm in their cells and kill the boss for a quick and easy set of scrolls. Great idea for a 3-man, but too many moving for a random 6-man instance.

Samath gul
The old necromancers (sauron) throneroom is the decor for Samath Gul.One of few instances with an optional boss. Might even be the only one with an extra boss soley for the challenge. No extra chest, but an extra boss with unique loot rewards at that time.

A mix of annuminas and sambrog in its approach to thrash mobs and mechanics. Both urchir and Allagosir protected by orcs and “angmarim” that each have a specific skill you’d like to avoid. Depending on your group and experience you will interrupt, damage and avoid them to what you’ll suit best. Each of the bosses immune to fire or lightning and the surrounding set in their elements will keep you on your toes.

The 3rd boss Gorothul is the fight of the interrupt. Stop his inductions and keep the dps going on him will net you a quick chest. Or if you manage to not kill any of the blue spirits you will face the extra boss for the challenge quest.

After avoiding all the skeletons piles you will now need them. As Demafear will take reduced damage until an undead is killed near him. Move your group away from the green flames squares while you grab some skeletons near him.

A scaled instance that went through its own pace, box run and scaling. Never feels boring or too long. The extra boss, rewards for a good group and timely run has made Samath gul an instance that stood the test of time for nearly every period in lotro.

The Black Friday rider sales for tapestries are on

Barad Gudur (not gularan)
Home to the best doormat ingame and a raid tied for the least bosses. The first staging area and the last boss left the biggest impression on me. While Durchest and the twins are not the most interesting bosses in lotro. Both bosses would be copied at later times in several 6-man instances and parts are used even earlier. Two bosses that need a certain class or divide such as melee/range is pretty standard and a boss that summons that adds at x% and needs to have all of them triggered for a challenge is standard in mmo’s

The entire instance is about the journey up to the tower. Fighting your way past unrelenting waves of uruks, angmarim and orcs at the start to make a staging ground for your next assault. Fighting souped up version of the annuminas elementals armourers with each their own effect you have to respect all the way up to the Lieutenant of Dol Guldur. The big honcho of Sauron as he left Dol guldur

With the entirety of Mirkwood and Barad Guldur conquered it feels like the epilogue of Moria. It has build up and expanded on previous raids and stories. A fine instance and raid cluster that is still being used and run (or farmed).

[CC] 99 instances – Annuminas and Helegrod

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 Helegrod are still part of the expanding instance line in lotro.

Retaken by the rangers in Evendim the ancient spirits, angmarim and Carguls still remained in the 3 instances of Annuminas. Where the dwarves retook Helegrod, but their losses and sorrow was so great they left the ancient fortress to be retaken by giants, spiders and drakes.

History of both instances
Both instance and raid cluster follows the same story as most scaled instances we’ve discussed before such as the Great barrows or Fornost. Starting of at a fixed level and if needed cut into a few smaller raids to make them fit in an evening when Mirkwood got launched. Overtime each of the instances was featured in their rotations and otherwise not run that often (except Thorog of course)

Both instances will see a revival with the new legendary server as people settle at level 50 instead of moving onto Moria. As both will have their time in the light when the Angmar instances are done by that time.

Annuminas – group content in landscape and instances
Tombs of old kings of Arnor are aplenty in the old capital of Arnor. Annuminas is the little city state in the southern reaches of Evendim. All three instances take place in a seperate part of Annuminas . Glinghant, Ost elendil and Haudh valandil are all 6-mans that each have their own little flavour and taste that start at around level 40. Ever since Mirkwood they got the scaling treatment and can now be run up to level 120.

While Fornost and Garth Agarwen have landscape quest leading into them. Annuminasses group content takes place all around the landscape area. Each instance themselves have one of 4 random quests in addition to a challenge on tier 1.

Glinghant
The gardens of babylon are not as splendorous as millennia ago. But at least these survived. Evil has turned the water into spirits and corrupted the trees to their side. The three terraces will form the boss fights where a mixture of mobs will try to defeat your party.

Either you try to survive the continuous onslaught for 5 minutes or you defeat the final boss in a one on one fight. Afterwards quickly dispatching any adds to grab an extra chest. Pretty quick for the most part, but the timed fight can be tedious.

Haudh valendil
A fight for classes, damage types and that one group member that hasn’t been there before. Full of little niche effects that a newer player won’t know about if he wasn’t around in Shadows of Angmar times. Lights that evade and summon adds, bosses that reflect fire damage, mobs that you can evade or final bosses that have very high mitigation to nearly all but one weapon damage type.

A relic of old that is usually run the least. Taking the longest, but can be done quite quickly if everyone knows where to go and what to do. How much you like this one varies the most in all of annuminas.

Ost elendil
The capital instance in the capital of Arnor in the throne room of old. One of 2 most often sat in chairs for screenshots within instances. But beside that an instance that feels like a journey on the first go. Figuring out the tactics and what every little part does. No timed fights or wide open areas, but tight rooms and interesting tactics. Each group will have their best way to clear the staging ground. And somehow that top left room is ingrained into most players.

Quick, lore-rich engaging challenge and not too punishing on the unaware as Valendil. one of the older instances that could be ripe for a tier 2 or 3 upgrade if they decide to do these.

Helegrod – retaking an epic (line) area
The second raid released to lotro focuses on an ancient dwarven fortress that was taken over by a giant dragon. These guys really need some dragon repellent back in the day. Enemies have taken a hold of its wings, but these times it wasn’t just evil. It were the previous inhabitants of the Misty mountains. The promise of treasure and gauntlord Drugoth reviving said dragon Thorog got the free people to spur into action

Spider-wing and drake-wing
Enclosed train rides in a dark and cold cavern these two wings are an atmospheric endeavor where your group needs to stick together. Spider and drakelings are just 1 misstep away. Angmarim, ancient lever systems and cobwebs will block the path towards the bosses at the end of the winding paths.

Zaudru and its angmarim account manager will converse while you are battered by silk-spinners and other silkspinners. Same with the drakes and worms. Either dispatch them or burn their cocoons and kill Grisgart first followed by the entire envoy to get the challenge chest and deed.

All in all both wings are nicely average. And their shine has dulled a little overtime. But they remain a solid instance when your group decides to go for it.

Allies rushing for a giant sale on free peoples

Giant and Dragon wing
A well done landscape raid feels more benign than a dark dreadful cave or fortress. Yet it’s hard to fit a Giant and giant dragon inside a building. As such you fight your way up the slopes of the Misty mountains facing all the frosty wildlife out there. Sabercats, mammoths and snow-beasts come in wave after wave as you’re pummeled by giants at the top.

The angmarim account manager is having a bad day convincing the giants to join their side as his brothers. Guesse drakes and spiders are more evilly aligned then giants. After reaching top you see the poor guy being send off in a direct flight to Angmar. Turns out, Storvâgûn also doesn’t like your group. One of the classic, get boss down to x %, adds. Get boss down to x % follows while trying to evade his attacks and stay alive.

In the dragon wing the premise is the same as you fight an endless wave of spawns until you shut off the spawning alarm bells. Making sure every drummer is dead you’re faced with the revamped and revived annihilator of Durin.

Thorog is taking well deserved rest for now

Revamp and power creep of players
This is one of the revamps that took out a lot of the spice of a final boss fight in a raid. While Thorog is mechanically sound. The toning down of the adds that spawn and the power creep of players since then has demoted Thorog down to a dragon sized pinata filled with marks, medallions and seals. The latest lotro wide revamp has upped the difficulty that it’s not a children’s party anymore and Thorog now requires a good mix of classes again for a successful run. But as the dwarves rescinded their claims to Helegrod so has the instance itself been abandoned for now. Till SSG makes the final updates to the balance and treasures inside this ancient dwarven fortress

Helegrod and annuminas ups and downs
Both are mechanically interesting instances with a short run time. For period of times they were the highlights of the instance scene. From a time level 40 was an obstacle to get over and the raidsets were the best around, to one of the best sources fourth grade marks and marks. They found their spot in the bright lights again with the legendary server again, but too easy to really fill in the big shoes that they were given at this time.

Excellent instances that just need a bit of work to go back up to a score of 8 or 9 from the 6’s they are now.