The Road to Mordor: How skirmishes have changed LotRO

Skirmishes: Anywhere, Anytime

If you are unfamiliar with LotRO or are just now dipping your feet in the warm waters of the Brandywine, then skirmishes might be as foreign to you as Rune-Keepers to the lore of Tolkien (rimshot). Essentially, they're instantly-accessible instances that take a player or group of players through a dynamic battle, either taking the role of offense or defense. Skirmishes capitalize on LotRO's excellent storytelling factor, and reuses familiar locations (like Tuckborough or Barrow Downs) to snag some of that "nostalgia factor."

Not only are skirmishes available anywhere and anytime, but players have the flexibility to enter them solo, as a duo, or in various group sizes up to a full-fledged raid of twelve. Each player also has access to a skirmish-only "soldier" who can be customized both visually and functionally. By changing a soldier's vocation from, say, "warrior" to "herbalist," they assume a specific role (in this case going from DPS to a healer) to offset your class' weakness. As the skirmishes scale up to larger groups and higher tiers of difficulty, rewards for successful skirmish runs also increase dramatically.

Speaking of which, Turbine tempts players to skirmish with a lot of tasty rewards, from full-fledged armor sets to unique cosmetic items. Even if you're not a hardcore skirmisher, Daily Skirmishes -- with their allure of increased skirmish marks and other rewards for the first run of the day -- are a siren's call to at least dabble in the system.

Turbine is continuing to refine the skirmish system, as seen in the latest patch. Massively has an excellent guide for newbies to the skirmish system, which you can read here, and you can check out the Skirmish Compendium on the official forums for advanced tips and statistics.

Alternatives in Leveling

So going back to my original question, how are skirmishes shaping the face of LotRO? My most immediate response is that, much like WoW's Dungeon Finder, skirmishes are providing an alternative path to leveling. Skirmishes hand out the two most essential tools for leveling -- XP and gear -- and do a decent job of it, even if questing or dungeon runs might reward better in certain circumstances.

This is a boon to many veteran LotRO players who are want to bring up an alt, yet have no interest in repeating the same quest content and zones from years past. It's an attractive prospect: spend an hour or two in skirmishes a day, and that character will rocket up through the ranks to wherever you want him or her to be.

Killed in a Smiling Accident considers this alternative path a slightly superior way to level: "LotRO's skirmishes give really quite generous experience the first time you run them each day due to their having an automatic daily quest associated with them that boosts experience and token gains; running the four skirmishes open to my character at the moment can net the best part of half a level for little more than an hour's play, something that is much harder to do with standard questing due to the traveling involved in getting from the quest givers to their objectives and back again."

A Little Help From My Friends

While LotRO's world has gotten smaller over time thanks to additional travel routes and maps opening up, its size remains an obstacle to players forming groups at times. Skirmishes, however, can pull groups together from anywhere in the world and throw them into an instance faster than you can click "Accept."

Because of this, I see skirmishes as being a big proponent of grouping -- not because you have to, but because you're generously rewarded in so doing. Few people are ever in the same part of the world doing the same thing, so this system allows you to go about your own pace while still giving you the option to hook up with others when you're ready. Plus, I feel skirmishes are more enjoyable when you have a friend or two (or eleven) along for the ride.

Skirmishes can even be an effective teaching tool for groups learning how to work together and gearing up for major dungeons and raids. The newest skirmish, Rescue in Nûrz Ghâshu, uses Fellowship Maneuvers extensively, holding the group's hand while doing so as a way to encourage people to take advantage of this oft-underutilized feature and teach them FM patterns.

When Skirmishes Stumble

Of course, not everyone sees skirmishes as a positive addition to the game. Cited reasons range from immersion-breaking, to "developing them takes time away from Turbine creating new zones/PvMP/dungeons" to "the rewards are lacking compared to those you get from questing and raiding." Glimlioin from the LotRO forums agrees: "It would seem to me that Turbine are really pushing the skirmish as the way of the future. That would be a real shame IMO."

One of the more common complaints is that, like any other repeatable content, there simply isn't enough variety to sustain interest in skirmishes for the long haul. There's also the issue of high level players being caught in a "Catch-22" conundrum -- if you haven't been leveling up your soldier and then decide to jump into a skirmish at a high level, your soldier won't be effective enough to complete it. Unfortunately, you can't level up your soldier without running skirmishes, so you end up somewhat stuck at that point.

Some players even speculate that your enjoyment (or lack thereof) of skirmishes may lie in the particular combination of your class and soldier preference. AbrahamL from the LotRO forums testifies, "Just wanted to say for those who may not like skirmishes as much, try them with an alt if you have one. Different class make-ups can really alter the way skirmishes feel, from dragging and not fun to challenging and a blast!"

We (Heart) Skirmishes

Personally, I love skirmishes despite the flaws that Turbine must work through as the game progresses. It's a great option to have at my fingertips no matter where I am in the game, they're engaging in a way that dungeons occasionally are not, and they offer nifty rewards to the dedicated (or slow and steady) player. I've got my eye set on a fluffy winter cape that will complete one of my cosmetic outfits. The most exciting aspect is that this is an infinitely expandable feature of the game, and more skirmishes are virtually guaranteed to come down the pike.

I just have one paltry request for Turbine: could you put skirmish marks somewhere else than my inventory, such as a currency screen? There's approximately a thousand different types of marks, and they're all hogging my bags.

Last week, we asked LotRO players which skirmishes were their favorites out of the more than a dozen skirmishes available. The top three, all very close in votes, were Rescue in Nûrz Ghâshu (12.7%), Ford of Bruinen (12.5%) and Trouble in Tuckborough (12.2%). The least-liked skirmish, at least according to this poll, was Breaching the Necromancer's Gate, with a paltry 1.5% of the vote.

Tavern Talk

Tavern Talk is the part of the column when we kick back with a pint of ale and highlight what's going on in the LotRO community this week:

• A Casual Stroll to Mordor speculates on ways to expand PvMP past the Ettenmoors
• Berath's Brain Burps reports on the "Ranger Round-Up" of Vol 3 Book 1's quests
• LOTRO Reporter has a handy guide to ascertain the difficulty level of the creature you're fighting
• Player Versus Developer reflects on the end of the Eriador era
• Podcast Roundup: Casual Stroll to Mordor #28, LOTROCast #21, LOTRO Reporter #28, Through the Palantír #2

The Prancing Pony Poll

Hey! Where'd the poll go? It was here just a minute ago, I swear...

Actually, next week's topic doesn't lend itself easily to a poll, so instead I'll ask readers of this column to share some of their favorite skirmish experiences in the comments section below (just sandwich it in between people who think skirmishes are of the devil and those who have legally married skirmishes, which is now possible in Guam.)