Renkosi's Guide to the Siege of Mirkwood

Well we had a small party by the statue with some dancing and wall running, but there was a curious lack of the fence running activities that we all enjoyed last year. Maybe more to come a little late?

Well after a few false starts, and a little pause to allow the zerg to pass last week end I arrived at the Hollin gate (to the south east of the map, you get into Eregion from the Troll Shaws). Following some advice from Eleangil over at Lordoftheringsonline.net (they were in the beta, but I wasn’t, not that I would have had much time to explore had I been in mind!) that I should make sure I completed all of the quests in the Hollin instance before completing it. I found that if you don’t do this you will miss out on a very special session play quest, that you can’t get back to, so make sure you finish all these quests! Of course you don’t have to do the quests but I found them all fairly enjoyable and as they are all based in the instance there is not too much running around, and it will not take you too long, perhaps a couple of hours in total, with 30 minutes on the extras?

However with the instance finished, and the watcher encountered I received my first legendary weapon, which I as a dwarf, had to pick up from Thorin’s Gate, I’m not sure if this counts for the other races as well. Sadly at first the statistics of this weapon were at most as good as those I had already obtained (and these are not anything special as I’ve not been raiding much or indeed spent time collecting shards for crafted stuff). That means it was time to start levelling my new axe. Another tip from Eleangil here was to leave all of the Eregion quests until you pick up your weapon as you can’t get into Moria until you have levelled it to level 10. And that is where I am now, I’ve just killed a few lynx for one of the quests, and the odd orc and I’m up to level 5, so it doesn’t look like it will take too long however.

Next stop. Moria!

With the prospect of the easy leveling aforded by the welcome back weekend next week I’ve been concentrating on Evanna for the past few days. She reached level 22 today after a concerted effort, that said I’ve fallen way behind Jimogo after a busy couple of weeks, so there is much to do. I hadn’t really expect to level quite as fast as I am, but its starting to look like she could follow Renkosi into Moria fairly quickly. 

With the change in the clocks in the UK this morning I was online before most people (having forgotten to change my clock) that meant that I was also able to collect a barrow full of ore and get working on her crafting skills. Whilst I didn’t intend to work on these Renkosi (who is a scholar) needs a truck full of ingots to level through the weapon smith part of his profession, and it is still expensive to buy the ore on the auction house.

Looking ahead to next weekend I can’t make the weekend completely free so it will be mainly be evenings and early mornings for most of my play time. This isn’t too bad as solo quests tend to be easier in the mornings when less people are around (I guess it will be busier than normal next week as most people will be leveling rather than using the leveled characters in the end-game content) and it should be the easiest time to group in the evening.

Looking forward to Moria don’t expect any spoilers directly from me in the first week or so after launch, I’ll wait for the zerg of power players to rush through the new zone, as I’m sure there will be plenty of my favorite types of quest “Can you collect 20 wolf skins for me please? Oh and not every wolf has a skin…”

- Renkosi

Codemasters and Turbine released another movie featuring Durin’s Way. Enjoy this flythrough tour of the majestic architecture and wonder at some of the fantastical beasts that await you inside…

I’ve been pretty busy this week and not managed to get in game much as a result, but when I have had time I’ve been visiting the fall festival sites. My current aim is to get Evanna to friend status with the Inn Legue during the festival. Having read the festival guide on the Lore Book I think this means about 20 runs around the initiation challange as well as helping all the members and drinking all the local beers and wines. So Renkosi was dispatched to collect all the drinks on the list and post them back (a kin mate assures me you don’t actually have to fetch them in the time limit) so now the challenge will be to get to all those members in need of a drink at level 17ish!

Of course all this drunk running around the Shire is paying off and dispite only running between the pubs I can now reach most with time to spare. Howeve if you are doing the challange for the first time its worth either scoping out the route first or using the hired horses if you don’t have you own yet.

The challenge starts at the party tree in the Shire; where you must down six pints (as you must do at each pub) in a couple of minutes. Then you have a few minutes to get to the Plough and Stars where you will find the next member and another table of beer! However you’ll find that the clock does not get reset until you have downed the pints. The quickest way to the Plough and Stars is accross country, traveling north east from the party tree.

The next stop is the Golden Perch in Stock, the quickest route is to run along the road, but if you are likely yo get lost you cam hire a pony to Stock. Then you go on to the Floating Log in Frogmorton. Whist its a strighforward run along the road you will be starting to feel the effects of being drunk, so you may find finding the pub is hard to do. To save time you can hire a pony in Stock to Hobbington and get off at Frogmorton.

After the Floating Log you run on to the Green Dragon in Bywater (remember to run south out of Frogmorton to the road), by this stage you will be really drunk so is time to pay attention. Having finished there its time to run onto the Ivy Bush in Hobbington and from there to the Bird and Baby. If you want a pony can be hired to Michael Delving to save time. Also the Inn League member in the Bird and Baby is a little hard to find, hes in the cellar behind the bar, lieing on the floor. But once found this is you last stop, drink 6 more pints and you are done. Just take a short nap to sober up whist you dream of being let into that locked door and the treasures within!

Happy drinking,
- Renkosi