Mirkwood: A Retrospective
So yesterday I said my farewells to Mirkwood with my captain as I cobbled together enough precious gold stars for those greedy elves to give me a smokey black steed (in my opinion, one of the finest-looking mounts in the game). While I didn’t finish all of the quests in the zone, I didn’t feel like there was a reason to do so — I’m already 65, I achieved kindred with the local faction and plundered there wares for anything I wanted. I was good, and it was time to move on.
Because of this momentous event, I thought it’d be great to just look back over Mirkwood as a whole and deliver a few thoughts. Overall, it’s one of the better zones of the game — highly atmospheric, full of cool little details, and an enjoyable questing experience. Unlike Moria, Mirkwood’s fairly simple to navigate, and there’s a surprising amount of diversity in locations for a spooky forest. It never quite looked like I’d imagined from The Hobbit, but then, what does?
I think my biggest disappointment is that the zone has you progressing from west to east, sort of on the path that Bilbo took, and I was hoping to see the far side of Mirkwood. But, of course, all the way to the east is Dol Guldur, the ultimate roadblock and favored dungeon-running location du jour. It’s a bit of a letdown when you’re not that much into raiding, because your journey kind of peters out here.
The funny thing is, I can see Mirkwood becoming marginalized in the future — optional but not truly necessary. You don’t really need it for the levels, if you’re diligent in Moria, do your skirmishes and then just cut down to Enedwaith. In fact, if you don’t want to explore the area for deeds, the epic storyline or just to see it, there’s not much of a compelling reason to go there at all, in my opinion.
I liked the epic storyline in the area, which was soloable for the most part. Sure, there’s a billion escort quests, but it does pick up in the end with a handful of thematic skirmishes inside DG proper. Plus there’s a look at young(er) Gandalf’s initial foray into Sauron’s palace.
One thing that didn’t really sink in until far into my Mirkwood experience is that nobody good lives here — unlike most zones, there’s no town or settlement by the Free Peoples, just a few outposts and reclaimed camps. As such, it does give off a vanguard on-the-edge-of-the-front-lines vibe, but I always miss it when there are no locals with which to bond.
Another weird feeling is that the two expansions — Moria and Mirkwood — have you diligently moving east, but Mirkwood proves to be a cul-de-sac in the end, a dead end. It’s great to see Sauron’s former stomping grounds and all that, but in the back of my mind I’m always thinking of how the Fellowship’s moving south but I’m still dithering around here. I think that’s why it’s a relief to finally be getting to Enedwaith.
- Posted in: Lord of the Rings Online
Granted I am just getting back into LOTRO, I am thoroughly enjoy how… tame the game is. There is an inherent sense of calm and tranquil in the title, unlike WoW, or even EvE, almost as if players have made an unsaid agreement to be respectful to Tolkein’s world and works. Any time I have asked for help I have found someone willing to help. Everytime I got stuck, someone pointed in the right direction (sometimes unsolicited).
So far I have had a blast, and I can’t wait to experience the higher content further down the line.
Also, I need some advice. I am a deed-whore. Is it better to level up your character first and then worry about the deeds in the various zones, or do the deeds as you are completing zones. As a completionist, I seem to be leaning towards the later.
I think you make a very good point about Mirkwood becoming marginalised. Moria / Lothlorien will easily get you to the level required for Endewaith (in fact you could probably even skip Lothlorien). This is a pity because Mirkwood is a very well designed area and the instances at the end of Mirkwood are very good. Hopefully Turbine will include these in a future instance level scaling revamp so that they can once more entice groups to run them.
Mrs Bhagpuss and I both ran out of steam in the early 40s largely due the relentless “on rails” directionalism of the game. I like to be able to travel hither and yon with no real purpose other than to see what’s over the next hill, and I found that LotRO really didn’t support that kind of behavior.
Now I’m back playing on and off in the F2P version, the more variety of places to visit at any given level range, the better I’ll like it. That said, I’ve barely stepped out of Bree since I’ve been back.
Bronte – Generally, I do deeds at level (since you get more XP for doing them then) and in the zones you’re already questing in. However, some deeds are pretty tough at level (usually the ones requiring you to enter dungeons or slay a crapton of signature mobs), and those are best left until you outlevel them by a significant margin.
Also, I generally don’t do ALL of the deeds in a zone. It’s up to you, but I mostly concentrate on the deeds for the six virtues I’ve chosen, and trust me, those more than keep me occupied.
The part of Mirkwood we get to see in game now is Southern Mirkwood. Bilbo and the dwarves actually passed through Northern Mirkwood, which is where you’d find Thranduil’s Halls (big woodelf city that Legolas comes from). In Southern Mirkwood, you’re right, there are no good cities per se.
Since before the Moria expansion, no zone is really necessary anymore. Players have multiple paths to endgame and can skip more or less anything they like, including whole regions. Don’t like Lone-lands? You can go straight from Bree-lands to North Downs. Misty Mountains boring you? Forochel is icier and foggier. And so on. So, sure, you can skip Mirkwood, but then you can skip Lorien and Moria too, and still hit lvl 65 going from Eregion to Enedwaith.
Bronte: it depends. Some deeds are easily done at level (e.g. most explorer deeds and some slayer deeds, as well as pretty much all the quest-based ones). Some of the slayer deeds get tedious though and are much faster if you outlevel them first.
While it’s fashionable on the LotRO forums to knock Mirkwood, I really enjoyed the zone. Few things I’ve ever seen in LotRO match the “**** me!” moment when you ride uphill from Emyn Lum and get your first proper view of Dol Guldur itself, with fell beasts flying around its towers. I love the Shire, the first view of Rivendell when you ride through the pass to see the valley laid out below you is very cool, and there are sights in Moria that are quite awe-inspiring, but nothing matches Mirkwood for making a small voice at the back of your mind whimper “Mommy…”
While Mirkwood is not my favorite zone in the game, it is worth visiting for the epic book & to unlock the skirmishes. The Mirkwood skirmishes are some of the most fun & farmable instances in the game.
Thanks for the heads-up Syp, much appreciated!