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Leveling with skirmishes.
Rockgod99
Member Posts: 4,640
I like skirmishes, I like running them for the story and then I go about my business.
I've recently read that a player could level all the way to 65 on skirms alone.
I have a question.
How does someone do that and not be totally gimp with missing and low rank virtues/traits?
What do they do hit 65 then go through the lower level quest zones and complete deeds?
Comments
Well, you can complete them during some skirmishes. I completed something about killing goblins in the shire and this was at 65.
There are alternate ways to do some deeds and traits so I imagine that at some point you will stumble on them. I've come across numerous ways to level loyalty for instance.
And as I mentioned, the skirmishes that take place in the lower lvl areas will count toward your kill deeds in those areas.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
And yes, many people do their virtues as highlevel. Killing 150 Wargs in ND goes alot faster if you only take like 2 secs for a warg.
I always find levelling is fairly quick with skirmishing as well, I think it's because of killing the continual stream of mobs in rapid succession, normally you'd be running around looking for spawn and probably taking out stuff lower than your level so it takes longer.
I can believe someone skirmishing to 65, a bit of a boring way to play though.
A good way to level but a bit of a grind.
Also, in skirsmishes you get a soldier-pet, who helps you to kill stuff, but doesn't drain shared xp away.
If you are in for the xp, some skirmishes are better then others.
The best is Protectors of Thangulhad, next one probably is Thievery and Mischief.
Thangul is the best skirmish for exp. It's rather easy really to level up just skirmishing.
I actually found skirmishes to be a decent way for me to approach some of the traits available, Trollshaws being a good example I rarely with my many alts have delved very deep into the tasks there and one of the later skirmishes has both trolls and giants that count towards the deed, as I'm sure you know you are even presented with ones that are weaker than the normal ones you encounter in the actual trollshaws.
I am fairly certain that some of the traits of areas where a skirmish takes place have deeds for creatures that don't appear in the skirmish but one would most likely reach a level where it wasn't too difficult to finish the rest of the virtues.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Yeah for a bit I was much more anamored with skirmishing than I have been lately, they are great if you just want to get a couple points out of the way quickly but after the Ford Of Bruinen I kind of fell of them completely. I do like too though that the rewards you can gain are universal in that one can level up skirmishing then use the marks to gain rep to places they may have not adventured in (much like I did with Moria for a time).
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Probably more of an issue, IMO, is that you don't make as much gold in Skirms. Therefore, even with Skirm rewards, your gear gets a bit gimped in comparison to other characters.
But yeah, they're great for quick XP, since they often tend to send lots of baddies at ya almost nonstop. I tend to do them if I'm close to dinging but not near any open quests.
As far as gold, I think it depends on level and the skirmish.
Now, keep in mind, my first game play experience for years was lineage 2 so that has blown my perception of "grind" and "long/arduous".
But since I'm not really a crafter and can't be bothered with working the market I have found that by repeating skrimishes I can make a decent amount of gold. Of course, what this entails is that I"m "grinding" skirmishes but killing mobs (which is essentially what skirmishes boil down to) is pretty relaxing to me.
I was able to make over 20 gold in a weekend. I'm sure that crafters can probably bury me as far as making money, but if one wants to one can make enough money to take care of their needs if they put their minds to it.
edit: I should say I use a lvl 65 character on a lvl 65 o 66 skirmish to bring in the dough.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I have 2 characters I am running through the whole story arc now. After they are done, I was thinking about trying to level up a character in just skirmishes.
Is there a certain class and soldier combination that would excel over others in skirmishes ( doing them faster than other combos and in say in tier 2 or even 3)?
Thats actually tough for me to say, i think even people with lots of high level chars did never try out every combination, i mean try every soldier with every class they have. But some that i found work really well:
1. Champion - Herbalist.
In skirmishes i feel that AoE is king, and heals will keep you alive when you have a bunch of mobs wailing at you. Your ability to easily draw the healaggro away from your Soldier through DPS is key here for higher difficulties.
2. Warden - Archer
The Warden is very tough and hard to wear down, the Archer helps by bringing focus DPS to take down hard encounters before even the Wardens formidable defenses can fail. Key here is that the Archer is staying at range and easily directed while only building single target aggro.
3. RK/Minstrel - Herbalist
RK is similar to Champion(not the class, but the advice on Skimishes), but not as much oomph. Strong encounters can be more of a problem, and the AoE is worse. Minstrel is sadly much worse than RK.
4. Captain - Warrior/Sage
Only tried the Warrior so far, but it worked very well due to the Captain being able to heal his two pets while still being able to hold aggro on encounters vs the Warrior. Sage might be even better due to range and debuffs, but it might also be too squishy.
5. LM - ?
This was a tough cookie. First i tried a Protector, which was troublesome because he plainly does not care about actually taking aggro from you unless directed. So i tried a Archer, you will kill LTs and encounters amazingly fast, but groups of weak guys are a problem(especially ranged). Warrior has a similar problem as guard, he hardly ever binds all mobs and your first heal will bring them(especially ranged) ontop of you. In the end you either take a Herbalist for slow and secure, a Bannerguard for some medium road, or a sage and try to blast everything to smithens all at once which might bar you from the higher tiers though.
I do not have a Burglar, Hunter or Guard, but general advice for smooth running onlevel at tier 2 and above is to make sure you have AoE, single target DPS and heals covered. Which gets hard to do when your class only brings one of the three. Guard might get away without healer and getting more damage, probably sage. Burglar would really like some AoE dps, which would die pitiful(no way to quickly grab more than one mob) and break your mezzes though, so probably BG it is. Hunter has great single target DPS, and some decent CC. A BG will draw healaggro from you, which is awesome in this case as you pick them off one by one.
Generally play through 3 scenarios in your mind to see wether your combination is viable:
1. Bunch of melees with LT attacking you, do you get swarmed and your inductions setback?
2. Same as above, but half of them including LT is ranged and scattered over half the place. Do you rely on snares, or AoE abilities to keep your morale up?
3. Big tough elite, bashing your face. Expect stuns, damage immunity timers, powerdrains, tactical damage. Can you and your soldier deal with that?
GAH! I'm working on that one and the Hillmen now...at 34, it's taking me far too long and I decided it wasn't worth pursuing at this time either.
Do most players wait to do the Deeds? I've been trying to keep up, but it does become draining.
GAH! I'm working on that one and the Hillmen now...at 34, it's taking me far too long and I decided it wasn't worth pursuing at this time either.
Do most players wait to do the Deeds? I've been trying to keep up, but it does become draining.
Dude just pick and choose deeds. For my guard I only need to rank up a few virtues. Check the forums for recommended virtues for your class and avoid the meaningless ones.Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Done. I already have all my Guardian Virtues, but there are also the Race of Man traits like Strength of Morale which involve killing 400 Hillmen (150+250). What I read was "Most players will earn and equip this soon after leveling to 35"...which just seems crazy to me as the level of the Hillmen is high (35+) and they're elites I believe.
So again, is that truly something people generally grind out right away or do you think most come back to it?
Thats actually one of the easier ones, just do skirmishes with the. With a soldier by your side you blast through them insanely fast.
I"m a firm believer in doing something until it's not fun and then doing something else.
I bascially make some reason to be killin' the baddies and then cut a swath through their ranks until I don't want to do it anymore. Then I come back to it.
I would just do what feels enjoyable.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Oh?! Which Skirmish is it that counts for Hillmen? The one I just unlocked at 35 (Prancing Pony I think)? Or is it the GA ones? I've only done Greater Barrows so far.
Yep, skirmishes give less than half the gold than mob killing and almost twice the XP in given time, so the balance is out of whack. Then again balance is out of whack in all of LOTRO, quests have similar problem as does instance XP. There is very little of value skirmishes give aside of XP, despite many barter offers, pretty much just ways to level legendary gear.
They are kinda fun but reduce MMO to solo power-leveling in one spot and are way too good at it. They do absolutely nothing for world or other players.
To reiterate, yes, they are best XP/hour by far, only aided by external factors like no travel and no competition and no inventory clutter and even no real death penalty.
Me and my friends made an awful mistake of trying Tuckborough with three people. Jeez we got our asses handed to us in short order. The priestess of flame came and roasted us a few times. It was the most fun I had for ages. Later we found out three people is considered a group or something which was why it was insanely hard. I must admit though the skirmishes in group is a lot of fun but yeah not much money.
Not exactly true, if you spend the Skirmish marks you get on crafting materials for example and sell those on the AH you will find your gold income increases alot. Also you have zero traveltime with skirmishes, throw a couple epic quests into the mix that have you jump all over ME and you will find your gold/hour plummets significantly.
Not to mention that after being level 65 for some time you will run out of quest content, while skirmish rewards keep being a constant. People in my kinship certainly remark all the time how much money they make with skirmishes.
I love the skirmishes and they are great experience. You could easily use skirmishes to get to lv 50 and skip all the quest packs. Then go grind deeds from the free zones and probably have close to enough for Mines of Moria.
Important facts:
1. Free to Play games are poorly made.
2. Casuals are not all idiots, but idiots call themselves casuals.
3. Great solo and group content are not mutually exclusive, but they suffer when one is shoved into the mold of the other. The same is true of PvP and PvE.
4. Community is more important than you think.
Its the GA Classic instance Fortress each time you run through there you kill about 40 of them. Add to the fact that the gear you get from the tokens is exceptionally good if you get it at 32 makes it something that is usually run fairly often.
Thank you!!! I hadn't done it yet, but it's now on my list of ones I WANT to do!