It's been a while since I've really enjoyed myself in The Lord of the Rings Online to the degree I find myself right now. It's an MMO that I've played since 2007 - the longest-running game in my rotation, for that matter - and it's one that, in recent years, I've bounced off of hard whenever I've tried to rekindle that magic it once held.
Don't get me wrong, I've been playing, but never for those long sessions where time would simply melt away like it used to whenever my Hunter would step foot in Middle-earth. This changed last week when the new Angmar and Mordor Legendary Servers launched for The Lord of the Rings Online.
The idea here is simple: a progression server with a wraith-like twist. We've covered it in previous articles, but the short version is that periodically Nazgul will pop up while players are adventuring. Some of these Nazgul are rather easy to beat - the shadowy wraith's that appear during normal leveling. However, the Veil of the Nine event sees world-boss style Nazgul appear at random, so powerful that executive producer Rob Ciccolini predicted that it could take upwards of fifty adventurers to take down - and even then it might not be enough.
Enter the Rings of Power - Twelve, to be exact. Gandalf did say there are "many magic rings in the world," after all, so who can say that Celebrimbor and the Elves of Eregion didn't bust out a few Lesser Rings while on the path of The Three? These Rings drop randomly from monsters, chests, and more and add power to their wielder - power enough to overcome the Nazgul should one be brought to the fight. The Rings themselves only hang out in your inventory for a few days, disappearing to snare another adventurer on their journey.
So I logged in last Thursday evening, eager to check out this new twist on the leveling experience, figuring my dislike of playing an Alt would see me bounce off back to Arkenstone rather quickly. However, after my first night logged into Angmar, the North American Legendary Server (Mordor is situated in Europe), it's basically been all I can think about.
For its part, the energy of the new server is infectious. Players all eager to kick off their adventure yet again, starting either in Swanfleet's Mossward or kicking it Shadows of Angmar style. The World Chat is aflutter of activity, with players asking each other questions about the best builds, best classes for DPS, calling out when a particularly strong Wraith has appeared and giving the coordinates to nearby adventurers to tackle together.
Kinship recruitment ads are flooding the chat as well, something I haven't seen on Arkenstone for a hot minute. To be fair, I've not been looking that hard there, having run my own Kinship since 2007 when we were on Nimrodel (RIP).
That infectious energy is translating into my gameplay. After trying out at River Hobbit Mariner, I made my High Elvish Hunter just to claim my main toon's name on the server, and pivoted to my second favorite class in LotRO: a Minstrel. My High Elven Minstrel Laurië was born, ready to tackle the Before the Shadow expansion content that is now free to VIPs.
When Before the Shadow was released, I wrote about how fun and beautiful the new zones of Swanfleet and Cardolan were, and that holds true even today. It's refreshing not playing through the same quests in Ered Luin or Breeland that I've played through countless times on failed alts in years past. The story beats told throughout Swanfleet are compelling, especially the few in Book 1 that recount the Forging of the Great Rings.
Moseying my way through to level ten, I bumped the landscape difficulty to +3, all while waiting for my first Wraith to drop. That didn't happen over the weekend when I was online, but earlier today while prepping for this article, I got my first taste of a Shadowy Wraith.
I was level 15, having just returned from the flashback to brought me to the Cracks of Doom when a Wraith appeared near my at Caras Gelebren. I love the effect that plays out when the Wraith pops into existence: the screen briefly flashes while dread builds, my character clearly affected by the sinister presence nearby.
This first Wraith caught me at unawares. I was quickly burned down by the Shadowy Wraith, losing out on that sweet Level 20 undefeated title in the process. I rezzed nearby and made my way back to the Wraith, popping out of Dissonance stance and into Melody to get some of the passive healing benefits from my Coda of Melody, and took the Wraith on again. I was faltering, the difficulty slider being bumped up doing me no favors, when another player came by and helped me slay the creature. We bowed to one another, and despite my disappointment at losing out on that title, I was having a blast.
The added challenge is injecting new life into the leveling process. Knowing that, at any moment, I could find myself locked in battle with a Wraith that continues to get stronger as I do, is keeping me on my toes. I'm keeping potions at the ready, gobbling down stat boosting food, and making use of the Hope benefit from my Glass of Aglaral that came with my very first copy of The Lord of the Rings Online back in 2007.
The second Wraith that attacked me I was ready for. Bouncing between damaging ballads and songs of healing, I was able to slowly whittle the Wraith down on my own this time. The next two Wraiths I encountered went down quickly as well, including one that the same character who helped me was fighting, so naturally I returned the favor.
It wasn't until I was exploring Tham Celechir in Western Eregion, an Elvish ruin now swarming with Uruks, that I was downed by a Wraith yet again - and in a situation that fully proved that they can pop up whenever they want, whatever you're doing. As I strove against an Uruk Captain and an archer nearby, the Wraith appeared right in front of me, joining the fray. No amount of early-game healing was going to contend with this, especially with the difficulty slider bumped as high as I had it.
Stupidly, I revived right in front of the three, only to be instantly defeated by the time I could move my Minstrel again. Not sure what I was thinking there.
By the time I made it back up there, the Wraith had been defeated, and at that point I figured I should go make dinner. But it's only making me more excited to log back on this week to take on the challenge. The next task on my list is to find a good Kinship to join up with (if anyone out there is recruiting, hit me up) so I needn't deal with these progressively more difficult challenges alone. I'm also eager to get my hands on one of those Rings of Power. Someone linked one in World Chat today, and I'm sure I looked at it like Gollum started longingly at his Precious whenever it dangled off Frodo's neck. The hunt for a Ring has me searching every corner of every Elvish ruin in Swanfleet, eager to find as many chests and caches as I can. I've never played any game like this, yet the hunt for a Ring of Power has turned me into a completionist.
As much as I thought I would want to go back to my Hunter right away on Arkenstone after logging off last week, I find myself eager to put my Hunter on the bench for the time being.LotRO's Legendary Angmar server has its hooks in me for one very simple reason: it's different.
I want to level up and run through the content again because it feels different, thanks to the Wraith attacks. The energy of the server is palpable, and I want to continue to ride the fumes of the hardcore LotRO community that has adopted it as their new home for the time being. I am enjoying myself because I've had to think differently about how I play since I could find myself ambushed at any moment.
Heck, I'm crafting - and I haven't done that in LotRO since I hit level 50 back in 2007. Here I am, though, prospecting and foresting like the best of them.
It's just good fun, and I'm here for the long haul.
