Recently I had the opportunity to traverse into one of my favorite old Shadows of Angmar stomping grounds. Carn Dum. A few of my kin mates and two friends still needed a few items to complete their level 45 class quests. I for one have always enjoyed strolling through Carn Dum (CD). The entire instance was very well designed and implemented. Pivotal boss fights and of course the hornblowers.
Lately I began feeling very nostalgic about the old Angmar instances, CD and Urugarth. Barad Gularan was fun as well, though I have only run it once, but I was fortunate enough to down the "Onion" on that run. I really do not know BG that well, and it's hard to get a group together to learn. I will work on that. Thinking back on how the "end game" instances were run in the past, I reflect that, with how they are now and see a few major differences.
Shadows of Angmar- These instances revolved around getting enough people to actually play them. Yes they needed to be at or very near the level cap of 50, but gear and traits were not an absolute. No radiance was involved and hope tokens were key. It took 6+ hours of playing to get through CD, before the easy access to the castle. About 3-5 hours for Urugarth.
Now with the level cap at 60, these times are significantly shorter. CD can be ran in 3 hours (w/o keys), Uru in 2 as well. While I personally don't feel that this content is trivialized, yes it is easier to get through and finish, the experience and the story telling that takes place in these instances are left wholely intact.
Moria- I really do not want to beat a dead horse by talking about the mechanics of radiance gating, or even get into that "discussion", but I do not get the same sense of story, or necessity as I go through these instances. (Fil Gashan, Forges, Skumfil, Dark Delving, 16th Hall, Grand Stairs) I felt that I could skip them and not even have to worry about their effect on the story.
With that being said they will still leave a lasting impression on my time running them. Fil Gashan, I will always remember running around disguised as a filthy orc and getting my own set of Tarlug's armor. Skumfil, I will remember a kinmate hunter bawking at the fact that a warden could tank the spider queen, then watching him eat crow when it actually happened. Forges, The furnace at the last stage of the end Boss fight, great mechanic to keep you on the edge of your seat. 16th Hall, the sheer length of getting to the final boss and losing, then you figure out how to do it correctly and it becomes the easiest fight of all time. Dark Delving, struggling through the first two bosses then, through trial and error, learning the mechanic and discovering that they are not hard just tricky. Then bumping into Gorvand and realizing you ain't seen nuthin yet. Only to watch him fall (in HM) and the proceed to mount his head on your wall so you can spit on it every time you go into your house. Grand Stairs, Playing the drum to keep the big bad troll debuffed, then fighting Igash and watching the throne merry-go-round as you keep the two archers busy and babysit the devoted.
I know that these instances will still see some traffic after SoM is released, but I do not believe that it will be close to what is happening now. I will probably not revisit them with my alts, gearing up one character to be raid ready was more than enough for me. I just hope that the new instances in Mirkwood will leave just as good of an impression, hopefully better, than what I have experienced in the past.
Cara Bermain Di Situs Slot Online Resmi
1 year ago
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3 comments:
We had a great time playing in CD with you guys. It was nice of you to let us tag along. I don't know diddly about BG but if you need a noobish minstrel to jump off tall things then I'm your gal!
CD is still new to me, so I appreciated having you guys guide me through it. I can't imagine spending 6+ hours in that place! On the flip side of that, though, being behind the first wave of 60s means that I'm rarely in a group that has to figure things out for itself; there's usually someone or a few someones who have run it before and know all of the tricks. It'd be cool sometime to go into an instance with a group that has no idea what they're doing (but a GOOD group...not some random PUG -- that'd be chaos, heh) and see how many times we're defeated before we figure it out. Which is part of why I'm racing to 60 -- I want to explore Mirkwood before it's already old hat to most of the server! Anyway, great write-up, Azz, I enjoyed reading your reminiscences.
CD was great. I personally would love to go through all the instances in SoA since we only got to see a few of them. I love dungeons and raids, the only thing that makes it hard on me to do them is the little hobbit needs attention, which means they're usually out unless she's down for the evening. :)
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