Barren Bullroarer
Once again I installed Bullroarer. This time I could even copy some characters over and so I did export my huntress, she’s 41 but at least something (if they don’t decide to open E&G), after we get annexed by our new Turbine overlords I will be able to play with my mains over there.
I found Bullroarer quite empty but I guess it’s no wonder taking into consideration the small size of Update 3. Anyway, let’s have a look on what’s there:
Skirmishes
When last time I was on Bullroarer it was during the F2P beta and at that time players were given 5000 Turbine Points to spend on stuff, I was happy to find that I got over 3000 left and proceeded to buy the two new skirmishes. Eagerly I tried Attack at Dawn and boy did I get my ass handed to me.
Attack at Dawn
This skirmish takes place in Dol Dínen, starting near the fenced area in the south, and it is an offensive skirmish. Being F2P I only got access to Tuckborough and Gondamon on my huntress, quite likely my other characters will like it better but I find it quite hard. Compared to Tuckborough there are two major differences – there are no friendly NPCs to help you with counter-attacks and no matter what all the enemies that hold a control point will pull at once, even if they wander off. Such a “wave” consist of 4 regular mobs – here in Dol Dínen it’s mainly wargs, goblins and trolls – both normal and swarm and a Lieutenant (there always is one). With no option to split the group you have to deal with them at once and that’s where my problems started, I died right at the first control point. Sure I can set a trap but that takes care of one mob, the other four will still be hitting me which is not really good for my inductions. It might be due to the fact that Tuckborough is deliberately made easier and/or that I’m slightly under-geared.
Attack at Dawn features an interesting mechanic (which again I will probably enjoy more on my other characters) – after taking the first two control points you enter a courtyard which is being bombarded by catapults. When the thrown stones hit the ground they do quite some damage but what’s nice about it is that it doesn’t care whether you’re a friend or foe and hits everyone equally. On the same time it also breaks CC. Five seconds or so before the stone hits you’ll see a shiny circle on the ground so it isn’t difficult to avoid. Don’t think you can wait till it eradicates the enemies though, their out-of-combat regeneration is pretty high. After passing through the courtyard (and several more deaths) I reached the leader’s tent and disabled the catapults that stood by it. After that came Blood-rook and four wargs in a counter-attack and I really had no way of staying through it and being a bit depressed about my performance I left the skirmish. I retook it later on level 35 which was bearable so I know what does the boss fight look like. Graug – an Orc who looks like one of the Ghâsh-hai (the fire Orcs from Moria and Rift) welcomes you in his tent and sets on fire you as well as the entrance to the tent so you can’t leave (the tent itself is apparently fire-proof). There is also a multitude of little goblin sappers standing on ramps inside the tent and from time to time one of them will attempt to make a run for it and you have to kill it, they’re swarm so it shouldn’t be a problem. Graug will also do a little bombardment of his own but it should be easy to avoid, at least for a solo player, I dread to see a 12-man raid all inside that tent. All in all it looks like a good challenging skirmish, which I really struggle with on my Hunter though I won’t be buying in on my F2P account anyway (unless they make some super sale). Apart from the difficulty issues there’s the thing that pretty much all the mobs have the Moria skins (pale goblins, green, scaly, iron-clad trolls etc.) but I hope they change it, it’s only a beta after all.
Icy Crevasse
(Well here’s a word I never heard before) A skirmish set in Forochel (yay!) and I can say the same things about it as I did with Attack at Dawn, offensive and really hard. And also with a new mechanic – the Winds of Forochel – the mighty winds of that region (somehow) increase your run speed and all your offensive capabilities and every time you take a control point the tier goes up (you end up at +20% run speed and +50% to all damage). At certain places there are also several cracks in the ice with steam coming through, standing on top of them will give you bonus (50%) to your incoming and outgoing healing but it gets rid of the Winds. As with the catapultage, these winds also affect your opponents. Ouch. The usual Forochel fauna can be found here – Gauredain (inluding those with pet wolves), sabre-cats, Angmarim (though in “summer-attire”), ice-grims, Dourhand Dwarves etc. I’ve even “encountered” a mammoth, a bear and an ice-worm.
The skirmish itself takes place in the canyon between Kauppa-kohta and Pynti-peldot and as such is quite linear. Sometimes I managed to split the pull at the control points and so I only died during counter attacks. The final fight consists of two elites (yes, two) but they don’t always fight at the same time. There is a mammoth-riding Gauradan and an Angmarim sorcerer, the mammoth starts the fight then retreats (at about 2/3 morale) and the sorcerer joins the fight only to retreat later, the second time around the sorcerer doesn’t retreat and calls the mammoth so you end up fighting both. The sorcerer will also put down “puddles” that heal him when he hits you (doesn’t work the other way around though). I got really close to finishing it, by unleashing every powerful attack I could so the enemy would retreat fast enough (you are still in-combat during those transitions but they take a while) but I still got defeated at the end. Oh and why is there a sorcerer at the end you might ask – well you probably wouldn’t as enemy sorcerers are commonplace but anyway – he wants to command wind and rain (snow) and froze over the lake of Evendim so an army could march on Tinnudir. A bold plan and I guess many players would maybe like to let him do it, travel across the lake would become easier.
For a more detailed look on the skirmishes and related changes in Update 3 I recommend Pineleaf’s Preview at CStM.
Instances
Well, I would really like to say something about those, being level 41 I thought I would be able to try them more or less on level but Bullroarer really seems empty these days, the first day I logged on there were only 2 other players on the whole server (plus some anonymous ones I’d presume). If I catch a group I’d really like to have a peak inside but so far I got to spend time looking at the rewards – and some of them are really good especially those for level 65 characters which rival the items that are currently deemed the best. There are also some housing decorations to be had from one of the instances (a throne and a tomb) but I’ll have to wait a while to see those.
Despite the small size I say there are things to look forward to. This will also be the last update that US players will have before we do, although the reason won’t be a delay on Codemasters’ side but a delay caused by all our “earthly possessions” being copied over to Turbine’s servers.
Tags: skirmishes