Game of Thrones: Hobbits are coming
Hobbits raid more than yer larder!
“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die”
Yesterday, we gathered a bunch of hobbits and entered the Minas Tirith raid “Throne of the Dread Terror” in Lord of the Rings Online. We had nosed around in there once or twice before, but generally gotten our sorry hobbit behinds well and truly spanked, not least since we never went as a full group.
Yesterday, though, 12 brave hobbits answered the call and went to conquer the throne.
The adventure was not without challenges. First, if you go on adventure with hobbits only, you miss out on a lot of classes (champions, captains, loremasters, runekeepers, beornings), some of which are very helpful in a raid setting. Second, the Grand Order never really embraced professional raiding, which means that our adventurers had varying gear quality and little experience from running large instances.
We also like staying in-character on our adventures, talking like our hobbit characters would, which both takes time and is not always compatible with explaining game mechanics. Technological issues cropped up, with severe lag for some. There were the odd bugs which led to a couple of players being locked out of the final battle.
“All men must die, but we are not men”
Still, it was grand fun! Roleplaying hobbits on adventure adds a lot to the experience. Bringing a hobbit worldview and dialogue into the scariest, most dangerous pits of Middle-Earth can make for hilarious roleplaying and much headshaking over all the strange things that happens outside of The Shire (as well as regular complaints over the limited number of meals). There is just something special about trying to trick food out of yer fellow adventurers just before going head to … er… knee with two nasty Nazgul. Charging into battle, raising yer trusty Bullroarer tankard high. As well as doing the celebratory hobbit victory dance on top of every loot chest in the dungeon.
In the end, we claimed the throne and were victorious, while having a lovely time together! Below is a gallery with pictures from the adventure (click on any picture to start the auto-displayed gallery). Pictures courtesy of Pennyroyal, Galifer, Wiberic and Lina.
Vital data
- Hobbits: Anysia, Bilbeto, Fleuralis, Galifer, Lina, Mollywobbles, Nimelia, Nonette, Pennyroyal, Potty, Ragwort and Wiberic
- Classes: Burglar x 1, Guardians x 2, Hunters x 4, Minstrels x 3, Wardens x 2
- Duration: A little more than 3 hours from we entered the raid to we left
- Player level range: From 117 to 130
- Raid tier: 1
- Gear: Variable quality, mostly regular quest and adventure gear
- Raid experience: Highly variable, the participants were mostly roleplaying hobbits looking to have a good time together on adventure. Nonette did a grand job of herding the group through the adventure, though.
- Wipes: A couple on the third boss, Vadokhar. Else things went quite well.
- Disconnects: None!
- Lag: A fair bit for one or two participants
- Gondor model ships looted: 4
- Biscuits looted: None (although a few were eaten)
Gallery: Hobbits climb the Throne of the Dread Terror
