In this series, I talk about various aspects of The Lord of the Rings Online. This series is meant for newcomers, but may also help veteran players find more to love about the game.
"As darkness creeps across the stricken lands of Middle-earth, none are safe from the peril in the East. Skirmish Camps have appeared throughout the lands as rallying points for those who will stand together to fight the shadow. Stout soldiers gladly lend their weapons, but they lack a leader. What hero will answer the summons?"
This is how players are introduced to an instance type called Skirmishes. In this entry, we'll cover what Skirmishes are, their types, the variety of enemies, the size of the fight, your Skirmish Soldier, rewards, and related Deeds.
"Hope is not yet lost for the Free Peoples if a warrior of your class stands with us. I hope that one day we shall stand together on the field of battle! The skirmishes await your sword." --Idhrinnion, Skirmish Captain of the North Downs
What is a Skirmish?
The LOTRO Wiki defines a Skirmish as a short instance that rewards players with special barter currency and other support items. Skirmishes themselves are extremely flexible compared to many other types of instances in the game in that you can do them by yourself, with a friend, with a small group of friends, or even with a full raid of friends. The content scales accordingly, so they can be as laid back or difficult as you wish them to be!
• Types
There are three types of Skirmishes in LOTRO: Defensive, Offensive, and Survival. Your objectives within the Skirmish will match those types accordingly. In Defensive, you can expect to protect a base and/or keep specific NPCs alive for the duration of the Skirmish. In Offensive, you will have to fight your way into a base and take control of areas on your way in. In Survival, you simply survive as long as possible.
• Enemies
The number and difficulty of enemies will be determined by how many players are in the Skirmish, the level it's run at, and the difficulty tier selected. The more players, or the tougher the tier, the more difficult enemies will be... and there will be more of them to face.
• Sizes
As mentioned above, you can run Skirmishes with all sizes of groups: solo, duo, fellowship, or raid. The group size will determine how many and what difficulty of enemies are sent at you -- which in turn increases the output of rewards!
• Tiers
There are three tiers of Skirmishes, which you can select in the Instance Finder panel before you launch the Skirmish -- it can't be changed after you've entered it. Tier 1 is the default. Tier 2 will increase Mark percentage by 10%, and Tier 3 will increase Mark percentage by 25%. Challenge yourself and make out like a bandit!
Rewards
• Marks, Medallions & Seals -- Oh My!
The rewards granted from completing a Skirmish are to scale for the level, group size and tier. The primary reward currency is in Marks, Medallions and Seals which can used for barter at Skirmish Camps. Other rewards include Legendary Item experience, coins, Bounties which can be sold for coins, consumables related to Legendary Items, Tokens or Emblems for use in future Skirmishes, Crafting components, and faction Reputation.
• Camp Goods
You can use your barter currency to buy a wide variety of goods in the Skirmish camp: armour, jewellery, cloaks, cosmetics, crafting recipes and items, reputation consumables, legendary items, weapons, and more. We'll talk more about Skirmish Camps in a future entry!
Skirmish Soldier
What really separates a Skirmish from other instances in the game is the ability to summon a Skirmish Soldier to your side to fight along with you. Not only do you have this soldier to help you, but you can improve their abilities and training -- and even customize their appearance. They operate much like a pet for Lore-masters or Captains, but without a full bar of commands to use. You can merely summon and direct them. If they fall, you can summon them again. You can also acquire tokens (Landscape Soldier Tokens) that enable you to summon your Soldier outside of Skirmishes if you need some help with content and don't have friends handy -- and the tokens operate like a parking meter, ticking down as the Soldier is used.
• Investing in Your Soldier (and Yourself)
How to Run a Skirmish
• Reporting In
• Tutorials
You will immediately be asked by the Skirmish Captain to run a pair of tutorial Skirmishes called Thievery and Mischief, and Defence of the Prancing Pony. The first teaches you how to Summon and Direct your soldier as you reclaim South Bree from enemy forces. The second has you protecting the townspeople inside the Prancing Pony as enemies attack from different directions. In this second one, you're taught how to choose a role for your soldier and train them in that role. Once you complete these skirmishes, you will have access to 2 or 3 others, depending on your subscription status. (Having VIP gives you access to a longer list of Skirmishes which you would otherwise have to purchase from the LOTRO Store.)
• Instance Finder
Launching Skirmishes happens from the Instance Finder panel. It is the fourth main type of instance listed, and the subtypes are listed so you can decide what type of Skirmish you want to run. You can also see what Skirmishes other people are running and group up with others this way.
Deeds
There are deeds for eating a lot of consumables, for setting of lots of fireworks, and even for clicking mounted fish trophies... so of course there are deeds for completing tasks in Skirmishes! They are all for defeating either specifically named enemies, or a specific quota of a type of enemy. There are even ones for the seasonal and festival Skirmishes which give you festival currency and titles! Skirmish deeds won't populate in your Deed Log until you start them, so get out there and start some Skirmishes!
Come back next week for the (obvious) follow-up entry: Skirmish Camps!
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