There are no new skirmishes in The Rise of Isengard. That said, there are still several updates in the new expansion that affect the skirmish system. Today, we will have a look at these changes.
Skirmish Levels
With the increase in the level cap, we also have an increase in the maximum level setting for skirmishes. All skirmishes will have a maximum level of 75.
The maximum rank for soldiers is being increased from 25 to 35. The levels associated with the current ranks will be left unchanged.
With the increase in the maximum skirmish level, we also have a new tier of skirmish rewards. This tier covers all ten of the new levels (66-75) and includes the usual variety of marks and bounties.
- Sergeant-at-Arms Marks, which can be exchanged for 25 skirmish marks
- Veteran Sergeant-at-Arms, which can be exchanged for 50 skirmish marks
- Sergeant-at-Arms Bounties, which can be sold for 40.58 Silver
- Veteran Sergeant-at-Arms Bounties, which can be sold for 153.13 Silver
- A new version of Fourth Marks (these are distinct from the original Fourth Marks).
- Fourth Marks may be used in bartering equipment or can be exchanged for 45 skirmish marks.
- Veteran Fourth Marks may be used in bartering equipment or can be exchanged for 50 skirmish marks.
- Superior Fourth Marks may be earned in level-75 Classic Instances
- Superior Fourth Marks can be purchased for 2506 SM + a Fourth Marks (or Veteran Fourth Marks)
The four skirmishes that had a minimum level of 65 will have their minimum level reduced to 60. Several players will welcome this change as it was not uncommon to reach the point in the epic quest line where you needed to run one of these skirmishes but could not due to the minimum level.
Specific Skirmish Changes
The half orcs in Thievery and Mischief have new skins. There is also a larger variety of skins than you have in the past.
The invisible wall in Stand at Amol Sûl is finally visible once again.
There are several changes in Attack at Dawn. The highlights are:
- There is now a warning about the reduction in reinforcements (counterattacks) when both gates are secured.
- Some orc skins appear to be different.
- At end, fire at the tent opening and any escaping goblins will de-spawn.
Other Changes
Mobs that once summoned creatures or items on top of themselves now summon them at a randomly-selected nearby location. This is most annoying with the Shepherd of Filth. In the past, my warden would just use Resolution to remove the crawlers. As the three crawlers now appear in three different locations and are often out of the range of Resolution when they spawn, I now have a much tougher time eliminating the crawlers. If I am lucky enough for them to be in the same general direction, I can still use Javelin of Deadly Force but that rarely gets them all. This is the most annoying skirmish change in this expansion.
As several attributes have changed, several of the soldier traits have been consolidated. There is no general soldier trait refund but you will receive a refund for any traits that have been removed. I recommend that you check your soldier’s traits before you start your first post-Isengard skirmish.
The mobs you face in duo skirmishes have had their effectiveness reduced by 25%.
Summary
When I run with my main warden on Windfola, I have a character that has been sitting at cap for over a year. This means that level-65 skirmishes are fairly easy to complete. On Bullroarer, I don’t have top-line equipment and I copied over my less-developed cap warden. As a result, I sometimes found myself struggling while attempting level-75 Tier 1 skirmishes. I will need to keep this in mind when developing my characters on the live servers.
May your shield protect you and your spear never break,
Pineleaf Needles
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September 19, 2011 at 10:10 am
Disappointed on the lack of new skirmishes.
September 19, 2011 at 10:16 am
One of my main concerns with the skirmish system was that leveling up the soldier and skills past level 65 saw VERY diminished returns for an exorbitant amount of skirmish marks. Of course, that didn’t stop me from spending the SMs. I like having an uber soldier.
That said, I was wondering if the skirmish soldier levels have been retooled to account for the fact that they are no longer leveling higher than us. Are we going to see a higher increase in stats-per-level, or more bang for our skirmish mark?
Thanks, Pineleaf, for all of this valuable information. Like many, I’m sad that we aren’t seeing any new skirmishes yet for the new expansion. It’s nice to see that work is continuing on the existing system, though. I look forward to trying it out!
September 19, 2011 at 9:46 pm
The costs for skirmish ranks have always taken relative level into account when you purchase them. Rank 25 is currently so expensive because you are always purchasing it above the recommended level. Rank 25 would be a much lower cost for a level-75 character. Of course, if your level-75 character decides to purchase a trait at rank 35, then that would be very expensive.
September 19, 2011 at 10:49 am
Thanks for summarizing these changes. I am most intrigued by the very last line: “The mobs you face in duo skirmishes have had their effectiveness reduced by 25%.” This sounds like duo skirmishes might now be scaled more appropriately for two players rather than just being versions of fellowship skirmishes. Of course that doesn’t do anything about mob density…
September 19, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Sounds to me like it’s still a Small Fellowship version in terms of number and type of mobs. At least they are somewhat easier now. If it was Tier 0 before, it’s sounding more like Tier -1 now.
Personally, I think they should have made Duo equal to Tier 3 (or higher) Solo; ie., more difficult mobs with the same density as Solo. But, this is finally a fix for the broken Duo setting. Huzzah!
September 19, 2011 at 1:09 pm
As I understand it, mob health and damage output were always modified from small fellowship skirmishes by simply reducing them by a certain percentage. I don’t remember what that percentage was. If this is an ADDITIONAL twenty-five percent off of what was already in place, I’m going to be fairly shocked.
My wife and I run duo skirmishes all the time. While occasionally challenging (and sometimes very frustrating, simply because she’s a champ with an archer soldier and I’m a hunter with a warrior soldier. Probably unwise.) I thought the difficulty level was fairly appropriate. We actually might be able to start attempting tier 2 skirmishes now!
September 19, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Yes, it’s additional to what is currently on live. It is most noticible with encounters, LTs, & bosses morale.
This should help the difficulty between 45-level cap where things can get dicey, but it will make level cap T1 duo’s much easier than where they stand currently.
September 19, 2011 at 3:32 pm
My problem with Duo setting was that it was not much different than Small Fellowship. As it was described to me, Duo was Tier 0 Small Fellowship (slightly easier mobs with same density as Small Fellowship). In my opinion, it wasn’t easy/fast enough to justify the loss of skirmish mark reward versus just 2-manning the Small Fellowship. You end up fighting the same number of mobs, but with 10% more health than Duo setting and for more Skirmish Marks. So, we did that; mostly successfully, sometimes not (darn you Dannenglor!).
And tiering up or 2-manning the Small Fellow skirmishes is still a viable option for people who want a challenge, or want more marks. But, for those who want a different experience, you can now Duo a new and improved Tier 1. There will still be the challenge of fighting number of mobs scaled for 3 people. They’ll still knockback your inductions. They’ll just hit less hard and die a little easier. Hopefully, this will be a good balance.
September 19, 2011 at 10:56 am
Any info as to what soldier traits have been removed/consolidated?
September 19, 2011 at 11:08 am
Random question, but have they finally adjusted the Barter Wallet so that all skirmish barter items go into it?
I really don’t understand why it doesn’t work that way currently.
September 19, 2011 at 11:26 am
Currently the marks that can be bartered for equipment/cosmetics/etc go into wallet and those that are ONLY used to exchange for skirm marks go into your bags.
September 19, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Another small tidbit I saw this past week-end. The dailies quest level increased from 65 to 75, which also increased the experience to >7k. We ran a few duo skirmishes at L65, but then I ran through on a newly minted L20. Even with zero rested xp & no xp buffs I was nearly able to level to 21 (~1.4K away). This will definitely help at higher levels, and lower level skirmishing will be even crazier for xp.
As for the duo skirmishes, they are definitely now more on par with a T1 solo skirmish in terms of difficulty vs. small-fellowship. The damage/morale/etc. difference is very noticible.
September 19, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Interesting note on XP and mob health in Duo. This makes me very excited about new skirmishes. Thanks for adding!
September 19, 2011 at 9:51 pm
That must have been something they added in the final build. I had checked the daily rewards in earlier builds and they were still at the old values. I didn’t get enough playing time after the last build to notice the update.