Caught in a Web
Highlights: Cirith Ungol, Minas Ithil, Shelob, Remmorchant
Cirith Ungol: Although the deed for this area only requires 20 quests, you will have the longest time and best time exploring the areas to the north. There you will meet Legolas checking out the "spider-people" and Alti taking down spiders from Mirkwood. You'll also see a few dangers that the Rangers have gotten themselves into. The quests chain really well from one to the next and you'll be encountering a bunch of familar faces going up the Windy Stair. If only Legolas stood a little to the side. He annoyed me greatly when he kept trying to get on top of me like some sort of hobbit grabbing food out of my backpack. Eventually you will get a quest to find Torech Ungol, the entrance to Shelob's Lair. You can't enter there to discover the entrance of the raid until then, unless you have someone summon you in. You can't mount up and there is no stable. Amusingly there was a freshly-made 120 character demanding to have the raid available to them right away. I would have given him a pass if he was level 130, but some people want things simply handed to them. If you venture to the far east, past the protective Gilgalar crystals, you'll end up into where the spiders broke through the gate at the Tower of Cirinth Ungol.
"I'll watch your back" - Erric, Swan-Knight
Private Instance: Of course the private instance "She Who Walks in the Darkness" is probably the highlight of the whole expansion. Felgur chases down the call of the spider. If you pay close attention to your left, you can spot Rukhor the Pale Herald hiding behind the webs. Eventually you get caught in some webs and forced to see Shelob eat her precious child. Then you are supposed to click on the webs to struggle. Except I was so enthralled the first time around that I just stood there and had her munch at me. Surprisingly it took her three tries to finally kill me. That's ok because I really wanted to do the instance again anyways. You eventually break free and get rescued by Celeborn. There is one little problem. There doesn't seem to be a way to revisit the instance at the Reflecting Pool. I hope they change that. The really cool part is my screenshot here was featured in Beacon #152.
"You only delay my plans, Lord of Elves. Take your champion, and go!" - Rukhor the Pale Herald
Minas Ithil: What I like is that there are so many avenues to see Minas Ithil from the mountain and windy stairs. It really makes you think about Frodo, Sam, and Gollum constantly seeing it as they head towards Mordor. There is a good chance you will get lost trying to find certain areas up there anyways. You might as well enjoy the view.
"There's another way. More secret. A dark way." - Gollum
Remmorchant: If you feel like trouble, you can head on down into Remmorchant: The Net of Darkness for the raid. The first boss is a spider that rotates two forms every week from three different phases. Unfortunately the fire phase is too technical and tedious for our kinship. For now we wait for a week with poison and lightning. However, people are upset that gear drops randomly and there is only a chance of them dropping from the side-bosses. I don't know how people managed to finish the raid, even after Vitality and Morale nerfed 5%. We still cannot beat the second boss, even when we do make it. And for some stupid reason, the spider side-boss closes the door "the easy way through" to the giant mother of all bugs if you wipe. So that's no fun either. At least Cartor got a good screenshot out of it. The first side-boss spider flings you in the air, the second one grows in power, and the third one takes a stroll around the room. They all have unique abilities and pretty fun once you get the hang of things. It is kind of funny to see giant bees form around the spiders too from the beornings.
"Do something El." - Ardian
2020-03-18