Are skirmishes /instances required?

[Arbatax]

As a rather new player (level 21 Elf Hunter), I took the quest to talk to the Skirmish Master. He put me through a kind of tutorial, defending Bree.

I have to say that I find the whole experience very boring and if that is how the game will continue, I will quit. Better to know now than later.

My question is therefore: Are skirmishes really necessary to complete the game? Or could I safely skip them? Same for other "instances" on the Instance Finder panel. Think of Helm's Deep, which I quit halfway out of sheer annoyance with the complexity of what I consider a very uninteresting chore. And very inelegant, if I may say, because completely out of sequence of the "journey", which is for me the heart of the novels.

I hope I am wrong and LOTRO is not another "hack and slash" game. Thanks for any info on this.

[Elmagor]

As a rather new player (level 21 Elf Hunter), I took the quest to talk to the Skirmish Master. He put me through a kind of tutorial, defending Bree.

I have to say that I find the whole experience very boring and if that is how the game will continue, I will quit. Better to know now than later.

My question is therefore: Are skirmishes really necessary to complete the game? Or could I safely skip them? Same for other "instances" on the Instance Finder panel. Think of Helm's Deep, which I quit halfway out of sheer annoyance with the complexity of what I consider a very uninteresting chore. Not at all what I was expecting from this game. And very inelegant, if I may say, because completely out of sequence of the "journey".

Thanks for any info on this.

You need complete some skirmishes once for epic quests, but no, other instance don't looks and don't works like skirmishes.

[Caerfinon2]

My question is therefore: Are skirmishes really necessary to complete the game?

I don't do any of the skirmishes on my characters. There are some Epic Quests that require a skirmish, however these can be done solo or in a group. See: https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/skirmish

[Arbatax]

You need complete some skirmishes once for epic quests, but no, other instance don't looks and don't works like skirmishes.

Thanks. Do I understand that I can skip the other instances as well?

[Elmagor]

Thanks. Do I understand that I can skip the other instances as well?

You can skip most of instances. But most of them not boring. Even new skirmish (added in 2022) more harder and little less boring when old skirmishes. Skirmish what ypu encounter basically tutorial. Raids don't work like skirmishes and more harder too.

[Arbatax]

I have difficulty understanding what I am supposed to do. In Defense of the Prancing Pony, I did as I was told: purchased the Warrior Role Trait from Will, talked to Tom to slot it, and called forward my warrior. I then left the instance. If I now go back, I find nothing to do. All NPC's have blue rings, and there are no enemies in sight. The instructions still say Talk to Will, etc., but that does nothing new. I can call forward my warrior, but what do I do next?

Sorry for the newbie questions. Will appreciate any help. Thanks.

[Vilan]

Leaving the instance without finishing it might have made it bug out. Log off, log back in, and try it again.

There are a few skirmishes around level 50-60 that are part of the storyline, but other than that you will be able to ignore them.

[Elmagor]

I have difficulty understanding what I am supposed to do. In Defense of the Prancing Pony, I did as I was told: purchased the Warrior Role Trait from Will, talked to Tom to slot it, and called forward my warrior. I then left the instance. If I now go back, I find nothing to do. All NPC's have blue rings, and there are no enemies in sight. The instructions still say Talk to Will, etc., but that does nothing new. I can call forward my warrior, but what do I do next?

Sorry for the newbie questions. Will appreciate any help. Thanks.

Make sure what your skirmish soldier upgraded to Warrior. After that, enemies will appear

If you can't progress instance, just cancel quest, wait 5 min and accept it again. Repeat with buying new role/equip it/summon your new Warrior soldier

[Arbatax]

Make sure what your skirmish soldier upgraded to Warrior. After that, enemies will appear

If you can't progress instance, just cancel quest, wait 5 min and accept it again. Repeat with buying new role/equip it/summon your new Warrior soldier

Canceling the quest isn't possible (grayed out). But waiting worked, can now talk to NPC's again. I think I can take it from here. Thanks.

[Nebless]

skirmishes /instances

If it helps, you can think of them the same as doing festival quests. Just something else to do when you want to take a break from questing. As pointed out there are some required one's in the Epic Quest line, but byond those ..... not required.

They do provide an alternate way (via the skirmish tokens) to buy gear and if you get any landscape soldier tokens via the store or daily rolls those same skirmish tokens can upgrade your skirmish soldier to help you out while questing in the world.

And they also have deeds within them (generally kill named bosses in them) that provide free store tokens.

Think of Helm's Deep, which I quit halfway out of sheer annoyance with the complexity of what I consider a very uninteresting chore. And very inelegant, if I may say, because completely out of sequence of the "journey", which is for me the heart of the novels.

Not sure why you wouldn't have ended up in a Helm's Deep instance at level 21, unless you purposely launched it. You will see the Big Battle instances while doing the Epic Quest line through that pack, but you can actually skip those if you want and pick up the Epic after it leaves Helm's Deep.

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I generally run just the Offensive Skirmishes when I want to do something other than questing. I find the mechanics in the Defense one's (like the Prancing Pony) to be annoying.

[Arbatax]

Not sure why you wouldn't have ended up in a Helm's Deep instance at level 21, unless you purposely launched it.

I launched it because I got invited by an in-game mail... Indeed, I don't understand why they should invite me at this level...

[ReneKiller1]

I launched it because I got invited by an in-game mail... Indeed, I don't understand why they should invite me at this level...

The Epic Battles which you can find in Helms Deep and Gondor scale everyone to level 100. Because of that it is possible to do them with level 20 and you get the invite with level 20. But it is significantly harder with level 20 as the scaling is not perfect and you are missing a ton of skills and the legendary weapons which come around level 50. So you can the Epic Battles now, but I wouldn't. Later when reaching Helms Deep story-wise you can either do the Epic Battles or do the alternative which is a smaller story instance without all the Epic Battle stuff.

In general most skirmishes/instances/raids/epic battles are optional. In Moria and Dol Guldur some skirmishes are required to go on with the story, but you only need to do these one time.

When reaching max level (which will take a while) you would need to do instances and raids in a group, if you are interested in getting better gear. On the other hand if you want to play completly solo, you don't really need the better gear from instances/raids.

[Elmagor]

I launched it because I got invited by an in-game mail... Indeed, I don't understand why they should invite me at this level...

I always consider Epic Battles/Erebor instances on that level like big mistake. People throwed into hard instances what they can't understand and suddenly move them from Bree/Shire/Ered Luin to Rohan/Erebor.

[StinkyGreene]

When reaching max level (which will take a while) you would need to do instances and raids in a group, if you are interested in getting better gear.

I would point out that group instances start at level 20 (earlier with some determination). Personally, I find instances (and of course raids) some of the most fun and challenging parts of the game.

You’re already overleveled, but you may want to try finding some folks to do the Great Barrow - The Maze instance with. That’s considered the first real instance you’d come across.

[Nebless]

I launched it because I got invited by an in-game mail... Indeed, I don't understand why they should invite me at this level...

Interesting. Never got an email like that. I did get one to go see the Epic Battle Trainer (same as getting the one inviting you to the Skirmish Trainer) and later on you'll get auto offered quests to 'join in the battle for Middle Earth' or some such having you go to one of the 'battle'? NPC's for big battle missions.