LOTRO: Lore-master of many colours

I may have moaned a bit about my kinship's raid activity of the past weeks (although I always try to see things positively), but things have changed for the better. There is currently no official end-game content in Lord of the Rings Online, and everyone is still questing and leveling their characters to level 85. However, I believe it is a good thing to keep doing fairly challenging raid content to keep in shape, especially if there are achievements that you have not completed yet. The only thing that comes close are the T2 Challenges of the Tower of Orthanc raid (intended for level 75, the current cap is 85).

Last Thursday, we had eight signups or our Fire & Frost T2 Challenge attempt, which we had been trying for weeks. We had the tactics settled, the only thing that was stopping us had been stupid misses of the tanks force taunts. I don't want to think about how many times we've reset this particular boss fight the last month. Either way, this particular night we persuaded some friends to come and help us out, and... we did it!

Of course it was a lot easier, because we were over leveled. Even though player DPS hasn't raised that much at all in 10 levels, it was a huge difference, because we didn't miss any skills on the bosses anymore. (That miss chance mechanic really creates a ridiculous randomness, I wish they would remove it from the game.) Also, the force taunts of our tanks didn't miss anymore, which brought an end to our burglars ending up tanking the boss and having to reset the fight.

The defeat of Fire & Frost Challenge brought a burst of enthusiasm to the kinship, and all of a sudden we had overflowing raid groups again. And if you're a bit informed and you know what's on the pictures, you already know what comes next. The next raid was on Sunday, and we managed Shadow T2 Challenge after just a few tries. On Tuesday we beat Saruman T2 Challenge. And then we had completed all challenge modes.

Although I'm still a bit disappointed by not having done all challenges on level, the amazing Steed of Many Colours made up for a lot. I did have to do the Foundry T1 for it after all the raid heroism, but it was worth it: this elder brother of the Prized Isengard War-steed wears a drapery that shifts colour! From blue to green, to yellow, to rose, all soft colours. Do put your graphics above medium, though, otherwise it will just show up white.

 Lore-master of many colours 

• Turquoise summer circlet
• Long-sleeved elven dress
• Cloak of the dragonfly

• Steed of Many Colours

This is what Ravanel will look like the coming weeks!

You receive the steed by completing all Tower of Orthanc deeds, including the 3- and 6-mans (on both tiers) and the ToO T2 Challenges.