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A Brief History

In ages long past, dwarves delved throughout the Misty Mountains and there drew forth precious ore from the land. At the foot of those mountains, beneath the shadow of what is now called Mount Gram, is one such delving - The Delving of Frór.1]

Long before the Men of Rhudaur made the land now called the Ettenmoors their home, the dwarves who lived there carved deep beneath the mountains. The Delving of Frór was mined to exhaustion and abandoned for many years until the Men of Rhudaur arrived and themselves discovered its depths. The Men of Rhudaur eventually fell under the sway of the Witch-king, and Angmar demanded that they build subterranean holdings meant to serve as defenses against the forces of Cardolan and Arthedain. The Rhudauran complied, and built small holdings in the abandoned mines.


 
Book 12: The Ashen Wastes Introduces The Delving of Frór
(Click for larger images)

 

The Men of Rhudaur discovered too late the true intentions of the Witch-king and the people of Angmar. The long-lived and terrible gaunt-men came to roost within the subterranean halls of Frór, and succeeded in bringing great evil there. Before the evil could be unleashed, however, the Dúnedain and Elves cast down the Witch-king and banished him evermore from Angmar. Without leadership and directives, the gaunt-men fell upon each other, and the evil they wrought was sealed within The Delving of Frór.

Angmar and the Free Peoples alike assail the terror that dwells within The Delving of Frór, each for their own reasons. For Angmar, the thought of bringing such potent allies to bear against the Free Peoples and the promise of power from their leader Mordirith provides motivation. For the Free Peoples, the dissolution of great evil that would threaten the relative safety of Eriador drives them into the unwelcoming depths.

 

What is The Delving of Frór?

The Delving of Frór is a new public dungeon accessed only through the Ettenmoors. The dungeon features five raid-style bosses, more than fifteen group bosses and a host of creatures spanning from solo to group level in difficulty. Each denizen has the potential to drop loot equivalent to that found throughout the Ettenmoors, and also draws upon a set of new barter items used at the bases for both Free Peoples and monster players.

 

How do you get into The Delving of Frór?

Book 12: The Ashen Wastes Introduces The Delving of Frór Access to The Delving of Frór is gained by controlling three of the five locations found throughout the Ettenmoors: Tol Ascarnen, Tirith Rhaw, Lugazag, Grimwood Lumber Camp, or the Isendeep Mine. Controlling the majority of these locations means that the battle is tipped toward the Free People or Angmar and affords access to the portals (located at Ost Ringdyr for the Free Peoples or Dar-gazag for the forces of Angmar). Controlling the dungeon allows those inside to remain there, but losing control of the Battle in the Ettenmoors means the enemy will be able to enter the dungeon and drive you out.

Example: Let's say that currently, Free Peoples players control The Delving of Frór. Suddenly, the tide of battle turns and the monster players retake all the locations in the Ettenmoors! Free Peoples players may continue fighting within the Delving of Frór, but if ousted can no longer return to the depths until they once again have the upper hand in the battle. Further, the monster players now have access to the Delving of Frór and could soon enter the dungeon to drive the Free Peoples out!

 

Why go to the Delving of Frór?

All denizens of The Delving of Frór have the potential to drop barter items that are used by both monster players and Free Peoples players.

 

Monster Players

Monster players use these new barter items to purchase new racial skills, corruptions, and items. We have implemented a new suite of corruptions for purchase with the Delving of Frór. These second-tier corruptions promise to further enhance monster players in battle on the Ettenmoors. In addition, we have introduced new food, items, potions, and other goodies for the monster player in all of us. We didn't stop there, however, and have also included new racial skills for all monster players! This expands the number of racial slots available to monster players to three per character.

 

New Monster Skills

Here is a smattering of some of the new skills available to monster players.

 

Orcs

    * Dying Rage: As the orc nears death, he can spend his remaining energies to launch one last savage attack against his foes. He becomes immune to stuns, dazes, knockdowns, and fear as his fury reaches a peak. Unfortunately, there is no escaping the death that the expenditure of such rage brings.
    * Front-line Fodder: Increases parry, block, and evasion.

 

Spiders

    * Born of Shadow: The spider cloaks herself and her nearby warband in deep shadows. She gains the benefit of a bit of damage reflection and mitigation to damage from Light-based damage. Only her warband can share in this protection against the Light.
    * Eight-legged Menace: Increased movement speed and parry chance.

 

Uruks

    * Get a Grip!: Heals a fellow for a large portion of their health.
    * New Breed: Increases armor, morale and power.

 

Wargs

    * Pack Hunter: Marks a target for the pack to attack, increasing damage dealt to the target from all warband sources.
    * Pack Mentality: Increases parry and evasion and increases defense against tactical and physical sources.

 

New Monster Items:

A number of items (too many to list here) have also been added to assist monster players. Some of these items will increase speed or armor for short periods, and some are increased healing potions or increased power recovery potions. In addition to these, a new invoked item can be purchased to gain temporary immunity to negative combat states.

 

Free Peoples Players

Not to be outdone, Free Peoples players obtain new barter items to gain access to a new suite of class-based set items. These include new armor sets, weapon sets, jewelry sets and a host of other items meant to assist players in the Battle of the Ettenmoors.

 

New Player Items

Class Weapon Sets: New weapons geared toward assisting your player while in the battlefield. Each is based on the signature weapons of your class and may enhance your damage against the foes you face in the Ettenmoors.

These weapons are geared to deal more damage against the monster player types found throughout the Ettenmoors.

Class Armor Sets: Built with PvMP in mind, these new armor sets are based off the Helegrod set in looks, but garner set bonuses that are meant to enhance the overall experience within the Ettenmoors.

Each of the set bonuses enhances a skill used by the class that is very useful in PvMP.

Jewelry Sets: New jewelry sets are meant to augment one of three aspects of your character: damage output, healing output, or overall effectiveness.

Items: New items include new potions for players to use and consume while fighting in the Ettenmoors, and also a new invoked item that will grant them short term immunity to negative combat states.

Summary

The Delving of Frór is meant to be an engaging new location available to Free Peoples and monster players alike. The foes found there can be brutal and very difficult to kill. Add to this the threat that your opposition could gain control of the Delving at any moment, and you've got a hotly contested area of the game world ripe for conflict!

We'll see you in the depths come Book 12!

[1] This is not the Frór who was killed at the gates of his Dwarf home in the Grey Mountains with his father - this is a different Frór.

Picked up a new 22" wide screen monitor the other day, so I logged in last night. Damn does this game look good on wide screen.

I'm with NiX though. I wish Book 12 would be out already.

dx10 and all that jazz?