“The Beleriand damage type is particularly strong against spiders, insects and ancient evil”
So says the tip on one of Lord of the Rings Online’s loading screens.
You have to wonder about the kind of people who invented that damage type.
“Ack! Ethel? Ethel!”
“Yes Agnes?!”
“Fetch me my slippers would you dearest? I’ve got a nasty little blighter running across the floor here that needs a whack.”
“Oh my, what is it?”
“A spider, dear.”
“Beleriand slippers, then?”
“Yes dear, of course my Beleriand slippers, what else am I going to use for a spider? And anyway, I’ll be needing them for the Dark World-eater I found behind the sofa too.”
I would guess that people whom took away from the Quenta Silmarillion the images of Melkor (ancient and evil) and Ungoliant (ancient, evil, and a great big spider) would tend to think that was what the Noldor in Beleriand would be tuning their weapons to smite.
If you already buy into Orcrist and Sting being forged with orc and goblin smiteage in mind, it isn’t a distant walk to think that they might have hammered out some weapons with spiders and balrogs in mind as well.
Extra credit: How would the fight on the bridge in Moria gone if Orcrist had dealt Beleriand damage?
My, everyone’s so serious about LotR!
Careful though, it’s possible that some of the commenters from yesterday’s post will be along to argue against your use of “orc and goblin”.
I saw that tip as well recently so it might have been added with last update, and thought oh that’s interesting but actually trying to find out all the details wasn’t easy. There is a table on the wiki about it, but still don’t know what the bonus is, but knowing Lotro in it’s stinginess with bonuses it’s probably 5% extra damage. For maximising damage in raids that would be useful for everyone else not so much.
When I went to Sarnur, where some mobs are immune to all damage but ancient-dwarf, I knew to bring two ancient-dwarf daggers with me when grinding for the goat. There’s a wright in barrow-downs during one of the epic books that can only be damaged with a certain damage type which I didn’t have on me at the time, now that was annoying.
Hah, nobody… uh… fell for my trap! That’s it, a trap, not an error!
Gandalf wielded Glamdring at the bridge, not Orcrist. So it wouldn’t have mattered.
I’m more of a LoTR poser. I know just enough to be annoying to both those who are serious and those who are not.
@darkeye: Oh my yes, requiring a specific type of damage is a bit evil; so you need a weapon for each damage type, potions for each debuff type, food for each buff type… in the end it’d just be easier to drop one’s backpack on the enemy from a great height and crush them under the weight of all the gear contained therein.
@wilhelm2451: I thought that was the best bit in the films, where they’re all charging on to the Pelennor Fields and then Gandalf shouts “It’s a trap!” and they all have to abort their attack before they collide with Sauron’s fully operational shields.
Considering the fact that Turbine also did DDO, the whole “specific damage type” thing doesn’t surprise me.
Fighting trolls? Gotta use fire/acid to remove their regen.
Fighting ghosts? Gotta use a ghost touch weapon to bypass their 50% dodge.
Fighting ghostly skeletons? Gotta use a holy weapon so your base damage actually makes it through.
Fighting a clay golem? Gotta use a blunt adamantine weapon if you want to do full damage against it.
Fighting something crystal-based? Gotta use a sonic/force weapon if you don’t want to spend 2 hours whittling it down.
Oh my yes, and m’colleague made a post a while back on exactly that topic in regards to DDO.
Ah, I remember that post. Back then, I didn’t have a melee class, so I never felt the pain of walking around with a weapon shop on my belt until now.