Update 18 Blogs – Day 1: Enter The Pukelmen

Ever since we were given Minas Tirith in Update 17, I’ve been both anxiously waiting for new content while dreading that it would have immense problems. The same on-going problems that Minas Tirith continues to have, but to be fair, they are working on it.

So here comes Update 18, Far Anorien, the area that connects Rohan and Gondor, a place that was never truly explored in the movies. Though one could argue that in the extended version of the Return of the King, where Eowyn and Merry have their little conversation as they ride to Gondor, that they were shown briefly in that area.

This update brings us a plethora of things: new region, new quests, raised level cap, new armour and new instances. There is so much new stuff to take that this is why I decided to start a blog series where I write what I experience and see as I go through all the new content on a daily basis.

So after being told for the millionth time that Rohan has abandoned the people of Minas Tirith and that the city is lost, you get a quest to go investigate, and look for the Rohirrim. Of course, this leads to get a bit distracted along the way. Here is where the Pukel-men come in.

For those unaware, the Druedain [or Pukel-men] are basically wild men of the woods who live in a desolate area of Far Anorien and who aided the Rohirrim’s passing by holding off the bands of orcs. It is a nice surprise to see them added into the game, one could think that they look a bit strange, but they are quite friendly in this encarnation. You even get a quest to laugh with them, showing that you are a friendly person.

Their little hidden spot in the mountains is quite nice, almost make you think of hobbits living in the wild in some way. And to be honest, I did enjoy doing their mundane little tasks, albeit their homeland is a bit confusing to navigate. Once I was done with their quest line I took off to find the Rohirrim.

Now of course, this being the day of release they were some performance issues, with all the level 100 people running around. It did also make questing a bit hard, having to kill specific mobs in an area with 10 other people present is a bit hard.

But at the same time, I loved it, I loved seeing everyone out and about, it was nice to see that people were enjoying this new content. I certainly was. It has sort of felt like life has been breathed back into the game and that questing now has more of a purpose than just getting tokens for armour.

I look forward to playing more.