What stupid thing am I doing now?

[Sky]

Oh i was just being funny. But i do think Moria should be brought in line with Lungorthing.

[Derakon]

Okay, then remember how difficult sarcasm is to detect online. I was under the impression you were dead serious, and apparently Ingwe was as well.

[kandrc]

Originally Posted by Sky

Oh i was just being funny. But i do think Moria should be brought in line with Lungorthing.

Why?

A lot of people like to claim that this game is Tolkien themed and point out areas where it is not in keeping with the Tolkien universe to suggest changes. I'm not one of them. I couldn't care less if the game sticks with Tolkien themes, or accurately adheres to them. Throw in some goombas and koopa troopas, make Cthulhu a shopkeeper, etc., I'll still be perfectly happy. In that case, the Balrog of Moria is just some random balrog who happens to have gained some level of infamy, and there's no good reason to beef it up.

But let's assume that I do care about faithfulness to the Tolkien universe. Then the Balrog of Moria is just some random balrog who happened to destroy Mordor and take residence there. Gandalf was afraid when he realized there was probably a balrog. Not some famous, notorious, badass balrog king, but just "a balrog". And Gandalf the Grey--not the much-more-powerful Gandalf the White!--took the balrog out without even having Imm Fire and without allowing it to so much as injure any members of the fellowship.

Seems to me that from either perspective, there's no good reason not to have an otherwise fairly week balrog "named" after the one that destroyed Moria.

[Estie]

Balrog of Moria is one of the hardest monsters at level, if anything it should be made native to deeper levels, i.e. weakened.

As for its strength relating to Tolkien myth, everything in olden days was better and stronger, which is why Orcrist sucks. Both Lungorthin and Gothmog were "officer ranked" balrogs, and at least Lungorthin appears earlier (i.e. Silmarillion).

[Ingwe Ingweron]

[QUOTE=kandrc;123216]And Gandalf the Grey--not the much-more-powerful Gandalf the White!--took the balrog out without even having Imm Fire and without allowing it to so much as injure any members of the fellowship./QUOTE]

I think the Balrog of Moria is appropriate where it is, and similarly powered as the other monsters found in the Lord of the Rings (e.g., Smaug, Saruman, etc.), whereas monsters in the First Age (Angalacon, Ungoliant, etc.) were all that much more terrifying. Ungoliant nearly killed Morgoth. At some point, @ just happens to get more powerful than Gandalf ever was. Has to, to be able to take out Morgoth in combat.

As for Gandalf and immunity to fire. I don't know if he was immune, but Gandalf the Grey has been wearing Narya ever since his arrival in Middle-Earth. As I recall, Cirdan the Shipwright, original bearer of this Elven Ring, didn't trust Saruman from the beginning and gave his ring to Gandalf for his mission in Middle-Earth.

[Carnivean]

Originally Posted by Estie

Balrog of Moria is one of the hardest monsters at level, if anything it should be made native to deeper levels, i.e. weakened.

If I have my history right, the Balrog of Moria was the end boss of Moria the game, which went 50 levels. Having it appear on level 50 here is a nice hat tip to the history of the game. If it's super hard to beat at that level, then that also is appropriate because it was in Moria too.

[Sky]

a couple of things .. i'll be helped by the LOTR wikia here, and what little i remember of the silmarillion and lost tales.
although the balrog of moria isn't named, it would have a name, the same way that lungorthin does (which isn't fully clear if this is an earlier name of Gothmog). the fight with gandalf killed both in the end, and this balrog fought Durin and his dwarven host, so it is in no way a weak balrog or even "just a balrog". it should be, in power, at the same level of gandalf, radagast, and the other maiar, but consider that these are intelligent war-creatures. Gothmog is the only one that should stand out as more powerful, but moria should be in the same ballpark as the balrog lieutenants.