Now that we've covered the basics of crafting in the last post, let's move on to the more important task of choosing a vocation to go well with your class.
On the surface this may seem simple. Hunters use bows so they should choose woodsman so they can make their own bows, right? Not necessarily...
First off let's straighten something out: it's your character and you are free to do whatever you want with it. This guide is designed to help you make an informed decision that you won't regret 30 levels into the game. You may also have one or more other characters who are able to craft everything your hunter needs except bows. In this case you'v probably made the best decision.
However, if this is your first toon, you might want to consider what's going to give you the greatest long term benefits. So here we go...
Captain
Cappys benefit from a wide range of professions: They use heavy armour and can use shields so metalsmithing can be handy, they can use halberds, which aren't always easy to find, so that would mean weaponsmith, but then they also use captain emblems from a woodworker as well as armaments and standards from a tailor and tonics from a scholar. Keeping in mind that cook or tinker wouldn't exactly be a waste really there's no bad choice for a captain.
Just as in the rest of the game, captains are not a spectacular choice for any particular vocation, so it depends on your circumstances. If this is going to be your one toon then I would suggest choosing armorer. This will let you craft your own armour (6 items: head, shoulders, upper body, lower body, hands, and feet) and shields, as well as letting you purchase leathers to make cloaks, herald armaments and standards. That's 10 items total which will certainly be valuable to you both in equipment and in trade potential (how much stuff you can sell to other players).
Champion
The champ is a bit more straightforward to choose for. While champs certainly benefit from champion horns (woodworker) and champion potions (scholar) and heavy armour (metalsmith), the reality is that the champion wants great weapons above all else, making armsman an excellent choice. Barring this, the next best is almost certainly armorer, though really neither of these is bad. Some players run a champ as armsman and a guard or cappy as an armorer so both weapons and armour are provided for both.
Guardian
Guards may be the most obvious. Heavy armour use, heavy shields, legendary guardian belts and crafting tools make metalsmithing the most obvious and certainly most valuable choice. Throw in the ability to make your own cloaks through tailoring and congrats: the perfect armorer. No other class benefits from armorer as much as the guard.
Hunter
I used this earlier to mention that the most obvious isn't always the best and the hunter is a good example of this. The obvious choice is woodsman, which certainly isn't bad. You can make your own bows and if you're a hobbit you can get some bonuses with clubs as well, but that's about all you'd really get. Not that three weapons is bad, but you can do better.
My personal choice for a hunter vocation? Scholar. Why? All of the not-so-obvious reasons:
Hunter books provide permanent bonuses as long as they are equipped, hunter chants give huge combat advantages, hunter potions give short term combat boosts, and the hunter/warden oils can change your damage to light or fire, which can be very helpful. Add in battle lore and warding lore scrolls, healing pots and dyes and you stand to gain a lot more from a scholar than a woodsman.
Lore Master
There are three vocations that LMs get extra benefit from:
Scholar provides books and parables, jeweller provides talismans and brooches (both class specific), but if your lore master relies heavily on pets, then cook may be the best route to choose. Cooks can make pet food for lore master pets which provides significant combat advantages to your pet. These can be purchased or traded for from others players, but combined with the ability to make them yourself as well as keep yourself in cooked, trail and fortifying food, it's not a bad choice. It might even be the best choice.
Minstrel
The minstrel has a few decent choices:
A tailor will provide a continuous supply of top notch light armour, while a woodworker provides a good selection of instruments to use, but a scholar can give access to sheet music and legendary minstrel books.
Which one you choose is up to you and will likely depend on what other toons you have or are planning to roll. Some players don't use sheet music that often and legendary items can be purchased or traded for. If you use a wide range of instruments then run with woodworker otherwise choose a vocation that includes tailor. Go with woodsman and you can make your own instruments and have a friend (or alt) make you armour with the leather you provide.
Rune Keeper
More than any other class, rune keepers have special class specific items in a number of different professions:
Woodworkers give RK parchments, tailors make rune bags, jewellers produce rune stones, scholars make rune inlays and enamels, and metalsmiths make rifflers and chisels. One thing to say for sure: RKs make lousy weaponsmiths...or rather weaponsmiths are lousy for RKs...
So your top professions will be tinker, historian, armorer, explorer or yeoman. Tinker will give you jeweller as well as cook, but you need to track down cook ingredients. Historian gives you scholar but farmer doesn't produce anything for you while weaponsmith is completely useless (since you'd have to buy the materials and then have to try to profit from the sale of weapons (which is usually a glutted market in LOTRO).Yeoman if fine if you just want to cook, but since you'd have to purchase mats for tailoring it's not as good a choice as explorer, which lets you produce leather to turn into armour and rune bags.
My personal choice here is tinker. You can make all your own jewellery (7 equipped items) in addition to making your own rune stones. The addition of edhelharn tokens doesn't hurt either. You can also do some cooking (which is easier if you have a toon with farming).
Second pick for the RK would be armorer: you can make rifflers and chisels as well as light armour (though this would require mat purchases as well).
Warden
I'll sum up quickly with the ward: Woodsman. Here's why...
While warden excel with swords and clubs, they're usually the only class often seen running around with spears. They are also the only class that can use javelins. No biggie so far, but woodworkers also make warden carvings, which are very helpful, as well as warden hymns, which provide short duration buffs in combat. Farmer can raise some extra money or supply your tinker RK.
Ultimately it's up to you what you roll both for class and crafting. These are some suggestions and you're free to either take them or leave them.
The important thing to remember is that it's a game. So go have fun!
Thursday 23 October 2014
Wednesday 22 October 2014
Picking a Vocation (part 1: Introduction)
Crafting in LOTRO is essential to enjoying the full scope of game play, as well as providing tremendous benefits to your character and enabling you to make some money by selling what your character makes.
However, it can be a bit daunting to new players when deciding what vocation to choose from. This post and the next will seek to shed a bit of light on how crafting works and help you make that choice.
Overview
There are 9 professions. A profession is a single group of crafting skills, such as blacksmithing. There are gathering professions and production professions. For example, a forester gathers and refines wood and hides, while a woodworker takes refined wood and turns it into products, such as staves and bows.
There are 7 vocations. A vocation is a group of three professions that fit together in a way that makes some practical sense. As an example the vocation armorer consists of the professions prospector, metalsmith and tailor. The prospector mines the ore and refines it into metal, the metalsmith turns the metal into different products, most notably heavy armor, and it makes sense that someone who makes armor would have some skill working with cloth and leather as well, though these have to be obtained from different characters since the armorer can't gather them on his own.
In lotro you do not choose your professions on an individual basis, instead you select a vocation, based on what professions you prefer.
Professions Overview
In brief, here is a quick description of what each profession allows you to do.
Gathering Professions
Forester: harvests logs of wood from resource nodes and converts them into usable forms, refines rare materials into critical success items; refines hides into usable leather
Prospector: harvests chunks of ore from resource nodes and converts them into metal ingots, harvests rough gems from resource nodes
Farmer: grows various vegetables, grains, flowers and pipe weed, s
ome of which can be used by cooks or scholars
Production Professions
Woodworker: produces a number of melee weapons, staves, bows, crossbows, javelins, warden carvings, captain emblems, champion horns, instruments, and rune keeper parchments
Tailor: makes light armor, medium armor, cloaks, burglar signals, captain armaments, burglar tools, and rune keeper rune bags
Weaponsmith: makes metal melee weapons, burglar throwing weapons, burglar tricks, and shield spikes
Metalsmith: Produces heavy armor, shields, captain emblems, guardian belts and crafting tools
Jeweller: refines rough gems (from prospector), produces necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, rune keeper runes, lore master brooches, lore master talismans, and edhelharn tokens
Cook : takes various ingredients to produce cooked food, trail food, fortifying food, lore master pet food, and fine drinks
Scholar: harvests scholar materials from resource nodes, produces scrolls of battle lore, scrolls of warding lore, captain tonics, champion potions, crafting journals, scrolls of crafting lore, dyes, fireworks, hunter books, hunter chants, hunter potions, light and fire oils (for hunters and wardens), lore master books, minstrel books, lore master parables, minstrel sheet music, paints, potions (various kinds), and rune keeper rune tools
Vocations Overview
Each vocation consists of a set of three (3) professions.
Armorer
Prospector, metalsmith, tailor
Prospector allows the gathering and refinement of ore into metal which can be used in metalsmithing, but leathers must be obtained from another toon (either yours or someone else's) before you can use your tailor abilities.
Armsman
Prospector, weaponsmith, woodworker
As with the armorer, prospector feeds into weaponsmith but refined wood will have to be obtained to use woodworker.
Explorer
Forester, prospector, tailor
The ultimate gathering vocation, explorers can refine hides into leather to use in tailoring while also refining wood and metals to either trade or sell. Excellent for making money.
Historian
Scholar, farmer, weaponsmith
Typically the scholar aspect is the most focused on, however farmers grow a number of ingredients for scholar recipes (most notably dyes). Farmer can also be excellent for making money. Weaponsmith is tedious without a toon who can prospect the materials for you.
Tinker
Prospector, jeweller, cook
Jewellers get most of what they will need from a prospector, who can provide both the gemstones and the metals needed for making jewellery. Cook is probably the most difficult profession to level up and is even tougher without having farming.
Woodsman
Forester, woodworker, farmer
Foresters provide for woodworker while farmer is useful for raising money or trading. Sometimes a little pipeweed goes a long way...
Yeoman
Farmer, cook, tailor
This is the best cooking combination since you're able to grow your own ingredients. Tailor can be useful but you will need to obtain leather from another toon.
That's it for this post. Next time we'll compare classes with vocations and see what combinations work the best in the long run. You might be surprised.
However, it can be a bit daunting to new players when deciding what vocation to choose from. This post and the next will seek to shed a bit of light on how crafting works and help you make that choice.
Overview
There are 9 professions. A profession is a single group of crafting skills, such as blacksmithing. There are gathering professions and production professions. For example, a forester gathers and refines wood and hides, while a woodworker takes refined wood and turns it into products, such as staves and bows.
There are 7 vocations. A vocation is a group of three professions that fit together in a way that makes some practical sense. As an example the vocation armorer consists of the professions prospector, metalsmith and tailor. The prospector mines the ore and refines it into metal, the metalsmith turns the metal into different products, most notably heavy armor, and it makes sense that someone who makes armor would have some skill working with cloth and leather as well, though these have to be obtained from different characters since the armorer can't gather them on his own.
In lotro you do not choose your professions on an individual basis, instead you select a vocation, based on what professions you prefer.
Professions Overview
In brief, here is a quick description of what each profession allows you to do.
Gathering Professions
Forester: harvests logs of wood from resource nodes and converts them into usable forms, refines rare materials into critical success items; refines hides into usable leather
Prospector: harvests chunks of ore from resource nodes and converts them into metal ingots, harvests rough gems from resource nodes
Farmer: grows various vegetables, grains, flowers and pipe weed, s
ome of which can be used by cooks or scholars
Production Professions
Woodworker: produces a number of melee weapons, staves, bows, crossbows, javelins, warden carvings, captain emblems, champion horns, instruments, and rune keeper parchments
Tailor: makes light armor, medium armor, cloaks, burglar signals, captain armaments, burglar tools, and rune keeper rune bags
Weaponsmith: makes metal melee weapons, burglar throwing weapons, burglar tricks, and shield spikes
Metalsmith: Produces heavy armor, shields, captain emblems, guardian belts and crafting tools
Jeweller: refines rough gems (from prospector), produces necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, rune keeper runes, lore master brooches, lore master talismans, and edhelharn tokens
Cook : takes various ingredients to produce cooked food, trail food, fortifying food, lore master pet food, and fine drinks
Scholar: harvests scholar materials from resource nodes, produces scrolls of battle lore, scrolls of warding lore, captain tonics, champion potions, crafting journals, scrolls of crafting lore, dyes, fireworks, hunter books, hunter chants, hunter potions, light and fire oils (for hunters and wardens), lore master books, minstrel books, lore master parables, minstrel sheet music, paints, potions (various kinds), and rune keeper rune tools
Vocations Overview
Each vocation consists of a set of three (3) professions.
Armorer
Prospector, metalsmith, tailor
Prospector allows the gathering and refinement of ore into metal which can be used in metalsmithing, but leathers must be obtained from another toon (either yours or someone else's) before you can use your tailor abilities.
Armsman
Prospector, weaponsmith, woodworker
As with the armorer, prospector feeds into weaponsmith but refined wood will have to be obtained to use woodworker.
Explorer
Forester, prospector, tailor
The ultimate gathering vocation, explorers can refine hides into leather to use in tailoring while also refining wood and metals to either trade or sell. Excellent for making money.
Historian
Scholar, farmer, weaponsmith
Typically the scholar aspect is the most focused on, however farmers grow a number of ingredients for scholar recipes (most notably dyes). Farmer can also be excellent for making money. Weaponsmith is tedious without a toon who can prospect the materials for you.
Tinker
Prospector, jeweller, cook
Jewellers get most of what they will need from a prospector, who can provide both the gemstones and the metals needed for making jewellery. Cook is probably the most difficult profession to level up and is even tougher without having farming.
Woodsman
Forester, woodworker, farmer
Foresters provide for woodworker while farmer is useful for raising money or trading. Sometimes a little pipeweed goes a long way...
Yeoman
Farmer, cook, tailor
This is the best cooking combination since you're able to grow your own ingredients. Tailor can be useful but you will need to obtain leather from another toon.
That's it for this post. Next time we'll compare classes with vocations and see what combinations work the best in the long run. You might be surprised.
Monday 20 October 2014
Picking a Class: The Guardian
Guardians and champions are effectively 2 sides of the same coin. Both wear heavy armour, both engage in direct melee combat, both are combat experts. However, where the champ focuses primarily on melee DPS, the guard focuses mainly on absorbing damage through mitigations and shield useage. Before we go into the different trait lines of guard, let's look at some other similarities between these 2 classes.
Both can gain access to reasonable self heals, more or less depending on which trait line is trained and active.
Both have the ability to draw threat off of other players.
Both look awesome as dwarves!
Both can wield massive 2 handed weapons.
Now a few key differences.
Only the champ can dual wield.
Only the guard can use shields (guards are the only class in lotro that can use heavy shields).
Guards get a really nifty ability to make a whistle that can be given to another player. When used the player will summon the guardian to their location.
Combat for the champion is based on fervour. Guardian combat is responsive based on either blocks or parries.
Combat for a guard changes a bit typically based on whether or not you are in a group. When fellowing, a guard will often (but not always) be in a tanking role. However, tanking usually means doing less DPS and that means that regular mobs can take way too long to take down solo, so a solo guard will typically be using the overpower stance (which is now a trait in the Keen Blade line) which allows faster attacks and more damage output.
Regardless of your role a few things are always the same for a guard. Guardians have three different kinds of combat ability: basic, block response and parry response. What this means is that a guard will always begin combat with only a few basic attacks available. However, upon blocking an enemy's attack, certain shield based abilities become available. Using some of these can lead to a chain of special responsive abilities.
Likewise, parrying an attack opens up other special abilities, some of which provide a special ability chain. In both cases though, the special abilities are only available for a set amount of time before becoming unusable, so be careful not to get stunned while in the middle of a chain.
Guard traits runa wide gamut. On the one end is pure tanking: low DPS, high survivability, high blocking. On the other end is higher DPS, lower defense, no shield, decent parrying. In between finds a more hybridized blend of both defense and damage.
Defender of the free:
High damage mitigations, heavy shield usage, focus on drawing threat and holding it, aggroing multiple mobs at once, defending allies and self heals. This trait line is what makes guards desirable in group play situations. Almost every group running an instance or skirmish will want to have at least one main tank (generally either a guard or a warden, but sometimes a champ or cappy) and this is the trait line that will most benefit your group. Your role as a tank is to keep the enemy focused on you while your allies assault the enemy and keep you alive.
The Keen Blade:
Probably the default trait line for most guards running solo. This trait line exchanges high defense for increased attack speeds and higher DPS. Most will forgo a shield in this stance in order to equip a 2 handed weapon for more powerful blows. If running this trait set in a group the guard can increase their fellowships damage (which can be nice when cleaning up slayer deeds). Additionally KB focuses on bleeds, damage buffs and parrying.
The Fighter of Shadow:
As a rule, yellow trait lines in lotro are designed as alternatives for solo play or small groups, providing a different experience than the red line. The FoS certainly fits that bill. A mix of damage buffs and enemy debuffs, with some self heals and defense thrown in, the FoS line provides a delightful change of pace for the guard. In a group the FoS almost becomes an anti-captain; debuffing with almost everything they do rather than buffing allies.
Whichever trait set you pick, if you like being the burly, damage resistant type, that guard is probably the way to go. Additionally, it is one of the few classes available to all races. When choosing a profession for a guard, the obvious choice is armorer, since you will benefit from heavy armor, shields and shield spikes that can be made by a metalsmith.
Both can gain access to reasonable self heals, more or less depending on which trait line is trained and active.
Both have the ability to draw threat off of other players.
Both look awesome as dwarves!
Both can wield massive 2 handed weapons.
Now a few key differences.
Only the champ can dual wield.
Only the guard can use shields (guards are the only class in lotro that can use heavy shields).
Guards get a really nifty ability to make a whistle that can be given to another player. When used the player will summon the guardian to their location.
Combat for the champion is based on fervour. Guardian combat is responsive based on either blocks or parries.
Combat for a guard changes a bit typically based on whether or not you are in a group. When fellowing, a guard will often (but not always) be in a tanking role. However, tanking usually means doing less DPS and that means that regular mobs can take way too long to take down solo, so a solo guard will typically be using the overpower stance (which is now a trait in the Keen Blade line) which allows faster attacks and more damage output.
Regardless of your role a few things are always the same for a guard. Guardians have three different kinds of combat ability: basic, block response and parry response. What this means is that a guard will always begin combat with only a few basic attacks available. However, upon blocking an enemy's attack, certain shield based abilities become available. Using some of these can lead to a chain of special responsive abilities.
Likewise, parrying an attack opens up other special abilities, some of which provide a special ability chain. In both cases though, the special abilities are only available for a set amount of time before becoming unusable, so be careful not to get stunned while in the middle of a chain.
Guard traits runa wide gamut. On the one end is pure tanking: low DPS, high survivability, high blocking. On the other end is higher DPS, lower defense, no shield, decent parrying. In between finds a more hybridized blend of both defense and damage.
Defender of the free:
High damage mitigations, heavy shield usage, focus on drawing threat and holding it, aggroing multiple mobs at once, defending allies and self heals. This trait line is what makes guards desirable in group play situations. Almost every group running an instance or skirmish will want to have at least one main tank (generally either a guard or a warden, but sometimes a champ or cappy) and this is the trait line that will most benefit your group. Your role as a tank is to keep the enemy focused on you while your allies assault the enemy and keep you alive.
The Keen Blade:
Probably the default trait line for most guards running solo. This trait line exchanges high defense for increased attack speeds and higher DPS. Most will forgo a shield in this stance in order to equip a 2 handed weapon for more powerful blows. If running this trait set in a group the guard can increase their fellowships damage (which can be nice when cleaning up slayer deeds). Additionally KB focuses on bleeds, damage buffs and parrying.
The Fighter of Shadow:
As a rule, yellow trait lines in lotro are designed as alternatives for solo play or small groups, providing a different experience than the red line. The FoS certainly fits that bill. A mix of damage buffs and enemy debuffs, with some self heals and defense thrown in, the FoS line provides a delightful change of pace for the guard. In a group the FoS almost becomes an anti-captain; debuffing with almost everything they do rather than buffing allies.
Whichever trait set you pick, if you like being the burly, damage resistant type, that guard is probably the way to go. Additionally, it is one of the few classes available to all races. When choosing a profession for a guard, the obvious choice is armorer, since you will benefit from heavy armor, shields and shield spikes that can be made by a metalsmith.
Picking a Class: The Champion
If the idea of sitting back casting spells from afar while someone else does the up close dirty work appeals to you...you probably wouldn't like being a champion.
If you like to run through Middle-Earth wearing long flowing robes and sparkly tiaras...you might want to avoid being a champion.
If your idea of combat revolves around a bow...you're probably not cut out to be a champion.
Champions (or champs for short) handle the bulk of the dirty work in lotro combat. Along with captains and guardians, champs are close range, heavy armour melee fighters. They don't heal others, they don't backstab, and while they can use a bow, they're really not all that good at it.
What they are good at is wielding weapons. Almost any melee weapons will do. Axes, swords and clubs are best. One Or two handed is really a matter of preference.
Champion combat revolves around fervour. Essentially, you have a small gauge (default set to the lower left of your screen but it can be moved with Ctrl-\) which measures your fervour. Basic attacks will not cost any fervour but will add to your fervour pool. More advanced (and powerful) abilities become available as your fervour increases (to a maximum of 5) and consume a certain amount of fervour in the meantime.
As with any class, you choose your trait specializations:
As a martial champion you will specialize in survival and aggravating foes. MC champs make excellent tanks (and even better off tanks) as well as providing a reasonable option for champs having trouble with areas where they face multiple mobs. If you're dying a lot, try the MC trait line. With an emphasis on self heals you might find yourself going a bit easier, although not quite as fast. A big weapon doesn't hurt.
For taking out single or dual mobs, there's no better way than as a berserker. Berserkers can use a two handed weapon but they really shine while dual wielding. Traited properly, berserkers have an incredible attack speed and while they don't have the healing options that a MC has, their multiple strike attacks can more than make up for it. However, just as MCs lack in the damage department, berserkers lack in survivability. They do not do well against large groups of mobs, and even two signature or higher mobs can be a significant challenge. Still, it's a lot of fun running around slicing into your foes with 2 weapons and watching them drop quickly.
For those times when you find yourself dealing with larger groups, and you want to see a fast rising body count in a group of mobs, there's only one choice: the deadly storm (DS). Area of effect attacks abound. Why waste time hitting one mob when you can hit 3? or 4? or 7? DS champs do amazingly well in a group where they are well supported by a tank keeping most of the action off of them. As with berserkers they don't have nearly the survivability that MCs do but they can drop big numbers like no one else.
In short, if you like running around in heavy armour, swinging weapons around and killing things up close and personal...champions might be for you.
If you like to run through Middle-Earth wearing long flowing robes and sparkly tiaras...you might want to avoid being a champion.
If your idea of combat revolves around a bow...you're probably not cut out to be a champion.
Champions (or champs for short) handle the bulk of the dirty work in lotro combat. Along with captains and guardians, champs are close range, heavy armour melee fighters. They don't heal others, they don't backstab, and while they can use a bow, they're really not all that good at it.
What they are good at is wielding weapons. Almost any melee weapons will do. Axes, swords and clubs are best. One Or two handed is really a matter of preference.
Champion combat revolves around fervour. Essentially, you have a small gauge (default set to the lower left of your screen but it can be moved with Ctrl-\) which measures your fervour. Basic attacks will not cost any fervour but will add to your fervour pool. More advanced (and powerful) abilities become available as your fervour increases (to a maximum of 5) and consume a certain amount of fervour in the meantime.
As with any class, you choose your trait specializations:
As a martial champion you will specialize in survival and aggravating foes. MC champs make excellent tanks (and even better off tanks) as well as providing a reasonable option for champs having trouble with areas where they face multiple mobs. If you're dying a lot, try the MC trait line. With an emphasis on self heals you might find yourself going a bit easier, although not quite as fast. A big weapon doesn't hurt.
For taking out single or dual mobs, there's no better way than as a berserker. Berserkers can use a two handed weapon but they really shine while dual wielding. Traited properly, berserkers have an incredible attack speed and while they don't have the healing options that a MC has, their multiple strike attacks can more than make up for it. However, just as MCs lack in the damage department, berserkers lack in survivability. They do not do well against large groups of mobs, and even two signature or higher mobs can be a significant challenge. Still, it's a lot of fun running around slicing into your foes with 2 weapons and watching them drop quickly.
For those times when you find yourself dealing with larger groups, and you want to see a fast rising body count in a group of mobs, there's only one choice: the deadly storm (DS). Area of effect attacks abound. Why waste time hitting one mob when you can hit 3? or 4? or 7? DS champs do amazingly well in a group where they are well supported by a tank keeping most of the action off of them. As with berserkers they don't have nearly the survivability that MCs do but they can drop big numbers like no one else.
In short, if you like running around in heavy armour, swinging weapons around and killing things up close and personal...champions might be for you.
Wednesday 7 May 2014
LOTRO: Loving the Epic Story (most of the time)
A few days ago I finally finished the epic quest line in The Lord of the Rings Online in its entirety. Having also read some developer comments about where the epic story will be going I gave the subject a bit of retrospective introspection, or if you prefer, I thought back on where we had begun and where we had (for the moment) finished off and gave the whole subject a bit of thought.
I'm sure every player remembers their first little foray into the epic story: playing through a short, class specific game tutorial which introduces storyline elements which are picked up in the game introductions and played out through the various books of epic quests, most of which are tied up in Volume I.
Once we played through the introduction and landed in the game world proper we started playing through the epic quest, which took us throughout the "zone" in which we started the game, Ered Luin for elves and dwarves, The Shire for Hobbits and East Bree-Land for men. All paths led us to Bree and our first encounter with Strider at the Prancing Pony. In those days the epic quests were fun, relatively simple and simply added to the story. A bit of running around, we may have thought, especially if it was your first toon and you didn't have a horse yet. Ah...those were the days...
Eventually we moved our way through the storyline, we saw the extent of the spreading darkness in the Western lands of Middle-earth, the growing influence of Angmar, and...well, right about there the epic story started to drag on. Not that the story wasn't still great or well crafted, it was, it's just that travelling all over Tolkien's green earth got a little bit tedious after a while; especially for those who aren't rolling a hunter!
Overall, Vol. I had a great story but was done in by the repetitious travelling. Some of the later epic content has dealt with the same problem by providing instant travel to the next point in the quest, which is a great idea and wastes much less time while holding the story together.
Volume II started, rather infamously now, with us performing such epic feats as delivering sandwiches to dwarven workmen, but moved on to have us fighting the watcher in the water, multitudes of orcs and various agents of Angmar. Towards the end we started spending more time travelling from Lothlorien to Moria and back again, but to a less degree than that experienced in Vol I. Again, we had great story, saw the world around us, and fought the Shadow with our allies among the free peoples.
Volume III took us a long time. Let me rephrase that...Volume III took us a loooong time!
Yes Vol. I was longer, but it also shifted in it's focus a lot more. It really wasn't so much a single coherent story as it was a string of stories that flowed into each other. Vol. II was much more coherent and focused and Vol. III seemed to be a bit more so again. Vol. I took us from Ered Luin to Eregion and covered roughly 50 levels. Vol. III took us from Enedwaith to Western Rohan and involved the most interaction with the Lord of the Rings story.
It also provided continuity through our three travelling companions, who mysteriously always managed to get ahead of us to wait at the next objective. It also managed to avoid pointless travel, instead allowing us to quest through a region as we followed the epic quest chain. Even more impressive was the ability to play through without relying on fellowships and group play. Overall, one would have to concede that it was a very well done epic quest story arc.
As we wait to see where things will go from here, aided by hints given to us by Turbine staff executives and developers, I am hopeful that not only will the story be worthy of the epithet "epic" but also that the progress made towards making the game more enjoyable to play will continue to progress. This year we are expecting to see the Paths of the Dead, Dol Amroth and more and certainly players are excited to see those places.
I guess what I want to close off with is this: You've come a long way Turbine, keep up the good work.
I'm sure every player remembers their first little foray into the epic story: playing through a short, class specific game tutorial which introduces storyline elements which are picked up in the game introductions and played out through the various books of epic quests, most of which are tied up in Volume I.
Once we played through the introduction and landed in the game world proper we started playing through the epic quest, which took us throughout the "zone" in which we started the game, Ered Luin for elves and dwarves, The Shire for Hobbits and East Bree-Land for men. All paths led us to Bree and our first encounter with Strider at the Prancing Pony. In those days the epic quests were fun, relatively simple and simply added to the story. A bit of running around, we may have thought, especially if it was your first toon and you didn't have a horse yet. Ah...those were the days...
Eventually we moved our way through the storyline, we saw the extent of the spreading darkness in the Western lands of Middle-earth, the growing influence of Angmar, and...well, right about there the epic story started to drag on. Not that the story wasn't still great or well crafted, it was, it's just that travelling all over Tolkien's green earth got a little bit tedious after a while; especially for those who aren't rolling a hunter!
Overall, Vol. I had a great story but was done in by the repetitious travelling. Some of the later epic content has dealt with the same problem by providing instant travel to the next point in the quest, which is a great idea and wastes much less time while holding the story together.
Volume II started, rather infamously now, with us performing such epic feats as delivering sandwiches to dwarven workmen, but moved on to have us fighting the watcher in the water, multitudes of orcs and various agents of Angmar. Towards the end we started spending more time travelling from Lothlorien to Moria and back again, but to a less degree than that experienced in Vol I. Again, we had great story, saw the world around us, and fought the Shadow with our allies among the free peoples.
Volume III took us a long time. Let me rephrase that...Volume III took us a loooong time!
Yes Vol. I was longer, but it also shifted in it's focus a lot more. It really wasn't so much a single coherent story as it was a string of stories that flowed into each other. Vol. II was much more coherent and focused and Vol. III seemed to be a bit more so again. Vol. I took us from Ered Luin to Eregion and covered roughly 50 levels. Vol. III took us from Enedwaith to Western Rohan and involved the most interaction with the Lord of the Rings story.
It also provided continuity through our three travelling companions, who mysteriously always managed to get ahead of us to wait at the next objective. It also managed to avoid pointless travel, instead allowing us to quest through a region as we followed the epic quest chain. Even more impressive was the ability to play through without relying on fellowships and group play. Overall, one would have to concede that it was a very well done epic quest story arc.
As we wait to see where things will go from here, aided by hints given to us by Turbine staff executives and developers, I am hopeful that not only will the story be worthy of the epithet "epic" but also that the progress made towards making the game more enjoyable to play will continue to progress. This year we are expecting to see the Paths of the Dead, Dol Amroth and more and certainly players are excited to see those places.
I guess what I want to close off with is this: You've come a long way Turbine, keep up the good work.
Monday 5 May 2014
LOTRO: Pets coming to Middle-earth?
Alright, so pets were possibly already here, but with the exception of lore masters no one else really noticed.
So if you read today's release notes regarding patch 13.1, you probably read something about pets becoming available to LOTRO players in game.
Is this a good thing?
Short answer: maybe.
Long answer: This will definitely add a new "cuteness" factor to LOTRO as well as providing a new hobby for players, along side things like fishing and steed collecting. High end players who have done it all can do it all again in the hopes of earning or finding a new pet, and we can expect to see at least some people with a Pokemon "Gotta catch 'em all" mentality for whom collecting pets will be something a bit too much more than a hobby to be healthy.
New cosmetic options, which is what this sounds like, are almost always welcomed by players as new ways to make your toons stand out from everyone else's. However, Turbine devs obviously expect this to present potential hazard to graphics cards the world over. You can turn the option to view other's pets off to save you PC, but then the game really doesn't gain anything new, does it?
Is this a bad thing?
Short answer: Maybe.
Long answer: I don't know yet.
Much will depend on how Turbine develops the system going forward. This could be a new fully functioning aspect of the game that's completely free, but I doubt it. I'm anticipating store exclusive pets, unlockable pet slots, and possibly even the need for F2P and premium players ti unlock the ability to equip or store pets (similar to the wardrobe function).
It all boils down...
...to what Turbine does with the pet system. It could be a really cool new addition to the game's cosmetics or it could be another way to nickel and dime players for minor content. I sincerely hope it's the former, but it's hard to tell these days. I'm hoping that we see something that doesn't just copy the pet system of other games but genuinely adds something to the game, even if it's just flavour.
And if any game devs should happen to read this: I beg you...I plead with you...please please please....keep it tasteful. This is Tolkien's Middle-earth, not Pokemon.
So if you read today's release notes regarding patch 13.1, you probably read something about pets becoming available to LOTRO players in game.
Is this a good thing?
Short answer: maybe.
Long answer: This will definitely add a new "cuteness" factor to LOTRO as well as providing a new hobby for players, along side things like fishing and steed collecting. High end players who have done it all can do it all again in the hopes of earning or finding a new pet, and we can expect to see at least some people with a Pokemon "Gotta catch 'em all" mentality for whom collecting pets will be something a bit too much more than a hobby to be healthy.
New cosmetic options, which is what this sounds like, are almost always welcomed by players as new ways to make your toons stand out from everyone else's. However, Turbine devs obviously expect this to present potential hazard to graphics cards the world over. You can turn the option to view other's pets off to save you PC, but then the game really doesn't gain anything new, does it?
Is this a bad thing?
Short answer: Maybe.
Long answer: I don't know yet.
Much will depend on how Turbine develops the system going forward. This could be a new fully functioning aspect of the game that's completely free, but I doubt it. I'm anticipating store exclusive pets, unlockable pet slots, and possibly even the need for F2P and premium players ti unlock the ability to equip or store pets (similar to the wardrobe function).
It all boils down...
...to what Turbine does with the pet system. It could be a really cool new addition to the game's cosmetics or it could be another way to nickel and dime players for minor content. I sincerely hope it's the former, but it's hard to tell these days. I'm hoping that we see something that doesn't just copy the pet system of other games but genuinely adds something to the game, even if it's just flavour.
And if any game devs should happen to read this: I beg you...I plead with you...please please please....keep it tasteful. This is Tolkien's Middle-earth, not Pokemon.
Saturday 3 May 2014
LOTRO Back to Basics 102: Picking a Class - The Captain
Currently the game's only racially exclusive class, (at least until the beornings get here) playable only by men, the captain is a jack of all trades. Able to summon allies,
heralds and use banners to inspire themselves and their fellowship, they are
valiant in combat. Able to heal and resurrect allies in or out of combat makes
them valuable as healers. Captains can heal, fight, crowd control, buff and
tank, making them valuable in any situation.
They are one of the two current "pet" classes (class
that is able to summon a NPC pet or helper).
Captains are rated as "moderate" difficulty to play, but
are probably not too difficult for most beginners to enjoy.
Solo Play
Captains can summon heralds who fight next to you as well as
providing a buff to damage, morale and healing or power regeneration.
Alternately they can plant a banner to provide stronger buffs, but the banner
won't fight for you.
Captains can become "Battle
Group Play
No other class performs as well in a group as a captain.
Their buffs are always welcome, raising stats, damage, and more,
and with heralds or banners providing even more buffs. They are, hands down,
the best buffing class in game.
They can put out reasonable DPS but are also able to quickly
switch to a healing role in a pinch.
Against groups of mobs their enemy defeat skills will be a great
boon to a fellowship or raid, increasing the groups attack speed or stunning
multiple mobs or providing a small heal to the fellowship.
They are also able to use skills to draw the focus of mobs,
becoming decent off tanks, or even covering main tank if the main tank has been
killed.
With the variety of abilities at their command, captains should be
a welcome part of most groups.
Drawbacks
Since captains have such variety, this means that they don't do
most things as well as other classes. They can tank, but not as well as a
warden, guardian or (properly traited) champion. They can heal but not as well
as a minstrel or rune keeper. And they certainly don't DPS like a hunter, rune
keeper or champion
They also suffer from a shortage of ranged attacks. This is pretty
much limited to "battle shout".
Overall
The captain is a personal favourite class of mine, especially for
group play. The versatility provides both challenges and rewards that are truly
unique to the class. While soloing, the captain may be the best of the heavy
armour classes, since he has (typically) better defence and healing than a
champion and better DPS than a guardian.
If you want to excel at a single role, the captain is probably not
for you, but when you'r ready for something different, or if you want to lead
your herald (or fellowship) into the fray, the captain is the way to go.
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