Kill Ten Rats

Just toss the lore and IP right out the window. Because The Lord of the Rings would be that much cooler if Gandalf had thrown fireballs and lightning bolts. It is a neat little class, but what is it doing in The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢?

This is based entirely on the appearance and what the character is doing. At level 8, I cannot say much about the class as gameplay (although fun so far), but I am already throwing lightning, summoning fire, and freezing things. Pointing a rock at the enemy and gesturing emphatically seems to be key here. I also back-hand monsters instead of carrying a weapon.

The graphics have been tuned down from the beta Sith lords, a visual so out of place in Tolkien that they sent the community manager to say it was okay because the promotional screenshots were not representative of actual gameplay. Despite that, you start every fight with a gout of flame, and at level 6 you can summon a bolt of lightning to strike your foes (underground, sir dwarf), in addition to the two electrical attacks you already have. They also summon shoulder-high healing rocks. I wish I could tell you about their higher level flashiness, but the only time I have grouped with one, we also had a Loremaster, so there were competing fireworks.

My Hunter had wondered why Eregion looked like it was having flashing lights all the time: there was a Runekeeper one hill over. Seriously, I thought the in-game lighting might have been broken in part of the zone.

: Zubon

1. Favorite Zone: North Downs. The different parts of the zone feel entirely different, from the normal plains you start on to the dead lands of Fornost to the sprawling orc camps of Dol Dinen. It is the battlefront zone, where the forces of Angmar meet the free peoples. It is literally the zone between Bree and Angmar, and you can see the enemy hordes starting to pour into the frontiers of civilized lands. It is the transition between shiny, green Bree and the enemy’s blackened lands, and the zone shares in the best of both.
2. Favorite Race: Dwarf or Man. Out of four choices, these two are almost always the best. They notably have the best panic buttons (resistance, healing). Pick whichever is better suited to the class you want. I have ended up with more dwarves, so I will go with them.
3. Favorite Class: Hunter. I spend a lot of time solo, and ranged DPS is good for that. I like the flexibility that the teleport skills provide. I have tried to get into other classes, even taking a Minstrel almost to the level cap before the cap was raised, but I have not put in the time to really try out the rest. In theory, I love the Captain, but mine is currently a mule.
4. Favorite Feature: Fellowship skills. When you are in a group fighting against enemies that call for groups, you randomly get chances for everyone to call a color for damage or recovery. Coordinate well for bigger bonuses. Burglars can intentionally trigger these, so the rogue class is one of the most group-friendly.
5. Favorite Skill: Guide to X. In a game with this much travel, being able to teleport around the map is invaluable.
6. Favorite Instance: Carn Dum. I have yet to try the Moria ones, but Carn Dum is a fun (long) run with some interesting variety. I hope the tentacle fiend has been fully fixed.
7. Favorite Book: Twelve. I cannot speak of the updates like “Month of the [Class]” and all the game updates, because I joined after that, but Book Twelve is the most fun to play through. It is entire group content, and it feels damn epic as you fight your way through the streets of the enemy city. I enjoy the fight to the gatehouse in Chapter Five, and there are three instances, all of which can be replayed via the Reflecting Pools. We are fighting for a to-be-reforged Ring of Power. Yes, this is Lord of the Rings.

: Zubon

I ran the three-man instances in Eregion, the School and Library in Tham Mirdain. We had some problems working out the bosses, Elite Masters with friends and/or special abilities, but we made it through them all with a Burglar, Hunter, and Loremaster. We might have fared better with a tank in place of one of the first two.

The instances are compact, taking you in and around a central space. The Moria solo instances are similar. This is a good thing for quick questing.

Each has two or three types of enemy groups, repeated a half-dozen times, plus three boss encounters. Dealing with the groups is an exercise in basic pulling, because all the groups are near each other and/or on patrol. Mix in CC and/or tanking as appropriate for your group. It is not too hard to get one group, and it is not too bad if you get two.

About half the bosses went well, although sometimes with a faceplant because we had no heavy armor (but we did have a rezzer!). The rally circle was not the one at nearby Mirobel, but rather a quick trip back to the doors of the instance (inside). This lets you rush back in and keep going, which could uncharitably be described as zerging it, but I find this valuable given the odds of not having a surviving healer with three people in the instance. No one wants to run back from town every time the cloth-wearing healer hits the floor. Rallying inside also meant that, if you were zerging it, you could get multiple deaths, have massive item wear, and still fail and reset the room. Not bitter.

They are good little instances, both of which you could run comfortably with the same group without devoting an entire evening to it. You get a few deeds and titles, notably “Librarian.” If you want all the slayer deeds, with the associated virtue trait bonuses, you will need to run each about a half-dozen times, as seems to be Turbine’s plan for all instances (based on deed requirements versus enemy counts). Unlike the Angmar instances, you can farm all those enemies without dealing with the bosses, which makes things much easier on your small group.

: Zubon

Casualties of War Kinship members: Eostemir, Joli, Syrna, Fairley and at the end: Zuloin (Zoo-loh-in dammit!)

Level at start: most at 16.

Objectives: Finish Book 1 and then travel to Forsaken Inn to quest in that area.

Book 1: Chapter 11: Othrongroth (Map from The Brasse)

We met at Tom Bombadil’s house in the Old Forest to begin this chapter. Tom escorts us to the South Barrows and points us towards the entrance of Othrongroth. He then turns and skips away, thanks for the help Tom! On the way we fought off a couple of Dourhands and then we enter Othrongroth.

Throughout this chapter, we kept seeing the Witch-king and he would say a little something and then flee deeper into Othrongroth. Our goal was to spy on him and see what he was up to. We fought off more Dourhands and even ten rats at one point. There was quite a few ancient chests to loot here and there, but nothing spectacular was inside them. Eventually the Dourhands make way for wights. Lots of wights. Even a few creeping arms. There was a tough battle at the bottom of some stairs where Joli was defeated in battle. Thankfully old Tom was happy to escort him back to us once again.

At this point the Wight-lord Sambrog calls us down the stairs to see him. We approach him and he tells the “evil plot” (like all evil folks do) before summoning his minions to wipe us out, thus sending us to our graves with the knowledge of the “evil plot” lost forever. Too bad he wasn’t planning on our ability to be defeated not once, not twice, but three times without forgetting the “evil plot” at all.

We debated if we wanted to continue this get-defeated-run-back-strategy when who should show up to help but Zuloin (Zoo-loh-in dammit! aka Zubon) a level 15 Guardian. With his assistance we were able to finally beat Sambrog down (of course old Tom shows up at the last second for the kill-steal). We shared the “evil plan” with Tom and finished the chapter.

At this point almost all of us reached level 17 and we decided to call it a night.

– Ethic

My latest adventure involved standing around The Shire. One of my farmers unlocked Supreme Farming (tier 6), and my cook unlocked Supreme Cooking.

Farming in Middle-earth is pretty dull. It involves lots of time chatting or going AFK. I read about 200 blog posts from my RSS feeds, made and ate dinner, had sex, did a load of laundry, and was still processing seeds. I ended up with a lot of berries and green onions.

Tier 6 cooking is odd. Tier 4, the Artisan tier, has things that sound like what a master chef would make. You brew fine ales, make Shire Rations (“While hobbits think of them as travel rations, the rest of the races of Middle-earth think of these as a mobile picnic.” Before being made cheaper, this included an entire roasted chicken as one ingredient.), the Stew of Kings, Marinated Chicken Cutlets, Honey-roasted Chicken, and Salted Beef Delights, to say nothing of preparing a full Large Feasting Table for your kin hall. Tier 5 goes further, with Ultimate Honeybrew, Lembas (elven waybread), Perfect Pies, Masterful Mash, and the Feast of Rohan.

Tier 6 cooking includes Bread and Jam, Dough, Cup of Red Tea, and Buttered Scone and Jam. I note that Buttered Scone and Jam is defined as “Trail Food,” can be prepared only over a campfire, and is the most powerful Might food in the game. Real Men eat scones. “Rack of Lamb with Mint Sauce” sounds suitably impressive, but you make hundreds of cakes and roast chickens to learn… Bread and Jam?

: Zubon

A week after having bought The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Volume Two: Mines of Moriaâ„¢, I spent some time in the Mines of Moria. Fun! Big! New!

Finishing up Eregion, I respect how things are ordered within it, even if it works poorly for an existing level 80. It is a textbook example of sending people between quest hubs, quests that lead you through the deeds, and all that jazz. The only error in it is having quest chains from two hubs send you to Pembar. Either you are running both hubs at once, in which case all the “go to the next hub” quest chain caps are pointless, or you are making a LOT of trips to Pembar. I have the School instance and one other quest (chain?) left in Eregion, plus deeds if I feel like killing about 1200 enemies to finish them all.

On to Moria! I stepped inside when I finished Volume 2, Book 1. There is a dwarf camp there, with the usual “go talk to a couple people” and “find the lost dwarf” quests. Going back, I ran past that bit and up the stairs into Moria. And kept going. And kept going. Moria gives you a good idea of its scale by starting out with a staircase that takes 10 to 20 seconds to climb. That would get annoying if I did it a lot, but it makes a good introduction.

Those bridge-like banners up on the balconies at the top of those stairs? You cannot jump far enough to land on them, even if you could land on them. It takes less than 10 to 20 seconds to hit the ground.

Continue reading Mines of Moriaâ„¢ Day 6: Soaking in Novelty