249 replies to this topic

[Ransom]

I'm probably only gonna be able to afford one.

We should at least all get North Downs so we can do that massive Fornost fellowship quest.

[Selena]

We all need to set aside a day to do the Great Barrow together. Vet, Showsni and I just tried it and we got our butts kicked. Need more people!

[BurgundyTears]

Erm, I was planning to get Evendim and try to grind points for Lone-Lands. I looked at screenshots and I just liked Evendim better. I figure evendim's level won't be a problem if I get Lone-Lands as well....

I have fiddled with settings, and while contrast helps a little, upping brightness just makes everything look terrible. When I'm near towns or campfires, it's great; everywhere else it's impossible to see. WoW's cinematic nighttime ftw!

[DarkLink_14]

We all need to set aside a day to do the Great Barrow together. Vet, Showsni and I just tried it and we got our butts kicked. Need more people!

Great Barrow is always tuned for a full six-person fellowship so its no wonder you guys bit it. Mitch and I gave it a shot ourselves and despite my being overleveled compared to the enemies, we still didn't stand a chance.

I also think it would be awesome to set up a date when all/most of our level 20+ members join up and run a skirmish or the Barrow with a full fellowship, or maybe join up with Justified and do a 12-person raid.

[Nevermind]

If we manage to get a full fellowship together, we should probably catch them all up on that Candaith quest too, so we take down that effing Troll. Unless Rangasm can use his super assassin moves.

[Ransom]

I will probably only be able to reach his troll-balls for any type of assassination.



But yeah, 2,000 exp points to 20! Skirmishes here i come.

Also, count me in for the great barrow quest! I'm been looking forward to some big raids.

[Veteran]

It doesn't matter if we all choose different regions to unlock today. We all have different tastes, and it's not like we have any time at all to try for all three!

Eventually a sale will come again and hopefully the TP we pick up in the new areas will fund the one we missed and then we can all do the fellowship quests.

4 cities, one of them a Dwarf town, is too good to pass up on the North Downs for me.

[Ransom]

I caved into the deal and ended up buying a points pack so I could get all three.

Six bucks when the American dollar is at .99 (first time in 30 years) is just too good a deal to pass up!

[Showsni]

Gather round and hear my tale of woe... I shall call it Laerloth's Lament.

So, I was in town, and saw the Mines of Moria Expansion pack in CEX for only £2. Result! I paid my money, and took the game home. Possibly you can already foresee the miseries that await me...

Anyway, I put the discs in, and installed the game. Took quite a while (maybe 45 mintues?), but it was finally done! So, I started it... and it wanted to download updates, lots of them. FIne, fair enough. Off you go. Took about two hours to download and install them all. But then, I was ready! Didn't recognise my user name. Well, I had been slightly worried about that. Looking it up... Yeah, the European version of the game is run by a different company. There's no crossover. And the free to play still isn't even available for Europeans. Sigh.

So, I'll just go back to the American version. No big loss, right? Except... It's overwritten all my files. Can't go back to the American version.

So, I'll reinstall the American version. That'll work, right? Hm, maybe if I don't uninstall first, it'll still be able to access the MoM stuff, but use the American launcher...

So, takes about 45 minutes to install.

Boot it up, downloads a few updates, and yay! The Turbine log in screen instead of Cog! It recognises my user name, and... hm! A new splashscreen! It's loading! And! Error message. Cannot find the dat files, or don't have permission to change them. Bother.

Well, maybe I can delete the En_GB file and force it to use the English (American) one... No, now it complains it can;t find that specific file. So, what, it's still trying to use European files?

Fine, I didn't really expect it to work. Uninstall. Reinstall American version. Another 45 minutes.

Huh... same error message. What?

Oh, I see, a few files are still left over.

Aargh.

Uninstall, uninstall, delete everything, clear everything, restart PC, reinstall (another 45 minutes), play... It works!

So, after hours of installing, and £2 of money... I'm right back where I started.

Edited by Showsni, 13 October 2010 - 01:46 PM.

[Veteran]

Well after a day of deeding how did everyone do? I got enough for all three areas after much frustration at the lack of wolves in Ered Luin and some dodgy location coordinates from Laz. XD Good old DL took time out of his fly hunting down in the marshes to tell me the real coords.

So now I'm poking around the Lone Lands slowly levelling up. Tomorrow it's back to the Shire to stock up on light hides to send to Burg. I worked out I'll need 102 of them if I'm to max out the apprentice tailoring bar!

[Selena]

North Downs it is.


If I have the fortitude to keep up mindless deed-questing, I'll also get the Lone Lands.

[Nevermind]

MAYBE DISTANCE IS RELATIVE TO HEIGHT



I got North Downs and Lone Lands and need another 50 points or so for Evendim but you know....I may cave. $6. First time in thirty years that it's been .99 US cents...

Edited by Lazurukeel, 13 October 2010 - 07:43 PM.

[DarkLink_14]

It was night time and Vet was scared to go to sleep so I had to read him a bed time story



Awww, aint't he cute?

[Nevermind]

Alternatively, it looks like you're writing him a check so he can afford the tools and supplies inside that Craft Hall and make something of himself. Dwarven bum.

[Ransom]

I got North Downs and Lone Lands and need another 50 points or so for Evendim but you know....I may cave. $6. First time in thirty years that it's been .99 US cents...

cave cave cave cave cave cave.

Edited by Rangasm, 13 October 2010 - 10:47 PM.

[Selena]

So, there's talk of us getting together on Saturday to do the Retaking Weathertop thing? I don't think we've ever had the whole group together before. And, actually, we never really sort out what our characters are 'good' at, and what our various skills do. Maybe before we charge right into tough things, like Weathertop or the Great Barrow (), we should describe how to best use our characters?


Me = CAPTAIN
I am a support melee fighter - not the primary stabby person. I can pack a fair punch, but I don't do as much damage as champions, and have less hit points than the conventional brawlers. I will be the first melee person to die if I'm at the very front of the pack. The main job of the captain is to provide stat bonuses to the entire fellowship. Some of the boosts can be done at any time, but a lot of my powers activate when someone in the fellowship kills a bad guy.

Anytime boosts:
- I will increase your maximum hit points
- I will make you resistant to fear/eliminate existing fear.
- I will boost your parrying abilities.
- I can temporarily increase your speed (doubles as a good 'escape' skill, since it also increases running speed).
- I can heal one person at a rate 150+ HP at the expense of my own HP (I lose about 40).
- Life spell. If someone dies, I can resurrect you. But I can only do this once per 30 minutes.
- I can designate ONE PERSON as my "Shield-brother." If I stab things, my shield-brother gets HP restored.
- (my character only) I can make myself resistant to death. As in, the enemy can't land a final blow against me for fifteen seconds.

Kill dependent boosts:
- I can increase your attack speed.
- I can heal the fellowship, and there's a regen effect for a few seconds afterward.

My attacks:
Generally stabbing things, but I have an area-effect attack that will damage all enemies in a 20-some foot radius. But can only be used after one enemy is downed.

Debuff:
I have two debuffing "marks" so far. One mark increases the damage we do. The other mark slowly hurts an enemy over time. I mostly use the former, since it's ultimately more effective.

Herald:
I can summon an NPC soldier ("Svetlana" for those who have met her!) into battle. She doesn't do a whole lot of damage, but she has some supporting attacks than can help out, and she's a good meatshield. She can also heal someone, but her heal spell has a long recharge time. The banner that she holds provides Might and Agility increases to everyone in her general vicinity. On my next level up, I can buy a war banner that boosts healing rather than Might.

How I am best used:
I should be in the middle of the pack, not the front (where I will be killed) and not the back (where I will be useless due to no long range attacks). It allows me to move forward and support-attack, or withdraw and heal/stat boost as necessary. So long as the main group is around me, I can usually effect the whole party at once. Svetlana can be sent into attack/be a distraction as necessary, as I can just keep summoning her over and over if she dies.





Note: It seems like the first person to attack the enemy is the one that gets the brunt of the damage (alternatively, the highest leveled person). For this reason, we should probably put Vet and Diel at the front lines, me in the middle to provide supporting attacks/stat boosts, and have a line of hunters and Showsni to range attack and heal. Not sure where Ransom's burglar would fit in there.

[DarkLink_14]

For barrow downs we definitely need a six person team, at least. Personally, I'd love to coordinate with Justified and make a raid out of it. And I believe enemies attack the player that's considered the biggest threat, which is most obviously influenced by damage dealt, I think. Its the job of the tank classes (defenders and Champions) to draw the enemy fire to take the heat off the rest of the fellowship.

Anyways, I'm a Champion. I'm the main damage dealer. I deal damage and I do it consistently. My abilities do little more than just attack for more damage. I also have the most power area of effect attacks, so I can take out groups of enemies faster than most. I can increase my attack speed as well as return some of the damage dealt to me. I also have a horn that I can use to stun up to three enemies (currently most effective against enemies below level 25)

I can also double as a secondary tank. Champions have a decent amount of HP, not as much as Defenders, but enough to serve the purpose in a pinch. To further support the role, I have the ability to focus enemy attacks onto me for a short while, drawing them away from the rest of the fellowship.

And finally, when worst comes to worst, I have an ability that increases my run speed, ignoring any effects that would decrease my run speed, making for a perfect getaway. Live to fight another day.


I also play a mean pinball.

Edited by DarkLink_14, 14 October 2010 - 01:56 AM.

[BurgundyTears]

Ah, that's right, most of the Kinship are not experienced MMO players, so it wouldn't be obvious to them how to work with one another in groups. Well, for the Hunters, they should all be as far away from enemies as they can manage without being out of range. Then they stand there and "pewpew" as we say in WoW.
Incidentally, I bought Evendim and Lone-lands. Grinding the last points for North Downs just wasn't fun. Oh well, next time! Maybe I will buy riding while it's on sale, since I'm very close to that many points. Then I can get a steed whenever I feel like it.

Begin Grouping Guide of Doom
I shall explain Threat, class Roles, and grouping, now that I've bothered to look at the specifics for LotRO, versus other MMOs.

First thing everyone needs to know: the basic idea of fighting enemies, beyond kill-them-don't-die, is Threat. Almost every MMO does this. LotRO uses the WoW model.
Here are the ways to make things angry at you (gain Threat):
-Get too close to an aggressive creature you are not yet in combat with
-Attack something even if you are outside it's "aggro range"
-Attack things
-Use a skill which purposely increases your Threat
-Heal people while engaged in battle

You will have more threat than others if you do Threat generating things before they do. You can decrease threat with skills, in some cases. LotRO places a great deal of the "threat management" on the "tanks" (Guardians and Wardens). While low-level characters will aggro creatures from further away, if another person attacks that angry creature, that person will now have almost all the Threat.

Classes have Roles. The LotRO Wiki makes up far more Roles than needed, really. There are only 3 Roles that actually matter, and every class falls into one of them. Guardians and Wardens are Tanks. Their job is specifically to keep the attention, the Threat, of the enemies. They get skills that help them do this. They should always be the ones to attack first in a group. Almost everyone else is DPS (incidentally, this stands for Damage Per Second). They do it in different ways, and some of them get things like Area of Effect attacks, or party buffing abilities, and what not, but they all do the same thing: nuke the enemy to hell and beyond. Some of them get happy little Threat reduction abilities, which they should use when grouping, especially if the Tank loses an enemy's Threat. Some, like Hunters, have awesome buffs that also increase Threat. They should use these with care when grouping. Lastly, Minstrels and Rune-Keepers are healers. Their job is to keep everyone alive. Generally, they should only need to heal the Tank, but you know, battle is messy.

In relation to the rather unique LotRO Fellowship skill thingy, apparently everyone but Hunters and Minstrels ought to be pretty much in melee range. A good group composition is one Tank, one Healer, and the rest DPS. However, you can have two tanks, or two healers, if you find that one player in these roles isn't quite enough.

[BurgundyTears]

Since this is a completely different topic from my Lessons in MMOs from Burgy, I made a different post.

I plan to get a house, an elf-y one. When I do, I will get a chest, and the house and chest will be open-access to the entire kinship. In other words, less need to mail me things or for me to hunt you down just to free up vault space. Um, I've got a ways to go on that, though! But I thought I'd mention it.

[Ransom]

Hamburglar is starting to sound more and more useless in these group situations... but i guess i'll just have to suss out some kind of niche.

I mean i can do a lot of stuff to enemies to make them fight shittier? Ive also got a power that specifically stuns to allow execution of a fellowship power.


Oh and if we want the loot before we kill the target, I can pick pocket like nobodies business.

[Nevermind]

You can trigger the Fellowship skills, which is incredibly useful. I think you'd also be good in assist kills. Or helping my take out the enemy support. The fact that you can get right up close to an enemy unseen and assassinate them is definitely handy. Those three attacks you told me about would be excellent against a boss like the Weathertop troll who is occupied with other members, so as to allow you time to execute your more powerful attacks. So yeah, I think assists would be your forte.


As for me, I'm a Hunter. I'm the Sniper with a secondary shotgun. A "Nuke" according to the Wiki. My main strength is long range. Out of my attacks, the most useful support skills would be:

- I can "barb" an enemy target, giving them consistent damage until the die or are murdered. A new trait I've just earned increases the damage and damage rate on this attack.

- I have a quickshot attack that can reduce enemy speed by 40% or something like that

- When I have enough focus I can unleash a rain of arrows that can do damage to multiple targets (I've accidentally killed a few foxes and rabbits with this one)

- I have a skill that, when activated, can steal the attention of any enemy that I hit. This would be best employed against enemy archers or support units, as my defenses are lower.


I also pack a fairly decent attack in my melee hits, being able to deal massive damage to any enemy I've "barbed", as well as a couple of stun and delay attacks. As just mentioned, my defenses are lower, so any kind of close range combat for me is really just to finish off an enemy who has come within melee range, or as a last resort. I can easily handle a one-on-one encounter in close range and I've found that I can handle up to perhaps three at once if they are at my level or below. Granted, time is needed to regenerate health afterwards. I also have the ability to lay a hunting trap that will hold an enemy in place for a limited amount of time, depending on their level and resistance stats. This can only be employed whilst I myself am not in combat, and can only hold one enemy at a time, so it's best used against a boss (such as the troll in the Weathertop scenario).

Where I would come in best in a group situation is to wipe out the support enemies like archers or other projectile enemies. Being able to divert their attention to myself also means taking their fire away from the rest of the fellowship. I've a faster draw than they do (at least the ones we've come up against so far) so I should be able to take them out relatively fast and lend support fire to the main force, as long as the melee fighters are keeping the attention of the enemy close range combatants.

Should I find myself in far over my head, or possess the urge to employ a devious plot twist, I can also insta-warp to the nearest respawn circle, assuming I have some traveling rations on hand.


I've also found that I don't go well against 7+ Oath-Breaker ghost captains. My character gets gang-raped, shits himself, and nearly gets chased by Nazgul.

As for the Minstrels, Showsni has this one ability that would really come in handy. Ramburglar and I got to witness this in the Barrows. It's practically a satellite-fired laser beam. Of magic.

Edited by Lazurukeel, 14 October 2010 - 05:53 AM.

[Ransom]

As for the Minstrels, Showsni has this one ability that would really come in handy. Ramburglar and I got to witness this in the Barrows. It's practically a satellite-fired laser beam. Of magic.

*sends character rename request*

[Veteran]

I won't be around at all on Saturday, just to spoil all this planning business. XD Back Sunday.


My job is to take any and all hits that come my way. My HP is gigantic, and as I'm now in the mid-twenties my skills have improved.

- I can draw all enemies' attention to me within 10 metres. Although, Laz and I assaulted a level 29 troll and I couldn't turn him away from Laz. I don't know why.

- I can increase the defence, parry and block rating of one party member at a time.

- After a successful parry I can remove dread from all party members within a certain radius, or attempt to stun a target for 3 seconds.

- After a successful block I can heal myself somewhat (in practise, not a large amount).

My weaknesses are movement and a somewhat less than average attack score. I am raped by range fighters and will benefit greatly from their removal before all others. As it's my job to gain all enemies' attention I would need constant healing support and for everyone else to avoid taking the enemies' focus away from me. Oh, and I can use Shield Spikes though I don't really know much about those.

I imagine if I level up a bit more I'll get more useful skills, you'd think I'd be able to sacrifice attack entirely and raise my defence to Doomsday proportion.

[Nevermind]

It's okay it will be Saturday their time. Sunday afternoon/evening for me.

[DarkLink_14]

Well talk about bad luck; my one month of VIP access ended the day AFTER their big quest pack sell. For those of thinking of picking up Mines of Moria ($10 at gamestop) you get not just the expansion content but a month of VIP access, but afterwards your played characters keep their 5 inventory bags, lack of currency cap, premium skirmishes, maybe the ability to create Wardens and rune keepers, two additional character slots, and wardrobe vault. Its a pretty good deal vs buying all of it individually in the shop

Anyways, Now on sale in the LotRO store, the Rune Keeper class for636 rolls of toilet paper (tp) as opposed to 795. All cloaks are 120 (normally 150), and all additional emotes for 156(195). Check out http://www.lotro.com/lotrostoresale

They'll also be adding additional vault space upgrades. They seem pretty expensive but you'll be able to expand to up to 150 storage slots in the vault. http://www.lotro.com...the-lotro-store

[Showsni]

I could only afford Lone Lands, after spending most of the day sleeping... I'd have had enough for North Downs instead, but ran out of time, as one of the quests involved going through Bree.

Problem with my satellite-fired laser beam is I can only use it in War Speech mode...

In War Speech Mode, I can use that beam thing, I get a shorter cooldown on another attack, and one of my other attacks changes to do more damage; but my heals are all only 50% as effective.

I have several healing spells, and a few other buffs, plus some ranged attacks. My ballads are played in tiers; I can play level one ballads from the start, that enables level two ballads, which enables level three ballads, which enables anthems.

The ballads are mostly short buffs (like, a ten second vitality increase... that seems kind of pointless, since it just increase max HP, not current HP...) that also do damage to enemies.

One of my anthems severely reduces my Threat from healing for 30 seconds. But since it requires me to first use the three ballads, and the only level one and two ballads I have are attacks on enemies, that seems kind of odd... I'd have to draw Threat by attacking the enemy a few times, then hope someone could pull it back after I used the anthem.

The other anthem increases the in combat healing of everyone in the fellowship, I think.

I can also resurrect dead people, and remove the Dread from someone who's just been revived from death.

And when I've got some more levels I can teach people how to play different musical instruments...

Normally when I'm soloing, I stay in War Speech mode permanently, with another toggle ability contantly on that buffs fellowship will and fate. I start by setting up the invisible sword attack that flies around hitting the enemy, then hit it with the beam of light thing that reduces its resistance to light attacks, then use the Piercing Cry. If that crits, they get stunned for a few seconds, so then I play five ballads, before either repeating them, or switching to the close range herald's strike, then the skill that boosts herald's strike, then spam herald's strike. If getting really low on health, try and heal, and hope it pays off before they kill me... Then heal up after everything's dead.

In a Fellowship, I guess it would be better to switch War Speech off and concentrate on healing the tank, hoping they can keep threat away from me. Though, should I try and build up to my anthems in that situation?

[Selena]

Gather round, ye children, and listen to the grand tale of The Dwarf and His Captain. Also known as Metal Gear Iron: Tactical Dwarf Espionage Action.



Vet and I are questing around the North Downs. After finishing up some solo tasks, we decide to join together in order to do a handful of fellowship quests. Me, him, and a healboost Svetlana. We head to an orc camp to the east of Trestlebridge, where we proceed to slaughter orcs and head down into the recesses of the camp to kill a boss - The Defiler. The Defiler has a high level buddy who is, surprisingly, distracted by a lone elf hunter who then starts to run for his life, luring the bad sidekick away. We finish off the Defiler by ourselves, unleashing powerful fellowship attacks. We then finish off the sidekick, who, at this point, has been chasing the would-be hero elf for several minutes. You see, we're nice people. We save elves.

We now have to go light several fires in the upper level of the orc camp.

To our horror, the enemies in the upper level of the area all have 2,000+ hit points each. We kill a few isolated ones before we state: "All right, this area is much too difficult for us to tackle. We should wait for Laz and Darklink an--"

Just then, an 8-man fellowship of warriors, all level 30 and up, runs by.

We both have a brilliant idea.

"Let's follow them. "
"I was just gonna say. "

We follow them around a bit, figure out how to light the fires. We get.... 3 of the 4 fires by following them. They stare at us. We stare back. Hi. We're just torch inspectors. Carry on with what you're doing. And then, all of a sudden, they run off in the opposite direction. Wait what no get back here an-- oh crap.

We are now alone, isolated, and surrounded by enemies with 2,000+ hit points. AHA, but wait! We have another quest in this area. A quest that involves slaying some big guy named Lurgs, or whatever. We see him standing by his lonesome over yonder. "Attack!" We do so. .....And then his high level sidekicks spawn in the middle of the battle. We finish off the boss, completing that quest, and then two things happen.

1- I die and am teleported miles away.
2- Vet survives, runs away, and finds a hidey hole to avoid detection from the giant horde of baddies.

I start riding back. While I do that, Vet heads in the location of the last fire we have to light, because for fuck's sake, there's only one more and we've come so far. Can't quit now. He is swarmed by enemies, but successfully escapes at least two harrowing situations and hunkers down. He sees the last torch. The fire setting place is nearby. But surrounded by bad guys.

I ride in from the west. I head to the upper level. I run by swarms of bad guys all capable of easily killing me.

I think sneak up the last pass, leaving Svetlana behind to be assaulted by orcs. They take the bait and leave me be. I'm now alone without any enemies around me.

I see the torch. I see where it goes. There are no baddies.

I run over, grab it, and light the last fire triumphantly. Vet is stunned, as he didn't even see me coming.

We then escape, barely, and go back to town to get our justly earned rewards.



Lessons learned:
1- If you can't do a quest on your own, then find a big fellowship, stalk them, and try to remain undetected.
2- If you lose that fellowship, sneak.
3- If you are caught by the bad guys sneaking, run like hell.

[Nevermind]

4- Pray you get [img]http://forums.legendsalliance.com/public/ALOT.png[/img] of loot to sell, cos repairs are a bitch.

[Veteran]

When the boss died and Lena got sent far far away, I legged it to the nearest bridge but died to a spear-thrower. I then revived right where I was with no enemies around me. Lena told me from afar to run to the last torch and that's where my horse, Carbide, came in handy.


5. Use horse as shield.


Forgot to mention yesterday: Ruby Shard from a warg 11.9S 43.3W

Edited by Veteran, 16 October 2010 - 07:27 AM.

[DarkLink_14]

Well, I've done it.

I've picked out my future house. The future address of Mr Diel is:

4 Stonemirk Street
Grorsvoll, Thorin's Halls Homesteads


Its a pretty sweet spot. Its one of the less expensive deluxe houses, costing 6 gold 650 silver as opposed to 7+gold, but its got a large yard and is right next to a waterfall, which is slightly upriver from another waterfall.

There's also Kinship House at 5 Stonemirk Street, which could possibly become our future Kinship house, so I'd just be a cliff jump and broken leg away.

Also, you get discounts from vendors in your neighborhood, and additional discount if your Kinship house in the same neighborhood, along with an instant travel skill that takes you right to your home or kinship house.


So, has anyone else started looking into housing?