Some early impressions. But first some general comments:
I've gotten my fiancee to finally try this game, and I think she's hooked (which is an awesome thing). There are some system changes, but they are pretty invisible in terms of gameplay. They are more about the math of the system, so you really only see them when you are choosing equipment or traits and such. I started a new character to play alonside my new convers. I've been playing a Rune-keeper and I rather like it after a couple of evenings. The attunement system (combat or healing) is really pretty easy to understand. There are two spells you can always cast, one healing and one damaging. Casting a spell of either the healing or damaging type shifts your attunement in either a direction (the number of steps it shifts are based on what skill/spell you used).The further attuned you are either direction affects what other spells you are capable of casting at that time. At level 8, I've learned more combat/damaging spells than healing spells, and I'm having a lot of fun establishing my heal over time, then nuking the hell out of stuff. Your equipment is still important, the runestones you have equipped give bonuses to different spells and are used as your melee weapon (my current ones do electric damage in addition to common damage).
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Sure. We're going to talk
Sure. We're going to talk about setting a regular LotRO night in my house, now that our holiday is over. Between work/school, an every-other Sunday Iron Kingdoms RPG I run, playing in an every Thursday Star Wars Saga Edition game, it's gonna have to be a regular scheduled time for us now. Though if we're ever online same time as you guys, we'd love to fellow.
Here's our characters that we play sometimes:
Maltholorn, Seanall, Maltholaran
Aizet, Aizetica, Tura
Thanks Nick. Rick and I are
Thanks Nick. Rick and I are still only 5th or 6th level, so we're still waiting to be effective at anything, let alone flexible. If it doesn't work out, we both have low-mid 20s characters we can fall back on.
Ariande Bard 20 • Nightfall Ranger 19
The Avatars, Argonessen Server
You should be able to make
You should be able to make about lvl 14-15 in your race-specific areas, then Bree stuff to about 18-20 will allow you get in your Epic Quests and go out to the Lonelands or the North Downs. I think some of the stuff in Oatbarton (northmost point of the Shire) is in the low-mid 20s range as well. I still haven't leveled anyone beyond 30 (and in fact, turtle and I haven't been playing much since Christmas, but we've been out a lot). I have a Runekeeper at 19 and it is quite flexible and an effective healer, which is really needed in some quests. I also took a Warden to 15 and really liked the playstyle, awesome melee ability and very hardy even in just medium armor. Chatter in the global channels suggests that the Warden is the most versatile class at the moment, and the easiest to solo or play in small groups (assuming everyone can remember the Warden doesn't hold aggro as well as a Defender).
The RK I play is partnered with turtle's Champion (her first character), and the two really work well together. In some quests I focused intently on healing and let her DPS do the bloody work, in others I went offensive and things dropped fast and she still mostly held aggro. One thing I always did (if I could) was put down a healing stone before the fight began to have the HoT even when I was going offensive.
Warden
Rick and I started playing around with LotRO again. mostly as an excuse to get together once in awhile. We started a new Warden and a new Rune Keeper on Gladden. Any advice on new areas to go to and when to go there? Is Bree our inevitable destination at 10th or so? I'd love to be able to play some different content from 1st-20th, rather than just the old Bree stuff, which I've done 2 or more times with other characters.
So far, the Warden seems little different from the Guardian, but I'm only 4th level and I've learned that LotRO classes don't give an inkling of how they'll play until 10th or so, and only scratch the surface even then.
All good points on the
All good points on the prevalence of magic in the Third Age. As counter examples I would use the sleep spells the wood elves used on the dwarves in Mirkwood, the troll curses on the treasure recovered from Bert, Tom, and William, Saruman's weather summoning that forced the group into Moria, Gandalf's disarming of the three companions in Fangorn, the spells laced through the battering ram Grond, et. al. I would call all of that overt magic, just not casual magic as it is used in MMOs. Laying spells into items as they are crafted seems to have been very common, especially among the non-human races, and is probably the way I would have gone with much of the Lore Master power set. The Rune Keepers seem to go in that direction.
It seems to me that by the
It seems to me that by the end of Third Age though, magic was mostly more subtle. Magic, like the Elves, is fading from the world by then. Even Elrond's summoning of the waters that washes the Riders away in 'The Fellowship', arguably the most overt use of magic in the novels, is attributed to his possession of the water attuned of the Three Rings, which he dares rarely use for fear of attracting Sauron's attention. Gandalf's abilities to produce light with his staff and engage in pyrotechnics make him considered by Hobbits and Men as rather powerful. His most over uses of power are trying to bar the door in Moria and freeing Theoden, and the perceivable effects of both aren't exactly grandiose.
I also agree about the zone instancing being under used. Then again there is a lot of the world I've yet to see (soloing gets noticeably more difficult in the 20s, and I barely played during the spring or summer).
There is a definite
There is a definite misconception that there was no overt magic in middle earth. The Silmarilion is full of examples of powerful overt magic, and the Mouth of Sauron and several others were said to be capable of great feats of magic... just not while facing down Gandalf. It's the casual use of magic, ala most RPGs and video games, that's really a slap in the face to LotR "purists". And of course the idea of hundreds and thousands of magic users running around the landscape is an even bigger transgression. In general, I think LotRO did a pretty good job.
I wish they'd used the zone instancing a lot more though. A great idea they did little with during the span I played.
It isn't any more of a
It isn't any more of a departure than the Loremaster class. Magic was generally more subtle in the writings concerning the 3rd Age of Middle Earth than either of the Loremaster or Rune-keeper would make it seem. But the the Loremaster's abilities are rooted in 'words of power' which is very Tolkienesque (especially if you think of Gandalf trying to open the door to Moria, or block the progress of the orcs and Balrog at the far side). Also the Rune-keeper is limited to just the Elf and Dwarf races (I think that's all, IIRC), and they seem like the logical choices for this sort of ability. All and all, I still think the Loremaster breaks the mold more than any other class, but not enough to break the feel of the world.
Sounds like a cool class.
Sounds like a cool class. Is this as much of a departure from the LotR feel as it sounds like, or have they done a good job of making the lore and effects feel like something out of Middle Earth?
Playing with your better half is an excellent development. Congrats!