For the Hunter I usually follow this rotation:

1. Set Trap (if it’s up)
2. Focus
3. Barbed Arrow
4. Rain of Arrows (if I have the Focus)
5. Penetrating Shot (If I have the Focus)
6. Swift Bow
7. Quick Shot

If I get into Melee range, I can’t say that I really have a select rotation.  I usually just try to use whatever may lead to the completion of a Class Deed the most, and then just use whatever is not on rotation.  If I find I have enough focus I will try to use Rain of Arrows or Penetrating Arrow due to their induction speed (fast).  Anything else that is a ranged attack usually leaves me sitting there trying to get a shot off.   For the most part I usually run in Stance:  Strength because I am running with an RK and don’t have to worry about drawing threat (although to be fair, she usually has the most threat).  I definitely need to make use of player-made traps a bit more.  They are incredibly useful, but I guess I’m afraid of running out and having to make more.  Silly, isn’t it?

Overall, I enjoy the class.  If it has any drawbacks at this level is that it seems a little bit too straightforward, but admittedly that could just be my lack of experience.  I will say that rotations and gathering focus from skills do seem to be somewhat tricky for me and that I still feel that there is room for improvement there.  But I do enjoy the class quite a bit and the DPS aside, the travelling and tracking skills are quite nice as well.  I definitely see the attraction of the Hunter and why it makes a good starting class.  That being said, just because it is an easy class to start off with in LOTRO doesn’t necessarily make it an easy class to master.  There is quite a lot to learn outside of pointing your hunter at a mob and hitting buttons as most dedicated hunters will tell you.

On a side note:

The Hunter is the character that I chose to level with Goldenstar’s Rune-keeper.  Together we are quite the DPS pair, but we had an interesting comparison one of the nights that we were out talking together.  We both were suffering from a little bit of DPS envy from one another.  While I was jealous of the RK’s ability to keep going and do quick, powerful scaling DPS; she found herself jealous of my high damage values right from the start and my range I’m able to shoot from.  So it was interesting to see that even though both classes are considered to be quite powerful DPS; they both do have advantages and disadvantages when compared to one another.

Hunter skills from level 20 – 28:

Skill	Skill Icon	Skill Effect	Level Earned
Desperate Flight		Immediately teleports the hunter to the closest rally point.  Requires Travelling Rations.	20
Inert Concentration		Immediately grants the Hunter 9 focus.	20
Rain of Arrows		Westernesse-based range AoE that will damage 5 targets within 10 meters.	20
Guide to Michel Delving		Teleports the hunter and their fellowship to Michel Delving.  Requires 2 Travelling Rations.	22
Bright Campfire		Creates a campfire that, when standing close, increases non-Combat Morale and Power Regeneration.	22
Passage of Foes		Allows the hunter to track orcs, trolls, giants, and evil men or dwarves.	22
Guide to Thorin’s Halls		Teleports the hunter and their fellowship to Thorin’s Halls.  Requires 2 Travelling Rations	24
Agile Rejoinder		A high-damaging single target attack that can be used upon a successful parry.  The attack cannot be parried, evaded, or blocked.hh	24
Bow Chants		Allows hunters to place bow chants upon their bow.	25
Stance:  Endurance		A stance that decreases the power cost of ranged skills and the amount of threat done by damage.	28

As for my personal experiences with the class this time around?  I thought it was brilliant.  I thought leveling was very easy and a lot of fun.  It was nice going from a Champion who had a tough time handling 3+  mobs to a warden that could survive with no issues.  That’s not to say that the Warden wasn’t a challenge if you weren’t watching what you were doing on this kind of fight; you will still need to make sure that you balance your defensive gambits with your offensive ones or you’ll find yourself coming close to defeat.  However, I did find that most of the gambits I was using to complete deeds were able to be used with almost little adjustment to my actual rotation.  I still feel that there is a lot of room for me to improve (especially after listening to those guys on the roundtable)

Now this is the section where I would usually tell you how I would go about using a rotation, but I have a dirty secret to admit here:  I had no set rotation for the Warden.  The truth is, I spent most of the time trying to complete class Gambit deeds, and I’m afraid I didn’t do that good of a job because my incomplete deed list is quite long.  Also, since most of my time was spent solo, I really don’t have much advice for tanking either.  For all of that information, I would listen to the Warden roundtable we had for some great advice from more experienced players.  However, if someone were to press me, here is the advice that I would give:

• When starting a fight, use Ambush as often as you can and then follow it up with Critical Strike.  Not only will this increase your threat, but it can also take an opponent down to almost nothing which is especially great when dealing with more than one mob.
• Try to get used to a tanking rotation by following up Critical Strike with a gambit that increases your threat.  Wardens are notoriously bad at grabbing “snap-aggro” so you must make sure that you start gaining aggro on mobs as soon as the fight begins and then do your best to maintain it.
• Save yourself some health by throwing up a defensive buff with a gambit such as Shield Up which increases your ratings for Block, Parry and Evade.
• Make sure that you also throw in HoT’s into your rotation as well, such as Safeguard.

Overall, the class is great and I had a great time playing it during these levels.  I definitely understand why people choose to level Wardens and I certainly do not think that they need to be “nerfed” or reduced in any manner that will reduce that enjoyment.  If anything, I think that the developers should learn what players enjoy about Wardens and transfer that over to the other classes.  Because even if you nerf one class it still does not make another enjoyable, does it?  Until this is done, I only expect the population of Wardens to increase even further.

Warden skills from level 19 – 29:

Skill	Skill Icon	Skill Effect	Gambit	Personal Opinion	Level Earned
Brink of Victory		Deals an initial amount of light damage and applies a DoT that damages every 4 seconds for 16 seconds.  Also slightly increases threat.		Great overall DoT, but I didn’t use it as much as I should have	19
Combination Strike		A common-based attack that strikes twice and slightly increases threat.		Good general attack, however I tended to use DoT’s and HoT’s more.	20
Shield Piercer		If successfully applied, decreases the Block Rating of the target.	N/A	Great way to reduce the defensive capabilities of a target.	20
Fierce Resolve		Drains a target of their morale and transfers it to the Warden.		This is one that I used quite a bit, however it’s important to remember that this is a single “heal” and not an HoT.	21
Onslaught		A common-based attack that interrupts inductions and also strikes three times.		I have to say I used this one quite a bit, if for no other reason than the awesome animation that goes with it.	22
Conservation		Places the Warden in a stance that adds to in-Combat Power Regen, Evade Rating and Block Rating	N/A	Definitely my stance of choice.  Although it was tough to give up Morale, this one just has too many defensive bonuses combined with a power regen; which all equal up to complimenting my play style.	22
Maddening Strike		A common-based damage attack that also transfers a slight amount of threat from each member of the Fellowship to the Warden.		Good for groups, but since I soloed my way through, it wasn’t something I used all that often.	23
Quick Recovery		Allows the the Warden to remove the last Gambit icon from the Gambit Panel.	N/A	This is probably something I should use more, however I prefer to make myself to remember how to enter a gambit correctly rather than relying upon resolving a mistake.  This will probably be more useful as my gambit combinations get longer.	24
Piercing Strike		An attack that deals 2 strikes, one for common damage and another for light damage.		A good DPS strike that will attack with two different damage types which can be valuable depending on a mobs resistance values.	25
Muster in Ost Guruth		Teleports the Warden only to Ost Guruth for 3 Travelling Rations and some power	N/A	So very nice… So, so very nice.	26
Hampering Javelin		If successfully applied, decreases the run speed of a target by 30%.	N/A	Very good for slowing a target, but I really didn’t need use it all that much.  I will have to remember to make use of this later on to save myself some frustration.	28

However, there are some issues that I have with the class and I think I may need some advice or I need to do some research because I feel that I am not doing something correct.  Why?  Because I ignore probably 50% of the skills that I have.  If they’re not in my rotation or one of the few healing spells I use, I almost never use them unless I’m working on a deed or because I feel bad about not using them.

My Rotation:

1. Rune of Restoration (when I remember)
2. Prelude to Hope (when I have 0 battle attunement or need a quick heal)
3. Writ of Health (when I have 0 battle attunement)
4. Fall to Storm
5. Fiery Ridicule
6. Chilling Rhetoric (Although I’m not sure why and may remove it from this part of the rotation.)
7. Ceaseless Argument
8. Scribe’s Spark
9. Shocking Words

And I would then switch between Ceaseless Argument and Scribe’s Spark until the target died.  If there is an additional mob that comes with my initial pull or during a fight I would use Shocking Touch to stun the addition as soon as it came within range.  I will also throw a Prelude to Hope on myself if possible, just not expecting the degree of healing while you’re attuned to Battle.

Overall, the Rune-keeper was great, especially once I got the timing of when to use Shocking Words down.  I was usually OK with two mobs at once, sometimes three, but it usually depended on the fight.  By the end of my play time with the Rune-keeper when killing Gaunt men in Lone-lands there was about a 10% chance things would go south and I would die.  But in all honesty, I had a lot more problems killing Gaunt men on my Champion than I did on my Rune-keeper.

I enjoy the Rune-keeper quite a bit and despite the lore issues it’s a fun class to play.  It feels powerful, because it is powerful.  Plus, I’ve really enjoyed seeing the traits of the class really compliment the skills that I’m using (all lightning based so far).  I can’t really say that I’ve had any other classes to which I’ve assigned traits and actually been excited about it.  With other classes I usually feel like I’m guessing and that I end up picking the one that is more my best guess.  However, with the Rune-keeper it’s been fairly easy to choose and move on knowing that I’m stepping away from the Bard with a more powerful character.

As I said before, my only minor irritation is that it feels like I’m not using the rest of the skills outside my normal rotation as best as I can. Maybe later in levels I’ll see some more cold and fire based spells which will make my current spells more useful; but for right now I’ll only be using them to complete more traits.

Rune-keeper skills from level 20 – 28:

Skill	Skill Icon	Skill Effect	Attunement	Personal Opinion	Level Earned
Nothing Truly Ends		Revives a target for a set percentage of Morale and Power (30% and 0% at level 30, respectively).	Attunes: 3	It’s a res, and everyone loves a res!	20
Epic Conclusion		Tactical based damage skill that cannot be resisted.  Drains all Battle Attuned Skills and increases the cost of Battle Attuned skills by 50% for 10 seconds.	Attunes: 1 Requires: 9	Man, this is an epic skill.  However, make sure that this is the last spell that you cast in a fight if you are planning on doing damage; or that you’re going to switch roles to healing.  Otherwise you’re going to have a huge hit in your damage for 10 seconds.  However, the animation is awesome!	20
Rousing Words		A channeled group heal that places a HoT on all fellowship members that ticks every second and generates zero threat during its channeling.	Attunes: 1 Requires: 3	I can’t say I had much cause to use this when solo’ing, but it seems like a decent spell.  It would definitely make a good intermittent spell to cast in order to top a group off if they’re all taking damage.  Remember though, only the channeling doesn’t generate threat I would guess the healing ticks will.	22
Scathing Mockery		Tactical based damage skill that causes an initial burst of Fire Damage and then places a DoT on the target that does Fire Damage every 6 seconds for 30 seconds.	Attunes: 1 Requires: 6	This is another very cool damage spell that has a high cost.  The added bonus is that it continues the damage with a DoT on the target.  However, with the high cost it’s not something that I used all the time.	24
Calming Verse		Reduces the Rune-keepers threat generated by Healing and Damage by a set percentage (-10% at level 30) for 30 seconds.	Attunes: 2	Nice threat reduction spell if you are able to sacrifice 2 attunements to neutral.  It’s probably best to use before a huge spell or if you notice the tank is picking up new targets or is struggling to keep aggro off of you.  However, solo’ing again I didn’t really use it.	26
Word of Exaltation		Reduces Incoming Damage by a set percent (-40% at level 30)  The effect lasts 3 seconds plus an additional 2 seconds for every tier of Writ of Health on the target.	Attunes: 1 Requires: 6	I personally love the reduction of incoming damage and I used it quite a bit when I ran into fights where I struggled to survive; or when running away.  Of course it would work better if you’ve stacked Writ of Health on yourself or someone else.	28

So how what did I use as a rotation for normal play?  As I stated before, I would begin with the following sequence:

1. Sneak
2. Reveal Weakness
3. Diversion (if needed)
4. Aim
5. Surprise Strike
6. Riddle any addition (if need be).
7. Place a trick on the target.
8. Rotate Subtle Stab and Cunning Attack while renewing a trick on my main target. 

Of course removing a trick with Startling Twist or Mischievous Glee is also possible as well, depending on the situation or the length of the fight.  I can’t say I’ve been too impressed with Stun Dust and I keep forgetting to use my Caltrops as well so I really cannot comment on their usefulness.  However, any bonuses are good and I feel a bit silly about not utilizing them.  That being said, I will also occasionally drop into Mischief if the fight looks like it is going to last a long time.  However, since it is on the same cool-down as Sneak I don’t use it that often on short fights unless I am just plain tired of sneaking and want to just head through an area of mobs like a crazy person.  It’s really not the most efficient way of playing a Burglar, but some times you just need a change.

In my opinion, the Burglar is a fairly complex class to play well.  They are not a straight damage dealer even though they can do a lot of DPS with the proper sequence of skills.  They’re definitely not a tank, but they can take a few (or avoid, rather) hits if they pop Touch and Go, but they should by no means be a primary tank.  Their real benefit comes from de-buffs and their ability to start Fellowship Maneuvers.  I truly believe that a good Burglar will be willing to take a group by the hand and lead them through setting up, preparing for, and executing Fellowship Maneuvers despite any resistance they may encounter.  If used properly through Fellowship Maneuvers, a Burglar can bring huge DPS and major healing to the entire group and make a difficult dungeon a lot easier.  But since most people shun them, it’s my opinion that it’s really up to the Burglar to promote them since they are very intertwined with the Burglar class.

I personally look forward to playing my Burglar at higher levels and I think that should I get enough practice with them in groups that I’ll make a believer out of some of those who scoff both at Burglars and Fellowship Maneuvers.  In fact, I’m betting that ultimately it will be one of the top requested classes for me to play with others (the others being the Minstrel, Captain or Rune-keeper for their healing abilities).  And I personally don’t mind, because I think it will be incredibly fun.

Skills from level 20 – 28

Skill	Skill Icon	Skill Effect	Personal Opinion	Level Earned
Track Treasure		A toggle-based tracking skill that places all chests and other “value laden containers” on your mini-map.	Good, but not great; I think.  Usually the “value laden containers” contain very little that I consider valuable.  I usually keep up Track Mines instead.	20
Startling Twist		Removes a trick and places an 8 second stun on the target.  Breaks the target out of Dazed.	Great skill.  Love it to pieces.  Allows you to place a short stun for crowd control or so you can position yourself behind the target with a positional attack such as Surprise Strike.	20
Mischief		Reduces the power cost of your tricks and your riddle cooldown.  It cannot be used while sneaking. (Meaning you cannot stealth while it is active and using Hide in Plain Sight will remove it.)	Definitely a great mode to drop into after losing Sneak.  Benefits are huge and the only downside is waiting for the cool-down timer of Sneak to wear off.	20
Clever Devices		Enables burglars to use caltrops, marbles, and stun dust.	I have definitely not used these to the fullest of their advantage, and I really should.
Tools of the Trade		Enables the burglar to use burglar tools and other “special tools”.	Finally allows me to use Burglar Tools.  I haven’t been able to use any of the Conjunction Signals because I have yet to group with this character.
Reveal Weakness		Toggle skill that increases its targets damage by a percentage (8% at 30).	Great toggle debuff that can be applied while in Sneak.  This should always be on a target during a fight.	22
Double-edged Strike		Fast Common-based Melee Skill that grants two attacks; one from the main-hand and the other from the off-hand.  Can only be used after using Burglar’s Advantage.	The few times that I’ve been able to get this off it’s been OK.  I think it will be better in longer fights.  I mean it’s more damage, which is great, but aside from that it has no other bonuses.	24
Contact Pedlar		Allows a burglar to summon an NPC at a campsite to whom they can sell items.	Selling is good, especially in the wild.	26
Cure Poison		Removes poison from a target.	I like removing poison.	26
Trick:  Counter Defense		Common-based melee attack that lowers the target’s block, parry and evade ratings by a set number (-600 at level 30) and increases the target’s incoming melee critical chance by a set percentage (+3% at 30).	I seriously love all the Tricks.  I haven’t decided which one I think is the best so far, but this one is pretty stinking nice.	26
Trip		Common-based melee attack that incurs a 5 second Stun and begins a Fellowship Maneuver.  It can only be used while in Stealth.	I haven’t had a chance to use this yet, but I look forward to it!	28

However, I can’t say that I strictly stuck to those suggestions as I tended to modify my rotation to try and get some Class Deeds accomplished.  That being said, my normal rotation was:

1. Battle-Frenzy
2. Blade-Wall
3. Brutal Strikes
4. Savage Strikes

This rotation was mainly for one or two targets; as I wasn’t able to really feel out a good AoE rotation.  Anyway, after the rotation was complete I would usually go back to Blade-Wall, but most times the target was dead.  Also, if I ended up with extra Fervour at the end of a fight I would try to use Blade-storm or Blade-Wall to burn off the Fervour to advance their associated deed.  Once I get the Stalwart Blade trait, I’ll probably switch up this rotation; most likely focusing on Flurry and Blade-storm.  When leveling from levels 1 – 10 I did use Flurry and Exchange of Blows quite a bit, but as I’ve leveled from 20 – 30 I’ve kind of neglected them.  I think the buffs are pretty important and definitely have their uses, but while soloing they seem to actually extend fights.

I had a much more pleasant time this go around with the Champion and I have to say I do like him.  However, he is a bit of a glass cannon (although less than the Minstrel or the Rune-keeper) and I found him to be much more gear-reliant than any of the other classes.  I was able to make it to level 30 on all my other characters by equipping them as well as I could at level 20, but I found that I had to upgrade the Champion again at 25 in order to keep him from dying repeatedly.  Once I upgraded his armor and his weapons, he was all set to move on.

I really see this character shaping up to be an AoE powerhouse, but I can definitely tell that I have a ways to go before I get there.

Skills from level 20 – 30

Skill	Skill Icon	Skill Effect	Personal Opinion	Level Earned
Horns of Valour		Allows for the use of Champion Horns.	I was really looking forward to this skill, but in my opinion the horns stink; at least at this level.  2 targets within 5m are stunned for several seconds.  It has a 15 minute cooldown which makes it feel just utterly useless.	20
Let Fly		Single-target, Common-based, Ranged Attack.	It’s the standard pulling tool, which I think is fairly essential for groups, however with my Champion I really tend to just “body pull” since I usually want several mobs attacking me at once.	20
Relentless Strike		Single-target, Common-based Melee attack that hits with both the Main and the Off-hand weapons.  The primary attack can only be evaded (not parried or blocked) and “will never mess against on level targets”.	This is definitely a good finishing move as well or if you are good at generating Fervour (which I’m not yet) a good way to quickly burn something down.  It’s pretty expensive Fervour-wise (4), but it does hit for a ton of damage.	20
Champion’s Challenge		Single-target, Cry-based taunt.  Forces the target to attack you for 10 seconds.	I don’t use this very much soloing, but it’s a good skill for groups; especially if you have to get something off of your healer or Lore-master.  The downside is that it’s a “forced attack” meaning that you don’t actually increase in aggro.  So if you want to keep the mob on you when Champion’s Challenge wears off, you’ll need to do a lot of damage in 10 seconds.	22
Merciful Strike		Single-target, Common-based Melee attack that can only be used on mobs under 20% health.  Generates 2 Fervour.	This is definitely a good “finishing” move if I remember to use it.  I’m still working on a lot of Class Deeds so I haven’t made much use of it, but I should really try to use it more and see if it’s useful or not.  I’m open to any opinions on this one.	24
Fighting Dirty		Area-of-Effect, Common-based Melee attack that also places a 30 second de-buff on all targets  that will increase the damage of the next area-of-effect attack by 25%.  It can only be used on targets that are below 25% health.  Adds 1 Fervour.	I’m still new to the whole AoE thought process so I haven’t used this much; which seems silly considering this sounds like a really nice skill.  I’m going to have to try it a bit more, but it sounds really good.	26
Sprint		Increases your run speed by 25% for 15 seconds.	Run away!	28

**Note: If there’s any questions about the skills I’m talking about, due to their length I’ve listed them at the bottom of this article.

Now my biggest adjustment from levels 1 – 20 is that I now had access to War-speech.  With this stance’s increased damage I usually found myself utilizing it quite a bit.  That being said, I did find there to be situations in which War-speech actually did not benefit me as much as the capability of being at my full healing potential.  This may be just due to my style of playing or lack of experience with the class, but sometimes having that extra healing capability allowed for me to survive more difficult encounters such as fights with multiple mobs or signature boss fights (such as the Dourhand Overseer or the Bandit leader and his four guards in Naerost).  However, some encounters such as the before mentioned had to be attempted at later levels or with the help of a group because of how much less survivability the Minstrel had in comparison with the Captain.

Which brings me to another difference between the classes:  Grouping.  Now as a Captain I don’t recall having any invitations to a group, nor do I recall even noticing many people during my journeys.  The Minstrel was another story.  Although I did spend the majority of my time alone, I did get a lot of requests to play with groups.  In fact, one fan even asked if I’d like to Skirmish with him and some others with that character (sadly, none of my alts have Skirmishes open at this point with the exception of my level 43 Lore-master).  This didn’t bother me in the slightest and in fact came in very handy with some of the more difficult quests.  I was still able to solo quite a bit, but I can still vouch for the fact that there are quests that are more difficult for different classes; and you might be surprised which classes they are in my upcoming posts.

In the end, I was able to get along fairly well with the Minstrel and I still enjoy the class quite a bit.  It will be interesting though, to see how he holds up in the upcoming levels.  Will he stay as durable as he is currently, or will I be seeking out groups more as he levels?  I guess we’ll see.

Skill	Skill Icon	Skill Effect	Personal Opinion	Level Earned
Anthem of the Free Peoples		Increases the Morale regeneration for all members of the fellowship and generates less threat than direct healing.  It requires having a Tier 3 ballad played recently, but also resets your ballad counter meaning you’ll no longer have access to any ballads other than Tier 1 (you have to start your rotation over again).	Not  the best solo skill in the world.  While it helps, if you’re not ready for the reset you’ll be unhappily surprised.  I used it once and almost died because I forgot about the reset.	20
Enlivening Grace		Removes Dread caused by defeat on anyone other than the Minstrel themselves.	Absolutely useless for solo play, but great for fellowships.	20
War-speech		Increases your damage, but at the same time causes your heals to become (drastically) less effective.  The healing penalty remains active for 10 seconds after War-speech is toggled off.	Most of the time I was in this stance and would turn it off if I saw that I was in trouble.  There were situations where it was better to have this off such as fighting signature or multiple mobs because my damage wasn’t great enough to kill the mob before I would die.  The healing bonus gave me the extra survivability.	20
Call of Oromë		Area of Effect damage skill that requires War-speech to be active.  It will damage your target and two other mobs in a 5m radius.	Not a bad skill, however I would sometimes forget that it was AoE and knock off some form of crowd control.	22
Tale of Heroism		Toggle skill that increases the Will and Fate of members in the Fellowship that are within range.	This skill was always on and should remain on at all times.	22
Anthem of Compassion		Decreases the the amount of threat generated from healing.  It requires having a Tier 3 ballad played recently, but also resets your ballad counter meaning you’ll no longer have access to any ballads other than Tier 1 (you have to start your rotation over again).	For a solo player this is not much use, but it definitely helps in a group (as all decrease threat skills do for healers).  I haven’t had much chance to use it so I can’t really comment on its usefulness.	24
Cure Fear		Removes fear from a single target.	Useful in some situations, but with a 1 minute cooldown it’s not a great skill.  But it has its moments; until you get that Fear de-buff placed right back on you.	26
Cry of the Chorus		Grants access to every Ballad Tier and Anthem at once; as well as breaking any silence effects on your person.	This seems to be a great “oh dang” button, but I really can’t comment because I haven’t had much cause to use it.  It seems like it might be well planned to use after Anthem of Compassion or Anthem of the Free Peoples to counter their loss of Tier access.	26
Song of Soothing		Reduces the aggro radius of a target and any mobs within a 10m radius of the target.	I’m always wary of spells like these in any game.  They always seem to be a mixed bag.  However, I again I really can’t comment as my goal in the Lone-lands was really to engage most mobs instead of sneaking past them.	28

In fact, after my last character hit level 20, I became more involved in Meredoc and I actually started to put off going back to my alts because I dreaded my Captain so much.  Eventually though I felt bad about abandoning my alts and skirmishes on my main were feeling a bit overdone.  So I went ahead and bit the bullet and loaded up my Captain; and I have to say the journey from 20 – 30 was a completely different experience.  In fact, but the time I hit 30 I wanted to keep on going with that character.  It was only through my determination to continue with the gradual leveling of all my characters that allowed me to put him aside until later.

This character was leveled up and geared similar to my previous post, except that it’s been so long since I leveled this character he had leveled to 22 in the North Downs.  This gave him a bit of an advantage over some of my other characters, but not an astronomical one.

To prepare for fights I would summon a Herald (usually a Herald of Hope) for additional DPS and for the healing ability.  I would cast Shield-brother on the herald;  Tactic: On Guard on myself; Tactic: Relentless attack on the herald; and then Motivating Speech on both of us.  While I also have a banner, I usually only use it when my herald dies or when it runs off (which is rare, but it does happen).  This is particularly useful since the items can be swapped out during a fight during which heralds cannot be summoned and banners can.

So my normal routine for pulling mobs is to start by using a mark and then pulling with Battle-shout.  This would in turn open up Devastating Blow.  I actually prefer to use Pressing Attack since I am not using any kind of crowd control, but since I was working on the deed Expert Attacks that’s what I went with.  (During the fight however, I would switch between both skills should Battle-shout be used again.)  After Devastating Blow I would then rotate between Defensive Strike, Inspire and Cutting Attack until I performed another Battle-shout or until an enemy died; at which point I’d use one of my three on-defeat skills.  Most times I would direct the herald to attack my target, but in cases of 3 or more mobs I would try to allow it to off-tank and keep it healed through Rallying Cry, Inspire, and Words of Courage.

As for which on-defeat skill I’d use would depend on the situation.  If there were multiple mobs and my health was in a good state I would use War-cry; if my health needed a boost I’d use Rallying Cry; or if I was trying to AoE everything down at once I’d use Routing Cry.  I’m still not sure that I have which cry to use and when, but it’s a work-in-progress.  Of course I would welcome any input on the matter.

Overall, I really loved the class during these levels.  I didn’t have any problems doing enough damage or taking damage from multiple mobs.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what this class holds in the future; especially in groups.  In fact, the only issues I had were gathering enough resources to raise Forestry.

I’ve gone ahead and included screens of my bars.  I’m not completely happy with their layout, but thought that I would include them anyway.  I’ve also included the skills obtained by a Captain from levels 1 – 30.  However please note that Blade of Elendil was obtained at level 30 so I have no comment on its function at this time.

Main Bars:

Secondary Bar:

Main Bar Skills:

Key Binding	Skill Icon	Skill Name	Skill Effect
1		Battle-shout	Single-target, Light-based Direct Damage Cry which places you in a “Battle readied state”
2		Devastating Blow	Single-target, Common-based Melee Damage skill that is opened upon being in a Battle readied state.  A critical hit allows you to use on-defeat skills.
3		Defensive Strike	Single-target, Common-based Melee Damage that adds a temporary buff that adds to your armor value.
4		Cutting Attack	Single-target, Common-based Melee Damage that also places a damage-over-time de-buff on the target.
5		Inspire	Single-target, Common-based Melee Damage that also places a heal-over-time buff upon whomever the Captain has placed their Shield-brother buff.  Only active when Shield-brother is active.
6		Pressing Attack	Dual-target, Common-based Melee Damage that hits for two attacks.  Allows the Captain to use on-defeat skills if the second attack is a critical attack.  Only useable in a Battle readied state.
7		Rallying Cry	An on-defeat skill that will initially heal all fellowship members within 30 meters and place a heal-over-time buff upon them.
8		War-cry	An on-defeat skill that will buff all fellowship members within 30 meters a buff that reduces their attack duration.
9		Routing Cry	An on-defeat skill that will cause Light-based damage on four targets within 7 meters.
0		Make Haste	A buff that will grant 25% run speed to all fellowship members within 30 meters for 20 seconds.
-		Blade of Elendil	Single target, Common-based Melee Damage that has an increased chance to critical.  Grants a buff to all fellowship members with Light of Elendil (a Light Damage Damage over Time). This skill can only be executed after you’ve used Devastating Blow or Pressing Attack.
=		Words of Courage	Single target heal that gives an initial heal and then grants them a buff that heals them over time.
Ctrl+1		Pet Attack	Directs your pet to attack your current target.
Ctrl+2		Telling Mark	Toggled single target de-buff that increases the damage done to the target by the fellowship while the mark is active.
Ctrl+3		Noble Mark	Toggled single target de-buff that damages the target over time and increases the Captain’s threat while the mark is active.
Ctrl+4		Revealing Mark	Toggled single target de-buff that heals the fellowship for a percentage of the damage that they do while the mark is active.
Ctrl+5		Muster Courage	Removes up to 3 Fear effects from the fellowship and grants a buff that grants Fear Resist Rating.
Ctrl+=		Last Stand	Makes the captain’s health unable to drop below 1 for 25 seconds and grants a small heal when the time is up.
Alt+1		Threatening Shout	A cry-based skill that increases the chance the target will attack the Captain.
S+1		Tactic: Relentless attack	A buff that grants + Critical Rating to melee, ranged, and tactical damage.  Only one Tactic buff may be active on a player at a time.
S+2		Tactic: On Guard	A buff that grants + Parry Rating.  Only one Tactic buff may be active on a player at a time.
S+3		Motivating Speech	A buff that raises the Morale of fellowship members by a certain percentage.

Secondary Bar:

Slot	Skill Icon	Skill Name	Purpose
1		Shield-brother	Places a buff on one of your fellowship members who will gain bonuses from some of the Captain’s skills.
2		Call to Arms: Herald of War	Summons a pet that adds a buff to the fellowship within a radius that increases their Might and Agility.
3		Call to Arms: Herald of Hope	Summons a pet that adds a buff to the fellowship within a radius that increases the fellowship’s Morale and in-combat Morale regeneration.
4		Escape from Darkness	Allows the Captain to revive a defeated player.

First, I check the crafting skills of all my characters and make sure that they have leveled through the first two tiers of their gathering/crafting skills.  This usually requires the use of Shared Storage to shuffle around materials, but I think it’s important to make sure that each character has maximized their crafting skills if possible.  Then, I proceed to make them whatever crafted gear I can, that is an upgrade for them.  Next, I dump all their quests, except any of the Prologue or Volume 1, Book 1 quests that might need to be finished up; and then finish those up.  Afterwards, it’s off to start Volume 1, Book 2 at the Prancing Pony in Bree and follow that line to  Weathertop!

**Side Note** If you decide to follow my route, know that there are no vendors near Weathertop and you cannot use the horse route from Wethertop to The Forsaken Inn until you have finished Volume 1, Book 2:  Chapter 5.  So make sure you have plenty of bag space!

So above is the progressive questing route that I take throughout the Lone-lands.  I’ve found it to be fairly simple and streamlined, although depending on the class you play or the level of your character, you may need to wait to complete certain quests from an earlier quest hub until after you’ve moved on to the next.  For example, on my Minstrel I had to wait and complete several kill quests until later due to the difficulty I had soloing with that character.  However, the Burglar and Captain had no issues completing them as soon as they received the quests.  Also note, that I have not included any of the Agamaur quests either because I was usually able to hit 30 before I started on them.  in fact, the farthest I have been able to get with a  character until having to stop was Harloeg (with the Minstrel) and even then I only completed several quests until I leveled.

Despite having a good experience with… experience; I found myself surprised at how little resources I was finding along the way with those who had the Explorer vocation.  Mostly because I was past the Barrow Iron and Ash Wood and that’s what populates the western half of the Lone-lands.  The Eastern side has Rich Iron, Gold, Sturdy Hide, and Yew Wood which is what I’m really after.  Although Gold is always rare it felt like all resources in general were in shorter supply than they had been through levels 1 – 20.  In fact, by the time I was done with level 20 most of my characters had spare ore, leather, and wood left over in their raw state because all of them were able to master Tier 2 on their own before they hit 20.  With levels 20 – 30 I’ve had to struggle to achieve completing the first half of mastery in Tier 3, let alone master it.  In fact, my supply of leather and wood was so low on my Minstrel that I had him tracking wood instead of ore because my Forester skill was so low.  I realize that 30 – 40 should supply me with more time to get Tier 3 resources, but it’s just a bit disconcerting.

I’m going to stick with leveling my characters in the Lone-lands because it’s going very quickly now that I’ve got the groove of where to go.  The only thing that may hold me up is our Trip to PAX and the Spring Festival!  But for now, I’m going to sit back and enjoy the Welcome Back Week and finish up the Burglar and probably move on to the Champion.  I’m also going to start releasing overviews on the different characters and then start on the 30 – 40 process.  I think I’ll stick with the Lone-lands and follow a similar path Harperella has outlined, but I’m not quite sure I can handle going through Angmar again…  I guess we’ll see!

My advice for Guardians would be to stick with a main-hand weapon and shield and always be using Guardian’s Defence as it’s your only real “stance” until 12 when you get Guardian’s Parry (which, good or bad, I never have had much use for) and then level 20 when you can try getting used to Overpower.  Just a thought though:  If you are primarily going to be tanking with your Guardian, it’s best to use Guardian’s Defence as much as possible with a shield and main-hand weapon as this is what you’ll be using when tanking.  A good way to practice tanking is to always fight as if you were actually tanking; albeit a much slower way of leveling.

For Lore-masters do your best with the Raven until you get Friend of Bears, and then start using your Bear.  At least this is a much more preferred way of playing for my own play style.  The reason being is that Bears can usually take much more damage and have a taunt which you will need as you progress into higher levels.  At lower levels you’re much more apt to take a hit and survive, where as at higher levels you will probably need a pet that can take hits as you damage, buff, de-buff, and mesmerize NPC’s.  This is not to say that you will never use your Raven, just that it is more suitable to group play than soloing.  You can also use this time to gauge how many buffs and debuffs you can do to an NPC before you pull aggro, which is a very important thing to learn.

Now for those classes with which I have recent experience!

Now, my first goal with all my characters was to level through the tutorial, the introduction areas and then head to Bree.  I would do every quest, most especially the Epic Prologues, until I got to the actual town of Bree through the Epic Questline.  I have to say that my favorite area for leveling was the Elven area of Ered Luin.  I found it to have the most continuity of all the zones and it quickly replaced my previous favorite, The Shire (which I think is the popular favorite).  Once I was finished with the racial starting area, I would then divide my time between Newbury in Buckland, The Old Forest and Adso’s Camp.  Usually I could get to level 20 and finish Volume 1, Book 1.  However, this was not only the case.  If I couldn’t finish off Volume 1, Book 1 I would just go ahead and finish up quests in the previously mentioned areas which seemed to be more than enough to get me to level 20.  Once I hit 20, I cancelled any quest that was not finished and was not a part of the Epic Storyline.

Although I will go into specifics later, I’ll give my overall perceptions of the classes as a comparison.  As I said before, keep in mind that these are my opinions; and experiences may differ depending on how you play the game.  Some people are definitely better at play-styles which I might find difficult.

Much like the Captain, this class feels a bit underutilized without a fellowship.  I feel that I can’t really use him to his full potential since I’m missing out on his ability to create Fellowship Maneuvers.  Aside from that though, the true strength of this character definitely comes from the use of stealth.  Although I am one who doesn’t really like skipping mobs (I find that clearing out areas gives me more room to run away without worry) it definitely comes in handy sometimes.  Riddle is an incredible skill which is invaluable to survival as a Burglar, but combined with sneaking behind a target and using Aim, Surprise Strike, and Burglar’s Advantage I was able to take on larger groupings of mobs more easily.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this class progresses in the future, plus I’m also fairly excited about seeing how he functions in a fellowship.

I found this class to be kind of “blah” through levels 1-20.  It really felt like it was a crippled character through levels 1-20 and I can’t say I was too excited about it by the end.  The Herald is neat, and makes a good addition with buffs and slight “healing” and “off-tanking” abilities, but mostly I was bored by the end of my time with this character.  Now I will break my silence about 20-30 on this character and say that I had a completely opposite experience during those levels.  Levels 20-30 was a blast with this character and I literally had to force myself from immediately jumping into a skirmish with him or finding some other excuse to keep playing him.  But I would definitely say this class is a “late bloomer”.  But I definitely did not enjoy levels 1-20.  My advice for anyone starting a Captain would be to stick with it, and to remember to use your Marks and your on-defeat Cries.  This just makes for good practice in later levels.

I really expected this class to be “more” than it was, and I can only assume that I’m not playing it the way it’s intended.  This character is the next of my alts that I’m going to level to 30 and I’m hoping that I’ll have a different experience than I previously had.  But this was also before Mirkwood which meant that the combat changes had not taken place yet, so maybe I’ll be surprised.  Of all classes I expected this one to have a definite rhythm to it, but I just can’t seem to find it.  Any advice on this one is welcomed on my part.  The plusses I found were:

• Dual wielding rocks
• Better potential survivability when compared to other DPS classes
• Being a dwarf damage machine is awesome
• Nothing is as cool as watching 4 goblins who are attacking you die at once due to your massive AOE

I think the problem I’m having is balancing what skills to use in what order and how to generate / manage my Fervour points.  Once I get a rotation going that works well I’ll probably feel more comfortable.

I loved this class.  Just loved it.  Find the Path is probably one of the greatest skills of all time, but aside from that I thought that the class is just outstanding.  The only thing I need to improve upon  is remembering to use Focus and Set Trap before I pull.  The only downside of this character is that he is my Yoeman who is already a Supreme Master Farmer and Cook.  So it feels a bit aggravating when I see ore or wood out in the wild and I can’t collect it.  This class was definitely a breeze to level.

This was definitely my most favorite surprise out of all the classes.  I played this class before leveling the Rune-keeper and expected to have a very difficult experience.  I was also completely wrong.  I found the class to be great at both healing and damage once you got the hang of it.  I think what I like most about it, is the easily established rotation one can have with your ballads, intertwined with other skills.  The only thing I still need to get the hang of is the cooldown timer on heals.  There were a few times where I cast Raise the Spirit and expected to instantly be casting it again and was surprised when it didn’t.  Other than that, I had a pretty good experience leveling and really, really enjoyed it as a solo class.  It was also, incredibly easy to find groups for most tasks as a Minstrel.

This class is Goldenstar’s new favored project, but was a hard one to get down for me; so I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as she has.  The hardest thing about this class is switching roles.  For those who aren’t aware, the more damage you do the stronger your damage spells become and the more damage orientated spells become available to cast, but it also means that your other spells become less effective or even unavailable.  So it makes switching between the roles difficult, which in turn can make healing yourself more difficult.  I also discovered that this was not something I was very good at (for now) as I died over and over again in The Great Barrows Epic Quest instance.  It doesn’t help that you’re a glass cannon either (meaning you do a lot of damage, but die easily to damage), which is something I’m really not used to.  However, this is something I hope to overcome in the future through analyzing the class more closely and going through forum and blog posts of more experienced players.

Easily the most fun and least troublesome of all the classes I’ve played recently.  The class is able to tank a lot of targets from the start, it can heal itself through gambits, it can run fast (with the loss of power pool) outside of combat, it has a decent ranged pull, and it’s a lot of fun.  Although the gambits can be a little confusing at times there are some decent charts out there like Harperella’s which can be printed out and hung by your monitor for reference.  I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Doc Holiday’s blog is also an excellent reference for aspiring Wardens as well.  Back to the point though, this character was really easy to level, was a ton of fun, and was the first time I ever thought about seriously switching main classes at end game.  Although that’s not likely to happen, it just goes to show how much I enjoyed the class.

So that’s about it.  I could probably go on about resources and such, but that’s pretty much a common thing.  I found lots of Copper and Barrow Iron and much less Tin and Silver.  I ended up with a ton of Light Hides and a decent amount of Medium.  I’m leveling up a couple of crafting characters and I was met with a suitable amount of wood/hide/ore to level all my characters through Journeyman on all their gathering and selected professions.  I haven’t been able to take advantage of the new crafting recipes that came with skirmishes, but I will once I’m on the 30-40 track.  Otherwise it was a good experience and I can’t say that there’s any class that I’m disappointed with to the point where I dread them.  So far, I think most of the drawbacks are the fault of the player and the real challenges will start around the 40’s.

The Struggle

The struggle I have with altoholism is that I am setting aside my main, Meredoc in favor of doing something else other than tweaking him.  Granted, he is 65 and is probably well enough equipped to go through 3-man’s, and he has finished all of Volume 2, Book 9 minus the epilogues.  However, there is still much for him to do.  I am finding that he is not done in Moria, much to my chagrin; of course there are still the many Chapters of both currently released Volumes that I have not completed; and there are definitely some Traits that need to be leveled.

And while I can easily determine that I should wait for the Volume 1 revamp to take place, there really is no excuse for me to put off Volume 2 other than excuses such as “It’s too hard…” and “I don’t wanna…” with much whining in my voice.  However, there is still a part of me that says “Tough luck, this character is not finished!”.  And as we have mentioned many times in our podcast, I have not been one in the past to play alts other than for defined purposes such as crafting mules, auction mules, bank mules, etc.  The only time I have ever leveled a second character to max level is when I have decided that my main character is no longer any good and it’s time to switch mains.

The Choice

So I came to the point where I had to make a choice and determine what makes the most sense for me .  Does it make sense for me to stick with Meredoc and maximize his reputations, gear, crafting, etc?  Or does it make more sense for me to pick up my alts again?  What is my primary goal in playing LOTRO?  And most of all, what will make me the happiest and still allow me to to not make me neglect my family?

First of all, what are my goals in LOTRO?

1. To spend time with my wife doing something that we enjoy.
2. To have a good time with a hobby that I enjoy, but not at the expense of my family’s happiness or my own health and responsibilities.
3. To explore and experience as much of LOTRO as possible.

Secondly, how will I best accomplish these goals?

The Decision

I have come to the decision that I am not going to be focused solely on Meredoc.  The only reason to so narrowly focus on one character serves one purpose for me, and that’s to make him an end-game character capable of raiding.  Not that everyone who focuses on one character makes that choice, but that would be mine.  I’m not the kind of person to grind out deeds and reputation for the sake of doing so; I need a purpose.  And the only purpose I would be interested in having with a “maximized” character would be dungeons and raiding.  I’ve tried that with WoW when my child required even less care than she does now, and that’s just not something I can do (nor do I want to) at this point in my life.  Sure, I will go to a dungeon if/when I have the time on Meredoc or any other character, but to actively pursue a grind that something like radiance gear requires at this point would be a detriment to my family and myself.

So, it has been with much joy that I have once again picked up my alts and decided to move forward!  However, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right?  What I mean, is that although I am now comfortable focusing some of my attention on my alts, it does not mean that I will be focused on my “alts”.  In fact, my goal is to treat all my characters equally with my focus.  I’m not going to table Meredoc, but instead I am going to include him and my Lore-master in a non-structured rotation.  If I want to Skirmish, I’ll pick up Meredoc most likely because he’s a ton of fun to go through Skirmishes and has the most options.  If I want to level, I’ll pick up the Captain or someone else and go through an area leveling and questing.  And if I want to craft, well I’ve got plenty of crafters to do that with as well.

I really feel that this will allow me the most enjoyment in my game.  I can play with my wife with our alts (I’m going to be pairing up my hunter or someone else with her Rune-keeper), or on our mains.  I can play a plethora of other characters when we cannot play at the same time, and I think with 9 total characters I should be able to do a good job exploring the majority of LOTRO’s content.  I also hope to start writing more about the different classes, the experiences I have playing them and what it’s like for me to be going through all the content once again.

My goal is to hit as many of the quests and hopefully dungeons in all the different areas as possible, and get as much feedback as possible from all of you!  Because honestly, I’m pretty sure that I’m “doing it wrong” in some cases and will always take helpful advice from those of you with more experience with the different classes, trade skills and with the game itself.  Luckily, we’ve got a ton of great readers who are more than willing to help us out, and for that I salute you all!  So thanks for bearing with me and thanks in advance for all the help!

Finally after an hour or so, I had both characters created, named, and sitting on my desktop.  However, I spent no time logging them in and playing as I had other obligations.  At this time though I am leveling them to 20 which is my new priority for my alt leveling project.  Currently, they are both out of the starting areas and into the wild, but my focus will first be on the Rune-keeper and then on the Warden.  Why?  Well, the Rune-keeper is a nice change of pace from my Guardian and is just a lot of fun.  The Warden is great too and I look forward to learning all the gambits that I can.

My first thoughts on both of these classes are that they are an improvement over the design of previous classes.  Not that the other classes are bad, but the Warden and Rune-keeper definitely benefit from the experience the designers have had since the initial design and release of LOTRO.  I don’t see myself abandoning my current “main” or favoring them over any other characters, but there is a definite continuity to the way that these classes work that isn’t as prominent in the others.

I’m interested in hearing what others have done with their additional slots (if anything) or if they’ve made a new alt since launch.  Expansions are a normal time for people to “start over” and level up a new main or to try out alts and Siege of Mirkwood is no exception.  Have you created or returned to an alt?  What inspired you to do so?  How do you like it?  Will you be playing your new character for the foreseeable future?

The Lore-master

Still sitting on the sidelines for now, so he hasn’t been played much.  He’s basically there to do any woodworking that’s needed.  I would love to be working on his reputation for the woodworking guild, but I’m not quite into the areas to gather the correct materials just yet.  Hopefully soon though, because I do love crafting and would like to progress on his at least in some way.  However, Goldenstar’s alt is now 40 so maybe he’ll do some stuff with her in the future.

The Captain

The first to 20, and so far he’s looking like he’ll be the first to 30.  This is kind of odd, because I don’t really find the Captain class all that particularly interesting.  I can’t deny that I am somewhat oddly drawn to utilitarian classes, so that may be why he’s the first one that will stick.  That aside, he probably has the highest survivability of all the classes (at least the way I play he does) so he’s a good test model to run through all the areas and see where I want to quest from the 20-30 range.  His buffs are amazing and I’ve found myself slack-jawed once or twice after a fight where I’ve been good about my buff rotation and seeing all the blinking icons going on under his character bar.

The Burglar

The most ironic thing that happened to me leveling to 20 on my Burglar was seeing someone in the OOC channel saying that the had just returned to the game and wanted to know what was the lowest played class.  To which they responded “Burglars”, which he was ironically playing.  I can understand why there might be some misconceptions about this class, but I didn’t think it was all that difficult to level.  They definitely are not the DPS kings starting out, although I have seen some threads in the official forums about how some very well geared Burglars do quite well in raids DPS-wise.  So I ended up playing initially like any other melee class, but as I progressed I found that by playing “sneaky” I started to do quite better in fights.  Personally, I’ve found that using Sneak, Aim, Surprise Strike usually ensures a one to two-hit kill on a normal mob, and by timing a trick with Mischievous Glee I’m usually fine on health.  I have to say that this is the class that I am most interested in playing in fellowships at higher levels just to see what they can do.

The Minstrel

I play this class wrong, and I love it.  As per my previous post, this class to me is all about doing as much damage as quickly as possible with intermittent heals and  Cry of the Valar to survive in bad situations.  I am greatly looking forward to using War-speech and seeing how that goes, however I will have to remember to toggle it off whenever I find myself in need of healing, as the healing reduction really does hurt quite a bit.  Ultimately though I am going to have to get into the swing of healing for groups because that’s what people really want Minstrels to do.  Oh well, at least I shouldn’t have a problem finding a group.

The Hunter

The king of all solo’ing?  I don’t know.  I found the Minstrel to be quite self-sufficient.  So far I don’t have any self-heals on this character and I don’t know if any are coming.  He is a cook as well, but since he’s perpetually broke and still horribly behind on his skills that doesn’t do me any good either.  I did take him out for a spin recently before settling on the Captain and seriously… He’s ridiculously powerful.  Granted, when mobs get close enough to hit him his DPS drops due to push-back, but once I learn (and remember) how to use traps, things should go much better.  I’m also looking forward to the ports!

The Champion

This was probably the only class that I’ve actually felt disappointment with.  I just feel like the melee moves are way too slow for this class.  They should be a blur of blades, but instead I feel like I’m constantly waiting on auto-attack to finish in order to do my thing.  I’m hoping that the upcoming changes with combat really pull this class up or at least make them feel more fluid, because they need a little bit of love.  Yes, I know they do massive amounts of damage when they’re higher level, and he did seem to improve as he leveled; but still… I want to be a tornado of flying blades with this character!  Instead I got a little bored in the beginning.  Also, the dwarven starting quests stink.  I mean they are awful.  I found it to be a ton of running and just sporadic.  I highly suggest that if you start a dwarf that you run down to the elf area and start from there.  I found that area to be my favorite.

As a Whole

So as a whole I had fun leveling these characters and I look forward to moving into the 20-30 range.  So far I am torn on where to level.  I have the Captain going through the Lone Lands, but they’re a bit too easy.  The quests range from light green to dark blue, so I’m thinking about moving on to Ost Guruth or The North Downs.  From what I’ve seen though, it will probably be The North Downs, but we’ll see how quickly I go through The Forsaken Inn quests on the Captain first.

Now, I do have a major complaint about leveling to 20… And that’s the money you earn versus the money you need for skills.  Even with characters that were not crafting, I barely had enough money to cover purchasing skills upon leveling the higher I went.  I’m not sure if any adjustments were made to the costs of skills when the experience required per level changes were made, but if they were then they were not dropped far enough.  I walked into the training area with my Champion at level 20 with around 300 silver and left with around 15.  That’s just silly, and not in a good way.  I shouldn’t have to rely on later levels going more slowly in the 30’s and 40’s so I can purchase skills from my 20’s.  Yes, I am over-exaggerating some, but the skills are absurdly high costing for as quickly as you can go through the levels and I hope that this gets taken into account in the future.

Currently, my Minstrel is level 15 and well on his way to my current “Alt Level Cap” of 20, until the rest of my characters are ready to advance as well.  But I’d like to take this opportunity not only to share my views and opinions on the character at this time, including the skills that he is using and how I am putting them into a rotation.  I am by no means an expert, nor do I play one on TV.  However, I am an avid gamer and I think I’m fairly good at figuring things out.

First, for those who have not played a Minstrel and think they’re wimpy; well I think you’re wrong.  At least at this level they are definitely a powerhouse capable of solo’ing most content.  Healing?  Healing is for survival, but not the main goal of the class.  It’s all about shouts and out-damaging any mob that dares to show its face around you.  Sure, maybe the Minstrel is meant to be a main healer at end-game, but right now it’s a damage machine.

First of all, here is how I currently have my bar set up:

The intent of the setup is for the player to progress through the skills in an easily sequential number, with an “Oh No!” button as the very last option.  This setup may not be suitable for you personally, but this is how I like it.  I strongly suggest that no matter what you use for a rotation (meaning a progression of skills you use on a normal basis), that you group them on the bar in a logical fashion.

The Skills

Key Binding	Skill Icon	Skill Name	Purpose
1		Ballad of Resonance	Direct Damage + % Bonus to Tactical Damage*
2		Ballad of Vigour	Direct Damage + Buff to Vitality*
3		Ballad of Steel	Direct Damage + Buff to Armor*
4		Ballad of Swiftness	Direct Damage + % Attack Duration Decrease*
5		Ballad of War	Fellowship % Bonus to Melee Damage*
6		Herald’s Strike	Main-Hand Weapon + Damage
7		Raise the Spirit	Single-Target Heal
8		Inspire Fellows	Fellowship Heal + % reduction to incoming Ranged, Tactical, and Melee Damage
C+1		Piercing Cry	Direct Damage
C+2		Echoes of Battle	Single-Target Debuff to Song and Cry Resist Rating + Direct Damage + Damage over Time
C+4		Ballad of Balance	Direct Damage + Bonus to Evade Rating*
C+5		Ballad of Unshakeable Will	Fellowship Bonus to Fear Resist Rating*
=		Cry of the Valar	Single-Target Fear

* = Also gives a % Bonus to Healing and Motivation Skills Morale Healing

Pulling:

For pulling, use Echoes of Battle in order to reduce the mob’s resist rating.  You can also use Cry of the Valar if you believe you are going to get multiple mobs, and then switch to your primary target and begin with the use of Echoes of Battle.  While you can use a direct damage to pull, doing so runs the risk of missing or being resisted.  *updated 11/6/2009 per dwolfe

My Normal Rotation:

First, I use Echoes of Battle to debuff the mob.  This is very important as it will significantly reduce the target’s resistance rating to songs and cry’s that you perform on a mob and should shorten your fight significantly.  If this buff should happen to fall off or you switch to another target, make sure to use it again so that whatever mob you are focusing on keeps this buff on.  This is a toggled skill, so it will not readily be available after its current target is killed or you toggle it off to put it on another target.  Just remember to put it back on as soon as its cooldown is over.  *updated 11/6/2009 per dwolfe

Depending on which skill I used to pull (Piercing Cry or Ballad of Resonance), I will usually use the other one as my next skill.  Then I will move down the line in sequential fashion, continuing with Ballad of Vigour, Ballad of Steel, Ballad of Swiftness and then Ballad of Balance.  If the mob is still functional with substantial health, I will then use Ballad of War and follow up with Herald’s Strike (mostly for the Deed Herald’s Hammer, your cries and ballads will overall be more effective) and then start with the rotation again.

Healing:

With the reduction of XP necessary to level, you should probably go up against less powerful mobs than yourself and therefore shouldn’t have as much healing priority in your rotation, but it’s still very important to watch your Morale.  Make sure that you give yourself ample time to heal as well.  I usually start trying to heal at around 50% just to make sure that I have enough time to get through any interruptions that might come from physical combat.  Don’t be afraid to use Cry of the Valar either in order to buy some time to heal.

Multiple Mobs:

Don’t be afraid of multiple mobs; just be sure to use Cry of the Valar as soon as you can and then switch to the next mob and start your rotation with Echoes of Battle.  Realize though that Cry of the Valar’s cooldown exceeds its duration so you won’t be able to keep something feared all the time.  Just remain calm and make sure that you get in Ballad of Vigour, Steel, and Balance as these will keep your Vitality, Armor, and Evade up as well as doing direct damage.  Then simply finish off your first target and fear your extra mob(s) when Valar’s cooldown is finished.

It also doesn’t hurt to have all your potions in your quickslots to replenish morale, power, and to remove debuffs from yourself.

Traits and Deeds:

I’m going to cover these in a later post because this is the time in a character’s development where I really concentrate on leveling.  Quests are usually centralized during these levels and experience comes fast.  However, my suggestion is to take note what Deeds are available for completion and try to work on them if you can.  Zone deeds can be done later in the game when you’re more powerful and can knock them out much more quickly.  On the other hand you can kill some extra mobs and get some experience at the same time; however it’s much faster just to do quests to gain experience than it is to kill mobs.  Class deeds are important because they are usually limited by your level and by a certain amount that can be done per day.  I heavily suggest working on them and trying to incorporate as many of their corresponding skills into your activity.  As an example, try to make sure to heal yourself after every fight to work on Life-singer.

Conclusion:

Really I haven’t made any life-startling announcements concerning how to play Minstrels and there may well be more efficient and more clever ways to play them; but this is how I play mine.  I’m open to any comments and suggestions that more experienced Minstrels might have.

So here’s an update on my alts so far:

The current goals are:

• Level the character to 20
• If they are working on a profession, try to keep that going.
• If the character is an explorer, the highest level character gets priority on materials.

The Lore-master

Ah, my second character to really level is sitting now at level 42.  He’s out-of-the-game right now and probably for a while.  I like him quite a bit, but since he’s between leveling areas (he just picked up all the Angmar quests) I might use him to farm some wood or to take a break from the rest of the menagerie.

This character is a Woodsman and a part of the Woodworking guild.  I really need to work on his faction more.  I’m pretty solid about completing Meredoc’s daily guild token creation, but I always seem to forget about this one’s.  Probably because he’s out of materials and I’d have to go farm some!  He’s come in pretty handy for making some items for all the characters from weapons to instruments; which is pretty funny since I really took up the profession to only make staves and because our friend who had been working on the profession quit the game.

The Captain:

Currently sitting at Level 20.  I’ve switched his profession from Tinker to Explorer due to Goldenstar having an alt that is higher Jeweler than myself.  It didn’t make sense to me to have two people making jewelry and therefore cutting those supplies in half.  So since I was behind, and honestly not really enjoying it all that much, I switched him.  Now I need to take him around and get some hides and wood in order to get his skill up to par with his mining.  I will not be using tailoring on this character.

Other than that, I got him into an outfit that looks great (to me).  Nothing special, just one of the outfits that you can purchase.  But now he looks so good to me that I started getting outfits for all of my alts.  Not only do they look good now, but they will remain consistent in that look.

The Burglar:

The burglar is sitting at 17.  I enjoy him, but the class is kind of slow leveling wise.  At least it feels slow.  I might move this character to a different area and see if getting him out of The Shire (my usual leveling ground) will break that rut.  I plan to finish up the Hobbit quests in Scary (they’re green) and then move him along in both the epic story and in the Buckland quests.  However, his crafting is coming along fairly well in my opinion.  His weapons-craft is up to Expert and he’s been able to join the Weaponsmithing guild.  So now I hope to get him some faction in that as well and bump him up the last 3 levels.  It shouldn’t be too difficult, but he isn’t as much fun as I had hoped; at least not now.  I think he will get a lot more fun to play as time goes on.

The Minstrel:

Wow, now this guy is fun!  Definitely more fun than I thought he would be!  He’s 14 right now and going through the Elven starting quest progression.  He’s got a lot of “oomph” playing as a “battle bard” (skald) and I really enjoy it quite a bit.  However, I can’t help but feeling that over time the other shoe is going to drop and he suddenly won’t be as much a “battle bard” as a “omg run away” bard.  I’ve been told that it really depends on how you use your traits, and I hope that’s right.  I know in the end game people want Minstrels to be healers, and that’s all right by me.  Especially since I’ll mostly be solo’ing.  Maybe I’ll group some and try the healing thing, but it’s never been a huge part of my play-style.  Usually I’m a tank and sometimes a DPS, but never a healer on a regular basis; just when absolutely necessary.

He’s an Explorer too, and will not be doing Tailoring either.  That honor will be going to another of Goldenstar’s alts which is farther ahead in the craft and more capable in completing the corresponding crafting quests than this character is currently.  Surprise Goldenstar! (She didn’t know about this decision.)

The Hunter:

I miss this little guy.  He’s level 20 now, still poor, and still missing quite a few skills.  I’ve fed him some money to purchase some of the missing skills, but he’s an expensive little bugger.  He probably needs about 400-600 silver before he’s done catching up; so thank goodness he’s at my temporary level cap.

The same goes with his farming and cooking which are both on the Supreme level.  Right now he’s not generating any money, which means he’s not generating any food either.  Although he’s going to be soon because I desperately need food for my alts and my main.  They’re just too crucial to let this guy’s talents go to waste.  The downside is, that it will be a money-sink.

The Warden?:

I put a question mark by this character because I’m not 100% sure I will in fact be keeping this character a Warden.  Reading Docholiday’s blog really gets me excited about the class, but I’ll need to make sure I’m not just getting enmeshed in his own passion for the class.  It’s really important when making an alt that you play one that you enjoy, whether it’s for mechanical or roleplaying reasons, and not because you got caught up in the excitement.

I’ll probably try out a Champion and Rune-keeper once again in order to make that final decision.  I will need to play the Warden a bit more to make this decision as well so that I can be sure.  Currently the character is level 6 and doesn’t have any crafted items so remaking him is not a big deal.  I’ve also toyed around with having our listeners and readers decide by putting up a poll, but in the end I think it’s important to make sure I do enjoy the class since this will be my last character slot.

As far as crafting goes, my plans are to make this character an explorer too.

Conclusion:

Well, that’s the status of this week.  I hope to keep this updated on Fridays.  Any user input is welcome, so feel free to comment, send us an email, or link to this in a blog of your own!