General
The Longest Levels, 40-50 for Minstrel
Aug 2nd
As I was writing this post, I found myself stumbling, because really there’s too many places you can choose from to get your character to ding in that upper 40’s range. The earlier levels however were pretty tricky in the past. Since the inception of the skirmish system, these levels can be easily ‘ground’ with the cycle of all the skirmishes available, everyday. It may seem monotonous but you can always switch between a few characters and keep yourself from burning out. To me, the levels between 40 and 50 are the most agonizing, so having plenty of alts to cycle through is fantastic. More >
The Writ of Rune-keeping: levels 51 – 65
Aug 2nd
You’ve proven your skill time and time again to the denizens of Eriador: but now it is time to test your mettle in the depths of Moria and under the grim canopy of Mirkwood. There aren’t many skills to be gained between levels 51 and 65, but at this stage in the game, you’ll have an unrivaled number of opportunities for your existing skills to be tested. We’ll be fairly brief this week, covering your last seven Rune-keeper skills, your final three legendary traits, and how to get them.
Huzzah, Moria!
LOTRO Beta NDA lifted!
Aug 2nd
Turbine announced this morning that the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for the Lord of the Rings Online Free-to-Play beta has been lifted. This means that you should start seeing a lot more definite contents from all of your favorite LOTRO site, as I’m sure that most of us have been in beta, myself included.
I just returned from holidays, and received my beta invite in the middle of my trip, so I haven’t had too much time to look at the beta yet. I did managae to make it onto the server enough to get a couple of first impressions.
First of all, the Direct X 11 graphics look great! I really notice that this, along with the revamp of the UI, really brought the graphic quality of the game right up.
Second, the revamp of the introductions is good. I enjoyed playing through some of the new intros, but then again, I could have like it simply because it was new. They are nothing extrordinary, simply good.
Thirdly, the Turbine Store is annoying, I have to admit. Taking a look around, it’s a little dis-heartening to see that a lot of the things in game (faction mounts, cosmetics, emotes) that people would normally work so hard in-game for are now available for purchase. This seems like a bit too much of a shortcut for me. On the other side, I do like some of the things available that take away, or at least relieve, some of the grind, such as the Deed Acceleration and Rested XP items. Nothing that I saw in the store was game breaking though.
Fourth, the new instance system looks really good. I’ll be trying a few different ways of playing with the new system, and I’ll give you some more detailed info soon.
Lastly, I haven’t gotten to go around Enedwaith too much, but I did check it out very quickly. Looks pretty cool. DocHoliday will be doing a write up on it soon.
I wonder if lifting the NDA now, which to me seems quite quick, considering the beta started on June 16th, means that we are further along in the beta process than I thought. Perhaps we’re looking at a Free-to-Play launch in early Fall, as opposed to late Fall?
We’ll have to wait and see.
See you in-game!
Quick Warden Trick
Aug 2nd
My next major post will focus on virtues and traits (for a older and slightly out-dated post, check out my blog), but I just recently came across this trick while catching up on the main LOTRO forums that was news to me so I thought I’d share it. Now hopefully if you’d read through my previous posts you have a pretty good feel for the gambits and how to build them. Plus when you reach level 50 you start to earn the traits for the Masteries which allow you to populate your gambit bar with 2 builders as opposed to one. Now here’s where the trick comes in, you can use the Masteries to build up an “invalid” gambit that allows you to more quickly fire of the gambit you want to.
The Looking Glass
Jul 29th
Here’s a little humour from Forgotten Renegades. You can see their website at www.ourguild.ru.
Minstrel Levels 30-40 Summary
Jul 28th
Personally, I’d prefer to level a bit by skirmishing, as 30-35 normally go very quickly if you’re skirmishing. Since I don’t usually run War-speech, I really enjoy doing it during skirmishes and that’s why I’m in love with my Bannerguard. He/she offers minimal healing and a fairly good threat rating to allow me to take down enemies quickly and efficiently. Other soldiers I’ve tried have been Protector, Archer, and Herbalist. The best advice I can give on choosing a role for your minstrel’s soldier is to decide on whether you want to War-speech or not. Secondly, if you’re going to be a group player or solo when it comes to skirmishing. With a lot of time spent in skirmishes, you will probably have enough marks to toss at having both of those situations covered.
If skirmishing isn’t your idea of a good time, you can always go through Dol Dínen area of North Downs. If even that is too much action, may I recommend Oatbarton and into Evendim? More >
Did You Know…
Jul 25th
This Did You Know comes from Cor Pethroni member Rufustus, a burglar:
The burglar’s distract ability, Riddle, is a great way of pulling a single enemy out of a pack to make the fight more even for a soloing burglar. When a burglar poses a riddle to an intelligent enemy (not Beasts, Insects, or Creatures of Nature), the enemy will become distracted for 30 seconds (or until damaged) as it tries to solve the riddle. So, how do you use this skill to your advantage?
First, approach the group of mobs until they notice you and start attacking. Second, quickly distract the mob you want “mezzed” for 30 sec.
Third, run away from the others until they stop chasing you.
Fourth, run back and stand just out of range before 30 seconds are up. Finally, when the distracted mob gives up trying to solve the riddle, it will come after you, but the others will stay put, milling idly around with glazed looks on their faces: “Hey, where’s that other guy running off to in such a hurry?… ah, who cares.” You can quickly and easily dispatch the single enemy, and then Riddle the next one!
Rufustus believes that knowing this little trick will make some solo quests a LOT easier for novice burglars. It is also useful for questing in a group with a burglar, when that group is attacking mobs above their level range.
Happy burgling!
The Writ of Rune-keeping: levels 31-50
Jul 23rd
As a Writ of Fire burns on and on, so too do our journeys through Middle-earth. In this week’s post, we’ll talk about Rune-keeper skills from levels 31 – 50, legendary trait deeds at level 39, and the level 45 class quests that push you to venture into the strongholds of Angmar. For those of you interested in skirmishes (give ‘em a try!), I recommend Almazar’s recent posts here. He has skirmishes covered pretty well, so I won’t add any echoes to the room.
A word from Turbine…
Jul 23rd
Captain’s leveling guide 41-50
Jul 23rd
This week we will point you in the right direction to get you going for your level 50 class quest. As you will notice, your questing will most likely be getting more and more spread out. Your area choices will be Angmar and The Misty Mountains. Once you get into the level 45 range, you will be able to converge on Eregion and/or Forochel. Also at level 45 you will want to make your way to the Hollin Gate in the far east of Eregion to start Volume 2 of your epic quests that will grant you the ability to use Legendary Items (but that is another post).
