f13.net

Tried the Great Barrow again last night with a level appropriate group of 2 champs, 1 guardian and 1 hunter and of course fighting groups of 3 elites at a time was a lost cause.   Wipepalooza.  We could progress through attrition but eventually had to give it up due to equipment wear due to deaths.

And I actually got refused entry to a 2 person LFM group b/c I wasn't a healer?!?, which basically means looking for a minstrel of captain, and more than one of them....

So what's the current though on good group compisition for LotR?  The classes aren't a clear definition of the classic archtypes; seems to be a preponderance of melee oriented fighters who have a few other skills.  A minstrel doesn't play like a cleric, but i get the feeling that's what will be needed to take on a high level instance.  Specifically, if in combat healing is pretty much the role of captains and minstrels, will they become the new "required" classes?

So, what are people's overall evaluations of the classes?  They all seem to be able to solo fairly well into the 20's, but what's your impression of group play?

Oh yeah, and someone give me a 10 second rundown on the fellowship conjunction use...

Xilren

It really depends on how well people play their character.  I have yet to see a magical group makeup; definitely a minstrel and burglar are peachy keen if you can find decent ones. 

Communication is pretty damned important also.  The other night a group I was in was tackling the toughest instance in the Barrows and we managed to do fairly well.  Large part of this was due to the main healer doing his job very well and a burglar who popped conjunctions at appropiate moments.  We mostly did the damage conjunctions with a sprinkling of power ones to refuel. 

Not 100% how conjunctions work.  I just know to click the red thingy when it pops up and occasionally the blue thingy when the group needs it.

The guys refusing you entry to a group were idiots.  Because of the conjunction system there's isn't really any need for specific classes, healers are nice but if you have enough people and everyone knows their class, grouping is fine with anyone.  Grouping is a lot of fun, spolit a bit by the elites which have a bit too many hit points and fast respawns on outside fellowship areas.  I was in a fornost 30+ instance group for a couple of hours before the wipe and it was a lot of fun as everyone knew their class well.

Conjunctions mostly start randomly now (think burglars get a starter), if someone wants to do a complicated red. blue, yellow, green or similar, say no and do what you like.  Most of the time everyone should hit yellow as that does a high damage dot, in most groups red for direct damage is popular, which is fine but if the elite is at full health, yellow is more effective as it does more total damage.  You would use green if you want a heal and blue if you have a healer and need power.  Conjunctions work very well as long as you don't let someone tell you what to pick.

In other news, I have a horse, horses are nice.