Classes

[Chenghiz]

I played a few of the classes in the beta, but not for very long.. specifically the Captain and Champion. If I wanted to play LotRO, which I do, what classes are overpopulated or underpopulated currently? The last thing I want to do is roll another Rogue and run into a content block because I can't find a group.

[CmdrSlack]

It turns out that Burglars are pretty useful in groups -- I had a group fall apart last night because we couldn't find a burglar.  Minstrels, however, seem to be the most in demand -- as long as there's an instance that requires heavy healing.  Guardians are also pretty in demand.  I play a hunter as my main and don't have much problem finding groups.

[Morat20]

I played a few of the classes in the beta, but not for very long.. specifically the Captain and Champion. If I wanted to play LotRO, which I do, what classes are overpopulated or underpopulated currently? The last thing I want to do is roll another Rogue and run into a content block because I can't find a group.

As best I can tell: You can't go wrong with Burglars. Good CC, good DPS, and can reliably start conjunctions. Every group wants once, but they're not required. (I don't think any class is really required for a group -- but burglars are just nice).

Minstrels have a surprisingly large number of players, but they're also healers so you probably won't have much of a problem finding a group.

There's a LOT of champions. That's probably the most likely class to have a "Sorry, we already have a champion" there -- that and hunters.

Loremasters just aren't worth it yet. The class needs some changes to make it worthwhile.

Frankly, I'd just avoid champion, hunter, and loremaster if you're really that worried about grouping. However, I don't think any class will really gate you like that for content.

[Numtini]

Champion is the single most played class and is about to be beat with the nerf stick like nobody's business after which it will probably still be overpowered. They are everywhere. But nobody really minds because they're so good.

Hunters are also insanely popular.

Guardian and minstrel are in the middle. Both are always in demand, but honestly, there's a lot of both hanging around if one looks.

Captain, burglar, and loremaster are the least played classes. Captain is a little weak, but I get the impression it's a viable class even if people hate the herald. Loremaster is next to useless and their best use in a group is to twitch the cleric give power to the minstrel. I can't for my life understand why people don't play burglar (other than the picture of the hamburglar in ones mind), they add so much to a group with conjunctions and crowd control and I haven't heard anyone in my kinship complain about their soloability.

[Trippy]

Loremasters just aren't worth it yet. The class needs some changes to make it worthwhile.

Heh, they've been that way since Alpha.

[Morat20]

My wife and I duo with a burglar/minstrel combo. I wish I could get her to actually stay back and heal instead of wading in sometimes. On the other hand, they're both viable as solo classes so it works out.

[Lt.Dan]

My wife and I duo with a burglar/minstrel combo. I wish I could get her to actually stay back and heal instead of wading in sometimes. On the other hand, they're both viable as solo classes so it works out.

I sure hope you're not one of those people complaining about about diku mmos and the holy trinity...

[Xanthippe]

My loremaster is 26 now, and I swear it's getting harder to play.  I thought it would get beefier and better by now, but LM is pretty weak.  I hope they boost LMs.  I don't know why I'm sticking to it.

Hunters seem to be a dime a dozen.  Champs too.

[CmdrSlack]

My loremaster is 26 now, and I swear it's getting harder to play.  I thought it would get beefier and better by now, but LM is pretty weak.  I hope they boost LMs.  I don't know why I'm sticking to it.

Hunters seem to be a dime a dozen.  Champs too.

Oddly enough, during my failed attempt to get a group together for Retake Weathertop the other night, the biggest fly in the ointment was that we didn't have either a loremaster and/or a burglar to provide CC and/or power regen for the group.  Apparently our minstrel had been killed in many attempts at the quest and wasn't about to go in without his "ideal group."  Having never done it, I can't speak to how tough it is, but apparently it's a lv 20 quest that is tough even for people in their mid 20s.

[Morat20]

My wife and I duo with a burglar/minstrel combo. I wish I could get her to actually stay back and heal instead of wading in sometimes. On the other hand, they're both viable as solo classes so it works out.

I sure hope you're not one of those people complaining about about diku mmos and the holy trinity...

No -- there's just been a close call or two that didn't need to be, because she was wailing on the mob and not paying attention to our respective health.

[Nyght]

Oddly enough, during my failed attempt to get a group together for Retake Weathertop the other night, the biggest fly in the ointment was that we didn't have either a loremaster and/or a burglar to provide CC and/or power regen for the group.  Apparently our minstrel had been killed in many attempts at the quest and wasn't about to go in without his "ideal group."  Having never done it, I can't speak to how tough it is, but apparently it's a lv 20 quest that is tough even for people in their mid 20s.

Reports from near the end of Beta said Weathertop was really tough. Never done it myself, but willing to take guild folks word for it.

As to classes, Champ rocks solo. Which is likely why it is so popular.. at least until the stick hits.. June?

Burgy is a very fun class, although a bit slow out of the gate. It takes a bit to learn.. a good thing from my point of view.

Never done LM.. can't say.. never really got behind pet classes.

On a side node, RL intrudes and I have canceled for the time being. We will see how May plays out.

Ya'll have fun! hear?   

[Hound]

I like to have a captain in the group myself, great buffs. Also as a minstrel I love the power boosts I get from a lore master but they seem to be rare and not all that popular. If you want to group a lot though, roll a minstrel or a guardian, both solo well also.

[Xanthippe]

What are they going to do to Champions come June?

After the farming nerf that broke farming completely, I don't have much faith in Turbine to actually fix things correctly.  My champ was my #2 alt, but I may play Guardian or Burglar instead, if LM becomes more painful.

The really weird thing is that my Loremaster spells get resisted a hell of a lot more now at 26 than they did ten levels ago - which would be fine if there was some corresponding strength, something that has gotten better to make up for it, but no, there's nothing that's gotten better.  Everything has grown worse.  I'm hoping things improve soon, or it's going on the shelf.

[Chenghiz]

Sounds like Burglar would be a good choice, then? It's probably not played enough because it sounds like a petty criminal instead of something heroic. :P

[Phred]

What are they going to do to Champions come June?

I think he's guessing June as a nerf date. Hard to say really, because the champion got heavily nerfed in beta.

Turbine is a bit baffling. I'm really starting to wonder if they have anyone there capable of sorting out the economy and trade skills. They sure don't seem to have a "vision" for that aspect of the game at all. Why bother putting the horse routes in the game when no one can really afford to take a horse? Why have the huge hit to your cash supply on L20+ skills. If this is intentional it seems that "punish the player" is alive and well at Turbine, if it's not, why haven't they fixed it. They nerfed the cash gain as you leveled after I stopped playing my guardian in beta but I don't remember rolling in money prior to it. I had enough that I could take the occasional horse ride and buy all my 20 skills but why is that a bad thing?

[CmdrSlack]

Actually, while I can see how there's a crunch for some players, I've done really well just killing junk for titles and traits and quests.  I also go after animals for hides, so I get a ton of vendor trash that way.  Heck, I've not really done squat in the AH, and am currently stockpiling wood (raw and treated) to see how that sells. 

I think I'm sitting on about 500s right now and am at lv 24.  I also ride the horse a lot -- the run from Bree to Forsaken Inn (and sometimes F.I. to Ost Guruth) is a PITA to me, so I take that a good deal.

ETA -- I guess my point is ultimately that hunting random mobs (for me, it's for hides) works really well.  It's also smart to always get the spider-based traits, they have many valuable parts.

[Xanthippe]

I just hit 28 and have 3g.  I'm a historian, and ignoring weaponsmithing.  I have only sold a few potions and scrolls that I levelled on.

Mostly I have just been getting the money from quests and vendor trash, selling the occasional recipe for 10s or 20s.  Recipes drop a lot off goblins and orcs, and going after those traits is a good way to get a lot of recipes.

I've also spent a few hundred on a couple of scholar recipes.

Money started to flow post-20.  North Downs particularly.

[palmer_eldritch]

Burglars are a great class but I actually quit my burglar to play a minstrel, as I found it hard to get a group. Perhaps I didn't give it long enough as he was only level 22 (and I levelled quickly with the pre-order pack, so perhaps other players were still figuring things out).

People still want the holy trinity as a rule - tank (guardian obviously), healer (minstrel) and firepower (hunters and champs). Crowd control is kind of hard as champs like to use their aoe and guardians seem to like using theirs too. I haven't played one but I don't think they have an AOE taunt that doesn't do damage too.

That's not to say burglars aren't good as they really are, but they are harder to understand than some other classes and not everyone realises what they can do.

I played quite a few classes in beta (champ, hunter, minstrel and loremaster), and found that loremasters were the best for soloing by far. I don't see why people say they are underpowered. It's the only class I played with which I was able to take on camps of 3 or 4 whites or yellows. It can kill elites of roughly the same level - I wouldn't even think of trying that with my minstrel.

The bears have "steal aggro" and "stun mob" skills (assuming it hasn't changed since beta) while the loremaster gets a weak heal. The bears also have pretty good health - not like a guardian of course but they can take some punishment, and every so often you can heal them. Throw in creditable DPS from the loremaster himself and mez skills and it's a good combination especially for soloing.

[Xanthippe]

I played quite a few classes in beta (champ, hunter, minstrel and loremaster), and found that loremasters were the best for soloing by far. I don't see why people say they are underpowered. It's the only class I played with which I was able to take on camps of 3 or 4 whites or yellows. It can kill elites of roughly the same level - I wouldn't even think of trying that with my minstrel.

The bears have "steal aggro" and "stun mob" skills (assuming it hasn't changed since beta) while the loremaster gets a weak heal. The bears also have pretty good health - not like a guardian of course but they can take some punishment, and every so often you can heal them. Throw in creditable DPS from the loremaster himself and mez skills and it's a good combination especially for soloing.

Bears were nerfed early March.  They were called "pocket guardians" pre-nerf.

I cannot kill a same-level elite mob.  I tried to kill a 25 auroch alone twice (I was level 27) and it chewed through my bear and then chewed through me.  I couldn't get my debuffs and whatnot off fast enough or heal fast enough - couldn't do anything fast enough, I just went down fast.  I could probably kill an elite that's 4-5 levels below.

LMs are very weak against undead - mez doesn't work on them, and they seem very resistant to other spells.

I like my LM, I just wish I didn't die so much, that mobs didn't resist so much, and wish that I was a little more useful in a group.  Maybe later groups will actually need my debuffs or power battery.  For now though, when I group, I feel like dead weight.

[CmdrSlack]

I played quite a few classes in beta (champ, hunter, minstrel and loremaster), and found that loremasters were the best for soloing by far. I don't see why people say they are underpowered. It's the only class I played with which I was able to take on camps of 3 or 4 whites or yellows. It can kill elites of roughly the same level - I wouldn't even think of trying that with my minstrel.

The bears have "steal aggro" and "stun mob" skills (assuming it hasn't changed since beta) while the loremaster gets a weak heal. The bears also have pretty good health - not like a guardian of course but they can take some punishment, and every so often you can heal them. Throw in creditable DPS from the loremaster himself and mez skills and it's a good combination especially for soloing.

Bears were nerfed early March.  They were called "pocket guardians" pre-nerf.

I cannot kill a same-level elite mob.  I tried to kill a 25 auroch alone twice (I was level 27) and it chewed through my bear and then chewed through me.  I couldn't get my debuffs and whatnot off fast enough or heal fast enough - couldn't do anything fast enough, I just went down fast.  I could probably kill an elite that's 4-5 levels below.

LMs are very weak against undead - mez doesn't work on them, and they seem very resistant to other spells.

I like my LM, I just wish I didn't die so much, that mobs didn't resist so much, and wish that I was a little more useful in a group.  Maybe later groups will actually need my debuffs or power battery.  For now though, when I group, I feel like dead weight.

At least your repair costs are low?  :D

[palmer_eldritch]

I played quite a few classes in beta (champ, hunter, minstrel and loremaster), and found that loremasters were the best for soloing by far. I don't see why people say they are underpowered. It's the only class I played with which I was able to take on camps of 3 or 4 whites or yellows. It can kill elites of roughly the same level - I wouldn't even think of trying that with my minstrel.

The bears have "steal aggro" and "stun mob" skills (assuming it hasn't changed since beta) while the loremaster gets a weak heal. The bears also have pretty good health - not like a guardian of course but they can take some punishment, and every so often you can heal them. Throw in creditable DPS from the loremaster himself and mez skills and it's a good combination especially for soloing.

Bears were nerfed early March.  They were called "pocket guardians" pre-nerf.

I cannot kill a same-level elite mob.  I tried to kill a 25 auroch alone twice (I was level 27) and it chewed through my bear and then chewed through me.  I couldn't get my debuffs and whatnot off fast enough or heal fast enough - couldn't do anything fast enough, I just went down fast.  I could probably kill an elite that's 4-5 levels below.

LMs are very weak against undead - mez doesn't work on them, and they seem very resistant to other spells.

I like my LM, I just wish I didn't die so much, that mobs didn't resist so much, and wish that I was a little more useful in a group.  Maybe later groups will actually need my debuffs or power battery.  For now though, when I group, I feel like dead weight.

Oh bugger. Now I don't know whether to bother with my loremaster alt.

[Xanthippe]

LM fits my playstyle - I tend to solo mostly.  It's a decent solo class, as long as I ignore the undead quests and don't take on mobs much above my level (while I _can_ kill mobs a level or three above me but it's not time-efficient and I die more).

I wish the dps was a little higher or the mobs not as resistant.  Yesterday at 29 I fought a level 22 wolf-type (my pet was not out).  It resisted 2 mezzes and 1 fire-embers in a row.  7 levels below me and 3 resists?  Either a run of bad luck or something is screwy.  I vote for the latter, because resists seem higher than they should be, particularly against same- or lower- level mobs.

Don't roll a LM if you want one of those titles for not dying.

[Edited to add: ]

This official thread mentions that LMs will be getting some love after a month, and also offers tips on how to play an LM.
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=40341

[palmer_eldritch]

The tips are interesting because that's how I always played it anyway - swopping aggro between myself and the pet, using all the debuffs. Once burning embers wore off I  also used to mez the mob every so often to step back a couple of paces and then send the bear in again, just to get a few free hits in as the mob ran at me. (They didn't regen health when mezzed if you stayed reasonably close, I hope that hasn't changed).

[Ryuno]

Thing is, the games new. FOTM classes, gimp classes, are all gona change as the months go by.

Whats crap now, could well be fotm in a few months time :)

I'm messing about with a minstrel, its quite fun. :)

[Tannhauser]

Pocket Review of the Classes

Champion-Heavily played.  Godly.  The only thing that can stop them is the nerf bat.  They think they can tank.
Hunter-Heavily played.  By assholes. 
Captain-Uncommon.  Skills are a huge power hog. A melee jack of all trades.
Lore Master-Rare.  A magic jack of all trades.  Class needs a boost, their pets can't tank like WoW pets.
Minstrel-Uncommon.  Great healing, easy to find groups, solo is a mite slow.  This is what I play and I like it.
Guardian-Uncommon.  The good ones are rare.  The Minstrel's best friend he is an effective tank.
Burglar-Ultra Rare.  Seems to be good for groups.  Hardly see any to form any more of an opinion.

[Jamiko]

Burglar-Ultra Rare.  Seems to be good for groups.  Hardly see any to form any more of an opinion.

At least on my server, the Shire is full of burglars. I started a minstrel simply because of all the burglars. Not sure is there are many non-hobbit burglars though, seems like they all choose hobbit. I also started a Lore-master as our kinship didn't have a single one. I agree, most people seem to be champions or hunters. I really have been enjoying the minstrel so far.

[Bandit]

Pocket Review of the Classes

Champion-Heavily played.  Godly.  The only thing that can stop them is the nerf bat.  They think they can tank.
Hunter-Heavily played.  By assholes. 
Captain-Uncommon.  Skills are a huge power hog. A melee jack of all trades.
Lore Master-Rare.  A magic jack of all trades.  Class needs a boost, their pets can't tank like WoW pets.
Minstrel-Uncommon.  Great healing, easy to find groups, solo is a mite slow.  This is what I play and I like it.
Guardian-Uncommon.  The good ones are rare.  The Minstrel's best friend he is an effective tank.
Burglar-Ultra Rare.  Seems to be good for groups.  Hardly see any to form any more of an opinion.

Agree with this general summary so far...haven't dealt with that many "asshole" rangers, but I have had a few tag mobs that I was obviously going after.

I tried rolling up a Hobbit Burglar myslef lastnight, to finally try out burglar....but I really dislike that character models for them.  The torso's on the Hobbits seem to be overly elongnated (my assumption is that it is easier for gear to fit on that model - as it is close to the size of the human torso?).

[CmdrSlack]

Agree with this general summary so far...haven't dealt with that many "asshole" rangers, but I have had a few tag mobs that I was obviously going after.

Well, to effectively hunt solo, it takes a few seconds of prep time before firing the first shot.  It could simply be that you were targeting a hunter's target...the one he was "obviously" going after.  ;)

[Bandit]

Agree with this general summary so far...haven't dealt with that many "asshole" rangers, but I have had a few tag mobs that I was obviously going after.

Well, to effectively hunt solo, it takes a few seconds of prep time before firing the first shot.  It could simply be that you were targeting a hunter's target...the one he was "obviously" going after.  ;)

You must be one of those asshole rangers  I kid, I kid.

[Morat20]

Agree with this general summary so far...haven't dealt with that many "asshole" rangers, but I have had a few tag mobs that I was obviously going after.

Well, to effectively hunt solo, it takes a few seconds of prep time before firing the first shot.  It could simply be that you were targeting a hunter's target...the one he was "obviously" going after.  ;)

I've had that happen with my WoW hunter. It sucks, but there's not much you can do. I try to keep an eye on the ranged wusses around me in LoTRO to see where they're actually hunting.

[gravdiggr]

At least your repair costs are low?  :D

Did you know that durability goes down on my armor when i cast healing spells on other people. So i end up with repair costs after a whole night of not getting hit.

[CmdrSlack]

At least your repair costs are low?  :D

Did you know that durability goes down on my armor when i cast healing spells on other people. So i end up with repair costs after a whole night of not getting hit.

Sounds fair to me.  (And yep, I knew that, played a LM in closed beta)  My gear takes damage for a wide range of reasons.  My joke was really about how light armor costs less to repair after death -- not whether LMs don't take  gear damage at all.

[Venkman]

Actually, that's not fair at all. It's pretty freakin' stupid. Damage gets hit, it gets damaged. Offset that by lowering the cost to repair for certain classes by giving them innate faction or something. This solution is capricious.

[Nebu]

Pocket Review of the Classes

Burglar-Ultra Rare.  Seems to be good for groups.  Hardly see any to form any more of an opinion.

I played a burglar into the 30's in beta and found the class to be fairly uninteresting.  I can see this class being useful to a dedicated group, but for a part-time grouper/soloer as my playstyle was, there were certainly better class choices.  If I were to play the game with a set group and gaming night, I'd enjoy the class.  Lacking a steady group, I don't find the class has much to offer... apparently others agree.

[CmdrSlack]

I have a burglar that I need to play past level 15.  I'm really enjoying my main, so I've been neglecting my alts.

My main gripe about the burglar is that one of its best skills is group-only.  That's great when you're in a fellowship and need to start some conjunctions.  Certainly, I can see the utility of having a burglar in places like the Great Barrows and on Weathertop.  It' s just too bad that you can't do that solo.

Sure, you get some nifty powers that, when chained together, can generate crits on top of crits, but I can't really think of many other classes that have those kinds of group-only abilities.  Perhaps there's a buff somewhere that only buffs others and not yourself, but I've not seen it yet.

I do think that the burglar is quite fun to play solo, at least up to level 15.  I'll see how I feel after moving my burglar over to Bree-land to do those quests.  I like the CC abilities like riddle, I like that I can debuff something then remove that debuff and get a heal out of it.  It's also satisfying to see a steal ability that works rather well. 

I should really shelve the hunter for a while and work on that burglar.  I was hoping to get a main to 35 before really working any of my alts, but I can see how having my burglar and minstrel somewhat caught up to my main can be useful.