Disclaimer: The following journal was written during The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar ™’s (LOTRO) Beta phase. Much of the information provided here is subject to change. The journal is meant to give you a cross section of LOTRO as it was at the time of this writing, and has been approved by Turbine for public release.
Setting aside a few hours to play The Lord of the Rings Online is pretty hard these days, but I manage to do so this week. Armed with tortilla chips, salsa, and a 20 oz. Diet Pepsi, I closed the door to my office and log in.
Today’s session begins with my level 36 Captain resting in the beauty of Rivendell. My quest log reads like a book of short stories told by Tolkien himself. Bilbo Baggins wants me to solve his riddle, Elrond has asked me to talk to Frodo, and there is a Troll problem in the South Trollshaws. There are hundreds of decisions to be made during my time in Middle-earth, and this is the one I always get hung up on. What shall I do first? A member of my kinship informs me that he will be hunting stone trolls in the very near future and that I am welcome to join him if I like. Problem solved. I mount my horse and blaze off in the direction of the troll hunting party. (Yes, I have a horse.)
The ride from The Last Homely House to the hunting party is a long one; Middle-earth is a big place, and travel takes time. Along the way I pass Sam at the Meeting Spire, Boromir near the road to the Misty Mountains and a number of friendly Elven merchants selling their wares. I cross the Ford of Bruinen without incident, but the ride gets more dangerous from here. Many creatures roam these lands and running into a Troll is not uncommon -- get too close to one of these and you’ll find yourself knocked from your steed and in a very tight spot. Luck is on my side this day, and I meet up with my party in one piece.
Scanning my group list, I quickly realize that we’re more than a match for any Trolls in the area. Small talk commences as we wait for one or two more members to show up. It’s not long before we are all assembled and searching for our quarry. My quest log currently contains two Troll quests. The first of these was given by a Dwarf; he is searching for an unremarkable stone and is convinced that one of these monsters has walked off with it. Its return has become my responsibility. My second quest is to thin out the Troll population some. I’m to kill 6 of them and report back for my reward.
As we follow our tracker through the woods, my attention turns to the skill bar on my user interface. The Captain is a good secondary buffer and I contemplate which party members should receive which buffs. The Champion will get “Relentless Attack.” This is a “Command” buff and it allows one to attack ferociously, giving them the ability to critically wound with their attacks more often by adding 5% to their critical hit chance. We also have a Guardian in the group and on him I bestow “On Guard.” This is a defensive buff that adds 5% to his parry chance. These are in addition to the “Motivating Speech” buff I have already placed on the entire group. This skill increases the affected player’s morale pool by 1.1%.
We quickly come up on a group of Trolls and I dole out my buffs. It’s also time for me to summon my herald. At level 36 I have three to choose from: Hope, War, and Victory are their names. My Herald of Hope adds additional increases to the fellowship’s Morale pool while the Herald of War adds points to our Might and Agility scores. I don’t think these trolls are going to be too much trouble, so I use the Herald of Victory which gives us each a larger Power pool to work with.
We move in on the Trolls and the battle is joined. Because of the ease of this fight, my Herald and I use mostly auto-attack so I can relax and chat during the encounter instead of playing mash the buttons. I do use one of my favorite skills from time to time. “Reveling Mark” is a skill that I use to point out weaknesses in our foe’s defense. It also allows fellowship members gain morale as they do damage. This is a nice little skill that will save a group’s healer some power over the course of a long skirmish.
Because they are Elite monsters, Fellowship Combos aid us in our fight, and we dispatch the required number of Trolls in short order. My hunting party returns to the quest givers and reap our rewards. Talk turns to another quest that I have already completed, so I say goodbye to my group. There’s a Hobbit in Rivendell waiting to chat with me.
The return ride is as uneventful as the trip out, and in no time I find myself on the steps of Elrond’s beautiful home. I talk to Frodo and he asks if I will take a walk with him. I won’t go into the details of this quest; its surprise adds to the enjoyment factor of this session and I wouldn’t want to rob you of that.
My time is about up so I finish with Frodo and head to the nearest merchant to repair some armor and sell off some junk I acquired during my travels. Just before I sign off for the evening, I take a moment to look out over the valley. Turbine’s art team has placed wonderful looking Elven dwellings among beautiful streams, bridges and trees here. As with other areas in this game, their presentation of Imladris is truly a thing to behold. I log out of the game, looking forward to tomorrow morning. Bilbo has a riddle for me -- and his are always the most fun.
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