My First Week in Rohan

Howdy! Well, it’s officially been a week since Riders of Rohan launched, and I thought I’d write down some of my first impressions and thoughts so far. Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the expansion. My excitement leading up to the launch was building gradually as the date drew near, and I feel like Turbine did an excellent job with the initial experience of Rohan, adding further to my excitement with the locations and quests. I believe there were two ways to start the Rohan area: Either by following Gandalf’s letter to cross into the Wold, via the Great River, or following the epic book quests from Lothlorien to the East Wall. I followed the latter.

While the start of the book quests could be termed as “more of the same” once I reached the East Wall was when I started to experience what would eventually become my favorite parts of the this new expansion: the music and the quests.

Many of you are probably familiar with the music of Chance Thomas, as Turbine was releasing his music via Youtube in the weeks leading up to launch. While I knew I was going to enjoy the soundtrack from what I was able to listen to, finally hearing it as I looked upon the Argonath, or rode across the plains makes every moment in Rohan feel like part of an epic story. If you’re a fan too, you can purchase the official soundtrack through Amazon, iTunes, and I believe it’s even available to listen to on Spotify. Finally, Merric and Goldenstar from Casual Stroll to Mordor were able to interview Mr. Thomas. I recommend giving it a listen, as you can truly tell he loves his work, and really wanted to make Rohan literally sound special.

Now, I do not want to spoil anything regarding the quests themselves so I won’t give specific details, but my hat goes off to the writers at Turbine. The dialogue and writing I encountered (especially in the East Wall area) is very engaging, and I had several times come across laugh out loud moments with some of the subtle humor and nods they had placed within it. Some moments of particular note came during the breaking of the Fellowship, and while helping out the group that I refer to as the “Fellowship of Fail.”

As for Mounted Combat: I’m among the unfortunate individuals who are experiencing what’s been referred to as the “slingshot” effect. Because of this I won’t be making any comments on my personal enjoyment of mounted combat, since I am not experiencing it as it is intended. I will say a few words on the mechanics themselves though. Needless to say I’m disappointed I won’t be able to say much on the subject, especially since I’m not able to get the full experience of one of the highly-touted aspects of this expansion.

Now, while I thoroughly enjoy the dynamic feel of mounted combat (I’ve heard it likened to dogfighting within my kinship), I feel that melee classes are at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to actual fights themselves. Ranged combat definitely has the advantage here, since the range for hitting your target is extended and you won’t have to worry about chasing down a mob, or missing your attack because server lag has you too far away when you think you’re within the 4.2 meter range you need to be in.

Speaking of melee combat, as a warden, I generally try to fight in the Rohirrim stance, which is our primary tanking stance. Granted, I’m only a week in and haven’t learned all the ins and outs of tanking for combat, but it seems like generating threat while on a heavy steed, and in the proper stance, needs a bit of a boost. Without any points spent in traits I have two skills with a threat component, and one of them is only listed as a “small amount of threat.” Traiting deeper into the Red Dawn line of a heavy steed will unlock a third skill that generates threat over time, but even with all three of these skills at my disposal I seem to lose the focus of my mob or warband to whomever is doing the most DPS (which is usually a ranged class). I do feel that a viable “tanking” horse can be built from any size horse, so in the coming days I will be posting the trait lines I use for the various types, as well as the different skills and effects available, after testing them out. Expect those once I have my steed at the maximum level and thus have as many points as possible to play around with!

Moving on: Warbands! I like these a lot. They are definitely a lot more entertaining than the usual daily quests of yesteryear. My only gripes about them stem from the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any real strategy to taking them down other than “don’t die”  and that player class seems to be irrelevant with these encounters. Furthermore, some of the rewards seem to be a little underwhelming. However, this is currently the only known way to find Battered Rings of Rohan to trade and I have also seen Tarnished Symbols of Celebrimbor  (the new symbol needed to craft second age weapons), but more awesomely…

Horse cosmetics! Did you know that there are currently two known drops for horse cosmetics, and they are warband exclusive? One of them is a new spotted skin for your war steed, and the other is an orc head on a pike. It’s gruesome, but really neat at the same time. Regarding the warband loot boxes: Remember how I suggested that using Erandabir’s Horseshoe might have an effect on the rate at which you get the rare items from lootboxes? Well I’d like to suggest that that’s definitely not true. I’ve specifically been hunting the warbands for the new horse skin, and have yet to see it drop. I was lucky enough to get the orc head to drop, and I wasn’t even wearing it at the time. Oh well.

I wish I could bring you more regarding cosmetics, but currently the cost of them from the LotRO Store is a bit prohibitive. There is currently a thread on the forums regarding this very subject. I would recommend checking it out, and even if you’re not all that into the cosmetics, I suggest making a post for the argument of fairer prices. While you’re there, check out the thread of people’s favorite horses, or alternatively join the discussion of what you decided to name your horse.

Alright riders, I think that about wraps it up for now. Be on the look out for my thoughts on building a tanking build for each steed type.

Ride on!