In this episode Branick and Pineleaf share their experiences and thoughts so far on the Riders of Rohan™ beta program for The Lord of the Rings Online™ now that Turbine has released us from our NDA shackles. Thanks for listening.
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Riders of Rohan™ Coming October 15th, 2012
CSTM: Riders of Rohan™ NDA Lifted
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As far as beta goes, I have played in two builds as a hunter, and one build as a guardian. While I would have loved for the game to be out September 5, I do willingly agree that the extra month and a chunk will be useful in ironing out some of the ongoing issues that we have seen in beta.
In terms of mounted combat, there will definitely be a learning curve, like Pineleaf said. Obviously, they now have the extra time to implement features to assist the user in maintaining control over their War-steeds a bit more efficiently.
As it stands (and I do want to make it clear that EVERYTHING is subject to change during beta, and for the release), my experience with a ranged class vs. a melee class seems to show me that mounted combat favors the ranged classes. I suppose this would make sense anyways, as someone like Legolas has the advantage to do a lot of damage from much further away than someone like Aragorn. Still, with the currently difficulty that can arise in controlling exactly where your War-steed will be going, I’m finding it to be more difficult to make a precise charging strike in melee combat if you are moving at high speeds (finding myself almost standing still on steed, face-to-face with an enemy, which is silly if you think about it). The actual damage a melee class outputs on War-steed vs. ranged actually seems fine to me (assuming you aren’t using level 50 weapons) – it’s more or less the delivery system that gives a ranged class the edge, at least for now.
Obviously, different ranged classes may perform differently (as a hunter is generally archetyped as a king of single-target ranged DPS anyways), and I hope to try out a Rune-keeper in a very-near-future build to test out a different ranged DPS (and healing functions).
Overall, I think it will be a system that users will need to warm up to and experiment with to find the right setup and strategy in order to become effective Middle Earth Mounties. I’m sure there will be a lot of rage and QQ on the forum at the expansion’s premiere, but hopefully constructive guidance will either directly help the playerbase improve, or help Turbine tweak the system in order to remain true that they are powered by their fans.
If something I typed above made no sense, my bad – I don’t even want to look at the clock to see what time I was commenting, when I probably should have been asleep. Feel free to post in the Academy forums if you have some more questions about the beta or whatnot, and I’m sure someone can reply.
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Besides all that mumbo jumbo I said above, the Child’s Play thing does seem like an awesome opportunity to help those in need, and even have some fun ourselves while doing it. I always love charity events like that in which everyone wins, and I do wish the best for its participants, and to those lives who will undoubtedly be improved by this awesome charity organization.
Totally off topic but just wanted to say i love the show. Been playing since beta but i still listen to the show every week and its fun to hear you guys interact and yor thoughts etc on stuff when you guys run through stuff for the first time. Plus i just like hows its a, idk if this the proper term but free running podcast and you guys just go with it. I mean that in a good way. CHeers and def keep doing the review packs. Like i said ive been playing since beta and done practically everything but its cool for the people who havent or the people who need to choose or not to choose to purchase a particular pack. Thanks guys take care! Also i accept Rider or Rohan codes 🙂 Having a 9 year old make it rought when expansions come out. Twice the money!!!!
Hey Jared, glad to hear you are enjoying the podcast (as am I!).
Although they were doing it more frequently during a couple of the previous months, LOTRO’s Twitter page has been known to have little trivia questions every now and then, with prizes ranging from Beta codes (during that period, at least), Turbine Points, and Riders of Rohan expansion codes (usually legendary editions). If you were looking for a chance at winning a free copy at RoR, I’d keep a half eye at https://twitter.com/lotro for the potential opportunity. You’ll need a Twitter account to enter (just reply to their tweet with the trivia answer), and they pick randomly from all correct entries after it ends, so you can always use Google should you not know the answer off-hand.
Hopefully we’ll see more of the zone reviews in the future. Naturally, it can depend on everyone’s schedule lining up, and all Internet connections being stable (and all research done on said zone, of course!).
Keep on tuning into the Academy, and if you haven’t already, feel free to roll up a character on Arkenstone and join the Academy kinship. The most #s are probably on during Friday 7-9 EST (whatever that may be for you) for the “Field Trip”, and there’s often at least someone on at other times, all depending on play times. 🙂