So, you’ve decided to play a hunter. Great choice! You’ve read all the beginner guides, chosen your race, and have started pew-pewing your way through Middle-Earth. The hunter is a fairly easy class to learn, but there are subtleties in the early levels that are very easy to miss. Maybe it’s because you’re so good at killing things fast, or that...

So you have a Turbine Account, downloaded the game and have successfully started to launch the game.  The first screen is easy to navigate, put in your username and then your password.  There is a box to tick if you want to go to the server you were last on, but as a new player, you won’t have been to any Server previously, so don’t worry about that...

By a wonderful coincidence, my Skirmisher of Middle-earth series on YouTube reached Amon Sûl just in time for Weatherstock V. This week’s episode therefore features Pineleaf’s quest to save Weatherstock from a band of wights. Now we just need to get security to clear out the mess afterwards. If you are interested in the Weatherstock V concert...

A few months before the release of Isengard, I ran a test with all the skirmish soldiers. During this test, I ran a series of four skirmishes with my warden using each soldier in turn: Trouble in Tuckborough at Tier 1, Ford of Bruinen at Tier 1, Thievery and Mischief at Tier 2, and Stand at Amon Sûl at Tier 2. The fastest time (and the only series where I never...

Branick, Mysteri, and Pineleaf have so much to say about the races and classes available in The Lord of the Rings Online™ that they run out of time to talk about anything else. Thanks for listening.

Introduction One of the peculiar features of LOTRO skirmishes are the lieutenants. During the course of a skirmish run, you will face a number of lieutenants. Unlike the mini-bosses in other instances, each lieutenant you face will be selected at random from a pool of available lieutenants. The key is that all skirmishes share the same pool of lieutenants...

Congratulations!  You have downloaded the game and logged in only to see a Character Selection Screen.  What do you do now?  Make a character of course. 🙂 Step 1:  Choose a gender to play. Choosing a gender is the easiest option.  You will either create a male or female character. Step 2:  Choose a Race to play. Here you have four races from Tolkein’s...

  I’m going to start my explanation of the current end game raids with Battle for Erebor.  This is a “pick your poison” type battle.  Before you can actually start the fight with the two trolls, you must select a number of unfavorable terms, depending on how difficult you want the fight to be.  For tier 1, you only need to select two of...

If you start skirmishing at level 20, you will likely say “Wow, these things are way easy!” By the time you hit 41, the word “easy” is the last word you have in mind. What happened? Today, we will have a little look at the difficulty curve used in skirmishes. I suspect that your initial guess would be that it would follow the same curve as your character. That...

    In this edition, we will be discussing the reputation factions located in the Eriador region. Beginning with the starter areas, the zones include a vast amount of land, generally from early-to-mid level. The exceptions include Enedwaith and Dunland, which span levels 60-75. However, before we jump right into the Eriador factions, let’s take...

Elder Forest Hunter, Large Forest Hunter, Outcast Forest Hunter, Snarling Forest Hunter.  What do all these Hunters have in common?  They are all wolves! These wolves are found in the Old Forest, but there are many wolves throughout Middle Earth.  How do I know?  Because I think I have been killed at some point by each and every one of them. From the earliest...

  Aaand we’re back! Out of the cold, barren, desolate wasteland that is the Sabertooth’s skillset*, and into the bright, warm, soothing glow of the Eagle. The big thing we will be talking about in this edition is this; Is the Eagle worth the legendary trait slot it takes up? To begin, let’s take a look at the Eagle’s abilities....

After you have an understanding of each of the Professions, what is next?  Next you need to select the vocation which best suits you.  To do this, you will need to visit a Master or Mistress of Apprentices in the crafting areas found in various locations throughout Middle Earth. How do I find the Master of Apprentices? The quest, Outfitting Yourself and Others,...

Author Edit: This was written before the large-scale class revamps that accompanied Helm’s Deep.  The general principles should mostly be accurate, but the particulars, especially regarding traits, likely are not. I’m writing this for those people who have played in groups before, whether small or full fellowship, and want to get into raiding. ...

  It should be no surprise to those who have read my earlier posts that I have a preference for the archer. When I look for a soldier whose primary purpose is damage, I generally turn to the soldier that carries a bow. Why? Because of the way soldiers tend to behave. Soldiers act in a similar manner to monsters in that they will generally attack whoever is...

Branick, Mysteri, and Pineleaf ramble on about The Lord of the Rings Online™ for a while and talk about plans for the upcoming in-game festival, Weatherstock. Thanks for listening.

This week we have a sale of skirmishes and instances. Therefore, I will provide my opinion on each of the skirmishes that are available in the store. First off, different players are likely to have different preferences for skirmishes. If you are looking for a skirmish that is light and that you are likely to complete successfully, then you are more likely to...

  Gaining in-game reputation with factions in Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) is not only a great way to get respect amongst fellow Middle Earthenites, but you’ll also find many new goodies unlocked and available for purchase. Whether it be equipment, decorations, recipes, or new mounts (and the list goes on), there are a plethora of things that can be...

I have heard this question on several occasions, so I have decided to take this opportunity to finally answer it Why are most of your characters female? This question makes one major assumption: that most of my characters are female. First let’s look at the actual count. I have nine serious characters on my main server. Characters on my other servers are...

Sabertooth, y u suck so much!? I’ll be honest with you guys; I hate the Sabertooth. HATE it. If my hatred for the sabertooth were converted into a liquid, there would be enough to fill a large bathtub and two dozen beer mugs. That is how much this pet grinds my girdle. But, alas, it is still a pet, so I must persevere and press into this edition of LOTRO...