Before Riders of Rohan launched, I had done a ton of reading of any information I could find relating to Warsteeds and Mounted Combat after the NDA had been lifted on the beta. That, in addition to my time on the beta server (round 5 to end), made me certain I wanted to get a light steed for my hunter.
Mossie and I had been questing in the Norcrofts when she decided to break for a few minutes and work on some LI reforges and such. I spent that time exploring the heavy steed trait lines and decided to give it a shot.
The first thing I noticed is that a heavy steed with points put into Agility and down the Yellow trait line handles every bit as well as my light steed. The turns seem to be a bit wider but I couldn’t really verify if that was the case or not. At full traits, the heavy steed is only 1mps slower than the light steed.
I had the sense that the DPS was actually higher on the heavy steed, but I am still working on going through combat log information to see if that is true.
In the end I discovered that I loved the way the heavy steed was in comparison to the light. The steed looked more like an actual warhorse (bigger) and it was fast and nimble enough to suit my needs. The heavy also gets a neat skill in the yellow line that allows you to Trample unmounted enemies and knock them backwards which I have found extremely amusing. Lastly there is the added benefit of having more armor and health on the heavy versus the light.
In conclusion I have to say that this makes answering the “what steed should I pick?” question even more difficult for me to answer. I’ve maintained through out that one needs to pick for themselves due to their own play style since the beginning. I still recommend that if you do not know where to start, to start with a medium steed and adjust as you see is needed, but these recent findings have really re-enforced my notion that no one particular steed size is best for any given class.
In the end, we may find that in pure numbers a certain steed is great for a specific class. This will be good for the minmaxers of Middle Earth, but for now and for many people playing LOTRO – don’t let preconceptions of what is the best choice ultimately steer you towards it. I thought for sure the light steed was the way to go on my hunter. It worked really well. I find the heavy steed working better for me.