Lord of the Rings Online

Is there any benefit to raising the difficulty other than just self gratification? Normally people just want to blast to lvl cap asap, so is there any reason to make it more difficult?

I can't remember an mmo where overland was really challenging anyways.

Tide27 said:

Is there any benefit to raising the difficulty other than just self gratification? Normally people just want to blast to lvl cap asap, so is there any reason to make it more difficult?

I can't remember an mmo where overland was really challenging anyways.

Click to expand...

You get a title if you do it all the way on difficulty 3+

Tide27 said:

Is there any benefit to raising the difficulty other than just self gratification? Normally people just want to blast to lvl cap asap, so is there any reason to make it more difficult?

I can't remember an mmo where overland was really challenging anyways.

Click to expand...

Lotro is kinda odd in the industry as a lot of people don't just race to level cap asap. Don't get me wrong, there are those that do, but the vast majority don't. There is a ton of story-based content that is actually worth playing through in the game. Most people I know buy a pocket item from the store that stops them from gaining experience just because there is way more content in the game than levels to cover it all, so they stop their experience every 10 levels or so to play through everything. It's definitely a unique game in the MMO space.

That being said, there are titles and emotes you can get if you run difficulty 3 or higher from low level up to something like level 70ish. I think you have to be on difficulty 3 or higher before level 10 and keep it on all the way to 70. While doing so, you collect tokens of heroism from mobs you kill while it is on. That is the currency you spend to buy the emotes and such as you gain enough reputation with the land difficulty faction.

Again, the biggest double edged sword of LOTRO is there is just so much damn territory to the game:

If you want to see all the content, then this is the last game on earth I'd get experience boosters for, as you'll outlevel the content by 30 / 40 / 50+ levels before long.

If you just want a(nother) max level (150) character, then yes, do everything in your power to make that process faster.

Blitz said:

So, Warden's were nerfed - what are the most OP classes now? What's everyone's go to class? My current Warden feels a little underwhelming? I am only like level 18 though, playing on difficulty 3.

Click to expand...

Beornings in blue line are pretty much immortal. Brawlers are pretty strong too. I'm playing a brawler and loving it. I kill most mobs in 3 - 4 hits on difficulty 3.

Apparently lore masters are pretty powerful since the recent update to them, but I haven't played one.

I was doing red loremaster and I don't think I've ever felt so powerful in a game, but this was not knowing about the difficulty stuff, so maybe everyone is that good on default.

Most blue/white con were 1 fireball and dead, yellow and orange a fireball and a instacast. I save all the really good stuff like lightning in case a wraith spawns. The area earthquake attack usually one shots a pack of yellow and under too.

If a wraith gets in my face I go down fairly quick though. Glass cannon I guess.

One problem I've had with all this power, plus the changing of every icon is I have had hell trying to find old abilities I remember having. Stuff dies so fast it is hard to find the pet flank / self heal combo. There was also a nice enemy damage output debuff I still have found.

Blitz said:

So, Warden's were nerfed - what are the most OP classes now? What's everyone's go to class? My current Warden feels a little underwhelming? I am only like level 18 though, playing on difficulty 3.

Click to expand...

What changed about Wardens?

I see folks talking about changing difficulties. How is that done? And is it just for instances and such or overland too?

Vinjin said:

I see folks talking about changing difficulties. How is that done? And is it just for instances and such or overland too?

Click to expand...

There's a Hardened Traveller npc in all the starting areas that gives a quest to let you set the difficulty. It only affects overland (landscape) difficulty. You also get bonus exp.

At difficulty 3 you'll periodically get an Eye of Sauron debuff which causes random ground targeted AOE to spawn on you, and you've got a few seconds to dodge before it hits.

I think most people run level 3 (fearless) because that gives you the highest exp bonus (20%) and the title. There's no reason to go above that unless you just want challenge for challenge sake.

McCheese said:

Beornings in blue line are pretty much immortal. Brawlers are pretty strong too. I'm playing a brawler and loving it. I kill most mobs in 3 - 4 hits on difficulty 3.

Apparently lore masters are pretty powerful since the recent update to them, but I haven't played one.

Click to expand...

Beornings are getting nerfed in today's patch. Apparently, their healing was WAY over powered, and they are finally bringing it back in line with the other classes.

I have been playing a Red Lore Master as my main on Angmar for a bit now, and I absolutely LOVE this class! I know it upset some people that have played Red Lore Master for many years and all of a sudden have no permanent pets, but the new redesign of red spec is insanely fun. Finally you can play a Lore Master that is the "wizard" of other games. PEW PEW PEW!

As a Red Guardian, I was getting my ass beat down by wraiths that would spawn, and I was just about done with the server because I couldn't get through nominal questing on him at low levels. I'm glad I went ahead and made a Red Lore Master to try out because I am hooked on this server now. I destroy wraiths on my rLM.

Pharone said:

Beornings are getting nerfed in today's patch. Apparently, their healing was WAY over powered, and they are finally bringing it back in line with the other classes.

Click to expand...

They were unstoppable against huge packs as well as a lot of group content that no other class could realistically do within the time frame of a Beorning. There were some classes that could chess-match some of the content a Beorning could do, but not actually barrel ass through everything the same way. It was the go-to recommend for OP solo play. The Beorning was completely out of control-- literally just walking through everything and anything.

Blitz said:

I couldn't tell you specifics, but they got nerfed a bit over the last year, I guess. I think they're still a strong class, but not a mega-OP class anymore.

Anyone played the Brawler? The class looks kinda cool, but I don't want to buy it with my LotRo points if it sucks.

Click to expand...

I started playing brawler with this new server launch and I'm loving it. I'm playing blue line, which has a couple self heals and mitigation buffs, so survivability is good. Damage is fine. On difficulty 3 I kill most landscape mobs in 3 - 4 hits (usually two builders and one or two finishers). I like the feel of the class. The animations and sounds for the attacks have a good...oomph? to them. It feels like you're beating the hell out of things.

Brawler gets a recommend by the community at large. It's fun and solid.