Some thoughts on statsFollow

I apologize in advance if this turns into a wall-o-text.

I decided to start a minstrel this week. Having come from WoW, with my main character being a healer, I am used to being almost *defined* by stats such as +healing, mp5, etc. I only assumed that it worked somewhat similarly in LOTR, but I found I was very wrong.

I got up to level 14 with just the regular quest gear, and then supplied him with a nice full set of crit gear.

Right now, the base healing power of my quick heal (whatever it's called) is +141 morale. I tested this with my crappy quest gear, and yes, 90% of heals landed for 152 morale (not sure where the extra 12 morale is coming from). After equipping my crit gear all full of +fate, the heals were exactly the same. The crits were bigger (and more frequent). This is totally expected from the description of what fate does.



I know that Turbine designed this game minimal dependency on gear, and it sounds as though they are continuing this trend. This is great, in that you can level a character to 50 (or sometimes not even be 50 yet) and participate in most of the end game activities.

However... there is nothing that truly sets you aside from another 50 of the same class, other than traits, which are fairly easy to grind out. Is it just player skill at that point? Does skill really make THAT much of a difference? For example, would you actually decide not to take one healer to a raid over another? Or is it just that X number of lv 50 warm bodies makes a raid?

Thoughts? Am I missing something?

Hmm... that doesn't really answer my question though. I know about gear, about virtues, about stats like ICPR and the like.

My point is that there doesn't seem to really be a carrot to be had. Maybe this the the lackluster end-game people have been talking about?

From the MoM rumors I have heard, it doesn't sound like they will be doing much to fix that, either.

Edited, Sep 4th 2008 5:36pm by Saaru

In raids it is usually 'we need a minstrel', so you get one. You can never know by looking at them if they are going to work out. If you have grouped with them in the past you would know if they can handle things. That is pretty much the same in any MMO isn't it?

Many groups (mainly PuGs) will break up in short order because of disfunctionality and it mostly boils down to player skill (or lack thereof), not gear and traits. But then again, if I group with a level 50, I would expect them to have at least 5 Virtues decently ranked (6+), 3 of their legendary traits, ALL their trainable combat skills, and not be wearing level 35 armor.

Better players will have a plan for their build and not just slap together any old gear/traits. They will also work deeds to tweak their traits.

Player skill involves:
1. Building your character (gear/traits) to improve its functionality.
2. Knowing what your own character/class can AND cannot do.
3. Knowing how MOBs will react.
4. Knowing what the other classes you are fellowing with can do.
5. Being able/willing to work as a team.

Not sure what the carrot is you are looking for...

Edited, Sep 5th 2008 9:50am by Dottiel

Complaints? Most people (That I know) find it a breath of fresh air not having that massive "gear" grind, Most people do complain about lack of uniqueness and customization, which I believe you're coming at, which is being addressed to a certain point in Mines of Moria. Which also makes me question what you've been reading about it.... Two examples: Trait Sets, and Legendary Weapons.

Try looking through a few of the links in this post:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=158636

I think you're asking is there gear that differentiates between "specs?" (Soon to be known as Trait sets) I believe the legendary weapon system is what you should look into:

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-lord-of-the-rings-online-mines-of-moria/887238p1.html

Here's a quick quote from the article:

"Steefel seems almost giddy as he describes the possibilities inherent in the legendary item system. "Legendary items are really going to impact the way the players play the game" he says, and then compares a legendary item's legacies to a player's inherent abilities and relics to a player's traits in terms of the level of customization available. More than that, though, he's excited about the prospect of having truly individualized "loot" in an MMO that's not just random. "Legendary items are going to be important to the player not just for what they can do but because they'll be something that's truly theirs. Every player can have their own unique item and be assured that there's no other like it in the world."

I hope I helped, ;)


Edited, Sep 5th 2008 1:38pm by Morarae

Touche