I'm still a beginner Beorning but I'd thought I'd share what I'm learning about the class as there is a shortage of guides and information out there. So I've added a guide "For the Beornings" with a list of articles which so far includes my reviews of level 30 red and blue trait trees and a look at stat priorities and virtues. I'm not sure about the order of stat priorities but I hope the information about how stats affect Beornings may be useful, and if anyone has better suggestions, please let me know!
Tuesday, 22 December 2015
Executive Producer's Letter - December 2015
Thanks to Level Up Haffle, I just found out about the latest Executive Producer's Letter before I even got the news from Turbine. There's some explanations about the delays with the server transfers and some news about what's coming in 2016 - namely, an increase in level to 105 and a new instance cluster and a 12-man raid associated with the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
That should make a few people happy.
Here's the full news:
That should make a few people happy.
Here's the full news:
Hello all!
2015 was a great year for LOTRO, and we hope you agree! We had many large beats to cover this year as we built out more of Gondor including the two great cities of Osgiliath and Minas Tirith. Additionally we took on major service upgrades including building a brand new store and consolidating our servers to a core ten worlds which are buzzing with activity these days.
Unfortunately we also missed a beat this year with our plans to move into a brand new Datacenter. We wanted to have this new center launch by the end of this year, and while all of the hardware is up and ready to go. However, this upgrade in hardware also came with an upgrade in operating system from 32-bit to 64-bit. When we started load testing the new hardware, we learned that our chat system does not function properly on the new OS. As a result we have to architect a new solution for chat which will delay us into 2016. Updates to come as we work through the problem.
Our story continues in 2016 with Riding with the Rohirrim to the Battle of Pelennor Fields and then taking the battle to the enemy as we push towards the Black Gates! It is going to be an exciting year to be sure.
Major 2016 Initiatives:
Level Cap increase to 105: Build on your heroism and power with 5 more levels of character advancement. Your Imbued Legendary Items will not need to be replaced, but will continue to grow and level with you.
New Fellowship Challenges: The Battle of Pelennor Fields will contain a new instance cluster as well as a long awaited 12-man raid!
New Collections: We will be adding UI elements to help you see and catalogue many of the items you can already find in game. Our first collection system will be around emotes. Ever wondered what emotes are available to you, what they look like or where you can get them? Now you will know!
Quality of Life: Much like last year, we will continue to make quarterly patches that focus on bug fixing and general improvements to Quality of Life.
Thank you for your continued commitment to this team and to our game. We look forward to seeing you in Middle-Earth as LOTRO enters its 9th year!
Athena “Vvyvanne” Peters
Executive Producer- Lord of the Rings Online
Friday, 18 December 2015
Level 30 Beorning Review - Blue Line
In my first look at Beornings, levelling in the red trait tree ("The Claw"), I found the class interesting but had a few frustrations with the gameplay. I have recently levelled a second Beorning to level 30 using the blue trait tree ("The Hide"), and found it a much better experience for solo questing.
One of the first things I noticed was that it was so much easier to generate wrath in blue line compared to red line. Having Hearten provide wrath at a low level on a short cooldown was fantastic - now I could reliably generate wrath and have a heal-over-time effect while my character transformed into a bear and she would still be healing and generating wrath for a little while, letting her stay in bear form for longer.
She was a lot less squishy in blue line. My red line beorning would frequently drop below 50% health, but that has been very rare for my blue line beorning. In blue line, she could handle a lot more mobs - she took on 8 wargs in the Lone-lands near where you summon Shadepaw for a quest and survived; she killed one in man form while generating wrath, switched to bear form, killed 3, switched back to man to heal and regenerate wrath, finished off another one, switched back to bear and killed the final 3 and still had about 40% health at the end.
Regarding being less squishy, I think that is largely due to the buffs and debuffs available in the blue line. For man form there is Guarded Attack which increases armour by 10%, while in bear form Claw Swipe reduces the amount of melee, ranged and tactical damage dealt by nearby enemies. Trait points spent in increasing vitality also helps. The red line focuses more on critical strikes and bleed damage rather than survival, although they do have Expose which reduces enemy mitigations by 40%.
Blue line also has slightly more AOE potential, with Biting Edge in man form and Claw Swipe in bear form, while the red line only has Biting Edge and has trait points to make it single target (although why anyone would willingly give up their only AOE attack is difficult to fathom).
The dps was lower and fights took longer in blue line compared to red, but that is to be expected. Out of curiosity to see how big the difference was, I killed ten level 30 Bog-wardens in Harloeg, Lone-lands, in each spec; gear, virtues etc. were the same. Note, my character doesn't have her virtues and gear maxed for her level, so better players would get better results. She used the same type of rotation for both specs - shoot to pull mobs into melee range, use each of her man form attacks to generate wrath then switch to bear form and use Thrash until the mob was dead (usually 1-2 Thrashes). Using Claw Swipe or Bash wasn't necessary and increased the fight duration.
Here's some data:
The red trait tree is good at single target damage while the blue trait tree is good at surviving any situation. Having tried levelling solo with both specs, I'll be sticking with Blue - it feels more like how I imagined Beornings would play; changing forms often and being tough.
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| My blue line Beorning |
One of the first things I noticed was that it was so much easier to generate wrath in blue line compared to red line. Having Hearten provide wrath at a low level on a short cooldown was fantastic - now I could reliably generate wrath and have a heal-over-time effect while my character transformed into a bear and she would still be healing and generating wrath for a little while, letting her stay in bear form for longer.
She was a lot less squishy in blue line. My red line beorning would frequently drop below 50% health, but that has been very rare for my blue line beorning. In blue line, she could handle a lot more mobs - she took on 8 wargs in the Lone-lands near where you summon Shadepaw for a quest and survived; she killed one in man form while generating wrath, switched to bear form, killed 3, switched back to man to heal and regenerate wrath, finished off another one, switched back to bear and killed the final 3 and still had about 40% health at the end.
Regarding being less squishy, I think that is largely due to the buffs and debuffs available in the blue line. For man form there is Guarded Attack which increases armour by 10%, while in bear form Claw Swipe reduces the amount of melee, ranged and tactical damage dealt by nearby enemies. Trait points spent in increasing vitality also helps. The red line focuses more on critical strikes and bleed damage rather than survival, although they do have Expose which reduces enemy mitigations by 40%.
Blue line also has slightly more AOE potential, with Biting Edge in man form and Claw Swipe in bear form, while the red line only has Biting Edge and has trait points to make it single target (although why anyone would willingly give up their only AOE attack is difficult to fathom).
The dps was lower and fights took longer in blue line compared to red, but that is to be expected. Out of curiosity to see how big the difference was, I killed ten level 30 Bog-wardens in Harloeg, Lone-lands, in each spec; gear, virtues etc. were the same. Note, my character doesn't have her virtues and gear maxed for her level, so better players would get better results. She used the same type of rotation for both specs - shoot to pull mobs into melee range, use each of her man form attacks to generate wrath then switch to bear form and use Thrash until the mob was dead (usually 1-2 Thrashes). Using Claw Swipe or Bash wasn't necessary and increased the fight duration.
Here's some data:
The red trait tree is good at single target damage while the blue trait tree is good at surviving any situation. Having tried levelling solo with both specs, I'll be sticking with Blue - it feels more like how I imagined Beornings would play; changing forms often and being tough.
Crafted 2H Axes Gallery Available
Yule Tide has arrived so my weaponsmith decided to dress for the occasion while she shows off the two-handed axes that can be crafted in LOTRO. You can view the full collection at the Weaponsmith: Crafted 2H Axes gallery.
The two-handed axes weren't all that wonderful, unfortunately. Nothing that made me go, "Oh wow, my character would love to wield that!" The Supreme tier weapons are probably the best of the bunch as they look more like legendary weapons, with a bit more detail, colour and variation.
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| My weaponsmith with her favourite crafted 2H axe |
Sunday, 13 December 2015
Special Event: Treasure Hunt, December 2015
I love the treasure hunting event in LOTRO. It's fun running around with lots of other people all looking for the mother lode - the huge dig site, hoping to find something good before the round ends or your meager supply of pickaxes runs out.
You see a range of strategies too - people who always dig at the same spot; people who dig at random sites - maybe they like the way the gold sparkles against the snow, or a rabbit ran past the dig site so it must be lucky (who knows?); people who deliberately look for the most out-of-way dig sites; people who do a circuit of the entire area, stopping at a few spots along the way; or people who use their trained cave-claw to find the best dig site in an area then dig at every dig site nearby except that one (???). It's a great place for people watching. Some really nice cosmetic outfits and mounts to admire too.
Last year my hobbit hunter found the treasure-laden pony and has been using it ever since as her favourite mount in-game. This year I took three of my new characters through, alternating them when I ran out of pickaxes instead of waiting for the quests to become available again. I found a couple of gem-inspection emotes, a treasure-hunter's backpack, a treasure chest housing decoration, and, just when I was about to give up and go back to questing, my new lore-master found a huge dig site and the treasure-laden goat. Hooray!
So now I can retire happily from the treasure hunting field until next year and hope for another special mount for some lucky character. Maybe the horse next time? Fingers crossed.
You see a range of strategies too - people who always dig at the same spot; people who dig at random sites - maybe they like the way the gold sparkles against the snow, or a rabbit ran past the dig site so it must be lucky (who knows?); people who deliberately look for the most out-of-way dig sites; people who do a circuit of the entire area, stopping at a few spots along the way; or people who use their trained cave-claw to find the best dig site in an area then dig at every dig site nearby except that one (???). It's a great place for people watching. Some really nice cosmetic outfits and mounts to admire too.
Last year my hobbit hunter found the treasure-laden pony and has been using it ever since as her favourite mount in-game. This year I took three of my new characters through, alternating them when I ran out of pickaxes instead of waiting for the quests to become available again. I found a couple of gem-inspection emotes, a treasure-hunter's backpack, a treasure chest housing decoration, and, just when I was about to give up and go back to questing, my new lore-master found a huge dig site and the treasure-laden goat. Hooray!
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| Treasure Laden Goat |
Saturday, 5 December 2015
Treasure of Evendim
After finding all the treasure caches in the Misty Mountains, I headed to Evendim because it also has roving threats and because I saw someone mention in world chat about finding a treasure cache in Annúminas.
So off I went exploring hills and valleys and ruins, admiring the pretty scenery, and here's what I found ...
Funny story ... while Myndariel was searching through Annúminas, she fell off a high ledge and hurt her leg landing on rubble below. She turned around and looked up in time to see her saber-tooth cat hesitate at the edge and then jump off, legs outstretched and mouth open as if screaming silently. I imagine he was thinking as he fell, "Aaaaahhhhhh .... this is gonna hurt!" Poor, brave pet!
I admit, I had to check the LOTRO Wiki on where to find that last cache in Barandalf. I had visited the eastern shore of the Brandywine River, but further north near Barad Tharsír. Still, it was fun finding most of them myself, and Myndariel completed some deeds, reached kindred with the Wardens of Annúminas and finally got the mount.
So off I went exploring hills and valleys and ruins, admiring the pretty scenery, and here's what I found ...
 Amon Môth |  Tyl Annûn (Annúminas) |
Funny story ... while Myndariel was searching through Annúminas, she fell off a high ledge and hurt her leg landing on rubble below. She turned around and looked up in time to see her saber-tooth cat hesitate at the edge and then jump off, legs outstretched and mouth open as if screaming silently. I imagine he was thinking as he fell, "Aaaaahhhhhh .... this is gonna hurt!" Poor, brave pet!
 Barandalf (near Whitshards) |  Men Erain |
 Nan Orngon |  Tûm Fuin |
 Tyl Ruinen (island to SW) |  Tyl Ruinen (main island) |
 Tyrn Fornech (near Rantost) |  Tham Ornen |
 Tham Andalath |  Barandalf (across river from Dwaling) |
I admit, I had to check the LOTRO Wiki on where to find that last cache in Barandalf. I had visited the eastern shore of the Brandywine River, but further north near Barad Tharsír. Still, it was fun finding most of them myself, and Myndariel completed some deeds, reached kindred with the Wardens of Annúminas and finally got the mount.
Sunday, 29 November 2015
Treasure of the Misty Mountains
Hunting treasure chests in Gondor was so popular, they have added treasures to zones in Eriador such as the Misty Mountains. Low level characters can find the caches, but they won't be able to get credit towards the deed until level 90.
You get quite a few rewards for finding them all ... 10 turbine points, 60 marks, 5 Gift-giver's Brands, a title ("Treasure Seeker of the Misty Mountains"), a virtue (Fortitude) and reputation with Thorin's Hall. The treasure chests contain level 100 equipment and Westemnet crafting materials.
There are 12 Caches hidden in the Misty Mountains. So as to not completely spoil the treasure hunt, I won't give exact locations, but here are some general clues ...
Happy hunting!
You get quite a few rewards for finding them all ... 10 turbine points, 60 marks, 5 Gift-giver's Brands, a title ("Treasure Seeker of the Misty Mountains"), a virtue (Fortitude) and reputation with Thorin's Hall. The treasure chests contain level 100 equipment and Westemnet crafting materials.
There are 12 Caches hidden in the Misty Mountains. So as to not completely spoil the treasure hunt, I won't give exact locations, but here are some general clues ...
 Bruinen Source West (near Snárskrith Dell) |  Bruinen Source North |
 Pinnath Fenui |  Bruinen Source West (accessed via High Crag) |
 Imlad Norn |  Iorbar |
 Writhenbores |  Northern High Pass (near Hrimbarg) |
 Dómstoll |  Northern High Pass (near The Black Crack) |
 Bruinen Source West (near Frosthyle Pond) |  Southern High Pass |
Happy hunting!
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