Leveling Alts

I decided that it was time to give a little love to my alts. As I previously posted, I have 9 different characters, one for each available class in the game. Most were created simply to be crafting mules, but it has become obvious that I need to level certain ones to take advantage of additional crafting features. Nonetheless, they have languished in their beginning stages.

So, I set a goal: get all of my alts to at least level 15 and complete their first class deeds. Yes, I managed to do it, though it cost some sleep as I worked on the last one in the wee hours of Monday morning.

As things stand now:

• My Lore-Master Elahedor is level 65 (no change).
• My Guardian Pentalidor is level 43 (no change).
• My Captain Cuthalred is level 17 (no change).
• My Rune-Keeper Tarvebor is level 16. He started the week at level 13.
• My Minstrel Paldered is level 16. He started the week at level 11.
• My Burglar Finavorn is level 16. He started the week at level 13.
• My Champion Mizosi is level 15. He started the week at level 11.
• My Hunter Tehelan is level 15. He started the week at level 11.
• My Warden Pineslander is level 15 (no change).

I started with Tehelan, my Dwarf Hunter, on Saturday. He leveled in Ered Luin, mostly around Gondamon.

This is probably the most popular class in the game - it's supposed to be a strong DPS class. Unfortunately, I wasn't all that impressed. I had much the same problem I have on my Lore-Master: The bulk of the damage is supposed to be done at range, but the enemies tend to want to be in melee combat, so they inevitable run up to you, interrupt inductions, and make life difficult. Unlike the Lore-Master, I found the Hunter's melee skills to be lacking.

The Hunter class quest requires you to enter the Old Forest and slay a wolf named Yellowfang. The wolf is guarded by several others, but I had little trouble with the quest.

Next, I moved to Mizosi, my Dwarf Champion. I didn't follow any one path with him - he leveled a bit around Gondamon and a bit around The Shire.

It took me a bit of time to get used to the combat style, but I have to say I found myself really enjoying the class. It was kind of refreshing just to run up to a MoB and slap it in the face a few times. There were few frills, but solid DPS. I got a bit over-confident, and took on a quest that was meant to be done in group. I achieved the objectives of the quest, but a bad respawn left me without the Undying title on the toon. I'm impressed enough that I might start leveling him on out.

The Champion class quest requires you to travel around Bree-Land and slay 3 named enemy leaders. I had no issues at all with this quest, even if the last one did leap out of a corner before I was quite ready.

I found it awkward to level these guys to 15. The gear that can be crafted at this range is either level 14 or level 16, and I was usually a goodly way towards level 16 by the time I got around to the class quest. Thus, I decided that I take the remaining toons to level 16 so that they can be properly geared out for the class deed.

I started working on Paldered, my Hobbit Minstrel, on Saturday, and dinged him over to level 12 before deciding to call it a night. That's where I picked up Sunday. He leveled exclusively in The Shire.

Leveling the mini was slow work. I was repeatedly frustrated with the toon. Later, I'd find that I apparently had not visited a Trainer since around level 8, so my skill set was severely lacking. And, of course, suddenly equipping a lot of traits after having played 4 hours and falling into rhythm was really disruptive. Of course, that's totally my fault, not the game's, but it did sour my feelings towards the class.

The Minstrel class quest requires you to recover a "very important" item that some brigands have stolen from Leland Underhill. He takes you inside a brigand outpost. As you infiltrate the outpost, you encounter several brigands - but you don't slay any of them: you defeat them to the point that they cower. And the stolen item...well, we'll have lunch and discuss it one day. Overall, it was a fun little quest, but one I really didn't think was worthy of a Class quest.

Next, I began working on Finavorn, my Human Burglar. Being sure not to repeat the Mini mistake, I first visited a class trainer and made sure my skills were up to date, and then we took off to Combe and Staddle.

At first, leveling was slow as I worked out the skill rotation. I didn't really feel like I was doing much damage and fights were going on a bit too long, requiring me to fall back on Morale pots quite a bit. Once I obtained a second weapon and replaced my main hand with one that was more up-to-date, I began to see a huge improvement in DPS. It also took a bit to get used to the "Tricks" system, and how they trigger additional abilities. Though I didn't use it often, I also liked the crowd-control ability, though so far the class is more restricted on CC than the Lore-Master.

The Burglar class quest takes you to Bamfurlong, Farmer Maggot's homestead. A gang of brigands has infiltrated the farm with the intention of stealing mushrooms. Your mission is to defeat the guys (and slip out with a few mushrooms for your hobbit trainer, of course). There were never more than 2 brigands in a group, and the crowd-control ability removed that advantage. It was another fun, quick instance.

Finally, I began working on Tarvebor, my Elf Rune-Keeper. He leveled around Gondamon.

Now, I have to admit that my very first toon - created during the two-week trial period that existed long before LotRO went Free-To-Play - was a Rune-Keeper. My experience wasn't very good (in fact, I'm surprised I continued playing). The toon was created on the Windfola server. At the time, I assumed that characters were universal, and you were dumped on a server based on load. I didn't realize that each server is, in fact, it's own unique environment.

After completing my subscription, I had to download a different client. When all was said and done, my toon was gone. I re-rolled it, choosing a Lore-Master by mistake. Months later, when the lottos began, I started seeing references to the original toon. At first, I thought it was a glitch in the system, but then I finally realized what happened: when the new client was installed, it had apparently wiped away whatever file tells it on which server I had last played, and I was directed to the server with the smallest load at that moment. That server just happened to be Vilya. My original RK still existed, at level 20, on Windfola. By then, of course, I was well into life as a Lore-Master.

In the end, I simply deleted that toon. I really didn't like playing a Rune-Keeper. I was constantly dying or running away from fights (I never even finished the level 15 class quest on that toon). I felt the lack of a weapon was a detriment (again, because you simply can't keep MoBs from getting into melee range). One of the banes of my existence is the quest "To Avert a War", in which you and Langlas infiltrate the Dourhand encampment to rescue Avorthal. I have failed this quest too many times to count; I almost inevitably die at the third campfire. Looking back, I think my perceptions of the class are biased: after all, I did get the original RK to level 20, and, although I remember that the Wargs and boars around the Forsaken Inn killed me quite a bit, I did subscribe to the game and was upset that the toon was erased.

I re-rolled an RK on Vilya mostly because I had the spot and needed more storage for shared crafting materials. In fact, when I began this process, I was surprised the toon was even as high a level as he was, considering he's only been standing near the Vault-Keeper in Celondim. I bit the bullet and dived in.

Like with Finavorn, I first visited my class trainer and made sure he was up-to-date with his skills and then headed to the first quest. Things were going okay, but I was determined not to be impressed. Then, while killing spiders in the eastern reaches of the zone, I had a moment and something finally clicked. Many of the RK skills build over time, but it's not just a matter of applying the skill and letting it build; the skill has to be applied multiple times: each time through, the damage dealt (or healing given) is greater than the previous one. I suddenly found myself blowing through spiders without issue. Often, the creatures either didn't reach me at all or were almost dead by the time they were in melee range. With my new found wisdom, I ventured into the instance to rescue Avorthas again. Sure enough, I breezed through it without an issue. Maybe this class isn't so bad.

The Rune-Keeper class quest requires you to go to Weathertop, place runes on some stones, and wait for lightening to strike them. And, of course, you have to defend yourself from incursions by Orcs. I never finished this quest on my original RK, but this time through, it was a breeze.

The result of this experiment is that I'm almost certainly going to begin working on my Champion. I'm also seriously considering giving my Rune-Keeper a chance. The Hunter and Burg didn't impress me enough to prioritize leveling them, and the mini is just not doing anything for me.