tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61137697496614181482023-11-16T08:53:10.411-07:00The Wizzard of AzzA Casual/Hardcore Blog for LOTRO aimed at those who are both and yet neither... and those in between.Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-65774163735289281622010-01-04T17:07:00.002-07:002010-01-04T17:09:21.250-07:00Out With The "Old" And In With The "New"With the new year I thought about a few changes I could make as far as my blog goes. While the last few month's have not seen very many posts, and rl taking a good chunk of my time, I have decided to put my blog on hiatus. <br />
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Merric and Goldenstar have been gracious enough to allow me to post on <a href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/">A Casual Stroll to Mordor</a> a few times and I very much appreciate that. They haven even graciously extended an inivitation to write for them on a more than temporralily basis, to which I have accepted. <br />
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I look forward to working with them as we strive to showcase what a great game and community we have. I want to thank everyone who has supported and visited this blog and ask you to move with me over to my new cyber home. So for now it's "Out with the old and in with the new".Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-85045710752213310652009-11-25T14:12:00.002-07:002009-11-25T14:14:42.825-07:00Guest Blogger on Casual Stroll to MordorI have been fortunate enough to take a stab ats a guest blogger for CStM. It is on a brief rundown of the Barad Gularan instance in Angmar. I'll be posting some pics of the event here on my blog soon. Enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2009/11/return-to-angmar-barad-gularan/">Link here...</a>Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-61988677260584472302009-11-18T08:45:00.004-07:002009-11-18T08:49:22.763-07:00Warden Dol Guldur Raid Armor Pics and StatsAs promised! <br />
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</div>Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-30604450028941349592009-11-17T10:01:00.001-07:002009-11-17T11:49:00.834-07:00SoM NDA Lifted!!!Yay, I can talk freely now! Beta was awesome. There are some good things coming, that's for sure. Go check it all out on the <a href="http://forums.lotro.com/">official forums</a> ! I'll try make a post this evening after I return from work, showcasing the new Warden Dol Guldur Raid armor, of which I have pics.Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-20547734506653012142009-11-16T09:45:00.000-07:002009-11-16T09:45:21.210-07:00Quick UpdateJust a quick update. I'm still around and working piece-mail a post. Problem is work has just gotten crazy with insane deadlines so a lot of my blogging time has been eatten up. I am hoping to be back very soon!Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-43253488190970743302009-11-02T12:26:00.002-07:002009-11-02T13:09:43.657-07:00Then, Now, and Yet to ComeRecently I had the opportunity to traverse into one of my favorite old Shadows of Angmar stomping grounds. Carn Dum. A few of my <a href="http://www.secretfireonline.com/firetalk/index.php">kin mates</a> and <a href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/">two friends</a> still needed a few items to complete their level 45 class quests. I for one have always enjoyed strolling through Carn Dum (CD). The entire instance was very well designed and implemented. Pivotal boss fights and of course the hornblowers.<br />
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Lately I began feeling very nostalgic about the old Angmar instances, CD and Urugarth. Barad Gularan was fun as well, though I have only run it once, but I was fortunate enough to down the "Onion" on that run. I really do not know BG that well, and it's hard to get a group together to learn. I will work on that. Thinking back on how the "end game" instances were run in the past, I reflect that, with how they are now and see a few major differences.<br />
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Shadows of Angmar- These instances revolved around getting enough people to actually play them. Yes they needed to be at or very near the level cap of 50, but gear and traits were not an absolute. No radiance was involved and hope tokens were key. It took 6+ hours of playing to get through CD, before the easy access to the castle. About 3-5 hours for Urugarth.<br />
Now with the level cap at 60, these times are significantly shorter. CD can be ran in 3 hours (w/o keys), Uru in 2 as well. While I personally don't feel that this content is trivialized, yes it is easier to get through and finish, the experience and the story telling that takes place in these instances are left wholely intact.<br />
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Moria- I really do not want to beat a dead horse by talking about the mechanics of radiance gating, or even get into that "discussion", but I do not get the same sense of story, or necessity as I go through these instances. (Fil Gashan, Forges, Skumfil, Dark Delving, 16th Hall, Grand Stairs) I felt that I could skip them and not even have to worry about their effect on the story.<br />
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With that being said they will still leave a lasting impression on my time running them. Fil Gashan, I will always remember running around disguised as a filthy orc and getting my own set of Tarlug's armor. Skumfil, I will remember a kinmate hunter bawking at the fact that a warden could tank the spider queen, then watching him eat crow when it actually happened. Forges, The furnace at the last stage of the end Boss fight, great mechanic to keep you on the edge of your seat. 16th Hall, the sheer length of getting to the final boss and losing, then you figure out how to do it correctly and it becomes the easiest fight of all time. Dark Delving, struggling through the first two bosses then, through trial and error, learning the mechanic and discovering that they are not hard just tricky. Then bumping into Gorvand and realizing you ain't seen nuthin yet. Only to watch him fall (in HM) and the proceed to mount his head on your wall so you can spit on it every time you go into your house. Grand Stairs, Playing the drum to keep the big bad troll debuffed, then fighting Igash and watching the throne merry-go-round as you keep the two archers busy and babysit the devoted.<br />
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I know that these instances will still see some traffic after SoM is released, but I do not believe that it will be close to what is happening now. I will probably not revisit them with my alts, gearing up one character to be raid ready was more than enough for me. I just hope that the new instances in Mirkwood will leave just as good of an impression, hopefully better, than what I have experienced in the past.Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-80129358029683020062009-10-29T09:31:00.000-06:002009-10-29T09:31:16.651-06:00Two Sites That Should Be on Everyone's BookmarksIt has been a very busy week at work, so my time has been somewhat limited. That being said, here are two sites that everyone one should check out, and check out often.<br />
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<a href="http://dynmap.ruslotro.com/">LOTRO Dynamic Map</a> - This is a great map for finding out where things are. You select an area, then you can set filters from drop down menus on the top of the map. <br />
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<a href="http://lotro.northshield.co.uk/">Darzil's Crafting Site</a> - A must see for all those who are interested in crafting. He even shows what the crafted items will look like when equipped as well as what is needed to craft them.<br />
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Hopefully I'll get a bit more time next week... Enjoy.<br />
<a href="http://dynmap.ruslotro.com/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lotro.northshield.co.uk/" target="_blank"><br />
</a>Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-76902295978859852882009-10-21T15:26:00.005-06:002009-10-21T15:33:01.808-06:00A Few Screenshots From the Other NightI was in the Shire and Bree a few nights ago finishing up a few deeds and had a few O.o moments. Here are a few screenies of my travels.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Looking over the Brandywine into Bree-land From Evendim above Annuminas<br />
</div>Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-44020772863670285012009-10-21T14:55:00.001-06:002009-10-21T15:33:19.841-06:00Excellent Raid-Centric PostOver on A <a href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2009/10/what-makes-a-raid/">Casual Stroll to Mordor</a>, Merric lays out a very good synopsis on what raiding is and where it could be going. As an end-gamer mostly, I found that I agree with his description and love the ideas that he brings up. <br />
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This is a must read for anyone who has raided, or plans on raiding in the future. Good stuff!.Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-86368412405414443672009-10-15T13:53:00.004-06:002009-10-15T14:08:09.540-06:00Fall Festival QuestsGoldenstar over at <a href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/">A Casual Stroll to Mordor</a> has posted a very good and informative rundown on the festivities of the Harvestmath Festival. Rather that trying to add to it I HIGHLY suggest and recommend you check out her post. Which can be found <a href="http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2009/10/fall-festival-quests/">here</a>.<br />
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</div>One thing to note, last year there were also problems with the horse races . And after they fixed them, they extended the festival for an additional 2 weeks, if I recall correctly. Will we see that this time? I hope so. I'd rather log on at 1:00 am or 2:00 am in the morning and knock out the race, than spend my stock piled festival tokens to get the mount. Granted the Harvestmath mount is the best of the 4 festival mounts as far as appearance, in my opinion, so I will be getting one anyway. I'd just rather finish off getting the rest of the fall fluff with less token grind by winning the horse race.Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-24335140472238918592009-10-15T09:18:00.003-06:002009-10-15T09:21:49.919-06:00Frustrated with PUGs? Here are a few alternative options.One of the biggest problems for those of us who consider themselves casual/hardcore players is finding groups to run the end-game content outside of PUGs. The way I see it there are a few options to this dilemma. <br />
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1. Join a more raid-centric kinship that tolerates the casual nature of your play style. - This option, while easier to find kinships of this nature in LOTRO, is inherently problematic in the fact that kinships based on end-game content tend to tolerate those players who play A LOT. Having said that, these kinships do exist, but finding them could be difficult. I'd suggest posting on the official forums under your server forums of what you are looking for. Try checking out the kinship section of the server forums as well to see if something jumps out at you.<br />
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2. Start or join a "PUGer's Society." - These are essentially a collective group of players with the same desires to run the content, but want to remain in their current kinship. These groups are less collective than kinships and more tolerant of limited play schedules. I have seen posts and in-game spam regarding this alternative. I think that these could in fact work and be enjoyable. I have yet to try one and very well may in the future. These can also be found on the forums, though I have heard that the more successful ones are invite only and do not advertise.<br />
<br />
3. Form a kinship alliance. - This is where two or more kinships "band" together to support and contribute as a single kinship. There are varying degrees of alliances that range from acting as one cohesive unit to facilitating raids and quests. Unfortunately, Turbine has yet to create an option for official in-game alliances. This has been done if various other MMOs and I don't know why we do not have this option here yet. While there is a limited workaround, using a shared chat channel and cramped friends list, the option to actually see who is online and where and what they are doing is nonexistant.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Recently my kinship has started "talks" for an alliance with another very like-minded kinship on Landroval. <a href="http://pillagers.ayakis.com/site/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx">The Pillagers of Pipeweed</a>. Over the past few weeks we have ran through a few group instances and raids with both our kinships filling the ranks, and I have to say these are quality folks. It seems to be going well and hopefully soon we can take down the ol' squid, which has seemed to by my kinship's biggest obstacle to date. Not so much that it is too hard, it's that we have a hard time getting 12 of us that have radiance gear together to do it. So things are looking up in this respect.<br />
<br />
Any readers out there have any good, bad, or darn right unique experiences in the area of alliances? Tips on forging them, or even details that I have left out?<br />
<br />
Oh, and if any of you are on Landroval and are in need of a group of fellows to quest with, look me up in-game. We will see what we can do!Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-65241636558218534282009-10-08T15:18:00.003-06:002009-10-08T15:42:21.445-06:00Why Do You Play on the Server That You Do?What made you pick the server you play on?<br />
<br />
It is really a question I have been mulling over with myself lately. Why did I choose to play one Landroval over the other servers? I think the biggest reason I chose Landroval was that I have enjoyed RPing in past MMOs and Landroval is the unofficial RP server. I liked having the option open to me if and when I were to decide to get back into it.<br />
<br />
My thought process in deciding where to play:<br />
<br />
I browsed over the official forums to get my initial information regarding which servers included the aspects I was looking for. It was common knowledge that Brandywine had the largest population, and that Landroval was either the second or third largest. So far Landroval had the option for regular RP, and a good server population. My next step was to find out about kinships. Did I want a small one, a large one, a social one, raid, RP, etc. <br />
<br />
Once again I had to appeal to the official forums for advice. Personally I was new to the game, not really sure what I was looking for. Luckily I came across a few kinships that looked promising. I visited their websites and forums, and decided on the one that I am currently in. I don't want to turn this post in to a tribute to <a href="http://www.secretfireonline.com/firetalk/">my kinship</a>, so I'll just leave it at that and save that for another post.<br />
<br />
So far I am very glad that I made the choices I did, and I wonder what cosmic force lead me to the server I am on and the group that I play with. I could have easily ended up on any server and in any kinship. Making the correct decisions in this regard, have a huge impact on our game enjoyment .And the beauty about that is, is that I don't really feel is would have mattered a whole lot. The LOTRO community is BY FAR the most well behaved, mature, and game enjoying centered community I have ever been a part of. So hats off to all of us for making our LOTRO experiences as great as they are.<br />
<br />
What made you all join the servers you did? Friends, population, something else entirely??Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-87617265360033695872009-10-06T10:20:00.012-06:002009-10-06T22:42:18.949-06:00A Very, Very Brief Warden Overview<o:smarttagtype name="City" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><style>
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">After reading a variety posts on the main forums, and with conversations with those in my kin, I thought that it would be good to give a brief and directed rundown on various skills and gambits of wardens, from what <b>I have observed. </b></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande; font-size: 100%;">This will likely be a continuing topic I would like to expand on in future posts.</span><br />
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</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">General Overview:</span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">In general wardens are a different animal, as far as tanking is concerned, from a guardian. Guardians are the proverbial meat-shield, they can soak up tons of damage, wear heavy armor and heavy shields and can stand toe to toe with most baddies. (disclaimer, I have not had a guardian past lvl 20 so this is based purely on observation.) Wardens on the other hand utilize medium armor and a “medium” shield. They do not benefit from the extra damage mitigation that heavy armor gives, but make up for it with amazing self-heal capabilities and an increase to their block, evade, and parry (B/E/P).</span></span><br />
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<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">A warden can use all one handed weapons, though their weapons of choice are usually spear, sword, and club. This is due to the great benefits they get from passive skills when using these weapons. At level 1 they get:</span><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Club_Training"><br />
</a><br />
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</div><ul face="lucida grande" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Club_Training">Club Training</a> - +10% club damage. </li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Sword_Training">Sword Training</a> - +10% sword damage.</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Spear_Training">Spear Training</a> - +15% spear damage.</li>
</ul><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">These ar<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">e further upgraded at level 15:</span></span><br />
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</div><ul face="lucida grande" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Expert_Club_Training">Expert Club Training</a> - +10% club damage, 4 seconds increase to inherent club attack speed debuff.</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Expert_Sword_Training">Expert Sword Training</a> - +10% sword damage, +1% inherent sword to hit modifier.</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Expert_Spear_Training">Expert Spear Training</a> - +15% spear damage, Damage from intrinsic spear bleed is now 5x.</li>
</ul><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">And then again at level 30:</span> <br />
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</div><ul face="lucida grande" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Master_Club_Training">Master Club Training</a> - +10% club damage, 4 seconds increase to inherent club attack speed debuff, and the debuff happens more often.</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Master_Sword_Training">Master Sword Training</a> - +10% sword damage, +2% inherent sword to hit modifier.</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Master_Spear_Training">Master Spear Training</a> - +15% spear damage, the damage from intrinsic spear bleed is now 5x, and the bleed happens more often.</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">And if that is not enough, they get the legendary trait:</span> <br />
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</div><ul face="lucida grande" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Grand_Master_Weapons_Training">Grand Master Weapons Training</a> - +5% spear damage, +5% sword damage, +5% club damage, spear bleed happens more often, spear bleed damage is greatly increased, club attack speed debuff happens more often, +1% sword to hit modifier.</li>
</ul><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">The warden also has 4 different stances they can enter. These stances help with the flow of battle and can either grant you victory from the jaws of death or grant you death from the jaws of victory. The 4 stances are:</span><br />
<ul face="lucida grande" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Determination_stance">Determination</a> - + level dependent ICMR (mine is high 800’s)</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Conservation">Conservation</a> - (+ lvl dependent ICPR (mine is high 400’s), +lvl dependent evade and block ratings (mine is in high 400’s) </li>
<li> <a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Recklessness">Recklessness</a> - (-10% attack duration, +5% melee damage, -lvl dependent evade and block ratings (mine is in the high 400’s)</li>
<li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Way_of_the_Warden">The Way of the Warden</a> (legendary) - encompasses all three into one, though it is limited to in-combat and has a cool down of 15 minutes, -10% attack speed, +5% melee damage, +lvl dependent block and evade ratings (mine is in the high 400’s).</li>
</ul><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Their trait-lines are divided up into Way of the Spear, Way of the Fist, and Way of the Shield.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Way of the Spear: [DoTs and culminating gambit]</span><br />
<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;">This trait-line is considered the DPS line. This line is kind of split up into two unofficial subsets. The melee and the ranged. In the melee there are traits that increase critical chance and damage. This line also has two bleed dots which h<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">elp add to DPS. </span><br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li> <span style="font-family: lucida grande;">2 equipped – (-5% Spear Gambits Power Cost)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: lucida grande;">3 equipped – (+15% Spear Gambits Critical Multiplier)</li>
<li face="lucida grande"> 4 equipped – (+5% Spear Gambits Damage.)</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">The culminating gambit for this line is Warden’s Triumph. </span><br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li> <a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Warden%27s_Triumph" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Warden’s Triumph</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> - hard hitting spear attack which adds a 10% melee damage buff for 20 seconds. </span></li>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;">There are two Spear legendaries, Way of the Spear and Javelin of Deadly Force. The Spear capstone skill is Way of the Spear:<br />
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</div><ul face="lucida grande" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Way_of_the_Spear">Way of the Spear</a> - increases melee damage by 5% and increases both the duration of Warden’s Triumph by 10 seconds and increased the damage Triumph by 30%. </li>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;">The ranged traits increase ranged damage and decrease javelin skill cool downs. There is a ranged legendary called Javelin of Deadly Force:<br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: courier new;"><li> <a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Javelin_of_Deadly_Force" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Javelin of Deadly Force</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> - an AoE high damage attack that hits where you are looking, not where your target is.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Summary: Speaking from personal experience I have not delved too much into this trait-line aside from trying the javelin path out in the moors. I really did not notice much of a damage increase overall by going Spear, however, I do think I need to play around with it more.</span><br />
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Way of the Fist: [DoTs and culminating gambit]<br />
This trait-line is considered the THREAT line. Fist gambits are primarily used to generate threat or threat over time. The Fist line also has the most DoT skills. This line also includes three of the most useful gambits:<br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Fierce_Resolve">Fierce Resolve</a> - Every 4 seconds, Target is drained of (level-dependent) Morale, Attacker gains (level-dependent) Morale, Duration 16s</li>
</ul><ul face="lucida grande"><li> <a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Resolution">Resolution</a> - Target is drained of (level-dependent) Morale<br />
Attacker gains (level-dependent) Morale</li>
</ul><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li> <a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Exultation_of_Battle">Exultation of Battle</a> - Every 4 seconds, Target is drained of (level-dependent) Morale, Attacker gains (level-dependent) Morale<br />
Increase Threat over time, Duration: 16s</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Fierce Resolve, and its big brother Exultation of Battle, are the moral leech skills. These are the skills that keep you alive when tanking one massive amounts of mobs (5-10). I can get around 110 moral every three seconds from each mob.</span> <span style="font-family: lucida grande;">So if facing 5 mobs that’s 550 moral every three seconds. Both last for 16 seconds. Exultation of </span></span><st1:city st="on" style="font-family: lucida grande;"><st1:place st="on">Battle</st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> also increases threat over time which is great for tanking. Resolution is the warden’s “Oh, shit!” gambit.</span> <span style="font-family: lucida grande;">This gambit gives you an instant value of moral (dependent on your level, at 60 I get about 150) from each target. So in a pinch you could heal at max about 1500 morale every 5-6 seconds. The culminating fist gambit is </span></span><span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Desolation:</span><br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Desolation">Desolation</a> – AoE DoT, 3 target, 25% chance to apply fear</li>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;">This does come in very handy when trying to manage mobs. The set bonuses from fist line are:<br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: courier new;"><li>2 equipped – (+10% Bonus to threat generation) </li>
<li>3 equipped – (+1 Fist Gambit DoT pulses)</li>
<li>4 equipped – (+5% Fist DoT Damage)</li>
</ul><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: lucida grande;">There are two Fist legendaries, Way of the Fist and Defiant Challenge. <br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: courier new;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Way_of_the_Fist">W<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">ay of the Fist</span></a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> - +10% perceived threat increase, +25% for Desolation to apply fear, and +3 max targets for Desolation.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Defiant Challenge is the warden’s closest thing to a force taunt. </span><br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Defiant_Challenge">Defiant Challenge</a> - Forced Attack, Duration: 5s, Increased Threat, On any Common, Fire, Shadow damage: Reflect (level-dependent) damage, Duration: 30s</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Summary: This trait-line seems to generate more DPS for me that by going spear. This could also be due to the dot stacking which makes up most of our DPS capabilities. Fist has 4 DoTs as spear has only 2. This trait-line is fun for tanking en masse, not so good for trying to take on hard hitting bosses.</span><br />
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Way of the Shield:<br />
This line is mostly considered the tanking/solo line and with very good reason. This line increases the self-healing durations as well as buffs B/E/P. Benefits of this line are:<br />
</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li>2 equipped – (+ lvl dependent block rating (440ish for me))</li>
<li>3 equipped – (+lvl dependent evade rating (440ish for me))</li>
<li>4 equipped – (+10% healing over time skills)</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Wardens have 6 HoTs, one of them being a fellowship HoT. All of which are stackable with each other. The fellowship HoT gambit is considered to be the culminating skill of the shield line. </span><br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Conviction">Conviction</a> - Heals (level-dependent) Morale for your Fellowship initially, Heals (level-dependent) Morale for your Fellowship every 3 seconds for 12 seconds, Transfers a moderate amount of threat from each member of the Fellowship to the Warden.</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">It is also one of two threat transfer skills available to the warden. The capstone legendary </span><a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Way_of_the_Shield" style="font-family: lucida grande;">Way of the Shield</a><span style="font-family: lucida grande;"> gives:</span><br />
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</div><ul style="font-family: lucida grande;"><li>+2 pules to HoTs, increases morale healed by HoTs by 10% and increases Conviction healing by 30%. This makes Conviction at 60 heal 120-240 moral every 3 seconds for 12 seconds on the entire fellowship.</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-family: lucida grande;">Summary: This is the trait-line I run mostly due to its versatility for tank/off-tank and support role. I love this one.</span><br />
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For more information on skills and gambits, I’d suggest rolling a warden yourself, but for those who do not <a href="http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Warden">http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Warden</a> is a good rundown.<br />
<br />
Also here is the best diagram/flow chart I have seen regarding gambits. <a href="http://random-average.com/lotro-warden.pdf">http://random-average.com/lotro-warden.pdf</a> A must have for those that have yet to memorize all the gambits.<br />
</div>Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6113769749661418148.post-37067892831544948142009-10-05T12:56:00.003-06:002009-10-05T13:00:55.035-06:00Welcome!!!With this first post I would just like to say welcome to all those who will take the time to read my future rants, ramblings, and randomness. I would also like to give a small overview of the things I will try and focus on with this blog.<br /><br />As the blog description states this will be a Casual/Hardcore centered blog. This is my way of trying to describe my type of play. Casual in the aspect that I am married with kids and actually have a life outside the game, but Hardcore as in I like to focus on more on the endgame content. I would like to focus the majority of my energies discussing the challenges of enjoying the endgame content, instances, and more particularly, raids, while having limited resources, ie. level appropriate fellows, time, and of course gear.<br /><br />I hope this goes well and that I am not biting off more than I can chew.<br /><br />Also I would like to note that I am very new to this blog stuff and may not totally understand all the different gadgets and tools available to me. So if anyone have any suggestions, ideas, or coments they will be more than welcome.Azzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13215578892480792129noreply@blogger.com3