This is a special between episodes episode where we talk to Azz, Gor and Geiri from our kinship. They are our kinship’s primary players that will organize and lead group content.
The interview is set up as a sort of a roundtable discussing dungeons and raids. From 3-mans to the 24 man Helegrod we discuss all dungeon types. We also go over the main class roles and when they like to bring which classes to a dungeon.
This is a fairly lengthy episode (2 hours) because we were just chatting so much we lost track of time. We had a great time chatting with them and hopefully you’ll enjoy listening into the discussion.
Thank you to the three guys for taking the time to chat with us!
April 30, 2010 at 8:46 am
Each podcast is great, but this one was extremely informative and a blast to listen to. I loved hearing your experiences and tactics for the various classes. Many thanks to you and your kinship for taking the time to share.
/drink
April 30, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Thanks for doing this guys, was a really interesting discussion.
April 30, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Oh, sure. You don’t have to heal these guys. “Gor chain pulls.” Yes, which just thrills me to death as I watch his morale bar drop down to nothing before I can even get in range of him.
CRAZY LORE-MASTER! >.<
As for Geiri and Azz…. well… they're tanks. Whatcha gonna do, brother?
April 30, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Lol! Actually I do heal him. What I love is he keeps the pulls coming and doesn’t blame the healer when he dies
April 30, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I know. I just wanted to get a dig in.
April 30, 2010 at 1:07 pm
LOL
April 30, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Was just listening to your description of hunters in groups, and my main is a hunter. I run 4 trapper traits on him, and actually got a comment from a fellowship member recently who said he’d never heard of anyone running that before. Just seemed like really useful stuff to me, and in combat traps bail me out of a lot of situations. So you guys arent the only ones who think that’s a good idea.
April 30, 2010 at 9:40 pm
I’m currently listening to the Dungeon Round Table and hearing your guests talk about how hard Narnulabat (sp?) hits and having a little giggle
This boss reflects damage one does, so normally the tank brings along a butter knife so they don’t do much damage. That should help next time 
May 1, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I guess that’s what i get for not reading many guides.
Thanks for the info Davoin.
April 30, 2010 at 10:17 pm
I have to disagree, the sword is not the coolest weapon ever made. Because it did not reach its full threshold of awesome until games workshop created the Chainsword, a perfect combination of the sword, the greatest tool for surviving a horror film (and consequently, what you never see in a horror film in the hands of the protagonist), and the wildest dreams of orc reavers.
It. Is. Amazing.
May 1, 2010 at 1:16 am
A few comments on Minstrels and buffs and hitting things…
First of all, I like to hit things as a minstrel. I trait as a “tankstrel” with medium armor and Protector of Song slotted 4 deep. So I am usually up front next to the tank using Herald’s Strike for DPS, small heals, and removing corruptions.
However, its not necessary to actually land blows to apply minstrel buffs. In fact, all the fellowship buffs I can think of are specifically non-damaging. They are:
Song of Vigor
Song of Balance
Ballad of War
Ballad of Flame
Ballad of Unshakeable will
Anthem of the Free Peoples
Various Tales, (only 1 active at a time.)
Fellowship’s heart (special case)
Song of the Hopeful Heart (special case)
Of these, Ballad of War (+Melee damage) and Anthem of the Free Peoples (+ICMR) are the two big ones that minstrels try to keep up. They are Tier 3 and Tier 4 ballads. A minstrel has to get off Tier 1 and 2 in order to fire these off. Normally, this involves playing some ballads that provide a short self-buff and damage the enemy. However, if you slot smooth voice (which I always do) you can use Song of Vigor and Song of Balance to get through Tiers 1 and 2. The nice thing about this is that a minstrel can actually put up all of her buffs before combat even begins. You’ll often see minstrels playing instruments before the pull and little swirlies going up around the fellowship–that’s the minstrel pre-applying buffs. It also gets her ready for T4 anthems–either a party-wide ICMR buff, a threat-reducing self-buff, a large self-ICMR buff + AoE damage, or an AoE damage + speed debuff. If your minstrel is busy preapplying buffs, don’t pull! If you initiate the pull while the induction is still in progress, that buff will put the minstrel at the top of the threat list. They see the minstrel has just buffed the group. This makes them angry, and they charge the minstrel. A very unfortunate way to start a battle.
May 1, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Harperella once again brings the sooth.
May 1, 2010 at 12:05 pm
What a fantastic episode! Two hours of great LOTRO related conversation. I loved every minute of it. Having only experienced large raids in the Moors, I really hadn’t thought about the amount of coordination it would take to do the PvE raids on the other side. Moors raids are nothing compared to what you were describing.
I wish I had time, rank, and kin to go see some of the raids and instances that you guys were talking about. They sound like a lotta fun and excitement. Probably I’ll have to go check out YouTube to get some idea of these battles.
It also sounds like your class roundtables would be really cool to hear. I’d love to hear about what awaits me in my next 20 levels as a burglar and how they fit into the big groups.
Goldenstar & Merric, you are producing some really great content for your audience. I’m sure I’m not the only to one out here to appreciate the work and effort you put into this for us. Not everyone can put together articles and podcasts of this caliber. So, thanks! Keep up the great work!
LF
P.S. Loved the intermission music! That was a fun touch in the middle.
May 3, 2010 at 4:22 pm
God, that Geiri guy just doesn’t SHUT UP. Damn…
Glad I could finally get this thing to play. So much fun to do.
May 3, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I remembered looking at this episode thinking “good lord this will be long” but it was a fun listen with tons of info in it. For anyone running ANY group content it is well worth the listen.
May 6, 2010 at 10:46 am
Totally Agree with Champ tanking, Shields are largely a waste of time except some spike damage bosses. At 60 we Ran all the Moria 6 mans we ran with 2 champs, 1 in glory going AoE nuts with a two hander, and me in fervour doing dps as main assist, and you can tank/off-tank fine like this and we got to love the multiple interupts. If Emmas comes on Guardian she takes the tank mode, but often if there are waves of adds I’ll jump to Glory and tank the Adds, or sometimes off tank anything that heals/casts inductions which I can clobber, I’ll need less healing that way, and the tank can concentrate on what they need to do whilst we nuke down. Champs, like Hunters, suffer from having a lot of crappy players, but a good champ who is savvy about where agro is, and how the healer is doing can be a great asset but is easy to spot when they are being a dumbass. Even in fervour with decent runes, and a champions rune, we can drop fervour healing reduction down to below 10%, which if shield brothered by a captain is basically nothing, bar the B/P/E loss. Also don’t forget rising ire, sucking that outta the healer, and chucking it to the tank is a great idea, and champions sound the attack is a great way of calming the start of a fight!
BTW- Captains healing is awesome, done every 3 man in game with captain main healing! and loved your comments on 3 mans, in Nala Dum a hunter is great, for rooting and poison removals… I believe they can do some dps too, but they gotta use all them buttons!
The battlefield instances you have to have a forward and retreat party. As a champ me and the cappy are often the retreat party, so when we all arrive in a zone we DPS the hell out of them, when the mob numbers drop to a certain level, the retreat party stays and the rest move on usually- guard/warden, healer and 2 others to attack or deal with another counter attack whilst the retreat party finishes off the mobs then joins the rest, often its then time for the retreat party to move on and the forward party to move to the next job!
May 6, 2010 at 11:11 am
Hey guys, another great episode! Wish there had been a little more love for us hunters tho
May 6, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Oh there will be, there will be.
May 6, 2010 at 11:18 am
P.S Love Forges too, and FG, Forges has all the puzzles and different fights and strategies, and can be done with many different group make ups too!