I think most of us who have played any MMO for a considerable amount of time has been there. You find yourself in a situation where slowly, but surely you discover that one of your characters besides your main is taking up the majority of your time. Maybe it started innocently. Maybe you just wanted to try a class out and see what it was like. Then you found yourself making excuses to your weekly dungeon group so that you can finish up some quests in The Shire. Maybe you just wanted to see if the Evendim revamp was really as good as you heard your kinship saying it was. And then the next thing you know you’re at the Ring of Isengard, Legendary Weapon in-hand, wondering how many more dungeons you’ll need to run before you’re ready for the Tower of Orthanc with that character. And all the time your previous main character is sitting to the side wondering why you don’t call anymore.
Yes, I’m talking about switching mains.
Now I don’t know about you, but before LOTRO I have been a serial monogamist when it comes to playing characters. However, there have been times even in previous games when I switched mains. I usually find myself switching mains out of dissatisfaction for my current class. Those dissatisfactions have included:
- Not being able to find a group with my current character
- My character falls short in some role. (Tanking, DPS, Healing)
- My character class gets “nerfed” or changed to a degree I no longer find it agreeable
- I want a character class that has more flexibility in what roles it can perform within a group
- I get bored with my character
In my opinion these are probably some of the most common reasons that most people have for switching their main character within games. However, switching mains in LOTRO is not without its consequences and there are some things that one should consider before doing so:
- Deeds will need to be ground out in order to complete class traits.
- Quests and deeds will need to be completed for Legendary Class Traits.
- Deeds will need to be completed in order to complete player virtues.
- If your new main is a crafter, they may have to complete some reputation grinds ahead of them.
- If your previous main was a crafter, you may need to eventually dust them off to grind some reputation, and/or levels as new gear is released.
- If you raid or do dungeons, you will have to build up a new set of gear including legendary items.
Now in my opinion there are really only several of these points that will take up a lot of time after switching mains; and they may even have you rethinking about your decision. The foremost of these decisions is player virtues, especially if you want to do end game content. Now while some of the virtues that can be earned with natural gameplay, it’s really only in the later zones such as Enedwaith and Dunland that I really have seen Turbine being what I consider “reasonable” when it comes to deeds. I really think that Turbine needs to take a hard look at some of the slayer deeds that require killing 360 of the same mob or older raids and dungeons such as needing to kill a large number of the Watcher in the Water’s tentacles and Champion of Urugarth (Advanced) to see if this is really where they want their player base spending their time moving forward. But until they do so, this is what will be required unless you want to spend Turbine Points. Of course if you don’t give a toss about end game content you can just skip this all together!
The next time consuming issue I see is the crafting issue. For example, right now my main is a Guardian who is also a Metalsmith. Now, while he is already maxed out in his reputation with the Metalsmith Guild I have to decide whether or not I want to take the time to increase his reputation with Dunland and Rohan so that he has access to all of the possible crafting recipes or do I want to just make do with what I have. And while Dunland’s reputation will be a breeze to obtain, gaining Rohan’s will definitely take a bit more time on my part since you don’t start earning reputation for them until later levels.
The last issue is gear based and although this can be a pain in the rear, I really consider it to be mitigated by several factors. Mostly that I think with reputation, crafting, and some support from your friends and/or kinship you can resolve this issue. I’m not saying it won’t take any time or resources, because it will. But thankfully, again in my opinion, LOTRO isn’t as gear dependent as other games are; meaning that you won’t need to worry about running previous raids to get into the newest one. You may however need to run previous instances, but thankfully due to the upcoming currency consolidation and instance finder, gearing up may become easier than ever.
Of course all of this can easily be tossed out the window if you’re not worried about getting to end-game content with your new main. But for those of us whose playtime centers around that area of the game switching alts can be a somewhat imposing task. But one of the upsides to it is that it does give you the opportunity to explore past areas, review old storylines, and see what changes have been made to the game since you last leveled a character. As for me, I may switch from my Guardian to my Champion at some point, but right now the time involved for leveling deeds is just too steep for it to be any time soon. But what about you? Have you ever switched mains?
December 7, 2011 at 10:20 am
Twice. Once from a hunter to a Warden when it was released with MoM – I just loved the class and couldn’t bear playing anything else. Then with RoI, my main switched to a minstrel when Wardens were broken. If they ever fix the class, I’ll return to that class and perhaps even resub.
December 7, 2011 at 12:06 pm
I have switch main once. Hunter to warden. Unfortunately with the current mess that is the warden I seem to spend all my time on a warleader in ettens. Please turbine fix my beloved warden before I get bored of pvp and switch my allegence to another game.
December 7, 2011 at 10:20 am
I have been a serious altoholic in previous games (I had all 9 WoW Classes to 60 when that was the cap), but despite my draw to rolling a fresh character, I’ve avoided it in LOTRO so far (in fact, I’ve left my one alt almost completely unplayed). LOTRO’s advancement is FAR more horizontal than any other game I’ve been seriously involved with. I came back about 5 weekss ago at level 40, and I’m on the verge of level-capping, but I literally have a list of things I need to do AFTER that (virtues, epic line quests, reputation, gearing, skirmishing…) before I feel that my character is “done” in the sense that I’d want to go play an alt if there were no kin runs going on.
Rorggrim
74 Man Minstrel
Jesters of Landroval
December 7, 2011 at 10:26 am
It’s easier to switch mains in WoW, with their periodic gear resets, and I switched mains (and servers! no, not server transfers) three times. I haven’t gotten past the 50′s in LOTRO yet, although I may consider switching my ‘main’ now that I recently installed Moria and tried out the Warden (though I haven’t gotten one past mid-twenties yet). LOTRO, for me, is about the journey, the atmosphere, and being in Middle-Earth, not about running instances and raids at level cap so I have a different perspective on a ‘main’ than I did in WoW.
Possibly when I get to level cap I’ll have a different perspective but I’m in no hurry to do so!
December 7, 2011 at 10:34 am
Up until mirkwood released my main was a hunter, but as it became increasingly hard to find groups with it I switched to a captain. It did take some doing but well worth it.
December 7, 2011 at 10:41 am
Never considered it at all as I still love my main and Elf Guardian BUT I have grown to love a second character. (I only have 3 in total but 99% of the time play just the two). I rolled a Captain at a time when when my main had just about done it all and not being an altoholic I had no other option other than stop playing until new content was released. At first I was not sure about him but as time and levels rolled by I got to know the class better and grew to love it. Now I have both at a similar investment level and both at end game raiding stage. Pleased that both recently got Draigoch down and have “The red” title. I find now that I can get one at least into a raid easily whereas in the past if I had just the Guardian they would have too many tanks and he would not be needed. I also found that Captains are generally well received into raids so that is a good side effect.
Having said that the Elf Guardian was my first created character and whilst eyebrows were raised at my choice of race for him (by those that had more experience at the time than me) he still is my No 1 and would not have changed anything (inc race choice) if I could spend that time again. He is the first character I choose to enter new content and first to level.
First love heh
ReD
KOFACME
December 7, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Hehe, good to see someone else with love for the elven guardian.. Different race being ‘better’ or not.. I wouldn’t change her
December 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I think that’s one of the things I like about LOTRO, is that while there are some benefits from picking particular races it doesn’t really hurt to pick a race other than “the norm”.
December 7, 2011 at 4:12 pm
dwarf minstrel! exploring Khazad-Dûm
December 7, 2011 at 5:02 pm
i had a dwarf minstrel that i liked a lot, but i ended up starting over with a man minstrel because i was just having a pretty bad time soloing (pre ROI), and the Strength of Morale racial that man gets, really did help out especially when the option to play possum was on cooldown.
December 7, 2011 at 10:50 am
I don’t have a “main”. I suppose I used to when my hunter was my only high level toon but that was the only one I had. Now I have 4 capped toons (warden, champ, hunter, burglar) and I play them all equally. Same progress on gear, most virtues at 12 or nearby, completed all class quests & legendary traits. When I make a character that I’m seriously considering playing, I will play it like my first. Deed-wise, my wife and I usually duo through the game on our characters. And in turn, every region’s “quests completed” deed gets done before we leave and more often than not every quest in the region gets done (some exceptions ie Dol Dinen, Garth Agarwen, etc). Virtues we do come back for if they’re the typical ones that take some extra time but generally take the time to do them as we go.
I usually play whatever toon that is most beneficial for our kin’s needs for whatever instance or raid we’re doing. On the flip-side, I’m not uber geared out on any of my characters yet since I switch around often, while others who concentrate on just one toon are ‘done’. I like to play all of mine and put in as much effort in learning and optimizing my class as the first one I made. I don’t have alts for specific purposes such as storage or crafting. I do have a ‘favorite’ toon though which is definitely my burglar. If I had to pick one main, he’d probably be right up there. However I can’t just pick one, so I guess my mainS are my capped toons. That way I don’t have to switch.
December 7, 2011 at 3:10 pm
I think that’s awesome!
December 9, 2011 at 7:56 pm
I have to agree, Niscadae. Despite having a ‘real life’ that gets in the way I still have 18 characters on the go over two servers
.
The initial major focus for having so many was the development of Crafting Factories, by which I mean I now have a guilded crafter for every facet of every vocation (where Guild membership is a factor).
Picking a ‘main’ is tantermount to impossible for me, especially over on Laurelin where I have always maintained that all my characters are my ‘Mains’, it being an RP server
.
December 7, 2011 at 10:51 am
I switched mains from my hunter to my captain when RoI launched. I love leading raids as a captain, and I discovered I enjoyed the Moors more as a captain as well. I love the versatility of the class, and hunters are often too common for raids that I felt like I wasn’t being as helpful as I am with my captain. There is pretty much always a group for my captain. I spent 3 days and 35 deeds before RoI to get my Virtues up, and now they are better than my hunter was!
December 7, 2011 at 10:51 am
My main was the hunter I started with who is now stuck at 68 while my LM and Mini are gaining at 65 and 42 respectively. I think the LM may become the new main, or I might not even have a “main” any more. With 9 alts, one for each class it may just be a matter of which alt I am enjoying at the moment. I don’t really have the time or interest (and possibly ability)for much end game content so that has not been a factor for me.
Originally I really started playing the alts more when I reached the prior cap of 65 on my hunter. I went back to him with ROI, but I wasn’t thrilled with the changes to the hunter class so that is part of the reason for him being stuck now.
December 7, 2011 at 10:52 am
My main was a hunter until Mirkwood, then was a warden until RoI, and is now a lore-master. Lore-masters are more fun than eating chocolate. Hunters used to be fun. Wardens are still fun for soloing.
December 7, 2011 at 3:13 pm
LOL, I think I did this with WoW. For some reason expansions are a great time for me to switch as well.
December 7, 2011 at 10:52 am
I still have the same main as 4 years back, but i do have 16 alts on the same server
Why 17 chars? 1) because i like the game no matter how many fresh new mmos come out
2) i have 2 of each class and 1 warden cause the gambits kill me, this so i dont have to retrait one day when they all at cap
3) i like to switch and do some low stuff, instead of running the same raids and instances over and over again
So there you go, 17 chars with always something to do, oh ye and sitting on 9k tp due to all the deeds :p
December 7, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Holy smokes! Wow, you put my alt experiment to shame!
December 7, 2011 at 11:20 am
Now that I’ve transferred my
old main, a champion, from another server, he’s competing for time with my minstrel. I also have a captain within five levels (all in their 50s in Moria). My level 51 warden has been officially sidelined except for crafting. I’ve lost interest in him after falling in love with the new champ changes. While virtue grinding is double-plus unfun, competing mains is a nice problem to have.
December 7, 2011 at 11:21 am
My original main was a Champion… coming from WoW where I LOVED playing Paladins… I thought I would just transfer easy to playing a champ… and while I love playing my champ, for my 5th toon on the server (after 3 champs, 2 of which are crafting toons, and a Mini stuck in Moria currently) I rolled a Hunter. She was supposed to be my scholar, and that was it. However in one day through the Lonelands I got 7 or 8 levels, and started to see the fun in playing a Hunter. She made it to 65 when that was the cap, while my champ languished in Moria (seeing a trend here? lol). She made it to 75 cap quickly, and I got into an awesome raiding kin on Meneldor named “The Kindred” – ground out deeds and s4ms until I had enough awesome armor. I did work my champ up to 75 and amd currently grinding out deeds on him, but only inbetween running stuff on my new main, the hunter.
December 7, 2011 at 11:29 am
i am a bit of an altoholic as well, i have 10 characters on the same server (one of each class with a second LM) and am hoping to see that they make character slots one of these december sales! looking to have two RK’s so that i too don’t have to retrait all the time.
December 7, 2011 at 11:43 am
My first main was a hunter, got her to 45 before I started a guardian to see what it was like, fell in love and she became my main to 67. Wanted to try a more supportive class so started a cappy, absolutely loved it. Took her to 56 then got bored with it all. Back to my guardian to take her to end game just to finish the game. Just love how a pile of bad guys can jump her and she just smears them.
December 7, 2011 at 11:49 am
I do have a main, but only by name. My 7 characters are between 46 and 53 and the char I play the most one week is most likely not the same next week. My loremaster was 42 for 2+ months due to boredom but got it up to 51 last week. Currently all my chars are on ice however… Damn you batman: arkham city!
December 7, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Once. I started LotRO with a Hunter. When my Champion hit about level 50 or so, I realized that it was the class I was meant to play, not the Hunter. So I pushed to get him to 65 before RoI came out. (And I did.) Now he’s 75 and my poor Hunter is at 65, looking mournfully at her kinsmen fighting against the Dunlending clans.
December 7, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Yay for Champions! I really liked playing mine to 75 as well.
December 7, 2011 at 12:57 pm
I originally switched mains from a guardian to a minstrel… Nowadays I maintain two ‘mains’, my minstrel and a new guardian both at 75.. I am also working on a LM to join them…
All of my higher level characters are ‘mains’ to be… I just may get them through new content at different paces
December 7, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Very similar to Susan above, my main is/was a Hunter, currently level 54 and somewhere deep in the bowels of Moria. I love my Hunter, but being both squishy and a single-target class has really gotten me down lately, particularly with some of the escort quests that I can’t complete solo and can’t find a group for. So I got back onto my Dwarf Guardian and have really been enjoying the ability to wade into a gang of Orcs and come out practically unscathed. Right now I’m wavering but I’m feeling like the Guard is more likely to make it to level 75 than my Hunter.
December 7, 2011 at 1:39 pm
My main is a lore-master, but I have 11 other toons, most of which are crafting mules or storage tanks. I have been extremely frustrated with the LM (LoTRO is my first MMO, so choosing this class was probably a bad thing). Somewhere along the way, tho, I did end up with a guard at level 48 and a champ at level 41. Since I hit 75 and completed my LM Spellweaver’s set (except the shoulders), I’ve been playing the LM less and less – instead, I’ve been working on the Champ. He hit 52 last night questing around Dolvin View in Moria.
I haven’t spent a great deal of time worrying about virtues. I selected the 5 I most commonly saw equipped on other champs, and ground them to level 6. Most of the class deeds are done, tho there is one that require fellows. Since I’m pretty much power-leveling him for crafting, I haven’t skirmed or grouped with him. That might change since I really, really need his class items.
December 7, 2011 at 2:39 pm
When I started playing LOTRO, my main was a Guardian. Now, I love my Guardian, but they kept messing with threat and the repair costs for heavy armour was just astronomical back then (gold was also hard to come by).
Inspired by several members of the Council of the Secret Fire (Meijha and Moondog more than anyone), I switched to Minstrel. Now my mini is my main. Almost dropped that one during Moria launch, but I’m quite happy that I didn’t.
December 7, 2011 at 2:45 pm
I have switched mains once, going from a hunter to a warden about a year ago. It was a hard choice but I love the challenge of being a Warden. Despite what some people say about the Warden, I think that they are just as playable as they were before, IF you are skilled enough and willing to work at it enough. With that said I can’t wait for Update 5 and some Warden fixes!
December 7, 2011 at 3:25 pm
Started the game at beta with a guardian … Later in the game, in joined a kinship, and there was already a couple of ‘superstar’ guardians for raiding etc. Alternatively i was levelling a hunter, which little by little became my main toon… It still is nowadays, but i also an alt of every other classes except my poor warden which is used as a vault character. And now i don’t have 1 main and many alts, it’s more complicated.. I have 1 main-main toon (hunter) 3 main toons (burglar, RK and captain) and the rest is considered as alts. (meaning i spend as much time levelling each of those 4 mains.
Voilà
December 7, 2011 at 4:14 pm
I’ve heard about people changing thier mains, but . . . I simply can’t do it. Even before Isilwren came along, I’ve loved archery. Then came the lore behind Tolkien’s elves and I was hooked on both.
While I have all nine classes and dearly love playing all of them – Isilwren is my main girl and always will be.
December 7, 2011 at 4:44 pm
I’ve played a lot of games, and I can only say what my ‘main’ was in maybe half of them. In LotRO it’s a tie between one of my Minstrels and one of my Captains.
December 7, 2011 at 5:00 pm
My problem has always been a horrible case of altoholism. My primary game is City of Heroes where after 6 years of playing I have 16 characters at the level cap and 40 more at various levels. (http://cit.cohtitan.com/profile/60)
In Lotro I’ve managed to keep it under control slightly having rolled one of each class (excl warden and runekeeper). I don’t really have a main yet, I’m still in the process of determining which class I like most.
December 7, 2011 at 6:24 pm
My main is still my elf guardian. It took a long time for me to learn how to tank and what stats and gear is best. I love my hobbit mini but I’m still learning what is best for her class and gear stuff.
My guard will always hold a special place for me since I discovered all of Middle Earth first with her.
December 7, 2011 at 8:54 pm
My first was a human mini, but at just level 20, after rolling a hobbit burglar and after some complicated race/glass/crafting math, I ended up deleting her and rolling a human guardian instead. This was before the wardrobe revamp, and to give future characters the widest cosmetic choices available I realized I needed to level a heavy armor wearer first. I chose to delete the human mini because I wanted characters of each race and looking at the available combos, she just wasn’t going to work. 4 races + 9 classes = 2 characters of each race, with an extra for whichever race ends up being my favorite. Captain has to be human, and the human self-heal trait seemed like a nice plus for a guardian. I love the idea of an adorable hobbit playing a sneaky burglar, and the hobbit opossum skill looked good for a mini. Elf as a hunter, dwarf as a champ, with the last three (RK, LM and Warden) still unrolled.
My guardian quickly became, and is still my main, she won my heart with her very first *bash*.
Completing quests, increasing rep, and exploring are what I find enjoyable, I level almost by accident while focusing on other things. Like some of the commenters above, I grind about half my deeds as I go (the task system makes this doubly useful).
December 8, 2011 at 8:34 am
I totally agree that a hobbit burglar is irresistible, I have one at lvl 16, she is currently my housing decorator and AH purveyor, but I have always wanted to delve more into this class.
perhaps I will do just that and reperk my interest in the game.
December 8, 2011 at 11:06 am
I did a similar race/class analysis for my characters. Ended up with: Dwarf Champ and Guard; Man Warden, Cappy and LM; Elf Hunter and RK; and Hobbit Burg and Mini. Not based on strategy, just what felt right to me
December 8, 2011 at 7:12 am
The first character I can recall that I can call a “main” was a minstrel whom I leveled into the 40s. This was before war-speech and the Angmar revamp, so my character eventually bogged down in Angmar.
Between the time my minstrel stalled in Angmar and the release of Moria, I generally played a hunter.
On the day Moria was released, I created Pineleaf. While I have played several alts since then, Pineleaf has definitely been my main since then.
December 8, 2011 at 7:27 am
I mostly solo play and so far haven’t even got one of my 6 guys into Moria despite playing since the start of May. My main is my first guy and he’s a Champ who’s just hit 49, but I have a Warden that has raced up to 40 and now my game time is pretty evenly split between these two with occasional ventures to the other four for nothing but crafting, storage and AH duties. I have no idea when I’ll ever reach end game – sometimes I doubt I ever will
so switching for me is painless really.
I think a lot of my enjoyment of LOTRO comes from the fact I had never played an MMO before this and had instead graduated from Second Life instead of WoW. I imagine that SL forges a very different mindset to playing something like LOTRO than WoW would
December 8, 2011 at 7:33 am
Is Goldenstar going to switch husbands now??
December 8, 2011 at 7:40 am
Hey now! Nah, actually I got my Guardian up to where she is in Isengard and we’re ready to start adventuring together.
December 8, 2011 at 10:44 am
Hmm… hope that doesn’t lead to some liaison behind Merric’s back…
December 8, 2011 at 11:09 am
Ahh, nice. Dunland is SO well designed, it flows wonderfully from town to town, and if you miss the anvil-on-the-head leading, Vol. III Book 4 also directs you from place to place.
December 8, 2011 at 8:27 am
I switched to an RK with ROI, as I quite enjoyed it, and thought It would be handy to have a top line healer and DPS in a single character for endgame stuff, whilst that certainly was the case, and I have had some fun in the 12 mans, it also coincided with RK’s now being squishy as hell, so I also levelled my champ, and my guard, and now I have three mains… oops. Wait… thats not switching, thats adding more to the pot… damnit!
December 8, 2011 at 9:50 am
I must say I share your opinion on slayer deeds. I find them the least agreeable part of the game. It’s fine in the earlier zones, when having to kill 30, 60, 80 of creature X, it’s just when it starts to become 300 it seems unreasonable. That’s usually a couple of hours of game play, depending on the density of a given creature type in the zone. That, for me, is too much time to spend doing something so dull. Especially as it will need to be repeated multiple times in each zone.
To be fair, I know some people enjoy this kind of grinding. However it doesn’t seem unreasonable to suggest they are in the minority.
December 8, 2011 at 9:50 am
My main is a Hunter who is at level cap. I use him to raid now, but little else. Haven’t spend time grinding out Virtues or perfecting his legendary weapons.
Reason is I play on my Burglar a lot solo and am leveling fast. Also try to run instances with that character to get group experience. I can see my Burglar becoming my main. I feel my kin has more use for a Burglar and I enjoy the play style a great deal.
Switching won’t be hard because I haven’t spend much time grinding my current main.
December 8, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Yep, several times. Got a minstrel to 50 (which was level cap at the time), and got bored & dissatisfied. Got my hunter to 65, a guardian, warden, and loremaster to 60+. There’s been times when each of those has been what I play on regularly… currently back to the hunter for RoI, and working to get the other three out of moria & mirkwood so they can handle enedwaith. I’ve even started playing the minstrel again… with the changes from RoI, he’s a lot more fun to play now.
I don’t end-game much, so the deeds don’t always get done (although I’ve made a point of doing them as I go since early in the hunter era).
The worst part for me is doing the same quests repeatedly… especially with multiple characters in the same area.
December 9, 2011 at 5:12 pm
My main was a hunter for a couple years(was my only toon for a while.) Then I ran The Forges- standing on top of the ramp just before the 1st boss. Then all of a sudden, my morale went from almost 4k to just over 6k or something. How in the world did that happen!! Found out it was from cappy buffs! Figured I try one out and ended up liking the class. So when Mirkwood came out and found he could be a main healer through Sword Halls- he became my main.
With the recent changes, I’m keepting my captain as my main followed really closly with my hunter and burgler(love the new changes to the class)! All at level cap.
December 10, 2011 at 10:40 am
Three times. I was a raiding champ in SoA, a raiding Warden in MoM, and have been a Captain for about a year now. Though, I find I have been playing my Rune-Keeper for the last two weeks.
December 12, 2011 at 7:07 pm
It might have been down to the questing pattern but my hunter only seems to have ones involving named sigs that need to be summoned. And being a hunter this doesnt start the fight in their favour especially when it seems that most named sigs are immune to roots and fears.
Because of this I’ve ditched them as a main for the time being and still undecided which one to bring up to the fore.
I’m enjoying the warspeech mini though my brain cant cope with healing so dont tend to find many groups willing to have a dps mini even when they’re asking for dps.
Warden and cappy are in the 50′s but I’ve noticed that short goblins with swords have larger melee range that a warden with a spear which gets really annoying having to constantly adjust in what should be a static tank and spank fight.
With other stuff going on outside lotro it’s actually quite nice not to have a set main as I seem to be able to dip in and out more freely.
December 17, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Great article. I am a serious altoholic as well. Up through MOM my main was the minstrel, then through SOM it was the Burglar, now it’s my Warden whom I am desperately trying to like (it’s a little too intricate for me; I either want to sneak, heal, or bash stuff).
Now I am leveling up my Champ again and, if they ever allow race changes, I may make him my main to tag along my Rohirrim wife. He’s a dwarf now and I’m weird enough to need a fellow Rohirrim to duo with my Huntress bride.
February 20, 2012 at 3:59 pm
I currently have nine toons, and the six of which I regularly play are all my mains. Lotro was my first and currently is my only MMO. I started playing just over a year ago, and once I got my feet under me as far as how this sort of game worked, I decided I wanted to have all the races and classes covered (except for RK, which appeared to be a bit too ‘D&D’ for my Tolkien tastes in this game), and a toon in every crafting guild. And this is what I have been working on for about a year now.
As I mentioned, I didn’t necessarily have all my bearings straight when I started out and was creating my characters, so my race-to-class pairing is not thoroughly optimal – nor is my class-to-vocation pairing – however I am enjoying what I have so far. Obviously my captain is human and currently in his 40′s. He is my explorer in the Tailor guild. My guardian is a hobbit who just turned 60 and is my armourer in the MS guild. I have two hunters – a high 40s hobbit yeoman in the Cook’s guild and a high-teens elf woodsman in the WW guild. I just couldn’t NOT have an elf hunter. My Armourer is a high-30s elf champ in the WS guild. My tinker is a mid-50s dwarf mini in the Jeweller guild. My historian is a low-teens man LM in the Scholar guild. He is strictly my ‘dye factory’. Of my guilded toons this is the only one I don’t really play and don’t have plans to for a while. I find the LM class brutal at this low level and don’t see myself enjoying this style of play much as it progresses. My other two toons are young hobbits, a burg and warden, who are strictly bank alts at this time.
I have found that I enjoy all the classes – except for LM – perhaps with the cappy, guard, and hunter being slightly at the top of the pack. My burg and warden are parked in the bank and I have not really played yet with them, so I can’t give much of an opinion on those two classes. The mini I find I enjoy more as a healer in groups than as a solo nuker, even with what I consider to be big improvements to the class post-RoI. I chuckled at Merric’s description of the champion class when he first rolled his at the start of Project Altoholism, as these were my thoughts of the class almost verbatim. I’m still wanting him to swing his swords a LOT faster, not run out of power so quick, and not be so squishy. Oh and I wish he was a dwarf. That’s one thing I think I would change if I had it to do over again. I love the dwarf voice animations, especially on dwarf champs. But my cappy, my guard, and two hunters I absolutely adore.
Other things I would change if I had the wherewithal to start over – I would have my first character be a hunter or warden of the Explorer vocation and level it significantly before rolling my other toons. As a hunter/warden explorer he could port to any region instantly and once there farm any mats to feed to my other crafters below. And as a DPS class he could farm hides the quickest as well. Also, I would make my champ a dwarf. Although I don’t hate my elf champ, I’m not sure what I was thinking at the time either. One thing I did right was to have a hunter of the Yeoman vocation. Being able to light your own campfires at the crafting ovens to make trail food with only a skill is golden.
As far as all the other minutiae related to race/class/vocation pairing, I’m finding I’m not experience any big drawbacks to my current arrangement other than those mentioned. My hobbit guard is a hoot to play, whacking the kneecaps and shins of every orc in sight. My hunters are the ultimate solo-target assassins, and surprisingly tactical in how to approach taking down multiple targets at once. And the cappy class is just a majestic thing of beauty. Perhaps something in all of this will help someone else who is rolling new alts/mains and is wondering what choices to make.