Thread: New player, El Barto 227

uh, hi.
I am El_Barto_227. you can call me barto or el, if you want.
I did read book one (maybe a bit of book two) a few years back, but i don't remember much. something about this odd guy talking about goldenberry waiting for him or something like that.
i'm a fan of fantasy and sci-fi, so i decided to give this game a try. i'm a Runescape veteran, so i hav e a bit of experience with MMO's
so, you'll probably see me exploring a lot, and using magic.

Welcome to Middle Earth, Barto. Hope you enjoy the game. Tolkien's books are certainly worth a read, and familiarity with them adds quite a few cool moments in the game when you meet characters you knew from the books, but the game provides a story (quite a good story IMO) that should work on its own even for those not familiar with the material that inspired it.

I'm not familiar with Runescape. (The only other MMOs I've played are Guild Wars and Dungeons & Dragons Online, and I never got too deeply into either of those like I have with LOTRO.) I think it's best to take each game as a new experience and not try to equate what's available in one with another.

There's certainly lots to explore here.

Magic in Middle Earth revolves largely around the spoken or written word. Our healers are minstrels who can heal their companions or demoralize/damage enemies through their music. Several classes have a skill or two which can damage an enemy with a shout. The rune-keeper wields stones with carved runes for either healing or damage. Many people also classify the lore-master's skills as "magic", since their effects are similarly flashy and certainly look magical, although if you read the skill descriptions, what a lore-master is doing is really based more on primitive science than magic.

Originally Posted by Niwashi

Many people also classify the lore-master's skills as "magic", since their effects are similarly flashy and certainly look magical, although if you read the skill descriptions, what a lore-master is doing is really based more on primitive science than magic.

I think of Loremasters as more of a cross between a murderous stage magician and MacGuyver's insane cousin wrapped around Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. That's what Loremasters do; they know things that other people really don't even want to think about. (Case in point: Humphrey Rumming on Tyl Ruinen. You'll find out about this guy eventually, so I won't make someone hang a spoiler tag here.)

But for a flashy boom-boom Gandalf-clone raining the pain down on all? Remember that even Gandalf still used a sword and stick.

Now, I haven't played Runescape for around 8 years ago and a concussion or so, so my recollections are more than a bit hazy if there are any direct analogs for what you're used to. Then again, I mostly came here from WoW, and there's no direct analog for my mains (kitty druid and burninator-spec mage) between here and there either.

Just keep playing around. You'll find what you like. I sure have. Between my burglar, my guardian, my minstrel, and my champion, I can't even decide on an actual main here.