Thread: Why do you play the Minstrel?

Reason for topic: So that we have a topic to show to people in the future if they're considering playing this class.


What made you try out the Minstrel? What are some of the things you love about the Minstrel? Are there certain characteristics that stand out from other classes that you like?, etc.

Explain in detail as if you were trying to talk someone into playing this class. Looking forward to replies




Like this topic? Also see:

• Why do you play the Burglar?
• Why do you play the Captain?
• Why do you play the Champion?
• Why do you play the Guardian?
• Why do you play the Hunter?
• Why do you play the Lore-Master?
• Why do you play the Minstrel?
• Why do you play the Rune-Keeper?
• Why do you play the Warden?

So you wanna be a rock super star? Live large? Big house, 5 cars? You're in charge. Coming up in this world, don't trust nobody. Got to look over your shoulder constantly.

I found it funny and somewhat ironic that I was playing music to make bad guys keel over and lay down while for people on my team found comfort in the 'music'.

:-)

Killing things by screaming at them till they die isn't the most appealing to anyone ever?

Originally Posted by byzantinebobby

Build a man a fire and he is warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he is warm for the rest of his life.

Lololol!! Thanks very much for the unexpected chuckle! I definitely needed that today.

:-)

Because I wanted to raid and it was much easier to get into raids as a Mins than as a DPS.

Because I've been addicted to "bard" type characters since Ultima Online... haha, I miss pitting creatures against one another. The image of a wandering minstrel is attractive to me.

Plus I like music. Being able to kill mobs and keep friends alive in the meantime is an added bonus. Nothing quite like getting that pat on the back for pulling through when nobody thought we would make it.

Originally Posted by Nehl

I found it funny and somewhat ironic that I was playing music to make bad guys keel over and lay down while for people on my team found comfort in the 'music'.

:-)

They obviously don't appreciate good music lol :P

Initially when I first created my original Minstrel during beta I chose the class because of the music since I'm an amateur musician/song writer. I also thought it would be fun to kill stuff with a musical instrument and the notes the instrument created, like some wizard in a fairy tale. This was before WS.. yet I always did play the Minstrel to dps.. not heal. I hate healing more than bad tasting cough syrup. I continue to play the Minstrel to dps. I think it is fun to be able to move about while dpsing the bad guys and helping to rid Middle-Earth from the evils of Saruman. I would also love to see the class develop more dps possibilities.. more of a hybrid class like the RK but in style with the Minstrel bard characteristics (movement, speed and music).

When I started to play Lotro I chose the minstrel because the music making attracted me. What could be better than using music while travelling through Middle-earth?
The ability to heal myself was nice as well, being a little hobbit in a big world full of danger. I also thought the minstrel would be good to group up with other players.

Easy to answer that : Minstrel is one of the 2-3 most wanted/most complete classes in the game.

Bonuses :
-Easy to level up nowadays
-Easy to group up
-Easy to solo/pvp
-None ever blames you for a wipe ( well ok , almost always ? )
-Peaceful gameplay , through shouting and playing music : D

I believe that in whatever MMO you try , before you start a character , you must think :
-What you like?
-What easily gets you in a group.

I wasn't a big fan of the minstrel until Rise of Isengard. Before that, it was an OK class but I didn't enjoy the mechanics much; it felt more like a key-mashing class than a thinking class. Then I read the dev diaries pre-RoI and was intrigued, so I started a fresh Minstrel to get the full feel of the progression when RoI was released. That alt zipped up to level 45 before I knew what happened, and my Rune-keeper main was jealous for it.

The class is simply fun to play in a way that that rivals the Rune-keeper and the old Warden (before gambitpalooza). In fact, those overtones of warden are what intrigued me from the start. The over-time classes require much more strategy, and there's some of that in the Minstrel now while retaining a good chuck of immediate/reactive ability. It was a brilliant redesign and it hooked me.

I play Mins because I don't like relying on other people to be competent.

Since just recently coming back I started a new minstrel for two reasons:
1) I loved the minstrel changes so much I wanted to give the class another chance.

2) The mental image of a Rohirric Battle-Maiden blasting the enemy into submission with a set of bagpipes amuses me endlessly (my SO is well-known for her pipe playing in some circles, apparently, so... yeah )

I guess the fact I've played support/healing in other MMOs and loved it helps too But number 2 had a lot to do with it.

Edit to add (a few days later...)

One of the things I hate about my Hunter is that I feel like I'm constantly standing still. Effective kiting is a stop-and-go affair because of focus-loss on movement, focus-builders having longish inductions, whereas I'm finding more and more that the inductionless nature of ballads/cries is quite a lot more fun. I'll grant Minstrels are primarily a healing class, and running in WS traited red you will have people asking you to retrait and heal (see above Bagpipes comment, though I can't take credit for that stroke of genius!), but leveling up has never been more fun.

When I first played back in 2007 (This is my second account, made in late '08 I believe), I distinctly remember getting frustrated with my minstrel because I kept running into fellowship quests at the end of solo chains, and finally just stopped playing her at like, 20 I think.

Twice this week, I've had moments where I've finished a mildly challenging quest, gone to turn it in, and realized it was a small fellowship quest

So, yeah, for me it essentially falls like this:

PROS
- Inductionless ranged/melee hybrid
- Mechanics are as complex as you want to make them (i.e. you can spam ballads and Coda, or mix it up with shouts, Anthems, Herald's Strike)
- Soloing small fellowship quests is more like a speed bump than the roadblock it used to be.
- The music system in this game is an amazingly fun diversion. Anyone can pick up a lute, but they have to be mentored to learn the range of instruments a Minstrel gets by default
- You can be just like Nikki (of Crono Cross fame *Giggle*)

CONS
- Power usage. You're going to want to have a Farmer/Cook alt to provide you with food buffs even solo, but the good news is you can leave them in the Shire and never have to level them past the tutorial!
- Primarily a healing class. You will be asked to drop WS and heal sometimes, even if you were invited as DPS.
- You might find yourself forgetting you have other alts for long stretches.

I'm sure there are other cons, but I'm not even close to Moria, let alone "end-game" stuff yet so this is purely a "still leveling" viewpoint. Take that for what it's worth

(I really need to lay off the emoticons. I just hit the 4 image limit... with 7)

To make creeps cry.

I love the idea of healing with music (killing orcs with music is slightly sillier).

Substituting song for healing magic and morale for hitpoints is just a slight change of flavor over most generic fantasty MMO's, but it's a very dedicated nod to the lore. Arda was created by the song of the Ainur. Music and poetry are common throughout Tokien's stories. I think the Minstrel is one of the best designed classes in the game, lore-wise. With the buffs around a year ago, it's also become a much stronger solo class, and therefore much more fun to play alone.

I like keeping my friends alive!

Also, I find her more interesting than my hunter.

Four years ago, when I was rolling my very first character in lotto, my boyfriend sold the minstrel class to me as a casting, magical, colourful, musical class which he likened to mages in final fantasy (The only other game I'd ever played til that point.)

Little did I know that he had the sneaky ulterior motive of wanting to level with a healer running alongside him, haha.

Still, I've since levelled a captain, rune keeper and hunter and my minstrel is still my favourite character. I enjoy the challenge of healing when sh*t hits the fan either in a Pve raid with my kin or in EM. I can't imagine I'd have continued to persevere with learning the game back then if I had not rolled a minstrel.

I liked that it was a musical class. I knew nothing about MMOs prior to LOTRO. I didn't know anything about different class types or how they worked together. I'm a musician and picked Minstrel based on that.

I keep playing the minstrel because I like focusing on health bars in large fights rather than everything else that's going on - at least until I know the instance well. I'm glad no one depends on me to pull the correct mob, or place him correctly, or be a DPS assist. I like to stand in the back and heal.

Minstrel was my first class I played, got a shot on my partners account and loved it that much I took that minstrel to 60 (level cap at the time) then got my own account and rolled my own minstrel who is now my main.

I loved it back in MoM and it just keeps getting better. And it is my favourite of all my characters.

Oh and I like healing, it makes me feel like the full party is in my hands *cackles*.

Took up healer role since my first MMO(DDO), and the first class I played in every MMO I joined since.

Why?

Because I like to stare at the face(s) of the dead and ask myself 'what went wrong?' over and over.

/joking...

no... seriously.

When I first logged into this game and sent to the character creation screen it was my intentions to roll a hunter as I normally do in RPG games. I knew little about the classes then, was just happy to try out a Lord of the Rings themed MMO.

So I go through the classes and suddenly this Minstrel thing pops up and I was intrigued immediately. Created one on the spot and never looked back. The very idea of the Minstrel - the morale buffing rather than healing, the music themes and the perfect fit for a Hobbit was too good to pass up.

Larso Bigtoe has been around for almost 5 years now - he sang to combat the gloom in Angmar, he spooked the Balrog, he sung the odes to keep fellows from running away in the Vile Maw and he has followed in the footsteps of the fellowship and the Grey company since leaving Moria. He was around before warspeech and leveled his tier 5 crafting by raiding the isendeep mine for hides and ore - he is and will always be my "top dog" :P

I added a Guardian (Which I love playing) and a LM (Which I love playing) in time - even a Hunter as I wanted a woodwork craftsman but Larso Bigtoe, Little Wonder was the best investment I have ever made in any game.

Originally Posted by Graycient

Why do you play the Minstrel?

To heal others.

Minstrel is a very amusing class. One of the classes 'needed' in a good, well-rounded group. I have so much fun running around Middle-earth, shouting at stuff! When I group, I can make a difference. Looking forward to actually running some of the raids, as well as Moors'ing it up.

Like any class, if you know what you are doing, it's not only fun for you, but the people around you.

Try it, you will like it!

This:

Originally Posted by Lasie

Like any class, if you know what you are doing, it's not only fun for you, but the people around you.

Seconded

My mini is only lvl 18 and will be the last class I level because then everyone will want my mini. I remember first time I play with a friend's mini, I thought who is that screaming like that and where is that music coming from...omg that harp is making me sleepy lol.

When the class selection screen popped up it said, "Based on Luthien Tinuviel..."

I was sold.

Of course, I was new to MMOs so I was level *cough* 30-something before I realized minstrels were supposed to heal... That was a revelation. Now I love playing a healing mini. It's fun to know the group's depending on you, and it's also an interesting way of learning the strengths and abilities of all the other classes. You have to know who's likely to pull aggro and who can stun the mob that's hitting you!

Also, I think the group and solo aspects have been covered, but a minstrel is a solid duo with basically any other class in the game, which is fun.

Doing the daily quest in moria where you free the dwarves from spider cocoons has made me love my minstrel all the more... Pulling the whole room of mobs, sticking on some HoT's, the occasional chord of salvation, the AoE and single target and- Oh wait, where did they all go

Originally Posted by Graycient

What made you try out the Minstrel? What are some of the things you love about the Minstrel? Are there certain characteristics that stand out from other classes that you like?, etc.

Minstrel was my 5th char to level - I am not a fan of music and I don't enjoy minstrel's healing mechanics as much as RK's hots.

But....

When I play RK I also don't like to be asked: 'Can you go dps? I just got a tell from a mini'. I don't like tactical dps, I want to heal and a minstrel is the only of these two healing classes who is not asked to switch.

To be a god in the moors.

I play a minstrel because we can do everything. Need DPS? We have you covered. Need heals? Oh, we're great at that. Need buffs? We can do that, too. Need a group of mobs to not pay attention to the group just yet? Ok, they're distracted now. Just don't walk up to them and we're good.

I also love it when I pull off something with my minstrel and my fellowship goes, "What the...?! How...?!"

I leveled a minstrel all the way from 1 to 75 over the last couple months. I tried to get the best gear I could then go PVP.


I found that of all 5 of my classes at 75, this one is by far the easiest to PvP with and clearly out heals my RK when I use Combat Analysis. In fact, when I PvP with my minstrel, I find that its so OP that its almost not fun. I actually want a challenge, and my minstrel just isn't a challenge. lol, then again, on my hunter, it is so much of a challenge that I hate it. Maybe I want competitive fights, idk, but my minny is just crazy strong.


I play my minstrel for EZmode.

To heal.

12345

Chicks dig musicians, man!

Seriously -- I've always played a mini. D&D, I dabbled with casters, but I always returned to the Bard. I published a few pieces in Dragon Magazine related to the class. I just feel it.

Way back when the pixels were larger and load times were measured in minutes rather than femtoseconds, and I was still a developer (lol a lowly jr. dev at the time), I remember being outraged that Wizardry didn't include a bard class. A couple of years later I took a job with a company that knew the Bard belonged right in the middle of the story. The sounds were of course so non-epic, but it didn't matter

I take a break and focus on another class now and then, but I always return to the mini.

I have two considerations to chosing a char in any mmo~


1. Can it be a Dwarf
2. Can it heal

I originally made a Minstrel on Nimrodel (I think it was that server....) but his purpose was to play music. Well after I learned that my buddies were on Gladden server, I hopped over and made a Minstrel. He is now a lvl 75 DPS Mini and does a fine job at it plus he plays all sorts of cool songs

In a game with very little functional PvP, the dedicated healers are the only people who get to decide when and how other players die

Originally Posted by Zachloupe

In a game with very little functional PvP, the dedicated healers are the only people who get to decide when and how other players die

Oh my, I wish we could fellow cross-server, you and I could have a tonne of fun in a raid

Omnipotence.

Simply: to rock.