Thread: A critical question you might say! =P

This all started a couple of weeks ago when a fellow player pointed out that he was 5 levels below me but still had more morale than me! I duly noted this and also the imbalance it caused by making my power seem too high in comparison.

Well, yesterday while in Thorin's Hall I asked on regional why the imbalance in Power/Morale and a very helpful person said that it had something to do with my rings, which he pointed out were really for an RK. They had high critical ratings and some months ago unfortunately I've been equipping anything I can get my hands on which has high crit apparently to the detriment of my other stats.

So, my question is how important is the critical rating for a Hunter and what should I be looking at for a level 47/55 respectively bearing in mind that I solo 99% of the time?

ps

The irony of all this is my main lv 55 Hunter probably had it about right and had a good balance until I started obsessing over the critical rating and messed with the lv 47 and subsequently him.

Ok first off for your level, 50ish, Was the original endgame materail for SoA and the other stats ( Might, Will, Agility, etc.) were more important. With the addition of RoI, the stats were shifted/altered such that each class has a true primary stat with supporting stats. Say a Champion's main stat is Might and depending on your build (dps/tank) you play with the other stats.

What I'm trying to state that is you can make your toon what you want of it, but you should focus on your primary stat. Hunter's is agility, in your case, and you mess with the others to get the build that suits your playstyle. If you need more morale then add Vit/morale, agility helps in multiple areas and you can see this if you mouse over your stats in game in the character screen to see what they each do.

Agility is the main stat for the Hunter. For it improves your critical rating and adds in your physical mastery ( higher ranged damage ). It would be wise to choose Agility over raw critical rating. The second stat you should aim for is Vitality. It adds in max morale and mitigations. So choose that over raw morale ( one good hit and it is gone ).

While levelling it is difficult to determine how high your morale, power and stats should be. Just keep it all in balance and invest in stats or gear where your character falls short. When you are nearing max level, your Agility should be anywhere between 1500 and 2300. Morale should be around 7k and your power should be 2300-ish. But don't focus too much on this advice. Keep trying out other gear, virtues and class traits to find the build that suits you best.

Yeah well I would not worry too much about gear and stats until you hit levelcap. In the end though you will be trying to get the most Ranged Offense out of your agility.

Ironically my Morale and power is at about the same level as it was in December 2008 when I was 60 and through Morias Instances.

Like others said just go for agility over anything else. However for questing i would go for will as secondary stat so you can regen more power between fights. When i leveled i had about 100-200 will and it took ages to restore power between fights

You don't really need that much morale as you can slow/root/fear/daze your enemies if they come to close or if you almost die.

As well as what everyone else has already stated, I will add this: You will have no problem at gathering a high critical rating when you are at level 75 - this is because Agility, the Hunter's main stat, gives the highest contribution to critical rating. This means that you would have (As an estimate) 8,500 critical rating if you had 2,200 - 2,300 agility, which is relatively common for a level 75 hunter.

Originally Posted by zalladi

As well as what everyone else has already stated, I will add this: You will have no problem at gathering a high critical rating when you are at level 75 - this is because Agility, the Hunter's main stat, gives the highest contribution to critical rating. This means that you would have (As and estimate) 10,000 critical rating if you had 2,200 - 2,300 agility, which is relatively common for a level 75 hunter.

Just thought id mention that I sit at 2400 agil ATM unbuffed and that's only 9k crit, so you have to consider the huge difference between raw crit and crit from agil/fate.
Off the top of my head it's about 1.75 crit to 1 agil/fate.
Basically u can stack crit and physical mastery for dps. Then choose either vit for surviveability... Will for power... Fate for crit and in combat power/morale... Really just a personal preference unless u raid with a group who wants something particular.. But that's starting to go off topic.

Honestly in my opinion when leveling your stats make a small difference.. Usually you go through equipment to fast for it tomake
it worthwhile. But then this depends on how you play/level etc.
I'd only start worrying at cap.

Hope that was of some assistance.

If you are curious of where you rank with your different stats in comparison with others of your class I have found this site to be very helpful.

http://ttahvo.webatu.com/index.php

Just put in the server for your character and their name and it will give you a comparison. Keep in mind it pulls all of the stats from my.lotro.com so they are only as up-to-date as the lotro site is.

The simple answer is the crit rating is vital for a hunter. BUT, only at max level.

I would not spend one once of effort trying to stack crit on any toon under level 75. There is simply no need when leveling, nor are there balanced choices to pick from, nor is it helpful.

1. When picking gear (either quest or crafted), choose the one with agility.

2. If there is no choice with agility, pick the one with morale or vitality.

3. If there is no choice with agility or morale or vitality, it doesn't matter what you pick because you will be selling it to vendor.

When you get to level cap, check back on the forums for great suggestions on builds.