Beginner's Guide to Lord of the Rings Online

So, you bought the game, and possibly the expansion, and you are ready to head in and get some time in Middle-Earth. Well, you can either take the time to read a bit about what you are in for – or you can jump right in and be a noob and not get very far. Let's take that first path and learn a bit about the game, what you are in store for, and some other tips that will help you out.

Just like any MMORPG game, Lord of the Rings Online has you create your toon before you head into the game. You have several areas that you will have to choose and create your toon's specific look before you can head into the game, but this is the funnest part as you are creating yourself in LOTRO form.

First off, you will choose your race. There are four playable races in Lord of the Rings Online: the Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and Humans. Each of these races has good points and each has bad points, there is not a “perfect” race to play in the game. We will go through each race a bit more in the following parts of this series so you can see which one is best for your gaming style.

Choosing your class will depend on which race you have chosen, but there are seven playable classes in the game: the Burglar, Captain, Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Lore-Master, and Minstrel. Now, all of the races can play the Guardian, Hunter, or the Minstrel. For the Burglars, only Humans and Hobbits can play; for the Captain, only Humans; for the Champions, only Humans, Dwarves, and Elves can play; and for the Lore-Masters, only Humans and Elves can play. So, you can choose your class depending on the race you have chosen. If you want to play a specific class, then you need to make sure you choose a race that allows you to choose that class.

Once you have chosen your race and class, your base statistics will be determined. Now, as I said before, there is no “perfect” race, and there is no “perfect” class. Each has good and bad, and they balance out in the end.

Your basic statistics are those that tell you how good your toons are at specific things. These stats can be improved upon in game by traits, buffs, and other items. But, let's go through these base stats so that you are familiar with them all.

Agility – This is how quickly your toon can evade and parry attacks that come at you. It also helps increase the damage of any ranged attacks that you can do and helps with your ability to get a critical hit against your target.

Fate – this is crucial to surviving in the game since it determines how fast you can regenerate your Morale and Power when you are in combat. So this one is vital to how you can heal in combat.

Might – this stat is like strength in other MMORPG games, so this is one that you tanking classes will want to buff as much as you can.

Morale – this is your hit points and one stat that you always want to buff up when you can no matter what your class is.

Power – this is how you are able to trigger the skills that your class uses in the game. Without power, you can't do these skills you need to win a fight.

Vitality – this is one stat that you want to watch as well, since it will increase your total hit points.

Will – while this stat is similar to Vitality, it actually affects how much power you have instead of hit points.

In the next part of this guide, we'll go through the Dwarves and what you can expect when you are playing this race in Lord of the Rings Online.