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The Road to Mordor: Six reasons why Minstrels rule
In the gaming world, you're either a bard person or you're not; there's no middle ground. For some, the concept of a character attacking with music and "inspiring" fellow adventurers with top 40 tunes is incredibly weird, even though armies used to employ musicians all the time for tempo and morale. For others, using music to help and hurt is a refreshing change of pace from fireballs and 70-pound impractical swords. Over the five-plus year adventure that I've had in Lord of the Rings Online, I've rolled many-a Minstrel, although I've yet to make one my main. I've always loved the concept of the class, especially within Tolkien's IP, where music fills an important niche in the books. Music has power in Middle-earth, and the Minstrel is the one with the skills to defeat Sauron with mad lute skills. As a tribute to this awesome class, here are six reasons why Minstrels rule -- and why you should try one out if you haven't already.
The Game Archaeologist and the Quest for Camelot: Your journeys
These days just about everyone thinks he has what it takes to be a Knight of the Round Table. It takes more than a shiny shield and a sharp sword, as the Game Archaeologist discovered. It also requires a $14.95 credit card charge. Former and current knights poured out of the woodwork to offer up some of their very favorite memories of Dark Age of Camelot. It is, in a way, a better testimony to the game than an objective history and developers' opinions. For some, DAoC was their first MMO love, and more than a couple people said it was the single best MMO experience they've ever had. While many players have moved on, these memories burn bright, and it didn't take much prompting for DAoC vets to wing a quick word of praise our way. Blink twice to clear out any eye irritants, and prepare yourself for a marvelous trip back in time to an era of hodgepodge PvP and fierce realm rivalries.
Minstrel's Feign Death getting a revamp in Book 11
Minstrels were thrilled to see the LotRO devs had chosen their class as one of the two getting a revamp in the Book 11 patch currently on the Preview Server. But then one of them noticed that the coveted Feign Death skill had it's cooldown timer doubled in length.Fortunately, the Turbine devs had something special in mind for the skill. They have removed the resist chance from the skill check. Feign Death will now always work. To compensate for this enormous buff to the skill, they doubled the cooldown timer and made it so it won't drop the Minstrel out of combat. So no rezzing others during combat.Most players were glad to exchange a longer timer for a no-fail get-out-of-jail-free de-aggro card. Considering the devs are removing one panic button from the Guardian class, it's interesting that they have given another one to the Minstrels.The devs went on to clarify that while using this skill, Minstrels will be untargettable and invulnerable. It does not, however, shed aggro in a group situation. Someone in the group needs to taunt or aggro the monsters that were beating on the healer or he is going to stay on the top of the hate list when he drops the skill.However, for solo play, using this skill will cause all monsters will run back to their normal patrol paths and leave the Minstrel alone. In group play, the Minstrel can use this ability as wipe insurance to help the party recover quicker.It remains to be seen what creative uses the players will make of this skill. I'm willing to bet the rent someone is going to figure out a tactic or two the devs didn't consider.
