In this series, I talk about various aspects of The Lord of the Rings Online. This series is meant for newcomers, but may also help veteran players find more to love about the game.
It's time for the fifth class-focused entry in the series! Today we get to talk about the Minstrel class! It will be our first time repeating a race, so all of the focus will be on the class and how it differs from the others -- and some reminders about the Man starting area.
The Minstrel class is available to all of the races (except for Beorning, obviously -- I've heard bears have a habit of breaking lute strings). I chose to make another Man, mostly to balance out that more of my minstrel characters are female, but also to be fair in my gender distribution in this series.
Per the established method, the theme this time was "violet" and "sea," so I used Welsh to come up with Toneirin, or "plum wave." In my head, he's a suave and smooth-talking guy -- and not afraid to wear clothes with floral embellishments.
The following is a basic summary of the creation process and some of the things you'll encounter when you start out in LOTRO with a Minstrel.
Character Creation
As I said, I made a Man this time, and this time he's from Dale. I figured that'd make him a little scrappier based on Dale's history. I have mixed feelings about the Minstrel class, personally. For the most part, I feel they do best in a group but not as well by themselves (Mounted Combat, for example, makes life very hard for minstrels). That said, it can be a lot of fun to play and I've enjoyed the opportunities I've had to run in groups as either the healer or a supportive role. Minstrels are an important class in the mix because of the lore that Tolkien himself established -- the world of Middle-earth was created through the music of the Ainur. This is the power that LOTRO's minstrels are tapping into with their music. (This is from The Silmarillion. It's a heavy read, but worthwhile if you love the lore of Middle-earth.)
The way the class works allows a minstrel to be an integral part of a group every time -- healing, buffing, damaging, stunning -- all while wielding a weapon and shield, too.
Man Intro II
So we've been here twice before. Our man Toneirin starts off in a cell as a captive of the Blackwolds, and our favorite ranger, Strider, busts him out and sets him to work helping to free the other, erm, Free Folk. Also, cameo appearance of a Nazgul before you get sent to Archet Dale. Fire!
The Blackwolds are pretty easy to defeat. You will start off in the correct stance to damage your enemies, so just click those skills and strum your lute (You'll default to one of those even if you don't have an instrument equipped!). We'll talk about your skills in the next section since you seem to have more than the other classes normally start with!
The Blackwolds are pretty easy to defeat. You will start off in the correct stance to damage your enemies, so just click those skills and strum your lute (You'll default to one of those even if you don't have an instrument equipped!). We'll talk about your skills in the next section since you seem to have more than the other classes normally start with!
Class Skills
The reason you seem to have more skills is because Minstrels have Stances they can toggle between for different effects: Dissonance, Melody, and Resonance. Dissonance means your skills damage your enemies, Resonance means you heal yourself and allies, and Melody is a mix of the two. If your hands are glowing, you're in the right stance to do the most damage (Dissonance). If they're glowing and you're supposed to heal your group, you better switch stances quick!
The other skills you start with are (shown are the versions when in Dissonance stance):
Raise My Spirit: A quick self-heal (the healer is no good to anyone if they're dead!).
Dissonant Strike: Whatever weapon you equip in your hand -- mace, club, sword, dagger -- you're gonna swipe with it to do a little damage. Doing so will ramp up your incoming healing, just in case your squishy self shouldn't have gotten into melee range.
Minor Ballad: This boosts tactical damage while doing damage itself. This means any attacks from you, rune-keepers or lore-masters are going to do more damage. Yay!
Major Ballad: This boosts your outgoing healing to others, reduces power cost to non-Anthem skills, and adds tactical damage to your Ballads, Codas and Cries. That sounds pretty major!
Coda of Fury: Your finishing skill! Once you've hit 3 ballads, this skill will be available (and using it removes those ballad buffs). It does significant damage, takes any effects from any Anthems, and increases damage from your group for a bit -- meaning you can sync with other members of your group to unleash their big hits when it'll hurt more!
By the end of the Introduction, and at least level 8, you will also earn these additional skills:
Dissonant Piercing Cry: This is your interrupt skill. When you see that enemy trying to cast something or has a nasty action with an induction -- scream at 'em!
Perfect Ballad: Stick this into your rotation after the Major and Minor Ballads. Building up your Ballads then unlocks the finishers (Anthems and Codas). The more Ballads you string together, the more potent your Anthem or Coda!
Timeless Echoes of Battle: This one is fun to see in action. You'll see spectral swords representing the great deeds done by the Valar.
Trait Trees
I admit that I haven't played around much with the Minstrel trait trees. I mostly play the Red line because I solo a lot and need as much damage as I can push out. However, I can tell you that you want the Blue line if you need to heal, and the Yellow line if you need to lend support.
You can read up on the Trait Lines here:
Archet Revisited
I did, however, have just enough time to size up the new outfits on the mannequins and get Toneirin looking smart and dapper as a minstrel ought to. Cosmetics people understand, don't you?
This is a good time to visit your trainer (you'll be prompted by Strider, so no need to go out of your way) and see what they offer for your class as well as for crafters. (Uh, is it me, or does this trainer look a little... intense? His face, I mean... He's seen some things, I guess!)
Quests, Again
No need discussing these quests again, right? If you need a refresher, you can visit the Burglar entry or the Lore-master entry! The important thing to know is that Minstrels wear Light Armour, but your quest rewards will show you that with red outlines on the heavier gear. So in the pictured quest below, you'll be claiming the Threadbare Cloth Shirt.
Do what Strider asks, help the hobbits feel comfy, and work way too hard to convince the Captain that his man is fooling him. You still won't save Archet. Sorry.
Do what Strider asks, help the hobbits feel comfy, and work way too hard to convince the Captain that his man is fooling him. You still won't save Archet. Sorry.
Before you get to the final instance of the Intro, if you do want to do some XP farming to get ahead while you can (and while it's easy), I stand by my previous advice of making the rounds through the Blackwold hideout to take care of them -- or through the ruins path full of spiders. Both have fairly good respawn times and can help you get a leg up before you get out of the Intro.
Beyond the Intro
(This may or may not upset your Fellowship members who might not want to hear a flute or bagpipes through an entire dungeon, so make your decisions carefully -- and have back-up instruments!)
As you level up, there are crafted versions of various instruments with bonuses to healing or damage. Consider being a Woodworker if you want to be able to craft those items for yourself!
Teaching Others
Once you are level 30, you can mentor someone simply by being in close proximity to them. Various classes have specific instruments they already know. Be sure to ask someone first if they already know an instrument! If you use a Mentor skill, the cooldown is 5 days. If you use the Scribe Stance skill to make a Manual (in which you don't have to be near the player, they just consume the item), the cooldown is 10 days.
Additionally, the Trainer has some recipes for Scholars and Cooks (sheet music and lute strings, respectively).
And what kind of game would it be if it had all of these instruments and the ability to teach others to play them... if you couldn't produce your own music? Well, you can! But that isn't this entry -- it's coming up soon.
Was this entry helpful? Let me know! The series continues next Monday!
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