It's a bird, it's a tree, it's...Pikachu?

[Khally]

In the last 48 hours, I have seen some incredibly bizarre things in LOTRO. Clearly they’re not all designed to be bizarre, but they’re so new to me that I’m shocked every time I experience them.

For one thing, while Vyenne and I are fighting in close-quarters combat with a boss-type monster, these hugely strange but attractively colorful icons keep popping up. Naturally, the first time it happened, I was so surprised to see them that all I could do was shout something that sounded like “Waiwhawhoa!” I’m very verbal that way.

Vyenne either hadn’t had it come up on her screen or she’d been asleep at the wheel when it happened. Regardless, she gave me a slightly pitying look that clearly said that no, she hadn’t seen any “Romper Room buttons suddenly come up while fighting that bossy goblin. And what’s Romper Room anyway?” This is what I get for playing with someone born in the 80s. And, ya know, in England.

Within a few minutes however, the buttons came up on both of our screens and their presence could no longer be denied.

“What IS that?!” She exclaimed, which was what I’d meant to say when *I* first saw them.

“I dunno! That’s what I was trying to tell you!” I squinted at my screen, trying to frantically see what the buttons meant while not dying to another goblin.

“I think one is a cow!” “I think that’s an octopus!” We shouted simultaneously.

But alas, the buttons disappeared before we could discern anything further, but we were determined to get a closer look next time. Fascinated, we stayed near Minas Eriol in the Lone Lands longer than was strictly necessary so that we could continue to fight these goblin mini-bosses, just to see the pretty buttons come up again. Before long, they did.

We both leaned forward into our screens, squinting our eyes and with our mouths open. “I got it!” I shouted. “The blue one is a British Airways stewardess.” (THAT earned me the dirtiest look imaginable. Vyenne may or may not be a stewardess herself, albeit not for BA.) “That’s alright,” I added consolingly. “The green one is definitely an American eagle getting punched in the head from above.”

“I think the red one is a mushroom cloud,” Vyenne commented then, ignoring me altogether. “Darn, I want THAT attack next time!”

I giggled. “You can’t. Hunters only - that HAS to be a ranged attack. When do I earn the ICBM trait?” I wondered aloud.

“Probably about the same time I earn the yellow Troll Doll attack, which seems…slightly less over-powered than yours.”

“I dunno, troll dolls are pretty creepy.”

“True.”

Fortunately, it didn’t take us long to realise that our primary assessments had been completely wrong.

“Wait!” Vyenne finally shouted. “I think the red one is really…a tree. A tree attack?” We both remembered the Old Forest and shuddered.

“And…a pony, and…a spider?”

“Yes, and a birdie,” she confirmed the last of the icons. “Okay, so…how do we use these?”

“No idea. Let’s each pick one next time. Like…what’s that show? The Pikachu show? Like that!”

“Oh, my god,” she rolled her eyes in that way she does that screams that I’m far too ancient for words. “Pokemon?”

“No, the one with Pikachu. Where they all go around shouting I pick you! Let’s do that. Oh wait, there are the buttons!” I shouted excitedly. “PONY, I PICK YOU!” And I clicked the blue icon. My total lack of embarrassment at my own nerdiness must’ve won her over.

“I PICK TREE!” She hollered.

Suddenly, our entire battle paused for one long, pregnant moment.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“I dunno…did we break it? Do trees not go with ponies?”

But the next moment, the game un-froze and in one amazing instant, the goblin exploded. We both sat back in our chairs, impressed. “Daaaaaaaamn.”

“Again! AGAIN!”

The battle against the goblins continued, and we shouted our button choices each time. Eventually we came to realise that the buttons indicate some kind of synergistic attack, but we haven’t quite figured out the magic. Do we need to find special combinations? Is it a timing issue? Should we be shouting in Elvish? Are we completely wrong about Pikachu and it’s all really a Power Ranger issue?

Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated. Clearly, we need help here.

[kimano]

Those will be fellowship maneuvers. They will pop up whenever you either break the enemy defenses or a burglar/captain(?) start one. You only get them whenever you are in a fellowship. There are some skills if you have more people with you.

as for the colors:

red=direct damage
yellow= damage over time
green= morale refill
blue= power refill

[marlwyn]

Its a FM (Fellowship maneuver, aka. conjuction) which pops up when Player has broken the defences of Mob.

Red(tree) damage
Yellow(spider) damage and damage over time
Green(bird) Healing morale
Blue(horse) healing power

And these can be mixed to get some crazy fellowships attacks done.

More info: http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Conjunctions

[Berephon]

In the last 48 hours, I have seen some incredibly bizarre things in LOTRO. Clearly they’re not all designed to be bizarre, but they’re so new to me that I’m shocked every time I experience them.

For one thing, while Vyenne and I are fighting in close-quarters combat with a boss-type monster, these hugely strange but attractively colorful icons keep popping up. Naturally, the first time it happened, I was so surprised to see them that all I could do was shout something that sounded like “Waiwhawhoa!” I’m very verbal that way.

Vyenne either hadn’t had it come up on her screen or she’d been asleep at the wheel when it happened. Regardless, she gave me a slightly pitying look that clearly said that no, she hadn’t seen any “Romper Room buttons suddenly come up while fighting that bossy goblin. And what’s Romper Room anyway?” This is what I get for playing with someone born in the 80s. And, ya know, in England.

Within a few minutes however, the buttons came up on both of our screens and their presence could no longer be denied.

“What IS that?!” She exclaimed, which was what I’d meant to say when *I* first saw them.

“I dunno! That’s what I was trying to tell you!” I squinted at my screen, trying to frantically see what the buttons meant while not dying to another goblin.

“I think one is a cow!” “I think that’s an octopus!” We shouted simultaneously.

But alas, the buttons disappeared before we could discern anything further, but we were determined to get a closer look next time. Fascinated, we stayed near Minas Eriol in the Lone Lands longer than was strictly necessary so that we could continue to fight these goblin mini-bosses, just to see the pretty buttons come up again. Before long, they did.

We both leaned forward into our screens, squinting our eyes and with our mouths open. “I got it!” I shouted. “The blue one is a British Airways stewardess.” (THAT earned me the dirtiest look imaginable. Vyenne may or may not be a stewardess herself, albeit not for BA.) “That’s alright,” I added consolingly. “The green one is definitely an American eagle getting punched in the head from above.”

“I think the red one is a mushroom cloud,” Vyenne commented then, ignoring me altogether. “Darn, I want THAT attack next time!”

I giggled. “You can’t. Hunters only - that HAS to be a ranged attack. When do I earn the ICBM trait?” I wondered aloud.

“Probably about the same time I earn the yellow Troll Doll attack, which seems…slightly less over-powered than yours.”

“I dunno, troll dolls are pretty creepy.”

“True.”

Fortunately, it didn’t take us long to realise that our primary assessments had been completely wrong.

“Wait!” Vyenne finally shouted. “I think the red one is really…a tree. A tree attack?” We both remembered the Old Forest and shuddered.

“And…a pony, and…a spider?”

“Yes, and a birdie,” she confirmed the last of the icons. “Okay, so…how do we use these?”

“No idea. Let’s each pick one next time. Like…what’s that show? The Pikachu show? Like that!”

“Oh, my god,” she rolled her eyes in that way she does that screams that I’m far too ancient for words. “Pokemon?”

“No, the one with Pikachu. Where they all go around shouting I pick you! Let’s do that. Oh wait, there are the buttons!” I shouted excitedly. “PONY, I PICK YOU!” And I clicked the blue icon. My total lack of embarrassment at my own nerdiness must’ve won her over.

“I PICK TREE!” She hollered.

Suddenly, our entire battle paused for one long, pregnant moment.

“What happened?” I whispered.

“I dunno…did we break it? Do trees not go with ponies?”

But the next moment, the game un-froze and in one amazing instant, the goblin exploded. We both sat back in our chairs, impressed. “Daaaaaaaamn.”

“Again! AGAIN!”

The battle against the goblins continued, and we shouted our button choices each time. Eventually we came to realise that the buttons indicate some kind of synergistic attack, but we haven’t quite figured out the magic. Do we need to find special combinations? Is it a timing issue? Should we be shouting in Elvish? Are we completely wrong about Pikachu and it’s all really a Power Ranger issue?

Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated. Clearly, we need help here.

From what you describe, I would say you're seeing the Fellowship Maneuvers menu (which has been in the game since launch.) These are combination attacks performed by groups of two or more characters that are activated under specific conditions. You both select a color, and the combination/order determines what skill you pull off.

[Arianias]

in addition to that if you both choose the same color you get a bigger bonus from it ...

there are lots of various combinations for them but you would need a larger group than 2 in order to preform them.

and ....+rep ... love the story

[Ari2009]

LOL! Great post!
You've stumbled into the wonderful world of Fellowship Maneuvers (aka Conjunctions, FMs, or CJs). These are more-uber attacks available only in groups of 2 or more characters, up to a max of 6 toons (when raiding, each group of 6 can trigger their own, but the FMs aren't shared between groups). The pinwheel comes up (looks like an archery target if you don't have the mob selected, clicking it will auto-select the appropriate mob), hit your colour, wait for the timer to finish, and KA-BOOM. FMs can be triggered randomly (as you two have been doing), or on demand by Burgs, with a certain Guard skill as a reaction, and by just about any class "breaking the defences" of the mob (champs, hunters and RKs are especially good at that trick).

Basically, the colours work as follows:
Red = damage
Yellow = damage over time
Green = heal for group
Blue = power for group

There's a plethora of combinations that give unique outcomes. i.e. Red+red = bigger damage hit, red+blue = damage and some power. Some of the best outcomes are from 3-person and 6-person maneuvers. i.e. red+blue+yellow = damage hit, power back AND a damage bleed.

See the lorebook info for more info http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Mecha...ship_Maneuvers

[Laire]

The OP's post is the best post to describe FMs.. ever.

Now I have the old school Pokemon theme song stuck in my head. Brings me back to second grade.

[megaboy]

to the OP.

you can map those buttons.

i map mine to the 2, 4, 6, and 8 on my numpad.

makes it much easier to hit a FM then having to get your mouse to wherever on the screen the buttons are.

[jaxhammer]

when me and my family play (there are 3 of us) generally one person is group leader. He (or she) needs to keep track of what is needed. If you want a big hit, scream "RED RED RED" and everyone hits red and you get a big nuke on the mob. The different color trees yield different results. I have a chart at home that gives me all the combos and what they do.

Essentially, most groups all use straight colors (think of this in poker terms). You can get straights, full house, or other color combinations (but they require bigger groups). Each combination will yield a different result.

So, if it is just the two of you, either yell red or blue and you should be good!

[Hathgor]

HA! thanks for the laugh, you always crack me up! (and FTR, I was born in the 80's - but not in England [thankfully!])

[Smacx]

Ha!

Thanks for the laugh!

[Nindolvoth]

burglar/captain(?) start one.

Guardians can start FMs.

[Ordric]

That was a very funny story and description of the fellowship manuever!

Basically, if you're in a group of two, hit whatever color you need at the time (green if you need a heal, blue if you need power, red if you want it to die faster, etc..), but remember that if you both hit the same color it will be a named manuever and you'll get a bonus.

In a typical 3 man group, we generally just set the order, like okay, the guard goes first, I go second, healer goes last. Sometimes we pre-pick colors, but since we group together a lot, we normally just wing it. If you follow the "wheel" clockwise or counter clockwise, you get more interesting bonuses than if you all go the same color. So if the guard throws down a BLUE, I'll hit red if it's a small thing or yellow if it's a boss, and the last guy will throw GREEN (has to be green, but the middle one can be red or yellow). Same deal if it starts RED, middle can be either BLUE/GREEN and the last one has to be YELLOW. You can keep on going with this process as the group size increases and get more interesting results, plus there are some other combos when you start getting up into the 4 and 6 people ranges. It's always easier to go all the same color, because order doesn't matter, but bonuses are cooler if you basically "go around the wheel" as you pick colors.

Anyway, cool story, and that's my summary of how they work...

[Hellsbane]

You guys got Pikachu?? In the Moors, we got " The Bird ".

[Rhino-Man]

LOL, Khally, you're posts are great! You've been playing Lotro for about, what, maybe a month, have started like 6 posts, and already are Khally the Neophyte on the Forums. (That refers to your "reputation" on the forums, where others can "add rep" to you if they like your posts. If you are unsure what I mean, just look for the little green boxes to the right of people's forum names on any post, and you can put your mouse over them, and a pop-up appears: yours is Khally the Neophyte. Oh, and you can also add reputation to others, just look for the orange Reputation text at the bottom left of any post).

So, anyone know if you can automatically "subscribe" to someone so that you'll be alerted to any future thread's they post? I know you can also click on their name and do "show posts" or "show threads", but I was just curious if there was a more automatic way... Cuz I totally want to follow Khally's future writings as she learns more about Turbine's Middle Earth. *sits back eager with anticipation and a large bowl of popcorn*

[Toranoga]

I like the "I choose you" part.

Personally, when I play my Burg and trigger the Mini-Fellowship that gives a random fellowship event just for the Burg, I yell "Say hello to my..." then depending on what pops I have different endings but it's mostly "little Pony."

[Baryn2]

to the OP.

you can map those buttons.

i map mine to the 2, 4, 6, and 8 on my numpad.

makes it much easier to hit a FM then having to get your mouse to wherever on the screen the buttons are.

Best. Advice. Ever.

IMO, anyway. Almost from day one I've had the '5' key mapped to "pull up" the window and target me on that mob, then immediately I'm available to hit any one of the FM's seamlessly. It allows me to turn around using WASD while simultaneously opening up the window and getting correct distance as needed.

[Arbalister]

Heh, Khally, I was going to suggest that you add all these posts to your mylotro blog...but you have. So I've added an RSS feed to *my* mylotro page to follow them. :-p

Good posts, keep it up!

[Arrabell]

Just popping in since the question has been answered already to say how much I enjoy your posts Khally. To see someone having fun brings a smile and I am looking forward to reading more on your adventures through Middle-earth!

[Rhino-Man]

Heh, Khally, I was going to suggest that you add all these posts to your mylotro blog...but you have. So I've added an RSS feed to *my* mylotro page to follow them. :-p

Good posts, keep it up!

Can you explain the steps you did to do this? Thanks. I think this is what I was asking about in my post above...

[Arbalister]

Can you explain the steps you did to do this? Thanks. I think this is what I was asking about in my post above...

Oh, sorry, I somehow missed your first post...

You can't actually subscribe to new posts in the forums by a user, but since Khally is also using the myloto blog tool to post, you can set up an rss feed window on your mylotro.com home page.


All you need to do, is click the Home tab, up above, then click "more widgets" and click the "RSS Feed" widget. It will open at the top of the wide "center" column and show a red error message that you have no feeds defined. Click the little wrench "edit" icon at the top of the RSS feed window, and for the feed URL, for Khally, use this: http://my.lotro.com/user-1384009/feed/ (you can find it for other people by viewing their blog, its the little orange RSS icon at the top left of their blog column.)
Leave everything else as is - with "Use title from feed" and you'll end up with a box that
is titled "Khally's Page" and shows the last 6 of her blog entries. You can move it around by dragging on the "move" icon.

[DanteIL]

Great post! I had the *exact* same "waiwhawhoa" reaction when I first saw those candy-colored discs splash all over my screen. I had no idea what they were and I believed they caused me to die the first couple of times because I couldn't see anything else. Anyway, I see that many people are replying giving you very serious and useful information about what to do with them, so I just want to pull out the quote from your post that made me laugh more than anything:

When do I earn the ICBM trait?” I wondered aloud.

hahahaha!

[SandioTech]

So, anyone know if you can automatically "subscribe" to someone so that you'll be alerted to any future thread's they post? I know you can also click on their name and do "show posts" or "show threads", but I was just curious if there was a more automatic way... Cuz I totally want to follow Khally's future writings as she learns more about Turbine's Middle Earth. *sits back eager with anticipation and a large bowl of popcorn*

I'd love to subscribe to Khally's posts too. I can't wait to read about what the duo encounters next

[Arrabell]

I'd love to subscribe to Khally's posts too. I can't wait to read about what the duo encounters next

Oh Sandio is back

[silverblade5445]

ROFL!!...this is the BEST description I have seen of FMs

+ rep indeed

others have given you much of the useful info you need to know about Fellowship Maneuvers.....but I must say I was similarly excited (and confused) when I first saw the colorful console pop up.....its been a long time and i've learned how to use them and a lot of the possible combinations, but I must say this feature is still one of the best and unique combat feature I've seen for group fights in any game kudos to whoever designed this