Captain Roundtable 2012 @ A Casual Stroll to Mordor

[Goldenstar]

The Captain Roundtable was recorded on February 19, 2012. This episode is with special guest Captains:

• Elborigorn of Elendilmir
• Ketani of Elendilmir
• Phenyhelm of Landroval
• Imperius of Landroval

Similar to our past roundtable discussions, this is a lengthy episode but it is full of Captain information. We discuss soloing, grouping, skirmishes, skills, traiting, legendary items and much more!

There’s plenty of information here on what a Captain in Lord of the Rings Online does. There’s great tips for new and experienced players alike!

Unfortunately the only format this is available in is audio. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause some of you who would prefer to read.

Give it a listen!

[Stubbins]

Awesome! Been looking forward to listening to this!

Thanks!

[Smodo]

Thank you Goldenstar and Merric for giving us all this wonderful content!

[furtim]

Thanks for posting this here, Goldenstar! The old roundtable was a really useful resource for me as I leveled up my Captain, so I can't wait to listen to the new one.

[Omen_Kaizer]

Thanks Goldenstar!

I'm listening to it now, and I love the IDOME discussion. It's true, IDOME doesn't overtly save raids, but it helps keep things flowing smoothly in the background. Its a buff to every stat to the fellowship. More power, more mitigations, more heals, more damage. It greases the wheel as you go through a raid, especially long ones like Saruman.

That being said, I'm seriously considering picking up SotD or Oathies while we try to complete ToO T2.


Also, Oathbreaker pets don't hit harder. Just better defenses.


One thing that's irking me is one of these dudes keeps tying traitlines to the group buffs from x-brother. They aren't tied to the group buffs at all! I can Blade-brother in HoH all I want, it just only increases my own outgoing damage by 10% instead of 25%. But kudos for him for being a tanky captain. Ok, 3 mins later around 1:25:00 he says you can swap and you should if you feel the need. All is forgiven.


I gotta disagree with the shield thing too. Off-tanking Penireth or one of the Thievery and Mischief guys, while in HoH or LtC? I throw on the Tognir armor and Shield of Endless Heroics. My role has switched mid instance (or at least have a new focus), therefore I eschew damage for the new role of staying alive. Main healing? Shield (wanting the crafted ToO one). Support healing in ToO? I swap around depending on the situation.


Though I'm nitpicking on some issues, all these captains sound competent and knowledgeable, and I'm looking foward to hearing the second half

[samhailt]

Thanks Goldenstar!

...

One thing that's irking me is one of these dudes keeps tying traitlines to the group buffs from x-brother. They aren't tied to the group buffs at all! I can Blade-brother in HoH all I want, it just only increases my own outgoing damage by 10% instead of 25%. But kudos for him for being a tanky captain. Ok, 3 mins later around 1:25:00 he says you can swap and you should if you feel the need. All is forgiven.


I gotta disagree with the shield thing too. Off-tanking Penireth or one of the Thievery and Mischief guys, while in HoH or LtC? I throw on the Tognir armor and Shield of Endless Heroics. My role has switched mid instance (or at least have a new focus), therefore I eschew damage for the new role of staying alive. Main healing? Shield (wanting the crafted ToO one). Support healing in ToO? I swap around depending on the situation.


Though I'm nitpicking on some issues, all these captains sound competent and knowledgeable, and I'm looking foward to hearing the second half

Hi! I'm the annoying guy.

I wasn't trying to equate them only trying to say that they were connected but maybe my point didn't get across. I actually feel very strongly that a captain shouldn't pigeon hole themselves into staying in one particular brother skill regardless of their trait line. It's important that we don't pick up tunnel vision.

If I didn't get that across I am sorry and I didn't do a good enough job putting forth the concepts and that fault lays with me.

On the shield thing I must say I did not consider the advantage of being able to add block in combat. As a complete role reversal during the middle of the fight I will say there is a usefulness to it and I partially resend my condemnation. I still feel strongly though that if you know you are going in as a tank it is better to go with the Two-Hander and the Yellow Capstone.

- Phenyhelm

[Omen_Kaizer]

Hi! I'm the annoying guy.

I wasn't trying to equate them only trying to say that they were connected but maybe my point didn't get across. I actually feel very strongly that a captain shouldn't pigeon hole themselves into staying in one particular brother skill regardless of their trait line. It's important that we don't pick up tunnel vision.

If I didn't get that across I am sorry and I didn't do a good enough job putting forth the concepts and that fault lays with me.

On the shield thing I must say I did not consider the advantage of being able to add block in combat. As a complete role reversal during the middle of the fight I will say there is a usefulness to it and I partially resend my condemnation. I still feel strongly though that if you know you are going in as a tank it is better to go with the Two-Hander and the Yellow Capstone.

- Phenyhelm

Nah man, I don't categorize you as annoying. I was wishing I could jump in until 1:25:00 where you clarified that being open to swapping brothers is a good attitude. I do agree with that. I shouldn't have written and edited my post in such a stream-of-consciousness fashion.

Pretty much everyone wrote off the shield, so glad I could share a little insight even a week later.

And for real, kudos for being a tanky captain! I roll LoM-halberd myself then too, but primarily for the extra threat. When you do get a chance to tank foundry t2, you won't have aggro problems with the 1st and 3rd boss fight, due to several stretches where the DPS won't be on your guy. Big troll dude will be about like the Pits fire wing boss in terms of keeping aggro--maybe even easier since they don't have that outgoing damage buff.

Still looking forward to hearing the last third of the roundtable.

[Ethrun_Alatariel]

I loved this podcast! It gave me some great ideas as I work on leveling my captain, and I'm really tempted to put together a 3-man captain PUG. Thanks so much to everyone who put it together.

[RtrnofdMax]

I respect the knowledge of the Captains you assembled, but I really think you should have chosen a dedicated LtC Captain to give that perspective. Also, a Moors perspective would have been very useful to people, in my opinion. (I didn't listen to the whole thing so if you touched the moors in the 3rd hour, my apologies)

One thing I did object to was the suggested DPS rotation. Battle shout is not the default starter for the rotation. If you are engaging your target at range, then it would be as you close on your target, but if you start next to your target, Cutting Attack followed by Shadow's Lament opens up Devastating Blow and Pressing Attack in the same amount of time, but with more damage and a bleed upfront.

[DuneBug]

Hi! I'm the annoying guy.
On the shield thing I must say I did not consider the advantage of being able to add block in combat. As a complete role reversal during the middle of the fight I will say there is a usefulness to it and I partially resend my condemnation. I still feel strongly though that if you know you are going in as a tank it is better to go with the Two-Hander and the Yellow Capstone.
- Phenyhelm

Shields add a considerable amount of critical defense (more than champions can get) as well as an additional 800 armor and whatever other stats they provide. In addition to that 1h weapons have shorter attack durations, which also seems to affect all your cry skills including your shouts. That is why a healing LI would be 1h. Not to mention that it's amazing to have block + 1500+ might (3000 block rating) while healing. You're very durable to any mobs that happen to rip off.

As for tanking with a shield... I admit the priority with tanking is always to hold threat first, stay alive later; Holding agro isn't something that can be quantified so it basically comes down to personal experience. My recommendation to anyone when the 1h/2h argument comes up is try it for yourself, it's easy enough to find a 3rd age sword and a shield and go tank a 3man. If you can hold threat with that certainly a better LI will only help.