noob minnie... totally confused

[MithrilSoul]

Hi all,

Old LOTRO player (I date back to the SoA beta days) but only played sparsely the last 5+ years. I've played almost every class in the game to at least level 50 except a minnie. So with Mordor out, high elves, etc. I decided it was time and I made myself a high elf minstrel.

I'm totally lost. I'm only level 8 and I already have 8 or 9 offensive skills on my bar. Anthems, ballads, calls, codas, melee abilities. And no clue what I'm supposed to be doing. It doesn't matter at all now, as--let's face it--fighting landscape mobs in LOTRO at level 8 I could be punching them with my bare hands and probably kill them before they kill me. But presuming I'm going to level this character beyond a dozen or two levels, I am eventually going to have to start playing with some sense of strategy.

Is there any basic guide out there that explains how to make best use of this large variety of skills? I'm not even worried about group healing so much right now, at least in terms of theory (I've played a healing-specced RK so have some sense of that). I'm mostly right now focused on questing and developing good habits so that when (eventually) things get tougher, I'm not having to "un-learn" a bunch of bad habits in order to learn how to play the class right.

I've looked at the stickied thread at the top of this forum, but it seems mostly focused on the theory of how to heal in groups, not really explaining the intricacies and relationships between the various minstrel skills, which is really what I need right now.

EDIT: also, instruments? When I last remember playing LOTRO serious, I think there were only maybe 4 or so instruments. Now there are, what, a dozen? Is that purely cosmetic or do they "do" different things?

Thanks in advance...

[Elrendos]

Hi all,

Old LOTRO player (I date back to the SoA beta days) but only played sparsely the last 5+ years. I've played almost every class in the game to at least level 50 except a minnie. So with Mordor out, high elves, etc. I decided it was time and I made myself a high elf minstrel.

I'm totally lost. I'm only level 8 and I already have 8 or 9 offensive skills on my bar. Anthems, ballads, calls, codas, melee abilities. And no clue what I'm supposed to be doing. It doesn't matter at all now, as--let's face it--fighting landscape mobs in LOTRO at level 8 I could be punching them with my bare hands and probably kill them before they kill me. But presuming I'm going to level this character beyond a dozen or two levels, I am eventually going to have to start playing with some sense of strategy.

Is there any basic guide out there that explains how to make best use of this large variety of skills? I'm not even worried about group healing so much right now, at least in terms of theory (I've played a healing-specced RK so have some sense of that). I'm mostly right now focused on questing and developing good habits so that when (eventually) things get tougher, I'm not having to "un-learn" a bunch of bad habits in order to learn how to play the class right.

I've looked at the stickied thread at the top of this forum, but it seems mostly focused on the theory of how to heal in groups, not really explaining the intricacies and relationships between the various minstrel skills, which is really what I need right now.

EDIT: also, instruments? When I last remember playing LOTRO serious, I think there were only maybe 4 or so instruments. Now there are, what, a dozen? Is that purely cosmetic or do they "do" different things?

Thanks in advance...

Your best bet will be to look up skill bar layouts or other screenies of utility bars. It helps a lot. Then just read all your tooltips on the skills you currently have. At level 8 you will only be proficient in a couple of instruments. Just use a lute for now. I think at high levels it's all personal preference though so I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

In a nutshell, your basic skills are like this:

Ballads. These are your "builders". You have a basic, a major, and a perfect. They do different effects depending on which stance you're in. You'll be in Dessonance for the most part (dps stance) unless grouped once you level a bit more.
Anthems. These are your "buffs". They require 3 different ballads in order to use. Each ballad you use creates a buff. So build any 3 ballads to get the 3 buffs and then hit an Anthem. At your level it won't last very long but do it anyway.
Codas. These are your "finishers". They again require 3 different ballads in order to use but they consume the buffs this time from those 3 buffs. Your best bet is to use an Anthem first and THEN a Coda.

The Ballads, Anthems, and Codas all have different effects, again, depending on stance. Read them over while in each one to see. It's pretty self explanatory though. Dessonance they will be DPS oriented. Melody a mix of DPS and heals. Resonance mostly Heals and a whee bit of buffing / dps.

Those are the bread and butter of your basic skills. You have 1 melee skill which is pretty decent. The Strike. Then you have your ranged Cry / Shout which also acts as an interrupt (remember this one). These too have different effects depending on stance. The melee Strike in your healing stance for example does melee dps AND an AoE heal. You have a ranged fear (shout) which can be handy for crowd control. Then we have your heals. At level 8 you only have 1. "Raise The Spirit". Use it on yourself often. Actually, if you spec into the healing trait line then you'll have "Soliloquy Of Spirit" which is a stackable HoT. You can stack it 3 times. Keep in mind heals will effect different users depending on stance. In the dps stance you may only heal yourself. Keep this in mind if grouping. You will need to switch to Resonance if you want your heals to effect others.

There is a lot more but for your current level that should help to get you started. Really just read your skill tooltips though. Set your bar up so your Ballads are all together, followed by Anthems and Codas, and then your heals together as well. Put your offensive skills in another spot (your melee attach, ranged shout, etc.) by your other utility skills (fears, state breaks, etc.). Read the Wiki for the Minstrel Skills too. At least you will have an idea what skills you will be getting eventually to help set up your bars. Keep in mind I am only level 27 on my Minstrel but I have played the game off and on since 2008 and I have played healers in other games before. One thing people always overlook is skill layout. It can get hectic if you're just tossing skills all over once you get them. Plan ahead so it isn't so chaotic later.

[danno8]

For your level I would stick with something like this for now as your most basic rotation:

Minor-Perfect-Minor-Coda

If you have Piercing Cry off CD:

Minor-Perfect-Minor-Piercing-Coda

If there is more than one enemy:

Minor-Perfect-Minor-Call of Orome-Piercing-Coda

Anthem of War is good, but not until it gets some extra oomph from LI's and traits, so while you can always throw it in I think the time is better spent activating a damaging ability instead...for now. Later on you will get AoW to last over a minute at a time with a bonus of 15% Tactical damage, and +5000 tactical rating.

Later in the game you will find you won't want to use the Coda so much since it cancels all your active Anthems (including AoW), and you will have enough skills and perks to keep a steady rotation of damaging skills going.

Don't forget to fear enemies if things get too hairy.

[haplo88]

Some instruments are for all classes to use for the music system. At higher levels you will start to find some with stats on them, you will want to use those once they are available to you.

There are pretty much instruments of all types with stats at some point. Nothing says awesome like destroying endless mobs by playing little ditties on your bagpipes. It's really just personal preference and what noises you find the least annoying since you will be hearing them a lot.

That said, come on SSG lets add some combat fiddles that are not for max level minstrels please.

[danno8]

Some instruments are for all classes to use for the music system. At higher levels you will start to find some with stats on them, you will want to use those once they are available to you.

There are pretty much instruments of all types with stats at some point. Nothing says awesome like destroying endless mobs by playing little ditties on your bagpipes. It's really just personal preference and what noises you find the least annoying since you will be hearing them a lot.

That said, come on SSG lets add some combat fiddles that are not for max level minstrels please.

I recommend the drum to most people. The low rumbling sound is less irritating on a repetitive scale than the higher pitch sounds of many of the other instruments. I also like the classic lute, harp and flute. Most annoying I find is the pibgorn and bagpipes, although I still like the hilariousness of the bagpipes and can actually somewhat believe the sound could kill, lol.

[haplo88]

I recommend the drum to most people. The low rumbling sound is less irritating on a repetitive scale than the higher pitch sounds of many of the other instruments. I also like the classic lute, harp and flute. Most annoying I find is the pibgorn and bagpipes, although I still like the hilariousness of the bagpipes and can actually somewhat believe the sound could kill, lol.

The bagpipes are hilarious for sure. So is horn. The fiddle actually is kinda neat but until they add lower level combat fiddles this is not practical for anyone not already at level cap. Personally I am 109 but finishing up lower level epics that I never did, so the non-stat fiddles are no big deal for one shot greys. Hopefully soon then add more with stats.