To be honest, LOTRO is the only game where I have ever found myself asking that question. Now, by that I don’t meant that I don’t know why I play this game (I’ve got plenty of answers to that question) but that I have never managed to find my niche within it. Now, I can solo with most anything but as I have recently found myself taking part in more and more group activities I realize that LOTRO is utterly lacking the sort of class I normally play.

My main character is presently a guardian. I’m under no illusions as to the utter wretchedness of my ability to tank. I’ve never been good at it and it’s just not something I particularly enjoy. I rolled my guardian expecting to solo almost exclusively an now I often find myself in situations where I have to tank and thereby make others very annoyed… or dead. I believe I would have a similar problem with a warden.

Where is the straight up KILL IT WITH FIRE class in this game? Yes, I know that is not exactly in keeping with lore. I do have a hunter but it’s so nature-focused. It is a ranged DPS class of the sort I play in every other game but it’s focused on traps and being subtle. I’m not a subtle person when it comes to MMOs. I’m a big, flash-bang battering ram. Lore master is too much of a pet class based on weakening enemies. Again, too subtle and slow. Rune keepers are expected to heal in a group, and to heal on targets. Again, not my talent or my cup of tea.

I suppose that Champion is ultimately the place where people like myself fit in. Fast kills, ridiculous AOE, and a good amount of flash. My only problem is that it’s melee and so I end up stealing too much aggro or making an even bigger mess out of things.

After over a year I still find it odd that I feel out of place in LOTRO. I love all of my characters and there isn’t a class that I flat out hate but when I look at the prospect of going ‘all the way’ with anything I still find myself out in the cold. Where’s my mage (WoW), demonologist (Conan), elementalist (Guild Wars), or Blaster (City of Heroes)? …I’m leaving a character slot pointedly open for future expansions.

Not terribly much commentary to make here, but an excellent turnout at Bounder inspections this week. This series features Luciannos attending and shows some outside views of the Bounder HQ.

After a stressful foray into the North Downs to deal with some problems involving the local wildlife, Slug-Squasher Luciannos heads home for a touch of relaxation.

Luci relaxes in front of the fire and also admires his new stone-tile floor. He’s also wearing his favorite green suit.

Afterward, he decided to do a bit of fishing in the neighborhood pond. There is nothing like hot catfish cakes after a long day of adventuring! He also managed to catch a few trophy fish. I can see a larger house in the future to accommodate the growing family and trophy collection.

Meanwhile, finally somewhat recovered from his terrible mining accident, Justalin (that most handsome dwarf) spent a day familiarizing himself with the shire and assisting its residents with any tasks they needed performed.

So I finally decided to do something with my my.lotro page since it seems I am going to be around for a good long time and just in case I finally get a job soon and don’t have time to do this page.

I also just joined a completely awesome Kin, Bounders of the Shire, and that has inspired me to get my images and character biographies posted.

Rolled a new dwarf yesterday.  Though I think Hobbits are much more fun to play, Dwarves are my favorite race in Middle Earth and in the game.  (Thorin was my hero when I read the Hobbit for the first time.  He’s probably still my favorite character as well.)  I’m really enjoying going through the dwarf starter area with the aid of the quest assistant.  I usually ended up running my dwarves through the Shire when I was trying out classes because I just couldn’t find anything and now I get to do the actual dwarf quests and see new things.  I am also enjoying being a Champion.  Wow… I melee A LOT in this game.  I think that’s interesting because I am almost exclusively a ranged-DPS player in every single other MMO I have ever played.

Tanked for a group against elites yesterday with my Hobbit guardian and I don’t think it did too badly.  Privately, I am going to continue refering to myself as ‘Fail Tank’ for a few more weeks, however.

Waiting for the servers to come back up so I can take screenshots.