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.