The Lore-master: Walking Disaster, or Diamond in the Rough?



by Cameron "Aelryn" Sorden

Of all the classes available in LoTRO, there's no class that I've seen take more flak or be more often misunderstood than the Lore-master. I'm not sure how long the LM bashing has really been going on, but it was rampant in late beta when I started playing and has continued past launch and throughout the first month of play. What's especially interesting to me is the large variety of complaints, though. Some players claim that LMs are severely underpowered. Some claim that LMs are just fine, but inferior to the other classes for this reason or that reason. Others say that LMs are great and don't need any skill buffs, but that there are still a few things broken about the class that need to be addressed. I decided to do a little research and find out what the deal really is with the Lore-master, from the LMs themselves.

Class Issues? Lore-masters Speak Out

I wanted to start by sharing some comments that I've pulled directly out of the official Lore-master forums for a little discussion:

"Last night I was in the Lone Lands for over two hours trying to get a
group to do some quests (I am a lvl 26 LM)....didn't get any responses."

"I thought lore master because it would be like the mage from WOW which
i thought was a cool class (even though i didn't really like WoW) and
lore master has a pet which i think can be pretty cool, but they
apparently have no dps and a too neutral skill set to be valuable to a
group (which doesn't bother me much, i usually just solo cause i don't
get a chance to play often enough) also i guess they're powers have no
effect on certain monsters making them useless at times."

"I guess I just can't get over the fact that our definition is 'pet/crowd control.' Yeah with me it's a definition thing. I just can't be happy when I sign the dotted line for a Lexus and end up with a taurus. Yes both vehicles get me where I'm going and I can get around not driving the car I thought I was getting, but I just don't like it."

These three comments illustrate the most frequent non-bug related complaint I've seen about the Lore-master: namely, that they don't do anything particularly unique and aren't a necessary fellowship role in the current game. I find the second comment especially interesting, because I feel like that's the mentality that most players who haven't tried an LM have towards them, which really discourages people from wanting to try them. I know that that's what I thought about them until I rolled one up and tried it for myself. I also see lots of new players complaining that LMs are too hard to solo (for many of the same reasons listed by commenter #2).

Now, there are plenty of players who have no problems soloing their LM and feel perfectly useful in groups. A cursory glance at the same forum shows far more posts about the positives than about the negatives of the LM these days, and whether that's a backlash against anti-LM sentiment or people learning the class better, it definitely shows that this is more of a player problem than a class problem. I suspect there are a few things going on here. First, I think it's fair to say that LoTRO has a decent number of WoW refugees and also a decent number of first time MMO players. Having only played my LM to the mid-teens, I can already tell that this isn't a class geared towards newbies. You need to pick your fights, use your skills intelligently, debuff your foes, and manage your pet at the same time (and the pets do require a good amount of micro-management sometimes). The only class in WoW that comes close, in my opinion, is the Warlock, and most casual WoW players opted for simpler classes.

Compared to a World of Warcraft Hunter or a LoTRO Champion, the LM is a pretty difficult class to play well. I would guess that a lot of the players who had problems early on just weren't used to the skill required and then complained on the forums. These complaints will change and taper down to a trickle as people become more skilled at playing the game and start seeing what LMs are capable of in the right hands. I think we're already seeing the beginning of this. It's the other concerns that I find more worrisome for the class as a whole.

Bugs, and Burglars, and Champions! Oh my!

Now that I've shown that the class can be useful, the real question becomes how useful are LMs comparatively? Well, the truth is, players are divided and the jury is still out on this one. HairlessOrphan sums up the situation well with this comment:

"The complaints for the class go deeper than 'omg this r soooo hard!' There are complaints about pet AI, pet bugs, class skill synergy, class abilities being second tier to other classes, common mob types being immune to class-defining skills, etc... These are all things you either understand or don't understand, regardless of whether you agree with them or not. I want to stress that understanding them is different than agreeing with them."

Another good one:

"One of the major complaints on the forum is that LM is not a strong CC specialist. CE has limited use in a typical fellowship and BF both has a relatively slow induction timer and does not work on undead, creatures of natures, ancient evil, and dragonkind. Herb-lore is effective vs. melee but can only be used once every 120 seconds and is ineffective against ranged enemies."

I asked Jeff Anderson about the state of the Lore-master two weeks ago during our interview with him. The question was first, whether he thought LMs were underpowered currently, and second, whether he thought that players just hadn't seen how useful they could be because the playerbase as a whole hasn't really gotten to the high-end content yet where they might be more useful. He answered, "Both, I think," and went on to explain that they definitely want to look at where the LM is as a class and work hard to improve that. Whether they're going to focus on improving the pet aspects, the CC aspects, or both is still anyone's guess.

A good portion of the current LM forum population seem like they'd just be happy with some bug-fixes, really. More commentary:

"Right now, I'd like to see Turbine address the bugs...the things that
are broken and everyone knows is broken. Then take a little time, to
see how the class responds and it's players...and address issues from
there."

Hopefully that's a no-brainer for Turbine. Keep on submitting those bug reports!

Overall, the LM seems to be a very complex and fun class in need of a little tuning and a little fixing. Since Turbine's on the right track and we'll likely see the Lore-master update in either book 10 or book 11, it shouldn't be long before the class gets the attention it deserves and really comes into its own. The Lore-master might not be a diamond yet, but in the hands of a skilled player he's a far cry from being a disaster, by anyone's measure.

If you're thinking of playing a Lore-master, don't despair and don't be driven away by the naysayers-- it's a very fun and challenging class. Don't use ignorance as an excuse not to group with Lore-masters, either... next time you see one looking for fellowship, invite him in and see what they can do. In closing, I'll leave you with one last community comment from a satisfied Lore-master:

"I feel I found my true stride as a LM in a group. Through CC'ing,
healing, and power distribution, I feel that in a fight I was in last
night I saved my group from an untimely demise on more then one
occasion. It's not 'cause I'm uber or because LM is a superclass. Its
just about being smart and paying attention to all thats happening in
the enviroment, including your team's Morale and Power, how many mobs
are aggroed, nearby mobs that might be aggroed, possible respawns, as
well as working on keeping the non-tanks from pulling aggro. No, LM is
no saviour class, but no other class has this many factors to take into
account to effectively play their class to its fullest potential in a
group.



And thats what makes it fun."

- Cameron "Aelryn" Sorden

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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