LOTRO: Burglar Life
One of the best things about LOTRO, in my opinion, is just how different the classes feel from each other — and, in many cases, how different they feel from contemporary classes in other titles. I’ve spent a good deal of time with four of the nine classes, and while some of them shared types of skills and abilities, they had their own style and unique twist.
The Captain, as Spinks once said, is one of the truest hybrid classes you’ll ever come across in any MMORPG. They can do a lot adequately, or with a lot of work, a couple things very well. The Lore-master is a bizarre mix of crowd control, DOTs, pet handling and debuffing, which really throws people off when they figure a LM is the typical mage class cannon as seen in other games. The Minstrel, on the other hand, uses song to heal and hurt, but can shift between offense and defense based on the situation.
This brings me to the fourth class I’ve marinated in, the Burglar. I think a lot of folks would take one glance at this guy, see the stealth and dual-daggers/weapons, and think “Oh, it’s a rogue.” Except, it’s not. I mean, sure, it certainly shares common traits of rogue-like classes — double weapons, sort of squishy, burst damage, attack from stealth. But Turbine did a great job in giving the Burglar far more depth and utility than that.
What I love about my Burg is that she stacks the odds in her favor for every fight with a huge bag of tricks that goes beyond just stealth-and-stab. Sometimes it’s more prudent to get a huge opening crit by hiding in the shadows, using distraction to get the mob to turn around, trigger my auto-crit skill, and then attacking with my heaviest damage attack followed by the special attacks that unlock from a crit. It’s a terrific opener, to be sure.
But other times, I’m either not willing to spend the time to prep a stealth attack, or I’m dealing with multiple mobs, in which case the Burg’s other talents come into play. I have very good crowd control in several different flavors, from quick stuns to long dazes to a hard 6-second lockdown. Two mobs, no problem; three, and it’s a bit of a dance, but I usually can come out just fine.
Then there’s a lot of other little goodies that come with the package, such as being able to temporarily bump my evasion rating through the roof if I find myself in a hard spot, being able to heal myself on a fairly regular basis, and — of course — start up Fellowship Maneuvers whenever I want when I’m in a group.
I’m prepping my Burglar to be a Gambler at higher levels, which really looks like an interesting way to play the class, where you put your faith in the RNG to generate better-than-expected results for various moves. Anything to keep the class fresh, unpredictable and interesting, I’m there.
- Posted in: Lord of the Rings Online
Welcome to LOTRO! When did you start playing this? I’ve been playing the same burglar for over 2 years now and I love him. He’s capable of soloing many quests and invaluable in fellowships. “My name unknown, it’s not my own, they call me Crooked Jack.”
We also have probably the most fun skill in the game, Enrage, and one of the most useful, Addle.
I was trying a burglar in the trial period, and I just bought the game on special. I think I’m going to stick with it, even though I don’t yet understand fellowship maneuvers, and I’m worried that groups will rely on me for them.
I’m secretly dissapointed that there is no wizard class though.
Hmm I dunno I love the Rogue class in WoW but to be honest the burglar class in LoTRO just didnt click with me, I think the Rogue in WoW is polished and more assassination/killer orientated so satisfies my blood lust easier.
@Salsero Lots of people who are playing LOTRO are upset about the lack of wizards, but you gotta understand, during that age, the only wizards were Gandalf & Sauramon.
Lore-Keepers are the closest thing you’ll get.
As I mentioned earlier, burglars and lore-masters are both fun classes. The level 30 class quest for burglar is really perfect, and it’s a real pity there aren’t more quests like that.
There are very fun tricks that you can do with a burglar, otherwise too – for example, in some of the instances, you can tiptoe around the trash mobs (while your fellowship members are fighting the very first of them), go to the final boss, trigger him, and then run back (betting on your evade etc). When needed, you can stun the boss, HIPS, let the trash mobs deaggro, and then continue running back with the boss.
And enrage is just beautiful.
Lore-masters are essentially Wizards in all but name. Rune Keepers are… err… *shrugs*
Burg is the most enjoyable class ive pld in a mmo.
I wonder if its its because the level of damage they put out is perfect. Any more dps and the class would be way too strong when combined with all of their abilities. Because its reasonable damage it means you have to use the tricks and various tactics but it makes combat really fun.
Ive put lotro on hold now though. The $9.99 offer hasnt hit europe lotro yet and i dinged 49 on sunday
Ill cry if i buy SoM and then it goes on offer the week later. I think the Anniversary is in April for Europe
Some more observations…
My burglar really matches my defensive playstyle, and the stealth+tricks makes combat a really fun puzzle. I’m trying to do the small fellowship quest in Needleback where you kill the Ogre, and I got close last night. It feels more skill-based (like DA:O) as compared to other MMOs.
I’ve really enjoyed romping around the Shire doing quests without concern for leveling, more so than other MMOs I’ve played. I’m really enjoying it so far.
I have a lvl 30 burg on Landroval (Hobbit) that I’ve fallen love with. Knowing that she is required to know FMs has forced me into learning them – not just for her class, but for when I use my 65 hunter to lead groups as well. I’m still new to the class so what hoping I might gleen some tricks of the trade through your site.