Lord of the Rings MMO Got New Character Class 16 Years After Launch
The Lord of the Rings Online will get a new character class, even though it's been more than 16 years since the release of this popular MMO. Now that's a long-lived game!
Few games stay on the market for long periods of time, especially in such a demanding genre as MMO, but The Lord of the Rings Online, which debuted back in 2007, is alive, well and kicking.
This can be evidenced by the upcoming update, which will add a new character class to a game that is already 16 years old.
New class - Sailor
LOTRO has added a new class - the Mariner, which is to be a character aimed at experienced players. They can carry two weapons at the same time, use daggers and short one-handed swords; they also usually wear medium armor.
Interestingly, this class is to be modeled on the character of Eärendil, a half elf who appears in Tolkien's Silmarillion (via GameRant). Eärendil was said to be known for his sea voyages and, interestingly, was also Elrond's father.
Source: MassivelyOP.com
The Mariner class relies heavily on balancing. The Mariner is accompanied in battle by a belt that swings left or right, depending on the skills used. The key is to keep the bar more or less in the middle, otherwise we may face negative consequences in the form of debuffs.
Mariners use three skill trees:
- blue - singing shanties that provide bonuses,
- red - a set of offensive skills,
- yellow - using bombs and alchemical potions to weaken enemies.
Source: Game Rant
If you want to learn more, the developers of LOTRO have made available more than an hour of footage dissecting the Mariner class on their YouTube channel.
It is worth mentioning that Lord of the Rings Online is regularly supported. 10 expansions have already come out for the game, and the latest of them - Before the Shadow - was released in November of last year. The Mariner is expected to debut on servers this fall.
