Introduction
I'm writing this guide for someone who genuinely hasn't played LOTRO before, so I'm only going to cover the classes available to everyone (i.e. not Warden, Rune-Keeper or Beorning). I'm leaving those out purely because I can't imagine why anyone would spend money on buying extra classes before they know if they like/loathe the game, especially when there's plenty of good (free) choices.
(However, if you like what I've done here, let me know and I'll do an expanded version that includes all classes.)
So without further ado, if you're just starting out with LOTRO who could you choose to be?
1. Basic Difficulty Choices
The game itself divides the difficulty of the classes into Basic, Moderate and Advanced. I'll stick with those divisions since they seem pretty well thought out. In the Basic difficulty category there are three choices, two melee and one ranged. All characters, no matter what the difficulty, can choose to use a particular 'trait tree' to specialise the characters further once they get to level 6, though you can (and should) spec two trees and switch between them when you need to (e.g. one tree may specialise in skills that do high amounts of damage to a single target while another tree has skills that deal lower amounts of damage, but do so to multiple enemies).
While race has some (minor) impact on characters, sex has none, so I won't be mentioning gender at all in these summaries.
Champion
- Melee
- Can be Dwarf, Elf or Man (i.e. not Hobbit)
- Wears Heavy Armour for extra protection
Champions are the DPS melee choice. The Champion does high(ish) damage using either two one-handed weapons (and pretty much all the one-handed weapons in the game are available to you) or using a single (two-handed) sword/axe. As always, there's three specs - the first is for maximum damage against a single foe, the second is mostly for AoE and the third allows the Champion to take on something of a hybrid DPS/tank role.
[NB, for the champion the AoE skills mostly do as much damage as the single damage skills, so, in my opinion, it's almost always worth concentrating on the AoE (yellow) trait line rather than the single target damage (red) trait line. Of course, don't just take my word on that - pick what you want to - or better still, experiment and try both - that's always going to be the best thing to do.]
Champions are also able to equip a bow or crossbow from the start, but although you can use this to whittle a little of an enemy's health down, as it charges towards you, it'll never be a major source of damage, and you'll need to reach level 16 before you earn your first and only bow skill (which still doesn't do much more damage than a bow auto-attack anyway).
In my opinion, if you are only intending to roll one or two characters and you are determined to go for a straightforward melee class, this is probably a better choice than the Guardian. I say that because, while grouping up can be fun, solo play is going to be your bread and butter until you've more or less maxed any character's levels and with 115 as the level cap (at the time of writing) that's going to take you a while. Since Guardians' DPS is so low they are just s-l-o-w in any fight. So as a 'My First Melee LOTRO Character', this is probably the better choice.
So, if you are going for a Champion which race should you choose? I'd say Man (please don't think I'm being sexist, it's the game that refers to Humans as 'The Race of Man' - Tolkein being of his era, of course) though Dwarf is a solid choice too, Elf not so much. Frankly, when this game began and had a level cap of 50, your character's race was extremely important, but now, as you hit higher levels, it matters less and less, and they all have useful racial traits, so if you want to roll an Elf, go ahead, just be aware that it'll take a few levels for an Elf Champ to catch up with the others).
Guardian
- Melee
- Can be any race
- Wears Heavy Armour and can equip Heavy Shields to really 'tank it up'
- Classic Heavy Tank
As I say above, this is the classic heavy tank class. Honestly, even when you are (supposedly) speccing a character for maxed DPS, which includes walloping enemies with your shield, it's still pretty much all based on blocking and parrying the attacks coming your way - though the 'reaction abilities' you are offered when you do parry or block are nearly all damaging (albeit not heavily), so that helps. However, one of the three specs (yellow trait line) is specifically aimed at debuffs and tanking with a two-hander to deal more damage and the supposedly most damaging (red) trait line, while it seems to encourage you to use a one-handed weapon and shield can also just as easily (if not more easily) utilise a two-handed weapon. The final spec is the true Heavy Tank, and is all about mitigating and absorbing damage and keeping it away from allies.
Like Champions, Guardians get a bow/crossbow as a secondary weapon, but unlike Champs, they can't use either until they are level 7. This isn't a big deal, since you'll likely be at about level 7 by the time you have finished the introductory sequence (the intro takes, at most, about three hours of play time). Like Champions you only get one (underwhelming) ranged skill (the same one, as it happens) but this time you get it almost immediately you get a bow (at level 8) which is far better.
Guardians feel slow in fights, as I mentioned, and yes, you can spec them for more DPS by using two-handed weapons, but if you are going that route, it feels to me that, if you are only going to have one melee character, that you may as well just look at rolling a Champion, as far as the role they play goes. Slow doesn't mean it lacks fun, however (each class has its own unique good points), and a well kitted-out Guardian can be the epitome of 'slow and steady wins the race' as, yes it takes longer to kill things, but that doesn't mean (s)he doesn't get the job done. The 'True Heavy Tank' spec is one that you'll be very unlikely to use while soloing, but it's the one you'll almost always want to be when grouping up, and you'll be in high demand too!
Racially this is a tie between Men and Dwarfs, with Hobbits (perhaps surprisingly) also being a very solid choice. (Again Elves not so much). If you intend to employ a shield at all times then Dwarf is probably a slightly better choice since it gets a racial bonus to shield use, however if you think you want to try 2-handed weapons then Man probably has the edge. Again, there's no wrong choice here, but Elves' racial abilities aren't really quite as good for tanking (or melee in general). Still, if you like elves, don't let that put you off, as by late game you really won't feel much difference. And a short plea for Hobbits - just because Dwarf/Man is my preferred choice, don't discount them, they're surprisingly good little tanks.
Hunter
- Ranged
- Fast-paced and high DPS
- Can be any race (you'll probably want to go with Elf, though - see below)
- Great utility abilities for travel and tracking
I won't lie, this is, by far, my favourite choice for for a Basic difficulty character (and probably my favourite for a main character altogether, if I'm really honest); the 'utility' abilities make the solo game so much easier and, since the recent buffs, you can easily be the hardest hitting DPS dealer when grouping up too.
What I mean by utility abilities is that, firstly, Hunters have lots and lots of places they can instantly travel to (one in each zone and there's lots of zones) and, when grouped up, they can take the whole fellowship along. They can also use 'camp-site fires' as an extra instant travel destination. There's a fair amount of backtracking in the game, so these travel abilities are unbelievably useful for day-to-day questing, to the point where, personally, when I've been playing as a Hunter for a while and decide to switch to a different character, I really miss the ability to just jump around the map - it's just so convenient.
Don't worry, if this isn't a class you feel like playing, there are ways to fast-travel using other classes, it will just have a long cooldown, or cost you (a little) in-game money to do it with others - you'll still get around okay, it'll just be a bit more cumbersome.
The other ability you'll miss (though probably not quite to the same extent) is the ability to track your enemies. Tracking isn't essential, but like insta-travel it does make life so much more convenient. To get the most out of the game, however, you are going to want to complete 'Deeds' and this is going to be a convenient helper, but again not essential.
The last important utility ability is that you can run 15% faster than other characters (out of combat only) and this buff also applies to your fellowship when you are grouped up. This isn't such a big deal since, maybe 90% of the time, you'll ride a horse when you're heading somewhere, out of combat, but it's still useful.
Your main weapon here will be your bow (or crossbow) but you also dual wield any combination of one-handed weapons you choose. I've not mentioned before, but no matter what your class, by mid-game each race will have a bonus to using certain melee weapon types, so your melee weapon of choice will mostly depend on your race, in each case. In this case it (hopefully) won't be too important most of the time, since you (again hopefully) won't be doing much melee fighting (basically, if you are, you're playing Hunter all wrong!) Hunters use Medium Armour, unlike their melee counterparts, so you can't take as many hits as a Champ or Guardian, but as long as you keep buying/making new armour to match your level, you will be okay taking a few whacks.
As far as the three 'trait trees' go, they're all aimed to maximise DPS in different ways. Firstly you can go with a mobile, mid-ranged, single-target build (blue line) - this used to be a little lack-lustre, but it got big buffs a few updates ago, so this trait tree now shines. It's now my first choice for day to day usability, as you can easily kite to stay safe and almost never take a hit, which is what the hunter should be all about. The second (red) tree is a static, long-range big-hitter which is also aimed at single targets. Basically you stand in position and send out powerful attacks which (hopefully) kill your enemies long before they ever reach you. Lastly there is the (yellow) AoE/crowd control build which is all about laying traps (all hunters can lay traps, but unless you choose this build it'll be one at a time). Throw down various traps and pull a group of enemies towards you. Most will be trapped, so you can now pick them off one by one, at your leisure.
Unlike the other two Basic difficulty classes there is a hands-down winner here for race. No matter which trait tree you go for, you need to be maxing your ranged DPS and elves have a racial trait that boosts your bow damage by 5%. (Elves also get a decent agility boost, which will help in the early game, but won't be very important by the time you are level 20-25). Nothing the other races can offer can match the 5% bow damage increase, so the #1 choice is definitely Elf here. Again, though, if you really like hobbits or dwarves or humans, then go with it - you won't do quite as much raw damage, but you'll probably enjoy it more, so don't let me saying that Elves are the only choice for DPS output put you off chosing to be who you want.
[Sorry the Hunter section became a bit tl;dr - there's just a lot more to say about Hunters because they have so many out-of-combat abilities that can help you. Most of the rest will be the same, since the complexity of the characters only goes up from here]
2. Moderate Difficulty Choices
Soloing, I don't see a big difference between Basic and Moderate difficulty characters - in terms of how hard they are to play. However, once you are at a stage where you are grouping with other players to form fellowships it is true that these classes have either a wider choice of roles, or that their role in the fellowhip will be more complex than just straight tank or DPS. On the other hand, Minstrel, in particular, is just as straightforward as any of the basic classes if you intend to stick to DPS for soloing (also enormous fun!) So if you are a first-timer to LOTRO or even to MMOs altogether, don't rule these two classes out, since by the time you are ready to group up you'll have a much better understanding of both the game and your class.
Captain
- Jack of All Trades (and Master of None, but very useful nonetheless).
- Melee/Summoner/Healer/Buffer
- Man only
- Wears Heavy Armour and can equip light shields (but probably shouldn't)
Captains are good at everything, they just aren't superb at anything, but that is the point. The only thing they don't do is equip bows and do ranged damage. They do scream at people and do ranged damage, though, so they even have that covered, to an extent. I guess you could also give them throwing axes; I never have, but it would give you another ranged attack that didn't cost any power, I suppose. (I've never thought of that before, I may have to try it, though non-burglar-specific throwing axes are pretty crappy, so I don't suppose I'll be rushing to add this to my usual rotation of skills).
I guess you could say that the Captain's primary role is as a melee damage dealer, at least in solo play. They can equip any weapon but they generally work best with two-handers. You can give a captain a one-handed weapon and (from level 10 on) a shield. Since they can't equip heavy shields, I strongly advise that you stick with two-handed weapons. As a human-only class Captains will eventually gain a racial boost to both one-handed and two-handed sword use (+5% damage). At lv 15 they can start to use Halberds (the only class that can use them) and at lv 30 they'll automatically gain a 5% boost to their Halberd damage too. In other words, just stick to two-handers.
Their second major role is as a Summoner (from level 6 onwards). What they summon is a 'pet' herald - a bloke (at first it's only a man, later you can have a woman, a dwarf or even a ghost/spirit herald) who carries a banner and gives off an aura which buffs you (and your allies) in some way, shape or form - initially there are three types of buff/herald, later you'll be able to branch out and gain a lot more variety, as the different types of herald aren't just cosmetic skins. NB you can only have one type of herald active at a time. Heralds can and do attack the creatures attacking you or them, if you have set them up to do that (or they can just stand back and avoid damage if that's what you've chosen for them to do instead).
The three trait trees relate mostly to the Healer/Buffer aspect. The first trait (blue) tree will give the Captain a variety of mostly healing abilities, the second (red) gives them mostly outgoing-damage-increasing buffing abilities and the third (yellow) gives them mostly incoming-damage-decreasing buffing abilities. Out in the field, on your own, you'll probably mostly want to stick to the damage increasing tree, as you still have the ability to heal yourself (and your herald) and you can always change the type of herald you summon to best boost your current weak points and/or add to your current damage output.
And that's Captains; they aren't heavy tanks, but with the right set of buffs and the right herald they still do a fairly good job of it, they aren't the highest damaging melee class, but change the buffs and herald and they'll be pretty effective at that too. Another set of changes and while they won't be the best healer in the game they'll still be decent at that too. It can be a good class to pick if you aren't sure what role you are likely to want to fill once you are doing a lot of fellowship content because with a Captain you don't really have to choose.
[Admittedly you'll most often be asked/expected to be buffing or debuffing in group content, since there are definitely far more competent healers out there, but in a pinch that's still a role you can fill.]
Minstrel
- Flexible Healer or High DPS Mage
- Can only equip Light armour, but can also equip shields
- Any race
As with Hunter, I'll hold my hand up to really liking this class, it's definitely my second favourite, though more as a DPS based minstrel than as a healer. From the start of the introduction, there's just something really fun about playing a minstrel (mini). You wander in, choose a target and scream at it and it drops dead (and yes in the early levels minis can one-hit-kill just about anything, which is what makes it such a fun and fast-paced class to play at this point in the game).
Minis have three 'stances' they can take: the first, the one you'll almost certainly use to solo, is all about the DPS, and it's good at it, especially when paired with the trait tree that lets you increase that damage, but it still allows you to heal yourself pretty well. The second is the opposite, it's the stance that you won't use unless you are a fellowship's designated healer, as it not only heals, but changes your ailities to buff the amount of incoming healing the fellowship receives and even any damaging skills you use against enemies will buff healing rates for your team. The third stance is a hybrid of these two - pretty good healing and pretty decent damage.
As I mentioned, one of the trait trees (red line) is all about damage, if you spec this one and combinine it with the right stance, then there's almost nothing that should be able to reach you before you kill it (at least, not during the first half of the game, if you're only attacking single targets). The second (yellow) tree is all about applying strong buffs to yourself and allies while still keeping a decent, if not spectacular damage output. The final one (blue) is all about healing more often and for larger amounts. As you can probably imagine each tree has an obvious corresponding stance that you'll usually want to be in while using it.
Minstrels can only use a single one-handed sword, dagger, mace or club (or an axe, if they're a dwarf, because all dwarves can use axes), and though they do use shields as well, they can't equip them until level 20 (if you choose a mini, then at level 20 start looking at bracelets, for block rating; bracelets seem to be the piece of equipment most likely to boost your blocking ability aside from the shields themselves).
As for race, it's difficult to say, each has it's pros and cons. Music was very important in Tolkein's works but all of the races were keen on it, so from a role-playing perspective there's no clue there (not like, for instance, Burglar, which I only ever want a hobbit - not because of stats or anything, but because of Bilbo, obviously). There's also little about the racial traits which screams out 'pick me!' Having said that I, personally, favour hobbit minstrels. Minstrels can fake death and hobbits can too, being able to do it twice in succession can really save you in a tight spot, especially while grouping up. Men also have good racial bonuses, but on the other hand, Dwarves get the best racial boost to blocking when using a shield, which could be a help. Then again, if your mini's in at melee range for more than a finishing blow, then you're already hip-deep in problems so... honestly, it doesn't matter, whatever works for you, just go with whatever race appeals.
3. Advanced Difficulty Choices
So this makes it sound like these are going to be really hard characters to play... and actually Burglars, in particular, aren't easy, at least not to play really well. That's partly why, if you have a look at the LOTRO forums, for instance, they tend to be full of comments about how burglars are the 'worst class'. Ignore that; all of the classes have strengths and weaknesses. Having said that, if you are new to this genre of games, or even just new to LOTRO, think very carefully before picking one of these two classes over a Basic or Moderate difficulty class. That isn't to say don't do it, but I advise that you think about how you want to play, and only go with these, initially, if there isn't a less complex alternative.
Having said all of that, these two classes are still probably less complicated than the three classes which you have to buy, and they're fun. All the classes are, and all the classes are different enough to feel unique, that's part of what I like so much about this game, all of the classes are worth playing; just because I have my preferences (and so will you) doesn't mean I can't see the merits in all of them.
Burglar
- Melee (a sneak up and backstab the enemy melee-type)
- Classic 'Thief/Rogue' Type
- Debuff your enemy, while still doing damage
- Can be Man or Hobbit
Burglars aren't the easiest class to play, they're also overlooked and considered fairly undesirable in group play. That wasn't always the case, though; in the past a burglar would have been a great addition to any team, as they had skills which guaranteed a powerful team attack, and they still do have these skills. The problem with that, though, is that almost no-one uses these attacks any more, making the burglar be seen as irrelevant by a lot of team leaders. Some of these skills, though, can still be relevant to you in solo play, as they have long stuns and disables, so even without the subsequent team attack they're usable.
Burglars aren't irrelevant, I promise; their skills are still great for debuffing, slowing, stunning and doing damage over time. The problem, as far as I can see, is that though all of these are useful, none of these things are completely unique to the burglar and other classes do them just as well or better. The thing is, that for instance, while a Captain has a great ability to buff and debuff, that doesn't take away from the fact that burglars also do this, and that they also can sneak up on an enemy and do big damage by backstabbing and/or attacking directly from invisibility. So burglars aren't most people's first choice and I do get why, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't give them a go if you like playing Rogue-type characters.
As always, there are three trait trees. The first (blue) uses the 'roll of the dice' to apply gambles, which are powerful but uncertain effects that certain skills apply at a 60% rate. Some gambles debuff, some do damage over time and some stun/disable. As I understand it, this line is also considered really strong in PvP (something I've not discussed before as it tends to be a fairly minor part of LOTRO for most classes and something I don't intend to go into further here, either, since I don't play it myself). The first tree is also heavy on skills that cause bleeds/DoT. The second (red) trait tree is probably the most typical of a Rogue build, it's all based around attacking from invisibility or backstabbing and getting big damage from doing that. The last (yellow) tree applies 'tricks' which are debuffs, slows and stuns - all burglars use debuffs but this one takes it to the max.
I'll hold up my hands to the fact that my burglar is currently my lowest level character and while I understand how each tree works I haven't spent a huge amount of time with any, since I've specced and then respecced so that I could try all three. What I can say is that all three are fun and each has their merits, but which one to go for is entirely up to you as it will depend on how you like to play.
As a burglar you wear Medium armour and you dual wield daggers, swords, clubs or maces. Hobbits get a 5% damage increase using clubs, Men get a 5% damage increase using swords and all burglars get a 2% damage increase using daggers. Despite the lower damage increase, you may still be better dual wielding a pair of daggers, as the one thing I haven't mentioned about burglars is that some of their best damage comes from 'critical chain' skills, i.e. skills that only come into play after you score a critical hit, and each dagger will add a 1% chance to your likelihood of critting. Not huge, but still significant (2% doesn't sound much, but I promise it's worth having). As well as melee weapons, you can use throwing axes, and burglars get far far better burglar-specific axes (the cooldown is too high to let you use them more than once per fight, however, so they are simply there as a possible opening move for a burglar).
There really isn't a 'best race' for burglars, as there are advantages and disadvantages to either, but I simply can't get past Bilbo the burglar, so it's Hobbits all the way for me!
Lore-Master
- Mage/Summoner/Healer/Crowd Conrol/Debuffer/Melee(?)
- Uses light armour and staffs (though can dual wield staff/sword mid-late game)
- Can be an Elf of Man
LOTRO seems to like their pet-using summoners to be Jacks of All Trades. This feels very different from the Captain, but in some ways it's really very similar too. Remember Gandalf used a sword as well as a staff? From level 40 onwards a Lore-Master (LM) can do that too, so, like the Captain, it's a summoner/melee class - kind of. However, unlike the Captain, the Lore-Master's primary role should never be melee DPS, it's just one tool in their extensive tool-box.
Like the burglar, this is a flexible class that can be used in a variety of ways, depending on which trait tree you spec for. The first tree is the one that focuses on increasing the effectiveness of your pet summon. There are seven different kinds of pets (actually there are lots more, but the rest are just fancy cosmetic pets for when you aren't fighting) though unless you spec the pet trait line, you'll only have access to six. There are a variety of pets filling a variety of roles, bears are great tanks, ravens apply buffs/debuffs, bog guardians are ranged dps, etc. Each pet performs the same role, no matter what tree is traited, they'll just do it better with the (blue) tree that is specialised in buffing them up. The second (red) tree is all about maxing the Lore-Master's own DPS potential through their spells. The third (yellow) tree is all about buffs, debuffs and crowd control and lets the LM become an effective healer too.
An LM is such a difficult class to describe. It's definitely a mage, but it's a mage that can be very reliant on their pet... but they don't have to be. It can do great crowd control and great AoE damage as well as single target, but again the crowd control can be the focus or can be ignored, depending on your set up and play style. Unlike mages in just about any other game (or in this game if you include the Rune-Keeper) LMs aren't just meant to hang back firing off spells they're also meant to get their hands dirty and start whacking their enemies with their staff (and sword).
Even though this is not meant to be a guide to LMs, be aware that if you have a favourite pet and you only ever summon it (e.g. 'bears are great and I'm a squishy mage, I need my bear to tank for me') you really aren't tapping into the full potential of the LM, each pet brings something to the table and you need to familiarise yourself with what they do, so that you can choose the right one for the situation.
Race? Man, definitely, for me. Both races get +5% sword damage, but men get a buff to parry and evade that is really going to help when comes to wading into the thick of things with your staff and sword. Men also gain a buff to incoming healing. On the other hand the Elf has very useful racial traits that can help with survivability too, so while I prefer Man, you can argue both cases and you should go with whichever you like better.
4. General Points About Character Creation And New Characters
Even if you are mad-keen to get started, please don't rush the character creation process. How you look may seem irrelevant, but if you really like the game and decide to keep playing with this character regularly you are going to be seeing it a lot, so make sure you don't hate your dwarf's bulbous nose, or the way your elf girl is so skinny she looks anorexic. You can change hairstyles/colour and facial hair in game, but you can't change anything you couldn't easily change in real life (you also aren't allowed to gain/lose weight). So please take a couple of minutes to decide if you are happy with their appearance; even if you think I'm weird/shallow for stressing it, I promise it's more important than it sounds. The same with the name, it can be changed, but it's not free (it costs 995 LOTRO Points which you can either buy or would have to do maybe a hundred hours of grinding, in the game, to get that much).
If having more than two characters interests you, then, even if you think you generally want to stick with free to play, you'll probably want to think about starting to spend a little money on the game. I do mean a very little, here, I promise. Assuming it's still available, the starter pack goes on sale fairly regularly (I was going to link it, but Steam won't let me see it on the LOTRO store page. I think that's just because I already own it... I think... probably. It won't let me see any of the expansion packs I own, so it's probably still around). It includes 3 extra character slots (giving 5 in total), which is why I'm mentioning it here.
If it hasn't changed, the Starter Pack will give you the Evendim quest pack (Evendim is a beautiful-looking zone and the quests start at level 30, which is just at the right level to move to after you finish all of the free to play content), some free xp boosts (personally, I don't like them, it's so easy to overlevel even without boosting xp), some cosmetic armour (it's okay, nothing spectacular) but importantly 500 LOTRO Points (LP) and it turns your account into a 'Premium' one - which gives you the extra 3 character slots and a few other minor perks. The starter pack is exceptionally useful, but not essential, so probably the best thing to do is put the starter pack into your Steam wishlist and buy it the next time it goes 75% off. For a couple of quid (dollars/euros, whatever) you'll get 500 LP, Evendim (worth 595 LP) and 3 extra slots (worth 595 LP each) which is probably worth paying the full price, but is definitely more than worth it when it's on sale.
[See Glossary for more information about LP]
5. Glossary
I deliberately tried to write this guide with someone brand new to MMOs/LOTRO in mind, but I inevitably included a few jargonistic terms. So here's an explanation of the ones I've noticed myself using. (Please don't tell me I'm being patronising including this; if you're a gamer, of course you don't need this, so ignore it, but some people try this game because they love Tolkein, not because they like games in general/MMOs):
AoE - Area of Effect. This is a skill/spell that targets an area rather than a single target. It can hit/damage multiple enemies.
Buffs/Debuffs - Buffing a character is using any skill that boosts one or more of their abilities, debuffing (probably very obviously) is the opposite i.e. any skill that reduces an enemy's abilities.
Critical Hit (Critting) - A successful attack that does significantly more damage than a normal one. Every attack you make has a random chance to crit (early game this will be low, maybe a 5-10% chance of any attack critting, later this chance will rise significantly).
Crowd Control - using techniques that allow you to attack a group of enemies, but restrict how many can reach you/attack you so that you/your team can deal with the group one at a time.
Deeds - Special tasks that earn you rewards, such as items, skills, traits and most importantly LP (see below).
DoT - Damage over Time. These are often known as 'Bleeds' in the game. Damage over time is usually caused by skills that do a moderate amount of intial damage but then also do a set amount of damage every couple of seconds for, say 10-20 seconds in total.
DPS - Damage per Second. Pretty self explanatory, but this is about the amount of damage you can do overall, whether that be from very strong, slow attacks, or weaker, more frequent ones.
Kiting - This is a technique for keeping ranged characters safe when attacking melee enemies. Basically it involves hitting your target, then keeping on the move by running away while still attacking at a range where it can't attack you.
LOTRO Points/LP* - Something you earn in game from deeds (mostly) but can also buy with real-world money that lets you purchase extra content for the game, such as the riding skill, quest and expansion packs and all sorts of account and character enhancements. It's a good idea to save them up and wait to buy things when they go on sale; there's always something on sale in the LOTRO store (the shop which uses LP as its currency) and almost everything in the store goes on sale (usually at 25% off), on an approximate three month rotation. As a very rough approximation, if you buy LP, then 100LP = $1 (and USD is the only currency you can use to buy them, as far as I know).
Soloing - Even though MMOs are meant to be multiplayer, it is possible to complete a lot of the content alone. Some classes are better at soloing than others (though LOTRO has a lot of solo content and so just about any class has a way to solo effectively).
Tank - In gaming terms, a tank is a character that draws attacks away from other, weaker players. Tanks will have high health (known as morale in LOTRO) great armour and will usually have ways of blocking/evading attacks to keep themselves healthy longer. As I said, a Guardian is a classic example of this. A 'Heavy Tank' is just an extra-tanky tank... if you like...
Trait Tree - In the game, each character can pick abilities from any of three skill-trees for that class. Each tree has unique active and passive abilities, but you 'buy' most of the skills using trait points that you get mostly from levelling up. (You also get a few trait points from completing 'deeds' and quests). You can also 'buy' skills from a tree that isn't your main one, but each time you want to buy/level up a skill from another tree, the point cost is double what it would be for a skill from your main tree.
*If you read LOTRO forums or similar you will most likely see old posts referring to Turbine Points or TP. That's because until the end of December 2016, that's what LOTRO Points were known as.
NB If you think I've missed anything from this Glossary, please leave a comment and I'll add it.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=814573024
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