FMs - how good are they?

[Zib]

I never did spend much time as a burglar figuring these out, despite my fascnation with them. Maybe as you all level the new classes I will sneek in a burglar.

But on to my question. How many fellowship members do you need to make these interesting? With three of us we normally pick three red or yellows. Should we try straights or other such advanced poker hands?

[OnyxBlade]

Personally, I feel that with 3 or 4 folks, 3 or 4 of a kind or 2 pairs are just fine. At 5 or 6, the straights are quite exceptional. With a 3 person straights, you get the added benefit of knowing that you're going to get damage, power and healing all in one blast (unless you start on red or yellow) and they're not too hard to pull off.

We've found that if you start out by setting a fellowship maneuver and pick positions, you have a great chance of getting a successful hit. (have the fellowship leader go into this skills panel and then the fellowship maneuvres tab... )

Here's a nice list of them all:

lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Fellowship_Maneuvers

[OnyxBlade]

oh...and quick tips... hunters should get the red/yellow ones... minstrels/lm should get green/blue... others should fill in the gaps according to any racial strength they may have. We usually give the burglar in the group #1 position since they'll be starting the majority of them.

Oh...and in your options, you can setup keyboard shortcuts for the 4 FM positions... I usually set my R key as whatever colour I'm supposed to be so I can just hit R when it's my turn.

[Zib]

If you pick a damaging FM, do you gain aggro? Or should I not be concerned with it despite being a minstrel?

[OnyxBlade]

I'm mixed on that one zib... I have noticed after a FM aggro has switched to me immediately. I've not gathered enough data to know if this was when I started the FM or just participated in it.

My best guess is that damage/healing done by an FM gets applied to the person that contributed to the damage/healing. So if you do the damage part of a FM and it's one of the AOE damage skills, WATCH OUT!

Interesting question... I'll go into forums.lotro.com and see if there's an answer.

[Zabrak]

I've noticed that there have been times when Missa was part of a conjunction that right after that I grabbed the aggro. Easy to notice as a hunter, since the creature is suddenly running at you. I usually take a yellow slot. It's possible that yellow causes more aggro. But it's also possible that my shot, before the conjunction, caused the aggro that didn't actually materialize until after it was done.

Does that make sense?

[Verewen of Rohan]

Makes perfect sense, Zab. I had also heard that anything yellow on a conjunction will generate aggro, whereas hitting red doesn't do that because it's bashing damage versus a large yellow DoT.

[OnyxBlade]

So I suppose... don't let the minstrels hit yellow!

[Zabrak]

Good groups don't let their minstrels turn yellow!

Brave Sir Robin ran away.
Bravely ran away, away.
When danger rears it's ugly head
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes Brave Sir Robin turned about
He gallantly chickened out.