The Ballad of Maedhroc Thornhollow

[Maedhros(V)]

o/`
In the middle of the Earth
in the land of the Shire
was born a scrappy little hobbit
who had a heart of fire
With a long pointy stick
and an aggro-grabbin' yell
he gives The Boot to his enemies
and sends 'em straight to hell, Oh!

Maedhroc!
Maedhroc Thornhollow!
Only three feet tall!
Maedhroc!
Maedhroc Thornhollow!
The most butt-kickin' hobbit of them all!

Now hobbits are peace-lovin'
folk ya know
but sometimes there are monsters
and they've got to go
So Maedhroc hunkers down
and he chucks his spear
then he teaches all those goblins
'bout the Wages of Fear, Oh!

Maedhroc!
Maedhroc Thornhollow!
Only three feet tall!
Maedhroc!
Maedhroc Thornhollow!
The most butt-kickin' hobbit of them all!

Well he battled with bandits!
He ambushed some trolls!
He riddled with Bilbo!
Some giants' Lucky Stone he stole!
He chased down a Nazgul
beat up trees in Old Forest
Fought a giant turtle in a dead king's tomb, Oh!

Maedhroc!
Maedhroc Thornhollow!
Only three feet tall!
Maedhroc!
Maedhroc Thornhollow!
The most butt-kickin' hobbit of them all!
o/`

-MaedhrosV, with apologies to Leonard Nimoy

[Varda]

Priceless!

[Maedhros(V)]

Maedhroc hit level 57 last night. He has taken on both Thaurlach and Thorog; completed all of the zone quests in Evendim, Eregion, Forochel, and been through much of upper Moria.

I think it's safe to say that he has officially equaled or surpassed Galadhalion, my former main, in achievement. The only things Galadhalion has done that Maedhroc has not are finished through book 1.10, completed Ered Luin, and seen the outskirts of Lorien.

I am much more proficient with Maedhroc after seven months of play than I was with Galadhalion after two years. Clearly the warden class is simply a better fit for me than the champion. There are a variety of reasons why this may be -- I think that part of it is that the warden class forces you to think ahead and be proactive in the fight, which forces you to take the initiative. The warden is also much more flexible than the fairly one-trick-pony nature of the champion. If I'm hurting, I concentrate on HoT. If I'm fine health-wise, I concentrate on DoT or building aggro. If I'm grinding, I go into Recklessness and just charge everything I see. Wardens, like Timex watches, take a licking and keep on ticking, as opposed to the "glass hand-grenade" nature of champions, who can pour on damage but disintegrate like a wet tissue when they meet significant resistance.

Once Maedhroc does actually reach level 60, I will start working on expanding my character stable a bit. I don't know if I'll be able to rehabilitate Galadhalion or not, but if not, Galadhros will take his place as my elf wanderer character. Tristello, the hobbit minstrel, is probably doomed to life as a storage bank at this stage, and Maedhran, the captain I made to run with Laurie, will probably end up deleted to make room for someone else (since I ended up playing another character with her). Russangalad, the elf guardian I puttered around with a bit, is probably going to be deleted as well. I was thinking of making a dwarf champion who specializes in two-handed weapons, to sort of "learn the class all over again" now that I am a better player.

In any case, I am very happy with how Maedhroc has turned out. By the end of my time trying to run Galadhalion, the game was just plain not any fun any more. There were a few times in Angmar or Moria when I was close to simply uninstalling the game and giving up on it forever, because I was so frustrated. But even on his roughest nights, Maedhroc has been much more fun to play than Galadhalion, and made LotRO a lot of fun to play.

-MaedhrosV

[Elatan]

Loved it Maedhros ;D
and not only because I am levelling a warden myself and agree in the fun of that class.

Hope you all are well