Review: LOTRO Hunters Guide by Killerguides

[Elrantiri]

Hey there

I bought this PDF file after watching different sites writing about it, and how it contains information about end-game, gold farming, traits, skills and so on.
From their website:
Highlights of the Lord of the Rings Online Hunter Guide:
A step-by-step leveling walkthrough. Complete quest guides help you level up from 1-50 fast and efficient, regardless of your starting area.
A handy list of quests sorted by area and level - never pick the wrong quest for your level or miss any racial quest again.
A comprehensive fool-proof guide to hunters, covering stats, skills, traits and equipment.
Detailed fellowship strategies that make your hunter a valuable member of any group.
A compact guide to every single vocation and profession.
Armor and weapon recommendations for single and dual wield hunters.
A collection of highly efficient gold-making strategies including new tactics for crafting, gathering and trading.

At a price of 30 dollars, I went to give it a chance, and well...

The "quest guide" is more or less non-existent, only including the list of quest sorted by area and level.

The stats (where the author has written stamina as one of them, guess which game he played before LOTRO) are described very badly; I have not even seen Will in the manual, and I've read it twice. Might is only written as the attribute once, with no information about might, and Fate is only described as in-combat regen.
The skills are briefly described, and only the skills from level 1-30 are described, the rest arent there.
Traits are only described very shortly, with no guide what so ever about which traits to choose (would be nice to know which stats/attributes to go for, but nothing here).

The fellowship tactics includes such genious tips as taking aggro from the healer and using endurance stance, and that the hunter should be DPS, especially if the fellow has a good tank or guardian (like guardians arent tanks?) Fellowship moves are not described AFAI can see.

It does have a guide for professions, but only describing them briefly, with information about like "Woodsmen need wood from foresters" and the like.

It recommends the readers to use clubs (because they have a small chance of stun) or other stunning melee weapons, to use dual wield, and to use crossbows, and thats it.

The incredible goldmaking tactics include revolutionary tricks as gathering crafting ressources such as hides and wood and sell it on AH, and to go and watch the item on the AH, find too cheap items, buy them and sell them with profit, wauw.

I am VERY dissapointed about this manual, it has been 30 bucks right out the window, as I have learned absolutely NOTHING from this manual, except that you should not buy such stuff without taking a look at it first. Looking at pages such as http://www.sbwire.com/news/view/15232 and http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=26726 was enough to convince me to buy this manual, which wasnt even worth the download traffic I used to download it.

Buying it includes Free Updates, and I will of course update this thread if they see the light and actually writes a worthy manual. I have sent a e-mail to them as well about the quality of this sh*t, hopefully they'll do something abut it, as I'd like a little advice on end-game stuff as raids, which traits to choose and so on, and not just a worse edition of the manual included with the game itself.

[Pingu]

urgs that's terrible!

The best Hunter guide I saw was "Pew pew pew, but not too much!"

:D

[darren65]

30 dollars? Dude...

[iBilly]

Lol, 30 dollars for PDF file written by an unofficial source?

Bet the guy is rolling in the money if there are others like you.

[Llewrend]

Just... no. Seriously?

Browse the hunter forums here and the US site and you'll get more info in 30 minutes on whatever you might ever want to know.

Or just ask here, there's propably an answer within a few hours to your every question.

[MéLAnoR]

Why pay for a Hunter Guide?
Ask anything to us , your fellow hunters ,we can provide comphrehensive info :P

[Elrantiri]

Just... no. Seriously?

Browse the hunter forums here and the US site and you'll get more info in 30 minutes on whatever you might ever want to know.

Or just ask here, there's propably an answer within a few hours to your every question.

Well, I wanted some more information on which traits to go for, if there is special actions to while in late-game instances, and which attributes being the most important, and then I thought 30 dollars, what the heck, if I could gain all this information just by buying this book, I'd save much time on searching for these informations, as it seemed noone here on forum knew which attributes being the most important.

And to the rest of you: Sure, it wasn't the most well thought moment, but I saw these other sites and thought what ever, it might work out. 30 dollars is less than what I earn on an hour of work, and if I could save some hours searching and asking for this information(or MANY hours grinding deeds and such on my own to find out whats the best), that would be well worth it. Since my expectations wasn't met at all, I thought the rest of the LOTRO community should know.

[Wolveras]

$30!!! I am absolutely flabbergasted that you'd pay anything for a "guide". There's plently of websites out there giving you the information for FREE! Plus, as has been mentioned, these fora (as well as the US ones) are incredibly good.

A fool and his money ...

[Elrantiri]

$30!!! I am absolutely flabbergasted that you'd pay anything for a "guide". There's plently of websites out there giving you the information for FREE! Plus, as has been mentioned, these fora (as well as the US ones) are incredibly good.

A fool and his money ...

That surely depends on what you're looking for, the thread about "a hunters best stats" (one of the newest threads in here) isnt really explaining much about the stats after all, some think A, some think B, there's noone who seems to have tested it out really - and thats where I hoped this guide would help me further, and give an answer to this.

[Farstrike (temp)]

Well, I wanted some more information on which traits to go for, if there is special actions to while in late-game instances, and which attributes being the most important, and then I thought 30 dollars, what the heck, if I could gain all this information just by buying this book, I'd save much time on searching for these informations, as it seemed noone here on forum knew which attributes being the most important.

Most of your questions will be answered automatically while playing and engaging in discussions ingame with kin mates or other players playing the same class as you.

The rest you can just dig out of the forums. :)

[Elrantiri]

Most of your questions will be answered automatically while playing and engaging in discussions ingame with kin mates or other players playing the same class as you.

The rest you can just dig out of the forums. :)

I still stand by my last post, that the question about stats is not answered.

It seems I can have it refunded anyway, so that is what I'll be doing.

[Farstrike (temp)]

I still stand by my last post, that the question about stats is not answered.

Not answered how?

Just log into the game and hover your mouse pointer over the different stats to get their description. Looks pretty clear to me. And anything that isn't, you discover by trial and error or by asking someone, either here or ingame.

Was there anything in particular you wanted to know about stats? Maybe I can help.

[Elrantiri]

Not answered how?

Just log into the game and hover your mouse pointer over the different stats to get their description. Looks pretty clear to me. And anything that isn't, you discover by trial and error or by asking someone, either here or ingame.

Was there anything in particular you wanted to know about stats? Maybe I can help.

Well, an idea of which stats to go for (like which stats are the most important for a hunter), and hereby also which traits are important (more stats or those -X vulnerability + resistance giving traits) to end out with a hunter being prepared for raiding would be very nice.

[Farstrike (temp)]

Before trying to answer your question I'd be interested to know what level you are. Have you played your hunter for a long time or did you just recently start it? Also, do you have experience playing any other classes?

[Farstrike (temp)]

Well, if it's of any help to you, here's a hunter stat guide I wrote for my kin a couple of months ago. I don't claim to be a super expert on hunters, but I'm not a complete noob either, so hopefully the following will give you some ideas:

"I'm often asked by other hunters in kin what stats they should raise in order to make the most of their character. The answer of course depends on the individual play style of that person, but I'll try to give some suggestions here as to what I personally think is a good way to build a powerful hunter.

Developing the proper stats on your hunter is essential in order to become something more than just your average arrow-plinker. Let's look at the different stats we can work with. I have split them into two categories: governing stats and derived stats. Derived stats are listed next to each individual governing stat.

Remember: It is always better to raise a governing stat than a derived stat!

Governing Stats: Might, Agility, Vitality, Will, Fate
-----------------------------------------------------

Might - Governs your melee damage output, ablity to block and parry, as well as common damage mitigation.

Personally, I think might is by far the least important stat for a hunter. One of its derived stats - block chance - does not even apply to hunters, since we do not and cannot use shields (you may also notice that next to block chance in your char window it says "N/A", "not applicable").
Another stat derived from might is melee damage, but let's face it: we are not melee fighters, nor should we spend any great effort to become one.
We are now left with parry chance and common damage mitigation, the only derived stats that I personally would consider useful or important in this context. However, parry only works in melee and if you are facing your target (i.e. you cannot activate Eldar's Grace thinking you will become immune against any other attacks than those coming from the target you're facing).

Agility - Governs our chance to hit, our ranged damage, our critical hit% and our chance to evade incoming ranged attacks

This stat is deemed by many (if not all) to be the most important skill for a hunter, and I agree - up to a certain point. We are a ranged dps class, and as such need to be able to land constant and reliable high-damage hits, and most important of all: critical hits. Critical hits is where our real damage lies, and they also trigger one of our main class traits, Deadly Precision (regain 1 focus on critical hit).
However, do not make the mistake of blindly focussing on agility, as it suffers from diminishing returns, i.e. the more you have of it, the less you will gain by getting even more. To give an example of this, a hunter with 450 agility will only have a slightly greater damage output than a hunter with 300 agility, whereas the latter will have allocated the point difference to other stats, thereby improving his overall efficieny compared to the hunter who has focussed mainly on agility.
So if you're a level 50 hunter, sitting at 350 agility, you can rest assured that you're doing perfectly well, no matter what people sitting on 400-500 agility are trying to tell you.

Vitality - Governs our maximum morale (1 VIT = 3 morale), our out-of-combat morale regeneration and our fire and shadow damage mitigation

My personal favourite (and yes, I have more vitality than agility on my hunter :p ). Overall, when fighting NPCs or other players, we are faced with two major problems: we lack the means to heal ourselves and we lack (due to constant nerfing of the hunter's toolset) the means to reliably keep opponents at a distance. This means we need to be able to take quite a bit of punishment in the time it takes us to kill our foe. Having high morale is the single most effective way to counter our lack of heals.

(On a sidenote, if you plan on pvping in Ettenmoors and be succesful at it, I recommend having no less than 3.000-3.500 morale, especially since burning oil [defense installation for keeps] or boss NPCs can knock off 1.5-2k+ morale in a single hit).

Will - Governs our maximum power (1 WILL = 3 power), our out-of-combat power regeneration and fear resistance (including cowering from dread)

Hunter skills cost a lot of power, and you will probably see many fights that completely drain your power reserves. Don't make the mistake of thinking that power is only important for mage-type classes. A hunter without power is like a tiger without fangs or claws - useless in combat. A good rule of thumb is to keep your power at about 2/3 of your maximum morale, i.e. 3.000-3.500 morale/2.000-2.500 power is a pretty solid setup. OOC power regeneration may not seem that important at first glance, but it will dramatically improve your overall performance, as the time spent resting between fights will become significantly reduced. Having high OOC power regen, you will actually only have to rest after prolonged battles which utterly deplete your power. In normal situations, you can simply go from one mob to the next without taking a break to regain power.

Fate - Governs our in-combat morale and power regeneration and our crit chance for tactical skills (i.e. conjunctions)

Another very important stat. As we can't heal ourselves (except with special items or traits), we have to rely on natural regeneration to regain morale in combat. While having a high maximum morale will reduce the need for regeneration, it is still important for those situations where our morale is nearly depleted and our survival solely depends on our ability to buy time and regenerate.
More important than the ability to regenerate morale in combat, however, is the ability to regain spent power. I already mentioned above that hunters use a lot of power, and it is absolutely vital that we never run out of it. A balance mix of high power, high power regeneration, proper traits and stance (and if you are willing to spend some cash, Wind-Rider chants) will turn you into a hunter that will be effective throughout even the most prolonged of battles.

This concludes my little guide to hunter stats, and I would like to summarize it like this: Build up your main stat, agility, but don't overdo it. Remember diminishing returns. Raise your vitality and will in order to reach a solid 3k+/2k+ (morale/power) setup. Raise your Fate until you feel that you have your power levels under control. Don't dismiss might entirely, but also never use it to replace any of the other stats."

[Elrantiri]

My hunter is level 50, and my /played time is 1 week, 5 days and some hours.

When I ask this question about the stats and traits, I'd like a more precise coverage, like having a look on how much the stats help - if Fate only gives 0.00001 In-Combat regen (I know it doesnt, but I dont know how much), it isnt worth much.
Attributes might even be scaling - the first 100 fate might give 2-3 in-combat regen, while the next 100 only gives 1-2 in combat regen, I dont know.

Not knowing these things about the hunter makes it hard to consider which stats to go for, those last 50 agility might be overkill (especially if the attribute effect scales), and should be changed into other attributes to make my hunter as strong as possible.

[OMWiener]

My hunter is level 50, and my /played time is 1 week, 5 days and some hours.

When I ask this question about the stats and traits, I'd like a more precise coverage, like having a look on how much the stats help - if Fate only gives 0.00001 In-Combat regen (I know it doesnt, but I dont know how much), it isnt worth much.
Attributes might even be scaling - the first 100 fate might give 2-3 in-combat regen, while the next 100 only gives 1-2 in combat regen, I dont know.

Not knowing these things about the hunter makes it hard to consider which stats to go for, those last 50 agility might be overkill (especially if the attribute effect scales), and should be changed into other attributes to make my hunter as strong as possible.

Well the reason so many different people , focus on so many different stats, is simply because there is no 'one perfect build' for the hunter. You build your hunter to your own preferences. Some like to focus on parry/evade and don't focus on vit/morale for example. In the end the survivability might be comparable.

Personally i walk around with almost a bag full off different items i can slot to meet my needs. For Balrog i tend to go for a morale build. I switch around a couple of items and i'm at 3.4K morale with 406 agility. If i want more agility and fate i can switch around and have 460 agility etc...

As to the description and actual consequence of stats. The game is too complicated to work that out. It has been speculated that 60 fate equals to about +1 incombat morale/power regen. It has been speculated there is a soft-cap for agility at 400 agility. However this only holds true for the ranged damage coming form agility. The crit chance/evade chance/ hit chance (the last one especially) come from agility too and do improve if you go over 400 agility. So what do you do with it then? Exactly, it's your own choice and preference if you wanna go over 400 agility or over 3K morale. Most of the time you can't have it all, so choices must be made, and every persons differs in such.

A lot off course depends on the items you can obtain and the content you wanna conquer.

[Elrantiri]

Sure it is, but I'd still like some kind of a guide to rely on, or to start on, as an example, with some deeper-look into the different stats and traits - the main reason for buying this guide.

Never the less:

Dear (Me)

www.killerguides.com (customerservice@killerguides.com) has issued you a full or partial refund for your payment.

Amount: $29.99 USD

Sincerely,
PayPal

At least they got some service on this part of the deal, so I'm happy now =)

[OMWiener]

Sure it is, but I'd still like some kind of a guide to rely on, or to start on, as an example, with some deeper-look into the different stats and traits - the main reason for buying this guide.

Never the less:

Dear (Me)

www.killerguides.com (customerservice@killerguides.com) has issued you a full or partial refund for your payment.

Amount: $29.99 USD

Sincerely,
PayPal

At least they got some service on this part of the deal, so I'm happy now =)

Good to hear :)

[Farstrike (temp)]

My hunter is level 50, and my /played time is 1 week, 5 days and some hours.

When I ask this question about the stats and traits, I'd like a more precise coverage, like having a look on how much the stats help - if Fate only gives 0.00001 In-Combat regen (I know it doesnt, but I dont know how much), it isnt worth much.
Attributes might even be scaling - the first 100 fate might give 2-3 in-combat regen, while the next 100 only gives 1-2 in combat regen, I dont know.

Not knowing these things about the hunter makes it hard to consider which stats to go for, those last 50 agility might be overkill (especially if the attribute effect scales), and should be changed into other attributes to make my hunter as strong as possible.

If you check the tooltip for power (or morale) it shows you your regen/min. Now remove any item with a fate bonus and check the tooltip again. Notice the difference, do the math.

It's all there, you just have to invest a tiny bit of effort to work it out. :)

[Elrantiri]

If you check the tooltip for power (or morale) it shows you your regen/min. Now remove any item with a fate bonus and check the tooltip again. Notice the difference, do the math.

It's all there, you just have to invest a tiny bit of effort to work it out. :)

Exactly, but how do you know that it doesnt scale, and perhaps how much? the first 100 stat (for example fate) might give more effect than the next 100, and then it would nice to know when you got enough of the stat, and more of it wont help much.

That was why I went for a guide, since it would be nice if some1 would do that work for me, and find the exact math on the different stats, scaling and so on, and be able to rely on those informations while playing.

[Farstrike (temp)]

Afaik, there isn't much scaling when it comes to stats. The only cases I can think of right now, where scaling is applied, are agility and might and how they affect your damage output. Other than that, the translation of base stats into derived stats is constant: X points of Fate will increase your regen by Y points/min; X points of Might will improve your common mitigation by Y percent etc etc

If I'm wrong about this, I'd be happy to know about it.

[Hildursdottir]

Playing LOTRO!