Why, Champion?

So, I have a level 40 dwarf Champion who is a Supreme Weaponsmith. He was my first alt on Elendilmir. I also have a level 75 Rohirrim Warden. This week I started a Man Champion, a Rohirrim, and mean to level him up. Why? Why start a class I already play with a race/nationality I already play? Is there something wrong with me? Well, sort of. It is because I'm obsessive and I'm a bit of a glutton for punishment. The fact is that there is something wrong with me; I actually like leveling classes up. With the added bonus of a spouse who has a maxed out Hunter and who is willing to do skirmishes with me 10 levels over my own, there should be some expediency to the process. Many people who level up many alts will cite different reasons: a want to try out different classes, to experience the content again, to just do something in LotRO. There is a zen-ness to the focus it takes to level a character the third go around, a sense of satisfaction that comes from seeing that silly little bar tick across the screen, to finding new skills and learning how to use them. It's a comfort and an occupation.



But the reason I want to start from scratch is that I, with the Risengard expansion and with the impending Riders of Rohan (cute, truncated title impending) expansion, have found a renewed love for the Rohirrim. Next to dwarves they are my favorite people group from the books (and the films for that matter). They are noble and heroic, but remain in the "pre-elvish" realm of the lives of Men, where they cling to their "pagan" traditions while still paying homage to the gods and serving the side of good. Dwarves are still my favorite race as a whole, but in LotRO dwarves feel so strange to me out of context; Gimli is anomalous enough but having one dwarf running around on his own, conquering the evils of the world feels off to me somehow. But in context, meaning dwarves being where dwarves belong, there are none cooler and more interesting than the Gonhirrim. It's just my odd, semi lore-abiding sensibility.

That love for the Horse-boys has somehow not extended to my Warden. Try as I may, I just cannot come to fully enjoy the Warden class. I've thought about it many times. At first, I thought it was because I had leveled him up alongside my wife's hunter. Maybe I just hadn't learnt to play him properly, spending 65 levels chasing aggro from her. So from 65 on I focused strictly on damage dealing. I still can't make it work for me. Don't get me wrong, I like the Warden. I think the gambit system is brilliant and that it is a well-designed class (especially when one considers the forthcoming updates). I just don't love it. It feels very stiff and rigid to me, as if I'm struggling every fight to get him to do what I want him to do.

There is a certain fluidity to classes like the Guardian and, even moreso, the Champion. A flow that feels more tactical, like a genuine warrior hacking down orcs. The AOE (area-of-effect) skills feel better too. Whereas the Warden is meant to use strategem based around intimidation and inspiration, the Champion is an all-out soldier meant to do one thing: cut enemies down. Moreover, since Risengard (and, you know, the birth of my first child) I decidedly cannot have so many characters to focus on. It's time to settle down a bit and find a character that will be my main man, my go to, my first-and-only. I think the forceful pragmatism and basic soldiery of the Champion is more in my line.

Why am I only now figuring this out? Why have I leveled up a Burglar, Guardian, Minstrel, Warden, and Hunter (to level 50) and not figured out how they are not exactly what I'm looking for? Because I am fickle and LOTRO plays to my fickleness. When I leveled up my dwarf Minstrel, I had a notion for that character that I loved. I guess I grew past it and decided that I cared more for the character than the execution of that character in the game (ie. playing the class). Similar stories go alongside my other characters, strewn along the path of my gaming rampage.

Eventually I will pick them back up and the same will happen to my new Champion, shelved and left to collect dust at the login screen. It may be tomorrow, it may not happen until next year. Eventually I will get bored, tired, or disinterested and I will shift my obsession to another character. A lot of MMO players are like me. You bounce from character to character, game to game either because you suck up all of the content and "finish" it, or because (more like me) you're driven from and to sparks of imagination and inspiration. A new idea hits you and you must have it. This is why I very rarely try new MMORPGs; I have all the setting for inspiration I need in LotRO (and Glitch, for that matter) and feel no need to jump ship to a game with largely the same mechanics and style of play but with a setting no where close my beloved Middle-earth.

What about you? Have you every done something silly based on a whim or character design?