Thoughts on The Beorning

Beorn, the Skinchanger from The Hobbit is an iconic character. His descendants are known as stout men who hold the passes against the forces of darkness in the years between the death of Smaug and the beginning of The Lord of the Rings.

I have to say that Turbine got this one right the first time with only minor 'tweaking' needed. The character is interesting to play has a different beginning. Although I feel that beginning is definitely a bit too short and doesn't explore the region or the history of the Beornings enough. In addition the character has a unique niche that no other character quite fills.

The character has been slightly nerfed since its introduction. New Beornings definitely have a slightly harder time of it than my first Beorning that made it past level sixty before being defeated. However it is still a viable alternative for group or solo play. It is well worth the Turbine points to purchase the character.

The look of the character matches the story well. The only down side is that he has no ranged weapon. Since Beorn provided the dwarves with bows and arrows and he was unlikely to make them for their pretty decoration nor would he have give orcish weapons he captured as a gift it is safe to assume that he used them at least on occasion. It would have been a nice character to introduce the idea of being able to use javelins or bows. There is no mechanical reason for a character to be unable to use either it is purely a game 'balance' issue.

All in all the character is one of the better things to come out of Turbine in a long time. It is a shame that it is coming so late in the game's history. It fits the setting far better than the Rune Keeper (which even the developer admitted had no place). It also has a better background story than the Warden (which is an excellent character role by the way). The story he is inspired by Haldir is risible on its face. That is truly sad because an 'Elven Spearman' is an excellent fit for the character and setting. Instead of trying to fit it into the setting organically they threw the first backstory they could come up with to hide the fact that the Warden was a direct response to The 300.

Coming Next: A look at the best Tolkien Fan Fiction you never realized was fan fiction and we'll talk about some actual pencil and dice roll playing over Roll 20.

Lord of the Rings online Warden vs Tolkien's Warden

When the Warden class was created I was excited. The Elves had gotten short shrift in the hand to hand combat category. Hunters were the quintessential Elvish class and while they could drop the bomb on somebody in ranged combat they really suffered up close and personal. Besides, the whole game Elves could never be mistaken for men thing, they were simply effete in practice as well as looks.

So I was hugely excited by the idea of a combat class created for the Elves. Then I played Wardens and found the huge flaws. First they are nothing like the Wardens mentioned in the Fellowship of the Ring. The Wardens of Lothlórien wore gray mail and wore long white cloaks. The operative word here is mail. Mail is not generic for armor and a professor of English and Anglo-Saxon would not mistake mail for any other kind of armor. So while there was a clear model for the developers to follow they chose not to. Second, they are nothing like the character 'Haldir' either from the book or the movie that they were supposedly modeled on.

Haldir in the movie wore metal armor, carried a sword, and most importantly a bow. Haldir in the book was not mentioned as one of the three Wardens specifically mentioned. However, he also carried a bow. Neither of these descriptions match the Warden from the game.

The Warden class in the game cannot use metal armor of any kind. The Warden class does not use a bow at all (one of the two weapons in which an elf excels). The Warden in the game specializes in a spears and javelins. Spears and javelins are not bad weapon choices for a Silvan elf. However, to eliminate bows entirely? This is foolish and capricious. A good choice for the Warden was the stealth and ability to ambush. The books both mention Haldir (and all other elves) ability at stealth. The ambush is certainly implied as three elves went out to slow a huge hunting part of angry orcs. So that was a good thing.

Now the class was billed as a tank. It is not. It is not even a very good off tank. It does have a slammin' first attack and a strong ranged combat ability but neither of these traits screams 'tank' to me. The Warden can carry a shield and a weapon but really cannot stand in there and slug it out like a Guardian. At the same level I can solo group quests with my Guardian where I am crying for help or running and 'kiting the mobs' with my Warden. A tank tanks, it is in the job description. The Warden does not match the description. If I wanted ranged combat class, I would choose a Hunter. If I wanted a close combat class I would go with a Guardian or Champion. The Warden class is neither fish nor fowl and suffers for it.

So I dropped the Warden. I looked for a class that covered all the abilities found in the books, I was even willing to look at some of the movie Elves. I decided that a Elvish Guardian fit the bill.

First a Guardian wears mail. Mail was in the book, mail is on a Guardian. Second, Guardians use bows. I know you have to wait to get them. Wait to the 30th Level but at that point you are now an Elf with a bow. It is worth it. Third, the Guardian is just the type you would put in front of your Lord and Lady as a solid line of defense. Somebody in mail armor and with the ability to come to hard hammer strokes or shoot a bow at a distance.

That's enough, I've beaten a dead horse enough nobody believes that the developers have ever read the books. Look at the Rune Keeper class. Tolkien didn't want Disney to make his books into movies. He would be rolling in his grave if he ever saw what they were doing to his stories now with characters who were not even in Gandalf's class throwing lightning bolts around like tennis balls.

All I ask from the developers is that they read the damn books. Then create their classes. Show a little respect for the world created.