Site Activity
Site Contributions
1
 
Site Search Widget
 

Fellowships: Grouping in LOTRO

Fellowships: Grouping in LOTRO

While it's possible to solo to max level in LOTRO, you'll miss out on a lot of great 3-man (small fellowship) and 6-man (fellowship) content. How do you find a fellowship? What is expected of you in a group? How do you lead a fellowship?

Finding a Fellowship

In LOTRO, there are a couple of ways to go about finding a group.

First, LOTRO offers "Looking for Fellowship" (LFF) tools right in the Quest and Social panels. If you need a group to complete a specific quest, you can highlight the quest in your Quest log and click "Find a Fellowship". Continue playing until someone else who needs the quest contacts you. Unfortunately, not everyone uses these tools (they were added about a year after launch), and so use these when getting a group right away is not important.

A more active approach is to use chat channels to find a fellowships. In addition to the LFF channel, which is limited to the area you are in, join the global LFF chat channel: /joinchannel GLFF. This is a player-created channel, but it's used by players of all levels to some degree on all servers. When you chat in LFF or GLFF, be sure to include your level, class and the name of the quest or instance you want to do. For example, 24 Minstrel LFF for Great Barrows.

When invited to a fellowship, let the leader know if you are unfamiliar with the content or haven't grouped with your class before. Before you meet up with your group, sell and repair! Check your bags to make sure you have enough supplies - travel rations, potions, food, hope tokens and scrolls. Visit a bard if you need to change out traits (usually only necessary at high level).

Being Great in a Group

If you enjoy grouping, you may want to polish your knowledge and skills to be more effective in fellowship.

First, take a few moments to optimize your UI Settings for a smoother grouping experience:
  • Turn on Voice Chat (Options > Audio, check "Voice Enabled" in the Voice section). Even if you don't have a microphone, you'll be able to hear the leader's instructions.
  • Turn on the Assist Window (Options > Combat Options, check "Show Assist Window"). Many groups will designate a member to choose targets for the group to focus fire on.
  • Turn on Show Dispellable Effects Only (Options > Social Options in the Group Effect Options section). This will allow you to see harmful status effects on other members of the group.

Next, it really helps to understand Group Roles:
  • Most group content will require one member of the group to tank - usually a durable class that can get the mobs to focus their threat (agro) on him. If you pull a mob from the tank, slow your damage or heals until they can get the threat back. Some groups will designate a backup tank or "off-tank" to pick up mobs the tank can't control (like the one beating down the healer).
  • CC or crowd control classes help the tank by temporarily stunning or rooting additional mobs (called "adds") - essentially taking them out of the fight. Attacking a controlled mob can set if free to attack the group, so target using the assist window whenever possible.
  • The main job of DPS or damage classes is to burn down the group's target as fast as possible. Be sure to use the assist window if set!
  • The main job of the healer is to keep the tank from dying (if the tank dies, the rest of the group usually follows). Some content is hard enough to need a back-up healer.

Finally, it helps to learn a bit about Fellowship Maneuvers, or FMs. FMs are powerful, coordinated attacks where the color and order of each group member's contribution affects the outcome of the attack. See Getting Started with Fellowship Maneuvers.

Leading a Fellowship

Often, the best way to find a group is to lead it yourself. Although this takes practice, once mastered, you'll never be stuck LFF again!

See our Fellowships: Leading a Group article for tips.

Related Articles

Choosing a Class, Part 2: Grouping
Fellowships: Leading a Group
Getting Started with Fellowship Maneuvers