LotRO has a system for customising characters which is quite powerful but not as intuitive as it could be: traits. The simplest and most customizable of these traits are virtue traits, which you gain by doing virtue deeds.

A virtue deed is simply a quest in a different journal. These quests come in four types: slayer, explorer, reputation and lore. Each virtue deed is tied to a specific location and is added into your deed journal (shift-L) automatically. For example, if there is a deed to kill ten wolves in the Shire, the deed will appear in your journal the first time you kill a wolf in the Shire. Similarly, if there is a deed to complete ten quests in Ered Luin, completing the first quest will trigger the deed.

The rewards for completing these deeds are called virtue traits which are effectively self-buffs. You activate these buffs by visiting a bard who will have an option for you to equip your traits. The number of virtue traits is limited by your level and you can have a maximum of five traits equipped after you achieve level 23.

You will receive new trait slots as you level up:

Virtue traits are very powerful because you can get a few ranks in any trait with very little effort and you are able to change your equipped traits (for a monetary cost) to optimize your character for different scenarios, for example solo vs. raid.

Trait effects come into three categories:

• Statistic Boost
• Resists and Mitigation
• Morale and Power Regen

Each trait has three effects, primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary effect of a trait is the most important as it scales up per rank, so when you are looking at the best traits for your character you should start by focusing on the primary effect. The value given on this table is the increase of the primary effect per rank. The secondary and tertiary effects are much slower to increase and often only see an increase in their effect every other rank. Taking this into account, the secondary effect increases on average at around 50% per rank and the tertiary effect at around 20% per rank. Despite this, you may wish to focus on one effect exclusively (see the example below using agility) and thus you’ll want to take into account all three effects of a trait so you can get every bonus you can.

Once you have decided which bonuses are most important to you, you should look at the list of traits and choose those which will help you to further your goal.

Traits and Effects

Click Column Headings to Sort (twice to reverse order)

* The “Value” shown in the table above is generally correct
for each rank. Those values marked with a * are non-linear and
the value shown is an approximate average.

Traits stack so you could have three traits all focused on a single effect. As an example, if you wished for a boost to your agility, you would want to get ranks in Determination, Tolerance and possibly Mercy.

Once you’ve chosen your traits, you should look at the table below that lists the deeds which will gain you the ranks in that trait. The deeds are sorted by recommended level so you can work your way through the low level deeds quickly. Although the experience gained for deeds below your level will be trivial, it can be a quick way to add a few ranks. The high level slayer deeds can be a case of diminishing returns (480 dead orcs in Angmar in return for +0.01 disease resist seems excessive) although if you can get into a fast moving kill group, the experience alone may make it worth while.

Once you’ve chosen your traits and looked up the deeds, it should be simple to run around gaining ranks in them. Then all you have to do is find a bard (a lute icon in your map, you’ll find one in most villages and outposts) and equip the chosen traits. If you gain another rank in an already equipped trait, it’ll upgrade automatically, no further visit required.

In a future post, we’ll look at custom trait builds for different scenarios so that whatever you are doing to save Middle Earth, you are always the best you can be. Be sure not to miss anything by signing up now for regular email updates.

Traits by Deed

* The level shown is a recommended level for the deed. Certain
deeds may be attainable at a lower level in a fellowship.

If you want to bookmark the tables for future reference, please click here.

Posted by Taymar on http://mmorpg-info.org.