The mounted combat in the latest Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Riders of Rohan, transforms the game in fun and interesting ways. When you are on your war steed, you have a new set of class-specific mounted skills. So my Lore-Master can shoot fireballs, stun enemies, and more, while Hunters can use bows from horseback, which I assume would rock! When you’re on the war steed, you’re harder to hit, and damage is distributed between you and your horse. There are skills to heal both of you, so that helps. The biggest issue with mounted combat is that the mounted skill require “power” (the blue bar) from the horse, rather than from you. This runs out fairly quickly, though there are traits to help and stances that conserve horse power (ha ha).
Mounted combat against unmounted foes is nifty, because they have a hard time hitting you, while you hit them and the gallop away, then swing around for another pass. Mounted vs. mounted combat is a fun challenge, because the enemy has similar capabilities to yours, so it gets tougher. If the enemy hits you enough to dismount you, you’d better get back on quickly or else you’re dead. I got knocked off by a warband leader (mini-boss) and figured I’d make a stand from the ground. My health dropped so fast it wasn’t funny. I was able to re-mount the war steed and finish the fight, but it was quite a challenge.
So mounted combat in LOTRO is great and highly recommended.
The LOTRO devs have applied what they learned in Rohan to Moria. The areas around the 21st Hall and south are much improved. The open-tapping of enemies (meaning multiple people can get credit, encouraging us to help each other) and remote looting are there, as are location-based quests, including a bunch of new ones that are great. With many of these quests, you can turn them in anywhere, rather than having to trek back to the quest giver to get your reward. Great improvement, matching Guild Wars 2 and Star Trek Online.
So LOTRO is a better game now than it has ever been. Nice work, Turbine!