LOTRO Legendarium: Five ways to fully fix LOTRO’s virtue system

Newer players to Lord of the Rings Online may not be aware that the game’s virtue system used to be very difficult, requiring certain deeds for certain virtues, all for a stat boost that was often not seen as meaningful. Yet ever since the revamp in June 2019, players have experienced a more flexible system with stronger active and passive stats.

Not everyone will agree with me, but in my view, it was a better system, a step up from the old in almost every way. However, five years into it, the new virtue system shows a clear need of additional work — work that SSG said is forthcoming at some point. With that future revamp in mind, here are five changes that could make a marked improvement and address some of the virtue system’s weaker points.

Fix #1: Let the player assign virtue XP

Probably one of my biggest pet peeves with LOTRO’s virtues is that the system automatically applies virtue XP (VXP) the second you get it to whatever virtue you currently have toggled as “earning.” The problem here is twofold: The player doesn’t always stay on top of switching toggled virtues, and sometimes you can get a huge dose of VXP in a single achievement. This can result in virtue XP being wasted or assigned to virtues that you don’t want filled.

The better way to go about this is to dump all VXP into a pool — similar to how you accumulate trait points — and then allow the player to go into the virtue screen and spend that VXP as desired. This actually would work well with the next suggestion, which is…

Fix #2: Add a virtue respec, for the love of all that’s holy

If there’s one blindingly obvious need here, it’s for a respec button. Honestly, it’s kind of shocking that the new virtue system went live without one. It’s too easy to waste VXP or switch your build and need a different arrangement. A respec would require the VXP to have a temporary place to go, hence the aforementioned pool.

Considering how VXP is not super-easy to get and that there’s a limited supply, I’d say a respec isn’t a nicety – it’s a necessity. It’s a no-brainer. Do I really need to argue this point further?

Fix #3: Explain virtues better for newer players

While us LOTRO veterans may be quite familiar and comfortable with the virtue system, I have to imagine that it’s a bit of a nightmare for a fresh player. The game simply doesn’t explain or document virtues, only yelling at you when you hit a virtue cap.

Better explanations are in order along with an in-game prompt to start selecting your earnable virtues right from the start. But more than that, the game really should offer a default selection of five core virtues for each class/spec for players who don’t have a clue or don’t want to be bothered with out-of-game research on builds.

Fix #4: Let us earn virtue XP at max level

Just as we continue to earn legendary item XP in our level capped adventures, we should be treated to faster VXP acquisition when we hit 150 (or whatever the current cap is at the time). I’ve noticed that in the last expansion, many quests paid out in small bits of VXP, which was a good start. But why not simply convert normal XP — which does nothing for you at the cap — to VXP? Even if it’s small drips and drabs of advancement, it makes those combat encounters more useful to character progression.

Fix #5: Have virtue XP (and virtue deeds) be account-wide

Simply put, SSG needs to stop being stingy with virtues and err on the side of player convenience. Let’s have every character you play, whether it’s one or 20, contribute to a shared pool that is always available across your entire account. If I’ve put in my time grinding out some of these slayer deeds on a character, I shouldn’t have to do that again. And again. And again.

How awesome would it be for alts — and long-term engagement — to know that any new characters you made would automatically benefit from all of that hard work you did to acquire virtues in the past?