Introductory Guide to Monster Play

Introduction
	For an overview of Monster Play, please see the main article: Monster Play. The first thing to learn about monster play are the 2 key words used for the 2 sides: freeps The Free Peoples of the Ettenmoors. These are the NPC's and the player characters you will find around the zone. creeps These are the Monster Players in the Ettenmoors. Monster play can be referred to as "freeps vs creeps" as well as PvMP. For access requirements see Monster Play. Within Monsterplay there are 4 races that compose 6 classes. Orc Reaver Defiler Spider Weaver Uruk Blackarrow Warleader Warg Stalker As you can see, both the Uruk and the Orc race have 2 classes within it and they share racial traits that may be obtained while playing. You have 6 slots to play monster characters, unlike the 5 slots you have to play regular characters. A major distinction is that you may only play 1 of each class of monster per server. Thus the list of 6 classes is also used as your available slots and as you create/name each of your monster characters, the slot for that class type will be closed/used. To delete a monster, you use the "reset" button on the Monster Player selection screen. This acts similar to the "Delete" button from the main character screen in that it will remove that particular monster, subsequently freeing up that monsters name for use, and frees up that monster slot for you to pick another monster, of that type, to create. NOTE: If you reset a monster, all abilities, items and accomplishments done by that monster will be lost. Any new monster created, of that type, will start from rank 0 with no attributes nor abilities that your previous character, of that type, had earned. This is deleting that specific monster character. Back to the Top Class Roles/Equivalences NOTE: The equivalences given are to help understand the role that these creatures play in combat. Each class has much different skills and abilities from their "counterparts" in the Free People army. Each of the classes has its own special role to fill in combat. Like player characters, all are capable of soloing but use different styles depending upon their abilities. Orc Reaver Melee combat. An equivalent to the Champion class with respect to the role they fulfill in combat. Front line troops. Orc Defiler The primary healer class in monsterplay. An equivalent to the minstrel class with respect to the role they play in combat (Introduced with Book 13). Spider Weaver Crowd Control, melee and limited range combat. An equivalent to the Lore-master, with respect to the role they fill in group combat. Unlike the Lore-master, they do not have an array of "spells" but have webs and poisons to deal with crowd control. Uruk Blackarrow Ranged combat. An equivalent to the Hunter with respect to the role they fulfill in combat. Uruk Warleader Tank/Healer. An equivalent to the Captain without a pet in group combat. This class is the secondary healer class of the Monster Play forces so tend to be a priority target for Free Peoples. Warg Stalker Stealthed Melee and Crowd Control. An equivalent to the Burglar with respect to the role they hold in group combat. Back to the Top Differences between Monster Play and regular play There are several differences between monster play and normal game play as a player character. First of which is that you start at level 95 but a naked, weak level 95 creature that can be defeated by a Free People (freep) up to 5 levels below you (90th level). You gain power and abilities as you rank up but to rank up you must defeat Free Peoples who will tend to be 95th level (in general, much more powerful than you are at the start). The "theme" behind Monster Play is the total reverse of player characters. Whereas free people characters start out relatively powerful in comparison to the things they fight, Monster Players start out very weak and only through obtaining rank and slotting the traits that are available can a monster player really begin to stand on their own. From the get go -- the best option for a creep is to play in a raid. You will want to always hang with others versus soloing. Trying to solo at the start will destroy your sense of "fairness" and slant your opinion of what can be accomplished by competent players in a very ugly fashion. Monsters can trade with other monsters, but they do not have Mailboxes, banks nor any other storage facilities. What you can carry in your bags is all the storage you have and all you should really need. Monsters cannot use any types of tools nor armor nor weapons, nor any permanent types of equipment. Certain appearances for some classes show what appears to be equipment but you never have any to equip nor do you ever suffer from equipment damage. None of the following exist for Monster Play: Mailboxes/Mail Banks Auction Houses Mounts Equipment of any sort Repair bills (no equipment = nothing to repair) Dread from Defeats (you're a monster and expected to be defeated so you never suffer from dread) Vendors do exist that you can purchase consumables from such as potions, food, charms and the like but that is the extent of vendors for Monster Players and the only vendors are in Gramsfoot -- which is the only "safe" place for monsters in the Ettenmoors; no freeps can ever enter this area. You can form monster Kinships, called Tribes. Tribes have Message of the Day, Ranks with rank associated titles and other such kinship functions but are lacking in the "external" benefits of a kinship such as: No Mail so no "Tribe Mail" No Auction Houses so no "Tribe Auctions" No residence so no Tribe House may be purchased. There are vendors and traders in the Ettenmoors that you can purchase/trade with for certain items and abilities plus you can sell surplus items that have no value for you. There are neutral and hostile NPC creatures around the zone that you can (and will) hunt to make what coin you need to purchase the things you want. Monsters can accept Quests and are usually rewarded with Commendations and/or Infamy for completing them. They also receive a lesser amount of Commendations and Infamy for each player defeated. Back to the Top

Starting your first Monster
	When you first choose to enter Monster Play, you will see the following selection screen: You have 6 monster classes you can chose from -- only 1 slot per class (you can only play 1 of any given class per server). The 6 classes you can play are: Orc Reaver (shown selected in the above image) Orc Defiler Spider Weaver Uruk Blackarrow Uruk Warleader Warg Stalker You can click through the different classes to see a brief description of the class in the screen. When you decide upon one, simply click the "play" button, at the lower left, and you will be presented with a name box to name your monster. As with Player Characters, Monster Characters must have unique names. Depending on the race, you will be prompted as follows: Any of which will start as a rank 0, level 60 monster. Once created, each monster character will persist and be available for further play. All items you have obtained, traits you have purchased and slotted, quests you have begun but not finished yet, etc. will remain on that monster. Back to the Top What class to play? The first decision is which of the 6 classes you wish to play. This is a tricky choice depending on your play style and the server you play on. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses and each has its own style of play to advance. With respect to play style: Are you a solo style player? Do you like "in your face" combat or ranged? Can you handle supporting others efforts? etc... With respect to Server environments: Some servers have very masterful monster players. The monster players "run the Ettenmoors" so playing on one of these servers, any class will be equally as easy or difficult to get started with. Often, these "monster run" servers have some monsters sitting outside of Glân Vraig (the freep "safe area") waiting for the freeps to try and leave the entrance to their safety zone. Some servers have masterful Free People. These freeps "run the Ettenmoors", in which case it is very difficult to play a starting monster -- many will "camp Grams" meaning they will be just outside the entrance of Gramsfoot, waiting for monsters to try and leave so they can beat them as soon as they clear the entrance to this safety zone. Most have a mixed environment where, depending on many conditions (time of day, day of the week, mood of the players, etc...) the Ettenmoors will be in flux and skirmishes going on around the zone. It would be advisable to ask other players on your server about the game environment of your servers Ettenmoors. Do not rely upon any of the following to determine how hard or easy the 'moors are on your server. Turbine Monster Play Forum Your best bet is to ask someone in-game how your server's Ettenmoors works. As with any "general forum", you will find some good information on the above forums but you will also find a lot of complaints and gripes -- both valid and invalid. Until you get a feel for monster play personally, trying to gather information from the above forums will yield little but contradictions and confusion to an inexperienced creep. In general, the "easiest" class of monster to start with is the Warg Stalker. The ability to stealthily move about without being seen and sprint from danger from the start makes this class very popular. No other class can leave Gramsfoot "unseen" nor to run for it then stealth to lose a more powerful freep, or group of freeps, chasing them at rank 0. Back to the Top

Sources

According to Orion, the on-line name of the lead developer at Turbine for Monster Play, the Army of Angmar is the "official" name for the Monster Player (creep) forces.