Building An Expansion: Crafting LotRO Corsairs Of Umbar's Mariner Class

mmorpg.com:

“Eärendil was a mariner w ho tarried in Arvernien…”

Ever since the first time I read that opening stanza from the Small Lay of Eärendil in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, I was pretty much hooked on Eärendil as a character. He’s such a central figure to the overall story, even if during the Third Age, his contribution is by hanging above the night sky, providing unyielding starlight to the Fellowship (as well as warding off giant Ungoliant spawn in dark places). This seafaring Half-elf Mariner sailed to Valinor, to the Undying Lands, to beseech the aid of the Valar on behalf of Middle-earth and came back upon a flying ship in the sky, a Silmaril on his brow. 

On that very ship, while riding through the sky with Thorondor and the Eagles, Eärendil fought the winged Dragons, slaying the largest dragon in fantasy history, Ancalagon the Black.

That’s pretty badass. Also, ever since then, I’ve named every ship in every game I’ve been able to Vingilot. 

So when the Lord of the Rings Online team started dropping hints that a Mariner class would be coming with the next expansion, which would later be unveiled as Corsairs of Umbar, I was instantly interested. I really wondered how the team approached building this class and how it fit into the broader themes of the expansion proper.

One important distinction right away. While the expansion is called Corsairs of Umbar and The Lord of the Rings Online is taking us to Umbar itself, the home of the Corsairs…of Umbar, the Mariner class is not a Corsair of Umbar.

Did you follow that?

While the Corsairs themselves are more akin to a pirate, especially those who raided the Bay of Belfalas and sowed terror into the minds of Southern Gondor, the Mariner class is