The Lord of the Rings Online Community Q&A #1

Warcry has compiled a list of community questions for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar and sent them over to Turbine CEO Jeff Anderson.
Q: Destiny points. People have seen them in the beta, but they're largely unexplained. Can you explain them and what they're for?

A: Wow, good question. We haven't told people much about them before, so here goes!

Destiny Points are a powerful currency that you can spend on your Monster and Hero characters. Because they accumulate at the account-level, the points are independent of any individual character. This means that you can spend points that you earned as a Warg on either your Warg monster or (for instance) your Hobbit Burglar. Destiny Points appear on the main Character page of your Character Journal for both Monsters and Heroes.

Monsters can earn Destiny Points by completing quests, killing NPCs, and killing player-controlled Heroes. These Destiny Points are the primary form of Monster advancement. These points can then be spent, as a currency, on all kinds of upgrades for your monster. For example, your Uruk Warleader can use Destiny Points to buy more armour, new skills, powerful Traits, and even appearance improvements such as warpaint. In addition to showing your Monster's progress with appearance and equipment, your portrait's circle on the Vitals bar will also change. Just as with regular monsters in Middle-earth, your monster begins life with a green portrait circle showing you as a "Swarm" level creature. As you buy more skills and Traits, you will eventually advance to "Normal" (shown in blue) and finally to "Signature" (shown in red).

Your standard Hero character can also benefit from Destiny Points. However, they can only earn Destiny Points by leveling past level 10. Heroes are allowed to spend Destiny Points on Destiny Point Perks, which are temporary buffs that can be used to boost your strength, add to your speed, and even give you more experience points. Once you reach Level 10, a small box appears in the lower right of your screen, displaying your current point total. Click on Spend Destiny to display a list of available Destiny Point Perks. You are given a few Destiny Points to start out with, but the best way to acquire them is through Monster Play.