Classes
The different classes in LOTRO
To Guardians
Nov 12th
Recently I have received emails from Stratus of Crickhollow and Senseye of Evernight requesting some more information for Guardians I have chosen to answer them here. First there is a guide on the lorebook that is very involved you can find it here. Second as to virtues there are two very good resources the virtue finder at Mmorsel.com and the virtues tab at burgzerg.com. I have only used the one at burgzerg myself but try them out and see what you think.
My Ideal Minstrel
Nov 8th
We’ll be taking a short hiatus from the class cooperation series to take a look at what changes I’d love to see for the primary healing class. I know it’s a little late for the Tell the Community thread and that no significant changes were made after all the input that was provided. This isn’t meant to be critical of Turbine, just an opinion article based on some of the best ideas I have seen over the past few months. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m perfectly fine with the status quo, but it’s nice to dream of what some small changes could do for the class.
Developers got on the good side of a few minstrels with the new Annuminas Medium Armor set, though its still pretty much a toss up about which way the division will lay once radiance is re-worked/removed. In the mean time, a new shiny set of armor with +150 radiance is great to have. Sure, the Will and Fate bonuses are deficient to say the least…
More >
Early Patch Notes are Revealed!
Oct 30th
So, earlier this afternoon, Turbine showed us the November patch notes. I must remind everyone that these are still temporary and may change before the November release.
The notes are located in the lotro forums, so click here to read them.
There will also be a Developer Diary in the coming weeks explaining the Lore-master changes.
In the meantime, I’ll just paste the Lore-master related notes:
Lore-master & Minstrel Fellowship Manoeuvre changes
Lore-masters and Minstrels will now use the tactical versions of the “Ent’s Strength” and “Spider’s Guile” fellowship skills instead of the melee versions, just like Rune-keepers. This means that any time a Fellowship Manoeuvre is triggered, Minstrels and Lore-masters will no longer need to be in melee range to contribute.
Skills/Classes
General
- Lore-masters and Captains now have a new skill on their Companion’s skill bar immediately to the left of their active skills. This new skill, “Return to Master” for Lore-master and “Rally” for Captain, will summon an existing companion to the character’s location. It is not useable in combat and has a 5 second cooldown.
- Player Pets and Soldiers now get the benefit from the following
- Hunter skill “Find the Path”.
- Minstrel Tales.
- Rune-keeper “Rune of Restoration.”
- Captain’s Banners
- Lore-master’s Raven’s “Shield of the Raven’s Wing” and the Eagle’s “Nobility”.
Lore-Master changes on the way
Oct 25th
Hello everyone.
Yesterday, there was a very interesting post at the oficial LOTRO forums, by Sapience, when someone asked about the next patch contents:
Funny you should ask! There are a lot of great changes coming for the LM in the next update. Graalx2 and I were just discussing the dev diary this morning in fact. You’re going to have to wait a little bit to read it, but we both think LM’s are going to be really happy with the changes (and new skills!).
So now you know two things due in the next patch. Vault updates (you should see the Developer Diary for that on Thursday) and Lore-master changes (Dev Diary probably a couple weeks from now). I’ll even throw you a bone and let you know Rune-keepers will get some attention this update as well.
So, seems like the Lore-master is next in line after the last patch updates to the Hunter and Captain classes. There where already a few tidbits of information flowing out from the devs. This is what’s already planned:
- The diferent Lore-master pet appearances will be changed to a skill. So no more using necklaces for that appearance you love so much.
- Blinding Flash will have an interrupt component to the skill. So even if a creature is immune to mezzing (Bosses, for example) they can still be interrupted. But there is a catch: The regular Blinding Flash immunities will apply, meaning that the Dead and Creatures of Nature will still be immune to the interrupt.
- New pet food. I was digging around the Lorebook and found these little items: Cut of Lean Meat, Handful of Hearty Seeds and Bowl of Fresh Water. I would guess that they will work just like the Honey and Oats work on the Bear pet.
Let’s wait on the Dev Diary in a couple of weeks.
Wardens – Learning to Tank
Oct 22nd
The primary role of the Warden is tanking, but if you haven’t done it before you may be wondering how to learn and practice tanking. Now there’s the obvious “go get in a group” answer that while true, isn’t always possible nor is it always the best option. Luckily over the past few updates and expansions, there have been a number of additions that make learning how to tank an easier process.
More news on the LM update
Oct 21st
Yesterday the Executive Producer for LOTRO, Kate “Nereid” Paiz addressed the players with an open letter. From that letter there are some news for us Lore-masters. The next update, that will bring the mentioned Lore-Master changes, is slated for aNovember launch! You can read the full letter here.
Also, the developer who’s in charge of the Lore-Master revision, Tim “Raskolnikov” Lang, has hinted a few more on the changes to the class. So, besides the changes i mentioned in my earlier post, it is suggested that the trait “Hardy Bear” could be changed to “Hardy Pet”, although that’s not confirmed there is a strong hint leading to that conclusion in the forums (check the bold letters).
Also, in the recent Warcry Dev Chat, Rask said:
Question: The class revamp month’s will we see buff’s to each class or nerf’s? for example currently I find my Minstrel lacking compared to the rune-keepers ability to keep the group healed for less power usage.
Raskolnikov Mostly buffs! I can’t speak to specific changes for the Minstrel (as we haven’t gotten to that class yet). But having made a lot of changes to the Lore-master, I can say that 90% of those changes have been buffs. Our goal is to polish each class, and nearly all of the time when we polish it’s by buffing a class (because nerfing stinks, even though it is sometimes necessary).
So, 90% are buffs… that leaves 10% for nerfs? This is what Rask answered:
We’re not nerfing Lore-masters because of Cold-bear.
We’re not nerfing “Master of the Staff”.
We’re not nerfing “Sword and Staff”.The only reason I’m not saying “We didn’t nerf anything,” is because I’m sure some people will perceive something as a nerf. “I can’t believe you nerfed ‘Knowledge of the Lore-master’ so that it can’t be used in combat anymore!”
That’s that mean the the Knowledge of the Lore-master skill will be made out of combat only? Or was that just an example? Let’s hope it’s the later, since i use that skill a lot when doing new dungeons.
Also, and maybe more important, there was a hint to new skills in an earlier Sapience post. Ever since the recent “skill upgrades” that came with levels 62 and 64 (which most Lore-masters found to be, at the very least, uninteresting), the forumites took that sentence with a grain of salt. Biggest concern was that the new Summoning Appearance Skills would be the new skills hinted and, as such, would not bring anything new to the Lore-master combat arsenal. This is what Rask had to say:
The “new skills” are not just the pet appearance skills.
Also, if you’re looking for more clues about what will be in the Dev Diary, just read through the “Tell the Community Team – Lore-master Feedback” thread. That’s where we got most of our ideas.
The “Tell the Community Team – Lore-master Feedback” thread is here, if you are interested. There are some good ideas there, so I’m hopeful.
As always, I’ll try to keep you posted if any more news come up.
One more thing. Yesterday i forgot to mention, but you can also follow the Staff-Strike’s posts at the Staff-Strike site.
Rune-keepers & Minstrels
Oct 19th
I had no idea Healing made me so green!
Moving on to our next article in the series, Rune-keepers will be our featured companion. Originally I wasn’t going to include them into the support classes since most RKs tend to favor the DPS generating portion of their attunement bars. After considering how I play with my Rune-keeper I thought they might still be pertinent to the discussion. Let’s lay down the scenario, you’re in a group with a Rune-keeper and (s)he probably won’t think to ask if they can help out. It’s just hard-wired into the personality of a Rune-keeper. They’re a little crazy and they know it; so don’t get after me for writing it out :P.
/Ignored – Basically, no real strategy at all. Let everybody do their own thing. It’s sometimes the easiest and most agreeable way to get along with your fellowship. Although I doubt you’d bother reading the article if this was all the advice I was offering up. More >
Champions Begin to Become More Well Rounded
Oct 11th
When first leveling, Champions feel pretty one sided as pure DPS classes but as you pass level 15 and make your way towards 30 Champions start to get more fleshed out as a solid group class. Another huge addition to the class in this range, which comes at level 20, is the ability to wear heavy armor such that they’re not quite as squishy.
The other areas that see buffs in this level range are agro skills as you get a forced taunt which allows you to off-tank pretty well. I will caution you though that you should use forced taunt only when pulling off squishies as many tanks (including me) don’t like it when folks randomly force mobs off of them. A couple new AoE attacks and buffs pop up, and the Champ starts to see various skills impact targets with less then 25% health such that you become a finishing class.
Did You Know…
Oct 11th
I have a confession to make: I am a good little healing minstrel who also loves to *thump* the heads of baddies!
Now obviously, when I am playing in a fellowship, and my fellows are counting on me to be the dividing line between glorious victory and head-hanging, foot-shuffling defeat, my main focus must be on strumming my theorbo for all it is worth, keeping those morale bars nice and fat.
So, what’s a mini to do when they really, really just want to sneak in a Ballad of Resonance or a Piercing Cry? First of all, I recommend that you not — I repeat, not — give in to this urge if you are pounding those heals as fast as you can till your fingers are bleeding. However, if the pace is a little more leisurely and you are able to throw a few damaging spells in between keeping your companions enheartened, using the following options might help to streamline the process for you.
Options –> Combat Options –>Show the Vitals of Your Selection’s Target — Allows you to select a target, such as the tank of your group (who should be attracting most of the aggro), and see which mob s/he is targeting and what that mob’s morale and power are at. Useful for keeping track of bosses and other bothersome mobs without switching the focus of your attention from your fellows to the mobs and back.
Options –> Combat Options –> Enable Skill Target Forwarding — Here’s the REALLY useful little trick. This option allows you to bang off healing skills intermingled with damage skills without changing targets, saving you time and potential confusion! How does it work? Well, if you have your tank targeted, you are already throwing heals that way, but if you are desperate to flex your big, strong minstrel muscles and want to toss in a Ballad of Steel or whatnot, you perform the offensive skill and (in my imagination) that skill flows through your target, not harming or healing him/her, to their own target, the enemy, and then executes. Another way I have found this option useful is during soloing. I can be bashing away at a mob and need some healing, so instead of changing my target to myself and performing the heal, I simply keep attacking and sneak in a heal when needed, never breaking rhythm or a sweat. The heal passes unnoticed through the enemy and comes back to me!
Wardens, what to craft?
Oct 6th
I’ve talked quite a bit about the Warden class and mechanics of the class but one area I haven’t covered is the crafting system. I really enjoy crafting in LOTRO and have supreme masters in all professions except weaponsmith and scholar (although I will have scholar soon) and have definitely benefited from those crafters. When it comes to crafting, I think there are a couple important decisions to make:
- Do you even like crafting?
- Are you looking to purely make money from crafting?
- Are you crafting as a group, either with alts or friends/kinship members?
I’ll assume if you answered no to the first question, you’ve stopped reading by now so I’ll first talk about what I feel the Warden excels at and then also cover the later two questions at the end.
