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LotRO dev chat is silent on new info
Stratics hosted another developer chat, this time with the Lord of the Rings Online staffers. The topic was Book 12, but unfortunately not much was revealed that we didn't already learn in the LotRO German dev chat earlier this month. Without the class developer on hand, all Guardian and Burglar revamp questions were deflected. As were most other inquiries. It seems that the developers couldn't answer many questions at all. But here is the little that I was able to glean from them.Housing improvements in Book 12 include being able to use Bound items for decoration and house items will be able to be rotated on their hooks. There is also a "high likelihood" that alts will be able to use the recall to home feature of other characters on the same account.
Fellowships versus soloing in LotRO epic storylines
Many of you will have completed Lord of the Rings Online's latest epic storyline from Book 11 by now, and you may have found that you could accomplish this task all on your lonesome. This topic was raised on LotRO's official forums, and whilst the initial poster was against the idea of a solo-able epic quest, the overwhelming response of the thread was that of people who had finished soloing it and loved it, or those that didn't realize it could be done alone and were keen to log in and get started.To date, most of the Books have been composed of a mix of solo and fellowship portions, and this was reinforced for future books later in the thread by a member of Turbine's LotRO team, MadeOfLions (fantastic name by the way), who said, "we're letting the needs of the story dictate the group sizes, rather than the other way around", and also that Book 12 should be a return to a more fellowship-oriented quest line.It's nice to have a mix between the two formats, solo and grouped, because let's face it -- a fellowship isn't always available -- and with Book 11 giving my class of choice, the Minstrel, a little more solo-power, I enjoy having only one life bar to watch over for a change.
Details of Book 12 lovin' for Champions
Turbine representative Graalx2 visited the The Lord of the Rings Online's official forums and revealed the beneficial changes players of the Champion class can expect in Book 12. The Champion is one of the most popular classes in LotRO, but its players have been crying out for some patch lovin' for a while now. We only recently learned that their cries were not in vain, but now we have specifics!Champions commonly requested a new, intermediary stance -- a compromise between the DPS-crazy but defenseless Fervour stance and uninspiring default one -- and now they're going to get it. The new stance will include the combo point bonuses of Fervour but not the straight-up damage bonus, and will merely penalize Parry and Evade rather than disabling them entirely.Graalx2 lists some other changes in the post as well -- upgrades to existing legendary skills, the conditional ability to use Sudden Defense while in Fervour stance, and more. Read the post for yourself for details. Also, he elaborates on the Legendary skill upgrades deeper into the thread. [Via Curse]
Book 12 details revealed in new LotRO dev chat
The German Lord of the Rings Online fansite LotRO-Welten held its regular end of the month chat with LotRO devs, community managers and players. Today they posted the transcripts and, boy howdy, it's a treasure trove of Book 12 goodness.The Burglar and Guardian revamp revelations weren't too extensive as the class dev didn't make it to the chat. But Burglars were promised a stealth that can be extended to a group member and a set of skills that can be used after a successful Fellowship Maneuver. Though two classes get the spotlight for revamps, all classes are going to get small adjustments. Devs hinted that the recently revamped Hunter class make get a few of their skills improved and Champions will get some love as well, but nothing specific was mentioned.
Guardian changes hinted at for Book 12
Book 11 is currently on the Preview Server, but the LotRO devs are already hinting at what's to come in Book 12. Continuing their class by class revamp, the devs have marked Guardians, the tank class of the game, as the next to get a look over.Players excitedly compiled lists of improvements they would like to see for this class. Dev Hakai chimed in on the thread to let the Guardians know about two upcoming changes planned for Book 12.First, Guardians will be gaining a dps stance. The new stance will be centered around the 2 handed axe skill that will increase their damage output. New skills will be introduced to support the stance as well. I'm guessing the stance will also decrease their armor while it's active. I'd also hazard a guess that, like the Minstrel's new dps stance, Warspeech, it will be a toggle so the Guardian can jump in to tank an add when needed.Many other games have tried the "dps stance for tanks" trick with varying results. The biggest problem is groups not wanting to fill a dps slot in the party with a second-tier dps'er. The only way it makes a dps'ing Guardian attractive is if you know you're going to need a second tank at some point in your evening's adventures. World of Warcraft feral druids are a good example of that working (although they also bring emergency healing as well.)The biggest benefit to the Guardian is, of course, soloing. Playing through the solo quests is all about dps and tank classes (and healer classes) are painfully slow at this. I'm sure Turbine will be looking very carefully at the new Minstrel Warspeech stance in Book 11 when implementing the similar Guardian stance.The other news from Hakai was not good. Shield Taunt is getting a nerf. The Guardian skill was designed to help the class gain a good chunk of threat, but the way it is currently implemented, it sends Guardians straight to the top of the hate list. This skill is being modified to the original intention of the creators and the Guardians are losing a powerful panic button.I'm sure Guardians are going to scream loud and long about this one complete with petitions, sit-ins and the usual melodrama that accompanies major skill nerfs. But sometimes you just have to bite the bullet for class balance. Plus, without an emergency taunt, Guardians are now forced to be more aware of their threat. And that makes for better players.More details should be trickling out soon about other Guardian changes as Book 12 inches closer to going up on the Preview Server.
