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LotRO Book 11 notes and early download available
Book 11: Defenders of Eriador , the third free content update for Lord of the Rings Online, is arriving Wednesday morning. In advance of the patch going live, Turbine has released the patch notes two days early on the LotRO Lorebook, their official Wiki site.There are no surprises since we saw these patch notes on the Preview server earlier this month. Still on track are all the major changes: The introduction of player and guild housing in the Man, Elf, Hobbit and Dwarf cities Four new level 40+ outdoor zones in and around The Misty Mountains to smooth out high level questing The Rift, the game's second raid zone, a 12-man level 50 instance that pits your group against a Balrog and introduces new class armor sets Class revamps for Lore-masters (new Lynx pet, new high level skills) and Minstrels (Warspeech, a new dps stance for faster soloing, new high level skills.) Also, the introduction of Gollum to the game through a flashback instance. And the epic quest series that allows the players to help the Fellowship in its journey to Mordor has a new 13-quest arc. We're not sure yet how the new Epic Quest series plays out yet, but the title of patch could mean all the playable lands are in jeopardy.The patch is currently available by Torrent and direct download. It will also be available through the patcher on Wednesday, October 22, 2007.
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.
