
Another group of three Developer Diaries have appeared on the official LotRO Web site. This time around, they cover the Guardian, Captain and Warden’s advancement beyond Level 50. As with the other classes, each diary discusses equipment options, skill adjustments, new skills and three new Trait Sets.
Guardian
Guardians will have access to three trait sets: The Fighter of Shadow, which focuses on keeping boss-level monsters in their sights; Defender of the Free, which focuses on giving the Guardian better threat generation; and The Keen Blade, which focuses on increasing your damage output.
Guardians will also see improvements to Sting, which removes Corruption effects. The article makes it sound as though the Guardians ability to do this will be especially effective. In addition, Shield Block will see a large increase in damage that will bring it nearly in line with Bash.
Several other Guardian traits and skills will be seeing some changes. As I don’t play a Guardian, most of these are foreign to me. Be sure to read the full article if this is your class.
Captain
Captains will see three new trait sets: Lead the Charge, which focuses on generating threat and damage as an off-tank; Hands of Healing, which focuses on (surprisingly) healing abilities; and Leader of Men, which focuses on pet usage and utility skills.
Captains will see an improvement to Defensive Strike (which restores Power whenever an opponent is attacked while under this affect) and Blade of Elendil, which can now dispel Corruption buffs in Moria.
In addition to Legendary Weapons, Captains will also have access to Emblems specific to their class. As usual, these are equipped in the new Class Item Slot. Emblems give bonuses that might increase the length of buffs, decrease skill costs and so forth.
Warden
If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know what’s next. The Warden also has three Trait Sets you can try: Way of the Spear, which focuses on spear and javelin skills; Way of the Shield, which focuses on shield gambits and healing-over-time effects; and Way of the Fist, which focuses on threat generation and damage-over-time effects.
Wardens won’t see skill improvements, but they will see two new gambits. One removes Corruptions and the other speeds up attack time.
Wardens likely won’t have anything to use in the new Class Item slot at launch. This delay will allow Turbine’s developers to come up with Class Items that benefit how players use the class. Down the road, the expectation is that their Class Items would add bonuses to power usage or threat generation.
Additionally, as most of has have not played a Warden before, you might want to check out the original diary that covers the basics of the class.
As usual, I haven’t covered everything, so be sure to read the original articles. Trait Sets are more complicated than the little blurbs I have here and allow access to new skills and other abilities.
