The official LotRO site updated today with another developer diary. This one doesn’t deal with classes, however, but instead focuses on changes to the game’s combat systems. I have to admit that I found most of the article to be fairly confusing on my first read through it.
The basic idea seems to be that Turbine has found that relying on percentages for statistics (on equipment and whatever else) is not a viable system for the long term future of the title. This system has also confused casual gamer with situations that rely on percentages of percentages. Whole numbers will instead be used for these statistics in your Character Profile, although you may see the old percentage if you hover over the stat with your cursor. It’s the best of both worlds.
My understanding of this is as follows: say you have a piece of equipment that increases your might statistic by 10%. This is 10% of the current total, which is not only affected by your character’s base statistics, but also by the other equipment he or she is wearing. It makes deciding between pieces of otherwise comparable equipment a bit of a chore. Replacing these percentages with actual, whole numbers makes the process more simple and allows Turbine to more easily make future additions.
Apparently this will also affect your viability against higher-level enemies. It sounds as though these ratings will have an effect on how the game displays the strength of enemies you come across, as opposed to relying simply on the level. It will also allow Turbine to be able to create new equipment that is more powerful as opposed to only incrementally better.
I could have that wrong, so take that my comments on this with a grain of salt. Either way, it’s being promised that this system will be easier for casual players to understand. That’s a plus.
If anyone else is reading this differently than I have, feel free to let us know.
