There’s been a lot of talk about the new War­den and Rune-keeper classes and what they’ll be able to do in Mines of Moria, but there’s been very lit­tle talk about what will hap­pen with our exist­ing Level 50 char­ac­ters. Today Tur­bine updated with three sep­a­rate arti­cles that cover just that. If you’re a Bur­glar, Hunter or Lore–mas­ter you’re in luck as Tur­bine has you cov­ered. The rest of us will have to wait for new articles.

Mines of Moria adds a new Trait Set sys­tem to the game. Accord­ing to Tur­bine, “Trait Sets group each class’s Class Traits into three loosely related sets of eight traits and give addi­tional bonuses for using mul­ti­ple Traits in a set.” Play­ers would be choos­ing a set based upon how they’d like their char­ac­ter to play … This is sim­i­lar to trees used in other MMORPGs and finally gives LotRO play­ers a way to quickly tell oth­ers how they’re specced (i.e., a “mischief-maker bur­glar”, which is focused on tricks).

Addi­tion­ally, the expan­sion will also see improve­ments to exist­ing skills, both active and pas­sive. Hunters can find three new group travel skills (one appar­ently lead­ing to Forochel if you’re on good terms with the Los­soth). Lore–mas­ters will gain access to two new pets, the saber-tooth and the bog–guardian. Bur­glars will find that their class quest reward, the Bur­glar’s Tools, will be con­verted to Leg­endary sta­tus and can be lev­eled up along­side the character.

For Bur­glars, it’s all the more rea­son to go after those class quest items now while the Token pro­mo­tion is going on.

Be sure to at least read the arti­cle about your own class, assum­ing one is ready. It’s a nice way to get a head­start on what to expect.