While grinding out the quests in S. Mirkwood (how similar in pattern they are to those in Eregion) I’ve taken a break to try out two new-for-me classes: Captain and Rune-keeper. On the whole, I am enjoying both classes and the contrast they make to my main.
Hitherto I’ve only played tank roles. Captain’s support and jack-of-all-trades role is rewarding, and Rune-keeper’s instant death strikes are, well, more satisfying than I realized.
This post’s title refers to the huge change in sound and visuals that come with Captain and Rune-keeper. Man, can my man Calenbor shout! And—BZZT-ZAP!—there is no special effect too campy for Figgalin. Stones for everyone.
Much to my chagrin, I’ve not had a lot of time to play LotRO in recent months. At least not as much time as I used to have. When I do log in, it’s been to spend time with my Rune-keeper, Risalin.
I finally reached Level 20 the other day. This took longer than it needed to, largely because I found myself compelled to spend time running about the Shire completing deeds. I found all of the farms and electrocuted more beasts than I could probably count.
Last I wrote, I was only Level 12. 8 levels later, Risalin has found himself more powerful and capable of more skills.
It’s certainly arguable that the Rune-keeper is underpowered in terms of attack power. Turbine has admitted this and the class is getting what sound to be decent buffs for the upcoming Book 7 update. That said, it’s not been much of an issue for me thus far, but it can be difficult to do things alone. Many of the Rune-keepers attacks stack and this is their real strength, in my opinion. You can lay many attacks on an enemy that build up and finally take it out. The class also has a dedicated stun and other abilities stun or slow down enemies. I find myself changing targets as needed to manage this and keep as much damage off of me as possible.
Part of the difficulty is the dual nature of the class. It’s similar in nature to Greenskin Shamans in Warhammer Online in a basic sense, but instead of attacks raising your healing, your attacks raise your attack power. As it gets higher, you’re unable to use some of your better healing skills. This is probably well known to many by now, but it bears repeating. It makes it difficult to reverse your attunement so that you can heal after attacking for a while. There are skills that neutralize your attunement, which can be lifesavers … but often I find myself using these beforehand simply because they provide useful benefits (one restores some Power, for example).
I’m sure many people out there have read through the dev chat by now and have made up your own minds about it. I noticed on the forums that there was a good split between those happy with the chat and those who weren’t. I don’t usually expect too much from these things for various reasons .… Largely because they’re short, unstructured, rapid paced and just ill-suited to thorough explanations.
As always, these are a nice preface to upcoming Book patches and I have to say my interest in seeing what will be in the next update has gone up. It’s always worth remembering that there’s far more going on than what these chats detail … the Rune-keeper class comes to mind. The chat didn’t have much information on the class (aside from them getting “buffs”), but there’s been a good amount of discussion on Book 7 changes on the forums from the devs so far.
So we’ll see what happens in the end. I’m not one to complain until I know what I’m actually getting or not getting, particularly when I know that not every member of the development team shows up for these things. If the crafting lead isn’t there then we probably won’t hear much about crafting changes, for example.
That said, there was some good information in the chat and I got the impression that most people involved had a good time. Some things that caught my attention:
Minstels are finally getting Tier 6 instruments.
Pathing improvements for Lore–master pets. I never got very far with my Lore–master, but even early on this can be annoying. Any fixes are good!
As has been discussed before, Lothlorien will be filled out in Book 7. I’m really interested in seeing this area as Turbine seems particularly happy with how it turned out. I’m also interested in seeing how they’ve managed the reputation system, as it sounds like it might be a change of pace from the others in the game. There will be a developer diary on the area soon.
More three man instances are coming. This was one of the cooler features of the last update, I felt.
Yet another confirmation of a 12-person raid in Book 7. This should make people happy, although I’ve yet to complete a major raid in the game. Oops.
garian07 specifically asks about Kinship cloaks. I’m wondering if this question was misunderstood, as it sounds like Floon was referring to a system to upload pictures and turn them into cloak textures. I assumed that the question was referring more to a system where we could choose between cloak styles, colors and emblems to make a Kinship-unique cloak. I believe World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online both have this option and it seems like it’d be significantly easier. Of course, I imagine balancing this so that other cloak designs in the game aren’t ignored entirely is difficult.
I think many people out there are disappointed with the hook system used for housing and I was glad to see it brought up here. I know it’s low on the totem pole and I certainly appreciate that housing was added as an update in the first place, but I do hope they adjust this somewhat soon. I’d really love for my house to be more of a focus for my character. I’d also really love if there was some simple way to invite people over.
The chat didn’t really get into crafting or legendary item concerns, two things which are commonly lamented on the forums as of late. I suppose we’ll see soon enough if either of these are adjusted in Book 7, but it sounds like making signficant changes to either (particularly the latter) would be quite difficult.
In any event, I’m looking forward to hearing more about the next update. Now that the chat is over, I imagine they’ll be ramping up the content for its release soon.
The Rune-keeper is gaining three new items in Book 7. As before, magnitudes are not being discussed, as they change often, and any of these may change as Book 7 draws closer.
Chisel: This Ranged slot item can be crafted by Metalsmiths and will be sought after by all Rune-keepers. Higher quality chisels allow a Rune-keeper to etch more detailed and intricate runes on their stones. Doing so will passively increase damage and chances of avoiding resistance. To be clear, this is NOT a range weapon, just a item that resides in the Ranged slot.
Inlays: Various metallic inlays can be created by Scholars and quickly applied to a Rune-stone. These are not simply cosmetic, as they will harden the Rune-stone, allowing the next induction skill to have reduced power cost and to be uninterruptable.
Enamels: Enamels of a few different colours will also be craftable by Scholars. These enamels brighten the colour of a rune-stone, making it attune further in whatever direction it is already moving.
I’m going on vacation now, no posts for a week or so. I’ll be releasing some info about updated legacies later. These changes should bring the RK to a good place and allow me to work on other projects Lata!
This sounds pretty interesting so far. I’m assuming Inlays and Enamels are both consumables, so hopefully they’ll last a decent amount of time and stack well. Hopefully all you Rune-keepers out there know a nice Scholar or are in that profession yourself. It’s making me reconsider the Explorer profession, that’s for sure.
Late last night, Tubine’s Zombie Columbus posted a big update on trait and skill changes for the Rune-keeper that are currently being tested for Book 7. He notes that changes to legacies, the ranged slot item and consumables are not included in this list. Testing will likely reduce the final list of changes, but for now this is what is being worked with:
Lata!
