Twenty Questions – Helm’s Deep Expansion. Ask your own question!

We’ve pulled questions from the community and player council for our previous 20 Questions features, but this time around we want you to tell us, directly, what you’d like to know about the Helm’s Deep expansion. We’ll select at least 20 of the most frequently asked questions and answer them in our next 20 Questions feature.

We do have a few requirements.

• Keep your questions brief and to the point. We don’t need a lot of back story or editorial, just ask the question.
• Please do not ask compound or multi-part questions.
• Make sure you are asking a question. Lengthy opinions that end in a question mark aren’t questions.
• Please limit your questions to the Helm’s Deep Expansion.

You have until Noon Eastern Time on Monday September 23 to ask your questions. Then we’ll compile them, answer them, and post them for everyone to read as quickly as we can.

Would it be better to buy the Base Edition + Legendary Item Pack or the Premium Edition + Legendary Item Pack.

Will we hear any new info on the housing update soon before the release of Helms Deep?

What adjustments are being made to PvMP?

When is the next multi-boss raid scheduled to be released, will it be with the expansion?

Are there plans to add more older raids to be scaled as part of HD? Specifically will the Moria runs, GA, and/or the Isenguard instances become scalable with this expansion?

with the class traits becoming skill trees, what will be happening to racial traits and virtues, and will legendary class traits also become part of the skill trees?

I played lotro for a year before discovering our player made 'globallff' channel on Evernight. Since, I have been able to ask questions that have helped me progress, and joined many raids as a result of being able to make more connections and friendships.

The issue we currently have is getting more people to know of globallff, and I believe having a default channel for the server that we opt out of, instead of opt into, would be a great feature for new players. Though, for the sake of not reading spam and being confused, the new server channel could appear in a new tab by default.

Have there been any discussions of this happening in the new expansion?

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Originally Posted by spongedarksquarepants

Will we hear any new info on the housing update soon before the release of Helms Deep?

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Sorry, but that is not a HD question. But I'm curious about housing, too. But first HD, then housing. :)

Is the /follow command going to be brought back when HD launches. I am a boxer and not going to buy HD if it does not?

Can we get some more specs about the new trait tree and how it will affect our classes?

How many (if any) multi-boss, not single boss, raids are planned to be released in Helm's Deep?

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Originally Posted by spongedarksquarepants

Will we hear any new info on the housing update soon before the release of Helms Deep?

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I have been excited about the HD coming but I was also exciting about the housing update and still nothing yet for it, will it come out with HD?

Any changes to PvMP in HD?

*Ahem* Threat Revamp?

What exactly are the changes to threat mechanics?

There have been mention of changes to the way threat will be operating in HD, but nothing clear.

What was the rationale behind the changes to the threat system / in what ways will it improve the game?

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Originally Posted by Sapience

• Keep your questions brief and to the point. We don’t need a lot of back story or editorial, just ask the question.

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How many times did you write-delete-rewrite-delete "damn" just before "question" in the above line? =P

How will loot/rewards be handled in the context of the Epic Battles? Will there be token drops with a barter system, or specific gear drops for the different-sized Battles?

Eh anyway I can get the helm's deep expansion for someone else without knowing their account and password?

Any changes (or a return) to hunter solo survivability coming any time soon?

Will there be more multi-boss or "traditional" style raids in future expansions?

What kind of rewards can we expect to see with raid size Epic Battles and how will the rewards differ from those that solo players receive?

Some questions:

Given the changes to the traits & skills that have been talked about, I'm assuming that legendary item legacies will also be adjusted. As a lot of players undertake a significant grind to get their LI's the way that they want them, how are the changes there going to be implemented - will we have to completely regrind to get the preferred mix again, and spend a large number of marks/medallions in order to get their LI's back to approximately where they were?

At the relicmaster vendor, will there be an option to 'Combine All' and/or a 'Decon All' ability?

For crafting, as I'm assuming that there will be a new tier of crafting, will there also be a new tier for reputation in the crafting guilds?

Could we please have a dev diary to talk about the threat management changes?

Will the virtue cap be raised?

For PvMP, why can creeps not have the expanded quest cap that comes for freeps with the HD expansion?

For PvMP, will the level cap of Audacity be raised?

Will we get sneak peeks of the new class trees prior to launch?

What's a Nubian?

Will you fix this shambles you made called Trait Trees?

Can Upscaling be applied to players wishing to go to the Moors as Freeps? Could it be done in the future?

Not compound questions, nor multi-part, just a list:
1) What are the changes to Threat?
2) Will this expansion include changes to housing?
3) Any changes to Mounted Combat?
4) Any changes, additions to Crafting?
5) Any changes to existing areas with this expansion?
6) Any change in the acquisition and use of marks, medallions and seals?
7) How does the new Trait Tree methodology affect lower level characters class quests and deeds (for example finding pages and reaching kin with Moria Guards)?
8) With the narrowing of each characters focus, do you anticipate lower level characters having more difficulty with existing quests?
9) Will there be expanded use of Mithril Coin?

What do you feel your long term players' reactions will be to having less than half of the skills they've become accustomed to, do you think there will be any repercussions to yet another dumbing down of the game?

Will they still be used and if so will the level increase?

Any new crafts or possibly ad extra crafting abilities beside the limited 3?

Will Hunters have their off-hand Legendary item changed from a Weapon to a Quiver that is placed in the Class slot? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

What was the primary motivation behind the move to the tree system for traits?

Alternatively...
Why is it that in Epic scenes that come straight from the books, the dialogue is almost always paraphrased rather than directly quoted? Copyright issues or something similar?

Are there any changes to Virtues and Racial Traits (particularly the latter, which are badly in need of revamping)?

-Bel

- Any new platform/jumping quests?
- Lower warbands (no mounted) at lower zones in the near future?
- Any new things add to Bree? (dwarf area, caravans)
- Can we hear a new piece of HD music before release?
- New levels for war-steeds?
- Can we seen more cosmetic armors and maybe weapons? (HD preorder shield and armour was great! ) ..suggestion: please add a torch for RP players :)

How does the new Tanking system work since the main tanking skills seem to have dissapered?

The Guardian's Dev diary mentions a "threat revamp" and he Champion's dev diary doesn't say anything about aggro management at all, so my questions are:

What exactly is this "threat revamp"?

How will Champions strongly invested in the Martial Champion tree generate and maintain aggro?

Threat changes?!??

Legendary legacy changes?

Will class skills be relevant in Big Battles, just for Vanguards, or applicable to the two other roles?

With removal of bards and reduction in value of virtue traits at higher levels, will virtues remain?

With introduction of up-scaling, any plans for down-scaling to fixed instance levels in the future?

Will we get actual developer diaries at some point (the Guardian one notwithstanding)?

How many of each size, raid, fellowship, trio and duo, of Big Battles might we expect?

PS: For whomever asked about /follow, it's a bug that is to be fixed next update.

How is threat management going to work in Helm's Deep? (in reference to the changes highlighted in the guard dev diary)

Will the long talked about housing improvements/changes arrive with the new expansion? If not please answer someone else's question.

Do virtue deeds also give class trait-tree points or do only class deeds give the points?

1. What alterations are being made to PvMP?
2. How many Turbine Points will the expansion cost to get full content (epic story line, etc) but not necessarily "extra goodies" (cosmetics, etc)?

Thanks!

When are we getting new, challenging multi boss raids?

Will upscaling be reversed to allow us to scale down to the level of kinnies to run lower level content with them without penalties?

To some people I have written Private Messages concerning their questions with answers from published sources in cooperation with Turbine, but for the other people who wants to know the answers for the same questions I'll repeat it here:

1. Moria instances scalable with HD?

No, on the German website http://www.hdr-seite.de/news_detail.html?id=843 is said that these won't become scalable and there are no plans to do so. There was no statement for GA, Angmar and Isengard.

"Die Moria Instanzen werden nicht mit diesem Update skaliert und das steht auch nicht auf dem Plan." (Maybe for Google Translate ;) )

2. Default GLFF?

Massively has answered this question yesterday. ^^

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/09...-online-helms/

"There were a few questions answered that weren't related to the epic story. The team is looking into creating an official GLFF channel, since so many players use it but it doesn't receive official support."

3. Reason for class changes and trait trees?

Already answered in the Twitter-Dev- chat about class changes ( https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...lass-Changes):

"Q11: Raven-EU: What was the primary driver(s) for this change? #LOTRO
A11: Jinjaah: I think there were two main things that drove these changes: #LOTRO
A11a: 1. We wanted to design the trait trees in such a way that as soon as you leave the intro, #LOTRO
A11b: your trait line starts to play as it was envisioned instead of later on down the road when you began to collect traits. #LOTRO
A11c: 2. We really wanted each trait line to sort of stand out from the rest and reduce some of the class homogenization #LOTRO
A11d: that had slowly occurred over the years. #LOTRO"

4. Virtue deeds (not answered in a private message):

Also roughly answered in the dev-chat:

"Q1: bgriggs: Are the current virtues and traits being incorporated into the new system at all? #LOTRO
A1: HoarseDev: Virtues will remain mostly the same. Traits are now completely rolled into the new system. #LOTRO"

So propably virtues have nothing to do with the trait trees.

What are the threat changes?

are we getting any awesome armor or jewelry much like the Hytbold armor?

are we getting any older instances to be scaled like in their absence and mirkwood? (preferably moria)

are we going to be able to ride from Bree to Edoras without a load screen or going through moria?

what is happening to racial traits and virtues?

how will loot be handled with epic battles? (barter system, or direct items)

will warden gambits need to be unlocked via the new trait tree system?

will wardens still have access to all of our gambits?

is the warsteed level cap increasing?

Will the Raging Blades skill for champions be accessible when traited deep into the Berserker skill tree?

Here's my question: When can we see a video of Epic Battles in action?

I'm not talking about a 15-second clip. I mean actual continuous gameplay footage. Or even better, a live stream of a dozen developers taking one on.

Will there be an increase to the current Virtue cap of 16 with the release of Helm's Deep?

Will the enhancement of actual character design (i.e. improved graphics for the avatars' bodies, more customizing options at the character create screen and/or barbershops) manifest itself with the release of Helm's Deep?

I hear in HD gear swapping will not be possible in-combat any longer. Is this a 100% chance in HD?

Will we have an open beta near the end of the beta period for Helm's Deep like previous expansions?

How many Turbine points will you be charging for the full Expansion and, will there be multiple zones within HD that will be purchased seperately i.e broken down into smaller quest pack areas?

I would also want to know, how many turbine points can we expect HD to cost? Will it be like the other expansions which cost 1495, or will it cost more?

EDIT: I suppose I am refering to the quest pack itself, not the FULL expansion, as those cost more.

Will there be any crafting resource instances in HD like there are in Hytbolt?

Any improvements being implemented to reduce lag?

What changes can we expect to legacies of legendary items?

Do you consider offering a second gear profile for our characters to make respeccing even more convenient?

In addition to the new crafting tier, are we also getting a new guild rep tier?

What changes are being made to PvMP?

what are these threat changes mentioned in the guardian dev diary?

When Helms Deep launches will there be any graphical improvements such as more DX11 tessellation or higher res character models?

Will Big Battles have difficulty tiers? How will the difficulty level compare with that of current and past T2C raids?

Are there intentions to extend storage? At the bank vault or with a 7th bag? Or maybe a special bag/store-bag (like the premium bag) for things like buff-food, morale/power/regeneration-items and so on?

When the traps fo the hunter become skills is that also happening to throwing axes of the champion and throwing knives of the burglar?

Are the skills for survivability (so e.g for solo gaming meaning quests) throughout the classes reduced (little bit more difficukty ;D ) in general or do they stay the same or are they increasing?

Will there be some real riddle quests with HD respectively any information concerning decision demanding quests? ("While there won't be any major decisions players will make during the epic story (we asked), Turbine did promise a few regular quests that will feature decision points as well as a new mystery to solve. " - Massively about the epic story)

According to Massively you want to develop a GLFF. Will there be only 1 or also a general chat for OOC and trade of the whole server?

With the new crafting tier: any new items you can produce for your house (besides the items you can exchange like in Hytbold for example, so I only mean crafted housing items)?

Any new hobbies?

A rough estimation of collectable TP from deeds in West-Emnet possible or publishable?

Can you give a number of new reputation fractions?

Is there already a plan/date to publish a dev diary about Housing update? (I know the update will come after the expansion, but maybe th diary already before the expansion?)


Addition:

The area which propably will come in spring 2014 like in the last years (Enedwaith, Great River Region, Wildermore): Will it be western, southern or eastern of West-Emnet (northern is propably not possible ^^)?

In Helms Deep, can we look forward to ANY additions to the overall usage of a Kinship? (The ability to have kinship quests to earn buffs for our members would be a nice touch..)

Every kin house gets upto 3 storage chests no matter if the kin has 8 members or 800, is there any plan to change this to take into account the size of a kin?

Chances are these questions wont get answered since they aren't gonna be amongst the 20 most popular questions but... https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...evamp-Proposal still proves that MANY players believe this is an important aspect of the game that doesn't get much love.

Do we need to have Riders of Rohan to be able to participate in the Helm's Deep content?

Will we need the Helms Deep expansion to take part in Epic Battles? and will we need to be VIP? (Sorry for asking 2 questions in 1 post)

Will we be given the choice to assist different parts of the battle, work with different characters, and perform different activities providing a different personal outcome but still falling within the scope of the cannon outcome from The Two Towers?

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Originally Posted by Sapience

We’ve pulled questions from the community and player council for our previous 20 Questions features, but this time around we want you to tell us, directly, what you’d like to know about the Helm’s Deep expansion. We’ll select at least 20 of the most frequently asked questions and answer them in our next 20 Questions feature.

We do have a few requirements.

• Keep your questions brief and to the point. We don’t need a lot of back story or editorial, just ask the question.
• Please do not ask compound or multi-part questions.
• Make sure you are asking a question. Lengthy opinions that end in a question mark aren’t questions.
• Please limit your questions to the Helm’s Deep Expansion.

You have until Noon Eastern Time on Monday September 23 to ask your questions. Then we’ll compile them, answer them, and post them for everyone to read as quickly as we can.

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What Legendary item updates are planned to coincide with the new trait trees?

The Guardian Developer Diary raised some questions in the feedback thread about threat management. Can you explain what is changing and how threat and tanking is expected to work (not just for Guardians, but for Wardens and tank-traited Champions and Captains)?

at $40 or $60 for Helm's Deep, why isnt it all inclusive? Helm's Deep should include all previous content and expac's. Thats the only way Im buying it.

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Originally Posted by Kenze

at $40 or $60 for Helm's Deep, why isnt it all inclusive? Helm's Deep should include all previous content and expac's. Thats the only way Im buying it.

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I wouldn't hold my breath :p How will we be queuing up for these big battles?

in the trait tree system, will we be able to use, for example, two traits from two different trees (for example, the beresker and martial champion for a champion)?

In Volume III: Book 3: Echoes of the Dead - Chapter 8: Further Secrets, several mentions are made of a dwarf hall called Zigil-Jabâl that would be located in the White Mountains.
Though not lore (as the dwarves settled in the White Mountains after the War of the Ring) will Turbine follow through with their internal game lore and give dwarves with White Mountain characters a place to call home ?
In short, seeing that Helmsdeep lies in the north-western White Mountains, are we going to see "Zigil-Jabâl" with the HD expansion ?
If not, are there any plans at all to ever put this invented White Mountain Dwarf hold in the game ?

• Are there plans to extend and make more use of the new Character Upscaling tech like, for example, implementing a mentoring system or invite lower level friends to other instances whose minimum level they have not reached yet but they own? If the answer is no, why not?
• What was the artistic criteria behind the design of Hornburg that we have been able to see in the sneak peeks so far, in particular the baroque and even rococo style of the parapet?
• How many enemies will participate on the biggest Epic Battle in-game (accounting both those that don't move at all and are just standing, and those who actually interact with the players)?
• Are there plans in the horizon of Helm's Deep to extend the Mounted Combat system beyond adding or tweaking the skills and traits?
• Are there plans in the horizon of Helm's Deep to give access to Mounted Combat to characters lower than 75 if they own the Rohan or Helm's Deep Expansion?
• How have you solved the landscape connection between the Eriador and Rhovanion landmasses in the Ford of Isen area? With a loading screen?
• Are you planning to retrofit Epic Battles to content previous to Helm's Deep, like Ford of Isen's Battle in the Epic book, maybe as a sneak peek of what is to come later?
• Are you planning to retrofit Epic Battles to previous skirmishes where it makes sense, like Battle for 21st Hall, as an alternative, more epic, version for people that get the expansion?

Are the Legacies on Legendary Items also going to be adjusted to fit with the class changes?

Why are the pre-order cosmetic items undyable?

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Originally Posted by tomcat211

What Legendary item updates are planned to coincide with the new trait trees?

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Oh, you beat me to it. :o

Since the LAG has become such a pain in the multi spawn instances (Flight, Fornost fire, etc.), & this Big Battle instance on its way. Are you going to fix this issue or are the Big Battles going to be a lag fest as well?

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Originally Posted by VirtualVikki

Will the long talked about housing improvements/changes arrive with the new expansion? If not please answer someone else's question.

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They've already stated the housing update will not be coming until after HD.

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Originally Posted by Orodbril

"There were a few questions answered that weren't related to the epic story. The team is looking into creating an official GLFF channel, since so many players use it but it doesn't receive official support."

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OMG my prayers to the Turbine gods have finally been answered!!!

My questions:

Will this expansion include any revamps of earlier content or regions?

Will this expansion include any updates to character model graphics, or new hairstyles?

Will more wardrobe slots be available to hold all the new gear we'll be getting/crafting?

- Out of all the veterans who've been playing lotro for 4-6 years now, do you think more than 50% of them will actually continue to play once they've felt how it is to only have half so many skills available to play around with (or armour and weapons to swap to in-combat).

(sorry, I never trolled in 7 years of lotro, but very worried now about the narrowing down of in-combat versatility)

Will Turbine consider awarding seals/meds/marks for instance completion on a daily only basis to prevent farming?

Will there be revisions to the relic and rune forging system to allow automated forging and/or consolidation of tiny IXP runes, so saving on repetitive strain injury claims?

Based on the captain developer diary, why are support classes being forced to specialise and lose key support abilities locked deep in other trees when in fact lack of specialism is entirely the point? (I await the LM diary with interest.)

Why has the threat mechanic changed?

Can you explain exactly how the scaled up lower level players will interact in HD?

Question that all pvp players ask and never got fully answered.

''SHALL WE FINNALY SEE ANY NEW JEWLERY ITEMS FOR LVL95 IN GLAN VRAIG OF ETTENMOORS, JEWLERY WE COULD HAVE BARTER AND USE BACK IN LVL60S BUT WHICH ARE NOT USEFUL FOR MORE THEN 2,5YEARS NOW''


Please do this for once, pvp players deserve this, aswell as finnaly improved cloaks with good stats, last ones had really bad stat boosts.

What kind of refund can we expect for spend TP/VIP subscription for unlocking trait slots if these will be removed for the new skill tree system? What benefits can be expected in contrast to f2p-Players without unlocked trait slots?

1. Will you fix the lag issues and server load problems before HD?

2. Will there be new first comes, first takes farming followed by nerf like in FA/SA item farms, HL recipes etc?

3. Will gold/FA loot be only from high tier/challenge instances?

Why was Chance Thomas not used for the soundtrack?

from the facebook page this was a good one: Based on the captain developer diary, why are support classes forced to specialise and lose key support abilities when in fact lack of specialisation is entirely the point?

Two questions:

Will the epics in this expansion finally end Volume III?

Will old zones like Angmar and North Downs get an overhaul?

Compared to Mines of Moria (subscription era) how many full time developers are exclusively working on Helm's Deep Expansion?

- Details on "Threat revamp" motivation and implementation?
- How do you plan to ensure that the class changes are balanced for _existing_ landscape, instance and Epic battles content with just 2 months of beta?
- Any changes to current reward system in instances planned?
- How will the reward system for Epic battles work in detail?
- Will there be a seals reset at HD launch?
- Will there be different versions of HD (Questpack/Big Battles/Full expansion) available in the in-game store for TP, at what costs?
- Will the different reward systems for skirmishes/Helegrod/fixed-level instances and scaling instances be unified?
- Do you have a backup plan if class changes will not work out?
- When can we expect a preview of how Epic battles will actually work? The three-roles info isn't encouraging at all without details how it all works together in practice.

1) How are the threat mechanics going to work
Yes, it's been asked a dozen times already in the thread, but this is a question we all want to know the answer to.

2) Are there any plans to address the "farming" of specific content, both new and old (Eg, making rewards daily, reintroduce locks etc)
Theres only so many times you can run BFE or Sammy before losing the will to live.


Being able to take lower level kinnies to epic battles is a great way to include them in on the fun in a kinship, but given the attitude of PUG groups ("Lv95's only"):
3) Is there anything in the epic battle system that would make upscaled players feel less like a liability (due to smaller skill pools, worse itemisation at lower levels [even when scaled] etc)

4) Will skirmish raid loot be made BoE instead of BoA, to bring it in line with other endgame loot? And will skirmishes be (properly) converted over to the new pending loot system?

How will healing threat be managed?
How will LI's tie in to new system? Will we get only get new relevant legacies as we level from 85 to 95?
Are all skills being reviewed in light of other classes? (some skills affect other classes' skills that have now changed according to DD's)
Will a dps RK be able to switch to heals mid fight if minstrel/cappy/LM/other RK dies/goes link dead (and all permutations of this question.) ie is there going to be a defeat response that lets you respec on the fly, for real, in combat?
and the lag-what about raid lag and fire/special effect lag? (I really don't want my first view of the epic battles to be on low graphics in stop motion!)

What can u tell us about Monster play with the release of HD(new skills/revamps)?

When will you stop letting casual "log on once a week" players direct your development?

1) Any plans for scaling more not yet scaled instances with Helms Deep (Angmar, Moria etc.)?

2) Is the implementation of Big Battles the End of Multi Boss Raids in Lotro?

3) Are you going to rework the legacies on legendary items because of the class revamps?

• Can we get a developer diary about the thread changes mentioned in the Guardian developer diary?
• Will there be a developer diary about the changes to the legacies of the different classes?
• (non HD) when do we get the next multi boss raid?
• Any old instances transferred to scalable?
• Will there be a seal reset at launch of HD?

Do Epic Battles means that it will be not anymore "old fashioned" raids?

Do we will see 2nd part of class diaries? (That what we seen so far more look like a teaser than diary)

Becouse of class changes I assuming legacies will change, what will happen with old weapons?

Will the hardware requirements be a factor in playability for players without jacked systems?

Will the class that you play have any effect on your performance in one of the 3 "roles" of Epic Battles? How does each role differ in how it is "rewarded" (bronze-platinum)? Is it about how many mobs you kill? How long you keep an NPC alive? How long it takes you?

Will playing as a Vanguard only be viable for those who trait/"tree" for DPS? Will a healing build, or a CC build, never be able to earn platinum as a Vanguard?

Are the Battles judged as a whole, or piece by piece? I ask because we have been told that there are optionals. Well, will I have an opportunity to earn a platinum for each optional? Will the Battles be judged as a whole, at the end, and platinum only awarded to those who completed every objective (inc. optionals) with a perfect score?

Is the ability lag and the warsteed lag going to be addressed in the HD release? (esp. the ability lag, makes playing warden more challenging than it should be).

Is the "always free" Epic quest line going to be free after Hd? Or is the pay for epic book going to continue after HD?