LOTRO Twitter Developer Chat – Class Changes. August 21, 2013 3PM Eastern.

[Hatter_of_Bree]

Will the trait change to tree mean that we no more could get all virtues/traits maxxed, and pick what we want, but have to sacrifice some to advance others? (Have met THAT DECISION in too many games so far, didnt like it in any one of them)

Will the changes in trait tree be free, cost IG money ,or be priced by MC or TP?

[spelunker]

(feel free to ignore this question if one is released before the 21st) Why are we having a twitter chat where we ask Devs about class revamps, when we know next to nothing about the actual revamps? Couldn't we get a dev diary explaining the class revamps so we have something more concrete to base our questions off of than the general concepts that there will be skill trees, and there will be increased 'specialization'? Feels like a largely wasted Dev chat since so many questions will be based off speculation and rumors as much as anything else, this seems like the wrong format to deliver information.

How will re-traiting work? Can we expect a similar system to MC traiting where we can save multiple 'specs' for different purposes? What will be the required parameters to re-spec(drop combat, see an NPC, be in a 'safe zone', etc.)?

Are there plans to make players specialize in other ways besides trait trees at the same time, such as blocking in-combat gear/LI changes?

What is being done to allow for, and maintain diversity in build choices? Will the trees leave room for more customization that say a champ wanting single target dps having to fill the red tree, AoE dps filling the yellow tree, or tanking filling the blue tree?

Once class changes have been satisfactorily finalized on the live servers, should we expect the PvMP Devs to be bringing skill trees to Monster player classes as part of their long awaited work in that zone?

[cdq1958]

Will the trait change to tree mean that we no more could get all virtues/traits maxxed, and pick what we want, but have to sacrifice some to advance others? (Have met THAT DECISION in too many games so far, didnt like it in any one of them)

Will the changes in trait tree be free, cost IG money ,or be priced by MC or TP?

Excellent questions there, but no-one outside of Turbine knows the answers, and, since the beta hasn't started, I think that even Turbine hasn't fully answered them, either, in terms of code. I suspect that respecialization will cost in-game gold or MC, with extra slots available for TP; given things we have seen to date.

[RJFerret]

- I trait rainbow except for my tanks, will we be ourselves, or forced into molds like mounted trees, where there's just one useful way?

- With other games moving from tree to free form systems, why move Lotro backward in game development?

[WertyJohn]

the only thing that worrys me is that i dont mind you change to trees and such but please revamp the combat animations its an issue that needs attention and importance and no one is asking for that :S wardens has the same skills animations and combat is a bit dull in general :S

my questin is simple :

are you going to revamp combat animations too?

thank you and best regards

[mr_toad]

In the new system, will hunters be able to off-heal or off-tank in exchange for a lower dps trade-off?

How much time will the general player base have to test these major changes on Bullroarer before they go live?

This class revision seems like a gigantic change and while I'm not opposed to it, I wonder what factors motivated it?

For a maxed out level 85, how many primary skills do you plan to have in their regular rotation in the new system?

Will creep classes be adjusted at the same time too if necessary? (I'm freep-only, but I want creeps to have a fair playing field)

How much input has the player council had in the class revisions?

[banjolier]

Question: How will the new trait system be store-gated? (I expect to see trait-spec slots for sale like current mounted combat & outfits. Any other store-gating, like mounted combat heavy/light trait lines?)


Question: For Premi/F2P players who spent TP to unlock trait slots under the old system, how will you convert our existing purchases to the new system?

[Fredelas]

Q: Will the current race, class, and virtue trait slots continue to be used in some form?

(The reason I ask this is because many players have purchased these slots with real money.)

[Grhysli]

For Hunter class will there be a change to 2nd Legendary Item removing the Weapon LI in favor of a more class appropriate Quiver LI?

With the class revamps will there be any changes to Hunter LI Legacies? (specifically will the various Critical legacies be combined into ONE Critical Legacy? Will the various Power legacies be combined into ONE Power Legacy?)

Will we still have the Virtue system?
Will we still be able to use the Deed system to earn Virtues and thus Turbine Points?

How much of this new system is going to be gated behind the LOTRO Store?
Will there be a way to use the new system to re-trait/re-spec via game play without going to the LOTRO Store?
If there is a way to re-trait in game will it be tied to some item that only drops in specific instances once in a Billion runs (or more)?

[Cassie4486]

Will Burgs be able to pick pocket keys/lootboxes? PLEASE!!! :-)

[pbelkin79]

Are the class skill deeds being removed ? It's quite a grind having to do some of those skills over and over again for some of the classes that one never uses. Or hard to find a group to get some of them up like the rez one rez ones for RK's and Minstrel. And can u guys talk about how many skills for each class are being removed or melded with others ones ?

Thank You

[ManticoreFalco]

How much are the devs emphasizing active mitigations a la the champ's Selfless Defence and Invincible, or the Warden's self-heals/leeches? Will there be more of this and will Guardians get something similar?

[angrolas]

Sorry if this has already been asked.
Whats happening to Virtues and deeds?

[iRommeli]

This is one of the very few times I've ever actually logged in to post something so please take it seriously.

Why the heck are you guys ruining the one thing that Made Lotro stand out from the other MMO's? The fact that its all a free pool of skills for me to choose from unrestricted is great. Now you decide to implement a tree system which limits what I can and can't do? This is a horrible Idea and I'm going to unsub from that yearly sub when it comes out as this is a deal breaker for me, and a few of my friends who pre ordered this game. I truly hope many people leave the game because of this so you can revert this terrible Idea and keep the skills open.

[AllySanders]

I don't do twitter or facebook. Will there be a summary of the event posted here on the forums? This sounds like a major change to game play and functionality. How soon before we see detailed guides on the changes and how they will affect current toons?

[Schinderhannes]

Will there be a summary of the event posted here on the forums? This sounds like a major change to game play and functionality. How soon before we see detailed guides on the changes and how they will affect current toons?

There has always been posted a transript in the forums, shortly after the chat.

Have a little patience about "guides". They will propably release a detailed dev diary about the class changes in the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure that after the update you have to respecc your toons. I doupt there will be major changes on how versatile your class has been before it. But that's something only the dev's know for sure...

My questions:

• Will the update allow us to use 4 legendary traits at the same time?

• Are names and description of old traits gonna be completely overhauled?

• Atm 1 trait costs 1 slot. What's the new "cost factor"?

• Can we expect many new skills and animations?

• Are we able to benefit earlier from "improved" skills with the implementation of skill trees?

[dietlbomb]

I had posed this question in the Helm's Deep forum with no developer response. Perhaps this will be a more appropriate venue.

Question: will the virtue system remain in its current state after the Helm's Deep expansion, or will virtues be revamped as part of the class revamps? Specifically, will our progress toward earning virtues be retained? Will virtues bought in the LOTRO Store retain some value after the expansion is released?

[Winds]

How many skills will be added/removed/changed/improved? Please don't remove many skills and please add a substancial amount of new ones!

[camelman15]

My question is why are we messing with stuff that works the way it is? You messed with the whole fate/power thing and then reversed it a month later. This is pointless when so many other things are broke or just sloppily put together. The way that raids are done these days is sad since the BFE cluster can be done with pugs and no training at all. Some other questions I have that may not pretain to this but still I am asking is what about the moors? Will this get evened out so I dont have to listen to the griping about which side is more OP then the other? Also with Helms Deep are you guys going to play dumb or not just care about the loot farming like you did when BG was first released and same with BFE? You guys had to know that the farming would start but you did it anyway so you took any feeling of accomplishment out of getting a FA since anyone could jump into a BFE and farm it for FA symbol or gold item. As far as classes go are you going to balance out the tanking between a grd and a warden? As it sits right now over a long fight a grd has to use his force taunts to hope holds the aggro whereas a warden can leech the whole group down to nothing and go out and have a smoke while you work on killing a boss. Also one last thing. I think that the GM's need to look at priorites and ban people for moors farming instead of just looking for people that are farming mobs in Rohan or wildermore and ban them for 7 days for a first offence. People can cheat exploit and farm rank and loot and such but someone does some farming of mobs and gets a huge ban. Pretty sad just shows that you guys dont care about the moors. Last but not least, dont ban people from your facebook page just because you dont like what they have to say. That just shows insecurity of yourself and your company for someone having a bad feeling towards your company. Instead try to find out what the issue is and talk to them. Not ignore them and ban them from posting on the FB just cause you dont like what they have to say even when it is the truth.

[Mildford]

- Will the upcoming changes be scaling not-yet-scaled skills and balance classes, both freep and creep (make some classes be able to offer more to a group (and the other way round as well) for example)?

- Considering how threat makes an impact to classes, will we be getting more information on how threat works, and will there be any changes?

- Will class items, types of LIs (Hunters and Wardens using 2 LWs compared to the other classes) and legacies be looked at (and changed)? (Hunters' tomes (why do Hunters get to read books anyway) compared to RKs' chisels, for example)?

- Will the new traits system be offered to creeps too?

- Will the new traits system be similar to the MC traits system (direct boost to stats as well as various bonuses), be more flexible (more bonuses to offer for players to choose), or less (forces us to spend points on X and Y to do A and B)?

- How will the new traits system make an impact upon the current traits system?

- How much will the Store be involved in the new traits system?

That is all the questions I could get off my head at the moment.

[Bludborn]

With the changes to the classes, has there been any thoughts on cooperative skills between classes? An example would be if a Lore-Master were to through down Improved Sticky Gourd (AoE hotspot for those who dont know) and a hunter shot through it could add fire damage to their skill?

[mobrien09]

Will we see new itemization that reflects class changes or just the same old loot drops with scaled stats? Virtually every expansion is rebuilding the same way all over again. Thanks.

[OverlordGate]

1: Will you consider balance issues for the pvmp while you´re working on the class changes OR will this happen after you see the impacts live?

2: Will this revamp include a change from the actual traiting system to a mounted combat like trait tree?

3: Will there be skill revamps as well as "trait revamps" so that we have to kind of learn a new class to play?

[donxavier]

is it just me or do it seem that Helms deep is further off than we originally thought

Have a feeling it's going to be early 2014 before this is released. Nothing to base this on other than the late announcement of the expansion, the fact that it's almost September and we've heard nothing about pre-order or beta testing and, to my knowledge, Turbine has not been at any of the gaming conventions to advertise or drum up hype about this expansion. Hope I'm wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

[Stephen1981]

Have a feeling it's going to be early 2014 before this is released. Nothing to base this on other than the late announcement of the expansion, the fact that it's almost September and we've heard nothing about pre-order or beta testing and, to my knowledge, Turbine has not been at any of the gaming conventions to advertise or drum up hype about this expansion. Hope I'm wrong. We'll have to wait and see.

probably why i have to play other mmos now also and if i get to play with some old ffxi friends at launch of FF14 a Realm reborn i might not come back to lotro anyways they took to much of social part of the game away anyways