Player Guide: Class Changes Summary: Lore-master

[Easca]

Lore-master - how the forces of nature are shifted
A guide written by Easca and PKCrichton.


Picture is private property.

"Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise."
- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

ANY GENERIC CHANGES TO NOTE

Changes to trait-lines:
Except for Inner Flame all healing traits and skills have been moved from the Master of Beasts to the Ancient Master trait-line, the latter of which has now become both crowd control and healing. Blue is pets only.

*SoP:R is still not affected by Signs of Power Duration Legacy currently. I am still assuming that this is a bug.*

Pet skills:
For as far as I could see none of the pet-specific pet skills have been altered.

Skills Removed:
Sign of the Wild: Protection
Sign of the Wild: Rage

(These two have become traits in the Master of Beasts trait-line.)

Keeper of Animals

Spec Bonuses

• Sign of Power: Protection grants up to +25% pet morale and up to -5% pet incoming damage.
• Sign of Power: Rage grants up to -5% pet attack duration and up to +15% pet damage.
• Go for the Throat increases the pet's critical damage.
• Lesser Giant Eagle grants the skill Improved Eagle-friend.
• Prepare for War adds up to +364 LM tactical mastery rating and up to +728 pet physical and tactical mastery rating.
• Prepared Materials reduces skill inductions by up to -15%.
• Hearty Diet adds up to +386 LM morale and +5% pet morale.
• Don't You Touch Him gives you a damage bonus of up to +15% when your pet is hit by a critical hit.
• Catmint grants the skill Catmint.
• Loyalty makes your pet give you 10% of its morale to you when you are hit by a critical hit.
• After-battle Treat makes the pet heal 2% of its morale and grants a pet attack damage buff of up to +7.5% attack damage.
• Don't Interrupt Me returns +13% damage to the attacker and absorbs +13% damage when you are hit during an induction.
• Synchronized Movement reduces all skill inductions by -9% and all pet attack durations by -9% as well.
• Sic 'Em grants the skill Sic 'Em.

Set Bonuses

Tier 1 - Pets do bonus damage to enemies that have a Burning Embers on them.

Tier 2 - More damage reflected by Wisdom of the Council buff.

Tier 3 - Raven now grants a tactical mitigation buff to the fellowship.

Tier 4 - When the pet scores a critical hit the Lore-master's next induction will be insta-cast.

Tier 5 - When the pet scores a critical hit a unique buff will be put on all fellowship members.

Tier 6 - Noble Savage

Tier 7 - Tutelage of the Brown Wizard: your pet gains +3 levels and a bog-guardian is additionally summoned in Sic 'Em.

Traits of Special Mention

• Lesser Giant Eagle is currently the only pet that can only be obtained by traiting down a specific spec line.
• Don't Interrupt Me is probably one of the best traits to have when you are in combat where you will be targeted a lot.

Master of Nature's Fury

Spec Bonuses

• Master of Fire increases fire damage by up to +25%.
• Tactical Mastery adds up to +728 tactical mastery.
• Burning Earth increases Cracked Earth damage by up to +15%.
• Knowledge of Storms adds up to +25% lightning damage.
• Sword and Storm will make Staff-strike call down lightning on your foe once a minute.
• -Sword and Staff has been renamed Fend Them Off and now grants up to +6% parry chance, +6% evade chance and +12% fire damage. Can only be obtained when Sword and Storm has been selected.
• Lightning Storm grants the skill Lightning-storm and up to +30% Lightning-storm base damage.
• -Fierce Lightning increases the chance to ignite the ground after a Lightning Storm up to 50%. Can only be obtained when Lightning Storm has been obtained.
• Ancient Fire increases the chance by up to +25% to Upgrade 2 Burning Embers DoTs.
• Empowering Fires increases the power and morale healed by Sign of Power: Wizard's Fire when your foe has been Flanked! Morale by up to +30% and power by up to +24%.
• Slow Burn adds up to +3 Burning Embers pulses
• -Dry Kindling gives up to +30% chance to apply two Burning Embers DoTs at once. Can only be used in combination with the Slow Burn trait.
• Mighty Wind increases the chance by up to +30% that Gust of Wind spreads Burning Embers to other foes.
• Ring of Fire grants the skill Ring of Fire and up to +15% Ring of Fire Avoidance Debuff.
• Nature's Fury grants the skill Nature's Fury.

Set Bonuses

Tier 1 - +15% cashout damage for Lightning Strike and Lightning Storm.

Tier 2 - Fire, light, lightning and frost skills all do +10% damage.

Tier 3 - +20% elemental critical damage.

Tier 4 - Improved Sticky Gourd.

Tier 5 - The possibility to reduce Improved Sticky Gourd's cooldown when your pet flanks is given.

Tier 6 - Ents Go To War is granted. 5 is now also granted to the Ents Go To War cooldown.

Tier 7 - +35% chance for Lightning Strike to occur in Nature's Fury.

Traits of Special Mention

• Sword and Storm will now add a lightning strike once a minute when you use Staff-strike, but only when this trait has been selected.

Ancient Master

Spec Bonuses

• Fire-lore grants the skill Fire-lore.
• -Playing with Fire adds the following effects to a foe under the influence of Fire-lore: fire skills give a +15% attack duration, frost skills give a +10% miss chance and lightning skills give a -50% ranged damage debuff. Can only be selected when Fire-lore as a skill has been obtained.
• --Wild Fire will spread Fire-lore to nearby foes when the target under the influence of Fire-lore is hit by Wind-lore. Can only be selected when Playing of Fire has been obtained.
• Frost-lore grants the skill Frost-lore
• -Out in the Cold adds the following effects to a foe under the influence of Frost-lore: frost skills give a tactical mastery debuff, fire skills a +20% induction debuff and lightning skills a +15% power cost debuff. Can only be selected when Frost-lore as a skill has been obtained.
• --Chill Wind spreads Frost-lore to nearby foes when the target under the influence of Frost-lore is hit by Wind-lore. Can only be selected when Out in the Cold has been obtained.
• Storm-lore grants the skill Storm-lore and adds up to +15% lightning damage.
• Mending Lore increases Outgoing Healing by up to +25% and grants Water-lore extra +5% Incoming Healing buff at max rank.
• Level-headed decreases morale costs on skills by up to -25%.
• Ancient Craft increases the Armour Debuff Potency by up to +15% and increases any lightning damage inflicted on the foe under the influence of Ancient Craft when at max rank.
• Flow of Power increases power restauration by up to +25% when using Power of Knowledge or Share the Power.
• Disable increases stun duration by up to +2.5s.
• Pleasant Breeze grants the skill Pleasant Breeze and up to +25% power restauration.
• Firm Grasp increases the Breakout Grace Period of all Crowd-control skills by up to +3 seconds. It also enhances the Daze from Blinding Flash.
• Quick Hands reduces all skill inductions by -15%.
• Ancient Master grants the skill Ancient Master.

Set Bonuses

Tier 1 - Warding Lore

Tier 2 - Beacon of Hope (AoE HoT)

Tier 3 - Tier 3 - Enough For Everyone: Share the Power - Fellowship is granted.

Tier 4 - Herb-lore

Tier 5 - Air-lore - 5% chance to negate 15% damage and reflects 15% damage automatically.

Tier 6 - Knowledge of Cures is now insta-cast.

Tier 7 - Force of Will: Fire-lore, Frost-lore, Sign of Power: Command, Sign of Power: See All Ends and Ancient Craft get +15s duration. Fire-lore and Frost-lore get +4 targets when Ancient Master skill is active.

Traits of Special Mention

• Ancient Craft is no more a prerequirement for Lightning Storm but does add a damage bonus to any lightning skills (Lightning Strike, Lightning Storm, Storm-lore, as well as several RK lightning skills).
• By maxing up Mending Lore the incoming healing buff that is granted by Water-lore is increased from +5% to +10%.

Skills

Normal Skills

***SKILLS THAT YOU GET NO MATTER WHAT LINE YOU IN, JUST START A NEW CHAR AND LEVEL UP TO SEE***

• Burning Embers
• All pets except for the Eagle
• Knowledge of Cures
• Staff-strike
• Staff-sweep
• Cracked Earth
• Lightning-strike
• Sign of Power: Wizard's Fire.
• Gust of Wind
• Wind-lore
• Beacon of Light
• Water-lore
• Ancient Craft
• Power of Knowledge
• Share the Power
• Sign of Power: Righteousness
• Sign of Power: Vigilance
• Sticky Gourd
• Light of the Rising Dawn
• Bane-flare
• Blinding Flash
• Wisdom of the Council
• Back from the Brink
• Call to the Valar
• Sticky Tar
• Sign of Power: See All Ends
• Sign of Power: Command

Skill Changes

• Burning Embers now ticks every two seconds rather than every five seconds. The duration of the effect is therefore also shortened to 10s. The number of ticks and the number of DoTs put on a foe with every Burning Embers hit can be to some extent regulated by traiting down the Master of Nature's Fury spec-line.
• Cracked Earth delayed root has been reduced to 3s.
• Knowledge of Cures has a 15s cooldown. Additionally removes poison and fear. Becomes insta-cast when traiting down the yellow line. 40m range and single-target only under all circumstances.
• The inductions of summoning pets have been reduced to 1.5s. Pets can be summoned in combat under all circumstances and under all trait specs.
• All pets are accessible except the eagle, which is accessible only in the blue spec line.
• The Eagle’s power regeneration buff has been increased.
• Gust of Wind is no longer AoE but can spread Burning Embers. The chance of Gust of Wind spreading Burning Embers can be increased by putting points into a trait in the red spec line.
• Beacon of Hope is now called Light of Hope. Can be changed into an AoE HoT called Beacon of Hope when traited in the yellow spec line.
• Wind-lore has a 5s cooldown and a 10s duration. It can spread Fire-lore and Frost-lore.
• Fire-lore is no longer AoE and there is no cooldown. -13% melee damage (-25% with traits). No longer a +2% miss chance. Can only be attained when spending points in the yellow spec line. With traits, the following effects can be achieved on a foe under the influence of Fire-lore when the following kinds of damage are induced: fire skills give a +15% attack duration, frost skills give a +10% miss chance and lightning skills give a -50% ranged damage debuff.
• Frost-lore is no longer AoE and there is no cooldown. -12% tactical damage (-20% with traits). Can only be attained when spending points in the yellow spec line. With traits, the following effects can be achieved on a foe under the influence of Frost-lore when the following kinds of damage are induced: frost skills give a tactical mastery debuff, fire skills a +20% induction debuff and lightning skills a +15% power cost debuff.
• Storm-lore does some extra fire-damage on the side. Can only be attained when spending points in the yellow spec line.
• Power of Knowledge now drains morale too and puts a +15% power cost debuff. 8s channelling duration.
• Share the Power now costs morale instead of power.
• Warding Knowledge has a 40s duration and a 45s cooldown and affects everything. Can only be attained when spending points in the yellow spec line.
• Sign of Power: Command has a +15% attack duration.
• Share the Power - Fellowship is now the yellow-line version of Share the Power and its power sharing has been increased.
• Sign of Power: Righteousness now has a 20s duration and a 18s cooldown granting immunity against several forms of crowd control but doesn’t remove anything when cast on somebody already under such influences. Not affected by LI legacies (possibly a bug).
• Lightning Storm’s cooldown has been reduced to 1m30s. Up to 50% to ignite the ground with a fire AoE when spending points in the Fierce Lightning** trait.
• Inner Flame has a 10s channel duration with a cooldown of 1m30s. Can only be attained in the blue spec line.
• Improved Sticky Gourd is no longer a capstone skill but can be attained by spending points in the red spec line.
• Sticky Gourd in its weaker form is like the Improved version on Live whilst the Improved Sticky Gourd will put a Burning Embers DoT on any foe in the fire for longer than 4 seconds.
• Staff-strike can call down lightning when traited accordingly.
• Ents Go To War is now a trait awarded to you for traiting deep down the red line.
• Burning Embers has been granted several additional effects (see traits).
• Water-lore grants +10% healing modifier when traited in the yellow line.
• Herb-lore can now only be attained by traiting down the yellow line.
• Air-lore can now only be attained by traiting down the yellow line. It has a 5% chance to negate 15% damage and reflects 15% damage automatically.
• When your pet now flanks a foe and you use Sign of Power: Wizard's Fire both power and morale are restored.
• Sign of Power: Wizard's Fire now upgrades one Burning Embers DoT to a more potent but shorter DoT when cast on a foe with a Burning Embers DoT on it.

New Skills

• Lightning Strike is a lesser version of Lightning Storm with one attack with a 2s induction and 45s cooldown.
• Clever Escape has a 2m cooldown and removes daze, stun and knockdown.
• Catmint grants your pet a unique buff with a 12s duration and has a 45s cooldown. Can only be attained when spending points in the blue spec line.
• Catmint (bear): increases bear's armour and damage output.
• Catmint (raven): increases Benediction of the Raven buff, Raven's fire damage debuff and damage output.
• Catmint (cats): shorter attack duration and increased damage output.
• Catmint (eagle): increased Beak End morale tap and damage output.
• Catmint (spirit): increased Nature's Gift morale restoration and Nature's Light morale return.
• Catmint (bog-guardian): increased Bursting Root stun chance and damage output.
• Sic 'Em is the capstone skill of the blue spec line. Summons a sabretooth, lynx, raven, eagle, bog-guardian (with Tutelage of the Brown Wizard) and a bear for a duration of 20s with an induction of 1.1 seconds and a 2m cooldown.
• Command Pet can be used to let your group of pets from Sic ‘Em attack an enemy. Can only be attained by spending points in the blue spec line.
• Ring of Fire is a 5-target AoE with a 0.8s induction that puts a fire-damage and BPE debuff on the ground. Can only be attained by spending points in the red spec line.
• Nature’s Fury is the red spec line’s capstone skill and does frost-damage every second for five seconds and has a 15% chance to do heavy lightning damage. Has a 3s induction and a 1m30s cooldown.
• Pleasant Breeze is an AoE power heal that can heal up to 7 targets within a 7 metre range with a 10s cooldown. Must have a crit with Gust of Wind to use this skill. Can only be attained by spending points in the yellow spec line.
• The Ancient Master is the yellow line’s capstone skill. It removes all power costs on Fire-lore and Frost-lore and makes them AoE.

Legacy Changes

With thanks to PKCrichton for his remarks considering legendary legacies

Main-hand (Staff) Major

Still Exist:

• Staff Strike Cool Down
• Tactical Skill Direct Damage
• Fire Skills Critical Multiplier
• Light of the Rising Dawn Critical Rating
• Light of the Riding Dawn Damage
• Burning Embers Initial Damage

Changed:

• Share the Power Cost changed to 1% Power Restore.
• Sticky Gourd Direct Damage has been renamed Sticky Gourd Base Damage.

Main-hand (Staff) Minor

Still exist:

• Cracked Earth Range
• Lightning Storm Base Damage
• Ents Go To War Damage
• Gust of Wind Damage
• Cracked Earth Damage
• Burning Embers Range
• Storm Lore Damage

Changed:

• Lightning Storm Critical Rating has become Lightning Skills Critical Rating.
• Lightning Storm Damage has been renamed to Lightning Storm Base Damage.

Class Item (Book) Major

Still Exist:

• Target Resist (Debuffing Skills)
• Target Resist (Damaging Skills)
• Target Resist (Fire Skills)
• Beacon of Hope Magnatude
• Signs of Power Duration
• Fire Skills Critical Rating

Changed:

• Burning Embers Pulses has become Burning Embers Critical Chance.
• Wizard's Fire Pulses has become Wizard's Fire Critical Chance.

Class Item (Book) Minor

Still exist:

• Fire Damage Over Time
• Ancient Craft Targets
• Bane Flare Targets
• Test of Will Devastate Magnitude
• Inner Flame Healing

Changed:

• Sign of Wild Rage has been changed to Pet Attack Duration.
• Fire Lore Targets has been changed to Fire Lore Debuff Strength.
• Sign of Wild Protection has been changed to Pet Morale.

As of Beta 6, the numbers are as follows:

Weapon Major

Name	Min	Max
Burning Embers Initial Damage	+1%	+15%
Cracked Earth Range	+1	+20
Fire Skills Critical Multiplier	+3%	+25%
Light of the Rising Dawn Base Critical Damage	+1%	+15%
Light of the Rising Dawn Damage	+1%	+15%
Power Restored	+1%	+10%
Staff Strike cooldown	-1	-5
Tactical Skill Direct Damage	+1%	+10%

Weapon Minor

Name	Min	Max
Burning Embers Range	+0.5	+10
Cracked Earth Damage	+1%	+15%
Cracked Earth Range	+1	+20
Gust of Wind Damage	+1%	+15%
Ents Go To War Base Damage	+1%	+10%
Lightning Skills Critical Rating	+264	+416
Lightning Storm Base Damage	+1%	+10%
Sticky Gourd Base Direct Damage	+1%	+10%
Storm-Lore Damage	+1%	+15%
Test of Will Damage	+1%	+15%

Book Major

Name	Min	Max
Beacon of Hope Magnitude	+1%	+15%
Burning Embers Critical Chance	+1%	+9%
Fire Skills Critical Rating	+264	+416
Signs of Power Durations	+3	+30
Target Resistance (Damaging Skills)	-610	-1010
Target Resistance (Debuffing Skills)	-1420	-2260
Target Resistance (Fire Skills)	-610	-1010
Wizard's Fire Critical Chance	+1%	+9%

Book Minor

Name	Min	Max
Ancient-craft Targets	+1	+5
Bane Flare Targets	+1	+5
Fire-lore Debuff Strength	+1%	+5%
Fire Damage Over Time	+1%	+15%
Inner Flame Base Healing	+1%	+50%
Pet Attack Duration	-1%	-5%
Pet Morale	+1%	+5%
Test of Will Devastate Damage	+1%	+15%

This information was provided by Gilean_EU.

Crowd-control

It shouldn't be too difficult to understand that with class, skill and trait changes our crowd-control skills would be affected too.

Crowd-control skills you have no matter which spec you trait in

• Ancient Craft
• Bane-flare
• Blinding Flash
• Burning Embers
• Cracked Earth
• Light of the Rising Dawn
• Sign of Power: Command
• Sign of Power: See All Ends
• Sticky Tar

Crowd-control skills gated in Master of Nature's Fury

• Ents Go to War
• Ring of Fire

Crowd-control skills gated in the Ancient Master

• Fire-lore
• Frost-lore
• Herb-lore
• Storm-lore
• Warding Lore

Skills used to spread certain crowd-control skills

• Gust of Wind (for Burning Embers)
• Wind-lore (for Fire-lore and Frost-lore)

It should be noted that Fire-lore and Frost-lore will start off weak and be increasingly potent with how much you decide to trait into these two skills. Wind-lore and Gust of Wind's crowd-control potentials have been replaced to Fire-lore and Frost-lore.

FAQ

Q: What exactly do the trait-lines focus on now?
A: Keeper of Animals focusses on your pet and the interaction with it in combat. Master of Nature's Fury focusses on damage/dps. The Ancient Master now comprises both crowd-control and healing skills and is the trait-line best used for support.

Q: How do we do on frost damage? And by that, lightning damage? Hell, all damages?
A: There is significantly more frost damage than there used to be, although this frost damage is mostly focussed on the Nature's Fury capstone skill. This is an AoE "storm" that can do additional lightning damage to foes around the target. We also now have more lightning skills, the damage of which can be increased by up to +40% using traits in Master of Nature's Fury and Ancient Master lines (Lightning-storm and Storm-lore). Of course, focus is mainly on fire damage (Burning Embers, Sticky Gourd) and fire damage can be increased and made more potent in the Master of Nature's Fury line. Light damage is still as it is now. Melee damage... well, you know, it's a Lore-master. Other than auto-attacks and the two melee skills there isn't really much about it when it comes to changes.

Q: So for healing we should spec into the yellow line?
A: If you want to focus on healing mainly I'd advice you trait all the healing skills in the yellow line and trait down the blue line for Inner Flame, then look at how many points you have left and decide for yourself where to spend those.

Q: So sharing power now costs morale?
A: Yes. The morale cost for both the single-target and fellowship wide skill is 239 morale.

Share the Power, at level 91, shares on average 2346.4 on a single target.
Share the Power - Fellowship, shares on average 1291.35 on every fellowship member in range.

This means that at level 91, you will on average share 9.82 power per 1 morale on a single target and on average 5.4 power per 1 morale on the fellowship-wide skill.

Q: Why didn't you do anything about the SI nerf?
A: We did everything we could to get it back and they were clear: it will not happen. Stop asking and let Baroness Boothroyd in her olden days say for us what we feel about it after 6 Betas of this discussion.
*This was meant as a humourous response.*

Q: There are no debuffs anymore. Where are our debuffs?
A: You still have Wind-lore, Sticky Tar, Burning Embers (debuff? Yes, a slow), Sign of Power: See All Ends, Sign of Power: Command and Ancient Craft anyways (which ones you have depends on your level of course) and Fire-lore, Frost-lore and Storm-lore can be gotten by not even traiting too far down the Ancient Master branch.

Q: With the arrival of the Catmint skill, will the use of pet food now be obsolete?
A: Definitely not. The Catmint skill adds some buffs to the pets' inherent skills and to their damage but it does not by far grant the same effects to your pet as food does.

Q: Continuing about pets, how about the bear's tanking abilities?
A: The bear remains to be used as an off-tank, and although its potency and usefulness has been increased incrementally it will still not be able to take the place of e.g. a Guardian or Champion. Its main usefulness is still to be found in its ability to get mobs off yourself if necessary.

Q: How does the threat change affect the Lore-master?
A: If you have a good tank, not to such a great extent.

Q: Oi, threat change?
A: Yes. This thread here explains.

Useful external links
This is a Youtube video explaining the trait trees for the Lore-master.

Update 12.1.
- Traits -

Set Bonus "Buying Time" should now function properly.
The Ancient Master Trait "Disable" will now affect the stun from skill "Ents go to War"
Ancient Craft at max rank now properly specifies that only the first Lightning skill used against an afflicted enemy will result in bonus damage.
Ancient Craft now properly increases damage from trait "Sword and Storm"
Trait "Slow Burn" should now affect "Searing Embers" effects.

- Skills -

Cross-fire and Improved Cross-fire should share the same duration as normal Burning Embers DoT effects.
"Nature's Fury" induction time reduced from 3s-->2s.
The induction for Burning Embers is being reduced from 1.5s--> 1.2s
The induction for Water Lore is being reduced from 2s --> 1s.
The induction for Back from the Brink is being reduced from 8s --> 5s.
The induction for Test of Will is being reduced from 2s --> 1.5s.

- Stats -

There was a bug which would cause the Lore-master to gain a significant amount of Will every several levels. This extra Will has been contributing to awkward jumps in difficulty and player strength. This extraneous Will has been removed, and combat should be more consistent.

- Deeds -

Both Beacon of Hope and Light of Hope should now advance the deed "Light of Hope"

- User Interface -

The regular pet vital bar now goes away when you are mounted.
The Lore-master War Wolf vital bar will now be hidden when the Lore-master isn't mounted on a Warsteed.

Update 12.2.
- The Lore-master now has a trait in the Master of Nature's Fury line that decreases induction durations for said line.

Update 12.3.
- "Firm Grasp" will now enhance the Daze from Blinding Flash.

Update 13. (Preliminary.)
•Fixed a bug where a weaker version of Fire Lore's debuff was always overriding the stronger version.
•""Tactical Mastery"" is now ""Tactical Damage"", and increases Tactical Damage by 2% / Rank.
•""Ring of Fire"" has been significantly buffed.
•Dry Kindling Trait will no longer apply the second Burning Embers effect 100% of the time when using the Improved Burning Embers skill. Each point spent into the trait is supposed to add to the chance of applying a second Burning Embers effect on the target: 10%, 20%, and 30%.

[Laurelinarien]

Thanks for the work and the sharing guys.
Can't wait to test it myself.

[Jula]

So many questions......

Lets start with a few:

1) What is the experience of the new dedicated Blue pet line in Beta? I assume this is essentially a DPS line now as all support skill seem gathered in Yellow? Are pets really viable versus say Red line DPS?

2) I'm struggling to see any mention of blinding flash or bane flare for that matter. Are these gated in Yellow line now?

3) This is going to be controversial but is it correct that we can now only keep up SOP:R on one target (20s duration, 18s CD) i.e. tank OR healer. Other classes are going to hate that....

4) Without traiting yellow is it fair to say LMs won't be doing much debuffing or healing and red line LMs are out and out DPS now?

First impression is the red line is some generic glass cannon DPS mage from another MMO wandered in by mistake and the old LM is only to be found in yellow line but will see when I get to play the new version of my favourite class in a few weeks.

[Ainuril]

I have the same question as Jula - how is the Blue Line? My LM has been traited in the Red Line for a long time now. While I switch out for a few raids, I am usually switching to Yellow Line. Please give us your feedback on the general feel and power of the Blue Line. Will it stack up with the other two lines in terms of utility? Is it a good option for those who spend much of their time on solo content? Thanks!

[Tanglebear]

Can we get how many points each trait is, what tier it's on. Also, how are the tier's gated (ie So many points in the previous tier) Lastly, how many total points do we get. This information will be useful to see just how flexible the new trees will be.

[Alcor]

I have been enjoying blue line on beta. Good survivability and the capstone "Sic 'em" is great fun.

Regarding blinding flash, it is in all lines with no induction and full duration.

Yes, SI is now basically viable for a single target. One other change I didn't see mentioned is that knowledge of cures is single target. There is currently no PAAI equivalent although I keep asking for it.

[Alcor]

Can we get how many points each trait is, what tier it's on. Also, how are the tier's gated (ie So many points in the previous tier) Lastly, how many total points do we get. This information will be useful to see just how flexible the new trees will be.

In your main spec, each trait is one point and off spec traits are two points. My 85 LM had 55 points to play with which is enough to max every trait in your main spec and get two traits off spec.

[Sumadyan]

Just to elaborate on SI, its 20 seconds duration with 18 second cooldown. Monf is a lot of fun, new skills like ring of fire are a blast, monf is very strong and I like it a lot. If you go blue line the pets are beefed up considerably compared to live, but I still don't find the blue line fun. AM is the stepchild of the expansion and really situational for raids and support.

Burning embers in red line has a chance to apply 3 dots at a time, gust of wind has a chance of spreading fire dots to other enemies. Would have to get home to write up the changes, but someone will likely beat me to it.

One thing I would recommend to everyone is get your class deeds done before expansion. a lot of skill points you get to spend are tied to the class deeds, 1 point per deed.

[PKCrichton]

Can we get how many points each trait is, what tier it's on. Also, how are the tier's gated (ie So many points in the previous tier) Lastly, how many total points do we get. This information will be useful to see just how flexible the new trees will be.

We could give you exactly what tier and how many points each can have invested into it but honestly some of this is still in flux. We aren't sure if any of these are going to have their tiers changed as many traits for many classes have been moved or changed in each build.

Trust us we know just how much you all want this information.

[Easca]

So many questions......

Lets start with a few:

1) What is the experience of the new dedicated Blue pet line in Beta? I assume this is essentially a DPS line now as all support skill seem gathered in Yellow? Are pets really viable versus say Red line DPS?

2) I'm struggling to see any mention of blinding flash or bane flare for that matter. Are these gated in Yellow line now?

3) This is going to be controversial but is it correct that we can now only keep up SOP:R on one target (20s duration, 18s CD) i.e. tank OR healer. Other classes are going to hate that....

4) Without traiting yellow is it fair to say LMs won't be doing much debuffing or healing and red line LMs are out and out DPS now?

First impression is the red line is some generic glass cannon DPS mage from another MMO wandered in by mistake and the old LM is only to be found in yellow line but will see when I get to play the new version of my favourite class in a few weeks.

1) The blue line seems viable enough to me. It is probably the line that is the best to use if you really want to duo with both your pet and yourself and means some of your own skills will be degraded as your pets' skills are upgraded. It is however great fun to use and Sic 'Em is just.... AWESOME!

2)As of the last Beta they could be equipped using the yellow line which also has a trait that increases its stun duration. Liable to change in upcoming Betas, will get back to you on that with Beta 6 (hopefully).

3) This is true and the Dev responsible for the Lore-master has multiply said that it will stay this way (even directly at me when I asked her) - this change has been pushed through by, amongst others, the dev responsible for the Moors, but other (as of now undisclosed reasons) are also in play with this decision.

4) Blue line is mainly buffs depending on what you let your pets do (damage buff, fellowship protection buff, mitigation buffs, morale restorations etc.) Red line will have debuffs too, although these are mostly based on AoE and damage, for instance Improved Sticky Gourd and Lightning-storm. Yellow line is the main debuff line but this then also really massively debuffs with different effects based on damage type on which (element)-lore et cetera.

I have taken out advice from this OP due to controversy back before the NDA but I agree that the yellow line feels the most like the old LM, although the blue line definitely makes sure that the LM is a "Master of Beasts" or "Keeper of Animals". It basically adds another dimension to how the class can be played. I'd call the red line mainly for high cashout damage in e.g. raids and instances.

[Mirnir]

... how are the tier's gated (ie So many points in the previous tier)

Tier 3 traits require 10 points having been spent in the whole tree, tier 4: 15, etc.
It is flexible in that you can spend those traits however you like and can bypass traits, or even a full tier of traits, if you want to spend them elsewhere in the tree (except where a trait requires a previous trait to unlock a skill (e.g. Lightning Storm (Red T3) ... Fierce Lightning (Red T5), although these are marked on the interface).

[PKCrichton]

The way the Tiers work is this.

Tier 1 is always unlocked for everyone.

Tier 2 requires 5 traits to be earned in Tier 1 of that line Blue/Red/Yellow. So T1 Blue only unlocks T2 Yellow.

Tier 3 requires an additional 5 traits total of 10 traits to be earned in Tiers 1 or 2.

Tier 4 requires an additional 5 traits total of 15 traits to be earned in Tiers 1, 2 or 3.

Tier 5 requires another 5 traits equipped a total of 20.

Tier 6 requires another 5 traits equipped a total of 25.

Tier 7 requires another 5 traits equipped a total of 30. This is the Capstone trait for each line.


If you select Blue as your main spec then spending points on traits in Blue/KoA costs you 1 class/trait point. Spending points on Red or Yellow lines will cost you 2 points per trait. So if you want to reach Tier 2 in your off spec lines you have to spend 10 points to obtain your 5 traits.

Set Bonuses are for the main spec only but spending on traits in any line will unlock them.

Tier 1 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on 5 traits.

Tier 2 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on another 5 traits so a total of 10 traits.

Tier 3 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on another 5 traits so a total of 15 traits.

Tier 4 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on another 5 traits so a total of 20 traits.

Tier 5 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on another 5 traits so a total of 25 traits.

Tier 6 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on another 5 traits so a total of 30 traits.

Tier 7 Set Bonus obtained by spending points on another 5 traits so a total of 35 traits.

[Tanglebear]

So based on the information here I could theoretically get Tier 7 in the main tree and up to Tier 4 in another tree with 55 points? That sounds pretty cool.

Assuming I didn't take everything in the main tree of course

[Easca]

So based on the information here I could theoretically get Tier 7 in the main tree and up to Tier 4 in another tree with 55 points? That sounds pretty cool.

Assuming I didn't take everything in the main tree of course

Theoretically, yes. However, you are then going to have to make some sacrifices trait-wise, but of course it all depends on what your preferences are.

[Alcor]

So based on the information here I could theoretically get Tier 7 in the main tree and up to Tier 4 in another tree with 55 points? That sounds pretty cool.

Assuming I didn't take everything in the main tree of course

Are you counting that the off-spec traits are twice the cost?

[Estelrandir]

So many questions......

Lets start with a few:

1) What is the experience of the new dedicated Blue pet line in Beta? I assume this is essentially a DPS line now as all support skill seem gathered in Yellow? Are pets really viable versus say Red line DPS?

2) I'm struggling to see any mention of blinding flash or bane flare for that matter. Are these gated in Yellow line now?

3) This is going to be controversial but is it correct that we can now only keep up SOP:R on one target (20s duration, 18s CD) i.e. tank OR healer. Other classes are going to hate that....

4) Without traiting yellow is it fair to say LMs won't be doing much debuffing or healing and red line LMs are out and out DPS now?

2) Both of them are standard skills regardless the tree choice, they always full duration and BF has no induction

3) Every class should have stun breaking skills (but yes, they will hate that)

4) Basically yes.

[PKCrichton]

One edit that didn't make it into the guide.

Ancient Master
Set Bonus
Tier 3 - Enough For Everyone: Share the Power - Fellowship is granted.

Share the Power and Share the Power Fellowship were split back into two skills because with only one skill it would make it so we couldn't share power outside of our own fellowship.



For the questions about Blinding Flash this is how it currently works.
For all specs Blinding Flash has 30 second duration and 15 second cooldown. There is no induction as Fast Loader is now built into the skill.

[Easca]

One edit that didn't make it into the guide.

Ancient Master
Set Bonus
Tier 3 - Enough For Everyone: Share the Power - Fellowship is granted.

Share the Power and Share the Power Fellowship were split back into two skills because with only one skill it would make it so we couldn't share power outside of our own fellowship.



For the questions about Blinding Flash this is how it currently works.
For all specs Blinding Flash has 30 second duration and 15 second cooldown. There is no induction as Fast Loader is now built into the skill.

I will add that immediately. I guess I overlooked that.

Also stun duration can currently be increased by I don't know how much using a trait in the yellow trait line.

[PKCrichton]

I will add that immediately. I guess I overlooked that.

Also stun duration can currently be increased by I don't know how much using a trait in the yellow trait line.

Stun duration can be increased .75s, 1.5s up to 2.5s but not Daze duration. Blinding Flash is a Daze. Test of Will, Storm Lore and Bane Flare are Stuns so affected by the change to the Disable trait.

[Easca]

Stun duration can be increased .75s, 1.5s up to 2.5s but not Daze duration. Blinding Flash is a Daze. Test of Will, Storm Lore and Bane Flare are Stuns so affected by the change to the Disable trait.

Right... okay, gotcha. xD

[Eammanski]

Will the change to Ancient Master make the Loremaster more viable as a healer?

[Scirocco]

One thing MONF LMs will have to get used to is feeling slower (as someone put it, it's like turning a turtle into a snail). We have a bigger boom with some of the spells, but it takes longer to get there. Most of the new spells have longer inductions than what a MONF LM on Live is used to.

One issue is that the red line has no induction reduction trait. If you've been used to the 25% reduction on Live, be prepared for a slowdown of approximately 33% to 36% on several skills. For example, Burning Embers induction reverts from 1.1 s (Live) to 1.5 s. Be prepared to stand in place a bit longer.

There are induction reduction traits in the yellow and blue lines (which cap out at 15%), but due to the double points for off-spec traits, be prepared to sacrifice a lot of points to get there.

You will also find that the cooldown of many spells, like LOtRD and Ents, has doubled (or more).


Also, as a general matter, get used to the concept of some spells and traits being absolutely mutually exclusive. If you choose Blue or Yellow, you will not be able to use Ents, for example. If you choose Blue or Red, you will not be able to use Herb Lore.

[TheCrossbow]

So many questions......

Lets start with a few:

1) What is the experience of the new dedicated Blue pet line in Beta? I assume this is essentially a DPS line now as all support skill seem gathered in Yellow? Are pets really viable versus say Red line DPS?

The blue line is now dedicated to your animal companions. My experience with it speaks of a trait line that has gone from being "meh" to being quite powerful. There are a pair of LI legacies which will become even more relevant for people who select this build as their primary build.

It was the opinion of several people (as well as mine) that the [new] blue line may be bordering on "overpowered". The traits and skills of the blue trait line work very well together. Your pets do exceptionally high damage and your own damage doesn't suffer very much.

2) I'm struggling to see any mention of blinding flash or bane flare for that matter. Are these gated in Yellow line now?

Blinding Flash and Bane Flare are granted to *all* lore-masters regardless of your specialization. You receive them at their full duration. And, Blinding Flash has had its induction permanently removed.

3) This is going to be controversial but is it correct that we can now only keep up SOP:R on one target (20s duration, 18s CD) i.e. tank OR healer. Other classes are going to hate that....

This is correct. However, many classes have received a "break out" skill that allows them to break free of any kind of "status effect" every 2 minutes. SOP:R did get nerfed somewhat. But, when you consider what we received in return, I am of the opinion that the trade-off is seriously in our favor.

4) Without traiting yellow is it fair to say LMs won't be doing much debuffing or healing and red line LMs are out and out DPS now?

Loremasters can build for some debuffs in whatever build you choose. However, the most potent debuffing/healing line will now be in yellow. Yes, red line LMs do focus a lot more on DPS now.... major DPS.

I hope that answers your questions.

[Nleuter]

Just an Fyi, get used to wind-lore losing the -50% ranged damage debuff. This debuff from now will only be able to be used when you used a lightning skill, and the shortest cooldown is 45s while the effect lasts for 15s. This change, likely caused by BA QQ is likely to be very painful for us on live.

[Alcor]

Will the change to Ancient Master make the Loremaster more viable as a healer?

It's hard to say. On live, LMs can do some pretty decent healing. I have not had the opportunity to test AM in a group to see what the healing capability is.