Impressions & Feedback

[Pigeye]

I didn't expect to, but I do rather like the new Beorning class.

This is despite the fact that it's clearly the laziest implementation of a new character class I've seen, probably in any game.

- The "New starting area!" is small field and a house, featuring someone talking into their chin to do a deep voice. Kill 8 flies and 8-ish goblins and you're whisked away to ...Archet. As an insta-level 5.

- The shape-shifting mechanics appear to have been implemented, and then left to us to figure out how to work with two combat modes on a single Quickslot layout. Am I the only one who thinks this is lazy design? Shouldn't the forms at least swap Quickslots (pageup/pagedown), and leave it to players to decide if they want everything in one layout?

- No armour recipes (that I've found). The only way to get anything resembling Beorning gear is from the little multiple choice box rewards from quests (which I actually don't mind, but not as a replacement for actually itemising the game properly).

- Skirmish vendors. Zero 2H weapons.

There are other niggles which are more like bugs, but the above takes the mickey for a £15 extra (more if you bought a slot pack). It really does feel like someone had a good idea, and someone else put it in without really making much of an effort.

[Reillan]

I didn't expect to, but I do rather like the new Beorning class.

This is despite the fact that it's clearly the laziest implementation of a new character class I've seen, probably in any game.

You say that, but the fury mechanic is entirely new. Every other class has to deal with power.

I agree with basically everything else.

[Zanishi]

I would have expected there to be some kind of unique ui for it instead of a big empty 0 bar...

[Redterrier]

I'm wondering if there are going to be any type of fury potions available, as power potions are useless.

[Pigeye]

You say that, but the fury mechanic is entirely new. Every other class has to deal with power.

I agree with basically everything else.

Perhaps, but compared to the effort put into Hunter, Warden and RK UIs (from a player's perspective at least), they've basically just inverted the power bar.

I doubt removing power as a used stat was all that difficult...i'd wager it's probably still there, just hidden.

[Lordthebruce]

I'm wondering if there are going to be any type of fury potions available, as power potions are useless.

My understanding is they are making wrath potions...it will be watered down beer. I know that would make me pretty angry.

[Saro]

I think two factors came into play to make certain aspects of Beornings underwhelming. First is that this is an update, not a paid for expansion. Content is always reduced by comparison. I'm actually surprised they introduced a new class in an update rather than the next Xpack: probably a decision by the new leash holder Warner Brothers. Which leads to my second thought on the matter, that the Beorning class was rushed into release. I'll wager that Update 16 will be filled with announcements about Beorning specific items at various levels being released.

I too was a bit surprised and disappointed at how quickly I ended up in Archet. I would have loved a real plot, ending in some sort of climactic battle defending Grimbeorn's homestead. The lack of Beorning specific items, apparently until Dol Amroth, is disappointing as well. On the other hand, so many players are powerleveling that it might just be a waste to have items those player may spend time acquiring then no longer need an hour later.

Overall, the class seems to share the peculiarities of the Warden gambit system in that the shapeshift dynamic really only becomes practical/fun at higher levels. I remember my Warden was a class I loved to hate until I reached a level where I could speed up the gambit process, as well as stack gambits that increased certain effects. My Beorning is not at a very high level yet, but already, by looking at the trees, I can tell that around level 50 and up, I'll be able to spend more combat time in bear form than human form.

I would say Turbine deserves a B+ for the class itself (as it is thus far), but a C- for how it's been introduced.

[Tallon617]

I'd recommend finding a way to prevent the bear form being achievable outside of combat. I've already seen people exploiting certain skills to change into bears in Bree to run around to block views of others or to just generally be a PITA towards other players. I thought this wasn't suppose to be possible. I'm asking that this be looked into ASAP. Last thing I want to see is a giant bear ### in my way while trying to find a quest giver. It was pain when loremasters parked their pets in the way now we have players pulling that same stunt.

[Iarkrad]

First Impressions:
The bearshift class plays well enough through the tutorial. Nice zone. Nothing difficult

10 Levels later
Everything seems a bit easy. Not that it shouldn't be, at such a low level, but just... i don't know. You can probably go from 1-20 without bearshifting once, and never dip under 70% hp. For me, bearshift is a boss tool, but i feel like it should be used at least once every 3-5 mobs at minimum. Also, where are the trainers (rhetorical)

Bake a Honey Cake
Nice to have a regen snackfood. Free, fast, nothing overly compromising. Does it scale? If not, ~sad-bearface~

Graphics
The starter set for Beornlings looks... unique. The kilt doesn't impress me, but the boots and bracers have a look i'll use for outfits. The beornling's facial appearances are relatively fresh, and distinct themselves from normal humes nicely without looking horrible. Also, nice to have a human woman char option that doesn't look like Elrond.

Flavor
This is what really gets me. The flavor text for the beornling deeds are vary obviously lazy. Can they please be redone to at least triple length?

Trait Trees/Combat Playstyle
Cross between unfinished and godmode. I fully expect that this will be adjusted in the coming weeks to help Beornlings fit in better with other classes.

Might on medium armor. Enough said.

Overall, on the right track but still a few misadventures from the final version.

[Catburg]

Might on medium armor. Enough said.

Overall, on the right track but still a few misadventures from the final version.

Got to admit making Might the primary stat on a medium armour wearer did cause me to raise an eyebrow. Whilst it is logical in one sense it makes one wonder why they went to the trouble of changing from Might to Agility for Wardens, for the sake of consistency for medium wearers, and then create a medium class which has Might as primary.

I too think we'll see considerable changes and tweaks to the class and that doesn't worry me too much as I've only rolled mine to be a very casual alt. I've enough level cap alts to keep me busy at the other extremity of the game but I am finding my Beorning "babe" a whole lot of fun.

[fyafyta07]

I am enjoying the class so far, just hit level 20. One thing that I think would make it more realistic is when fighting in human form and then turning into bear form, some reaction needs to happen to humanoid mobs. If I were fighting someone and they turned into a bear I would have some sort of reaction. I am thinking maybe a 3 second root, mobs saying " Oh ****", or maybe even a little animation where the ground beneath them turns brown or something indicating that they crapped themselves.

[SapienChavez]

i already play a capn. that was my first impression after playing to lvl 10.

its just Sure Strike and Rally Cry with different names.

i see one fundamental flaw: things die too fast to even need bear form. making it a novelty. i have to fight 3+ mobs for it to even come into play.

fun class though.

[Paragnosis]

First Impressions:
The bearshift class plays well enough through the tutorial. Nice zone. Nothing difficult

Bake a Honey Cake
Nice to have a regen snackfood. Free, fast, nothing overly compromising. Does it scale? If not, ~sad-bearface~

I gave some honey-cakes away to friends and they do scale based on who eats them

[GSO86]

I just leveled my Beorning from 1-30 and thought I would give my review so far. Although the class feels like it was rushed and unpolished, I actually really like it so far.
It's fun, i'ts new, and it's strong. It does have some flaws though, and I really wish next update polishes up the class.

Fun Factor 10/10
Say what you want about it, but you can't deny that its really fun to be able to go Bear Mode and wreck Havoc whenever you want. I enjoy pulling about 10 mobs and going in and out of bear mode whenever my Hearten is off CD. That one animation for the bear, when he stands on his hind legs and starts slashing away is the funniest thing ever. I wish they never change that animation.

Balance 7/10
I really hate to mention this because its so fun to destroy everything in my path, but I have to be fair. The class at the moment is slightly OP. Maybe its just in lower levels and balances out at higher levels. But as of now I am pretty much unstoppable. Able to take out groups of reds and 2-3 purples any time i want. Granted, the Champ and the Guardian can do that too so maybe its like that for all classes at the moment.

Cosmetics 6/10
Ok this is the area That I felt needed the most love with the new class. Lack of Beornish armour and outfits aside from the starter sets. This is a Beorning! It should look the part. I hope they add a bunch of new armour for the class asap. Also I feel like they should be a little bigger / bulkier. 5% bigger would probably do the trick. right now the difference between a Man and Beorning and very small. Though I like the face paint.

Viability 7/10
This is a tough one to rate at low level since there are not many opportunities to group. I had a chance to join a GB run, and although my damage was respectable, I was quickly outshined by the champ in the group. My lack of AoEs made me second best. I have not been able to try yellow or blue line in group. But I get the feeling that Yellow is what groups are going to want. So Ill have to wait for more group content to see for my self.

Overall 7.5 /10
I feel like the class has a lot of potential and could really turn into something great if the devs are willing to work at it. Its three trees offer completely different playstyles so it should appeal to more people. Do you like playing a tank? Go blue. Like damage? Red. Do you prefer more of a support role? Yellow is the tree for you. With some work and polish, and bug fixes of course, I think we have a really solid class here.

[Tirn]

I'm at 31 after a few days , I'm determined to get around every area and get as much done as I can to get as much enjoyment before I hit 100. So far there is nothing spectacularly good about the class . It appears to be have been put together quickly with the finer details to come later ie medium armour class might problems etc there simply doesn't appear to be any armour , weapons , jewellery specifically for the class . I haven't been to etts yet hope there is a class vendor there ? Hopefully the attention to detail will follow but I can't help thinking someone had a deadline that they didn't or indeed couldn't keep . What we have now is the result .

[Monkeylad]

I'd recommend finding a way to prevent the bear form being achievable outside of combat. I've already seen people exploiting certain skills to change into bears in Bree to run around to block views of others or to just generally be a PITA towards other players. I thought this wasn't suppose to be possible. I'm asking that this be looked into ASAP. Last thing I want to see is a giant bear ### in my way while trying to find a quest giver. It was pain when loremasters parked their pets in the way now we have players pulling that same stunt.

I doubt they block your view on purpose. And it's a brand new class, of course they're going to test it out and show it off. Doesn't mean they should remove skills that let you build up your fury outside of combat just so you can't morph.

[TKH]

I'm at 31 after a few days , I'm determined to get around every area and get as much done as I can to get as much enjoyment before I hit 100. So far there is nothing spectacularly good about the class . It appears to be have been put together quickly with the finer details to come later ie medium armour class might problems etc there simply doesn't appear to be any armour , weapons , jewellery specifically for the class . I haven't been to etts yet hope there is a class vendor there ? Hopefully the attention to detail will follow but I can't help thinking someone had a deadline that they didn't or indeed couldn't keep . What we have now is the result .

Your forum name is the same with my now-empty kin's in Riddermark!

Anyway, the patch note will hit on Monday. Hope they will fix at least the character creation problems and the animation of the female Beornings. I want to roll one after done with Central Gondor : P

[Pigeye]

i already play a capn. that was my first impression after playing to lvl 10.

its just Sure Strike and Rally Cry with different names.

i see one fundamental flaw: things die too fast to even need bear form. making it a novelty. i have to fight 3+ mobs for it to even come into play.

fun class though.

Things die fast early on, and particularly in Red Line. When you get into your 30's and there's a wider spread of wandering mob levels (and more small groups of landscape mobs) it gets a bit more fun.

I'm running blue line most of the time now, as it's possible to keep wrath over 50% in small populated areas (like ruins).

And healing in a fellowship is a something else altogether - deserves a thread of it's own. Running T3 2-man skirms with a kinnie, and it's a different world for a healer, as you have to be in the thick of it, swapping between man and bear constantly... hectic is putting it mildy; it's a new kind of crazy.

[CatSeattle]

Love the class. Have played mostly red, because I have hopes that this will be my new melee dps class.

Have only a few problems:

1) I tend to double tap skills to make sure they go off (it's habit from the laggy days of playing a warden). That's not so good when you're in man form and click "skin-change." You go from man to bear to man, and now have a five second cooldown and can't get off the bear killing blows you need. Perhaps give it a momentary cooldown in the man-to-bear transition?

2) Armour sets are a problem. If I'd known that there was no beorning set available in evendim, i wouldn't have spent time trying to get that set. I understand that's a problem elsewhere. For example, If we go into Aughaire and expect to get a set of armour, and this class is excluded, that's going to disappoint a lot of players. I think the solution is urgent - get armour set rewards wherever other classes can get them.

3) Umm. Bear, elk, and similar slayer quests are just ridiculous from an immersion point of view. How about you give an alternative to gain reputation with the local faction, but no xp? Makes sense to kill crows and wolves and so forth, they're agents of the enemy or aggressive to bears.

4) I don't remember the exact dialogue, but I remember being able to talk to the cow in the intro instance, and calm it down and get it to do what I wanted. How come natural creatures want to kill me just like I'm any old dwarf? I should have a skill that allows me to pacify natural creatures and send them on their way. If I want to spank an elk, I can ... but shouldn't be necessary.

5) Things that i can select aren't consistent. In bear mode, I can't select quest items (like chests), but i can select public loot items (like chests); I can't mount a horse, but I can open doors; as a bear, I can talk to quest NPCs. The message you get when you can't do something in bear mode is "requires human form," or "that skill is barred from use." How about making all selectable items that don't make sense in bear mode automatically force a skin change to man, and allow the action to continue?

Bearsynger (L43 Beorning)
Cataclysman (L100 Warden), Warsynger (L100 Mini), Catalino (L100 LM)
Brandywine, Order of Middle Earth

[CatSeattle]

and ..

6) The return to the Return Home to Grimbeorn's Lodge trait ... ah, there's nothing there except for the trainer. Very important because he has three books! But ... you can't back from there without a milestone. How about a stable point?

Bearsynger (L43 Beorning)
Cataclysman (L100 Warden), Warsynger (L100 Mini), Catalino (L100 LM)
Brandywine, Order of Middle Earth

[Geno-Max]

and ..

6) The return to the Return Home to Grimbeorn's Lodge trait ... ah, there's nothing there except for the trainer. Very important because he has three books! But ... you can't back from there without a milestone. How about a stable point?

Bearsynger (L43 Beorning)
Cataclysman (L100 Warden), Warsynger (L100 Mini), Catalino (L100 LM)
Brandywine, Order of Middle Earth

There's a one-way horse by the trainer which goes to Bree.

[Pigeye]

Love the class. Have played mostly red, because I have hopes that this will be my new melee dps class.

Have only a few problems:

1) I tend to double tap skills to make sure they go off (it's habit from the laggy days of playing a warden). That's not so good when you're in man form and click "skin-change." You go from man to bear to man, and now have a five second cooldown and can't get off the bear killing blows you need. Perhaps give it a momentary cooldown in the man-to-bear transition?

2) Armour sets are a problem. If I'd known that there was no beorning set available in evendim, i wouldn't have spent time trying to get that set. I understand that's a problem elsewhere. For example, If we go into Aughaire and expect to get a set of armour, and this class is excluded, that's going to disappoint a lot of players. I think the solution is urgent - get armour set rewards wherever other classes can get them.

3) Umm. Bear, elk, and similar slayer quests are just ridiculous from an immersion point of view. How about you give an alternative to gain reputation with the local faction, but no xp? Makes sense to kill crows and wolves and so forth, they're agents of the enemy or aggressive to bears.

4) I don't remember the exact dialogue, but I remember being able to talk to the cow in the intro instance, and calm it down and get it to do what I wanted. How come natural creatures want to kill me just like I'm any old dwarf? I should have a skill that allows me to pacify natural creatures and send them on their way. If I want to spank an elk, I can ... but shouldn't be necessary.

5) Things that i can select aren't consistent. In bear mode, I can't select quest items (like chests), but i can select public loot items (like chests); I can't mount a horse, but I can open doors; as a bear, I can talk to quest NPCs. The message you get when you can't do something in bear mode is "requires human form," or "that skill is barred from use." How about making all selectable items that don't make sense in bear mode automatically force a skin change to man, and allow the action to continue?

Bearsynger (L43 Beorning)
Cataclysman (L100 Warden), Warsynger (L100 Mini), Catalino (L100 LM)
Brandywine, Order of Middle Earth

4) Yeah, I was (just slightly) disappointed that bears at least still attack me - anyone who played a EQ will probably remember animals being passive to druids (unless you sit down ). Maybe animals in ME are just more territorial?

5) Having to switch out of bear mode is annoying, and sometimes not just for me if I'm in a group, and everyone has to wait for me to swap forms all the time.

I'll add that the swapping from man to bear is extremely rough sometimes, especially in the middle of a huge fight with other players, and inputs lag. More than once I've been left standing looking like an idiot while everyone's getting pummeled, because my swap didn't register ... and because the quickslots aren't context sensitive (i.e. like mounted combat) you have to press unique keys, rather than i.e. having Man & Bear's main attack on the 1 slot ..which would at least reduce the chances of missing a beat if your swap form failed from lag. This is *especially* bad if you're healing in yellow line and having to juggle between man & bear a lot, because it can lead to very ill-timed deaths. Perhaps the speed of the change should be reflected by the amount of Wrath you've generated.

[CatSeattle]

4) I don't remember the exact dialogue, but I remember being able to talk to the cow in the intro instance, and calm it down and get it to do what I wanted. How come natural creatures want to kill me just like I'm any old dwarf? I should have a skill that allows me to pacify natural creatures and send them on their way. If I want to spank an elk, I can ... but shouldn't be necessary.\

In the L15 class quest, "Your ancestor Beorn had a special kinship with the creatures that made their homes near his lodge, and you have inherited some measure of this quality ..." "'Friend,' you speak to it in reassuring tones ..." "Your calming words, and the strength of your resolve, have brought Bramblesnarl back to his senses ..."

We need that skill in the landscape. Stop Senseless Bear on Bear Violence!

Bearsynger (L47 Beorning)
Cataclysman (L100 Warden), Warsynger (L100 Mini), Catalino (L100 LM)
Brandywine, Order of Middle Earth

[Waolas]

So having played to (6k off r6) in moors and gotten most of end gear (3 first age LI's, nadhin gear, etc..) I can assure that beorning does not feel OP at all in the moors(blue line is troll tho), but i really feel that the skills doesn't have any good rotations like many other classes. that being said the support line is extremely good in grps.
At the moment there's just so many things that will need to be fixed (preferably fast), mentioning battlefield promotion, dof and backdoors, your marks in support line reset on stun, bear form lost on stun.

P.s am worried about the future of the servers with stance dancing constantly to use/build wrath

p.s p.s: just found out that 2h passive can come with power regen passive what kind of lazy work is that from the devs?

[ACOstud77]

I really like how they made this class very dynamic as far as what your role can be for the group.

-The Yellow line offers some strong healing capabilities which I was very impressed with.
*would be kinda neat and unique if the appearance of the bear was different for each line
-Red line provides pretty strong DPS
-Havent tried blue line

Wishlist:

-Also for appearance I hope some bear customizations become available so not every single beorning looks the same.
-Would love a movement debuff without having to go Yellow-line. (Bees-traited) *PvP needs
-So far the beorning armor I have seen looks like they spent barely any time creating it, hope this changes.
-With Composure (self-heal) I would like to see it buffed a little bit. With the Legendary weapons you can have +10%(ex) Hearten healing which is better than the traited version, unless you have a huge morale pool.
-Base movement speed increase as a passive of being in bear form, have the LI's just increase it.
-What if we could crit our Honey Cakes and make then extra special!
-Ferocious Roar should have a shorter or more instant animation so when your in a fight you can have a quick wrath build (+crit attack) and move along, or to quickly get off a heal to the group.
-Wrath consumables like the RK's attunement or make them pots w.e.
-More creativity with the bear skill animations.
-I hope the legacies for the LI's are better than what Ive seen, but still to early in the 50's to fully know.

This is my wishlist