Developer Diary : Minstrel Class Changes in Helm’s Deep

[Tecro]

I look forward to seeing these changes and learning what works best with these new skills. I am concerned about the new dps of the mini, you mentioned single target as our main attack, I disagree with this, we have 5 really nice AoE skills that do nice damage when traited for dps. It is alot of fun to aggro several mobs then bring them down all at once. I hope the devs kept these skills in the trees.

[Yaksha42]

I am concerned about the new dps of the mini, you mentioned single target as our main attack, I disagree with this, we have 5 really nice AoE skills that do nice damage when traited for dps.

Losing our AOE DPS skills is my biggest worry with the Minstrel changes.

[bastiat1]

That new Call to Greatness skill sounds incredible. I wish we had something like that on live now.

[Anurin_The_Wise]

That new Call to Greatness skill sounds incredible. I wish we had something like that on live now.

I see what you did there.

[nightday]

Thoughts on each:

Watcher of Resolve: I do like the general modifications they've made to this line, although I hope there's some sort of fellowship heal in there amongst all the single-targets. Resonant Piercing Cry sounds intriguing, although I do hope they'll have a Dissonant Piercing Cry that still stuns in some fashion. Or at least some sort of stun somewhere. Stuns are the coolest things ever.

Warrior-Skald: No love for AOE? I love my AOE moves. Sadface. It'll be nice to get our single-target damage up, but not if it means that we lose all our AOE. Also, is there a self-healing reduction in war-speech/dissonance (other than the reduction that naturally comes from not being traited for strong heals)? That would be the WORST POSSIBLE THING.

Protector of Song: Will anthems still have buffs of their own, or do they activate only upon using the coda? In big fights, I often run up three ballads (or hit Cry of the Chorus) and only hit the coda in case of an emergency, letting me use anthems repeatedly for buffs. What do they mean by "maximum stacks"? Can we layer our ballads beyond just three now? Some clarification would be nice. Also, will we still have our tales? Those were great buffs without a timer, and I'll be very sad to see them go away.

Overall: I'm interested to see how stances combine with the trait trees; what does it mean to run Dissonance while traited for heals? I am cautiously optimistic, but we'll see how the actual implementation works.

[tkroll]

I see what you did there.

I saw it too!!!! beat me too it- thats what I get for rereading A Memory of Light....

My initial reaction to this is kinda meh...not enough details, not enough info, overall it seems like the goal is to make the minstrel more focused on one set up....perhaps I am wrong about that. The healing stuff looks good on paper (I mostly heal) but I also usually carry some warspeech traits as well- enough to do a fair amount of damage should I need them. removing the aoe's from the ws line is disappointing. And the buffing line....I rolled that line for a long time and while the buffs are nice if you are the only healer or even just the main healer in a group it doesn't bring enough to the table, perhaps that's changed with some of the updates.

That all being said I still can't wait to try it....doesn't sound like the minstrel got the lovin the LM did, or the hunters belatedly received.

[bastiat1]

Orion, I hope you're having fun on "Infinite Crisis". We miss ya over here brotha.

Here is what a real Dev Diary looks like- for posterity's sake....

[VeryBeary]

[QUOTE=bastiat1;6937763]Orion, I hope you're having fun on "Infinite Crisis". We miss ya over here brotha.

Here is what a real Dev Diary looks like- for posterity's sake....



Oh, wow, does that ever bring back memories! I printed it out at the time and carried it to work every day, reading it at lunch when I got the chance to take a lunch. Yes, that was splendid--it was my study guide :-)!

VeryBeary

[bastiat1]

[Maligree]

Here is what a real Dev Diary looks like- for posterity's sake....

The Orion minstrel manual appeared a week after NDA was lifted and less than a month before the release (26/8 - 1/9 - 27/9), of course then there is more in depth information ...

[bastiat1]

[Leixy]

Thank you for reminding Turbine what a real Developer Diary is supposed to look like. It seems they have forgotten.

[Moondog548]

Orion's ROI Minstrel

./slow_clap
./single_tear

I've been a minstrel since Beta '07 and I was never more in love with the class as I have been since RoI.

Very concerned about what little info we've gotten making it look like they're just taking fun bits away (AoE nuking, Anthem Juggling) and not much word on adding anything except 6 new flavors of healspam.

[Norwrei]

Thanks for the update Mr. Eggs! I like the format of the new diaries. They actually look like diaries now in this lotro blog looking format. Cool. Deviled eggs are actually one of my fav foods, especially during the holidays. As a dps raiding minstrel only.. I'm delighted with powerful single target dps.. it's been on my Christmas wish for a long time.. thanks santa! cookies and milk for you this year but no more kissing mama under the mistletoe! Seriously speaking .. the diary does not say no more aoe dps.. as someone else mentioned orome IS aoe. Let's not all go into panic mode based on fearful assumptions which are probably incorrect.

[clarabelle]

I'm personally interested in how competitive Dissonance will be in terms of dps. These thin lines of texts, tells me nothing. Will we be able to compete with Hunters and RK, as ranged damage dealers in groups? Sure hope so, because playing the heal bot gets dull at times. We have been the worse ST dps class in the game, for way to long now.

If Dissonance is yet another solo spec without sustainable dps (and apparently no badass AoE either?) I will be very disappointed. I do read that haste (what ever it is) reduces the cd for calls and cries. The massive cool-down on dps-skills have always prevented us from playing that role in groups. So this might works out nicely.

The healing line and traits seems very similar to what we already got. Just simplified. They removed the anthem mechanics, sadly, because I liked it. But you will still build up ballads for Coda. With high crit you can probably dish out a massive amount of heals with next to no induction. Sounds okay for tank healing. We did lack a bit in that department, compared to our flexible nemesis, the Rune-keeper. Would like to have more info on AoE heals, still.

Support line seem a bit lazy in terms of development, if I only go by this tiny bit of information. How is “Call to Greatness” a new thing and different to what it does now? Based on this information, its exactly the same freaking skill, unless the cool-down has been removed. "Guarding Song of the Hammerhand", sounds like Blade Brother with a bubble, no complains there if I can use it frequently. We also get some debuffs, but I rather play my Loremaster or get a Burglar for that.

I'm also pretty curious about our future inductions. Minstrels strength have always been mobility and kiting while firing loads of instant skills. Really hope we get to keep some of it.

[zoxtrel]

Tier 6 of the deeds requires Heralded Saviour, using "Song of Aid" 400 times. I cannot find "Song of Aid" in any tree or any longer on my skills panel. Help!

[Calta]

That new Call to Greatness skill sounds incredible. I wish we had something like that on live now.

“Call to Greatness”, buffs each member of your fellowship based on what class they are. For example, the Captain will gain a Defeat Response and enter a Battle-readied state every few seconds. Hunters will receive a constant drip of extra focus to use."

? It sounds just like the one on my tool bar now-how does this buff match with the other class changes?

Remember Orion's developer diary-my PDF of it is 13 pages. Thread that he responded in, is here .....

https://www.lotro.com/en/forums/show...Diary-Feedback

This is the level of detail I'd really appreciate.

[Ariholwen]

Very disappointed with the level of detail in this DD, with the possible loss of AoE and the possible changes to the way ballads work. In general, the fact that the DD gives no information, just hints at a few things, and that the dev feels no need to interact with the community. Shame.

[Lynx3d]

Have to say, this one really sounds like changes for changes sake and could destroy a great class.
What was wrong with our existing stances? Why do we need to be single-target DPS now? Why does everyone have to be a crit-monster now? (not that minstels already benefited quite nicely from crit rating also for healing)

I really hope this very sketchy description draws a wrong picture, otherwise I see many unhappy minstrels coming up, and we do have a lot in our kin...certainly not because the class currently sucks and needs an overhaul.

I'm looking forwawrd to my Burglar in HD, Captain doesn't sound too bad either, but my third most played character, a minstrel, is terrified right now...

[Mennhabar]

Losing our AOE DPS skills is my biggest worry with the Minstrel changes.

I agree. That would be VERY disappointing.

[LurtzArcher]

Losing our AOE DPS skills is my biggest worry with the Minstrel changes.

Exactly! I would prefer my survivability not be based on a rotation of DPS-Heal-DPs-Heal...

[Fiohn]

Stances, I though these were being removed for all classes, that's what talent trees are supposed to allow.

Hoping to get more clarification too on what is happening to AoE cries and self-healing.

Would've like more clarification on the new system of the interplay between ballads and codas, is it only when traiting 'Inspired Finish' and 'Haste', and how anthems fit into it.

[timmyloo22546]

"The Protector of Song is the Minstrel’s support line. This specialization shines in group play, giving you the ability to cast powerful buffs to enhance you and your fellows, as well as strong debuffs to hinder your foes."

Minstrels now get debuffs along with their buffs? Curious to what they are. Minstrel anthems were fairly potent and for 95% of group play they could simply go 3 watcher 4 protector to keep their anthems running. It sounds like their support line will be even more potent. I hope you give RKs something half ways decent otherwise there will be no incentive to bring a healing RK

[lordmattabir]

They don't even mention our AOEs, they just state that we are Single target destruction , I'm sure we still have our AOEs or Turbine would of mentioned them.

[lordmattabir]

Plus it said we get Call of Orome in the Warrior Skald tree, which is an Aoe