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Post by Herebrand on Mar 14, 2014 16:34:52 GMT -5
One of the senior members of LOTRO's staff has revealed in a live stream that there will be a new class later on this year. Nothing else is known at this time. Thoughts and opinions? What do you think the new class will be?
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Post by Eldoin on Mar 15, 2014 10:31:49 GMT -5
hmmm maybe Ranger?a hybrid class, a bit jack of all trades. a dual wielding medium armor class, with healing ability, less bow skills than hunter but enough to add flavour.
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Post by Fordil on Mar 15, 2014 10:58:31 GMT -5
Probably the ranger indeed, I guess it's a mixture between hunter - burglar with a few healing skills. I wonder, IF it is the ranger, will it be available to other races than Men? If not, it's good for the lore but it means that there are 2 races only available to the race of man. If they can be played by other races, it's a huge lore-breaker... Either way, I'd rather see something else for other races, but I can't think of anything... Wizards would be hard to do since there are so few wizards according to the lore, but pretty much all other possibilities are already covered.
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Post by Sagewell on Mar 17, 2014 18:18:54 GMT -5
I'm not a lore wizard (pun!), but isnt there supposed to be only five wizards? Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast and the two "Blue" wizards?
I'm kind of hoping there will be some "oh, there was a hidden village/valley/clan of skin-changers that were left untouched over the years and now they want to come out of hibernation". Wizards are nice, but we already have LMs.
If it is skin-changers, I made up a little bit of what I'd like to see them as. If it suites the reader, change "bear" to "berserker".
Tank tree: Bear Form and Threat Increase on relevent sbilities. Abilities/Skills would be on the lines of: Maul, deals physical damage + threat to one target Swipe, AoE physical damage + AoE threat, 5-10 second cooldown Roar, force taunt, AoE threat with skill tree points
DPS tree Bear Form (smaller, maybe?) minus +threat buff. Maul and Swipe, minus the +threat buffs Gnaw (or Crunch/Bite), damage + physical DoT
Healer tree Access to Bear Form, but can use heal skills only in human form. Skills would be similar to how a Herbalist could be described. Soothing Herb, applies a HoT + Power over time with skill tree point(s). Quick Herb, short induction, medium morale recovery Mending Herbs, 2.5 second induction, big morale heal
Skills Used by All 3 Trees: Claw (turns into Maul for tank/dps trees), only in bear form Bash, interupt, +stun for tank/dps trees Cure Poison, +Disease and one aditional debuff with healer skill tree
Medium Armour, +mitigation for tank tree, +physical mastery and mitigation for DPS tree, +tactical mastery & mitigation for healer Wields clubs, staves and axes (dual wielding at higher level -or- only dps tree) Maybe shields, if it can be tank and/or healer tree only. Class LI could be a totem. "Bear" totems give mitigations and parry. "Tiger" totems give damage or +1-3 targets on some abolities, "Monkey" totems give boosts to tactical mastery or +healing%. Craftable by woodworkers, with some needs from Jeweller.
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Post by ellahad on Mar 19, 2014 22:38:10 GMT -5
I agree with Sage about the likelihood of skin-changers. However, here's a fun idea...the Druadan Warrior. She/he would be a sort of burglar/hunter/RK hybrid; the same stealth of burgs, dps/tracking/porting as hunters, and rune-healing abilities of RKs. However, they could also create totems in a stealth mode as a kind of animated 'statue warrior' that come to life when mobs pass within a set range (you can tell I've been reading History of Middle Earth lately, and listening to the Tolkien Professor). They would take damage as their totems are injured (like the fables from the people of Haleth). Perhaps the could have a Turn to Stone buff, and Gift of Foresight (you make up what that one does...)
The issue is, just like Rangers and Beornings, these are men. So to be lore-correct these would only be available to men, and specifically there would also have to be a new race, the Druedain (this wouldn't have to be the case with Rangers or Beornings).
With skin-changers, a good deal of the animations and physics have already been created - I think of the Lathbears in Rohan as a starting point. Anyway, it's fun to speculate.
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Post by Onnika/Bookwerm on Mar 20, 2014 21:34:46 GMT -5
Hmm... the idea of a skin-changer sounds awesome I would love to be able to change into a wolf or something I think that a Druid class would be great too. I did play a druid a long time ago on Ultima Online, and I liked the earth-magic of it RP-wise, and the magic casting spells in battle. I agree, it could be a cool mix of RK, Hunter, LM to make it. Lore-wise, Ranger seems to be the more logical option, though. If they do go with Ranger, hopefully they will at least make it available to both Men and Elves.
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Post by Cuarlang / Legladhor on Mar 24, 2014 17:19:02 GMT -5
As for the lore-appropriateness of a Ranger class being available to any (in-game) race other than that of Man, remember that there are rangers and then there are Rangers. ;-) True, it wouldn't make sense for an Elf or a Hobbit or a Dwarf to be a Ranger of the North (i.e. a Dúnadan of Eriador) or a Ranger of Ithilien (who by no means are all actual Dúnedain like the Rangers of the North), but I, for one, could certain see an Elf being a ranger in terms of skill set and tactical acumen.
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Post by Faral Garriden on Mar 31, 2014 11:38:23 GMT -5
A NINJA!!!! hahahaha .... just kidding No idea what it could be ... I just hope its a fun class Faral
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Post by Fordil on Apr 15, 2014 9:29:22 GMT -5
The new class will be the Beorning (aka shapeshifter). This will be a class for the race of man, which will focus on control of the battlefield. They'll wear light armor and gather rage up to a certain point to transform into a mighty bear.
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Aotea
New Member
Posts: 28
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Post by Aotea on Apr 16, 2014 19:49:31 GMT -5
Not sure how I feel about this. I think I'd be happier knowing that Beornings are "out there" somewhere but very very rare and not something you're ever likely to see. It would be fun to interact with an NPC Beorning, but I'm not excited to see them all the time.
What does everybody else think?
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Post by Fordil on Apr 19, 2014 14:18:20 GMT -5
I agree, it doesn't really fit into the lore to have 10% of all warriors being able to transform into beasts. A ranger would have been a lot more appropriate, although it has its disadvantages as well. We'll just have to wait and see, I'm sure they'll be fun to play as well... Just hoping they won't be too expensive.
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Post by Sagewell on May 2, 2014 19:53:51 GMT -5
Im not sure how I feel after reading up on the Beornings a bit. They feel too rare to be available to the playerbase. I like the idea... But at the same time, Im not sure if I want to see droves of them around town. Hmm, at least they wont be in and around the towns in bear form, by the sound of their "build rage then shapechange" ability. Hoping it wont be a "10 seconds of awesome on 5 minute cooldown" kind.
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