LotRO Devs Go In-Depth on Helm's Deep Class Changes

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253965">

When the Lord of the
Rings Online
's next expansion, Helm's Deep,
launches in November, it will introduce some major changes to the game's
nine character classes. It is easily the biggest class system revamp since
the Mines of Moria expansion five years ago, and possibly even more
ambitious than that one. While the Mines of Moria class revamp mostly just
changed the way a character organized his traits, the Helm's Deep revamp
will potentially alter the way the character is played.

The staff at Turbine gave us a guided tour of the new system, with
in-depth looks at the Warden, the Captain, the Hunter and the Guardian.
But before they got into the real specifics, they addressed the whole need
for a revamp in general. 

Why Now?

"That is the big question," said Matt Zimmitti, Lead Systems Designer.
"There are several good reasons. First off, so many of our classes over
time, with expansions and 'Month of This Class or That Class' and what
have you, have gotten so many skills that were adding utility at the cost
of potency. We were starting to get crossover abilities between the
classes and we didn't actually have really strong archetypes anymore. So
philosophically, we wanted to get back to the core."

In other words, skill bloat accrued over the past six years had made many
of the classes feel sort of "generic" and not unique. The revamp trims
away the fat and strips the classes down to their essentials, making them
more focused and therefore better at what they do. 

"We wanted the characters to feel like they had really defined roles,"
Matt explained. "That's not to say that there won't be any
mixing-and-matching or hybridization, but we wanted it to feel like, if
you chose a DPS build, you really felt like it had a bunch of punch. If
you picked a tank build, you really felt like you could step in the pocket
like no one else and really soak up a lot of damage."

Helm's Deep Class Changes - More potent Minstrel

But it wasn't just a matter of potency. The changes are designed to allow
for future development as well.

"Functionally, it's harder and harder to write up new, potent skills when
each class has such a variety of different abilities," Matt continued. "We
had a lot of skill bloat, a lot of people are running around with
four-plus full bars of skills, and we know for a fact they weren't all
getting used. We finally got to a point where we wanted to look at all the
classes all at once, with the goal of more potent skills even if that
means fewer of them."

So not only do these changes allow for more focused combat roles, but
they also allow for a more streamlined, less-cluttered game interface. Or,
alternately, much more room on the skill bars for consumables, macros,
gear swaps and other non-standard clickies. As the game moves forward
towards Mordor, streamlining now leaves room for later.

The UI

To accomplish this revamp, the team had to build a new user interface,
which is organized similar to Mounted Combat trait tree system. At level
6, the character picks a specialization - essentially, picking which trait
tree will be the main focus of that build. Level 6 characters have no
points to spend yet, but they can pick the blue, red or yellow trait tree.

Helm's Deep Class Changes - Pick a Spec

Picking a specialization determines a couple of things. Firstly, it
determines the point-cost of the all traits. The traits within the
specialization tree cost one point per pip, and the traits in the other
trees cost 2 points. Characters get one trait point every two levels, and
additional points for completing the deeds that used to reward traits. At
level 95, characters can top out at 60 - 65 points to distribute among
their traits (since it's still in beta, this number is not yet final),
which allows for a full specialization in one tree, plus a number of
pick-up traits in the other two trees. Level 85 characters who have done
all their class deeds will start with 55 when the expansion goes live.

Helm's Deep Class Changes - Full Spec, 55 points

Secondly, each specialization bestows a unique set of specialist skills
and bonuses, separate from but dependent on the specialization traits.
Each specialization comes bundled with a small group of skills that
automatically get added to the toolbar, and which are removed when a
different specialization is chosen. Additionally, further skills are
unlocked by spending points within that trait tree, or improved by
spending more points. Spending your points in the specialization traits
unlocks more of the passive specialization bonuses. The deeper you go into
your specialization, the more bonuses you unlock. Once you hit the cap,
you can effectively hybridize by spending points outside the
specialization without sacrificing the build. A hybrid build will have far
fewer traits overall because of the cost of traits outside of the
specialization, and will unlock fewer of the specialization bonuses.

Helm's Deep Class Changes - 55 point hybrid build

Players will start with two specialization tabs, allowing for two
different setups that can be swapped on-the-fly as long as the character
is not in combat. More slots can be purchased through the LotRO Store.
Like the Mounted Combat trait tree setups, each spec can be renamed and
can focus on a different trait tree, allowing the character to swap combat
roles mid-adventure as easily as switching weapons.

The Classes

Helm's Deep Class Changes - Warden

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253970">Warden

Wardens have long had the benefit of being able to adapt their combat
role on-the-fly, generally by using different gambit rotations depending
on whether they are tanking or DPSing. With the new setup, they should
prove to be more effective and focused in those roles. Determination spec
replaces Way of the Shield and focuses on tanking and self-heals,
Recklessness replaces Way of the Spear and focuses on damage-dealing, and
Assailment replaces Way of the Fist and focuses mainly on ranged
skills. 



Helm's Deep Class Changes - Captain

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253971">Captain

The Captain is in a unique position, already having three fairly distinct
combat roles. Much of the Captain's buffing ability has been condensed and
consolidated, and is now mostly combat-generated rather than requiring a
refresh every 30 minutes or so. The Leader of Men line should prove to be
more effective for endgame off-tanking now, while Hands of Healing and
Lead the Charge continue to do what they have always done.


Helm's Deep Class Changes - Hunter

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253972">Hunter

Hunters are arguably one of the more "fragile" classes when it comes to
this kind of build-tweaking. They are essentially one-trick ponies whose
only real combat role is to dish out ranged damage, and anything that
affects their damage numbers can have a significant impact on the class.
To that end, the three lines have been given more distinction from one
another. The Huntsman spec allows for movement while using induction and
Focus shots, with no Focus loss from movement, making it a run-and-gun
line. Bowmaster remains focused on Strength stance and hitting big damage
numbers while standing more or less still at extreme range. Trapper of
Foes is the big winner here, giving the Hunter the ability to lay an
alarming number of more-powerful traps simultaneously. A lot of players
have voiced concern about some survival skills going missing, but these
missing skills are offset by increased damage output.


Helm's Deep Class Changes - Guardian

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/253973">Guardian

The Guardian is still a "main tank" class, and the Defender of the Free
and Keen Blade lines remain largely unchanged as far as how they affect
gameplay. However, Helm's Deep comes with another sort of "hidden" revamp
to how threat is generated and how aggro is calculated. The simplification
of the threat/aggro system made the Fighter of Shadow line, which focused
on threat generation, redundant, and it is now designed around tanking
with 2-handed weapons and debuffing target-marked enemies. Guardians and
Wardens will now rely more on forced-attack taunts and off-tank swapping
than on building or leeching threat. But, essentially, anyone running a
tank spec, regardless of class, will simply generate more threat.


LoTRO's NGE?

A question that was asked of the team, and one that has been tossing
around on the forums for a while, is: "will this be LotRO's 'New Game
Enhancement'?" The NGE was a major game-changer in Star Wars Galaxies that
upset a majority of the game's players and lead to a huge drop in
subscription numbers, primarily because a) it made fundamental changes to
the basic systems that stripped the game of its original uniqueness, b)
left a lot of existing characters crippled or obsolete by eliminating most
of the professions, and c) was unleashed on the game with almost no
warning.

The short answer is, "no, this is not LotRO's NGE."

Helm's Deep Class Changes - Burglar

Let's be frank: this revamp will not appeal to everybody. There will
always be a few very outspoken critics whenever a major change comes down
the pipe, and especially when said changes affect the way the critics have
been playing the game for six years running. Some players will get
disgusted, complain very loudly and leave - that always happens when
change is introduced. Other players will eagerly embrace the new system
because it gives them the opportunity to play exactly how they have always
wanted to play. Turbine is banking on the idea that there will be way more
embracers than detractors.

A lot of skeptics are won over by the new system after seeing it in
action, even veterans who have been around since pre-Moria days. Though
they may take some getting used-to, Helm's Deep's class changes are not
gimping anyone like the NGE did. Yes, it is a major change to a core
system that will make characters feel sometimes very different from how
they used to be. But most players will find it to be different in a good
way. DPSers will have more punch, tanks will feel tankier, healers will be
able to spam green easier. Characters should feel more potent and
streamlined. 

The developers are well-aware of this comparison to Star Wars Galaxies'
much-reviled NGE, having read it on the forums and fansites many times
over now. When asked this question directly, Matt Zimmitti admitted, "The
answer in terms of fear is yes. I don't get a lot of sleep at night. But
we had finally gotten to a point where so many different bits of feedback
were funneling towards really needing this fundamental change. This isn't
just about paring down the number of skills - if we were going to do that,
we would have left the system intact and just taken a bunch of skills
away. We really wanted combat to have more impact and have more critical
character choices depending on how you build your character, and it really
required doing all the classes at once. So, in changing things this
dramatically, the actual core skill rotations are very similar, but it's
how you choose to build that is very different. You really have to take
the whole engine off the block and make a comprehensive change."

Helm's Deep Class Changes - Lore-master

"Every step of the way, as our group of players have been giving
feedback, there's been a two-week period each time where there has been a
flat-out revolt against the concept. And then people play for a bit and
they start to get it, and they start realizing that their feedback is
getting rolled into these changes. And then after about two weeks, okay,
people start to grok it. We've had three or four phases of this, and it's
given us a degree of confidence that we are on the right path. It's not a
knee-jerk decision, a lot of work has gone into it, and we've gotten a lot
of feedback that it does play better. "

The Helm's Deep expansion launches on November 18, and is currently in
closed beta.


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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