With the Rise of Isengard expansion just a little over a month
away, Turbine is revealing some upcoming class changes for the
Lord of the Rings Online. The first two such revelations are for
Burglars and Captains, both typically considered "support"
classes.

For Captains, the biggest changes come to the Leader of Men trait
line. According to Tim "Raskolnikov" Lang:

To me, the buffing “role” of the Captain is inherently
part of the class and shouldn’t be restricted to any one trait
line. Therefore, a major part of these changes is making the
Leader of Men trait line focus more on tanking. And it’s always
good to have more classes able to fill required roles, especially
when it comes to tanking. While some players might choose not to
make use of the updates to Leader of Men, I’m glad the Captain now
has the option to focus on any particular role they wishes.

In its current iteration, the Leader of Men line is the "group
buffing" line, with the capstone legendary skill spreading minor
versions of the Shield-brother buffs across the whole group. This
will change with the reworking of the Defy Corruption legendary
trait. It will instead be called "Fellowship-brother," and will
apply lesser effects from the Brother skills to the entire group.
Players who have been traiting 5 Leader of Men for the capstone
trait's group-wide effects may find that they need to sacrifice
one of their other legendaries for Fellowship-brother.

At higher levels (70 and 74), new "Brother" stances can be
learned. Song-brother, at level 70, changes the Brother skills to
better benefit healers. Blade-brother, at level 74, changes the
Brother skills to better benefit DPS classes.

Additionally, all of the legendary capstone traits have been
reworked:

• Leader of Men - When using Shield-brother, the Captain gains
  the full benefits of Shield-brother skills (Inspire, Strength of
  Will, To Arms); Routing Cry no longer requires a defeat event;
  the Captain is able to block while wielding any 2-handed weapon.
• Hands of Healing - When using Song-brother, the Captain gains
  the full benefits of Song-brother skills.
• Master of War - When using Blade-brother, the Captain gains
  the full benefits of the Blade-brother skills; Shadow's Lament
  cooldown penalty removed; Shadow's Lament puts Captain in
  battle-readied state on a successful hit.

Also worth noting: In Defense of Middle-earth is now a toggled
skill with an aura and no power cost, and it scales past level 50.
One of the biggest game-changers will be the switch from Will to
Might to determine the Captain's Tactical Offense and Outgoing
Healing ratings. For some, this will mean a major gear change, but
many current Captains see these changes as very positive.

The rest of the changes are detailed in Rise
of Isengard: Captain Developer Diary

The Burglar changes are rather less jarring. According to Lang:

When we first looked at the Burglar it became apparent
that overall the class was in pretty good shape. Because the
Burglar had fairly recently had a ‘Month of’ update we decided to
keep the changes focused around polishing some of the rough edges.
However, there will always be things to continue improving as we
keep putting out more Updates. But for now, we’re going to keep
things simple and safe.

There is, however, one game-changer in the pipes for Burglars:
Riddle and Confound can now be used on any creature type.
Currently, these crowd-control skills are usable only against
intelligent humanoid creatures (orcs, goblins, trolls, ancient
evil) and undead. This change allows Burglars to mezz mobs that
are currently only mezzable by Lore-masters and Hunters.

The rest of the changes are detailed in Rise
of Isengard: Burglar Developer Diary

Expect more Dev Diaries in the following weeks.