If you're a Lord of the Rings Online Warden, then your world is about to change. Update 6 will reshape this advanced class to strengthen the Warden as a tank, offer a better DPS role, and fashion a ranged fighting trait line. The latter will also be DPS, although it will also offer some measure of support for groups.
The latest dev diary by Turbine walks us through these changes as the team works to clearly define the three styles of play. One of the big changes is the addition of a brand-new gambit builder, which comes from javelin throws when players are fighting in the new ranged (Assailment) stance. This gambit builder will replace the spear thrusts in the stance, as it's somewhat difficult to jab someone from 40 meters away with a stick.
Another significant change is the addition to what Turbine calls "flavoring" for gambits. These are bonus effects that change depending on the Warden's stance to strengthen tanking, melee DPS, or ranged DPS. Other fun tweaks to the class include allowing Wardens to prep a gambit ahead of a battle and a huge overhaul to the three trait lines.
Reader Comments (10)
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 5:34PM jimr9999us said
Warden love is long overdue. These changes look well thought out and designed. Grats Wardens :)
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 6:31PM Ghostspeaker said
My Warden was the first character in LotRO I really fell in love with, it'll be great seeing how she plays after this goes live. It's an awesome and truly unique class, and they've been in desperate need of some dev love since Mirkwood. Between this and the Minstrel overhaul I'm really liking the direction their class design is taking this xpac.
Can't wait!!!
Can't wait!!!
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 6:39PM (Unverified) said
But, how many turbine points will it cost to get the changes?
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 7:27PM aurickle said
@(Unverified)
I know you're being sarcastic but just in case some innocent reader doesn't realize that:
This update is free to all subscribers. The new quests will require freemium players to buy the quest pack just like other zones in the game. The class love being given to Wardens and Rune-Keepers is free to everyone. Of course, if you don't already have access to those classes you won't be able to play them until you purchase that access.
Reply
I know you're being sarcastic but just in case some innocent reader doesn't realize that:
This update is free to all subscribers. The new quests will require freemium players to buy the quest pack just like other zones in the game. The class love being given to Wardens and Rune-Keepers is free to everyone. Of course, if you don't already have access to those classes you won't be able to play them until you purchase that access.
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 7:25PM Loopy said
Hmm, that actually sounds nice. Maybe i should revisit LOTRO and give my Warden another shot.
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 8:09PM Graill440 said
The warden is the more complicated class to play and is still tough to bring down in the ettens, now they are going to buff this guy? Good grief chalie brown.
Yes, yes i know it is for pve play but the buffs spill into pvp play and these wardens will be as op as minnies and burgs in the ettens now.
Yes, yes i know it is for pve play but the buffs spill into pvp play and these wardens will be as op as minnies and burgs in the ettens now.
Posted: Mar 9th 2012 10:58PM WeirdJedi said
Ever since Isengard was released, I could tell that the warden was dragging behind in their abilities. Perhaps the problem was that their abilities were not scaling right or that the new stat changes made it difficult to perform in combat. It was quite obvious that the warden was becoming a less effective tank.
I'm not telling people to avoid bringing in a warden to tank. A good warden can tank just as much as a good captain can tank. The issue is that the amount of effort put forth in order to be a good warden can drain all the fun out of the experience. I am happy to finally see the warden changes front and center.
I'm not telling people to avoid bringing in a warden to tank. A good warden can tank just as much as a good captain can tank. The issue is that the amount of effort put forth in order to be a good warden can drain all the fun out of the experience. I am happy to finally see the warden changes front and center.
Posted: Mar 10th 2012 7:09AM Nerves said
Update doesn't do a lot to fix the warden's main weakness: Spike damage. With the last expansion, mitigations were tweaked, and the mitigation gap between heavy armor classes and medium went from 20% to about 66%, with wardens taking twice the damage of guards in some situations (due to us taking more and bigger crits as well). They have enough self-heals to make that up and more for most content, but for raids - wardens are still a lot weaker that guards. This update is largely a response to that mitigation change, but fails ultimately, because they didn't address the initial cause of the imbalance. Will the warden be a better class for it? I think so. Will it be a better leveling experience? Definitely. Will it be equivalent to guardians for raids. Not a chance. They buffed the heck out of the class in areas it was already overpowered, though. Meaning wardens on the test server are already succeeding at soloing on-level 3 and 6 man instances.
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