Thread: RK changes on Bullroarer

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...ges-to-the-RKs

There's the link to a thread I made in the Bullroarer forums that has the patch notes that deal with the changes to the RK. It seems ZC responded well to our cries though the healing RK has gotten a semi distressing new mechanic that is clunky and could hurt us.

Originally Posted by Gohankuten

It seems ZC responded well to our cries though the healing RK has gotten a semi distressing new mechanic that is clunky and could hurt us.

More clunky then swapping stone mid combat, and less distressing then needing to keep one of each stone in your LI slots? Combining instant cast writs at all attunements with Affinity persisting between battles makes it work fairly easily. Healing RK's will take a few battles to get used to it, absolutely. However, play-testing has shown it to quickly become second nature. None of the alternatives were very promising:

• 3 new toggle skills for each attunement is the opposite of cleaning up quickslots.
• More chisels would be overkill and equally annoying as swapping rune-stones.
• 3 new consumables would be a bother to keep around.

Try it out, I think you'll find it is a lot more fun!

Can anyone tell me if the changes to the Fiery Ridicule trait and Writ of Fire traits are additions to what was there or if they replace the previous functionality (AOE FR & tier down WoF & reduced CD respectively)? If they add to it, that's awesome, if not I'll need to do some fiddling with my traits and play style.

The changes are going to make the class more fun to play, definitely deeper. Affinity change is making me very sad but as stated, what was the alternative, and yeah having 5 devoted LI slots was old long ago.

Originally Posted by Zombie_Columbus

More clunky then swapping stone mid combat, and less distressing then needing to keep one of each stone in your LI slots? Combining instant cast writs at all attunements with Affinity persisting between battles makes it work fairly easily. Healing RK's will take a few battles to get used to it, absolutely. However, play-testing has shown it to quickly become second nature. None of the alternatives were very promising:

• 3 new toggle skills for each attunement is the opposite of cleaning up quickslots.
• More chisels would be overkill and equally annoying as swapping rune-stones.
• 3 new consumables would be a bother to keep around.

Try it out, I think you'll find it is a lot more fun!

The biggest problem for the healing RKs is the attunement hit this affinity change makes. The extra attunement cost added on top of the skills hurts our healing.

Originally Posted by Gohankuten

The biggest problem for the healing RKs is the attunement hit this affinity change makes. The extra attunement cost added on top of the skills hurts our healing.

Correct. You trade a small amount of healing for damage and an affinity swap. 1 step of attunement is made up for nearly instantly in a heal rotation.

•Fiery Ridicule: Return Power to the RK.

There's no trait called that. If you meant Conflagration of Runes, has the AOE been removed?
That would be one epic nerf...

Originally Posted by Ruintheliel

There's no trait called that. If you meant Conflagration of Runes, has the AOE been removed?
That would be one epic nerf...

Context is relevant, I think Sapience made the indents a little confusing:

• Scathing Retort – Reworked. Smouldering Wrath provides additional effects based on fire effects active on the target. Cooldown is also reduced by 15 seconds.
• Writ of Fire: Increase damage by 5% per tier.
• Fiery Ridicule: Return Power to the RK.
• Mystifying Flame: Reduce Tactical Mitigation.

These are the 3 bonus effects that SR grants, based on which are active on your target. In other words, use FR, then use SR, and you will get power back as it's (now considerable) damage pulses.

Originally Posted by Zombie_Columbus

Context is relevant, I think Sapience made the indents a little confusing:

• Scathing Retort – Reworked. Smouldering Wrath provides additional effects based on fire effects active on the target. Cooldown is also reduced by 15 seconds.
• Writ of Fire: Increase damage by 5% per tier.
• Fiery Ridicule: Return Power to the RK.
• Mystifying Flame: Reduce Tactical Mitigation.

These are the 3 bonus effects that SR grants, based on which are active on your target. In other words, use FR, then use SR, and you will get power back as it's (now considerable) damage pulses.

One thing ZC. Can we get the AoE component of FR moved over to Linoid now so Linoid designates if we want to AoE or not for fire? Cause there are fire RKs that would like the increased damage on FR without the AoEs and it would seem better to put all the AoE on 1 trait instead of splitting it. Also how will the linoids be acquired now in the skill deeds since they now longer effect calming verse?

Originally Posted by Zombie_Columbus

Context is relevant, I think Sapience made the indents a little confusing:

• Scathing Retort – Reworked. Smouldering Wrath provides additional effects based on fire effects active on the target. Cooldown is also reduced by 15 seconds.
• Writ of Fire: Increase damage by 5% per tier.
• Fiery Ridicule: Return Power to the RK.
• Mystifying Flame: Reduce Tactical Mitigation.

These are the 3 bonus effects that SR grants, based on which are active on your target. In other words, use FR, then use SR, and you will get power back as it's (now considerable) damage pulses.

His formatting and my overtime do not go hand in hand, indeed. Thanks for clearing it up.

I still remain sceptical of all the changes, tho. A lot of details, but the net result is what matters.
At first glance, it seems like there's gonna be a lot of micro-managing in combat. Could be fun, could be cumbersome. Needs testing.

Tbh these changes do make me want to give healing a try on the RK, my Minnie may truly never leave the stable again

Can I whine about retraiting costs now?

The affinity cost of the rune-signs doesn't bother me. It's only 1 pt. We give up a lot more for other neutralizing skills.

I'm pretty ecstatic about the changes overall, with some small concerns regarding high power costs (even if it's rarely a problem with us RKs whether DPS or heal spec'd) and group-wide buffing potential while healing. Everything else looks very good though.
I am curious though - with Master of Writs now removed from the game, what change will there be to the riffler of writs? Is that seeing a change or is it being removed from the game, consequently, too?

My first thought on the Affinity changes is how will it affect Fall to XXX skills? There's no way, now, to change your affinity outside combat. Fall to XXX skills dont aggro; they're meant to be a pre-combat debuff on a target. Now, you cant choose which Fall to XXX skill you want to go with, you just have to go with whatever affinity you happened to use last in your last fight. Especially now that FtOW is not a standalone skill anymore. And since the FtX skills have secondary debuffs, it matters more than when they were just bonus damage.

The same for Armor of XXX, if you wanted to cast that before combat...

I dont know what the answer here would be, though. There has to be some way to set your affinity OOC before a fight. Either add a skill that will let you set affinity (a self-buff for each element, or just a functionless "affinity attunement" skill on a 1m cooldown), or maybe have Healing skills cycle through your Affinities when used out-of-combat.

Z.C. - thank you for the changes. They look very nice and I'm now anxious for Update 6 being released live.
Do you think it's possible to have the improved rune-sign of x changed to group-wide instead of just single-target for the healing RKs? It's a wonderful boost to one player, but it would be rather nice to have the whole group benefit from it.
I'm not sure if that would be overpowered or not though, or if it's even possible.

Wow, so much info, it took me a while to digest it, but nothing better to do in the hospital so .

Let´s start it.

Writs – All Writs (Frost, Flame, and Health) now have no attunement requirements. They can be used at all times!
Master of Writs - This skill has been removed from the game.
Affinity – Affinity has been removed from all rune-stones. Affinity skills are now modified by the elements of the previously used skill. Affinity will persist outside combat. EX: Armour of Storm will change to Armour of Flame when Fiery Ridicule is used. It will become Armour of Frost if you use Chilling Rhetoric.
Calming Verse - This skill has been reworked. The two Linnod traits no longer enhance it. It now reduces perceived threat by 25% (which will drop some agro momentarily) and reduces power costs of all skills by 10%. These bonuses will last for 10 seconds. Each of the four traitlines now has a 4-set bonus that will further enhance the trait.
Frost Skills - Global power cost reduction on all Frost skills.
Weapon of Storm/Frost/Flame - These skills have been substantially changed; they are now healing skills and have been re-named to "Rune-sign of X". 1 second induction, 30 second cooldown, requires 6 healing attunement, applies a small heal over time to an ally and a buff depending on what your current Affinity is. Improved Rune-sign applies an enhanced buff (listed after the / below)

Writs usable at all times is a nice feature, specially on PvMP healing and also on fellowships. The Affinity sounds weird but i´m fairly sure we will get used to it.
The CV damage "nerf" - 10% - is more or less balanced by capstone legendary and extra % on 4 traits buff. Still, this makes the traitline even more important than ever, meaning Lightning skills will do less damage if Fire traited, or even Healing skills will heal a 10% less if DPS traited. I personally don´t like the change despite it´s better not to be casting it every minute, but can live with it.
The new Weapon of X skills means you lose a 3% damage when DPSing, or a -3% mitigation debuff to be more exact. Couple it with CV damage out ... humm i´m not sure if my skills are going to do more, or less damage. Nice buff overall for healers who can waste 1 second on a small heal.

Lightning

Old Set Bonuses

2 Equipped:
Chilling Rhetoric useable at all Attunements and -10s Cooldown
3 Equipped:
+25% Fury of Storm Critical Multiplier
-5 Shocking Words Cooldown
4 Equipped:
Occasionally become Charged, granting increased critical damage making Sustaining Bolt free.
+40% Sustaining Bolt damage
+2% lightning damage for each Solitary Thunder trait equipped


New set Bonuses

2 Equipped:
Chilling Rhetoric useable at all Attunements and applies a -30% movespeed debuff after its target takes damage
3 Equipped:
+25% Fury of Storm Critical Multiplier
Increased critical hit chance
4 Equipped:
Occasionally become Charged, making Sustaining Bolt free and Essence of Storm criticals deal 50% bonus damage.
+3% lightning and frost damage for each Solitary Thunder trait equipped
Calming Verse increases movement speed by 20%.


Skills

Sustaining Bolt - Increased damage.
Shocking Words - Reduced cooldown from 25 to 20 seconds.
Ceaseless Argument - Reduced power cost.
Epic Conclusion - Small damage increase, removed the 50% power penalty, increased power cost.


Traits

Icy Discourse – Changed to “When you use Chilling Rhetoric, you gain the Charged buff. When in the Charged state Sustaining Bolt is free and Essence of Storm critical hits deal +50% additional damage.”
Winter Storm – Each use of a Frost skill stacks a tier winter-Storm buff on you. When at 5, your next lightning skill is an automatic crit. Passively provides -2s Writ of Cold cooldown.
Confounding Principals – Now also increases Chilling Rhetoric up front slow increased by 20% and reduces Distracting Winds cooldown.
Master of Tragedy – Removed passive bonus, they are now the 3-set bonus of traitline. Lightning skills put a stack of “Master of Tragedy” on you. When at 5 stacks, your next Writ is instant cast and has no cooldown.
Tale of the Storm – Duration reduced to 10s.
Perfect Imagery – Now also passively increases lightning damage by 5%.

Mostly, the Charged buff 50% damage is the best thing you could read here, and will mean an important buff to Lightning DPSers, specially combined with the Icy Discourse trait. Also, for Pvp lovers, lots of movement/slows ... still, not much survavility added apart from Martial Defence so the so dreaded squishyness in the Moors will stay.

I´m still not decided but looks like Lightning will improve mostly to that Charged buff change.

Fire:

Old Set Bonuses

2 Equipped:
Fiery Ridicule useable at all Attunements and its induction is not knocked back by damage
3 Equipped:
+30% Essence of Flame Damage
-10% Wrath of Flame Power Cost
4 Equipped:
-4.5s Essay of Fire Induction
+Finesse Rating
+2% fire damage for each Cleansing Fires trait equipped


New Set Bonuses

2 Equipped:
Fiery Ridicule useable at all Attunements and its induction is not knocked back by damage
3 Equipped:
+Finesse Rating, values increased
Self-motivation is now an instant cast, usable while moving.
4 Equipped:
-4.5s Essay of Fire Induction
+3% fire and frost damage for each Cleansing Fires trait equipped
Calming Verse makes all your inductions not able to be knocked back.


Skills:

Essence of Flame - Increased damage.
Improved Essay of Fire - Now only removes the induction from your next fire skill.
Distracting Flame - Cooldown now 30 seconds. Duration reduced to 15 seconds. Damage pulses sped up and increased. Initial damage removed.
Smouldering Wrath - Duration reduced to 6 seconds. Damage increased. Pulses can now crit.


Traits:

Scathing Retort – Reworked. Smouldering Wrath provides additional effects based on fire effects active on the target. Cooldown is also reduced by 15 seconds.
Writ of Fire: Increase damage by 5% per tier.
Fiery Ridicule: Return Power to the RK.
Mystifying Flame: Reduce Tactical Mitigation.
Mystifying Flame – 15 second cooldown is now an instant cast that can be used while moving. Also passively increases fire damage by 5%.
Master of Connotation – Removed passive bonus, they are now the 3-set bonus of traitline. Fire skills put a stack of “Master of Connotation” on you. When at 5 stacks, your next Writ heals you 3% of max morale and is instant cast.
Overflowing Confidence – Now also heals you, duration of power savings reduced to 20s.
Linnod of Subtlety – Essence of Flame becomes a three target AOE. Scathing Mockery induction reduced by 1 second.

Well, on first glance, Fire recibes a nerf. Some numbers still not counted, though, as EoF damage change, for example. None of the changes for good (MF being instant and SW being able to crit and add some special effects) will balance the iEoF nerf. How this will affect RK DPSers on raids, we will see. Master of Connotation won´t heal much, around 200 morale, so it´s not a biggie. Overflowing Confidence healing could be interesting but it will depend on the amount. More AOE coming from Linnod of Subtlety, which is nice.

I´m not sure when the MF damage will hit, as the initial damage has been removed. We will see, but in my eyes, RK Fire DPS probably will be similar now to Lightning one, where Lightning will bring more burst compared to very poor burst damage Fire will bring (and that is an issue), and with new power savings and some tweeks, Lightning can keep power up, meaning we will probably be back to pre RoI where everyone used Lightning. Let´s hope i am wrong.

Healing:

Old Set Bonus

2 Equipped:
Rune of Restoration useable at all Attunements and heals 20% more
3 Equipped:
-10% Healing Attuned Skill Power Cost
+2 Mending Verse Pulse Count
4 Equipped:
-5% Threat Generation
+2% healing for each Benedictions of Peace trait equipped


New Set Bonuses

2 Equipped:
Rune of Restoration useable at all Attunements and heals 20% more
3 Equipped:
+2 Mending Verse Pulse Count
-10% Threat generation
4 Equipped:
+3% healing and frost damage for each Benedictions of Peace trait equipped
Calming Verse allows Mending Verse usable while moving with no induction.
Their Weapons Will Not Harm Us now protects against all 4 debuff types.


Skills:

NEW SKILL - Scribe a New Ending - Removes defeat dread from your party. 10 minute cooldown.
Improved Prelude to Hope – Now grants power to you and your target if the target as Writ active. The power bonus has been reduced.
Epic for the Ages - Cooldown now 15 seconds, increase healing, reduce induction to 2.5 seconds and increase Power cost.
Word of Exaltation - Increase bubble amount, mitigation buff removed.
All Fates Entwined – No longer redirects damage to the Rune-keeper, instead reduces the incoming damage of the whole fellowship. Now costs health over time in addition to Power. Greatly reduced initial power cost.
Rousing Words – Can now crit.
Essay of Exaltation – Removed 50% power penalty, increased power cost.
Glorious Foreshadowing – Reworked. Is now an immediate skill. Now provides a +25% incoming healing bonus to a single target for 8s. Lower power cost. 3 minute cooldown.
That Which Does Not Kill Us – Reworked. Now increases the damage of your fellowship by 20% for 20 seconds. If an ally so buffed is struck by an attack, the attack is negated and the damage bonus is replaced with a morale over time effect.


Traits

Memorable Prose - No longer provides bonus morale, now provides Physical and Tactical Mastery.
Author of Exaltation - No longer adds to mitigation, now adds critical hit immunity for duration of the bubble.
Terse Narrative – Renamed to “Public Narrative” - Changed to: Epic for the Ages heals your fellowship in addition to the main target for a lesser amount. This amount is increased based on the tier of Writ of Health on the target.
The Prophetic Word – Also increases the Morale/Power granted when an ally is recovered with Do Not Fall This Day.
Master of Allusion – Removed passive bonus, they are now the 3-set bonus of traitline. Healing skills put a stack of “Master of Connotation” on you. When at 5 stacks, your next Writ costs no Power and is instant cast.
Linnod of Peace – Reworked. Now increase incoming healing by 5%, evade by 5% and in-Combat morale regen by 10%.
Wondrous Foreshadowing – Reduces cooldown to 1m, increases healing bonus 50% and also reduces incoming damage by 30%. Still single target. Passively increases Rune-keepers healing by 5%.

Many changes, but most of them look possitive. Dread wipe is nice, although i´d prefer to see it on captains (more flavour i think). Does the CV for Mending Verse let to cast them as instant skills during the skill duration? Or simply the first one? Tooltip should be clearer. EftA change is nice, although i would like to see it faster even, with no healing augment. The group component, while is a bit small, is a bonus and RKs can clearly use more group heals. The new IPtH change is fantastic, aswell the WoE which makes the skill clearer. The quantity of the bubble is ... fine, i guess, although i´d prefer it based on Tactical Mastery, and could use a change so DPSers could use it aswell as some kind of defence.

AFE at almost 100 morale per second hurts but i guess its much better for spike damage on RKs, and some minor changes, like RW can crit, or new Glorious Foreshadowing, are very welcomed. I miss the -% skill power cost of Master of Allusion in the new traits set bonuses, it´s not there and considering we have lost a whooping 15% (10% from trait set bonus, and 5% from Master of Allusion trait) it would be nice to get it.

In all, looks like RK healing will be improved, with some few more utility aswell. I was rooting for a MV casting shortened, but if the Calming Verse effect lasts all those 10 seconds, then it will be fine.

Other Skills:

Essence of Winter - Power cost debuff has been reduced to -50%. Damage increased.
Chilling Rhetoric - Initial slow magnitude reduced from 70% to 50%.
The Blade Shall Not Wound AND The Fang Shall Not Poison - Combined into a single skill: “Their Weapons Will Not Harm Us”. 30 second cooldown, 30 second duration.
Self-motivation - Changed to restore 7% of max power.
Fall to Storm/Flame/Frost - Damage increased. Duration reduced to 30 seconds.
Distracting Winds - Increased detaunt amount.

Not much to comment here. Nothing special or spectacular, i´d like to know if Self Motivation still will be affected by Outogoing Healing though.

Legendary Traits:

Martial training - Melee damage and critical hit bonuses removed. Max Power bonus changed to a flat bonus from % modification. Morale bonus increased. Added bonus armour and critical defense.
Fall to Our Wrath - No longer provides a new skill. Now increases the damage Fall to Storm/flame/Frost to provide an additional debuff on your foe, based on Affinity:
Storm - Increased incoming critical hit chance
Flame - Increased incoming damage
Frost - reduced Block, Parry, Evade and Resistance ratings
Steady Hands - Instead of setting your attunement to 0, now puts you at 9 in the opposite direction you were in. Increase induction to 2. Removed silence protection. Power savings remain. Damage will now knock back the induction.


Legacy changes:

Ceaseless Argument Power cost - Changed to Damage increase.
Self-motivation Power Restore - Chanced to cooldown reduction.
Glorious foreshadowing Duration - Reduced to 9 seconds.

The Martial Training change is very welcomed, and Fall to our Wrath usefulness will depend on how long the debuffs will last, but on a first glance, it looks fine. Steady Hands could have some uses but still i see it as a no-no, nowadays being traited for a role means maybe too much, i cannot find a reason to slot it over any other legendaries.

All the 3 legacy changes are nice; i understand that GF duration gives 9 extra seconds to the skill. Which is very nice indeed, and makes up for the old RK shield.

As a resume, Healing gets considerably buffed, utility is improved although still far from minstrel´s (which is fair), Lightning is more or less balanced, maybe a bit buffed, and Fire is nerfed. Let´s wait to see how this all ends. Thanks for the update

Originally Posted by droid

My first thought on the Affinity changes is how will it affect Fall to XXX skills? There's no way, now, to change your affinity outside combat. Fall to XXX skills dont aggro; they're meant to be a pre-combat debuff on a target. Now, you cant choose which Fall to XXX skill you want to go with, you just have to go with whatever affinity you happened to use last in your last fight. Especially now that FtOW is not a standalone skill anymore. And since the FtX skills have secondary debuffs, it matters more than when they were just bonus damage.

The same for Armor of XXX, if you wanted to cast that before combat...

I dont know what the answer here would be, though. There has to be some way to set your affinity OOC before a fight. Either add a skill that will let you set affinity (a self-buff for each element, or just a functionless "affinity attunement" skill on a 1m cooldown), or maybe have Healing skills cycle through your Affinities when used out-of-combat.

Also begs the question of what happens if you want to use it after a fresh load when you haven't used any skill to give yourself an affinity yet

Another question: IOFE has a -8% tacked onto it (according to bullroarer, and what is posted in the bullroarer forums) in addition to the -10%. Is that only -8% incoming damage to the RK or -18% incoming damage to the whole group or just to the RK ? I'm unclear here.

Originally Posted by Bradegor

Does the CV for Mending Verse let to cast them as instant skills during the skill duration? Or simply the first one? Tooltip should be clearer. EftA change is nice, although i would like to see it faster even, with no healing augment.

Mending Verse is insta-cast for the full duration of the 10 seconds. Trying it out a little bit on bullroarer, it looks like there's an animation delay between casts, probably to prevent uber-stacking of MVs! It works out to be at least 4 MV insta-casts, sometimes 5 if you're lucky or if you queue up the MVs. A very awesome change. I can't wait until Update 6.

Originally Posted by Sizzling

Mending Verse is insta-cast for the full duration of the 10 seconds. Trying it out a little bit on bullroarer, it looks like there's an animation delay between casts, probably to prevent uber-stacking of MVs! It works out to be at least 4 MV insta-casts, sometimes 5 if you're lucky or if you queue up the MVs. A very awesome change. I can't wait until Update 6.

Oh, it´s really wonderful. Although for 10 seconds i expect to cast more than 4-5 MVs ... i mean, nowadays i can cast those 4-5 MVs in 10 seconds .

Love the new changes, was just over on Bullroarer and I saw Ygaer post a 16k EftA he got on himself lol (using +50% icy crevasse healing buff but still awesome :P). Minor nerfs here and there, as have been pointed out, but overall huge buffs. The new traited EftA is incredible, as is the insta-cast, no power writs. Can't wait for this to go live.

Originally Posted by Thymelody

Another question: IOFE has a -8% tacked onto it (according to bullroarer, and what is posted in the bullroarer forums) in addition to the -10%. Is that only -8% incoming damage to the RK or -18% incoming damage to the whole group or just to the RK ? I'm unclear here.

It's a bug. The fellowship wide 8% should not apply to you. The bonus 10% from "Improved AFE" should.

Originally Posted by Warth

Love the new changes, was just over on Bullroarer and I saw Ygaer post a 16k EftA he got on himself lol (using +50% icy crevasse healing buff but still awesome :P). Minor nerfs here and there, as have been pointed out, but overall huge buffs. The new traited EftA is incredible, as is the insta-cast, no power writs. Can't wait for this to go live.

Oh, I'm confident you will find plenty of things you don't like We will be looking intently at the RK after this update, to ensure he got the "shot in the arm" we've intended.

I'm working on dev diary now!

Originally Posted by Zombie_Columbus

It's a bug. The fellowship wide 8% should not apply to you. The bonus 10% from "Improved AFE" should.



Oh, I'm confident you will find plenty of things you don't like We will be looking intently at the RK after this update, to ensure he got the "shot in the arm" we've intended.

I'm working on dev diary now!

Ok. Thanks for the reply. So, is the fellowship wide 8% a nerf (from 10%) or is that in addition to the 10%, for a total of 18% less incoming damage? Or do you mean to say the 8% shouldn't even be listed at all?

Humm. getting a closer look to power changes and the cruel nerf to iPtH ... i wonder if healing RKs will end up having more power issues than minstrels . The tooltip read about iPtH recovers now around ... 20-30 power? instead of the 1XX it does nowadays. Adding that power cost reduction has been nerfed and taking away from the set trait bonuses, ... has been any long fight be reported for checking how a healing RK power fares? I can see concerns there.

Originally Posted by Bradegor

Oh, it´s really wonderful. Although for 10 seconds i expect to cast more than 4-5 MVs ... i mean, nowadays i can cast those 4-5 MVs in 10 seconds .

Lol. You're right there - We can definitely get 4-5 MVs in 10 seconds as it stands now, but it will be nice to have the burst heals/on-the-move healing too. I'm guessing the large delay between casts (under the effects of calming verse) is WAI either way!

Originally Posted by Zombie_Columbus

I'm working on dev diary now!

Thanks so much for working hard on the RK! Overall these changes look very good, and look like they will make the RK more fun to play. I will miss the stone attunements because they gave my pet rocks some individual character to be fond of, but I understand the practical advantages.

My first impression reading through the changes is this isn't a full redesign, it's more tweaks--lots of them, mind you, but still not a Champion/Minstrel level reworking of the class. Maybe the dev diary will lay out the goals and it will be clearer.

- I'd really hoped to see stances come to the Rune-keeper. The focus on trait lines to vary skill behavior feels old without some way to have similar control in-combat or even just without hitting a bard. The revamped classes look more fluid than the original hybrid class even after these changes. Some of the trait line changes look interesting, but that's not enough anymore.

- The affinity changes worry me. As others have pointed out, there's no apparent way to change affinity pre-combat, something I might do with skills like Armor of <Affinity>. I may also have to cast skills in combat with effects I don't want just to get the affinity change which seems inefficient and cumbersome. Again, maybe stances are the answer here if they tie to particular affinities; another answer may be dropping affinity altogether. This change to affinity feels forced, contrived, mechanic-driven.

- Does Word of Exultation get a longer duration? Epic for the Ages has come down some, so they feel more made for each other, but I'd like to see Word and Essay of Exultation be effectively the same skill, just single target versus fellowship.

- The new trait set bonus that increases movement by 20% surprises me. The message I'm getting from it is "kite more". Is that really a design goal, getting us to kite more?

- Did NOT see Writs without Attunement coming. It's the simplest solution, so I'll like it on those grounds. Two anytime heals is definitely a step in the right direction.

- I'm a little sad to see Smouldering Wrath's duration decreased. I LOVE the FX of burning things down, although less chance of being interrupted is nice I suppose. Sigh.

- I'm glad to see more consolidation in making one skill from The Fang Will Not Poison and The Blade Will Not Wound, but it needs a better name than "Their Weapons Will Not Harm Us" like "No Harm Will Befall Us".

There are plenty of things I didn't comment on that look interesting and will be fun to try out. Overall this doesn't seem to be bad for rune-keepers, but I did expect something a little more sweeping in scope and perspective. I'm not sure it my rune-keeper will once again be my main given how much I'm enjoying the new mechanics and capabilities of the revamped Minstrel.

2 Things

1/ Wondrous Foreshadowing, should this apply to self, fellow or fellowship - it doesn't seem to be doing what the tooltip suggests it should do.

2/ Power costs when healing are absolutely huge is this going to be looked at before going live?

Hmm, does the +3% lightning damage per ST trait stop at 4 per the 4 piece bonus or do you get the benefit of 5, 6, or 7?

It looks like healing and utility got buffed with some slight nerfs and a few horizontal changes. DPS without calming verse... I can't really tell, but it seems lightning is somewhat better and fire is back to pre-ROI usefulness.

Oh well, it's all a bit underwhelming.

there seems to be a double wammy to power costs... as we are used to having -10% costs from the 3 trait set line bonus (now gone) and another -10% power costs from maintaining dual linnod calming verse. so basically, now all our attuned skills cost at least 20% more. personally i would have kept the 10% from the trait set line bonus, and then tweak further if needed later on. i know on my hunter, 10% power costs mean the difference between lots of power pots or never running out of power.

A question on Calming Verse:

Is it really going from

The current (traited) 20% real threat reduction all the time

to

A temporary 25% perceived reduction for 10 seconds, after which the threat pops right back.

Seems like a significant nerf to me. Intended?

Also, what's becoming of the Mystifying Flame cooldown legacy? I'd assume just getting reduced from 30 sec to 15 sec? Did Chilling Rhetoric also just get a 10 sec cooldown increase as that bonus is now gone from the lightning 2 set?

Originally Posted by Forgotten_Legend

there seems to be a double wammy to power costs... as we are used to having -10% costs from the 3 trait set line bonus (now gone) and another -10% power costs from maintaining dual linnod calming verse. so basically, now all our attuned skills cost at least 20% more. personally i would have kept the 10% from the trait set line bonus, and then tweak further if needed later on. i know on my hunter, 10% power costs mean the difference between lots of power pots or never running out of power.

There is a massive increase and i hope it's something that has been overlooked.

I'm worried about threat management with the Calming Verse 20% gone, it's not going to be pretty unless Distracting Winds is seriously buffed.

I'm surprised with all those changes Flurry of Words isn't among them, other than a global frost power cost reduction.

One interesting thing about Steady Hands is that it seems like now the fastest way to 9 attunement to start a fight is to go one (or maybe two steps depending on how quickly it ticks down) in the opposite direction and then cast Steady Hands.

So do Prelude to Hope and then Steady Hands and you have all your top damage skills ready to go. You haven't built up any of the buffs that make them more powerful, but you can get to 9 attunement in a hurry.

Couple of questions around Affinity:

- If I want to cast "Do Not Fall to Flame" and I currently have lightning affinity, does this mean I have to cast some kind of fire attack (presumably on a mob that is very resistant to fire) and then I can cast "Do Not Fall to Flames"? That's certainly going to make me a lot less likely to use it if I'm healing.

- How long do the "Rune Sign of X" buffs last?

- When you first login, do you have no Affinity? Are all the affinity-based skills unavailable until Affinity is set?

- Any chance we can target our rock to cast an offensive spell on so we can switch affinity before a fight? (The downsides might be worse here...) I can see a potential big increase in the numbers of random grey mobs dieing now...

Originally Posted by Forgotten_Legend

there seems to be a double wammy to power costs... as we are used to having -10% costs from the 3 trait set line bonus (now gone) and another -10% power costs from maintaining dual linnod calming verse. so basically, now all our attuned skills cost at least 20% more. personally i would have kept the 10% from the trait set line bonus, and then tweak further if needed later on. i know on my hunter, 10% power costs mean the difference between lots of power pots or never running out of power.

There is no -10% power costs in CV. It's -20% threat and +10% damage/healing. In any case, at the moment it's pretty difficult to run out of power while healing, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. It might be annoying in small groups, but in full fellowships and raids chances are you'll have either a captain or a LM for power anyway.

I love you zombie!!!!!!! 3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<33<<3<3<

Originally Posted by Telcharan

There is no -10% power costs in CV. It's -20% threat and +10% damage/healing. In any case, at the moment it's pretty difficult to run out of power while healing, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. It might be annoying in small groups, but in full fellowships and raids chances are you'll have either a captain or a LM for power anyway.

oh good catch... wow... i been blindly clicking CV every time its up for so long now, i forgot what exactly it does... i must be bacon defecient again...