Thread: Update 6: Developer Diary Feedback: Rune-keeper

Update 6 will see quite a number of changes to the Rune-keeper. Some of these changes affect long standing aspects of the class that are getting shaken up; others are addressing the changing power balance between the classes. The main thrust of this update is to continue keeping the Rune-keeper true to his original design goals. Read more in the latest Developer Diary from Brian "Zombie Columbus" Aloisio and post your comments here!

Glad to see ZC give as the love we deserve, and acknowledge alot of what we have said.

Most of these changes are good, some are *very* interesting, and some... I am not sure what to think about, but there are none that I think are *bad* in the least

Looking forward to seeing the changes hit live on Monday!

P.S. Interesting to hear about things ZC was never happy about, eh? :P

Very well written diary. Not a lot of surprises for those of us who engaged the bullroarer forum. Overall a very good to excellent update for the RK, particularly healers.

Looking forward to these changes, Couple of things I noticed...


Master Of Allusion -threat generation is not in the stated new 3-set bonus, should it be there?

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.

New Set Bonuses

...

3 Equipped:
-10% Healing Attuned Skill Power Cost
+2 Mending Verse Pulse Count

...

Also, You have Mystifying Flame in there twice in the trait fire section. Should those changes be on the same trait? or change on skill and then on legendary trait? Or is there a new normal trait and then and update to the existing legendary trait? I assume it's an update to the skill then an update to the legendary trait.

...
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%.
...

Originally Posted by JohnnyManeuvers

Also, You have Mystifying Flame in there twice in the trait fire section. Should those changes be on the same trait? or change on skill and then on legendary trait? Or is there a new normal trait and then and update to the existing legendary trait? I assume it's an update to the skill then an update to the legendary trait.

The first one is referring to the bonuses given by Scathing Retort based on what effects are already on the target. If the target has Mystifying Flame on it, the other skill will grant the reduced mitigation. The 15 seconds thing is referring directly to the Mystifying Flame skill.

ZC- Thank you for the well-written dev diary, the increased communication and the wonderful changes to the class. I would encourage you to keep it up as the game moves forward
I am particularly excited about seeing what the heal line can do ^.^

After some testing with a 50 RK on Bullroarer, the class feels more durable and flexible even at the "lower" levels. The affinity change is awkward, though, and I hope it gets revisited. I'd rather see affinity dropped completely than how it works now or after update 6 goes live.

I wonder if one of the alternatives considered was an Affinity Set skill. It would be instant and it would "eat" the next skill pressed to set affinity and do nothing else--no induction, action, or cooldown. The skill wouldn't even need the right attunement since it's just a mode operand. The dual-key sequence could be totally client-side to avoid eating up valuable time, and it could be done in or out of combat.

After doing several parses on Bullroarer and Brandywine, I fear Fire DPS has been reduced. I posted in the RK forums that I measured a ~50% decrease. I stick by it, but other people are skeptical. Regardless of the amount, Fire DPS has gone down. I hope what goes live is newer than the build on Bullroarer.

Excellent update. Please don't close the book on your RK community though, especially as we move forward from U6 going live. There're bound to be things that didn't end up where you expected them to. We <3 you more than the hunters.

I appreciate the clear and well thought out dev diary, and the explanation of the reasoning behind changes. The frequent communication in recent weeks is much appreciated as well.

As for the changes, I am really looking forward to the healing changes, which seem to respond to many concerns of RK healers. For the fire changes...we'll see now it plays on live. If lightning becomes the default choice again for raids, instances, solo and the moors, because of the burst and mobility it brings, I will be a very sad panda.

Concisely written and the changes are appreciated on the whole.
I hope a simple "thank you" will suffice.

Thanks for the dev diary. My reactions:

I love the direction you've taken the class, making it even more the perfect class for me.

Please consider that there are female rune-keepers, and the gender-neutral 'they' is making a comeback in English grammar.

I noticed that these statements don't quite add up: "Runekeepers have fallen behind." "So buff them." "But set them back by making them burn power." I see power relief in places too, so maybe there is nothing to worry about.

One question, is the dread removal raid wide or party wide as stated in the diary? Hoping it's just a mistype.

First of all, thanks ZC. Over these last weeks you have been hearing our concerns, the problems that RoI gave us to RKs and we know you have been looking for ways to compensate the buffs other classes got at it. I always wonder how good is the devs communication, as you clearly pointed out, RK didn´t really get nerfed in RoI, simply the other classes who compete for a spot with RKs were greatly buffed.

As the update itself, very interesting points, although i´m not sure if everyone will be as cool as it seems. I explain.

Lightning: mostly small but good changes, DPS increased, mobility aswell, maybe there will be people complaining about the kiting part -about the chilling retoric- but CV could compensate it ... we will see it. No real complains here, Lightning again seem to be the best option for any RK -either soloing, Moors, or fellowship. My only concern with it will be thread reduction on raids/fellows.

Fire: Fire was in a great place after RoI, mostly due the iEoF and FR changes. I feel the changes made simply have nerfed the line though. I know you don´t like to feel Fire needs to be bursty, but the raids made (and yes i take Fire should be the raid trait line the same way Lightning should be the solo/moors one) need burst. I have to test deeper the new SW to see if can be still taken as "burst" although we all have clear that initial burst is gone. Can live with it if there is enough burst once attunement is full, although it will need more use of consumables, and let´s remember Fire had issues on attuning fast before RoI. Also, again concerned about threat reduction, with CV changes i see a flat nerf of threat reduction (numbers say stable 20% threat reduction with conditional and temporary 25% PERCEIVED threat). Already Fire had issues with threat and now they will be worse, and some raids need DPSers to never get aggro or fight is spoiled. Maybe the loss of iEoF burst will compensate this *devily smile*. In general i feel Fire won´t be as good as before the update, but more testing will be required.

Healing: healing output has been improved in some areas RKs really need it: damage spikes and fellowship heals, so i feel healing RKs will be much stronger than before, and more balanced with, as ZC call it, "the other healing classes" . Some utility added, still not close to the "the other healing classes" but i feel it´s been a step in the good direction. I´m a bit concerned about power restoration but i´m sure we will end up managing it. Improved Prelude to Hope becomes a very secondary skill now, if the power restoration isn´t enough to at least close to pay its cost. then it won´t be really used as the target really receives a tiny fraction of power. Still, Epic for the Ages will be played for 1st time since the class was made, although i feel it would be better with 2 seconds induction, but the changes made to Glorious Foreshadowing will help on this one. Overall, good news for healing RKs. Threat can be an issue aswell on some fights like Acid, Shadow or F&F but at this time CV change won´t hurt as much as for DPSers and will work better.

Other: some good changes on bringing use of writs although maybe change of CV will mean DPS RKs will heal for less and healing RKs will deal even less damage. That 10% extra damage/healing is lost unless you trait very deeply for it.

Resuming: looks good for Lightning and Healing, not that good (i´d say worse) for Fire. Utility improved, threat generation will be an issue. Overall, good changes as 2 of the 3 main lines of the class has been buffed. Can´t wait to reach Monday and test myself all the final changes.

Appreciate the time put into these changes and the diary as well.

The RK was already fun to heal on and seeing it more effective will help a lot of people enjoy their RK more, which helps everyone. The changes here will go a long ways to refreshing the RK in players' minds and putting us back on the table of perceived effectiveness.

My concerns about these changes lie in 4 areas:

1a) The raid content is designed with burst in mind. It will take time for the healing RK to compete out the very, very solid six month lead Minstrels have developed in peoples already entrenched attitudes, and hence, we will still need to fill DPS roles most of the time until we can prove ourselves.

1b) burst dps on the RK is now limited to 20m range yellow RKs. I did not use the Draigoch fire suit, I used 3 ToO fire and 3 ToO blue and generally ran with the toggle up; which I strongly advocated was the best use of the class design in dps role. I havent found new fire to be particularly more fun to the old ToO-suit rotation (which was most fun for me vs lightning), and that is not a negative, as I found fire very fun!

Unfortunately, the loss of burst is not only required in some encounters, during oathbreakers etc, it is viewed by most players as a sign of 'bringing it'.
Being seen as doing less is where the trouble comes in - particularly when you add in the need to be able to burst when the raid content requires bursting. The best example are the lights in t2 shadow, but there are many examples. We would benefit from some kind of burst on CD in fire. Because the RK is so dependent upon traits, swapping to lightning LIs is limited.

3) lightning is still 20m, which I think made sense back when the RK was born. It makes no sense anymore that I can see. Neither does the melee auto, especially with the loss of our melee capstone. I know you do not like being compared repeatedly to Minstrels/Orion, and I understand why, but if they can bomb on the run at good range (while healing and bubbling) why cant we get a 5 or 10m range extension on lightning, and an invisible-tactarrow ranged autoattack? What would it hurt? What good could it do for players, purchases, and loyalty?

4) Attunement is not working like ballad buffs in going over the healing cap? My Minstrel is parsing out at 79% outgoing, but the RK is having trouble going over the 50% cap.


5) Im more concerned about threat than power, but chisels/rifflers could be used to create choices between balancing power and threat against tact and crit, etc. Since toggle is leaving, this would be a good change for chisels/rifflers in the followup patch, if we had multi-output chisels with variable benefits. This would also be a convenient way to introduce tweaks in the followup patch.


At any rate thank you for your effort.

I think it is unfortunate it includes a substantial perceived downward adjustment to fire (rather than changing Draigoch 5bonus which would have created less panic), which casts a long shadow over the change.

Without that one looming shadow I think these changes would have been far more celebrated. I hope folks realize, including myself, just how much there is in here worth celebrating!

Question.. Will Calming Verse add the actual +20% movement speed on live version as it says instead of the +15% it did on Beta 1 and Beta 2?

And another question, Is there a chance for us to get Theyr Weapons Shall not Harm Us and Do not Fall to - X into instant cast? This would make these skills work more in a fun way, now you in certain places you have to stop every 30seconds to cast these two inductions.. boring.

Overall, good Dev diary and from what ive seen onBullroarer lightning and healing looks like awesome fun again, I probably wont use Fire much since it has been put almost exatcly to the same spot as it was pre-Isengard and I dint like it then so doubt Ill like it now either

Thanks for this update ZC, I hope we can continue to get some small changes and fixes in the next few months.

So, ZC does not like stale skills. He spiced CV and introduced the next stale skill named rune-sign of X. Maybe he ran out of spice.

I really like ZC's efforts on the rune keeper!!!!

But if fire really got nerfed, rune keepers as a dd class will still be useless for T2 raids....

Originally Posted by nikosi

I really like ZC's efforts on the rune keeper!!!!

But if fire really got nerfed, rune keepers as a dd class will still be useless for T2 raids....

yellow traited rk still very good for t2 ToO. With my 2a i can put even more dps then hunters with 1a LI

In general i dont like how rk changed. Nerfing of CV, affinity removal, it makes no sense for me. Now i have to waste 1-2 more seconds to get skills ready to use(armor of storm, do not fall to storm), which can make me useless in ettens

Reading the forum and dev diary again doesn't make me think of fire getting nerved any more!
SW CD only 45 secs and crits,
mystifing flame tick every 3 secs
higher writs damage,
lesser induction time for SM

I think we all have to change our rotation and include frost skills and some lightening without yellow traits to max our dps on fire on single target..
i'm really looking forward on monday !!


one more question: mystifing flame traitet with the legendary skill, gives us a permanent 5% damage bonus on fire additional to the normal fire trait line bonus? or just when it is on target additional to tactical mitigation reduction?

Originally Posted by NotATrollface

In general i dont like how rk changed. Nerfing of CV, affinity removal, it makes no sense for me. Now i have to waste 1-2 more seconds to get skills ready to use(armor of storm, do not fall to storm), which can make me useless in ettens

If you're traited yellow line in the Moors I don't see how this would be an issue at all. If you use lightning, your affinity will be lightning, so no matter what stone you have equipped you'll have the Armour of Storm and Do Not Fall to Storm available. The affinity change is really only an issue to those who use Do Not Fall To Flame but use lightning skills, or those who use Do Not Fall to Storm with Fire skills.

Originally Posted by nikosi

one more question: mystifing flame traitet with the legendary skill, gives us a permanent 5% damage bonus on fire additional to the normal fire trait line bonus? or just when it is on target additional to tactical mitigation reduction?

It's passive, so you get the 5% just for having it equipped. Same for the other two capstones.

Over all I think a good update, especially looking forward to having dread removal and the new steady hands, but something I have been wondering since before ROI came out and that I've never seen adressed is why we don't have some kind of an aura or stance? Every other class has one or the other, except LM which has the pet, and some have both. I understand not wanting to make the classes too similar or it would defeat the purpose of having different classes, but if you are trying to increase RK's group utility I can't think of a better way than giving us an aura. Possibly modifying it by how we are traited or attuned when we cast it, keeping with the lighting=crit, fire=finess, ice=mastery theme, maybe even with the same buffs as the new rune-sign of X or even replacing it. Or in the case of the satnce possible decrease the dmg of our skills by 5-10% and giving a stance that increased dmg by 10-15% at the cost of a little pwr, and one that decreased threat and increased healing at the expence of dmg.
I don't want to sound like I want an OP class, but from what I've read about the update we have taken a large step in the right direction but we still need a little work. I may change my mind after I get a chance to play the update, I do like the idea of being able to keep writ of health T3 on the tank while still dpsing without having to have a riffler that granted master of writs as a toggle rather than other bonuses, but I still think we should have some kind of an aura for some more group utility.

Originally Posted by Mattrix

Over all I think a good update, especially looking forward to having dread removal and the new steady hands, but something I have been wondering since before ROI came out and that I've never seen adressed is why we don't have some kind of an aura or stance? Every other class has one or the other, except LM which has the pet, and some have both. I understand not wanting to make the classes too similar or it would defeat the purpose of having different classes, but if you are trying to increase RK's group utility I can't think of a better way than giving us an aura. Possibly modifying it by how we are traited or attuned when we cast it, keeping with the lighting=crit, fire=finess, ice=mastery theme, maybe even with the same buffs as the new rune-sign of X or even replacing it. Or in the case of the satnce possible decrease the dmg of our skills by 5-10% and giving a stance that increased dmg by 10-15% at the cost of a little pwr, and one that decreased threat and increased healing at the expence of dmg.
I don't want to sound like I want an OP class, but from what I've read about the update we have taken a large step in the right direction but we still need a little work. I may change my mind after I get a chance to play the update, I do like the idea of being able to keep writ of health T3 on the tank while still dpsing without having to have a riffler that granted master of writs as a toggle rather than other bonuses, but I still think we should have some kind of an aura for some more group utility.

ZC doesnt like stances for RKs and tbh just giving passives to them is the same as getting the trait set bonus we already got. Plus, if it was just crit/finesse/tact mastery every DPS would use always crit ... and every healer aswell. No point. That stance you describe about dealing more damage and more power cost ... it´s the hunters old strenght stance.

Hunters have stances. RKs have .. humm ... affinities. To each his own.

The changes to Rune-keepers look very nice, and I have been testing them on BR for some time so I can safely say that ZC deserves a round of applause for his work with the class.

Now for the wishlist:

I wish that the Rune-stone will be useable on top of Orthanc while fighting Saruman (make a transparent solid)

See, wasn't that hard was it?

Originally Posted by NotATrollface

yellow traited rk still very good for t2 ToO. With my 2a i can put even more dps then hunters with 1a LI

Well that's not a surprise, to be honest. I begin to suspect that not only could Turbine not be bothered about keeping hunters in balance with other classes, they actually want to dissuade people from playing them.

Having not played my RK much since the RoI update I am looking forward to seeing how these changes affect the way I did play my RK. I was always one who stuck by fire affinity and found it more to my way of playing. With these changes I can now play about with other affinities. In particular I like the fact the healing side of the RK is being updated. It had gotten to the point in grouped instances if there was only an RK there to heal I shied away from the group because the RK couldn't keep my LM or Hunter healed. Hopefully these changes will mean the end to this. I particularly love the idea of having dread removal skill to equal the Mini. Lets see how it plays out once the server comes back online. Thx ZC

Originally Posted by Bradegor

ZC doesnt like stances for RKs and tbh just giving passives to them is the same as getting the trait set bonus we already got. Plus, if it was just crit/finesse/tact mastery every DPS would use always crit ... and every healer aswell. No point. That stance you describe about dealing more damage and more power cost ... it´s the hunters old strenght stance.

Hunters have stances. RKs have .. humm ... affinities. To each his own.

I agree that a stance probably isn't the answer, just threw it in as a little food for thought, but I still don't see why we don't have some kind of an aura based on how we are traited. The problem with healers using the critic bonus aura could be fixed if we only got it traited 5 lightning, there aren't many healers that are going to trait only 2 healing traits just to get a +3-5% critic chance bonus. Perhaps in some of the older instances where you have 1 tank that can hold everyone for a 12 man raid, but if I have to heal a full fellowship because everyone is taking some dmg taking my critic chance from 1 in 5 to 1 in 4 isn't quite worth only having 2 healing traits. But that would turn us into a mostly DPS class (which we were already), so they would have to make the healing aura potent enough to keep RKs healing but not so potent that you would stay healing traited while you a DPSing. A difficult task which is perhaps why they haven't attempted it yet. Another thought I did have was bonus to ic regens, but minis have that covered with tale of heroism.

I'm going to add this as an afterthought. If the storm-keepers have a stone that does dmg why could we not drop a stone that would dmg, or one that increased mitigations, or perhaps put the auras on those rather that on the character? There are a multitude of possibilities on this subject, its just finding the one that will keep the RK true to his original design goal while not making him OP or deviating to something that wouldn't really make sense from the description that he uses words and runes of power to harm or heal. From that I don't think that it is too far fetched to give them some kind of an aura, because if you are listening to someone speak they can say the exact same thing, but inflect it 2 different ways and you will take completely opposite meanings from the same words. Or if you are listening to a story being read, the reader can make the most boring part of the story exciting or they can make the most exciting part boring, depending on how/if they inflect the words and if they are just a good story teller the excitement, sadness, etc. can be infectious to the people who hear it.

I haven't had a chance to get on and check out all the changes yet, I hope to get something in on what I think of these updates by the end of the week.

The update has just gone live, and i am quite impressed with the changes, however calming verse only increases run speed by 15% not 20%. My Rune-Keeper does seem not as squishy, I'll have to see how he will perform in raids and instances. The healing capability of every one of my healing skills has increased loads, which I am sure everyone is very happy about

Here and elsewhere I've suggested a skill to set affinity: Favour Affinity. It would grab the next skill used and take the affinity from it without executing the skill. If the second skill doesn't have affinity, then affinity would be unchanged and the next skill would execute normally. It should also time out after a few seconds to be safe.

Telcharan pointed out in another thread that it's like Battle Preparation in the Warden update, so I just tried it on my warden. It was instantly obvious that this is exactly how to fix affinity on rune-keepers. Please, please let's see this for the next update if not in the next bug patch.

Legendary Trait "You shall fall to our wrath" isn't working with Fall To X right. The wrong element's debuff is being applied (Fall to Storm is applying Fall to Flame's debuff, Flame is applying Frost, Frost is applying Lightning). I've already /bug'd it.

Description text in the YSFTOW trait also has the word "incoming" spelled with double-m, twice (also already /bug'd).

It's funny, back when I was in high school, I was in AP Comp Sci with a kid who was a decent coder, but his English skills as a whole were just plain embarrassing. Spelling, grammar, punctuation... all these things were just beyond his comprehension... good thing coding doesn't always require you to spell your variables correctly, just consistently... Like I said, decent programmer, just don't try to read his comments or it'll make your head hurt...

Also, now that MoW is gone, what will the Writ rifflers be used for? Because now their current functionality is obsolete.

Originally Posted by banhorn

Here and elsewhere I've suggested a skill to set affinity: Favour Affinity. It would grab the next skill used and take the affinity from it without executing the skill. If the second skill doesn't have affinity, then affinity would be unchanged and the next skill would execute normally. It should also time out after a few seconds to be safe.

Telcharan pointed out in another thread that it's like Battle Preparation in the Warden update, so I just tried it on my warden. It was instantly obvious that this is exactly how to fix affinity on rune-keepers. Please, please let's see this for the next update if not in the next bug patch.

What's wrong with casting CA (instacast) or a Writ (very short induction) just before casting Fall to X or Armor of X? Just as fast as what you're suggesting really. The new Affinity mechanic works pretty well. Try getting used to it.

Yeah it's changed my opening skill cycle a bit. Instead of casting FTOW & Fall to Storm, I just cast Fall to Storm (cuz 99% of the time I'm just using lightning or writs), or a writ to change the debuff followed by a Fall to X. If anything, it's sped things up.

Mmm...


I read the changes, and went so what?

Because I play at odd times, being amother of three children does not afford me the same luxories many others have as of when I can play. As a result of my limited play times, I tend to solo mostly.

While the class is playable, I find it annoying that more andm ore mob groups are linked, so I can't divide and conquer. I have experienced too many instances where I hit one mob, which is very far away from another, and yet the cluster of mobs that at times is not even within line of site of the creature I struck, runs and attacks me as well.

I am reasonably geared for a casual player, and can survive a two on one fight with difficulty, but when I am thrown against three or more opponents at the same time, wipe out is guaranteed. I still have a problem, with my light armor, I get hit all too easily by the mobs, and its their hitting consistency that prevents me from casting any enchantments for I keep getting bumped and interrupted, if there is one or two on me, I have a chance to get my enchantment off, at three: I might as well walk away from the keyboard.

There are other situations, and skirmishes, where the elite creature has to be personally touched by my RK, so much for range, and to make matters more malicious, it may have several minions who are also made to be friendly to me so I can use tactics to wear them down, and they turn hostile as the elite turns on me as I stand next to it; of did I forgot to say they often close the doors so I can not even run and kite?

So if there is going to be a significant upgrade for the RK, besides lip service, I need power upgrades to help me deal with linked mobs, and bosses that I have to surrender range! There is a single power that gives me a damage field about me, and when struck it hurts those attacking me, but it has an absurd long cool down timer. One more attack has a very unreliable stun component, and others can slow an opponent but when they start next to you, I fail to see how can that do me any good.

So upgrades maybe good within a group environment, but in a Solo situation, I just fail to see the benefit.



Sue

Originally Posted by Acasta

Mmm...


I read the changes, and went so what?

Because I play at odd times, being amother of three children does not afford me the same luxories many others have as of when I can play. As a result of my limited play times, I tend to solo mostly.

While the class is playable, I find it annoying that more andm ore mob groups are linked, so I can't divide and conquer. I have experienced too many instances where I hit one mob, which is very far away from another, and yet the cluster of mobs that at times is not even within line of site of the creature I struck, runs and attacks me as well.

I am reasonably geared for a casual player, and can survive a two on one fight with difficulty, but when I am thrown against three or more opponents at the same time, wipe out is guaranteed. I still have a problem, with my light armor, I get hit all too easily by the mobs, and its their hitting consistency that prevents me from casting any enchantments for I keep getting bumped and interrupted, if there is one or two on me, I have a chance to get my enchantment off, at three: I might as well walk away from the keyboard.

There are other situations, and skirmishes, where the elite creature has to be personally touched by my RK, so much for range, and to make matters more malicious, it may have several minions who are also made to be friendly to me so I can use tactics to wear them down, and they turn hostile as the elite turns on me as I stand next to it; of did I forgot to say they often close the doors so I can not even run and kite?

So if there is going to be a significant upgrade for the RK, besides lip service, I need power upgrades to help me deal with linked mobs, and bosses that I have to surrender range! There is a single power that gives me a damage field about me, and when struck it hurts those attacking me, but it has an absurd long cool down timer. One more attack has a very unreliable stun component, and others can slow an opponent but when they start next to you, I fail to see how can that do me any good.

So upgrades maybe good within a group environment, but in a Solo situation, I just fail to see the benefit.



Sue

A solo RK has to use the limited Crowd Control capabilities they have to handle multiple mobs. Your first tool in this box is your Healing Rock. If you pull two mobs, focus on one until it's dead. The other, as long as you haven't touched it, will go for your Rock (be sure you know which of your skills are Area-of-Effect, or AOE, and don't use them if you're too close to the other mob). It works best if you drop your rock, take a step or two back so the rock is between you and your targets, and then pull. The rock will eventually generate enough threat through healing you to grab the attention of at least one mob hitting you, as long as you aren't hitting it back.

The next tool is Shocking Touch - when traited with Confounding Principles, you should have plenty of time to burn down a mob while the other is stunned. Shocking Words will also stun, but don't count on it 100% of the time.

The Third tool is Vivid Imagery, a 3-target AOE stun. The yellow capstone trait, Perfect Imagery, makes it even more potent. This is a skill you might not have at your level yet, though.

Your emergency crowd control when all of the above aren't working is Armor of Storm. Mobs that hit you will be stunned. This can give you enough time to heal back up before burning mobs down.


The basic solo strategy is to apply all your healing buffs before a fight, apply all of your debuffs on your target, and THEN pull. If you pull two or more, let your stone pull the extras away from you. Having Rune of Endurance traited helps, as it gives your stone more HP before it breaks. Generally, while soloing, I always trait 2 Blue, no matter what, and Rune of Endurance is one of the two I always trait.

A more advanced strategy is called "Kiting." You keep enough space between you and your foe that he's outside his melee range, but you're unloading your ranged skills. You get him to follow you, as if you were flying a kite (where "kiting" gets it's name). This requires a lot of space to move around without aggroing other mobs. The easiest way to do this is to stand at your maximum fire range, hit them with Chilling Rhetoric (which applies a movement debuff). Next, backpedal, while firing off lightning skills. Ideally, you should be able to bring down a solid amount of their health before they even get within their attack range, if not kill them outright before they can hit you.

If you're doing all of the above, and STILL having problems solo, then upgrading your gear is probably in order. Make sure you can use the best gear that you can, and update it as frequently as you can manage. It helps to have a friend who is a Tailor to make sure you have crit-crafted light armor and legendary rune sacks, a Jeweler to make you rune stones, a Metalsmith to make you rifflers and chisels, and a scholar for Enamels. It is also beneficial do at least one of these things for yourself if RK is your chosen main class. My RK is a Scholar, and I have a Jeweler alt. I can make my own scholar buff scrolls (really handy, and when you do find groups, the effect is group-wide), hope tokens, and enamels. Try to get every possible advantage you you can possibly muster with in-combat morale regen food and +vitality food. Short of buying something for TP, do what ever you can to make yourself more powerful or more resilient.
As far as Skirms go, make sure you're using a Protector - if you are still using a warrior, then no wonder you're having problems. Any class that doesn't wear heavy armor pretty much needs a Protector for solo skirms. A protector will tank mobs and keep them away from you while you blast them to oblivion. As long as you upgrade his traits to within 5 levels under you, you should be fine.

We are the squishiest class in the game by design. RK is very much an advanced class. I've leveled both RK and Guard to level 75, and to be blunt, it was a lot easier for my guard to get there, especially that last push from 73-75. But as long as your gear is good, the road shouldn't be too difficult.

And remember: Stun melee attackers, prioritize archers and ranged attackers, because they do more damage, and generally try to kite you when they can. (Personally I hate it when I'm fighting a warg rider and they try to kite me after hitting me with a movement debuff...)

Feedback to the RK diary:

1. The following change is a pity, cause it makes the foes run to you faster now: Chilling Rhetoric - Initial slow magnitude reduced from 70% to 50%. I dislike it as a solo-leveling RK.

2. Affinity is said to have gone away on runestones:

a) The list of recipes for runestones (jeweller) has not been reduced. Just checked out the vendor for legendary items in the jeweller's guild, and all three kinds of runestone recipes are still there (obsidian for fire damage, Flint stone for lightning, Icy for frost). Why is that?

b) The existing runestones in my inventory stll show a damage type (and affinity). Why haven't the tooltips been reworked? Is there any use of that?

However, I am very happy, that I do not have to keep one runestone of each affinity in my inventory to swap situation-dependently for the affinity related-buffs and debuff skills! Well done!


----
The following is off-topic and relates to the post above:

Thank you, Mafeaux for your post. It confirms the strategy I use (my RK is currently Lvl 60).

I wonder, whether going "backpedal" ('S' key by default) is the ideal kiting strategy - I think the RK is reletively slow that way on a retreat from a charging foe. Is there any way to go sideways and apply lightning skills? - I wonder, whether the new feature bound to the 'X'-key (by default) will help.

But I had another idea: I programmed my mouse with a button macro, that turns the char by exactly 180 degrees*.
When a mob comes close, I mezz or slow it, turn around with the macro and run away (going quickly forward(!) instead of slowly backwards) until I have reached enough distance (could be the maximum fiery ridicule range or so). Then I use the macro again, so I face back exactly into the same direction as before. This avoids disorientation when kiting, but requires lots of space. It does not really work in Moria, for example.

As said before, for kiting you can combine your skills for slowing down your foe's speed (Chilling Rhetoric), for stunning (Shocking Words) and mezzing/dazing (Shocking Touch, Vivid Imagery) your foe.
When kiting it is important to know about the difference between stun and mezz: A mezz is broken by incoming damage on the foe. If you want to increase your distance by stunning your foe, do not deal damage while going away. I am not so sure, but even a still active DoT may make the mezz effect of a later skill useless (have to verify that, though).
A stun is not broken by damage. So you can keep using your lightning skills while moving away, and the foe will remain stunned and stay in the same place, nevertheless. If you want to do so you cannot turn around when running, because you have to face the foe to use your attack skills.

*1: You need a mouse supporting macros with mouse movement as A4tech/X7 series or Coolermaster Storm Inferno / Storm Sentinel Advance. The Autohotkey script language might also be an option.

P.S.: English is not my native language, so sorry for any mistakes.

Originally Posted by Raffazahn

Feedback to the RK diary:

...

2. Affinity is said to have gone away on runestones:

a) The list of recipes for runestones (jeweller) has not been reduced. Just checked out the vendor for legendary items in the jeweller's guild, and all three kinds of runestone recipes are still there (obsidian for fire damage, Flint stone for lightning, Icy for frost). Why is that?

b) The existing runestones in my inventory stll show a damage type (and affinity). Why haven't the tooltips been reworked? Is there any use of that?

The individual rune stone jeweler recipes do create unique stones in that their melee damage output will still be a different element. It's not a so much a big deal, but certain mobs are hurt more by fire, others by lightning, etc. If anything, the fire and frost stones should get more use now, if they have good stats at least.

However, I am very happy, that I do not have to keep one runestone of each affinity in my inventory to swap situation-dependently for the affinity related-buffs and debuff skills! Well done!


----
The following is off-topic and relates to the post above:

Thank you, Mafeaux for your post. It confirms the strategy I use (my RK is currently Lvl 60).

I wonder, whether going "backpedal" ('S' key by default) is the ideal kiting strategy - I think the RK is reletively slow that way on a retreat from a charging foe. Is there any way to go sideways and apply lightning skills? - I wonder, whether the new feature bound to the 'X'-key (by default) will help.

But I had another idea: I programmed my mouse with a button macro, that turns the char by exactly 180 degrees*.
When a mob comes close, I mezz or slow it, turn around with the macro and run away (going quickly forward(!) instead of slowly backwards) until I have reached enough distance (could be the maximum fiery ridicule range or so). Then I use the macro again, so I face back exactly into the same direction as before. This avoids disorientation when kiting, but requires lots of space. It does not really work in Moria, for example.

As said before, for kiting you can combine your skills for slowing down your foe's speed (Chilling Rhetoric), for stunning (Shocking Words) and mezzing/dazing (Shocking Touch, Vivid Imagery) your foe.
When kiting it is important to know about the difference between stun and mezz: A mezz is broken by incoming damage on the foe. If you want to increase your distance by stunning your foe, do not deal damage while going away. I am not so sure, but even a still active DoT may make the mezz effect of a later skill useless (have to verify that, though).
A stun is not broken by damage. So you can keep using your lightning skills while moving away, and the foe will remain stunned and stay in the same place, nevertheless. If you want to do so you cannot turn around when running, because you have to face the foe to use your attack skills.

*1: You need a mouse supporting macros with mouse movement as A4tech/X7 series or Coolermaster Storm Inferno / Storm Sentinel Advance. The Autohotkey script language might also be an option.

P.S.: English is not my native language, so sorry for any mistakes.

Glad to help ^_^ My kiting strat is just a basic outline, and far from a "perfect" strategy. Personally, I hate kiting . I prefer to face my foe, not run away and show him my backside. But that's just me, and it's probably why my last few levels hurt so much. ^_^;

And using a keyboard or mouse hardware macro to spin 180 degrees is a VERY good idea. I should look into that, I got a Saitek Cyborg RAT 3 that has some really good macro functions and extra buttons and stuff.

As far as the new camera lock function goes, maybe there's an angle to run at to get the best use of a space that refocusing the camera should help with. I've wanted something like that actually for a while, it's a feature I missed from playing FFXI for a few years. I'm gonna try playing around with it.

And yeah, you make a good distinction between stuns and mezes. My post was getting long enough without going that much detail. But yeah, it's extremely vital to know the difference, and to be able to use the right tool for the job at a moment's notice is the difference between a good player and a great player.

And don't worry about your English. Half of MMO stuff is slang anyway ^_^

Originally Posted by ZC

Rune-keepers are the most fragile class in the game. This is not an accident, it is their design. Their fragility should be sufficiently mitigated by a number of defensive skill plays and careful kiting.

I was quite astonished to read this. Because I know it isn't true. Kiting as a regular playstyle, is lame, ZC. Especially "careful" kiting (meaning it's not even obvious to just "kite"). If this were in the class description for RK's I would never have created one. To my eyes, it feels like a cowardly tactic, unless you're facing a severely superior foe, or a specific, unique, instance mechanic forces you to do so. I refuse to give up my 100+ dps from melee auto-attacks so I've always fought toe-to-toe and have been doing quite well. You simply cannot make kiting a base, fundamental playstyle for a class. Especially not one that has to use induction skills. I know I don't have to kite, even after Update 6, but I hope you have not and do not intend to design anything for the RK with "kiting" as a requirement. I.e. I hope that, in your own mind, you don't think "RK have to kite, anyway."

Thanks for the nice update, btw. I still find some strange things in there, and hope to be able to post some details soon.

Originally Posted by Alad.

I was quite astonished to read this. Because I know it isn't true. Kiting as a regular playstyle, is lame, ZC. Especially "careful" kiting (meaning it's not even obvious to just "kite"). If this were in the class description for RK's I would never have created one. To my eyes, it feels like a cowardly tactic, unless you're facing a severely superior foe, or a specific, unique, instance mechanic forces you to do so. I refuse to give up my 100+ dps from melee auto-attacks so I've always fought toe-to-toe and have been doing quite well. You simply cannot make kiting a base, fundamental playstyle for a class. Especially not one that has to use induction skills. I know I don't have to kite, even after Update 6, but I hope you have not and do not intend to design anything for the RK with "kiting" as a requirement. I.e. I hope that, in your own mind, you don't think "RK have to kite, anyway."

Thanks for the nice update, btw. I still find some strange things in there, and hope to be able to post some details soon.

Sorry to say, but you apparently can because they have. That's the main reason lightning has no inductions.

After reading the above, my condensed feedback is also:

I agree, please do not make kiting a necessary strategy for "regular" fights!
Please leave the auto-attack in place!

---
Explanation:

Mafeaux: "Personally, I hate kiting . I prefer to face my foe, not run away and show him my backside. But that's just me, and it's probably why my last few levels hurt so much. ^_^;"
Alad: "To my eyes, it [kiting] feels like a cowardly tactic, unless you're facing a severely superior foe, or a specific, unique, instance mechanic forces you to do so. I refuse to give up my 100+ dps from melee auto-attacks so I've always fought toe-to-toe and have been doing quite well."

I have to add to add to my previous post, that I usually try kiting on bosses, only. And, indeed, I still find it quite difficult, so I would not prefer to use this as a general playstyle either!
With up to three mobs, my kiting is very limited; I do use the crowd control skills to slow down and mezz/stun the foes, but I hardly move - unless I have to bail out and run away to save my life. The auto-attack comes in nice and handy.

The auto-attack can also be used to get down up to three mobs by repeatedly casting healing spells on oneself (the pet-stone shall be active to bind one foe and give additional healing). In emergency cases I change attunement from damage to healing and use that strategy. It is a slow tactics, but it can help to survive.

P.S.:
Mafeaux: "The individual rune stone jeweler recipes do create unique stones in that their melee damage output will still be a different element. It's not a so much a big deal, but certain mobs are hurt more by fire, others by lightning, etc."

Thanks, this makes sense to me. Maybe, to some cases it is even a disadvantage to use a certain type (I read something about a debuff being removed from a Moria instance boss, when using fire).

Originally Posted by Moefaux

What's wrong with casting CA (instacast) or a Writ (very short induction) just before casting Fall to X or Armor of X?

Well, sometimes you have no mobs next to you, or some of them are dazed, or will be dazed.
In a raid is a pain, you hit a mob with WoF and this mob can't be CCed in the next 20 sec, or you use WoC and your AoE wake up some dazed mob.

I'm happy with most of the changes, some are good and others are meh, but this mechanic is a pain. I was more confortable switching my stones.

Big hug to Moefaux

I can't wait to try your tips, and kiting has been a big part of my bag of tricks to do, but I was unaware of the healing stone properties with regards of drawing aggroe to itself and sparing me! Wow, I can't wait to try that.

I will confess, I don't kite as much as I have in other games, because while in the process of kiting I tend to run into the aggroe range of mobs that may be hidden to me and then my problems just gets out of hand.

As I said, I can't wait to try your suggestions

Big Hug

Sue