Thread: Any major changes to warden in the past year?

I leveled a warden on free play last summer and he is currently at level 40.

I'm trying to relearn the gambits I used to use, etc. I seem to recall having some healing gambits that I don't seem to have - or perhaps the descriptions have changed, etc.

Anyway, that's not my main question, but is there any changes to the warden this past year that I should be aware of? I am mainly a solo player and I use free play. I left off by trying to get the book pages, and I am in the misty mountains and will try to continue that.

Thanks

Yes. Warden's underwent some very significant changes this past year. I believe that dev diary covers the most recent changes to the class.

http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdia...arden-changes-

All I know is that my lvl 41 Warden, which I'd neglected for a while, is FAR more vulnerable now than it used to be and kills even slower. Whatever changes have been made seem to be nerfs, and I guess they added the new skills of filling your bar faster to compensate. What used to be one of my favorite toons is now pretty much my least-favorite.

Thanks to the reply with the link. I'll check it out as well.

First, yes, Warden's went through significant changes. As for being 'vulnerable', Wardens can still take on enemies 5+ levels higher without any problem whatsoever (Nemesis & Elite Masters don't count), and groups of 5-10+ on-level, even signature. Not exactly vulnerable.

Warden's have 3 stances now:
Determination is the healing stance
Recklessness is the damage stance
Assailment is the ranged stance

Masteries are not traits now, they are all learned at level 20. Nothing new about them, just changed how they are accessed for earlier use. Which traits you slot determines which masteries are usable though. As a Warden, you will need at least two trait slots purchased in addition to the two available for f2p to make all masteries available. Without them, you might as well not play the character beyond 40, as we are designed to be used with masteries now. Potency and Battle Memory work the same way as before, so you can pull off 2x any ability at will, 3x with planning, or simply saving gambits for later use, etc. Read the above link, check the Warden forums, etc.

We still have numerous bugs. The new assailment stance has almost no animations associated with the skills. Ranged Wall of Steel looks like a regular melee wall of steel with javelins suddenly flying out of your forehead area, for example. And it takes at least twice as long to build. We have a few abilities that do not remove Battle Preparation, allowing you to spam them in combat without ever putting Masteries on cooldown despite being bug reported since Update 6. Oddly enough, our Shield Tactics was fixed in the last update to remove Battle Prep (not like you can spam stun immunity or anything!), but not the offensive ability. I can kill two on-level mobs spamming it before Battle Prep wears off, and that was before level 75 (now it's 3-4, depending on misses/blocks/parries/health, and I expect raid-geared peeps could about double that). EoB and Fierce Resolve will show the extended duration bonuses in their tooltips from traits, but they are not actually lengthened on yourself, just the enemy. Those are just off the top of my head.

Regardless of the above problems, Warden is a very solid tank. Only the well-played Wardens are useful end-game though; the standard way Wardens learn to play their class levelling from 1-75 is all but useless in groups at end-game - this leads to a lot of badly played Wardens and a bad reputation because of them.

Thanks. I kind of sensed last year that once you hit 40 you are a little starved for content as a free player (which I understand).

I better get to a trainer and see what I missed in all the changes.

Would you recommend I purchase Misty Mountains for the leveling content?

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate it.

PS> Was there any change to self-healing gambits?

Originally Posted by Rokendor

All I know is that my lvl 41 Warden, which I'd neglected for a while, is FAR more vulnerable now than it used to be and kills even slower. Whatever changes have been made seem to be nerfs, and I guess they added the new skills of filling your bar faster to compensate. What used to be one of my favorite toons is now pretty much my least-favorite.

Thanks to the reply with the link. I'll check it out as well.

You just have to get used to the new stances. Determination is probably more like what you are used to. You have all of your heals and evasion gambits but some of your bleeds are fone. Recklessness is for straight DPS. Your heals (Sh-SP-SH line) damage the mobs, not heal you. Your shield and parry increases put up a reflection buff instead of raising your stats.

I usually am in Recklessness but in a tough fight I switch to Determination and am really hard to kill. I will also switch mid fight sometimes. Start in Recklessness until my health is low, switch to determination to throw up all my heals and turn on Shield Mastery, then back to Recklessness for the added DPS.

Originally Posted by PenguinIceNinja

Thanks. I kind of sensed last year that once you hit 40 you are a little starved for content as a free player (which I understand).

I better get to a trainer and see what I missed in all the changes.

Would you recommend I purchase Misty Mountains for the leveling content?

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate it.

PS> Was there any change to self-healing gambits?

No, I wouldn't recommend the Misties for leveling. Pick up either Angmar or Forochel instead.

Yes, self-heals are now tied to stances. If you want them, you have to run in Determination stance.

Originally Posted by Armaius

No, I wouldn't recommend the Misties for leveling. Pick up either Angmar or Forochel instead.

Yes, self-heals are now tied to stances. If you want them, you have to run in Determination stance.

Ohhhhh that's why I didn't have any heals....haha I couldn't figure it out. Thanks!