Thread: Condolances to Gaurdians - Fear the Warden Dev Diary

Did you notice a few things in the Guardian Dev Diary? http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdia...diary-guardian. I have an Arden and no gaurd, so I am posting this here.

Originally Posted by Graalx

Guardians are getting a much more substantial revision in this expansion than other classes, though nothing like the changes in gameplay of the previous Minstrel or Warden updates. The primary purpose of this revision is to allow the Guardian to take a sustained DPS role with an increased emphasis on Damage over Time effects.

Originally Posted by Graalx

Many skills will have different effects in Overpower Stance.

So, guards will have to take their skill tree and multiply it times 3, like wardens did back in March. Umm did the feedback from the long-time, many posting wardens that this was a horribad idea and lead to them quitting the game not give you a clues this is a bad idea Turbine? Sorry guards, welcome to the "throw away everything you learned over the past 4 years" boat with us..

Originally Posted by Graalx

We feel that these changes will allow a Guardian to do almost as much damage as the Champion/Hunter/Runekeeper in DPS stance and, more importantly, be able to maintain it.

Ummmm.. say WHAT? Like the game needs more DPS classes? Are we headed to untauntable mobs 2 million morale and that are slugs that dont hit, so we dont need tanks or healers?

Originally Posted by Graalx

The addition of inductions to stance switching is to prevent stance dancing as a normal part of the guardian’s rotation. That these inductions have limited knockback means that even while being pounded by multiple monsters the guardian will be able to switch stance without too much difficulty.

Stance-dancing ardens be warned. If they take this also to ardens, get ready to learn a new technique, again. Because induction based changing stances means, no changing stances on the move, a possibility that it could be interrupted, (depending on how they enact it) and a time where you cant use any skills while casting the change in stance.

Now, factor in the fact that they are putting mounted combat into the game, where you are constantly on the move and not always in melee range.. sigh..

Yes, it's so awful that Guards may actually be able to perform a function in groups besides Tanking.

Read that again please. May be able to. Not only be able to. Classes should not be so rigid that they can only perform one role each. With these changes, if you happen to end up with two Guards in a group, the other can simply respec for DPS rather than switch out for a different class. What's wrong with that?

And as far as MC goes, I suspect it is mostly going to be a levelling activity, and therefore mostly solo. Endgame stuff will likely remain on foot.

Won't comment on stances affecting skills, except that I manage perfectly fine with them.

getting tired of relearning my warden. Tweak guards - ok, no idea why but sure. Just leave the warden alone for awhile and let us enjoy!

Ratt

Regardless of the changes to OP (which I like) tanking guards will be fine. The -30% to mitigations in OP is rating and doesn't translate to a huge loss in mitigations due to diminishing returns. Not to mention that they can use a heavy shield while in OP/dps/glass cannon build.

The class is so simple that even a few changes to skills based on stance aren't going to make a huge difference. They did the same thing to champs and it isn't too hard to keep track. The warden changes on the other hand were much more complicated IMO since every skill was basically changed based on stance and a whole ranged dps role was thrown in as well.

I fear for the warden changes too. I have about zero confidence that it will be scaled correctly or fixed in a timely fashion after RoR has been released.

When did it change from Wadens to Ardens?

(from someone who hasn't played his warden since we were broken in ROI)

Originally Posted by Smacx

When did it change from Wadens to Ardens?

(from someone who hasn't played his warden since we were broken in ROI)

I was not present for a vote to remove the W from warden. The only benefit from being an Arden would be our Dev Diary would have been first so we'd know how bad it was going to be later this month. I'm guessing typo or Darlgon personally considers his warden to be Arden.

Hmm...way back when ROI came out I started calling my now-useless warden a Garden, but it never took off....

Originally Posted by Smacx

Hmm...way back when ROI came out I started calling my now-useless warden a Garden, but it never took off....

LOL, I missed that but I like it...

I always figured "Arden" was the term for Wadens that got broken post-ROI. Like a temporary name until status could be restored. Dunno, I don't remember any official definition anywhere.

I want to know why guards are essentially stealing our way of DPSing. Insinuated is that they are going to be able to do it better than us too.

Originally Posted by Darlgon

guards will have to take their skill tree and multiply it times 3

Only by 2 :-D Parry stance is merged into Overpower, and the threat stance is still a defensive stance, akin to block, so I guess every such skill will have an offensive and defensive version, and that's all. Fair trade considering that you don't have to use 2 handers for overpower any more.

Sounds fine to me, simplify a simple class :P , .. let the guards DPS - more tanking for us

I doubt very very very much they will make many / if any changes to our stances etc. Most likely we will get a couple of 'improved' gambits and a coupe of new ones.

Threat generation gambit(s) that do not cause damage would be nice

Originally Posted by Smacx

When did it change from Wadens to Ardens?

(from someone who hasn't played his warden since we were broken in ROI)

I was thinking the exact same thing...

Originally Posted by Mysterion

I fear for the warden changes too. I have about zero confidence that it will be scaled correctly or fixed in a timely fashion after RoR has been released.

I will very surprised if everything gets scaled on time. Additionally, I'm expecting to get hit with the nerf bat. Hard.

Interesting though its sort of a "sky is falling argument" since the information available is kind of vague and i doubt that they will ever set out to destroy a class. What I want to know is why is this in the warden thread its about guards and as a warden i couldn't care less what they do to the guards. Guards becoming op or nerfed does not effect me I care what they will do to us. And since we just had a major change and the generic description of mounted combat sounds like it could have been based on warden stances i don't think we have much to worry about. The only think i want to know is how they plan to incorporate gambits assuming they are going to try.

Ugh. Why does every class have to do everything. You'd think Turbine would be all for classes that only have one function. That way, to experience all the different functions with FtP, people would have to buy extra character slots.

I would like dps in Overpower to be better at lower levels. I didn't start seeing a major difference till my Guard was about level 35. And now that I'm in Moria with her, it seems to have gone back to the ole "meh - same difference" kind of dps Overpower was when I started. Why do we need a stance change though? Just deal with OP and leave the rest of our board alone.

I think maybe I'm the only person that likes the Warden changes. Maybe because I had avoided playing my only Warden (lvl18) for over a year when they changed the class. So I just started over and viola - I like it. I tank, I kill, I heal. Happy Warden. . . or Arden? Whatever. It makes sense, to me, that Wardens can out play Guards overall. They're a premium class that most people had to pay extra to play.

Looking into the changes of all classes basically every class got what the community asked for

Burgs got tactical debuffs, improved debuffs, Stance dancing in combat, more use for yellow traitline, safe fall on mount usable...
Hunters got good threat reduction and a shiny new panic skill
Captains got OOC-Rezz, Valiant strike improved, more damage buffs, all buffs can be cast on mount, Strength of Will Legacy for all 3 Brothers...
Guards getting more dps

if you have read their class forums you know that these were exactly the things they asked for. Not all things, of course, but the major ones.
So i dont fear the warden dev diary, why would i? The only thing that i fear is scaling of aggro and healing, which they will mess up as they usually do, but besides that i'm looking forward to the warden dev diary. Maybe finally the yellow traitline will have some use. If i remember correctly, the yellow traitline was supposed for ranged damage, but apparently you skill 5r-2y for ranged dps. A rework of the yellow legendary would be a nice start plus an aggroskill that doesnt do damage (which i may have seen on BR, but not sure)