Thread: Riders of Rohan Developer Diary: Warsteed Discussion

When Riders of Rohan goes live this fall, we’ll all have a choice of which war-steed is best fitted to carry us into combat. Read more in the latest Developer Diary from Anthony "Doc" DiMento and post your discussions here!

First off. I LOVE the warsteed trait-line system.


What is the cost for the Light and Heavy Trait lines?
Is it a per character or per-account purchase?
What are the costs for the 'trait spec slots'? How many do we get for free? Are they account wide?

Why do we have a new LI for Warsteeds (Bridles) with no new Free LI slots to put them in?

If the knowledge is available i would like to know if the light and heavy steeds (and trait line) comes with the expansion pack that will be able to be bought on release with TP. Normally i would say yes the way it is worded but i have noticed that sometimes with gaming companies that what you would think is the obvious answer is not the correct one.

So we have to pay to have a light or heavy war-steed even if we pre-purchased? That seems a bit harsh, lol. Reeaalllyy hope it doesn't cost a whole lot, since my main is a hunter (and the only one who will benefit from RoR currently) and she would do better with a light war-steed, as mentioned in the DD.

Originally Posted by Zentoki

So we have to pay to have a light or heavy war-steed even if we pre-purchased?

These trait lines are included in your purchase of the expansion. =)

The people who have bought the expansion have access to all three traitlines of the warsteed.....free to play players will have access to only one (medium I assume) and they can buy the others separately if they wish to....

So I'm pretty sure those who have pre-ordered or will buy Rohan in any way will have all 3 traitlines available for free


edit : Crell beat me to it

Yay, that's a relief.

Originally Posted by silverblade5445

The people who have bought the expansion have access to all three traitlines of the warsteed.....free to play players will have access to only one (medium I assume) and they can buy the others separately if they wish to....

So I'm pretty sure those who have pre-ordered or will buy Rohan in any way will have all 3 traitlines available for free


edit : Crell beat me to it

Question: How much are the other two trait-lines in the store and are they an account wide purchase?

Originally Posted by silverblade5445

The people who have bought the expansion have access to all three traitlines of the warsteed.....free to play players will have access to only one (medium I assume) and they can buy the others separately if they wish to....

So I'm pretty sure those who have pre-ordered or will buy Rohan in any way will have all 3 traitlines available for free


edit : Crell beat me to it

(Quoting, not to aim my rant/frustrations at you. It just proved the best hook for what I'm trying to say )

That's how I have understood it since it was first announced, however, we still lack confirmation of the TP purchase. As far as I'm aware, Turbine has, so far, not commented on the "Expansion content" phrase used in the FAQ.

In essence we have four different possible states of an account after RoR goes live:

1. Preordered the expansion*
2. Bought the expansion in the web store after launch
3. Bought the "expansion content" in the ingame store after launch (not available before)
4. Haven't bought the expansion at all

On top of this, we have the various account statuses (Free, Premium, VIP).

Originally Posted by Dev diary

"Free players will have access to the Medium War-Steed from the get go." is mentioned

When the term "Free players" is used in the dev diary, I, for one, am getting confused. Is he referring to the account type or whether you've purchased the expansion? If the latter, does the purchase of the "expansion content" through the ingame store fall under "Free players" or are these trait lines and mounts included? If the former, does that mean VIPs will get access to those even without purchasing the expansion? (Note, I do not believe that myself)

Will purchase of individual trait lines/mounts be aimed those who chose to purchase the expansion through the ingame store? Or is the "expansion content", mentioned in the FAQ also a bundle of the quest pack and these trait lines?

Either way, it sure looks to me as if the specifications in the FAQ (Of ingame RoR purchases) are not complete. (One element, "Expansion content", needs clarification, or the elements listed does not combine to make the full expansion)



*This could be further split in basic/heroic/legendary editions, but those are mostly single-item additions to the account/character and not relevant for this discussion

They said to free players, so does that mean that vip's will get it the horses/trait lines for free?

A response from a knowledgeable Dev would be very much welcomed.

Here's what I can say from beta.

The light and heavy steeds are NOT free if you dont buy the expansion. HOWEVER the cost, and the 'account-wide' status are still unknown because the Mount-steed-type gating is broken =/

Originally Posted by Crell_1

Here's what I can say from beta.

The light and heavy steeds are NOT free if you dont buy the expansion. HOWEVER the cost, and the 'account-wide' status are still unknown because the Mount-steed-type gating is broken =/

I take it you mean buying the expansion from the web store with that? (Preorder or not)

Originally Posted by Cyrilion

I take it you mean buying the expansion from the web store with that? (Preorder or not)

The expansion is the expansion, no matter how you purchase it.

The key is, that the expansion isnt sold as such for TP at launch because they can't until the instances show up in a later update. That means you'll have to buy the Trait access piecemeal.

No one knows what that pricing is or what form it'll take.

Originally Posted by Crell_1

The expansion is the expansion, no matter how you purchase it.

The key is, that the expansion isnt sold as such for TP at launch because they can't until the instances show up in a later update. That means you'll have to buy the Trait access piecemeal.

No one knows what that pricing is or what form it'll take.

But they said that the ROR expansion content in the store was 4275 tp, one would think that would include all the content and not some of it.

Are they any easier to control? Because they were absurdly difficult in beta, to the point I could see no reasonable way to fight from them. Doesn't matter to me the skills, or types of mounts if I can't control it easily, I'll just use a regular horse when I play. I suppose if you were a person that would sit on horseback from distance and never move you could use them, but trying to position or follow anything had you pressing so many buttons and dealing with running past or the inability to turn sharply enough to match what you were fighting to the point of frustration. Please tell me we don't have to battle that in the general release.

Originally Posted by Crell_1

The expansion is the expansion, no matter how you purchase it.

The key is, that the expansion isnt sold as such for TP at launch because they can't until the instances show up in a later update. That means you'll have to buy the Trait access piecemeal.

No one knows what that pricing is or what form it'll take.

I don't really doubt you, but in that case the FAQ is misleading at best.

The phrasing "Expansion content" for the price of 4295 TP is listed together with the other preorder items costs (6th bag etc.) This appeared, and still does, as if that is the full listing of content compared to the pre-order deals.

This is excluding the coming instance cluster which was added after this FAQ point was written and Turbine have been quite clear about those this time around.

I'm not in the beta, I have not seen those items listed in the ingame store myself, so I have to go on second-hand info. Outside of the beta forums and Bullroarer, however, i'm fairly certain there has been no official word about those mounts/trait lines when it comes to TP purchase. Especially not combined with the "Expansion content" item.

If there has been, I do appologize and appreciate a link to it

If not... I think we could use one.

Originally Posted by Legonist

But they said that the ROR expansion content in the store was 4275 tp, one would think that would include all the content and not some of it.

It said right below that (I'm paraphrasing here): ROR expansion content includes quests in the Rohan region.

I think its probably safe to assume that the quests are all you get if you purchase it like that, though I think the traitlines should have been included.

Originally Posted by Legonist

But they said that the ROR expansion content in the store was 4275 tp, one would think that would include all the content and not some of it.

Traitlines are NOT content. they are a FEATURE. (This is how they're going to rationalize it most likely)

For that matter, I would assume that the instances are separate, because they cant sell us anything for TP until its actually in the game.

Originally Posted by Armaius

It said right below that (I'm paraphrasing here): ROR expansion content includes quests in the Rohan region.

I think its probably safe to assume that the quests are all you get if you purchase it like that, though I think the traitlines should have been included.

This is exactly right. Turbine has promised that the Epic Quest Line will always be available and accessible to Free Players (ie, without Turbine Point cost). To wit, if the Epic Quest Line were to involve a mechanic (say, mounted combat?) that requires access to something, they'll make that something accessible at least to the degree that's needed to access and complete the Epic Quest Line.

This is also why the Rohan landscape is free to roam on... *EVERYONE* gets the Rohan landscape (and the Epic Quest Line) simply by virtue of having an account. Those that pay get access to "expansion content", meaning quests in the area and additional features.

Will you be able to purchase things peacemeal? Probably... Rune Keepers and the Warden came with Moria, but you could still purchase them separately.

Hallo,

I think it sounds a bit funny, but are the warsteed classes ligth, medium, heavy bound to our charclasses?

Or may my warden be able to use a heavy horse?

Thanks for answers




www.Sternenheer.eu

Lets say i choose light steed for start. Can i switch to medium/heavy later? and how?

I have to admit, if purchasing the 'expansion content' in the TP store really means that all I get is the Rohan quest pack for over 4k in TP's, then I seriously doubt I'll fork over that many points.

Originally Posted by Baltic

Hallo,

I think it sounds a bit funny, but are the warsteed classes ligth, medium, heavy bound to our charclasses?

Or may my warden be able to use a heavy horse?

Thanks for answers




www.Sternenheer.eu

They're not bound. It's a lot like picking red, blue or yellow traitlines for your character at the bard. You can use any type of warsteed you want, barring f2p limits. (I'm not doing f2p so I can't say much about that.) My LM was using the heavy horse for the extra armour and endurance to offset the damage from a pack of tough mobs while soloing during beta.

Originally Posted by Iluvatardd

Lets say i choose light steed for start. Can i switch to medium/heavy later? and how?

You can always switch, you don't even need to be in a town or anything, there's no warsteed bard . As of now in beta (all things subject to change of course) I was swapping out trees literally in the field. Shift+m pulls up the whole mount panel, traits included. From there, you can retrait and use a different warsteed type, i.e. swapping your light horse out for a heavy etc. (f2p only has access to the medium horse I believe, so mileage on my reply will vary.)

Originally Posted by Daragh

You can always switch, you don't even need to be in a town or anything, there's no warsteed bard . As of now in beta (all things subject to change of course) I was swapping out trees literally in the field. Shift+m pulls up the whole mount panel, traits included. From there, you can retrait and use a different warsteed type, i.e. swapping your light horse out for a heavy etc. (f2p only has access to the medium horse I believe, so mileage on my reply will vary.)

Thanks a lot for this. Much more light in the dark.
Now it is clear to me, that irrespective of light, medium or heary warsteed there is always technically just one and the same horse and no need to decide between them.
Thats perfect.

Back to the VIP vs F2P things.
It was said, that, if one bought the expansion, all tree types of warsteedes were accessible.
Does this really mean it's independent of a later accountstatus?

I see that it will be possible to save different trait configurations to switch between. I really, really, really hope that this is a prelude to being able to save trait specs for my character's traits as well. I hate having to manually change each trait each time I visit the bard to switch between my tanking, soloing, and moors trait builds.

Originally Posted by Madaster1

Are they any easier to control? Because they were absurdly difficult in beta, to the point I could see no reasonable way to fight from them. Doesn't matter to me the skills, or types of mounts if I can't control it easily, I'll just use a regular horse when I play. I suppose if you were a person that would sit on horseback from distance and never move you could use them, but trying to position or follow anything had you pressing so many buttons and dealing with running past or the inability to turn sharply enough to match what you were fighting to the point of frustration. Please tell me we don't have to battle that in the general release.

YMMV, but they're quite simple to control. You can double-tap one key to set to full speed, steer with the mouse, and just hit the hotkeys for various skills to queue them while you ride toward the target. If nothing else, there's the "Spur On" skill that puts the steed on auto-pilot, circling round toward your target on its own, so that you can focus on your combat skills.

It takes some practice, but it's worth it. Mounted combat IS important in the landscape content, as there's a number of mounted enemies that are very hard to fight on foot, and mounted combat oriented instances where you'll have a hard time keeping up with NPCs and enemies on foot.

I will note that Book III.8 of the epic requires you to complete the Langhold quest line, which rewards you with a War-steed at the end. Given that, I'd personally presume Langhold will be accessible to all, even if the rest of the Wold isn't.

Ok, something has me a bit confused here. A few months ago Turbine released a general FAQ about the RoR pre-order that stated one warsteed per character, but I'm reading comments in this thread that show one character can have all three types of warsteed. Is the FAQ out of date? http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews...-pre-order-faq

Originally Posted by GarethB

Ok, something has me a bit confused here. A few months ago Turbine released a general FAQ about the RoR pre-order that stated one warsteed per character, but I'm reading comments in this thread that show one character can have all three types of warsteed. Is the FAQ out of date? http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews...-pre-order-faq

You get one war-steed, but you can re-spec it for light, medium or heavy whenever you want. (Assuming you've pre-ordered or purchased the traitlines in the Store)

What level do you have to be to go into rohan and use a warsteed?

Originally Posted by gondorn

What level do you have to be to go into rohan and use a warsteed?

According to what I've read (I haven't been in the open beta test), my impression is that you need to be level 75 to pick up the quests which will give you your warsteed when you complete those quests. These quests are part of the Epic storyline and Epic storyline quests are free to all players.

This does bring up one detail. This game allows you to pick up quests that are 5 levels above you (a level 5 character can pick up level 10 quests, a level 55 character can pick up level 60 quests). A notable example of this is Volume 2 Book 1, the Epic quest line which give you your first legendary items. You can start V2B1 at level 45 but the quests are actually level 50 quests and the the legendary items you are given during V2B1 are level 50 items.

Are the warsteed quests actually level 80 quests, but you can start them at level 75, or are they level 75 quests, in which case you could start them at level 70? I just don't know.

Originally Posted by GarethB

Are the warsteed quests actually level 80 quests, but you can start them at level 75, or are they level 75 quests, in which case you could start them at level 70? I just don't know.

Well given that you pick the warsteed up early on, I'd say L75. LI quests, after all, are L50 (the original cap) Henceforth, it'll probably become common advice that people still levelling should go get their warsteeds when they hit L70.