Player Guide: Class Changes Summary: Rune-Keeper

[Eomon]

Understanding your Rune-Keeper or "Oi, what have you done to my class?"
A guide constructed by Saelberaen of Eldar and Xellor of Dwarrowdelf



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Attunement

Probably the biggest change in the Rune-Keeper class is how attunement works and affects our skills. In previous updates attunement has been used as a "gating" mechanism where stronger skills have been locked behind higher attunement. Attunement was also used to gate healing skills when attuned for damage and to gate damaging skills while attuned for healing. Some skills also had minor ties to attunement like Scribe's Spark dealing more damage with higher battle attunement, and Mending Verse costing less power to cast with more heal attunement.

With Helm's Deep this is greatly changed!

First off, all damaging skills are available from neutral attunement (or one battle attunement) and all healing skills are available from neutral attunement (or one healing attunement). There are no longer skills that unlock at 3, 6, or 9 attunement.

Second, skills are now divided into "builders" and "consumers". For example, Essence of Storm builds three battle attunement per use (in previous updates it built one attunement). In general, most "builders" contribute between one and three steps of attunement, but a few give more. Consumers on the other hand, use up *all* of your attunement, placing you back at fully neutral. While this may sound harsh it must be noted that consumers have a significant performance scaling from attunement.

Third, each specialization has traits that give all skills from that specialization a significant performance boost depending on your attunement. E.g. Solitary Thunder has a trait (Tale of the Storm) that gives +3% critical magnitude and +1% critical hit chance per battle attunement.

In previous updates, playing a Rune-Keeper has been much about rushing to maximum attunement and then staying there until the battle is over. A few dips occur when using utility skills or skills from the opposite side of the attunement bar. With Helm's Deep, Rune-Keepers will instead see a lot more action in the (attunement) bar! This does not mean that the three specializations will play in the same manner. Solitary Thunder will be the specialization where attunement is constantly jumping back to neutral, while Cleansing Flame will be much more like the past where attunement will be at max for the majority of the fights (except in AoE situations). Benediction of Peace will be somewhere in between.


Affinity

The second biggest change (from a class mechanic point of view) is the complete removal of affinity. Armour of X is now a permanent Armour of Storm. Rune-sign of X is now a permanent Rune-sign of Frost (with a completely new function). Do Not Fall to X has been completely removed (and Essay of Exaltation has had its cooldown greatly reduced to compensate) and the mitigation buff from Fall to X have been folded into other skills (like Writ of Lightning) or traits (like Molten Armour). All-in-all there are simply not enough affinity aware skills left for it to make sense to keep this mechanic.


Ground targeted skills

This is a completely new mechanic that has been added to the game. It allows Rune-Keepers (and other classes as well) to target effects at locations where there currently are no allies or enemies. Activating a ground targeted skill will give you a target indicator that tracks the movement of your mouse pointer. It is important to know that the targeting mechanism (the "aim graphics") which is triggered by clicking/using the skill is not tied to actually casting the skill. Clicking your mouse button will then queue that skill for activation at that location just as hitting a skill icon will queue that skill for casting. It is easy to replace that queued cast with another skill if one is not careful. Some skills come with ground targeting enabled from the start while other skills require trait points to be spent to unlock/enable ground targeting.

Ground targeted skills can be integrated smoothly into any skill rotation but, as always, practice makes perfect. One good advice is to plan ahead when using ground targeted skills; use the induction or attack duration of the currently executing skill to "place" your ground targeted effect. That way your targeted skill will fire off as soon as the previous skill finishes. Using keybinds for the targeted skills is highly recommended!

The following skills use, or can use, ground targeting : Our Fates Entwined, Essay of Exaltation, Fulgurite Runestone, Volcanic Runestone, and Rune of Restoration.


How to make a Hybrid build, or "Oi, Where are all my skills?"

The introduction of trait trees and specializations mean that a lot of our skills become unavailable to us. Some of the skills are tied to low-tier traits, e.g. Mending Verse and Ceaseless Argument. These skills can be easily picked up in cross-specialization builds. Other skills are placed deeper in the trees and require a significant investment to reach. Some skills are bestowed from the specialization trait bonuses and are therefore permanently unavailable to other specializations. It is fully possible to create viable hybrid builds but it requires a lot more planning and class knowledge to be done right. Going hybrid is no longer about slotting two blue traits to get Rune of Restoration and better Writ of Health.

When planning a hybrid build it's important to start looking at what specialization skills and bonuses that are most important. If the content intended to be ran will require significant healing then it's probably required to specialize in Benediction of Peace and buy heavily in one of the DPS specializations. On the other hand, if less healing is required then it's most likely better to specialize as DPS and buy-in from Benediction of Peace. For example, Rousing Words is gated behind a Benediction of Peace trait bonus. If it is felt that group healing will be required then specialize Benediction of Peace and purchase as deeply into Solitary Thunder or Cleansing Flame as needed to get sufficient performance.

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Skills and Traits
Frost - Lightning - Fire - Heals - Middle Path

Removed Skills:

• Fall to (affinity) / Do not Fall to (affinity)
• Their Weapons Shall not Harm Us
• Calming Verse
• Distracting Winds
• Writ of Cold (integrated into Writ of Lightning)
• Frozen Epilogue
• That Which Does Not Kill Us
• Rune sign of Storm/Flame (see BoP for Rune sign of Winter)
• Glorious Foreshadowing (now a trait within BoP)

General Skills (No Specialization Required):

• Essence of Winter (+3 battle attune)
• Flurry of Words (+3 battle attune)
• Chilling Rhetoric (20 sec cd, -50% slow that breaks on first attack)
• Essence of Storm (+3 battle attune)
• Scribes Spark
• Self-Motivation (1 min cd)
• Scribe a new Ending (8 sec cd)
• Steady Hands (40 sec cd, no induction)
• Do Not Fall This Day (lasts for 300 sec)
• Nothing Truly Ends
• Improved Final Word
• Shocking Touch (now deals damage in addition to daze)
• (new) Break the Bond (2 min cd, removes cc effects)
• Fiery Ridicule (1 sec cd)
• Distracting Flame (+3 battle attunement)
• Prelude to Hope (ticks every 1 sec for 8 sec)
• Word of Exaltation (requires 1 heal attune, consumes all attunement)
• Epic for the Ages (+3 heal attunement)

Solitary Thunder Specific Skills

• Sustaining Bolt
  
• Ceaseless Argument (easily accessible)
• Vivid Imagery
  
• Epic Conclusion
• (new) Fulgurite Runestone
• (new) Writ of Lightning
  
• (new) Static Surge
  
• (new) Concession and Rebuttal

Cleansing Flame Specific Skills

• Smoldering Wrath
  
• Writ of Fire
  
• Essay of Fire
  
• Essense of Flame
• Scathing Mockery
  
• (new) Volcanic Rune Stone
• (new) Combustion

Benediction of Peace Specific Skills

• Mending Verse (easily accessible)
• Rune Sign of Winter
  
• Writ of Health
  
• Rousing Words
• Rune of Restoration
• Essay of Exaltation
  
• (new/changed) Our Fates Entwined
• (new) Bombastic Inspiration

Solitary Thunder
Solitary Thunder is perhaps the line MOST affected by the changes to attunement. It is also the line that sees the most new skills: (Static Surge, Writ of Lightning, Fulgurite Runestone and Concession and Rebuttal).. Oh and also…ALL lightning skills are now usable while moving.

Out with the old…In with the New
The Master of Tragedy trait has been completely removed, along with any of the old writs (at least in lightning spec). The new Writ of Lightning is now the only writ usable in Solitary Thunder. This skill has no induction, and integrates the debuff from the old Writ of Cold, along with a new lightning mitigation debuff. This debuff replaces Fall to X, giving -5% lightning mitigation per tier. It is only single target though, and has a range of 20m with a 1 sec cd. The next new skill, Static Surge, is a proc skill that has a 10% chance to be used after any lightning skill. It is a frontal aoe with 5m range, but unlimited number of targets. Next, we have Fulgurite Runestone. This is a stone similar to Rune of Restoration, except that it’s completely different. This rock will explode after a few seconds, dealing lightning damage and stunning nearby targets. Spending further into the trait line for this adds a slow (a lightning RKs only slow that can be damaged), as well as allowing ground-targeting. The final, and most complicated skill is the capstone: Concession and Rebuttal. This is the new lightning cool down skill, with a 3 min cd. It attunes 6 battle attunement, and applies 5 "tiers" worth of buffs. Each tier reduces incoming damage by 4%, and is consumed by the use of an altered EC, SW, Writ of Lightning, or Sust. Bolt. EC gains a heavy DoT effect, SW gains a slow for 5 sec after stun, WoL applies a fully tiered debuff on a single hit, and Sustaining Bolt restores power. This buff expires after being consumed 5 times, after 3 mins, or after dropping combat for a few seconds.


Self-Buffs
Previously, lightning dps relied heavily on self-buffs (Thunderous Words/Harsh Debate) obtained through the use of the two specific “builders”, Scribe’s Spark and Ceaseless Argument. In Helms Deep, these buffs are no longer applied by specific skills, but rather ANY lightning skill (similar to the old Charged Runes buff, which has been removed). In addition, Thunderous Words now applies +crit chance (up to 20%) instead of +finesee, while HD maintains its old +tactical damage. The major change seen to these buffs is that anytime BOTH buffs are active at the same time, they combine into one buff called “Closing Remarks”. The passive bonus provided from the old closing remarks trait has been removed, with the new Closing Remarks (CR) buff now adding both of the TW/HD buffs along with +50% EC damage, and -50% EC cool down. (Note: EC has had its cd reduced passively to 30sec. The CR buff now provides an additional cd reduction). Epic Conclusion consumes CR once used.

Attunement Building
The big change a rotation will now see in Helm’s Deep comes from the changes in attunement. Lightning skills receive additional crit damage and crit chance with higher attunement, so building attunement quickly will be key. Three skills now stand out as quick attunement builders, each adding 3 attunement: Essence of Storm, Writ of Lightning, and Vivid Imagery. Writ of Lightning has the lowest cd at 1 sec, making it almost spammable. Vivid Imagery has the highest cd, at 1 min (Note: Perfect Imagery has been removed). Essence of Storm remains the same, apart from the attunement change.

Consumers
Following what appears to be a trend…(3 major buffs, 3 major attunement builders at 3 attunement each, and now 3 consumers) lightning consumers are: Epic Conclusion, Shocking Words, and Sustaining Bolt. All of these buffs are usable at 1 battle attunement or higher, but also increase in damage/effect with each increase in attunement. Epic Conclusion has a basic +damage for each attunement, nothing special there. Shocking Words, now with a 100% stun chance on hit, increases in both damage and stun duration (still a max of 5 sec) for each attunement consumed. Sustaining Bolt now is even more of a “utility” skill, providing a heal in addition to its power cost reduction (and still deals damage). Damage and healing are affected by attunement for this skill.

General Utility/Healing
The days of group healing as a fully specced lightning RK are now over. The only heals available to an RK are Epic for the Ages, Prelude to Hope, and Sustaining Bolt (self). Mending Verse is also easily accessed in BoP line, as well as a self-heal from Self-Motivation in the CF line. Additionally, RKs have the general skill Word of Exaltation (bubble) at their disposal, which only requires one heal attunement to use.

Other changes to note

• Calming Verse has been removed, therefore there is no sprint in ST
• Armour of X is now always Armour of Storm
• Scribe a New Ending has seen a cd reduction to 8 sec
• Distracting Winds has been removed, and Chilling Rhetoric slow breaks after damage
• Frozen Epilogue has been removed, and Essence of Winter is now an RK’s only potable effect

Specialization Bonuses

Base: Grants Writ of Lightning and Sustaining Bolt

1. +20% lightning damage
   
2. Writ of Lightning now applies the old Writ of Cold Debuff (8% induction, 5% attack duration)
   
3. Critical hits with lightning resores 2% power
   
4. +1% crit chance, +3% crit damage per battle attunement
   
5. Sustaining Bolt now heals
   
6. Critical hits cause the next attack to penetrate 10% of mitigations
   
7. New Skill: Static Surge

Traits: (Points/Tiers in trait) "Trait Name" (description at max rank)

Tier 1

• (1) Grants Ceaseless Argument
  
• (5) Increased Critical Defense (~2k)
  
• (5) Shocking Touch (+duration/damage)

Tier 2

• (5) Increased Crit Chance (5%)
  
• (5) Increased Fate (~75)

Tier 3

• (1) New Skill - Fulgurite Runestone (places stone that damages/stuns)
  
• (5) Thunderous Words (15% chance to apply, adds +4% crit chance per trait tier)

Tier 4

• (3) Improves Fulgurite Runestone, +damage (30%), +slow (40%)
  
• (1) Grants Epic Conclusion
  
• (5) Harsh Debate (15% chance to apply +3% Tactical Damage per tier)

Tier 5

• (1) Grants Vivid Imagery
  
• (5) Closing Remarks (+40% EC damage, +5% TW/HD proc chance)

Tier 6

• (5) Fury of Storm (lightning skills apply +5% crit damage on next crit, stacks 5 times)
  
• (3) Increases Vivid Imagery Targets (+3)

Tier 7 (Capstone)

• (1) New Skill: Concession and Rebuttal

Cleansing Flame
This specialization used to be a pretty static trait line in Riders of Rohan where the majority of the damage came from one single, spam-able skill. In fact, with the right gear you could live happy using only three skills and still pretty much attain maximum DPS. No more... Cleansing Flame is now a fun specialization with a much more dynamic skill rotation.

Smouldering Wrath
Smouldering Wrath used to be a decently hard hitting skill, with a 45 sec cd. Sadly, it wasn't quite up to par to beat Fiery Ridicule in damage. No more... Smouldering Wrath now has a drastically reduced cooldown (10 seconds) and has a duration that depends on your attunement; the base duration is 1 second and each attunement increases the duration by 0.5 seconds. For each second during the channel, it will provide a mastery buff (~350), and consume 1 attunement. But best of all is that the damage output from Smouldering Wrath is in Thermite territory. If there's one skill that should be used at full attunement on cooldown, it's Smouldering Wrath!

It is no longer possible to get power back when channeling Smouldering Wrath.

Essay of Fire
Essay of Fire has been altered. In Riders of Rohan this was the "starter" skill that applied three tiers of Writ of Fire and gave a free skill. The damage output was mediocre at best and the cooldown too long. No more... Essay of Fire now deals very good damage and has a 10 second cooldown. However, it no longer applies three tiers of Writ of Fire on the target. The increased damage and the very appealing DoT means this skill should (also) be used on cooldown. Essay of Fire still gives one induction free cast and thanks to some developer magic this buff is not consumed by Smouldering Wrath.

For Rune-Keepers that have the 4-set Erebor this skill is the BOMB. Spam it as much as possible and hit Fiery Ridicule when no other skill is available and Essay of Fire will contribute more than Smouldering Wrath.

Fiery Ridicule
Fiery Ridicule has seen some change. First of all, the DoT no longer stacks. This means that a fast mega-spam of Fiery Ridicule will not result in a massive DPS increase. Second, it has a cooldown of 1 second. Fiery Ridicule is still the main filler skill. However, the cooldown means that Writ of Fire and Distracting Flame need to be weaved into the rotation.

Combustion
This is the centre piece of our AoE rotation. It will consume all your attunement, but in return it will do significant AoE damage *and* spread the current Writ of Fire to nearby targets.

Writ of Fire
Reduced cooldown, very easy to get tier-3 Writ of Fire on a target.

Scathing Mockery
No longer applies Writ of Fire to nearby targets

Self-buffs and procs
Cleansing Flame Rune-Keepers do not have very many procs or buffs to track. We have the "Enflamed Runes" buff (+15% fire damage) which is going to be up 100% of the time. The only thing that will have an impact on the rotation is the "Empowered Flame" buff which grants up to 30% reduces induction time. However, given that we have no spam-able skills, this buff is difficult to really utilize. The other half of of that proc (the "Molten Flame" debuff) should be tracked to maximize the use of Smouldering Wrath. However, given the short cooldown of the skill it's probably better to just ignore the proc and keep up the normal rotation.

Power consumption
Cleansing Flame Rune-Keepers have lost the power restore from Smouldering Wrath and have also lost access to Sustaining Bolt. These two facts make power usage and ICPR very important to manage. A good recommendation would be to use Self-motivation (with the legacy maxed out) on cooldown after the Smouldering Wrath channel. Another option is to try to pick up the power heal in Prelude to Hope (tier-2 Benediction of Peace) and use it as often as possible. All-in-all Cleansing Flame Rune-Keepers will have to manage their power from now on.

Survivability
Survivability in solo play is going to be one of the main concerns for Cleansing Flame Rune-Keepers, who will rely heavily on strong dps rather than self heals. It is strongly suggested to pick up Mending Verse in the low and mid level ranges. The Tier-5 specialization bonus, Master of Connotation, will also increase survivability, by providing a free Writ of Fire that heals after every 5 fire skills. Traiting fully into Self Motivation will provide a strong, reliable heal as well. If all else fails, Steady hands can be used to obtain Epic for the Ages and your Word of Exaltation.


Specialization Bonuses

Base: Grants Smouldering Wrath and Writ of Fire. 20% chance on every Wrath of Flame skill to apply Searing Words (a moderate DoT)

1. +20% fire damage
2. Writ of Fire tiers down instead of dispelling
3. Stacking Tact Mastery buff from Smouldering Wrath, decreased cooldown
4. Grants skill Essay of Fire
5. Stacking Master of Connotation buff (Next writ heals and cost no power at 5 stacks)
6. +10% Searing Words damage per tier of Writ of Fire on target.
7. +100% Smouldering Wrath damage, +30% initial Essay of Fire damage, Combustion spreads Writ of Fire

Traits: (Points/Tiers in trait) "Trait Name" (description at max rank)

Tier 1

• (5) "Conflagration of Runes" - Increased Fiery Ridicule Damage (10%), max rank makes Fiery Ridicule AoE.
• (5) "Tactical Damage Increase" - Increaded Tactical Damage (+5%)
• (5) "Overflowing Confidence" - Increases Heal and buff from Self-Motivation (30% of morale, 20%)

Tier 2

• (5) "Tale of Rage" - Stacking fire damage increase up to 5 tiers (5%)
• (1) "Essence of Flame" - Grants Essence of Flame

Tier 3

• (1) "Volcanic Runestone" - New Skill: Volcanic Runestone
• (3) "Explosive Rhetoric" - Increased Essence of Flame damage (30%)
• (2) "Linnod of Flame" - Increases targets for Essence of Flame (+2 targets)

Tier 4

• (3) "Molten Rock" - Increases Volcanic Runestone damage (30%)
• (5) "Finesse Increase" - Increase finesse (~2300)
• (3) "Molten Flame" - Armor Debuff from fire skills (-15%)

Tier 5

• (1) "Scathing Mockery" - Grants Scathing Mockery (+3 battle attune)
• (3) "Mystifying Flames" - Mystifying Flames, 30% chance to apply Fire mitigation debuff (-15%)

Tier 6

• (3) "Empowering Flame" - Mystifying Flames debuff also reduces RK inductions (-30%)
• (5) "After-burn" - Increases fire DoT (25%)

Tier 7 (Capstone)

• (1) "Combustion" - New Skill: Combustion (AoE, consumes attunement)

Benediction of Peace

Healing in Riders of Rohan did not lack in any aspect. In fact, Rune-Keepers were pretty powerful healers with many emergency buttons and damage preventing skills. The Helm's Deep rework of the Benediction of Peace Rune-Keeper sees a lot of the passive damage prevention skills removed, as well as a focus shifting towards active game-play. For instance, Do Not Fall to X have been removed and in its place Essay of Exaltation has seen its cooldown greatly reduced. Other notable changes are:

Our Fates Entwined
This used to be a toggle skill (fire and forget) that gave a blanket damage reduction effect to all players within 20 meters of the Rune-Keeper at a continuous cost of power and morale. This is no longer the case, instead Our Fates Entwined is now a ground targeted skill (places a Rune-stone) that absorbs part of the damage taken by nearby allies. Our Fates Entwined has a fairly long cooldown of 60 seconds and the Rune-stone has a limited duration. This is all in line with the overall pattern of moving game-play away from passive setup (enabling All Fates Entwined) and over to active game-play (placing the OFE rock just as a high-damage phase is about to start).

Another important thing to note is that Rune-Keepers also lose the induction setback immunity granted by All Fates Entwined. This may sound harsh but considering that Rune-Keepers have a lot of potent induction less skills it's not too bad.

Rousing Words
Nothing major has changed... Except that the cooldown has been cut in half and that the synnergy heal with the Rune of Restoration has been removed. The channel is also immune to setback from damage.

Mending Verse
Mending Verse has a 1 second cooldown. When it comes to tank healing this is not such a big deal as there are many other skills to fill the gap. However, group healing will be more difficult. When a non-tank takes damage it is not obvious which healing skill to use.

Also note that Calming Verse has been removed, therefore you can no longer spam mending verse or kite while using it.

Prelude to Hope
What used to be a quite uninspiring skill has now become something quite relevant. First, Prelude to Hope now ticks every second rather than every 5th second. The big advantage with this is that Prelude to Hope is one of the general skills and this performance boost is needed by both low and mid-level Cleansing Flame and Solitary Thunder Rune-Keepers. The second advantage is that Prelude to Hope now becomes a viable group healing skill.

The second big change is the addition of a significant power heal to Prelude to hope. This power heal also ticks every second, and can provide up to about 60% base power per minute (cost of casting Prelude to Hope removed) to the Rune-Keeper and up to 75% base power per minute to other players. The only drawback is the short base duration of 8 seconds but this can be easily extended to 17 seconds with a major satchel legacy.

Rune-sign of Winter
This used to be the uggly duckling heal. The pittance heal Rune-Keepers got since Minstrels were so much better at buffing the group. It could be placed on one (1) player and had to be refreshed every 30 seconds. The buff was not negligible but the healing was more of a token effort than an actual heal.

Rune-sign of Winter as of Helm's Deep is a moderately powerfull heal that gives a guaranteed "Frost Armour" proc (-10% incoming damage) on the target. A tank healing Rune-Keeper will want to use this skill on the tank every time it's off cooldown. Remember how the ability to passively reduce all incoming damage by 8% was lost with the change to Our Fates Entwined? This is how it's given back: through actively healing.

Word of Exaltation
Word of Exaltation is now an attunement consumer. It has also seen its base cooldown reduced to 30 seconds and it can be pushed down to 21 seconds using a legacy. The magnitude of the bubble scales off of the attunement at which it is cast. The bubble is almost 80% larger when cast at full attunement compared to casting it at one attunement.

Essay of Exaltation
Essay of Exaltation is now an attunement consumer. It has a greatly reduced cooldown of 45 seconds (compared to 300 seconds before) and the cooldown can be reduced further down to 36 seconds using a legacy. The magnitude of the bubble scales in the same manner as it does for Word of Exaltation. Essay of Exaltation also applies a short duration burst heal with the magnitude also scaling off of attunement.

Another very important change is that Essay of Exaltation is now a ground targeted skill and the effect is not bound to fellowship status! Any friendly player will receive the effect!

Rune of Restoration
The healing output has been significantly increased (about +200%) and there is no longer any induction to place the rock. Use it, it's all good! Seriously, it rocks!

Writ of Health
Now also applies a stacking incoming healing modifier. Please note that the Writ of Health applied by Rousing Words do not include this incoming healing modifier! This is by design.

Epic for the Ages
A little bit less epic than before. Part of the healing output has been converted into a HoT which, in the general case, is a good thing. A lot of the healing output from Epic for the Ages tended to be overhealing anyway and a Heal over Time has a higher chance of being useful. Another thing to note is that the AoE heal has been converted into an "on critical heal" proc.

Bombastic Inspiration (new)
This is the capstone skill of Benediction of Peace. It is a short duration, short cooldown, heal that is at the time of writing less potent (over time) than Writ of Health. It is yet another HoT that can be stacked on the tank. The twist of this skill is that it has an "expiry heal". This expiry heal is about 80% of the total amount healed by the previous HoT pulses of that cast. To maximize the healing output from this skill it's important to let the HoT fall off at maximum tier. Do not keep it ticking continuosly as that will reduce the output by as much as 50%.

Another way to use Bombastic Inspiration is to keep it active until a bit of burst healing is needed and let the heal expire at that time. This will be tricky to get right as the duration is 8 seconds.

Healing
Group healing has become both easier and more difficult. One one hand, having Rousing Words on 10 second cooldown means it's a lot easier to stack up and maintain Writ of Health on everyone in the fellowship. On the other hand, the cooldown on Mending Verse means that there is no longer a "heal" that can be used when someone just needs to be "healed". Instead, when someone takes damage a healing Rune-Keeper have to figure out what healing skills that will be off cooldown for the next cast.

Rune-Keepers have lost the "god-mode of healing" skill: Woundrous Foreshadowing. There is no direct replacement to this. Instead a healing Rune-Keeper will need to maintain the Glorious Foreshadowing buff from Writ of Health and Frost Armour from Rune-sign of Winter on the tank and be ready to use Word of Exaltation whenever the tank is about to take significant damage. Gone are the days when healing was about using Rousing Words on cooldown and then spam Mending Verse on the tank.

Also, most of the heal over time effects that Rune-Keepers will have with Helm's Deep have quite short duration. A healing Rune-Keeper will need to actively maintain these HoTs. Especially on the tank. Spending six seconds channeling Rousing Words will mean that most heals have fallen off the tank.

Dealing damage and soloing
Soloing in Benediction of Peace is not as bad as might be expected. Spending a few points to get Ceaseless Argument mean that the four basic Fury of Storm skills are available: Ceaseless Argument, Scribe's Spark, Essence of Storm, and Shocking Words. To this should be added Fiery Ridicule, Distracting Flame, Chilling Rhetoric, Flurry of Words, and Essence of Winter. A Benediction of Peace Rune-Keeper have supperior survivability compared to a Cleansing Flame or Solitary Thunder Rune-Keeper. On top of this it should also be noted that Shocking Touch (our daze) now does pretty good damage. It may be that Benediction of Peace is the best specialization to solo play in, at least up to around level 40-45 when the tier-5 trait bonus unlocks.


Specialization Bonuses

Base: Grants Rune-Sign of Winter (-10% inc damage, HoT), Writ of Health, and on every Word of Grace skill: 20% chance to apply -10% incoming damage for 8 seconds

1. +20% healing and frost damage
2. Writ of Health tiers down instead of dispelling
3. Grants Rousing Words
4. +1.5% critical chance per attunement, +25% Epic for the Ages healing
5. Incoming Healing increased 5% per tier of Writ of Health
6. -40% induction time for 8 sec after a critical heal
7. Grants Skill Our Fates Entwined (rune stone that takes damage instead of allies)

Traits: (Points/Tiers in trait) "Trait Name" (description at max rank)

Tier 1

• (5) Increaded Evade (5%)
• (1) Grants Mending Verse (1 sec cd)
• Increased will (~75)

Tier 2

• (1) Grants Rune of Restoration
• (5) Power over time affect added to Predule to Hope (20%)
• (5) Increased Mending Verse healing (30%)

Tier 3

• (3) Increases Rune Stone healing (30%)
• (5) Increased Nothing Truly Ends morale/power (25%)

Tier 4

• HoT added to Epic for the Ages (20%)

Tier 5

• (4) Critical heals with EftA splash heal other allies (30% heal)
• (5) MV, EftA, and RW apply heal to the caster (+20%)

Tier 6

• (1) Grants Essay of Exaltation (ground targeted, consumes attunement)
• (5) Increased bubble duration (6 sec), and Essay of Exaltation heal (25%)

Tier 7 (Capstone)

• (1) New Skill: Bombastic Inspiration (HoT, stacks 3 times, heals on expiration based on # of stacks)

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Legacy Changes
Provided By: Gilean-EU

(All stats based off of Level 95 Second Age LIs with 3 crystals)

Main-hand Major

Name	Min	Max
Battle Attuned Skill power cost	-1%	-15%
Fire Skill damage	+1%	+15%
Wrath of Flame damage over time	+1%	+15%
Healing	+1%	+6%
Healing Attuned Skill power cost	-1%	-15%
Healing Over Time	+1%	+10%
Fury of Storm damage	+1%	+15%

Main-hand Minor

Name	Min	Max
Chill of Winter damage	+1%	+15%
Chill of Winter debuff duration	+1	+10
Distracting Flame cooldown (lowered)	-1	-15
Vivid Imagery targets (raised)	+1	+9
Fury of Storm critical multiplier	+2%	+30%
Glorious Foreshadowing duration	+1	+9
Steady Attuned Skill power cost	-1%	-15%
Finesse rating	+1670	+1750

Class item Major

Name	Min	Max
Distracting Flame damage (Distracting Winds cooldown)	+1%	+9%
Essence of Flame damage	+2%	+20%
Writ of Fire damage	+2%	+20%
Prelude to Hope pulses	+1	+9
Writ of Health healing	+1%	+10%
Shocking Words damage (Shocking Words stun chance)	+1%	+9%
Scribe's Spark damage	+2%	+20%
Self Motivation cooldown	-2	-30

Class item Minor

Name	Min	Max
Ceaseless Argument damage	+1%	+15%
Chill of Winter damage (Frozen Epilogue cooldown)	+1%	+10%
Chilling Rhetoric cooldown	-1	-10
Word of Exaltation cooldown (lowered)	-1	-9
Epic For The Ages healing	+1%	+10%
Mending Verse healing	+1%	+10%
Shocking Touch Resist Rating	4950	5190
Do Not Fall This Day cooldown	-5	-160

Guide finalized on November 4, 2013. Skills and traits subject to change up until release.

[Valamar]

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...11#post6980911

Greetings!
Helms Deep brings class changes, and with them come some updates to the Legacies provided in game, and in the LOTRO Store. From now until Nov 18th, we’ll be removing the items being revamped from the LOTRO Store. We hope that by doing this it will help you all to avoid purchasing things that might change out from under you.
When Helms Deep is live, the legacies will automatically be replaced by their new versions. This will include legacies already applied to weapons, standing in inventory, or stashed in storage.
Below is a list of all the legacies which will be unpublished:

. . .

Runekeeper:

Frozen Epilogue Cooldown
Fury of Storm Damage
Steady Attuned Skill Power Cost

[Osolep]

Wow! Nice job on this guide. Very thorough.

[Raven-EU]

There is more coming on the legacies, those are only the ones being pulled completely. Many have changed and we didn't have the time or information to provide a good enough list. We'll do our best to keep you updated on what changes that do get implemented.

[Eomon]

. . .

I think it should be noted that of the 3 legacies that were said to be removed from the lotro store, 2 have yet to change at all. The third has changed into Frost damage, which is redundant to the chill of winter damage legacy on our stone. Then there are a few legacies that are changed that were not listed on the quartermaster's post. All-in-all, its really just too confusing and inconsistant to make a clear post of what will change and what will not.

[Isy]

A really comprehensive and clearly laid out guide --- thank you to all the contributors for your hard work, much appreciated!

[dagneyandleo]

Great job guys!

I see how it is, Eo. First you take my fav class. Then you write a guide for it. Next thing I know you'll start playing GW2 and be a better mesmer than I am. Jerk. :P

Added Question: In early stages of the beta, you could pre-stack BI... Is that still the case? (So glad they made Rousing Words not be setback by damage.)

[Raven-EU]

Great job guys!

I see how it is, Eo. First you take my fav class. Then you write a guide for it. Next thing I know you'll start playing GW2 and be a better mesmer than I am. Jerk. :P

Added Question: In early stages of the beta, you could pre-stack BI... Is that still the case? (So glad they made Rousing Words not be setback by damage.)

Yes, you can pre-stack all of BI, WoH, R-S, MV, and PtH. However, only WoH have a decent duration. BI only lasts 8 seconds, MV 6s, PtH (w.o. legacy) lasts 8s, and R-S lasts 12s.

[Eomon]

Great job guys!

I see how it is, Eo. First you take my fav class. Then you write a guide for it. Next thing I know you'll start playing GW2 and be a better mesmer than I am. Jerk. :P

Added Question: In early stages of the beta, you could pre-stack BI... Is that still the case? (So glad they made Rousing Words not be setback by damage.)

Hi Lyth! And dont worry, no matter what I could never be a better healer than you were

As for the question, Raven summed it up quite nicely

[Valamar]

There is more coming on the legacies, those are only the ones being pulled completely. Many have changed and we didn't have the time or information to provide a good enough list. We'll do our best to keep you updated on what changes that do get implemented.

Lest I forget -- DO NOT FORGET to keep copies of this guide on your own system.
Turbine traditionally makes the Beta Forums "disappear" when the product goes live!!!

[Eomon]

Lest I forget -- DO NOT FORGET to keep copies of this guide on your own system.
Turbine traditionally makes the Beta Forums "disappear" when the product goes live!!!

Technically this is a "live" forum so it should be fine. I do have and extra copy though too, since it's pretty much the only way to edit it without making my eyes explode :P

[Valamar]

Lest I forget -- DO NOT FORGET to keep copies of this guide on your own system.
Turbine traditionally makes the Beta Forums "disappear" when the product goes live!!!

LoL ... this was posted before I discovered Sapience's post lifting the NDA.... I still get the NDA warning banner when I login to the forums.

--- it all takes time.

[Valamar]

To see a "pretty version" of the Class traits and their associated deeds, visit

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/User:Magill/Projects-Update_12-HD-Rune-keeper

It is basically a collection of notes to be used to update the Lotro-wiki.com RK pages after Launch, but the tables for the Class Deeds are (apparently) accurate as of Beta 5.

[GrayTalon]

So, these ground target skills... Can they be targeted the 'old' way too? i.e. if I have an enemy/friend selected can I use the skill and have it targeted at their feet?

The reason I ask is that I do not use the mouse at all during combat, and I'm not inclined to start doing so.

[Raven-EU]

So, these ground target skills... Can they be targeted the 'old' way too? i.e. if I have an enemy/friend selected can I use the skill and have it targeted at their feet?

The reason I ask is that I do not use the mouse at all during combat, and I'm not inclined to start doing so.

That's a valid question to which I don't have an answer. I'll investigate asap. My guess is no.

Some of the skills only get ground targeting activated by spending enough skill points but I know at least OFE and EoE are ground target from the start.

The problem is that you cannot have both modes (free ground targeting and actor-centric) available at the same time. Maybe we need to have two buttons for each skill, one with actor centric placement and one with free ground targeting.

[Gilean-EU]

I did some LI testing so here's legacies as they are in Beta 6:



Main-hand Major

Name	Min	Max
Battle Attuned Skill power cost	-1%	-15%
Fire Skill damage	+1%	+15%
Fury of Storm damage	+1%	+15%
Healing	+1%	+6%
Healing Attuned Skill power cost	-1%	-15%
Healing Over Time	+1%	+10%
Wrath of Flame damage over time	+1%	+15%

Main-hand Minor

Name	Min	Max
Chill of Winter damage	+1%	+15%
Chill of Winter debuff duration	+1	+10
Distracting Flame cooldown	-1	-15
Finesse rating	+448	+638
Fury of Storm critical multiplier	+2%	+30%
Glorious Foreshadowing duration	+1	+9
Steady Attuned Skill power cost	-1%	-15%
Vivid Imagery targets	+1	+9

Class item Major

Name	Min	Max
Distracting Flame damage	+1%	+9%
Essence of Flame damage	+2%	+20%
Prelude to Hope pulses	+1	+9
Scribe's Spark damage	+2%	+20%
Self Motivation cooldown	-2	-30
Shocking Words damage	+1%	+9%
Writ of Fire damage	+2%	+20%
Writ of Health healing	+1%	+10%

Class item Minor

Name	Min	Max
Ceaseless Argument damage	+1%	+15%
Chill of Winter damage	+1%	+10%
Chilling Rhetoric cooldown	-1	-10
Do Not Fall This Day cooldown	-5	-160
Epic For The Ages healing	+1%	+10%
Mending Verse healing	+1%	+10%
Target Resist Rating (Shocking Touch)	-915	-1515
Word of Exaltation cooldown	-1	-9

[Eomon]

I did some LI testing so here's legacies as they are in Beta 6:

Cool, thanks! I'll add this into the guide. I think I will add the old legacies too just so people can see what they changed into. Also, what lvl/age were these LIs? (just so people can have a reference for rating ones like "finesse")

**Edit: Added it into the guide, also changed some colors to make it a little easier for people creating their new LIs. Also, could use a double check to see if I got all the changed ones and if they all match up to their corresponding old legacies.

Will keep an eye on any further changes to legacies, particularly the 2 equally identical and useless Chill of Winter legacies.

[Gilean-EU]

Cool, thanks! I'll add this into the guide. I think I will add the old legacies too just so people can see what they changed into. Also, what lvl/age were these LIs? (just so people can have a reference for rating ones like "finesse")

**Edit: Added it into the guide, also changed some colors to make it a little easier for people creating their new LIs. Also, could use a double check to see if I got all the changed ones and if they all match up to their corresponding old legacies.

Will keep an eye on any further changes to legacies, particularly the 2 equally identical and useless Chill of Winter legacies.

Nice, that's why I posted it here, wishing maybe you can add that info to your guide and add some more info (like you did)

I am not 100% sure about the levels of LI I used, it was a long day doing this for all classes lol. TBH, I didn't know if level makes any difference for those ratings, I have never noticed about that. The age of the item might do, 1st agers might have higher ratings than 3rd agers, for example.

I used about lvl 70 LI's for weapons (acquired via melding), and maybe about the same level items for class LI's (acquired from skirmish vendor). 3rd agers naturally.

[Eomon]

Nice, that's why I posted it here, wishing maybe you can add that info to your guide and add some more info (like you did)

I am not 100% sure about the levels of LI I used, it was a long day doing this for all classes lol. TBH, I didn't know if level makes any difference for those ratings, I have never noticed about that. The age of the item might do, 1st agers might have higher ratings than 3rd agers, for example.

I used about lvl 70 LI's for weapons (acquired via melding), and maybe about the same level items for class LI's (acquired from skirmish vendor). 3rd agers naturally.

No worries, I went ahead and grabbed the one for finesse on a 95 SA with 3 crystals, just so people know what to expect. Store isn't cooperating so couldn't get the Shocking Touch Resist one. Anyone have the min/max stats for that one on a 95 SA with crystals? ( to keep it consistent)

P.S. Your name is no longer spelled wrong in the citation

[Krayl]

Hey Everybody, and thanks for the AMAZING guide.

Mostly healing RK here. All In all I'm fairly disapointed about the changes... What I loved on the RK was that fully hot traited I could easely keep Prelude, Writs and rousing words ticking on the whole fellowship and a few more when in a raid environment. Along with the rune of restoration that was a whole 1min of pulsing aoe love that I could offer to my fellowship or raid.... coupled with our fates entwined that was It... proactive healing.
That was the IDEA behind the RK.... now looking at the changes and just about every hot's duration lowered I wonder how all of this will play out. Of course if they adjust the healing on each skill maybe I suppose it's still
efficient. But the concept... the gameplay... well I guess it's gone now is it? The only thing you can keep up on your fellowship is writ of health?

Also Is bombastic inspiration for real? I mean the heal/HoT on that better be mind blowing amazing for something that ticks in only after so long... I take it it may be an interesting go to heal to save someones butt
after bubling them. I suppose it all depends on the potency and the CD? Still it feels... it feels like that old DnF where you had to be gifted with foresight to be able to use it properly albeit it does look like it's not as hard and
random to cash in on the skill.

Still I think I'll miss the old gameplay... did the new one manage to help you forget how great the RK was (healing wise) before the revamp?
Also These new "totems" you can just lay down everywhere... Bleh... I don't mind change, but it's not change when you're someone (I take it like a lot of us) who has been around quite a few mmo's
and just come back to the one you found most "out of the ordinary" just to see the devs have decided to make it "just as ordinary" as the rest.
I've already had totems thank you. I didn't need more of the same gameplay you can find elsewhere...

Personally what I dread is that it may get new players in, who knows, but people who where here because Lotro's gameplay wasn't feeling like the rest can now very well go and compare it to the rest.
And something tells me that there are plenty of good/decent MMo's out there that do trait tree's or similar probably much better then Lotro's approach (at least they have extensive experience with it).

Bleh sorry for the rant... I guess I'm a little disapointed to see the class and specs I enjoyed playing most getting reshuffled like that.
I just hope the general core philosophy is still rather intact.

[Eomon]

Hey Everybody, and thanks for the AMAZING guide.

Mostly healing RK here. All In all I'm fairly disapointed about the changes... What I loved on the RK was that fully hot traited I could easely keep Prelude, Writs and rousing words ticking on the whole fellowship and a few more when in a raid environment. Along with the rune of restoration that was a whole 1min of pulsing aoe love that I could offer to my fellowship or raid.... coupled with our fates entwined that was It... proactive healing.
That was the IDEA behind the RK.... now looking at the changes and just about every hot's duration lowered I wonder how all of this will play out. Of course if they adjust the healing on each skill maybe I suppose it's still
efficient. But the concept... the gameplay... well I guess it's gone now is it? The only thing you can keep up on your fellowship is writ of health?

Also Is bombastic inspiration for real? I mean the heal/HoT on that better be mind blowing amazing for something that ticks in only after so long... I take it it may be an interesting go to heal to save someones butt
after bubling them. I suppose it all depends on the potency and the CD? Still it feels... it feels like that old DnF where you had to be gifted with foresight to be able to use it properly albeit it does look like it's not as hard and
random to cash in on the skill.

Still I think I'll miss the old gameplay... did the new one manage to help you forget how great the RK was (healing wise) before the revamp?
Also These new "totems" you can just lay down everywhere... Bleh... I don't mind change, but it's not change when you're someone (I take it like a lot of us) who has been around quite a few mmo's
and just come back to the one you found most "out of the ordinary" just to see the devs have decided to make it "just as ordinary" as the rest.
I've already had totems thank you. I didn't need more of the same gameplay you can find elsewhere...

Personally what I dread is that it may get new players in, who knows, but people who where here because Lotro's gameplay wasn't feeling like the rest can now very well go and compare it to the rest.
And something tells me that there are plenty of good/decent MMo's out there that do trait tree's or similar probably much better then Lotro's approach (at least they have extensive experience with it).

Bleh sorry for the rant... I guess I'm a little disapointed to see the class and specs I enjoyed playing most getting reshuffled like that.
I just hope the general core philosophy is still rather intact.

Well, as with any major changes, there will always be an initial cause for alarm. I think if we step back though and look at the overall changes, the healing RK actually maintains, if not even improves on the parts that had made it great.

Writ of health still maintains it's 20 sec duration per tier, therefore an RK is fully capable of keeping HoTs on its fellow members. In fact, with Rousing Words now on a shorter cd (10 sec), it is even easier to keep fully tiered HoTs on your fellow, as well as keep the rousing words channel up more often too. Prelude to hope has seen its duration lowered, but it was never truly an integral part to keeping your group alive. Now though it actually heals for considerably more than previously, making it much more useful, it just has to be used more often now as a result. The one thing we don't see anymore though is the Our Fates Entwined buff that an RK could permanently keep up on its fellowship. This has been replaced with a 20% chance on healing skills to apply a -10% inc damage buff, as well as the new Frost-Sign which will always apply the buff when used. Combine this with the Our Fates Entwined rock, as well as a much shorter cd on Essay of Exaltation, and we actually see a more "active" damage reduction.

All-in-all, the basis behind the new RK healing tree was to maintain the old passive HoTs that we always loved, combined with some new or more oftenly used "active" buffs. I believe that this sort of "core-philosophy" behind healing as an RK not only stays intact, but is also enhanced. Hopefully this helps to alleviate some of the doubters out there

[Krayl]

Well, as with any major changes, there will always be an initial cause for alarm. I think if we step back though and look at the overall changes, the healing RK actually maintains, if not even improves on the parts that had made it great.

Writ of health still maintains it's 20 sec duration per tier, therefore an RK is fully capable of keeping HoTs on its fellow members. In fact, with Rousing Words now on a shorter cd (10 sec), it is even easier to keep fully tiered HoTs on your fellow, as well as keep the rousing words channel up more often too. Prelude to hope has seen its duration lowered, but it was never truly an integral part to keeping your group alive. Now though it actually heals for considerably more than previously, making it much more useful, it just has to be used more often now as a result. The one thing we don't see anymore though is the Our Fates Entwined buff that an RK could permanently keep up on its fellowship. This has been replaced with a 20% chance on healing skills to apply a -10% inc damage buff, as well as the new Frost-Sign which will always apply the buff when used. Combine this with the Our Fates Entwined rock, as well as a much shorter cd on Essay of Exaltation, and we actually see a more "active" damage reduction.

All-in-all, the basis behind the new RK healing tree was to maintain the old passive HoTs that we always loved, combined with some new or more oftenly used "active" buffs. I believe that this sort of "core-philosophy" behind healing as an RK not only stays intact, but is also enhanced. Hopefully this helps to alleviate some of the doubters out there

Thanks for the reply and the bits on the newer skills!

Well I "think" I understand most of it... But to be honest I was (have just come back a few days ago) a very active RK healer back then already, every GCD I was casting a spell.
People say that prelude was lackluster... well I disagree. Yes as a single heal it wasn't all that, but then again the stone wasn't all that either the only reason we kept it up would seem to be
because of the buff to rousing words. Tacken individualy they may have been lackluster but all of them weaved together... they where magic.

What I loved with the gameplay was that I was pulsing heals 100% all the time... think berserker but with healing... I was never pausing... ever. I was looking at all the skills durations's refreshing
them even if they didn't need to be. Because I never knew when the tank or someone (or a combination of both) was going to be in need of my full attention for a long enough period of time that any of the hots could fall off.
For me it was frenetic, and it's that frenesy that I hope will still be available. I was actively healing when need be and I was proactively maintaining ALL hots on as many players in the raid as possible the rest of the time.
And if something came that was more then the proactive healing could handle, you'd bubble/remove the induction on mending verse/Mass bubble/Mass HOt on damage taken/ Whatever applies depending on the
level of threat the fellowship was facing.

And well I'll see how it goes when it comes live. But I do fear a little, I fear the new devs picked a bit of the old philosophy and added a pinch of their own.
Which in itself is totally fine and normal... and expected even... It's just that to me the old gameplay was pure genius and enjoyment. Of all the healing class
I played across quite a few MMO's it was it... to me at least.

And I know for a fact that it won't be less effective. It'll be enjoyable, probably a different kind of enjoyable. but to me the previous/current RK was already a perfectly crafted diamond.
The mechanics where fine tuned. Some skills where perhaps a bit hard in the begining (old DnF) but the rest...

I'm starting to get a sense of how the spec plays out, but then again nothing is better then a field test to be sure.
Hopefully It'll work out....

And well if it doesn't, I still have a chloromancer and a paladin waiting. Gameplay isn't as pleasing in my opinion, but who knows after this update.

Let's hope we'll all be diggin the green love we'll all be spreadin!

[Raven-EU]

Well I "think" I understand most of it... But to be honest I was (have just come back a few days ago) a very active RK healer back then already, every GCD I was casting a spell.
People say that prelude was lackluster... well I disagree. Yes as a single heal it wasn't all that, but then again the stone wasn't all that either the only reason we kept it up would seem to be
because of the buff to rousing words. Tacken individualy they may have been lackluster but all of them weaved together... they where magic.

To be fair, Prelude to Hope was not a viable heal as it healed for very little with a 5 second tick. The same goes for the old rune of restoration. And the healing from Rune-sign of X. Yes we lost the synergy heal but we got a healing stone that is now actually worth keeping up just for the healing it provides. The shortened cooldown on Rousing Words is also a huge improvement and a compensation for the lost synergy with the Rune of Restoration. Overall I feel that Rune-Keepers have gained in AoE healing.

Single-target healing is up about 50% although that does not include any Rousing Words casts so it may be just a theoretical number.

And luckily LOTRO have never had a global cooldown

What I loved with the gameplay was that I was pulsing heals 100% all the time... think berserker but with healing... I was never pausing... ever. I was looking at all the skills durations's refreshing
them even if they didn't need to be. Because I never knew when the tank or someone (or a combination of both) was going to be in need of my full attention for a long enough period of time that any of the hots could fall off.
For me it was frenetic, and it's that frenesy that I hope will still be available. I was actively healing when need be and I was proactively maintaining ALL hots on as many players in the raid as possible the rest of the time.
And if something came that was more then the proactive healing could handle, you'd bubble/remove the induction on mending verse/Mass bubble/Mass HOt on damage taken/ Whatever applies depending on the
level of threat the fellowship was facing.

If anything you'll be even more active now with the shorter cooldowns and durations. The only thing I truly dislike is the 1 second cooldown on Mending Verse. Not because I lack throughput but because I want one healing skill that is always available.

And well if it doesn't, I still have a chloromancer and a paladin waiting. Gameplay isn't as pleasing in my opinion, but who knows after this update.

If you're playing lotro for the story and the quests then nothing much will have changed. Use the 10 levels to get to re-learn your class. It took me four beta cycles before I even begin to get comfortable with the revamped class.

[Krayl]

Thanks Raven for sharing your appreciation of the new system. It has alleviated some of my fears.
Guess I'll see what it all boils down to on D-day like most of everyone else.

My bad for the GCD mistake.

The questing and story telling... Well to be honest I've always been looking forward to that.
But since Wildermore... Well suffice it to say I found the whole wildermore arc to be lacking both in story and general gameplay concept (a lot like bytbold).
The story in itself felt... overly dramatic... and all the "Oh we are proud sons of this land! Show me the guillotine that I may prove it to you!"
And I won't talk about the voice acting.... Or the quest grind, or the general layout of the land/quest location/reasons for quests to be there that felt... extremely awkward and gimmicky.

So even though it's better then elswhere most of the time, I feel it isn't quite the quality of what I found when leveling through
the original zones/moria/mirkwood. With for some reasons that I can't quite pinpoint Mirkwood being one of my best overall location
when it comes to quests/story/voice acting/atmosphere (compare the voice acting from mirkwood with the one in Rohan... actually no don't).

So yes I'm looking forward to that but it definetly isn't as much of a selling point as it used to be in my eyes.
And I'm all for Helm's deep proving me dead wrong on this, all the better for everyone.

As for the gameplay... well when everything is done and done that's one of the few things you're still left with.
So I do have high expectations regarding that part of the lotro experience : /

In any case, I think I missed my critics vocation. I'm off, don't mind me, I'm done, I'm gone.

"disapears in a puff of smoke"

[chasdj]

Thank You All for your Comments and Feedback.

I began playing LOTRO one year ago, as a RuneKeeper who loved to Heal. I have a genetic impairment to my short term memory though my longterm memory is still reliable, and so I depend upon it. I sampled several Race/Class combinations on F2P before falling in Love with, and settling into my choice of Elvish RuneKeeper. To me, My RuneKeeper was the simplest, or among the easiest, Character to play. Green "Heals," Red "Damage," with intensity building from left to right upon my Quickslots. Most of my Fellowship Healing were group heals requiring minimal individual targeting. DPS in Fellowships was either rare, aided by Target Assist, or individually targeted as required.

I took my RuneKeeper to Level 85 and was widely embraced by the Landroval Community. I did not participate in HD Beta, and am downloading its content as I type this. However, reading this Thread, my perception is that the Devs have done a Major Revamp of my RuneKeeper. My perception is that I shall have to try to learn to play my Main Alt ... All Over Again, but this time with vastly more Complexity than the first time. I hope my perception proves wrong. For I do not do complexity well due to my Memory Impairment.

Had the RuneKeeper been as Complex as it appears from this Thread to have become, when I began a year ago, I seriously doubt I would have chosen the RuneKeeper Class.

I hope I am wrong, and I will give the new content my best try. However, if it proves as complex as it appears ... I will need to find a new Class with enough simplicity to allow me to play AND have FUN, ... OR, my LOTRO days may come to a screeching HALT. Having played Ultima Online for more than 16 years, I'd be deeply disappointed if LOTRO ended for me after only 1 year.

I will report back after trying the new content called Helm's Deep.

My use of CAPS is for Emphasis, not for shouting.