Another Developer Diary has popped up on LOTRO’s website and it is once again written by Jared “Kelsan” Pruett. This time however the subject matter is the Weaver monster class. It appears that some changes have been made to the class in order to make it “… a late-game threat by weakening her opponent while bolstering her own abilities.” Kelsan states that he had several goals in mind when revising the class:
- Provide the Weaver with increased survivability and burst dps while maintaining the core of the class.
- Create synergistic skill rotations that allows for a variety of play-styles.
So what exactly does this mean? Well, first off the Weaver will now generate pips (similar to the Champion) called “Venom” which will increase the Resistance Penetration and damage of their Poison skills each time it stacks. A Weaver will be able to stack up to 5 pips at one time and they will decay when outside of combat at a rate of 1 pip per second. The Weaver will also be gaining two new skills that will utilize these pips:
- Deep Bite (Rank 4), which will be a strong melee skill that replenishes a portion of the Weaver’s health.
- Virulent Poison (Rank 7), which will be a ranged attack that applies a strong Damage over Time (DoT) effect and will also apply direct Poison damage upon its removal.
Weavers will also have a new debuff named “Ensnared” which will be caused by most of their web skills and can stack up to three times. While this debuff in itself will not do any harm, the debuffs can be removed by a new skill called “Envenom” which will not only apply damage to the target, but it will also generate Venom pips at the same time. The amount of damage and pips generated is dependant upon the amount of time Ensnared is stacked on the target.
- 1 Stack: Weak Damage; Generates 2 Venom pips
- 2 Stacks: Moderate Damage; Generates 4 Venom pips
- 3 Stacks: Heavy Damage; Generates 5 Venom pips
A number of other skills have been updated as well; most of which seem to be for the positive. And since I am no PvMP expert, let alone a Weaver expert, I can’t begin to imagine the impact that this might have upon the class at this time.
So that’s where you all come in. Tell me what you think of these changes and whether in Update 6 PvMP is finally getting some of the attention it so rightfully deserves.
February 24, 2012 at 12:52 pm
As a R6 Weaver(therefore I am a complete expert
), I really like these changes. The big’uns are undoubtedly the fall cripple immunity by the R5 Racial trait, making the rest of our damage skills Acid type(rather than Common, which obviously freeps are heavily resilient against), and for me at least, enhancing how a Weaver plays and fights.
Fun, engaging combat is something Creeps are generally lacking in comparison to Freeps, and I love that Kelsan is adding a new edge to the class as a whole.
February 24, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Awesome, thanks Ethelros. I wasn’t aware that the Acid type was replacing Common, so I can see how that’s going to make a huge difference in battles.
February 24, 2012 at 2:41 pm
I have not played a Weaver much but that is about to change with update 6. I personally think that the weaver is one of the stronger classes and this update seems to take this many steps further. I can’t wait to see the changes to my main…the Defiler
February 24, 2012 at 4:05 pm
I think I’ll give it a try out too. Your posts have been pretty inspiring.
March 1, 2012 at 11:05 pm
I must say the key to monster play is persistance and don’t worry about dying, there isn’t even a debuff