The Lore-master Developer Diary for Riders of Rohan has been released by Ken “Graalx2″ Burd. In this expansion it looks like Turbine was ”aimed at increasing the Lore-master’s utility, especially in small group encounters.”
Upgraded Skills in Riders of Rohan
- Improved Powerof Knowledge
- Level 80
- “Greatly” increases the amount of power returned
- Immune to interrupts due to damage
- Share the Power – Fellowship
- Level 83
- New skill (it does not replace Share the Power)
- Gives each member of the fellowship (minus the Lore-master) power equal to half of the single-target Share the Power
Shares a cooldown with Share the Power(This seems to be a mistype as Share the Power does not have a cooldown.)- Limited to 25m range
- Water Lore
- Level 77
- New skill
- Adds a Medium Heal over Time (HoT) to a single target and increases their Incoming Healing by 5%
- The effects (HoT and Incoming Healing) can stack up to 3 times
I’m pretty impressed with the upgrade to Power of Knowledge as well as the two new skills. The Lore-master commonly finds themselves in the role of healer in smaller groups and these new skills will really improve their ability to function in that role. Of course these skills will also do wonders for 6-man and 12-man content as well. While they may not be the DPS-focused skills that some players may have been hoping for, they go a long way in increasing the utility of the class.
Skill Adjustments
- Wisdom of the Council
- The heal applies earlier in the animation
- The heal is now 50% of the total morale of the Lore-master
- Bane Flare
- No longer restricted to the dead
- Staff-strike, Staff-sweep, and Back from the Brink
- No longer have an excessive delay after use
- “Basic” Lore-master pets have had their level increased to be the same as the Lore-master
These changes are pretty good in my opinion; especially the restriction removal from Bane Flare. I think most Lore-masters will be happy with the changes that were made to these skills.
Legendary Traits
The Sword and Staff Legendary Trait has been changed. Don’t worry though, it’s a good change.
First off, the ability to wield a sword has been removed from the trait. Fear not, for now when reaching level 40 Lore-masters will receive a new passive trait allowing them to equip a sword in their off-hand. Swords for all! Yay! In order to compensate for this loss, Sword and Staff has also had the morale granted increased and the parry rating “greatly” increased. This change will also allow for Lore-masters to consider more than two of their Legendary Traits since most Lore-masters kept Sword and Staff slotted once they earned it.
Conclusion
The changes made to the Lore-master seem to be pretty good to me. Lore-masters should find that their utility in groups will be greatly increased with increased heals, a Fellowship-wide power restore, and the removal of the “dead” restriction from Bane Flare. But, then again I don’t get to play my Lore-master often these days. So, I would love to know what some of our more experienced Lore-masters have to say about the changes. Let us know!
August 14, 2012 at 3:09 pm
My LM is still a baby, but this “To enable more choice in Legendary traits, we decided to remove the ability to equip a sword in your off-hand from this trait [Sword and Staff] and grant it to all Lore-masters at level 40.” sounds pretty nifty.
August 14, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Another titbit of information is Water-Lore can be selfcast. Sounds like it could be useful if you cast it on yourself just before doing a tricky pull.
August 14, 2012 at 3:35 pm
Forgot to actually post my feedback. xD
Overall, I’d say these changes are great as a whole. Similar to the Captain Dev Diary, nothing substantial has been changed, we’ve just been boosted in some of ours roles, and a handful of other fixes that some of the more grating parts of the class(the afterinduction on our rez, for example).
I especially like our pets being raised to the character’s level.
August 14, 2012 at 7:11 pm
I’m much less happy with these changes. The “improved” share the power skill is basically a bug fix – the skill, when traited, used to fill your power up at level 65 but it didn’t scale at 75 so with the massive increase in power pools it obviously became much less effective. Group share the power is completely useless, hardly any classes need power sharing any more (captains and minstrels basically), and if there are multiple people needing power it’s likely to be at different times anyway so it’s going to be overhealing. And the new heal skill is nice, I guess, but unless the hot is bigger than the existing beacon of hope HoT from various armour sets, it’s still not going to be close to big enough to let us main heal anything (except 3-person instances with a very skilled group). Sword and staff again is nice, but have they looked at our other legendary trait options? they’re all pretty average once you get past capstone + ents. Being able to take an eagle + ents will be kind of nice, but most of the time in group content you want raven or bear anyway and when soloing the increased survivability and DPS from s&s is probably where you want to be anyway.
Which leaves us with a couple of nice cleanups (bane flare, WoTC and pets). That’s hardly an expansion-worthy mix of changes.
August 14, 2012 at 10:46 pm
go to BG final boss, the nazgul. All classes will need power.
I suspect that Turbine will put a similar mechanic in the next instances or raids that will make us require of a loremaster.
August 15, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Minstrels don’t really need the power sharing anymore, there’s a very decent power regen skill now, and being a high Will based class there’s a lot of power already.
However as mentioned captains are still chronically now. As are Burglars (power regen skill is iffy) and sometimes Guardians especially in Overpower stance. I’ve been in several fights at end game where I see several people with power near rock bottom, especially in pick up groups where the fight does not go as quickly or smoothly as highly experienced groups.
Although often when I’ve seen the power problem being the worst is at low and mid levels, but this skill isn’t obtained until 83. Oh well…
Overall the skill will probably be used mostly for very long fights where everyone gets a bit low on power. Given that the power returned is half of the single target one, it’s probably more beneficial to use earlier on when 2 or more people need some power rather than waiting until several people become dangerously low on power.
I _have_ seen champions use the equivalent on-defeat skill to give power to the group to very good effect, giving the fight some renewed vigor after several people were stuck on auto attacks. The situations may be rare but when you need it then it becomes very valuable.
The whole idea of a loremaster is to be the ultimate support class with a wide variety of utility and a lot of multitasking. This is just one more tool in the toolbox.
August 14, 2012 at 3:32 pm
YES! To the Sword passive!!!!!! *doing a little Hobbit Dance*
Shouldn’t Water Lore be called “Miruvor” instead? to quote the Wiki and reference the book:
“It renews the strength of the drinker and is warm and fragrant and is used at festivals.
Both the Dúnedain and the orcs possessed drinks with similar properties, but miruvor was known to be the most potent of these cordials.
Elrond gave Gandalf some miruvor before The Fellowship left Rivendell.
Gandalf then passed this on to the members of the Fellowship as needed (First on Caradhras, next when they stopped to rest, and lastly before the gates of Moria). By the time the Fellowship entered Moria, the drink was gone.”
August 14, 2012 at 4:31 pm
That would have been a great name.
August 15, 2012 at 5:12 am
Booze-lore?
August 14, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Sound like positive changes, although can imagine lore masters who mostly group skipping the level 45 epic runaround. Whilst I’d still do it for the eagle, doubt I would for a parry boost.
August 14, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Yeah, it will be interesting to see if there are any repercussions to the change.
August 14, 2012 at 7:20 pm
sword and staff gives a 15% boost to your melee damage. Given that melee is 30%+ of ouir damage, that alone makes it worthwhile if you ever care about doing damage.
August 15, 2012 at 3:13 pm
Yes I’ve been wondering about this. Right now the legendary is essentially mandatory to have. Like an extra piece of jewelry just for stats combined with some very nice damage bonus when solo. Good damage bonus in groups but a lot of instance fights or group leaders have you staying far away from melee.
I’ve alway found myself in a quandary of what last legendary to take. It’s Sword+Staff and a capstone and one wildcard. Now there’s a choice to drop the sword and staff and now you get a lot more flexibility.
It will feel kind of odd though as this is really the only must-have lore master legendary at the moment. All others are situational or depend upon individual preference.
August 14, 2012 at 3:32 pm
I love the sound of these changes, especially to Power of Knowledge–I know mine feels kinda wimpy right now. The group power restore.. well, usually it seems like it’s just one or two fellows that need more power at a time. But it’s a nice option nonetheless.
August 14, 2012 at 3:38 pm
All in all its a good update. Something left off the page but is mentioned in the discussion is pets have had their level increased to match our own. This is a big plus as they will do more damage, etc plus draw less aggro to us.
All 3 new/improved skills sound quite good. We needed the boost to Power of Knowledge as all of us casters have been getting larger and larger power pools so its hard keep people powered. Share Power Fellowship is a great boost since as it is LMs mainly focus on the healer or everyone dies now we can at least give some power out to others at the same time, small note this skill should have no cooldown since Share the Power has no cooldown. Water-Lore sounds nice plus the ability to cast it on ourselves.
The changes to existing skills are nice Bane Flare finally has a use. For a skill that has both a trait and a legacy it was near useless before. The changes to WotC and Staff Strike/Sweep are nice as well we won’t have the heal that you click but don’t get in time nor the awkward moment after using skills where we are just standing there waiting for our characters to do something.
The Sword and Staff change will be nice for those who didn’t slot the trait so they could help out their pets. The rest of us its up in the air if we will ever unslot it other than in special situations where you want that eagle or extra pet power while keeping our Ent and Cap stone
So all in all its a good update. There is no new pet, no changes to pets at all other than their level. It would really be nice if they would go and give pets a boost they don’t do nearly enough threat or damage, any buff from a pet is to low and doesn’t scale with level.
August 14, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Don’t give them too much credit for improved share the power, it’s just a bug fix – they somehow broke it scaling with your level with RoI so it was just doing the same numbers as it was at 65 (whereas it had previously scaled up – same thing happened with pet damage, which hasn’t scaled past 65). You used to be able to fill your power bar up at 65, this just brings us back to that level.
August 14, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Wow! These changes should really nice!
Just earlier today I was assigned healer role in a skirm and wow I struggled with it. Very good to hear that we might be able to fill that role easier with these skills!
Bane Flare I’ve always deemed pretty useless used as a firework at parties, but I guess I should be moving it into my actual stun skill row soon!
And lastly very excited about getting a passive skill for swords. I’m a page away from that legendary skill, so I’m really happy I won’t have to have it equiped long to use the nice sword I have in my vault c:
Overall, yes yes, I think these are very good!
August 14, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Whoops. *useless unless used as a firework at parties
August 14, 2012 at 5:12 pm
awesome improvements!!!
bane-flare counts as a daze, hits 3 targets and has a 5s ‘stun’ component (the daze then lasts an additional 10s), this means it CAN be used right after another stun (and the ‘recovering’ effect)
I think the ‘unbreakable’ portion wouldn’t scale with diminishing returns
wonder how good Improved Power of Knowledge is with the trait
I don’t use S&S right now, my Lore-Master isn’t one to hack and slash…looks like I have to find a sword
as a Lore-Master, I’ll continue to pull ALL the mobs!
-Thurinphifnirol Swiftfoot of the Quickpost
((I found a title for ‘Skirmisher’ on the LOTRO wiki, it’s from a slayer deed in Fil Gashan))
August 15, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Yep, using Bane Flare again will be interesting. It’s so rarely used now as undead have become rare. I remember back in the day when burglars couldn’t mez undead (and neither could LMs) and minstrels may be busy healing, that Bane Flare was a very handy thing to have at low level in Great Barrows. Later on in Angmar it was very nice, either soloing or in groups. But now I don’t think I see any undead at max level except in skirmishes.
So ya I can see Bane Flare suddenly becoming very useful when soloing. Even some good uses in instances.
Power of Knowledge is interesting. I remember in groups before I had lore master that I thought they could regen a lot of power that way and then pass it back out easily. But then I discovered that for that lengthy induction I really didn’t get that much power if not traited and that I really could not be the power battery for an entire group. So improving this will be interesting. Too bad it’s not until level 80.
August 14, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Love the changes especially to Bane Flare, It’s what I imagined blinding flash to be like. Not so happy about the 50% morale for WotC because I was loving my 7k crits.
August 14, 2012 at 8:16 pm
A bit offtopic but I really would like to say awesome picture there! Really amazing moment capture.
January 8, 2013 at 4:38 am
Do you by any chance know where to get that weapon? looks pretty amazing
August 14, 2012 at 9:15 pm
Am i wrong, or is that change to “Wisdom of the Council” actually a nerf? I use that skill a lot soloing when i get overwhelmed, as a panic button… and i’m fairly sure it restores nearly all of my moral currently. Is 50% a debuff? or do i just not have as much moral as other lormasters at the cap, and it just SEEMS like it’s doing more for me?
Overall, not bad though. I honestly don’t know what to think of the new Sword and Staff trait. i really like that the sword is passive, but i already kinda feel like i still have to keep it equipped because of the melee damage boost (i’m pure red-line traited for as much DPS output as freaking possible)
August 15, 2012 at 12:05 am
I agree it’s a nerf, at 75 the WotC heal does 4000, that’s 50% of 8000, and no every LM has 8000 morale. Add to this it can crit and I have got 7k+ a lot (100%) of my morale, I would say it is a nerf.
August 15, 2012 at 5:31 am
With the dead restriction removed from Bane-flare, I’m wondering if we’ll see the same removal from the Minstrel’s “song of the dead”, not long to wait to find out!
August 15, 2012 at 8:05 am
No word on whether or not pets will be useable mounted I take it?
August 15, 2012 at 1:33 pm
“In order to compensate for this loss, Sword and Staff has also had the morale granted increased and the parry rating “greatly” increased”
Any details as to how much moral and parry will be increased?
August 15, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Earth, Air, Fire… now Water. I am the Avatar!