Helm's Deep NDA lifted

[Dellphinia]

Kiralynn of Rohan wrote:

The trick will be in figuring out how to build your hunter to match the way you like to play. If you're patient, I believe you can come up with a build that you'll enjoy playing.

I think that's always how it's been when there's been major changes to classes. Patience and perserverance! =D

[Lauralda]

Good grief!
Warden - gosh the list of changes is extensive, i need the memory space *rawr* no more threat leeches = *cry*. new AoE skills though mmmm
LM - sadly the skills are becoming more gated. and CC is like what non-existent *scream* i'd miss the versatility. only bonus: the pet boosts are enticing
Minstrel - ergh, um, good thing i haven't practiced healing much, it'll be a new setup definitely. anyone wanna be my testees? *evil cackle*

[Dellphinia]

Just bumping this to keep the link near the top. I would really recommend simply reading about the changes and taking anyone's opinions about them with a big grain of salt. You'll have plenty of time to figure out how the changes will affect you and your gameplay soon enough. =D

[Cennwyn]

I've heard plenty about the class changes, but can anyone confirm whether there will some hot new housing items?

[Spego]

Well...

There does appear to be housing chest changes...

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?529727-Helm-s-Deep-Housing-Chest-Changes

But there are still lingering questions on how it will exactly look come November 18th. As long as the pricing is drastically reduced and people who are already home owners don't have to purchase the new storage chests, then this seems like a good step forward. If they can better integrate user rights into this new storage chest model, then it would be a lot better.

[Craicwyth]

Having also been in the beta, I also would like to voice my strong disappointment. It is true that some classes, burglar and hunter especially from what I have heard and experienced, may find the changes have little impact, or may even be beneficial. However, captain and minstrel fair particularly badly.

The captain in particular feels like making a choice between being a sub-par champion, guardian, or healing minstrel with minor buffing abilities. Many of the skills that gave us our flexibility, and I believe were the strength of the class, are locked behind specific specializations. Particularly mourned are the losses of marks (marks not in your specialization can technically be accessed, but are so expensive that many other skills are rendered inaccessible; unlike the warsteed trait tree, in which points can be freely assigned between color groups without penalty, assigning points in a non-specialization tree costs twice as many points as normal,) and brother skills (non-specialization brother skills are completely locked. Ironically, this means that a Hands of Healing captain loses access to a potent heal-over-time.) In short, I feel like a child who has had his favorite toys arbitrarily split in to thirds, and told that he can only play with one group at a time. It discourages unique builds based on skills that the player likes, and instead enforces conformity.

Furthermore, despite claims that this system simplifies the skill system, I find that this is only true as far as cleaning up skill bars. Most of the original skills are still there, new ones have been added, and an entire tree of benefits has opened up; all of which is visible from level one. Therefore, as it stands, there is even more information to process than there was previously. Currently a player get drafted to fulfill a role that is unfamiliar (like a champion being asked to tank,) but at least there is some familiarity with the skills required. By contrast, it is now fairly easy to pick a specialization and skill set, and level up to the cap with the complete ignorance of the existence of skills available.

Off the topic of skills, I am not overly impressed with Western Rohan. Edoras in particular draws my ire. The architecture of Eastern Rohan was a nice combination of Anglo-Saxon/Scandinavian with a strong (but not overwhelming) horse motif throughout. Edoras, however, drops all pretense of subtlety; horses are plastered everywhere. It begins to feel less like an authentic location, and more like Rohanland casino resort; the gaudiness, the complete absence scale; it is not unlike if the government buildings in France had columns in the form of wine glasses and roof tiles in the shape of cheese wedges; it too much, and turns the culture in to a stereotype.

Helms Deep in general is fine; though I do question why many of the defensive structures (the hoardings on the wall in particular) face the inside of the fortress. I also found the glittering caves to be a disappointment; they are less spectacular and more weird and surreal.

This all leaves me in an awkward position of having nothing I am happily anticipating and a lot which I am unhappily anticipating. Also, with the skill changes, I cannot simply wait this expansion out and hope that the next one is better. I have basically come to the conclusion that I will wait to the eighteenth to see if any major changes have been done, but if not, as I suspect, I will be canceling my subscription. Fortunately, since the game is free to play, instead of questing, I will be able to use all that time to play my bagpipes at the Prancing pony*. Something to look forward to, eh?

*Unfortunately, I will probably be working on dressage instead of playing my pipes. I know this revelation will upset many. But we all must make sacrifices.

[Kiralynn]

That's really good feedback! I hope you posted it to the appropriate LOTRO forum so that it can make a difference.