Helm's Deep - Twitter Q&A

Pre-launch, the LOTRO dev team frequently used Twitter as a medium to communicate with the playerbase. Players were given the opportunity to ask questions about the upcoming Helm's Deep expansion. To address burning questions about the announced class skill trees, a special Twitter Q&A event was organized.

General pre-purchase questions

The following general questions regarding the expansion were answered from the official LOTRO Twitter account:

1. Any chance of announcing Turbine Point costs for Helm's Deep when it launches?
The Helm’s Deep™ expansion will cost 4295 Turbine Points.

2. Is pre-purchase available with Turbine Points?
No. It will only be available once Helm's Deep is live.

3. Does the cost include new instances that will come later on?
Epic Battles will ship with Helm's Deep.

Class changes dev chat

Wednesday, August 21, 2013, at 3:00 PM Eastern time, players got the opportunity to ask questions about the upcoming class changes. Players who wanted to participate had to address their tweets to @lotro and had to include the hashtags #LOTRO and #DEVCHAT. Responses to questions only used the hashtag #LOTRO.

The following members of the LOTRO Team were answering Class questions:

• Matt "Hoarsedev" Zimmitti - Lead Systems Designer (Classes)
• Jared “Amlug”Hall-Dugas – Senior Designer (MTX)
• Trevor “Jinjaah” McEwen – Associate Systems Designer (Classes)
• Erika “Deviled_Egg” Ng – Associate Systems Designer (Classes)
• Rick "Sapience" Heaton - Community Manager

Transcript

This is a transcipt of the class dev chat. Hashtags have been removed to increase readability:

Q1: bgriggs: Are the current virtues and traits being incorporated into the new system at all?
A1: HoarseDev: Virtues will remain mostly the same. Traits are now completely rolled into the new system.

Q2: Yulin-Gladden: How will these changes effect Mounted combat? Are those skils getting a revamp as well?
A2: Deviled_Egg: Any benefits gained from these new traits will be isolated from Mounted Combat.

Q3: Leixy: Using war-steeds as a template, how will trait points be earned and spent on trait trees?
A3: HoarseDev: You’ll earn a point every other level. You’ll also earn points from some deeds.
A3a:You’ll choose a specialization at an early level that will grant specific bonuses and affect the cost of traits as you spend them

Q4: WertyJohn: Are you going to revamp combat animations too?
A4: Jinjaah: We are addressing animations on a case by case basis.
A4a: Some are far too long and are being shortened to increase responsiveness.
A4b: Ferocious Strikes for Champions is an example of this.

Q5: banjolier: For players who spent TP to unlock trait slots, how will you convert our existing purchases to the new system?
A5: HoarseDev: Your specialization choice gives you access to bonuses as you spend points.
A5a: These are unlocked in the same way as the old slots and those purchases carry over to the new system.

Q6: Laire: Will we be able to save different trait set-ups? If so, how many?
A6: HoarseDev: Two set-ups to start. You can purchase more if you like.

Q7: Grhysli: How much of this new system is going to be gated behind the LOTRO Store?
A7: HoarseDev: Only the slots similar to the old Premium/F2P purchases and additional builds after the two you get for free.

Q8: Schinderhannes: Will the update allow us to use 4 legendary traits at the same time?
A8: HoarseDev: No, but the ones you have will be more potent.
A8a: Deviled_Egg: Legendary traits are now a part of each trait tree, and are available for purchase at the end of the tree.
A8b: There is also a Legendary Passive bonus that depends on your specialization.
A8c: This will be unlocked when you spend a certain number of points overall.

Q9: Mildford: Will the new traits system be offered to creeps too?
A9: Jinjaah: Creeps will be getting Corruption Set Bonuses but not full on trait trees.

Q10: Grimdi: Will there be detailed dev diaries on the upcoming class/system changes before HD release?
A10: Deviled_Egg: We are planning to release dev diaries for each class.
A10a: Sapience: I see many long hours of editing in my future...

Q11: Raven-EU: What was the primary driver(s) for this change?
A11: Jinjaah: I think there were two main things that drove these changes:
A11a: 1. We wanted to design the trait trees in such a way that as soon as you leave the intro,
A11b: your trait line starts to play as it was envisioned instead of later on down the road when you began to collect traits.
A11c: 2. We really wanted each trait line to sort of stand out from the rest and reduce some of the class homogenization
A11d: that had slowly occurred over the years.

Q12: Zombielord: Will retraiting still re’’’Quire our character visiting a bard/class trainer? (Hope not)
A12: Jinjaah: Nope! Respeccing your trait tree can be done on the fly so long as you are out of combat.
A12a: Deviled_Egg: The process is similar to how you re-trait in Mounted Combat

Q13: Silmelin: Can minstrels still switch (with in game silver) between being as strong as possible War-speech minstrels
Q13a: who can enjoy all the solo content of the game, and as strong as possible healers who'll get invited to Instances and Raids?
A13: HoarseDev: You can switch builds with silver.

Q14: Judi: Will there be a new class added to the game?
A14: HoarseDev: Not for Helm’s Deep.

Q15: Laire: Using all of their points, on average how many active skills does a 85 toon have?
A15: Jinjaah: Our goal, and it isn’t the same across the board, is for all classes to have around 20 skills after spending all their points. A15a: Things like travel paths will not count towards this cap.

Q16: medwulf: will the class changes affect LI's and Legacies at all?
A16: HoarseDev: Ugh, we have a lot of updating to do.

Q17: Moochi: How will the new system afford us the same flexibility we have now,
Q17a: without buying many trait sets through the store?
A17: Jinjaah: A lot of time and effort was put into the construction of the trees to encourage spending points
A17a: in trees that you did not specialize in.
A17b: The new system should offer various forms of hybridization to explore.

Q18: @BhorisTheSpider Will the class changes mean a L95 character may be less potent (healing/damage) than an corresponding L85 character?
A18: HoarseDev: They'll be more potent in their specialization. This will come at the cost of broad utility.

Q19: @greendragoon Is there going to be any effort to streamline the Warden's massive (and convoluted) abilitiy list?
A19: DeviledEgg In short, yes. Some gambits are being trimmed, some are being placed in different specialization. A19a: The total number of gambits will be decided by how you choose to specialize.

Q20: @osmihu Can you give some specific examples of specializations?
A20: Jinjaah The hunter could choose between the bowmaster or huntsman.
A20a: Huntsman has less range, but can induct on the move.
A20b: Where the bowmaster has much greater range, but must plant his feet to deal damage.

Q21: @ForgotMyGambits Hunters currently have a lot of skills. Will there be skill consolidation?
A21: JinJaah Yes. There is some skill consolidation to reduce the overall skill count to around 20. A21a: Per specialization. Travel skills won't count towards that number.

Q22: @brrzap can we change specializations later or is this a 1-time choice?
A22: DeviledEGG Yes you can change your specializations. Respecing your tree will also allow you to choose a new specialization.

Q23: @osmihu Will skills still be purchased from the trainer or gained from the tree?
A23: JinJaah Some will be gained from the tree, others will be auto-granted based on level.

Q24: @mavegibson Will there be dramatic changes to the skills we have, and will there be skills specific to our trait lines?
A24: All: Yes and yes!

Q25: @ElinneaG Will new characters be able to see all the traits/skills before choosing a specialization?
A25: HoarseDev Yes. You'll be able to see all specializations and trees before deciding.

Q26: @Gihalahad will players have to sacrifice surviveability for damage? A26: HoarseDev. Yes and vice versa. Though there is room to dip into both.

Q27: @nick_wilbur you guys keep saying specialization will be chosen at a low level & bonuses granted. Initially, what can we expect with toons at 85?
A27: DeviledEGG We'll autogrant you the correct number of points for your level.
A27a: Deeds that previously gave traits will give trait points.
A27b: You can choose your specialization and spend your points when you login when HD goes live.

Q28: @landlover64 how different will the play style of our characters be with the changes to how they play now?
A28: DeviledEgg They'll still feel like the class you know, just better versions.
A28a: Jinjaah They should feel better catered to the role they were destined to fill.

Q29: @miofli Will certain currently unused trait lines, eg the yellow hunter line, change role?
A29: Jinjaah Traitlines like the hunter's yellow line are being revamped more than others.
A29a: DeviledEGG In general we want each traitline to feel just as good as the next.

Q30: @corynettnin Classes like cappies and champs are considered off-tanks. Will these changes move them closer or further from being "real" tanks?
A30: DeviledEGG Each tanking specialization will be effective, but in its own way.

Q31: @skinnynakedboy will all hunter traps become skills and are there going to be more traps available as they have potential but are underrated
A31: Jinjahh Hunter traps are becoming skills. A31a: They will be usable in combat and some have had their potency changed to make them feel less 'underrated'.

Q32: @Aelrindel what about creeps classes and traits?
A32: Jinjaah Creeps will be getting corruption set bonuses.
A32a: These bonuses give various buffs and effects based on the corruptions slotted.

Q33: @Scoed To respec for silver, will we have to refund and respend all points, or just the parts we want to change?
A33: HoarseDev It's all or nothing.

Q34: @Ranni Will the trap skills share a common cool down?
A34: Jinjaah No, they will each have their own cool down.

Q35: @Merry_Forest88 Can we expect increase of power and abilities from under-power Lore-Master Pets and Captain Herald?
A35: DeviledEGG We are trying to better balance the potency of LM pets and Capt. Heralds.

Q36: @eldaeriel can you tell us any timeframes? For dev diaries, beta testing of changes
A36: Sapience You can expect to see them "Soon". You'll get an 11.3 Dev diary first. End of the week.

Q37: @Lord_Dolvic will we still have "use skill X" deeds, legendary trait page deeds and ‘’’Quests? Will they now reward trait points?
A37: DeviledEGG Completing these deeds will now reward trait points.
A37a: Jinjaah If you have already completed these deeds, your progress will be carried over.

Q38: @Crappledumpkins Recently chickens & a referee have been spotted at the Hobnanigans field again. Will this event be returning soon?
A38: Amlug WE're working on it. WE have no ETA, but we'd like to see this make a return.

Q39: @leixicon will all trait lines still be auto-unlocked for VIPs?
A39: Hoarsedev Yes they will.

Q40: @JVaughn227 What's being done to address the current in game lag and severity of it?
A40: Sapience Some changes are going in to address mounted combat lag with Update 11.3.
A40a: We also continue to add more monitoring tools to help isolate other issues.

Q41: @paspinall42 What about the disparity in the class deeds, with changes in levels for skills and the like some can complete faster than others.
A41: DeviledEGG We're aware of this issue and we're addressing it.