The Lord Of The Rings Online’s Guardian Class Might Be Next On The Revamp List
With the Minstrel class revamp now live in Lord of the Rings Online, Standing Stone Games might be eyeing the Guardian for its next class shakeup. Lead Systems Designer Orion, posted his musings on the matter on the official forums this weekend which included possible changes to the tank class, including the replacement of the Guardian’s initial skills and a general decluttering of its roster of skills.
“As a general note, I personally feel that the number of skills avaiable for all classes in LoTRO can be overwhelming,” Orion said. “Yes, for most of us who have played the game for a very long time we are so used to the number of skills does not seem too much, but to newer players it certainly can get overwhelming fast.”
“At early levels this might not seem that important but as we level and earn more skills our bar becomes ever more cluttered with skills that can only be used under certain circumstances,” he added. “Additionally, I think that the disruption in the tradition skill bar by initializing the skill flyout causes an unnecessary break in the traditional APS for players because it requires an awkward key combination or drifting mouseclick to execute. I don't think that anything is lost by combining the skills in this manner.”
According to Orion, his initial thoughts are to either remove unnecessary skills or replace them with new ones that allow for better player responses when parrying or blocking. There’s also the possibility that the Guardian’s DPS spec will be shifted from two-handed swords to sword and shield instead.
Of course, these are just preliminary thoughts taken from the developer’s most recent playthrough and aren’t set in stone just yet, although he felt that it would be best to start the discussion early. “Everything is very fluid and malleable and we are not looking at these changes coming to game any time before 2023 at the earliest,” Orion said. “This is a larger question that is going to require more discussion for certain.”
His post is also in line with Standing Stone’s efforts to improve its communication with the community following complaints that they weren’t talking to players enough.
