Omg guys it's like a whole new game!

Hey guys, so isen is out, and people are showing up all over the place at release which is great to see. SiN had about 15 members logged consistently all evening.

I'd like to point out a few things and ask a few questions to the group

a) Has everyone noticed you can trade tier 1 OD medallions for tier 2 OD medallions 1:1 meaning you can get the full OD t2 set with a t1 clear now? (nice for cosmetics, set bonuses etc for a while)
b) What's happening with Aussieplayers, are we going on a break for a few weeks as everyone focuses on levelling, maybe considering a recruitment drive in a week or two to try and snag returners and transfers (if they happen) in the future
c) what does everyone think of isen??? I'd love to hear your thoughts and discoveries!

Personally i have only chipped the surface of dunland, but was hoping there'd be a bit more to the expansion than just one zone! It would be nice if as part of a future patch another zone is opened up such as fangorn forest or even rohan itself etc (i don't have my map out so don't hate if you require a magical teleporter to do that ).

The bonevales had some similarities to the scuttledells and areas of mirkwood imo, somewhat mazelike, but intuitive, then the road to galtrev feels alot like western enedwaith with a bigger hub. I like the streamlined feel of the questing though it's been quite easy to get around so far!

a. yup, already knew that. We did it all wrong, should have just farmed it on T1 and started RoI with a full T2 set

b. General raiding break for 3 or so weeks, give many a chance to explore, craft, re-learn there class and get to 75, then we plan to say hello to a dragon. I guess it's possible that we could look at some older raids in the short term (once 75), in order to get a good supply of SFM. Not sure of exact details, but it's very possible that at 75, Helegrod would drop a few per run and once you know what your doing, that 24 man Helegrod raid is pretty quick, not that you need a full 24 and assuming it does drop SFM.
Outside of that, expect a post from Babble any day now to outline future raiding plans and get some feedback.

c. So far I'm liking my 'new' Champ, questing has been good, the area looks great tho mobs have been way to easy, but then I am well equiped and normal Enedwaith mobs were too easy as well. I've only got as far as the very start area on my RK (took a different path then my Champ) and am yet to really try out the DPS, test traits or heal anything, tho on the surface, I do feel she is a little more squishy then before.
The new main hub just looks so alive, with so much going on, even if few actual players are around. And of course it has everything, even superior farmland, yay.

If anything, at the moment, my only real 'worry' is the stats, etc on new gear. Everything just seems to be so heavy on stats and almost nothing else. So if you equip it, you may boost a stat or two, but then morale, power, incoming healing, etc, etc all drop and so far I've seen nothing with extra mit, like the acid from the moria set or fire from another set. Wouldn't it be silly to run a lvl75 instance or even the old OD and still use lvl60/65 gear on a lvl75 character. So right now I'm just not sure how it will all work out and if it will work out the same for all classes and of course, can I empty out some vault space and sell the old gear.

On a minor plus side for the old gear, moria/loth/mirkwood barter tokens are now bound to account, so I can combine my collection and get my hunter his lvl60 gear right away.

Minor correction. OD t1 no longer drops armor tokens, only medallions. The t1 set can no longer be bartered with tokens, only medallions. Hence any current t1 token that has not been bartered yet can be bartered for the t2 token. The t2 set only requires tokens and no longer requires medallions.

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Several important changes:

The way damage is mitigated has changed. So it would seem like things are hitting harder or we are squisher. Refer to the thread below:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?422193-B-P-E-partial-mitigation-changed

particularly Graalx2's (guardian dev) post:

Partial mitigation will no longer add to regular mitigation. Instead it will be multiplicative. 100 damage 60% mitigation + 50% partial mitigation = 100*(1-.6)*(1-.5) = 20 damage.

The reason behind this change is to prevent players from becoming immune to monsters with the increased mitigation and BPE rates available in Isengard.

The reason this isn't in the patch notes is that it would cause more confusion than clarification. Many players assume that is the way it always worked. Only those really into the math knew that partial mitigation was additive. I felt that a forum post in the Guardian or Warden forum would get out the knowledge for those who are interested.

And also the change of physical mitigation vs melee defence:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?422227-Physical-mitigation-question

Several dev responses to clarify the change. Unfortunately there are no longer any sources of melee defence other than class item titles and the old Profound Rune of Action relic (yes it still says melee defence and adds to melee defence ratings - why is this rating still there, nobody knows)

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All passives have been removed. These are the accuracy, block, parry, evade, critical rank passives you get from your trainers at newbie levels. You will find your ratings lower than before, if you havent noticed.

DivineRapier wrote:Minor correction. OD t1 no longer drops armor tokens, only medallions. The t1 set can no longer be bartered with tokens, only medallions. Hence any current t1 token that has not been bartered yet can be bartered for the t2 token. The t2 set only requires tokens and no longer requires medallions.

--------------------

Several important changes:

The way damage is mitigated has changed. So it would seem like things are hitting harder or we are squisher. Refer to the thread below:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?422193-B-P-E-partial-mitigation-changed

particularly Graalx2's (guardian dev) post:

Partial mitigation will no longer add to regular mitigation. Instead it will be multiplicative. 100 damage 60% mitigation + 50% partial mitigation = 100*(1-.6)*(1-.5) = 20 damage.

The reason behind this change is to prevent players from becoming immune to monsters with the increased mitigation and BPE rates available in Isengard.

The reason this isn't in the patch notes is that it would cause more confusion than clarification. Many players assume that is the way it always worked. Only those really into the math knew that partial mitigation was additive. I felt that a forum post in the Guardian or Warden forum would get out the knowledge for those who are interested.

And also the change of physical mitigation vs melee defence:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?422227-Physical-mitigation-question

Several dev responses to clarify the change. Unfortunately there are no longer any sources of melee defence other than class item titles and the old Profound Rune of Action relic (yes it still says melee defence and adds to melee defence ratings - why is this rating still there, nobody knows)

---------------------------------------

All passives have been removed. These are the accuracy, block, parry, evade, critical rank passives you get from your trainers at newbie levels. You will find your ratings lower than before, if you havent noticed.

The partial mitigation changes aren't a big deal, because nobody used to build for partials anyways, you had to push some pretty ridiculous builds to get partials anywhere decent so that changes little.

but the damage changes overall actually simplify the system when you think about it but now put a HUGE emphasis on tactical mitigation.

Mitigation is now single phased in terms of what a character can actually prepare for (tactical or physical damage). BUT skills (such as LM's fire lore, wind lore, frost lore) can affect a 2nd stage being melee, ranged, tactical

a good post from that thread is as follows;

There are 3 ways dmg can be delivered:
Melee (swords, axes, spears etc)
Ranged (bows, Xbows, throwing axes, etc)
Tactical (spells)


Then there are 2 types of dmg.
Physical (common, westernesse, beleriand , ancient dwarf)
Tactical (fire, cold, acid, light, shadow, etc)



So a fire arrow will use ranged + tactical mitigations
While a westernesse axe will use melee + physical
A warg will do melee + tactical (shadow)
A RK will use tactical (spells) + tacitcal (fire/cold/light)

etc.

not sure if peopl have seen this post - please leave your comments about the proposed direction of raiding in RoI .