Bullroarer Update 22.2 Release Notes

Here are the Release Notes for Update 22.2, released on Wednesday, May 9th. These notes WILL change over time.

News and Notes:

General Class

• Any classes with Trait changes will have their Trait points respecced when this update goes Live. However, for the time being on Bullroarer, you will have to manually respec your trait trees in order to properly utilize the changes.
• Traits - Traits which offer bonuses to primary stats are more potent from levels 106 - 115.
• Physical Mastery from class traits has been increased.
• Tactical Mastery for class traits has been increased.

Tactical Relic Rebalancing

• Note from the team: We have rebalanced recent changes to Tactical Relics, necessitated by some mistakes we made during their initial implementation for the Mordor expansion. We have reached a point in our class balance work where unfortunately we need to address this error. We will be doing what we can to make the changes more convenient for affected characters.
• The relics with the new tactical bonuses had two serious balance issues:
  
  • They were never intended to work in BOTH weapon and class IA slots. That was a straight up bug on our part.
  • They weren't scaled correctly compared to the base bonus ratings on the weapons. They were scaled the same as the Physical DPS relics - but as you may know, the tactical and healing bonuses on IA items are substantially lower than the physical bonuses.
  
  
• This necessitates two corresponding changes that we need to implement alongside our ongoing class balance updates:
  
  • Tactical DPS relics will only slot in the primary weapon, and will see their bonus reduced to ~70% of their current value.
  • Tactical HPS relics will only slot in the Class item, and will see their bonus reduced to ~45% of their current value.
  • We recognize that this will impact some players' current IA layouts. To manage this, those existing Tactical bonus relics will be removed from your IA items and relic inventories, and be replaced by barter tokens that can be exchanged at a Gorgoroth raid vendor for an equivalent relic (either DPS or HPS), so that you can rebalance your IA build around the new restrictions.
  • Had it been a more modest imbalance we would have simply let it ride, but in this case it is creating sufficient class imbalances that we feel that we need to address it during our class balance passes to make sure that it doesn't invalidate our other efforts going forwards, or have untoward effects on characters without access to the relics.

Champion

• Champion skill damage is being increased across the board.
• Blue Line:
  
  • Champion Blue Line Set Bonus "Glory" is being changed to a flat 10% melee damage reduction.
  • Morale Bubble from the Blue-line spec skill "Sudden Defence" is being converted to a % bubble covering ~15% of the player's unmodified Max Morale.
  • Sudden Defence's morale bubble bubble grants +10% melee damage whilst active.
  • “Riposte” now grants “Sweeping Riposte” by default.
  • Some blue line traits have been rearranged in the tree to address balance issues when buying traits outside specialization
    
    • Sweeping Riposte: Row 3 -> Row 2
    • Placed Strikes: Row 4 -> Row 3
    • Tactical Mitigation Increase: Row 1 -> Row 3
    • Vitality Increase: Row 2 -> Row 1
  
  
• Yellow Line:
  
  • Blade Wall’s inherent damage has been increased dramatically. The bonus damage from the trait ‘Barbed Wall’ has decreased in proportion. This was done to make ‘Barbed Wall’ less of a “must-have” trait.

Guardian

• Guardian Keen Blade (red line) has been heavily re-designed! The reasons for this redesign were three-fold:
  
  • The prior implementation was very complex and buggy, and proved resistant to debugging.
  • The prior implementation was too server process intensive due to the way bleeds were being handled.
  • The DPS of the red line guardian was far too low to make it particularly functional for soloing or as a team DPS member.
  
  
• The goal of this redesign is to strip out a lot of the underlying complexity of the tree, while retaining its general flavor and giving it a faster, more effective skill rotation.
• The line is intended to be a functional soloing build for the guardian that will allow them to play through the game at a much more acceptable pace. It is not explicitly intended to be fully competitive as a raid-DPS line, though we'll see where it actually sits in testing.
• The summary of the overall redesign includes:
  
  • Overall skill damage for the guardian has increased substantially. The blue and yellow lines will see some benefit from this through the base skills, but the red line will see the bulk of this benefit, through their tree specific skills and bleed effects.
  • The tiering bleed concept has been eliminated due to bugs and performance issues. Additionally, we felt it was not a good concept for landscape play, as it took too long to set up Bleed stacks to be worthwhile.
  • The new version has three separate bleeds associated with Sweeping Cuts, Thrust, and Brutal Strike, and the primary skill rotation revolves around keeping these up as efficiently as possible, while weaving in other skills as feasible. There are still some skills that play off of existing bleeds (such as overpower), or cash them out (such as Honorable Combat), but otherwise the bleed structure is much simpler and the interactions are fewer and much more explicit.
  • While the red line bleeds are now far stronger, they no longer benefit from the yellow line Radiate talent.
  • Guardian bleeds are no longer applied or renewed by crits.
  • Several talent names were changed to reflect adjustments to their functionality necessitated by the redesign of the bleed skills.
  • Several other skills that had accumulated too many modifiers were streamlined a bit, such as Hammer Down and To the King.
  
  
• Some changes to the way damage is assigned to skills and effects is being made. These changes are largely not visible, as they are low-level changes behind the scenes, but these adjustments will make it easier for us to make changes to the classes in the future, and should make future design updates happen more quickly.
• Shield Smash and Warchant are no longer tactical skills and draw their damage from the primary weapon.
• Brutal Charge now causes the next skill to crit instead of a knockdown effect (note that it can still be b/p/e'd).
• Warrior's Heart bubble is now based on a % of max vitality.
• Catch a breath LI bonuses now properly affect the skill. % change is now additive, and has been adjusted to reflect this change.
• Shield Use is effectively obsolete for the time being. We're evaluating what to do with it currently as it has never scaled properly with our other systems.

Hunter

• Work is being done to solidify the Red Line as the dominant group DPS Trait line, and adjust Blue Line to be more of a solo-friendly survival and flexible Trait line.
  
  • Some induction time bonuses found in the blue line have been moved over to the red line.
  • Blue line has received some improved survival tools.
  
  
• Barrage has a three shot limit, enforced by a 20 second cooldown.
• Quick Draw and Press Onward/Perserverence have been swapped between the Red and Blue lines.
• Red line T1 bonus has been replaced with the old Blue line Swift Release bonus.
• Blue line's Swift Release bonus has been replaced with Hunter's Voice, a cooldown and run speed buff to Cry of the Hunter.
• Press Onward has been converted to a percentage heal to both morale and power. Trait and LI bonuses have been adjusted accordingly.
• All hunter skills have been normalized to new general damage progressions.
• The hunter LI bleed damage bonus has been reduced from 150% to 50%. The base bleed damage of all hunter skills has been increased by a similar or greater margin in most cases.
• Both Blue and Red trees have undergone some skill tree adjustments to keep their respective specialties intact.
• Increased the base proc chance of 'Needful Haste' to 15%.
• Initial expectations for these changes is that the blue line will keep its DPS approximately where it currently is on the live worlds, and for the red line to eclipse blue line by about 10-20%.
• Yellow line skills have been normalized.

Lore-master

• Trait Changes
  
  • Removed red tree trait 'Empowering Fires'
  • Red tree Trait 'Rapid Fire' now scales to a 25% induction reduction for 5 points (was 10% for 2), moved it to tier 4
  • 5th red line set bonus now renamed to 'Hasten', it now grants a cooldown bonus to Sticky Gourd, Lightning Storm, and Ents go to War when the 'Staff Sweep' ability strikes at least one target.
  • Fierce Lightning trait now scales to a 100% chance of ignition (was 50%)
  
  
• Skill Changes
  
  • Normalized dmg for all loremaster skills/effects.
  • Increased base dmg of most battle skills/effects.
  • Reduced cooldown of Lightning Strike to 10 seconds.
  • Removed Wizard's Fire and moved most of its ember effects to Gust of Wind. (Note: WF will be coming back, but it will behave somewhat differently)
  • Gust of Wind is now an area of effect. Some further adjustment in the way Gust of Wind interacts with the burning embers' spead and intensify effect may need to be made.
  • Increased base and dot heal values of water-lore, light of hope, beacon of hope.
  • Added cooldowns to Share Power (10s) and Share Power - Fellowship(30s), and substantially reduced their magnitudes.
  • Pleasant Breeze is now a Heal rather than a Power restore.
  • Water-lore's healing buff is now base 0%, gains 5% when traited.
  • Power of Knowledge has been removed.
  • Removed all 'Hasten' skill buttons from the red line - these effects now occur when you use 'Staff Sweep'.

Minstrel

• General

• Anthem of the Third Age is now given out at specialization
• All Anthems now have a default duration of 3 minutes
• Anthem cooldowns reduced by 10 seconds
• Anthems Stack with one another by default
• Raise the Spirit Changes:
  
  • The cooldown has been removed
  • Induction length has been increased from 1 second to 1.2 seconds.
  • Raise the Spirit was never a viable option when compared to Bolster Courage. We want to make it more viable as a better low-cost, frequently-used skill.
  
  
• Chord of Salvation Changes
  
  • Healing has been increased
  
  
• Legacies
  
  • Minstrel Imbued Legacy “Anthem Duration” has been increased from 1 second per rank to 2 seconds per rank.
  • Classic Legacy “Discordant Ballads Stance Swap Buff” is now a Light Damage Legacy, which matches its corresponding Imbued legacy.
    
    • Rank 1: +5% Light Damage
    • Subsequent Ranks: +2.5% per rank
  
  
• Blue Line
  
  • The Set Bonus “Open Ears” is now “Resolute”, which provides a potent block rating buff.
  • Removed Fate and Will Stat bonuses received upon specialization
  • Soliloquy of Spirit’s healing has been increased.
  • Coda of Resonance grants +5% incoming healing to the fellowship for 30 seconds
  • The Trait “Improved Chord of Salvation” Heal over Time has been converted to a fellowship instant heal, which should properly scale with your implement.
    
    • Trait Increases Chord of Salvation Fellowship Healing. 10% / 15% / 20 % / 25%
  
  
• Red Line
  
  • Coda of Fury grants 5% outgoing damage to the fellowship for 30 seconds
  • The Trait “Discordant Ballads” now grants a constant 5% Tactical Damage instead of the “Fresh Voice” component.
  • Anthem of War is no longer given out via levelling.
  • The Trait “Echoing Anthem of War” now becomes “Anthem of War”, which grants the skill, and includes the trait’s former +10% tactical damage bonus.
  
  
• Yellow Line
  
  • The Trait “Extended Anthems” now increase Anthem duration by 10 seconds per rank.
  • The Trait “Extended Anthems” no longer requires a previous trait to access it.
  • The Trait “Vocal Stamina” has been removed.
  • New Trait “Shield Focus”
    
    • Earns the skill: Shield Focus
      
      • This new skill allows a Minstrel to trade movement speed for block chance.
    
    
  • Hero’s Strike healing has been improved, and now scales with class item strength.
  • Coda of Melody grants +2.5% to all partial avoidances to fellowship for 30 seconds
  • The Trait “Bracing Finish” has been replaced with “Raise Our Spirits”
    
    • Raise Our Spirits grants a fellowship-wide Heal over Time to Raise the Spirit
    • Further ranks increase the HoT strength
    • Bracing Finish required luck and premeditation for a modest benefit. Raise Our Spirits has a readily apparent value for your Trait Point investment.
    
    
  • “Anthem of the Third Age – Melody” – Now grants incoming healing and outgoing damage to the fellowship instead of a less useful Power Cost reduction.
  • The Set Bonus “Perfect Ballad” is now “Improved Anthem of the Third Age”
    
    • The Damage bonus from Anthem of the Third Age - Melody has been increased by 5%.
    • Incoming Healing bonus from Anthem of the Third Age - Melody increased by 2.5%
    
    
  • The Set Bonus “Harmonious Anthems” is now "Ascendant Anthem of the Third Age".
    
    • Damage bonus from Anthem of the Third Age - Melody increased by 5%
    • Incoming Healing bonus from Anthem of the Third Age - Melody increased by 2.5%
    
    
  • The Trait “Exposing Weakness” is now “Of All Trades”.
    
    • 3 rank trait
    • Increases outgoing damage by 3% / 6% / 10%
    • Increases outgoing healing by 3% / 6% / 10%
    
    
  • Echoes of Battle now carries a Critical Defence debuff
  • New Specialization bonuses increase Light Damage by 10% and Outgoing Healing by 5%

Warden 

• Ranged Offensive Strike Skill Chain - Debuff Change
  
  • Ranged Offensive Strike Debuff Potency: - 2% --> 1%
  • Ranged Offensive Strike Debuff Duration (seconds): 12 --> 25
  • Ranged Combination Strike Debuff Potency: - 4% --> 3%
  • Ranged Combination Strike Debuff Duration (seconds): 12 --> 25
  • Ranged Boar's Rush Debuff Potency: - 7% --> 5%
  • Ranged Boar's Rush Debuff Duration (seconds): 12 --> 25
  
  
• Ranged Adroit Manoeuvre duration buffs
  
  • Ranged Adroid Manoeuvre Attack Duration Buff duration: 20-->25
  • Ranged Adroid Manoeuvre Induction Buff duration (When traited): 20–>25
  
  
• Ranged Warden's Triumph Buffs
  
  • Ranged Warden's Triumph Ranged Damage Buff Potency: +5% --> +10%
  • Ranged Warden's Triumph Ranged Damage Buff Duration: 20 --> 25
  
  
• Ranged Offensive Strike Gambit Line Damage Redistribution
  
  • Eliminated Gambit Chain Bonus Damage effects due to poor legibility
  • Re-balanced damage across Ranged Offensive Strike, Ranged Combination Strike, and Ranged Boar's Rush. Ranged Boar's Rush is now deals the most damage of the three skills.
  • Bonus damage granted from executing the Gambits in sequence has been removed, and the damage distributed into the base skill damage.
  
  
• Marked Target and Diminished Target Duration: The player should spend less time refreshing these debuffs.
  
  • Changing trait "Marked Target" to "Lasting Mark". Increases duration instead of potency. 5 seconds per rank
  • Increasing base duration of Marked Target and Diminished Target from 10 seconds to 35 seconds.
  • The skill "Diminished Target" is now given out by default at level 20
  • Mitigation Debuff from Set Bonus "Focus Fire" increased from 2.5% --> 5%
  
  
• Assailment Gambit Debuff Durations
  
  • Base duration of Assailment Gambit Debuffs increased to 35 seconds
  • Trait "Diminished Target" is now called "Enduring Assailment". Increases duration of Assailment Gambit Debuffs by 5 seconds per rank
  
  
• Trait Rearranging
  
  • Trait "Ranged Damage" is now on Row 1
  • Trait "Momentum" is now on Row 2
  
  
• Persevere and Impressive Flourish buff chains have updated ratings.
• Trait "Unassailable" had an invisible bug causing it not to deliver the amount of ratings it promised to Surety of Death. The trait now offers non-percentage based ratings-based increase that is visible to the player. The new value is roughly double what it was contributing previously
• Trait "Indefatigable" had an invisible bug causing it not to deliver the amount of ratings it promised to Surety of Death. The trait now offers a ratings-based increase that is visible to the player. The new value is roughly double what it was contributing previously
• The Battle-memory version of Dance of War no longer provides too high an amount of Evade Rating
• Trait "Lasting Mark" now enhances applies to Diminished Target as advertised
• Warning Shot Changes:
  
  • Warning Shot gains force taunt
  • Cooldown extended to ~45 seconds
  • Debuff duration extended to 60 seconds
  • Skill cannot be block, parry, evade, or miss
  
  
• The following skills now pull from your melee implement:
  
  • The Boot
  • Boar's Rush
  • Ranaged Boot
  • Ranged Boar's Rush