Dan O'Halloran
- http://www.massively.com
Dan O'Halloran is the Features Editor at Massively and the co-lead at WoW Insider with Mike Schramm. He's been playing MMORPG's nightly for 8 years now. In LotRO he can be found playing his Lore-master and his four alts on Nimrodel.
by Dan O'Halloran 
Sep 25th 2009 (2 months ago)
We've already covered
the new Druid class that came with the
The Elven Prophecy update to
Runes of Magic this month. Now we explore the other new class, the Warden. This class relies on their blade to inflict damage on their foes. It's not a ranged attack class as it does not rely on the bow, it is a melee attack class. They also use their summonable nature spirits for quite a bit of DPS as well as their self-only utility and protection buffs.
The Warden comes with a number of damage dealing spells. But instead of being long range nukes, they are usually channeled through the Warden's weapons. Later on, the channeled weapon attacks will restore the Warden's health with every blow. The Warden does have one direct damage spell, but it drains the lifeforce of their pet. They also receive one area of effect damage spell. At level 32 the Warden gains the ability to wield two-handed axes and swords and at level 50 they get an AE melee attack.
Since the Warden is usually on the front lines of battle, he also has a number of protection spells to reduce damage to himself. These include emergency spells like the Level 16 Elven Amulet that reduces physical damage to the Warden for a short time. All of the Warden's buffs are restricted to themselves and their pets.
After the jump, a full list of abilities and more playstyle analysis for the class.
by Dan O'Halloran Sep 18th 2009 (2 months ago)
The free-to-play
Runes of Magic launched its first expansion called
Chapter II: The Elven Prophecy this week. Along with
new content came two new classes beloved to the fantasy RPG genre: Druid and
Warden. Only playable by the Elf race, these two new classes use the power of nature to both defend and attack to keep their world safe.
The Druid class is envisioned not only as a healer and buffer, but also as a damage dealer and performer of great feats of magic. Certain spells increase the Druid's Nature's Power counter. With enough counters the Druid gets access to spells that can turn the tide of battle in a big way, both defensively and offensively. But with only cloth armor and a weak staff attack, melee damage is not one of the strong suits of this class, unlike their counterpart in other MMOs. Later in their career, Druids can specialize in augmenting either their healing or their damage spells.
After the jump, the full line up of spells for the class.
by Dan O'Halloran Sep 14th 2009 (2 months ago)
Turbine
Having spent the last few days in Turbine's newly-Free To Play
DDO Unlimited, I asked and answered the same handful of questions a brain-numbing number of times. To spare the chat channel on your server the spam, I've listed many of the most common ones here. If the questions keep popping up while you are adventuring on Korthos, feel free to help out with the answers in the General or Advice chat channels.
Why can't I play a Drow/Warforged/Monk/Favored Soul?
- Monk class/Warforged race: These can be bought either individually through the DDO store or gained automatically with a monthly subscription.
- Favored Soul class/Drow race: These can be earned by free-to-play players through Favor Points earned by completing quests. They can also be purchased outright from the DDO store. Drows that are purchased through Favor Points are only unlocked on that server.
Why can't I get past level 4? Is leveling capped for players who are not paying?
All players, paying and free to play, can level up to 20. To get past four, free-to-play players can loot certain Sigils from chests in dungeons and select them as rewards. These Sigils will get you past the current leveling checkpoint. The Sigils are also available in the DDO Store. Paying players don't need Sigils to advance at the level checkpoints so they don't have to pass up the other good loot in the chests for them.
How do I switch weapons on the fly?Drag your weapon icon from your inventory to your hotkey bar. Then click on that hotkey when you want to swap weapons. If you have more than one item you want to swap out (for example: sword and shield for bow) you can use the Weapon Set slots in the Inventory panel. Drop the items into the slots that make a set, then drag the icon with the green border down to your hotkey bar. (Thanks commenter Baburnama!)
by Dan O'Halloran Mar 18th 2009 (8 months ago)
LotRO
Volume 2, Book 7: Leaves of Lórien, the first major content patch since the release of the
Mines of Moria expansion, hit the
Lord of the Rings Online live servers yesterday. The patch includes
an extensive feature list including:
But along with the new features comes
a long list of bugs as well. The vaunted quest guide system remains "in beta." It is automatically turned off, but can be enabled by going into the Options panel. I tried it last night and found it very useful. It doesn't work for all quests yet, but it helped me track down some quest objectives that had eluded me in Evendim.
On the upside, leveling is now faster and players under level 60 will see a big level jump on their next kill to put them on track with the new system. I've seen an additional 1.5 and 2.5 levels on various alts. Don't forget to hit the trainer after your level bump.
by Dan O'Halloran Mar 16th 2009 (8 months ago)
EQ2
SOE
The Lavastorm zone has been in
EverQuest II since launch. At the time it was one of the highest level zones, but a few expansions later it is all but deserted by most players. In
Game Update 51, Elements of Corruption, SOE is revamping the zone. The older content is being left intact, but new higher level content is being added tied into the latest expansion, the
Shadow Odyssey. In fact, players will need to have that expansion before they can enter any of the new instances.
The revamp includes a x4 raid dungeon, a x2 dungeon (the
Ward of Elements), a new crafting instance and
new high level solo content. Click on the gallery below to begin our tour of the new content.
by Dan O'Halloran Mar 14th 2009 (8 months ago)
LotRO
Turbine
Turbine has announced (via
Twitter!) that the Volume 2, Book 7: Leaves of Lórien content update for
Lord of the Rings Online will
go live this Tuesday, March 17, 2009. But you can get your hands on the update files now. Turbine is giving North American, Australian and New Zealand players an opportunity to
download the patch files early via direct download or torrent. The downloaded files can even be grabbed from a different computer and then you can transfer those files to your LotRO machine. No early files have been posted for European players yet.
What awaits you in
LotRO's first major content patch since the Moria expansion went live in November? Turbine offers
a quick list of the major features on Vol 2 Book 7 as well as
updated Patch Notes. The LotRO Follower blog offers
a list of what changed during Testing by comparing the patch notes when the PTR went live and now.
Massively has its own
tour of the new content as the enchanted lands of Lothlórien are opened up to players. And, of course, there are plenty of screenshots below to tide you over until the content goes live in a few days.
by Dan O'Halloran Feb 23rd 2009 (9 months ago)
EQ2
SOE
Sony Online Entertainment continues to entice us with information about their upcoming content patch for
EverQuest 2, the
Elements of Corruption. The focus of their current article is on
the solo content being introduced in GU51. SOE is adding over 20 new quests for level 44-55 characters in addition to the solo quest lines that already exist in Lavastorm. And five of those quests are repeatable.
They are also introducing a high level quest line that will lead players to the new two-group instance,
the Ward of Elements. It starts with an NPC who players met last year in the ramp up to the current Void expansion. But if you, like me, missed that part, there will be a quest line to get you up to speed.
Finally, to make it easier to get around the large outdoor zone, summoned lava steeds pictured above will be available in key locations. Also, markers will be set out along the landscape so mid-level players don't stumble into the newer higher level content.
We'll post a tour of the content patch in the next few weeks. Until then, check out the new screenshots added to the gallery below including the
lava rhino mount and the new
fiery drake housepet.
by Dan O'Halloran Feb 19th 2009 (9 months ago)
EQ2
The dev team at
EverQuest 2 is gearing up for their next big content update,
GU51 - The Elements of Corruption. The focus of the patch is a revamp of one of the zones that launched with the game four years ago, Lavastorm. An original zone from
EverQuest, the lore of it centers around the Magician Najena, a master of the Elements and summonable elemental pets.
In the update, Najena is trapped in her underground lair and is being assaulted by the void creatures that were introduced in the latest
EQ2 expansion,
The Shadows Odyssey. It will be a x2 dungeon (
two group raid) called the
Ward of Elements. Adventurers must band together to save Najena and defeat the void incursion.
Along with this new dungeon, there will be x4 raid dungeon, new high level quests and a new crafting zone. Massively will be bringing you spotlights on the new content in the coming weeks.
by Dan O'Halloran Oct 20th 2008 (1 year ago)
LotRO
Turbine
When
The Lord of the Rings Online's new expansion, the
Mines of Moria launches on November 18, two new master classes will be available to the player base: The Warden, a tank/dps class and The Rune-keeper, a healing/nuking class. The reason they are dubbed "master class" is that they are difficult to learn, but are powerful allies when mastered.
I got to go hands-on with
the Rune-keeper class in the beta for a few weeks and ran it through the paces: solo and group, with different specs and group configurations. Read on for my take on the strengths, weaknesses and tactics of the newest class to join the battle against the Shadow in the West.
by Dan O'Halloran Oct 20th 2008 (1 year ago)
Rune-keeper Traits
The trait system in the game has received a big overhaul. Each class trait will now fall into one of three categories. In the Rune-keeper's case those categories are Solitary Thunder (instant damage for soloing), Cleansing Fires (efficient but longer-casting damage for groups and raids) and Benedictions of Peace (healing). You will unlock special bonuses for your class if you chose 2, 3 or 4 traits in one category. And if you choose 5 traits in one category, you will unlock a special legendary. There is a quest to obtain that Legendary, but you'll need 5 traits in the right category to use it.
A LotRO-EU dev diary has gone
in depth into all the trait trees, so I'll just post screens of them here. I also want to mention that you are not bound to pick all the traits in only one tree. You can hybridize by picking two or three in different trees, cherry picking the best bonuses. Those "improved" skills you can get with picking to traits in the tree essentially remove the Attunement requirement of those spells making them castable no matter where you're at in your Attunement. If you are going to focus on damage, it wouldn't hurt to pick up the healing one for extra help when Battle Attuned and the fight suddenly goes badly.
Also, at level 57 you will have 7 class trait slots, so you can drop 5 in one tree to unlock the Legendary ability (with one caveat, see below) and still have two more to get the "Improved" bonus in another tree. And at level 60 you get a third Legendary slot.
Also note that the Legendary skill isn't granted to you just by selecting 5 traits in one tree. You still have to do a quest for each one and there is a level requirement for each quest. It can also be upgraded. Check the Dev Diary for comprehensive details.
