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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.

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.

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!)

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:

• access to the lands of Lothlórien and the new faction
• new epic quest line
• new crafting instances
• numerous class tweaks
• revamped entry level experience for new players to go hand-in-hand with LotRO's Refer-A-Friend program
  
• New items for Wardens and Rune-keepers

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Soloing as a Rune-keeper

These impressions come from playing a level 53 Rune-keeper fully traited in Solitary Thunder. This is omething many of you won't be able to do for quite awhile, but it will give you an idea of what to expect when it comes time to take this class into the expansion.

Solo play was challenging and often frustrating. Approaching a mob from afar, I would drop a Rune of Restoration (a HoT spell that radiates from a stone you raise from the ground), cast another HoT on myself, wait a moment for my attunement to shift back to neutral (it happens very fast out of combat). Then I would let lose with the basic nukes I had available: the instacast cold nuke for opening damage and slow run speed buying me time to drop the longer casting fire DoT and then an instacast lightning spell.

By that time the mob would be pounding on me, but I would already be at Battle Attunement 3 and new nukes would unlock. The fire DoT takes too long to cast while being cast and is only worth it if the mob gets stunned or dazed by your lightning attacks (it's a trait) buying you time to cast without getting interrupted. Yes, you could use your Shocking Touch daze ability, but you really want to save that for adds. Mostly I use my second tier lightning attack, my second tier cold spell to debuff the mob's attack adn my first tier lightning attack again.

This would put me at Battle Attunement 6 and the next set of nukes across all three schools of magic would open up. Again, the fire DoT takes too long to cast (very long in this case) and the cold one doesn't do much damage, so I work my lightning spells to unlock Battle Attunement 9. The lightning spell unlocked here has no cooldown so you can spam it to open the next tier.

At this point my HoT's have worn off, but the mob is almost dead if not already taking a dirt nap. The three top tier attacks all have their charms. The lightning attack has a large crit output (but increases spell costs for a short duration) and the cold attack drops two big debuffs on the mob which isn't usefull with an almost dead mob, so the fire attack is the clear winner here. It's a channelled DoT that cranks out massive damage (167pts per second for 10secs at level 53 for me) and attacks on you won't interrupt it. Not much survives this bad boy.

Having traited in Solitary Thunder, my Lightning attacks have a chance to stun and add debuffs that my Battle Attunement 9 Lightning spell can use for extra damage. And I can usually fire off a Fire DoT during the stun.

The problem of adds

The big challenge for Rune-keepers while soloing are adds. Two mobs attacking you at once will guarantee you will have enormous problems getting any spells cast. And your single-target daze ability has a short duration, a long cooldown and shifts you towards neutral Attunement at a time when you really want to get to your top tier attacks as quickly as possible. And if it is resisted, it's a free trip to rez circle for you. The only advantage with two mobs is by the time the first one drops and you turn your attention to the second, you are usually fully Battle Attuned and can unload your most powerful attacks immediately on the mob. Small consolation if you are almost dead when the first one drops.

Also, getting jumped without being prepared (stacked HoTs and utility spells ready) can be challenging. You can try to get healing stacked on yourself, but by the time you can shift your Attunement back to Battle the HoTs have worn off and you may have lower health than when you started. You basically have to hope your Shocking Touch works or you have to burn down the mob as quickly as possible, which, honestly you are trying to do in any case.

Grouping for the Rune-keeper

Grouping has some advantages, but probably not in the way that you think. If you have a dps role in the group, you are probably thinking "yay, I can finally unleash my fire and cold spells", but the mobs I encountered in Moria died so quickly in a group setting that it was more efficient for me to just use my instacast lightning attacks. The exception of course is named mobs and this is where your fire DoTs and cold debuffs really shine.

Grouping as a healer is challenging. As mentioned in the Skills section, you only have HoTs to work with until you get to Healing Attunement 6. Then you get a direct heal as well as a ward the absorbs 50% damage. Get ready to stack the HoTs, but not too soon or will get the aggro off the tank.

If you trait as healer, it allows you to keep your Rune of Restoration available even if you are Battle Attuned. In some easier battles you can lay down some DPS while using the Rune and your other neutral HoT to keep people alive while you do what you can before you have to move entirely into Healing Attunement. Remember you also have one instacast nuke available to you at all times if you want to throw in a couple of extra zaps while healing.

A final word

Rune-keepers are difficult to master, but fun to play. Trait into Solitary Thunder to level, then try Cleansing Fires traits and get yourself into a group where you don't have to heal to really explore your other DPS lines. Finally, Benediction of Peace allows you to nuke while having access to some Heals and cut down on your aggro. As you can see from the image above, you can get Legendary items that help you in your core abilities. One will be given to you as a starter when you finish Volume 2 Book 1. Take it out for a spin and enjoy the newest class in Moria.

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	Massively delves into Moria with in-depth hands-on features on both the new Warden and Rune-keeper classes as well as a walkthrough of Volume 2 Book 1. Plus, check out our Top 5 Most Anticipated Features in Moria.

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.
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.