The Official Warden thread

[Rhyaehar]

With the release of Lord of the Rings Online: The Mines of Moria, we have seen the addition of the Warden class. After the short introduction (http://rhyaehar.tweakblogs.net/blog/1204/the-warden-an-introduction.html) to the class earlier, I've been able to play a Warden last night. My first impression: it's good!.
Full article (http://rhyaehar.tweakblogs.net/blog/1208/the-warden-first-impressions.html)

With this blogpost of yours truly, I would like to kick off the Warden discussion.

[Raedwulf]

Running around solo for a little bit this morning, I've added a couple more levels to Wulfraed, so he's now 8 (I think). What I'm finding as a pattern early on in the game is that the fight opens with two bashes & Defensive Strike as the opening gambit, for a hefty defensive boost. Next I go for The Boot to see if I can get a daze off, & follow that with Persevere since I'll have taken some damage by now.

After that, it's very dependent on what I'm facing. An orange mob probably means I'm not going to use Quick Strike - I'm too busy maintaining the defensive / healing gambits with the occasional Boot thrown in (at? ;) ). An easier mob, white or below, I may not bother with Persevere at all, but simply take the Enemy down as fast as possible. Obviously I'm already 4 levels behind the like of Rhyaewald & Tierlo, so I don't know how much the upcoming gambits are going to change things, but I suspect not a lot - the basic solo tactic is likely to remain defense, stun, heal to open a fight.

Grouped, of course, (and I haven't been yet) it's going to be a little different. I'd probably still open with that defense gambit, or possibly with a taunt followed by a defense. Why not avoid putting pressure on the healers right at the start? But after that, presuming healing is available, I can see the Warden going mainly for offence, taunts, & stuns in fellowship.

As to the annoyance of missing a lot (javelin especially!), to counter-balance that, I have to say that the Warden feels ridiculously over-powered in the early levels, so I don't think there's any real reason to complain. Soloing, my RK was taking damage, sometimes quite a lot of damage (over 50%); at similar levels against similar mobs, the Warden was scarcely more than scratched. And that was before I started working out what the gambits actually did! Having hit the level cap on the 5th alt way back in February, you can imagine it's a long, long time since I've done much in the way of low-level play. Nevertheless, my gut feeling is that the Warden, at the moment, is in need of a nerf, so don't be surprised if Turbine do so! I imagine they'll be looking closely at how fast people are levelling & what they're saying. But hey, this could all change - classes only really start to develop their characteristics around level 15-20.

And Rhy, if you want to tack these remarks on the end of your blog somewhere, feel free.

[Tiermond]

My thoughts upto level 15

Wardens seem almost indestructible, they have good dps, getting crits with critical strike for around 150 damage. A toggle skill that gives +300 incombat morale plus heals over time.

General tactic is to open with ambush and crit strike which even without criticals will take a same level mob down to about half health, get a crit and they are dead.
Gambits seem fairly intuitive, never remember the names just what they do. At level 15 every 2 gambit combination is something so even the most mentally challenged hunter could play the class at least at low levels.
Gambits of note are:
fist + shield = AOE threat
shield + fist= Heal over time
spear + fist = nice damage
I don't bother with the defense skills at this level as can kill faster than I take damage.
I try to avoid using 2 gambits the same since there is a 1s cooldown on the skills, slows the combat down slightly, although there are some deeds using those gambits so I make an exception for trash mobs. Once doing gambits of length 3 or more then only 2 length gambits have 2 the same next to each other whereas doing different gambits means you can turn it into something else if need be adding flexibility.

In groups I usually open with taunts, hard to get agro once someone already has it, the wardens threat skills so far are all threat over time. Once you've got the agro then worry about heals and damage.

The lvl 15 class quest I found to be a little tricky, hard to keep the warden your helping alive, the waves of brigands all charge the warden, he generates a lot of agro, so spamming war cry (fist/shield) to build agro as fast as possible and then impressive flourish (shield/fist) once I have 2 on me for damage and healing over time eventually did the trick on the 3rd attempt.

Got a stealth skill at lvl 14 but haven't really needed it yet, also got a fast run skill but that reduces your power to 20% so only useful between towns, if your likely to be incombat soon then avoid.

Power consumption can be a problem when fighting for a long time but nothing a blue pot cannot solve so far.

In summary, a very powerful class thats a lot of fun solo and in groups but enjoy playing a warden while it lasts as I reckon they will be nerfed pretty soon.

[Rhyaehar]

Just had to show him off :)
http://tweakers.net/ext/f/JQeEePnTn2ea3vzWNtGQ519Y/full.jpg

[Raedwulf]

So what? He's just like every other one I've ever seen. Seen one Conscripted Defender, you've seen them all. Who's the tit he's fighting? :P