Gamespy has recently released an article regarding the two new classes coming to Lotro, The Runekeep & Warden. The Runekeeper is a spell-caster class, much like the Loremaster, but instead of using nature as the source of magic, they use themselves. The Warden on the other hand in a Medium Armor Tank, featuring a new system to pull off combo attacks.

The Runekeeper

In lore terms, the Runekeeper marks the game’s first true “magic user.” The Loremaster class had his or her powers explained as the harnessing of the traditional powers of nature — calling down lightning, using water to make foes stick in the mud, or throwing a fireball made from a chemical concoction. In short, the class is more of a combat chemist than a true magician. The Runekeeper, on the other hand, actually taps into the primal physics-altering powers of creation. It’s the same kind of power (though to a far, far lesser degree) as that tapped into by powerful elves like Galadriel (who serves as the model for the class).

In pure game dynamics, Steefel says that the Runekeeper will be “…a third light armor class that offers viable healing or DPS alternatives.” True to the game’s “hybrid class” design philosophy, the Runekeeper is being tuned to not take the thunder away from the primary healing class (Minstrel) and will focus its DPS capabilities on nuking, particularly by the application of powerful, stackable damage-over-time effects. Players will manage their role via a new “Attunement Meter” that can be geared to provide bonuses to healing abilities at the detriment of damage powers and vice-versa, depending on the current role the Runekeeper is being asked to fulfill.

The Warden

The Warden as designed takes as its inspiration Haldir, the Elf warden who protected the lands of Lothlorien from incursions by orcs and other foul things that crept from Moria. True to its model, the Mines of Moria Warden is a medium-armor tank class built around an Elf rather than a Man’s idea of a heavy fighter — sacrificing heavy protection in favor of agility and anticipation. As a result, the Warden in Mines of Moria may find his or her greatest utility not as a tank but as a support fighter — an off-tank.

Interestingly, the Warden’s gameplay mechanics owe a debt to Tekkenas much as to any Elf-lord. The Warden’s main abilities are triggered by a new “gambit” system. These are special attacks and status effects triggered by firing off certain combinations of moves in sequence. Thus a “Power Attack” designed to take advantage of a specific break in a creature’s defenses might be fired off by using four specially-colored attacks in a row, while a different attack designed to slow an enemy’s attacks could be used to set up combos that let companions regain some health or power. The Warden, then, is a strategic class designed, according to Steefel, “… for players want to anticipate what they’ll need 10 seconds from now as opposed to right this second.”

These two new classes will add new styles of play, giving those players who have maxed out thier current characters something new to try. Also it has been rumored that Turbine will be adding 1-2 new character slots so you dont have to delete characters if you are already full.