The Lord of the Rings Online introduces a completely new class, the Brawler. It has already been tested and is now publicly available to everyone on the Bullroarer server. The first players are showering the new class with praise.
What is the class about? The Brawler is a melee fighter who primarily punches opponents with his fists. He is designed to deal significant damage or can be played as a tank.
The class is based on the legendary hero Helm Hammerhand, who is said to have defended the city of Helm’s Deep with his bare hands. Additionally, it is slated to be released for all playable races from the Beornings.
When will the class be released? It is currently unknown when exactly the Brawler will be introduced to the game. It’s also unclear how to obtain him. However, the last new classes required an extra payment.
The Beorning class was last released in 2014. Thus, the Brawler is the first new class in 7 years.
How can you test the class? Some content creators from LOTRO and members of the gaming press were allowed to test the new class in advance. Videos and articles about it went live on September 8.
Furthermore, the Brawler will be made available today on the public test server Bullroarer, allowing anyone interested to try it out.
Testers and Viewers Praise New Class, Especially Its Animations and Sound
What are the positive aspects? The YouTuber Louey7 was one of the testers and examined the class in a 4-hour livestream. He praises:
- The idea and basis of the class
- The generally good gameplay
- The animations, which are particularly well done and smooth in transition
Users in the comments also agree with these aspects. They describe the class as “Amazing” or as “fun and smooth class.”
The YouTuber Strimtom goes even further and titled his video “The Free Peoples’ Fist Could Become the Best Class in the Game.” He cites the successful animations and good sound as reasons for his excitement, even though he is not a fan of “Monk classes.”
What criticism is there? Louey7 criticizes in his video the lack of icons and descriptions as well as generally the role as DPS. Here he fears that the class will scale poorly with critical damage and thus may not be very useful.
Strimtom, on the other hand, criticizes the order of some abilities in the skill tree. For instance, it should be possible to enhance “Heave Attacks” early on, but they are unlocked much later. He sees a need for improvement here.
In the forum and under the videos, there is also criticism that the Brawler does not belong in the world of Middle-earth and that there would be better classes. On YouTube, the user nerezza23 jokingly writes:
You have my sword
And you have my bow
And these hands!!!
What else is on the test server? In addition to the new class, a revision of the legendary items can also be tested. New items and a completely new system have been added to scale these to your level. You can find out more in the official forum (via LOTRO.com).
What do you think about the new class Brawler? Does it entice you enough to dust off The Lord of the Rings Online and play it again in 2021? Feel free to share it in the comments.
2021 is generally an interesting year for MMORPG fans. Already there have been several new expansions and releases. So if you’re looking for a completely new MMORPG, you will find it in this list:
