If you're curious how exactly the new Class Trait system will work in Mines of Moria, then you'll definitely want to read the newest entry in the already full developer's diary on the official Lord of the Rings Online Web site. The newest entry completely details the Class Trait system.

Characters now have the ability to create Class Trait Set pairings that build upon class themes, allowing players to specialize and making them more effective at a chosen class role. As such, Trait Sets represent a way for players to shape their gameplay and enhance their character’s performance.

The full entry can be found here or below.

As The Lord of the Rings Online™ expands its systems with the Mines of Moria™, characters now have the ability to create Class Trait Set pairings that build upon class themes, allowing players to specialize and making them more effective at a chosen class role. As such, Trait Sets represent a way for players to shape their gameplay and enhance their character’s performance. If you want to focus on the Hunter’s secondary ability to crowd control their enemies, Trait Sets enable you to focus on that aspect of the Hunter gameplay and bring it to the fore-front.

  Class Trait Sets have the following qualities

• Each class now has three Trait Sets.
• There are eight traits per set, with one additional Legendary Trait making up the capstone.
• Like item sets, each set gives the player more bonuses for each additional member trait that is currently slotted.
• You cannot slot a set’s Legendary Trait until you have earned the trait via a quest.
• Trait sets give their maximum amount of bonuses when five out of eight members are slotted at once. (You can slot more if you choose, but the group bonus won’t increase.)
• Traits can modify everything from damage output to cooldowns to whether a skill is usable in combat or not, and more.
• Class Trait Sets of the same family share the same color icon background to make it easier to tell what family they are a member of.
• Class Traits can be unlocked via repeated use of skills or from doing class quests.
• When looking at your Class Traits tab in the Traits Examination window, you’ll see three tabs at the bottom of the panel. Here you can examine each set carefully to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each Trait Set path.

Class trait UI

• Each trait path provides a summary in the right pane of the Trait Set examination.
• Mouse over any member trait to see the available bonuses from that Trait Set. If the text is greyed out, it’s not providing the bonus. If the text is green, the bonus is active on your character.
  • Visual Appearance:
    • Greyed out = Trait not earned and currently not in progress
    • Ring = Trait not earned, but in progress
    • Colored icon = Trait is earned
    • Colored icon with chevrons = Trait is earned and slotted

Slotted Trait UI

• Your main trait UI, which includes all the traits you currently have slotted, will display the summary of active Trait Set buffs on the right.
• If you remove Class Traits that cause your Legendary Trait to no longer be eligible for slotting, it will not unslot; instead it will turn grey and a red exclamation point will appear over it, showing that the benefits of that Legendary Trait are not active because it failed its Class Trait requisite (remember it takes five class traits to make certain Legendary Traits eligible to slot!)

Conclusion

Traits Sets were created with the idea of bringing forth some of the secondary and tertiary roles of the classes. Do you wish your Captain could heal more effectively? Do you wish your Warden was more focused on his spear? Trait sets make this possible! These changes enable some variations between players of the same class, and give players the ability to focus on some of their characters’ secondary roles.