For Life Steal, we found that it was providing too much healing and disproportionally increased survivability by more than most other defensive stats could compete. Thus, we decided to make it more of a gamble that would turn the tide of a fight by healing you for a large amount when it activates, but preventing players from being able to rely on it as their only true defensive option. Before, players had 100% chance to heal for a percent of their Life Steal severity. Now, they have a percent-based chance to receive 100% of Life Steal severity. Classes that rely a lot on Life Steal as part of their skill repertoire, such as Temptation Warlocks, have had their feats redone to ensure that their class and build can still remain relevant in PvE and PvP in the face of this change.
With these changes we hope to see players discovering new and innovative ways to play their classes. The advent of Epic Dungeons along with the Oathbound Paladin are sure to help create a more diverse and intriguing field of gameplay within Neverwinter.